FiiO Portable DAC and Amplifier Q3 MQA Edition

DAC and headphone amplifiers used to be the leading products in the FiiO line. At the peak of demand, there were two complete product lines. However, FiiO paused the release of new models due to the influence of portable music players, USB audio adapters and Bluetooth DAC/Amps on the A/V marketplace. Also, due to chip shortages, all of FiiO’s old models, including the Q1MKII, Q3 and Q5s, are currently all out of production.

The release of the Q3 MQA DAC/Amplifier comes now as a move on FiiO’s part to help meet the needs of users, providing them with another option other than the music players and USB dongles. Due to DAC chip shortages worldwide, the Q3 MQA isn’t so much a new model as it is an existing product with small changes due to the chip shortages…but changes that make a huge impact on people’s listening pleasures.

The Q3 MQA edition applies the all-new highly-processed XMOS XU316, which is also XMOS’ strategic chip to enter the AI market. It includes 16 cores created in an advanced manufacturing process that brings high performance processing allowing for support up to PCM 384 kHz/32-bit and DSD256 high-resolution audio formats, yet with lower power consumption.

With the help of the powerful XMOS XU316, the FiiO Q3 now supports MQA technology to help deliver the sound of the original master recording.

Knowing that the production of the AK4462 was unlikely to ever be resumed, FiiO’s R&D team decided to use the similar AK4552 after doing extensive research and assessments. Its engineers worked hard on improving the audio performance and indicators to the same level as the previous model, resulting in a distortion performance that is even more stable among all frequencies, while the headphone amplifier power output has been improved by 10%.

The all-new strapping kit designed to bundle together the Q3 MQA Edition to your phone improves upon the experience from before. The high-transparency straps no longer block the display of your phone, while the innovative X-shaped straps included can expose more display of the phone and further increase the operating area.

Other key features of the Q3 MQA include THX AAA-28×2 amps, a dual power supply design, ADC volume adjustment, RGB indicator, two gain levels, BASS boost and 3.5 mm single-ended/2.5 mm and 4.4 mm balanced outputs.

A full review will be featured on this site at a future date.

CPlan Audio 083 212-4599 / www.cplanaudio.co.za / www.fiio.com