December 2019

Great Audiophile Gift Ideas For The 2019 Holiday Season
Enjoy the Music.com celebrates our 14th annual gift ideas to give your audiophile!

FiiO M3K Portable Hi-Res Audio Player
And FiiO BTR3 Bluetooth Amplifier

  Being an old timer in battery powered portable audio, including everything from a brand new 1970 Panasonic transistor radio to the world's first portable CD player (Sony D5 in 1985) and toyed with Diamond Rio mp3 player (1999), I am truly impressed at these two under $100 offerings. While there's bragging rights with the latest and greatest (and overly heavy imho) 'reference devices' that are big, overly bulky, and frankly hard to justify at lofty $3000(!) pricing for some, FiiO's M3K portable Hi-Res Audio music player and BTR3 Bluetooth amplifier at $69.99 each give you two ways to enhance your enjoyment of music at very reasonable pricing. The M3K is a stand-alone music player with color screen and touchpad while the BTR3 is a wireless Bluetooth amplifier. Both units take advantage of the same Hi-Res Audio / H-Res Music capable modern AKM AK4376A DAC and amplification circuit, which FiiO chose after many hours of careful listening.

Both units are eye-catching, with the Bluetooth BTR3's aluminum alloy body wrapped in 2.5D glass with oleophobic coating that (hopes) to keep off fingerprints. Does FiiO know I slow smoke ribs while enjoying music, and thus fingerprints are more like 'Pitmaster' prints... and nothing can keep those from showing (LOL). Fortunately, both units can handle it (and subsequent cleaning). The usual array of buttons and operations are available for Bluetooth with the BTR3 including a mic for hands-free phone operation and volume adjustment. To further ensure crystal clear sound during phone calls, Qualcomm's cVc noise cancellation technology automatically adjusts the microphone and actively suppresses background noise. 

All the latest and greatest digital audio file types are supported with both units, with the M3K playing them natively (FLAC, DSD, MP3, etc) and the BTR3 doing what it needs to do Bluetooth-wise depending on your devices capabilities and connection speed. Fortunately, Samsung has always provided a great set of technologies within their phones including Hi-Res Audio support many years ago. For those curious, am using the Samsung SM-G950U, better known as the Galaxy S8, with the BTR3. Thus some of the best in Bluetooth codecs are available including Hi-Res Audio LDAC.

So how about some upgrades to your current setup? Perhaps move away from those old and overly bulky / heavy portable audio gear to the latest and greatest? Maybe you truly want to be on-the-go whilst doing extreme sports? Without a doubt either one, or dare I say both, of these FiiO devices could easily work seamlessly within your lifestyle. Am overjoyed to hear great sound for the everyday person's budget. Gone are the days of needing hundreds of dollars and big, bulky setups to hear impressive sound quality as you move through your daily life. Of course FiiO does offer higher priced units with more features, higher amplifier power output, etc. Have no doubt the BTR3 and M3K will be big sellers. Considering the sound offered at this price point, Apple iPhone users will be wanting to get in on the BTR3 action since they desperately need a quality setup to hear music authentically as the artist intended.

I highly recommended FiiO's BTR3 Bluetooth unit with mic and M3K Hi-Res Audio portable music player for those seeking great sound for well under $100. Just buy it and try it! Am sure you'll come away very impressed for the price, and you can read my full review of both units at this link. They both make great holiday gifts too! You can buy from Amazon the FiiO M3K Hi-Res music player at this link, and the FiiO BTR3 at this link.

Recommended by Enjoy the Music.com's Steven R. Rochlin.

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