also don't know when it started. Large-size player products began to appear in front of many consumers. Their existence is between small desktop computers and portable players, striving to bring users a listening experience comparable to desktop computers in an appropriate volume. Strong enough driving force, control force and sound quality are the common characteristics of such products, but also because of the huge size, its audience is basically a small crowd with music fever. It can be said that large-size players are like "magic weapons" specially tailored for music enthusiasts. No matter how difficult it is to drive headphones, they can be matched with ease.

For me personally, the more value that large-size player products bring to me should be based on reference. In some cases, due to the driving force or quality performance of the player itself, the real strength of the earphone itself cannot be accurately exerted, thus affecting my judgment on the combination. Then a player product with strong driving force and quality, obviously, it can act as a rational "reference" at this time.

here you will find that large-size player products may differ from ordinary portable players in sound direction. In the past, when we talked about portable players, we would pay more attention to their sound style, pay attention to the appropriate matching, and will not require players with the sound of desktop computers, but large-size players are different. The increase in volume means the increase in internal space, which allows large-size players to design a more complex circuit architecture than portable players. In sound adjustment, they will also tend to the style of the desktop, paying attention to neutrality, Balance and full of reference value. At this time, the product may focus more on the performance of quality rather than the personality of style. The differentiated sound trend determines the actual value of these two players.

want to share with you today is the M17, a large-size flagship player product launched by Feiao some time ago. The official even defines it as a "portable desk machine". It can be seen that the development direction of this product is towards desktop computers. What kind of experience is it to carry desktop computers with you? Feiao M17 can tell you.

The figure of the Big Mac is full of details.

are all called "portable machines", how big is the size? According to official data, the M17 has a body size of about 156.4mm × 88.5mm × 28mm and a weight of about 610g. Looking at the data, it feels too abstract, so by direct comparison, the M17 is roughly the same length and width as the iPhone 13 Pro Max, but its thickness is 3.7 times and its weight is 2.6 times, which is equivalent to holding three iPhone 13 Pro Max on top of each other, so the hand feeling is basically similar to holding an M17.

M17 machine adheres to Feiao's own style. The back plate is similar to M11 Plus LTD, both of which are diamond-like cutting texture. The honeycomb shaped keys are also continued. There are special heat dissipation meshes on the left and right sides, and RGB lamp effect is provided after startup.

at the top and bottom of the fuselage, M17 basically puts all the interfaces you need on it. The top is not only equipped with 3.5mm single-ended, 2.5mm balanced and 4.4mm balanced ends, but also with 6.35mm single-ended interfaces, of which 4.4mm and 3.5mm specification interfaces support line output. As for the bottom of the fuselage equipped with a USB3.0 specification interface and a USB2.0 specification interface, the former is used for data transmission and fast charging, the latter is used for external decoder or mobile hard disk, in addition to the standard RCA coaxial interface (supporting input and output) and TF card slot, it is worth mentioning that M17 is actually equipped with a DC power supply interface as standard. We will introduce the reasons for the existence of this interface below.

in terms of shape, the M17 adopts a highly symmetrical design. The bottom of the fuselage is even engraved with a "DUAL ES9038PRO" of the same size for the symmetrical TF slot. It can be said that the details are quite well handled. Not only that, in order to prevent dust collection caused by too many interfaces, M17 also specially prepared metal dust plugs for less commonly used interfaces, which makes although M17 has many interfaces, the body is very integrated.

looking at the fuselage alone, M17 gives me the impression that it is a machine with a "villain" face. The design elements of the mecha and the large fuselage shell look aggressive. Although the shell has sharp lines, it is fortunately equipped with a brown leather leather case as standard, which can enhance the hand feeling to a certain extent.

In addition to the M17 itself, Feiao also comes standard with a heat dissipation bracket with a fan. You can place the M17 on it, turn on the fan, enhance the heat dissipation of the machine, and connect the DC power supply to achieve a stronger performance mode. This is also the hidden function of the M17-super big ear mode. This mode is a full blood mode following "low gain", "medium gain", "high gain" and "big ear mode". after opening, the strength of M17 can be fully liberated. under the condition that the load is 32 Ω and THD + N<1%, the output power is ≥ 3W, even under the condition that the load is 300 Ω and THD + N<1%, the output power can also be ≥ 500mW, which can be said to be a complete driving force monster. Looking at the data alone, many hard-to-drive big ears can also show light under the drive of M17.

, whether looking at the data or the appearance, I always think that the birth of M17 is that Feiao's technical team wants to do something big. After all, it is too "monster". The hard core design idea revolves around the whole device. It is at the critical point of portable player and desktop computer, exploring another possibility. In the past, we always thought that the pursuit of desktop-like driving force on portable players was purely a matter of abuse, but Feiao proved his development strength with M17. Obviously, this is a "muscle show" product, and it is also a product with a big difference from the current Feiao player sound.

the strong driving force, the sound bottom of Zhongzheng

says that the sound of M17 is quite different from that of the current Feiao player is mainly because M17 does not inherit the gentle style similar to M15 or M11 in the direction of timbre. On the contrary, it emphasizes the sense of quality and resolution. The overall sound has a more obvious line sense and a more atmospheric sense of hearing. In my opinion, the sound style has changed greatly between M17 and M15, it is better to say that the voice of M17 has returned to the original style of Feiao X7.

this change is due to the positioning of the model itself, and on the other hand, it is also due to the adjustment of DAC chip architecture. M17 is equipped with two flagship DAC chip ES9038PRO of ESS family. As an eight-channel DAC chip, M17 only processes one of the channels on M17. In addition, M17 also uses THX AAA-788 + upgraded ear amplifier with output power up to 3000mW/channel, it is precisely with this "machine-level" hardware configuration that the M17 is enough to be called a "portable machine 」.

, as far as the sound performance of the whole machine is concerned, the sound quality of M17 is quite excellent. Although I am not a "core-only theorist", there is still a big difference in timbre between ESS and AKM's DAC chips. ESS's DAC sound style is more delicate and balanced, and the sound field performance is better. It will have more advantages in the expression of big dynamics and the presentation of details, the M17 has excellent performance at these levels, with wide sound field, rich sound details, accurate sound positioning and excellent dynamic presentation. Obviously, the M17 sound has a sense of strength, quality and fullness. This sense of listening is like you are really listening to a desktop device. In this comparison, the volume of the M17 seems to be "compact" again.

holds M17-driven ordinary earplugs, it is more than enough to open to "medium gain mode". For example, Feiao's FD7 has certain potential. It is recommended to match the front end with sufficient driving force. However, M17 's "medium gain mode" is enough to fill its stomach. If you open to "high gain mode", FD7' s sound will appear more atmospheric, the shaping of the sense of space will also be slightly improved. It can be seen that M17 is not only simply improving the driving force, but also has a certain control over the sound.

In order to better explore the sound potential of M17, I also specially selected some flagship earplugs and large ears for audition, including Final's D8000 Pro, B1, A8000, and Noble Audio's Sultan. It can be said that these are quite excellent earphone products, and there are many models that are difficult to drive. M17 can control them with a question mark.

first, let's talk about matching earplugs. Whether it is a mixed configuration of four iron and two static electricity such as Sultan, a pure beryllium moving coil unit such as A8000, or even a plug such as B1 that seems to be harmless in a circle and one iron animal, but actually eats thrust, they have a large standard for the demand of the front end, which not only requires a certain driving force, but also requires a certain control force, otherwise the sound is easily out of shape. As flagship earplugs, in the combination, players often need to invest more thoughts and costs. Regardless of whether the matching sound is appropriate or not, just speaking of the sound effect, under the drive of M17 "high gain mode", Sultan, A8000 and B1 all present their due sound quality. Sultan's high-quality medium and low frequency, A8000 gorgeous medium and high frequency, and B1's warm and full charm all satisfy me quite. Personally, I prefer the combination of M17 and Sultan more from the sound matching.

Noble Audio's flagship earplug, Sultan, has a more popular sound style, and the overall sound tends to be in the middle and lower plates. It has a strong expression in low frequency and intermediate frequency texture. It also needs a balanced tone, emphasizing the front end of fine sound and resolution, while M17 is just in line. The matching of M17 + Sultan is appropriate in my opinion. The clean and transparent sound foundation of M17 strengthens the texture of the overall sound. Sultan's own high-quality vocal expression gives the listener a pure, rich, fresh and rich listening enjoyment. The exact low frequency creates a good atmosphere, and the high frequency brightness and analysis are also quite in place, listening to a few popular vocals of this kind of combination can be called "enjoyment". When I first listened to this combination, I wrote down the feeling of "it's good to have money" in my circle of friends.

there is no doubt that it is not a problem to drive earplugs with M17. It is simply a problem that the sound cannot be matched. So what kind of chemical reaction will M17 have when it meets the big ears that are selected and matched like D8000 Pro? Don't panic, plug in the power first and turn on the "Super Big Ear Mode" hidden by M17 」.

compared with "big ear mode", M17 under "super big ear mode" can bring more abundant sound energy, and you can obviously feel the intensity and dynamics of sound have improved. In fact, if you look at the data alone, M17 has the ability to drive the D8000 Pro, but acoustics is a complex subject, looking at the data alone does not represent anything, and the actual sense of hearing is an important part. To be honest, the D8000 Pro driven by M17 is beyond my personal expectation. The wide sound field, high-quality analytical power and excellent dynamic performance are all remarkable. If it weren't for listening to some overly exciting tracks, the combination of M17 and D8000 Pro can still be tried. However, under the drive of M17, the high-frequency line of D8000 Pro is not soft enough, hard and slightly stimulating. This is also the conclusion that although M17 can drive D8000 Pro, it has not really pushed it well.

Of course, D8000 Pro, a flagship big ear that needs system matching, is hard to avoid being driven by a portable device alone. In my opinion, the greatest significance of M17 is that it is loaded with sound energy that can exceed its own volume in a limited volume, so that a portable device also has the driving capability similar to that of a desktop system, greatly expanding the playability and matching possibility of portable devices, this is the greatest value of M17.

do you really need a portable machine?

M17 is 11999 yuan. To be honest, the price is not high. Besides, as a portable machine device equipped with a Android system, I don't think much about its ease of use. After installing a streaming media platform like Apple Music, there is basically no need to worry about lossless audio sources, but who is the real audience of M17?

if you want to use one device to solve most of your listening needs, M17 should be a good choice. although it is thick in size, if you carry a backpack when you go out, M17 is not a machine that cannot be carried out when you go out. besides, located at home, M17 can bring a strong driving force different from ordinary players, has higher compatibility with headphones, and your choice of listening matching will be wider.

you can regard M17 as a player product to meet the extreme needs, or as a desktop device to meet the needs of going out. No matter what kind of positioning, the sound experience brought by M17 is diverse and rich. It is a product born to meet the diverse needs of minority groups. It is not necessarily suitable for everyone, but it has the most comprehensive music experience.

This is Feiao M17, a portable machine.

author:Xiaomiao-Hai12-13 12:00

website: https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404713913500697609