FIIO SP3 High Fidelity Active Desktop Speakers (Black)

Product Information

You can passively run the 3.5mm cable into a budget to mid-tier amplifier with a good bass switch, or hopefully run your music through something like the Foobar2000 app or the HiBy Music app. With that, you can upgrade the bass depth and weight with the right combo set of extra add-ons. FiiO understands that the middle ground plays nice with most speakers, especially their own, which have plenty of options that range from very warm in tone, to cold, to natural, to a bit dry, to bassy, etc. A fantastic player nonetheless, designed to become the sole digital source for every modern audiophile, thanks to its wide array of inputs/outputs, high-end ESS Sabre DAC, a dual THX-AAA chipset and an uncompromised streaming experience, thanks to the Android OS. The FiiO R7 is the audiophile's dream, a swiss army knife that can successfully fulfill various needs, from forming the heart of a desktop audio setup to being your bedside companion and all these with great sound quality too. The innovative double-diffused S-shaped porting tube enhances bass extension and control, resulting in fast bass transients and superior bass quality. This design allows the SP3 to remain compact, maximizes airflow and reduces turbulence to reproduce deep, punchy bass.

Mids : great layering and good dynamic. Voices have always been good on FiiO players, and the SP3 are no exception to the rule. This is especially true with classic jams like the Beatles or Paul Simon, who love the smooth mids. Pair them with a good source, and the FiiO will reward you 10 times fold. The bass is percussive, dense, and at the same time restrained and whippy. They are clearly compromised in terms of texture variability and depth, but they are quantitatively verified, and their localization is clear. There is an elastic rebound, which, with the complete rubber stands, will also entertain you with vibration across the table. Well, at least not through the floor, the neighbors will survive. If you turn the control to the maximum, you can increase the density and duration of sustain on the midbass. If you remove it to a minimum, the bass will be more collected and fast, the rest of the range will be more neutral and thin.The sound is crystal clear and transparent with excellent source fidelity and at the same time the R7 has a very musical and engaging character that connects the listener with the music.

The all-new SP3compressses the cabinet to 2.35L, which takes less space and results in a simple and comfortable desktop. At the same time, it adopts a larger 3.5-inch carbon fiber midwoofer compared to the same class, together with a 1-inch silk tweeter. The tinier body helps to present higher-end sound performance, and reconstruct the sound-to-space ratio, achieving a grand soundstage.Outputs: 1 x 4.4mm (Balanced), 1 x 6.35mm (Single-ended), 1 x 4-pin XLR (Balanced), 1 x Optical (TOSLINK), 1 x COAX (RCA), 2 x Single-ended line out (RCA), 2 x 3-Pin XLR (Balanced) The R7 is very musical and enjoyable with all kinds of music and proved a great match with every headphone I have used, it's really difficult to find anything to blame regarding the sound quality of the R7. In an active desktop speaker, the tweeter usually plays a crucial role in reproducing fine sound details, which is why FiiO’s SP3, unlike many other active models, uses a 1" tweeter capable of reproducing frequencies up to 35kHz. The copper-plated aluminium KSV voice coil allows for accurate and clean reproduction of high frequencies, even when listening off-axis. This allows the SP3 desktop speaker to offer exceptional treble reproduction and natural timbre. The FiiO SP3 offers a 3.5-inch carbon fiber dynamic mid-woofer, which you can instantly tell is carbon fiber, due to the tonality this speaker pipes out. Fiio X3: Featuring a built-in amplifier, Fiio X3 music player allows you to use any headphones to enjoy its excellent performance. Constructed as a true audiophile device, Fiio X3 is a solid piece of equipment that boasts vivid and remarkable sound quality. Fiio X3 also features a 2.4-inch TFT display that makes it easy for you to view. Speaking of its operational capacity, Fiio X3 lasts for 10 hours of usage.

When turning the volume knob, this brings up a red dial on the screen, reminiscent of a car speedometer, that shows the volume level in digits in the center, the current set gain level underneath and the volume level also on the dial surrounding this info. I don’t find the volume knob to be very smooth when turning, or rather the digital response (the knob itself is very smooth) as it does seem to skip a little when turning fast. However, once the dial is shown on screen, you can just slide your finger up or down to change the volume, which is much faster and smoother in its response. There are a couple of things that stand out to me from these options. For example, the send screen option is pretty interesting as you can mirror the screen of the R7 on other devices, such as a Chromecast or other cast devices. This means you could, in theory, show the screen of the R7 in another room of your house. However, I say “in theory” because I have not been able to get it to see any of the devices on my network. I have many kinds of different devices that can receive casts (smart TVs, smart monitors, Chromecast, Fire TVs, etc.) but none of them can be found by the R7. Now, it’s possible that I am just doing something wrong (maybe probable rather than possible, as I didn’t spend too much time with it) but I played around with different settings and still did not manage to get it working.

Packaging & Accessories

And if the brand began as a chi-fi maker, with cheap but nice products, lately they’ve constantly been moving upmarket with players like the FiiO M11 Plus ESS or the mighty FiiO R7. Founded in 2007, FiiO is one of the pillars of the portable audiophile world, with companies like Astell&Kern, iBasso , or even Meze. IEM, headphone amps, DACs, and obviously DAPs, they did it all and did it well, filling each and every corner with an endless list of multi-awarded devices, like the K9 Pro, BTR5 , KA5, or the M17.