FiiO M27 review: do the right thing content-wise and it will reward you endlessly – but serve it inferior resolution at your peril

If there’s a stone FiiO has left unturned in the way it’s specified and built the M27 digital audio player, it’s invisible.

This is a portable(ish) music player for which the word ‘uncompromised’ is almost an understatement. Specification is thorough to the point of exhaustion. Twin ESS Sabre DACS with 32bit/768kHz and DSD512 compatibility, aptX Lossless and LDAC for Bluetooth, balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs, a super-slick Android 13 operating experience, a whole host of modes that allow the M27 to work as a USB DAC, a digital transport, a desktop system host and more besides… the list goes on.

So if you want a player (a big and heavy player, let’s be honest) with enough power to drive even the trickiest of headphones, with battery life that’s approaching ‘epic’, and that arrives with its own little desktop charging stand with integrated cooling ...