Closer Examination

Turns out it's not just the packaging for the FiiO Q7 that was a behemoth, but the actual product is one too. It's measurements are similar to the iFi micro iDSD Signature and other such larger and more premium portable DAC/amps at 158 x 88.5 x 28 cm, but weighs in at 620 g which is more than twice that of the iFi equivalent! It's also built better, with thick CNC-machined aluminium and is definitely a brick in your hands without any sloping contours. Instead there is a slight inset in the middle for your hands to go around and grasp the unit. It's easy enough to fit on a desk but the mass does make it more cumbersome to carry around admittedly. I do like the black with gold accents color scheme going on and it's put to good use with the matching logos on the bottom at the front—all can be hidden from view if using the case of course. An acrylic panel goes all the way down the middle and is used for the various wireless antennas in addition to hosting a 1.3" TFT LCD color display with 240 x 240 pixel resolution.

The case is shaped with slightly raised fins on the front to also act as a passive heatsink and the back gets a more textured finish to the softer scratch resistant "imitation leather" panel with FiiO branding closer to the top. Certification info is seen on one of the longer sides along with vents shaped like chevrons that have a mesh underneath, along with RGB LEDs that act as indicator lights in addition to helping make its presence felt. The other side has four tactile buttons shaped like hexagons. These come with useful symbols to indicate, in order from top to bottom, a power/lock button, previous track, play/pause, and next track to allow dedicated media playback controls. A matching set of side ambient lights are located underneath these buttons too.


The bottom section houses the various inputs to the Q7 including a very handy DC plug for mains power that bypasses the battery. This allows for more power in and out of the Q7, in addition to helping with battery longevity. It is aided by a simple toggle switch going between DC and battery modes right next to a USB charge switch which allows you to use the Q7 as a plugged-in USB DAC/amp and also be charged, or not. This comes in handy should you wish to not drain your phone battery, for example, while allowing the battery to be charged off DC power and/or a PC or car USB connection. If you are going to use the Q7 for your car audio needs then remember to switch off the USB charge when in standby mode. There are handy dust covers over optical, coaxial, and DC inputs with a USB Type-C port handling the digital input. I am glad to see FiiO not going with USB Type-A or Type-B here; let's just stick with Type-C for all DACs henceforth please! Also, just in case you wish to go back to factory settings, there is a reset button accessible through the tiny hole above which you need to press and hold for a few seconds, as typical with such implementations.


The top side is dedicated to outputs and the large knurled volume knob, which is easier to access courtesy the indents made in the case. FiiO is being generous here with 3.5 mm single-ended connector that does both phone out and line out in addition to a 2.5 mm balanced headphone out and a 4.4 mm balanced phone/line out port. Then there's the unexpected 6.35 mm (1/4") headphone output which helps the Q7 truly call itself a portable source with desktop-class equipment and features. Between the bulk of the device and the 6.35 mm port I was half-expecting to see an XLR output too! Going back to that volume wheel, it's actually a multi-functional knob + button which can be pressed down for a few different functions including mute/unmute as expected, but also as a menu selector too!



It's almost impossible to disassemble the FiiO Q7 in a non-destructive manner, so that DC power mode bypassing the battery, as well as the dedicated USB charge switch will be very useful to preserve the health of the 9200 mAh battery over time, given that it is non-trivial to replace it. I would like to see FiiO offer a battery replacement service for the Q7 and other such premium battery-operated products though. FiiO also rates the battery life to be 9-11 hours even in demanding use, which is more than decent. Either way, we have to rely on FiiO again to inform us on what's inside the Q7 and this begins with the excellent desktop-class flagship ESS Sabre ES9038PRO DAC chipset, two of which were on the K9 Pro to good use. To give you more context, the YULONG Aurora is a proper desktop DAC/amp that uses an "inferior" DAC. In practice though the ES9038PRO is overkill for stereo applications even with a more involved implementation here, in the form of four channels used in parallel for a single differential output, but this allows FiiO to market the Q7 as a desktop-class product again while also competing against larger, bulkier devices without compromising on the digital-to-analog conversion.

On that same note, we get the latest gen XMOS XUF316 32-bit USB encoder/controller with dual audio clocks for the Type-C input that most users are likely to use here. Bluetooth input and control comes in the form of a a Qualcomm QCC5124 Bluetooth 5.0 audio SoC, which was used to good effect on the FiiO K9 Pro before. The digital and analog sections are physically separated on different PCB sections with shielding covers. Amplification comes in the form of a THX AAA 788+ desktop-class linear amplifier which makes more sense here compared to the even more power-hungry THX AAA 888. It's part of an audio circuit comprising also 20 low-dropout regulators (LDOs) and 470 mF ultra-low equivalent series resistance capacitors to make for a 4-way truly balanced topology, with five levels of mixed gain.


Given this feature set, the FiiO Q7 certainly shares a lot with the M17 and K9 Pro but also can be regarded as a beefed up version of the FiiO BTR5 and BTR7 (review coming soon) portable DAC/amps emphasizing Bluetooth connectivity. Indeed, I have seen a few refer to the Q7 as more as BTR10, if you will, and this thought process will allow the end user to get a better understanding of FiiO's own plan for their portable source lines going forward.