Surfans F35 Music Player DAP Review – Audiophile-Perfect Budget DAP
Surfans F35 is a $349 USD DAP or Digital Audio Player with a unique Dual ESS9038Q2M DAC combo at the heart, FPGA-Powered Processing and with both a 3.5mm single ended and a 4.4mm balanced outputs. Today we will review the Surfans F35 and explore how it sounds as well as how it compares to other DAPs, including FiiO M21 (329 USD), Hiby R4 (249 USD) and Shanling M3 Plus (469 USD).
Introduction
At the moment, Surfans is one of the most popular DAP or Digital Audio Player producers available on Amazon and their units sell more than virtually any competitor in the price point. The secret to this is that Surfans has really good prices, and reliable, relatively simple DAPs that work well, and people are happy with their purchases. Amazon is the best way to purchase a surfans DAP, but they are available on their own website as well.
As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Surfans for providing us with the sample for this review.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4qrdzc2
Build Quality – Design
Surfans designed their new F35 around a Dual ESS ES9038Q2M DAC combo, and with an underlying FPGA processing for ultra-clean sonics. It sports Native DSD256 and hi-res, with two headphone outputs, one in the 3.5mm single ended format and one in the 4.4mm balanced format.
Having support for 32 Bit / 384 kHz for PCM, you know you will be able to enjoy all files in your collection, and with an Alps rotary wheel for volume control, F35 looks like a proper audiophile boutique DAP and not an experimental retro unit. To interact with it, you will be using a 4.0″ IPS display with a resolution of 480*800, which can feel a bit small and a bit grainy, but you won’t be seeing anything else besies the cover art of your albums sometimes.
To control the OS, the display is more than sufficient, and we even have presets and custom EQ options when playing music from the internal memory. Surfans bundles the F35 with a 128 GB microSD card, and it can read cards up to 512 GB, and offers around 10 hours of playback using the single-ended output, and around 8 hours for the balanced 4.4mm headphone output. This is all supported by the 3000mAgh battery.
For the geek in you, Surfans F35 has an output power of 125mW for the single ended output and up to 450mW for the balanced output. With a channel separation of 80 dB for the SE output and 114 dB for the balanced output, it looks rather average on paper, but we will explore in the sound part of the review how it actually sounds like.
Subjective Usage
Playing songs locally works perfect, and so does the Bluetooth part of the f35, but if you want to use the USB DAC function, you should keep in mind that the response is not instant, and it has around 3-4 frames of delay, or around 75ms of delay, it seems to also change depending on the content on windows between 60ms for certain youtube videos, where there is delay compensation between audio and video, and up to around 100ms of delay if multiple audio streams are playing. While most listeners do not use their DAP as a USB DAC, it is one of the main ways I test all audio products, so I prefer testing extensively for how well it is supported.
Battery life is excellent, and with sporadic usage for around 2 weeks I got the battery to last with a single charge. Even if you use it while charging, or use it with difficult headphones and IEMS, Surfans F35 does not heat up during usage or charging, which is quite nice.
When it comes to the software of the Surfans F35, it is a very basic DAP, with music playback, allowing you to browse your file collection and that is about it. Feels a bit limitative considering what other DAPs can do these days, but at the same time, this has been for a long while a core idea for Surfans, making basic DAPs that simply work well. F35 has a very bright, but not very colorful display, it looks high resolution, but has an IPS tech behind and has more limited viewing angles and the characteristic IPS glow usually seen in those.
Sound Quality
Pairings – I have paired the new Surfans F35 with a selection of earphones and headphones including KBEar Cepheus, Crosszone CZ-10 Enhanced, NFAudio NE4, NfAudio NA2+, Rose Technics QT-X, Palma DHS-1, Audeze MM-100, HIFIMAN Shangri-La Electrostatic System, Kiwi Ears Atheia, FiiO FT7, ZiiGaat Luna, Erzetich Thalia, Erzetich Mania 2024, Moritz Audio Enzo, HIFIMAN Susvara Unveiled, Dunu Vulkan 2, Sivga Peng, HarmonicDyne Baroque, Mrotiz Dragon, Sivga AIVA 2, Soundz Flame, YanYin Canon, and RAPTGO LEAF D01.
Driving power is plenty for most headphones and IEMs, even when using the single ended headphone output. In fact, I am quite surprised, because the technical numbers are not great, yet when I plug in headphones, even HEDD D1 or HIFIMAN Isvarna, I hear a beautiful sound, with IEMs like ZiiGaat Luna or SoftEars RSV-MKII, there is no audible background noise. Surfans came a long way, and from the first second hearing it I knew it can now stand a chance against the big players in the ~400 USD price range in terms of resolution, musicality, sonic ability and soundstage size.
Overall Signature – Surfans F35 sounds vivid, engaging, and musical. At the heart, it is a young, dramatic and impressionistic sounding DAP, it has plenty of life and a vivid, generous, rich presentation. There’s a hint of warmth in the lower midrange and mid bass, but with no bleed and no bloat. There’s also a juicy, expressive treble rendered and delivered for all headphones and IEMS it is driving, with a beautiful sound for both the 3.5mm single ended output and the 4.4mm balanced output. Most DAPs will fail to deliver enough power or a good enough sound from the 3.5mm single ended output, but Surfans F35 is exceptional in this aspect, both outputs are not just enjoyable but perfectly musical and rich sounding.
Bass – Starting with a powerful and vivid low-end, Surfans f35 is a bit bloomy, a bit musical and wooly, big and powerful. There’s plenty of extension and depth to go around, it has a beautiful, full bass that gives all headphones and IEMS a punchy, dynamic feeling. Bass is the groovy, large type that gives music a base, a flow and although I am confident it responds flat on a graph, it is nice to hear that it can put that backbone in headphones that need power and source delivery to actually render it.
Midrange – At the middle, Surfans f35 is smooth, musical and rich sounding. In fact, even when compared to DAPs that have tubes, it sounds more like a hi-end tube amplifier, rich, organic, not dry and too textured. I like how it renders both voices and guitars, all instruments in general. F35 is rather perfect for female voices, but there’s a slight bias towards a vivid upper midrange, it dampens the lower midrange presentation a bit, sounds a bit less expressive for male voices.
Treble – Inheriting some extra energy from the upper midrange, treble has a slight tilt towards the lower treble, and a smoother, more relaxed presentation in the upper treble. Still, this doesn’t limit the soundstage size and extension, and F35 can easily reach 20 kHz, it has a silky, yet present upper treble which is nice for rock and metal, but also for EDM. Treble is generally soft in texture, easy to enjoy and not overly dry or analytical. This means that F35 will combine well with most Chifi IEMS that have a bit of treble bump for resolution and energy reasons.
Dynamic Range And Textures – Dynamic range is generally natural, there’s no bias towards extra compression or an overly dynamic sound. The texture presentation is natural – organic – juicy. F35 is smoother, more organic, more relaxed and more musical than FiiO K17 which I use a lot as a reference, and F35 can make most headphones and IEMs sound more musical, smoother and more relaxed than most of the competing DAPs in the entry-level range. Texture is cohesive, presented the same across all frequency ranges, it stays a bit creamy, a big smooth and a bit juicy too. If anything, F35 is not dry, regardless of the situation and context.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Despite the tradition of Surfans DAPs being mostly entry-level units with a low driving power, F35 has more than enough power even for very hard to handle headphones like HIFIMAN Isvarna or He1000 Unveiled. With portable Earphones and IEMs, it has a controlled sound, low noise, so Surfans truly expanded on what you can do with one of their DAPs portably. This being said, the loudness saturation is delivered in a linear fashion and F35 has a consistent sound regardless of the volume level, it sounds great and similar regardless whether you want to enjoy it quietly or up and loud.
Soundstage – Surfans F35 has a crisp instrument separation, fairly wide soundstage, and it has good overall layering too. The soundstage can be characterized by a fairly good overall directionality and stereo separation, without a specific presentation.
Comparisons
Surfans F35 vs Shanling M3 Plus (349 USD vs 469 USD) – M3 plus has more streaming features and it is an open Android DAP, so you can install other music playback apps, and it is more versatile in general. Battery life, using the same headphones at the same perceived volume, is longer on the Surfans F35 by 1-2 hours. This being said, F35 is more basic in general. Display quality is a bit higher for M3 Plus, which looks more high resolution. Sonically, M3 Plus sounds more neutral, more analytical and more dry, while F35 sounds deeper, smoother, with more bass punch, more depth and a fuller sound. While this is totally unexpected, Surfans delivers at this price point what Shanling used to deliver, a pleasing and full sound with a strong backbone, while the latest DAP from Shanling actually sounds more neutral and leaner. Overall, for streaming and an open Android and a fast CPU, M3 Plus is still recommended, but for pure music playback you can get a more interesting performance from Surfans F35 for less money.
Surfans F35 vs Hiby R4 (349 USD vs 249 USD) – Hiby R4 is a go-to DAP for many people, it is a bit more capable technically with apps and streaming support, but battery life is a bit longer for F35 when both push the headphones or IEMs to the same volume. Overall, F35 is smaller and more ergonomic, but R4 comes with its own case which I find to be a nice extra. Sonically, R4 is warm, and a bit more open sounding, while F35 is more emotional, deeper in the sub bass, more extended in the treble and has a bit more bias in the upper midrange which gives female voices emotion and life.
Surfans F35 vs FiiO M21 (349 USD vs 329 USD) – The build of M21 makes it more novel, it has that case going on for it, also it is super versatile with apps and streaming. This being said, for a minimalistic DAP, F35 is very capable, stable, and the basic function of playing music works really well. Sonically, F35 is a smoother, deeper, and more brilliant up top experience. M21 ends up sounding rather neutral, clean, but a bit compressy compared to F35 which sounds more open, more dynamic and has more emotion in the sound. If anything, F35 wins in the sound, but is a cumbersome, somewhat questionable practical experience, does not offer streaming or any advanced features.
Value and Conclusion
With a price tag of 349 USD, Surfans F35 promises to take on the world, but delivers a fairly clean performance, it is a good DAP, with a long battery life, and excellent sonics, not the most extensive of feature lists, but for a purist it is perfect. Basically, it will offer the sonics of a proper high-end DAP, but with a more limited software similar to what Lotoo and other boutique companies offer. Not necessarily made for streaming, it is excellent for playing your local collection, and it offers a pure audiophile listening experience.
At the end of the day, I like how Surfans F35 sounds a lot, it is juicy, smooth, engaging and vivid. Although F35 is not exactly a streaming DAP and most people look for that in 2025, it is an ideal local playback DAP, works incredibly well for local playlists, comes with a microSD card in the package, and has the performance that puts it slightly ahead of most competition, especially at the price point.
PROs
- Actually excellent sound
- Punchy bass, extended treble and playful midrange
- Slight upper midrange bias, gives female voices extra presence and emotion
- High driving power with low noise
- Long battery life
- Stable and reliable
- 3.5mm and 4.4mm outputs, both sound great
- USB DAC function
- Excellent build quality
Cons
- USB DAC function has a delay, around 75 Ms average
- No case available for it
- No strong streaming support
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4qrdzc2
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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