FiiO Snowsky Echo Nano DAP Review – The Stick Music Player Experience
FiiO Snowsky Echo Nano is a $49 USD DAP Digital Audiophile Player with stick shape, with USB DAC function, DSD and Flac decoding support, as well as a scroll wheel, and a 3.5mm single ended headphone output. Today we will review the Echo nano mini DAP and also see how it sounds and how it compares to the entry-level audio world.
Introduction
FiiO seems to be focusing on the Jade and Snowsky brands and Echo Nano is a new mini DAP with a Cirrus CS43131 DAC at the core, and a shape that brings back memories as it resembles music players I had back in 2006 and in my early childhood. This is going to be interesting and depending on how it sounds like, it might be the best entry-level DAP you could get.
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Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4xgyzoM
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c38DoTsn
Build Quality – Design – Subjective Usage
Build And Design – Echo Nano is a portable Hi-Res lossless music player, with a metallic construction and a scroll wheel at the top just in the reach of your fingertip. It is very intentionally designed to resemble an old-school mp3 player, and has an aluminium-magnesium alloy body, and can come in multiple colors for an extra splash of personality. It is much more durable than an old-school all-plastic mp3 player from 2006, but it is a FiiO, so you bang for the buck is extreme compared to what you’d get for 50 USD back then. The ideea of controlling a DAP through a scroll wheel is not perfect but it works fairly well, as all my old-school DAPs had some kind of wheel at the center of their control. You also have side buttons for control which are useful, but there is a microSD slot on the side, type-c port on the side, and a 3.5mm headphone output on the bottom.
Navigating the DAP takes some time to get used to, because you basically have to press on the wheel towards the DAP body, and scroll the wheel to navigate the menus. Also, there is no dedicated back / Enter button, and rather Echo nano has a short press for enter on the side button, and a long press for back. It is a bit odd, but you do get used to it.
DAC – At heart, Echo Nano is powered by a CS43131 DAC, single DAC. Through it, Echo nano will be able to decide data up to 24 bit / 192 kHz, for FLAC, Ape up to 24 Bit / 192 kHz, and DSD256, with WAV also up to 24 Bit / 192 kHz. The USB DAC function only works up to 16 Bit / 48 kHz though.
Display – At the face of the DAP we have an OLED display with a very low power consumption, and it is also fairly small at 0.91″. Something that FiiO does not seem to talk about is the refresh rate of the screen, and to my eyes this would be the first DAP with a 120 Hz refresh rate screen, which would be wild and a feature they should be talking about. To me, it looks like it has very few colors, has no cover art support, but the fact that it moves so fast makes the whole DAP feel really snappy and quick.
Software – Echo Nano seems to be running some kind of Linux portable software, and it will need to do a database refresh for you to explore the microSD card. It takes quite a while for it to do that database building, since Echo nano can read microSD cards officially up to 256 GB. I was able to make it read a card 512 GB in size, and I also was able to
Power output – The max rated power is quite low at 120 mW + 120 mW, through a SE single ended output, and a THD+N of 1% at this max output. The SNR is 127 dB, and standard THD , if you don’t push it to max power, is 0.0006%. Noise level is 0.7uV and those are all good numbers and allow Echo Nano to be far better technically than old-school mp3 players.
Battery – FiiO gave the SnowSky Echo nano a small battery, just 360 mAh in size, which will give it around 7 hours of battery life with medium volume. This amounts to around 5 hours close to max volume, max display brightness and with a lot of display brightness.
Sound Quality
Pairings – FiiO Snowsky Echo Nano is not a powerful DAP for sure, but I did use a couple of adapters from 3.5mm to 4.4mm and have tested it with multiple headphones and IEMs I reviewed recently. The full list of pairings includes Faith Audio E1000, Grell OAE2, Lily Audio Genesis One, Palma DHS-1, KBEar Cepheus, Crosszone CZ-10 Enhanced, TinHIFI T7, NFAudio NE4, Sivga Peng, Crosszone CZ-8a Enhanced, Soundz Flame, YanYin Canon PRO, Dunu Vulkan 2, Moritz Aura, HarmonicDyne Romantic, Hiby Digital Yume, HIFIMAN Audivina LE, Westone Mach 80,BQEYZ Winter II, Fosi Audio IM4, Aune AC55,iBasso Cookie Ti Jr.
As expected from the technical data, you will mainly be driving very sensitive headphones and IEMS like Oak Nano, and you will not be able to drive the likes of HIFIMAN Ananda Unveiled, or most over-the-ear headphones. Aune AC55 works just fine, which is nice, but Echo Nano is quite limited in driving power, having enough for IEMS, but not enough for planars or even most dynamic models.
Overall Signature – FiiO Echo Nano Snowsky sounds quite natural, a bit mid centric, a bit relaxed and smooth, has a certainly smooth and relaxed bass and with a bit of extra quantity compared to pure neutrality. While it is not very sharp nor very aggressive, it has an interesting, clean signature that is easy to enjoy with most music styles and IEMS. It will tone down the aggro edge on most Chifi IEMS, including the ones made by FiiO. Can sound a bit mid centric and vocal.
Bass – At the bottom-end, Echo Nano is quite full and deep, with a rounded, and relaxed bass that has little texture but has a good amount of body and punch. It feels fairly big and bloomy, without feeling overpowered. Echo Nano is interesting for EDM, Pop and Electronic music, but also for rock and metal. For acoustic instruments it has the right body and presence but not a lot of texture. It is generally good for entry-level listening as most people will appreciate a fatter bottom lip when in this budget range.
Midrange And Vocals – Vocals are clean, relaxed and without a lot of texture. This can kill a bit of the harmonics in songs and gives less realism to acoustic instruments, but works well for electronic music, EDM, POP and music that has a lot of distortion as it does not emphasize with that distortion. Overall, Echo Nano is quite good for modern and compressed music, but it is clearly not made for acoustic and classical, as there FiiO M33 does a much better job. There is no bias towards lower or upper midrange, but the whole midrange is a bit forward and more present than the treble in particular.
Treble – Top end extends well into the 16 kHz – 18 kHz range without much roll-off, but it is not overly present, it is not aggressive and instead it is very smooth and relaxed. This makes Echo Nano great if you find the IEMS you have too aggressive or too forward in the highs, and if you want to experience a more relaxed listening experience. It is great for rock and metal music if you want it less aggro, but can feel a bit too laid-back and relaxed at times.
Dynamics And Textures – Dynamic range is relaxed, and Echo Nano is not a compressed sounding DAP, and instead it is a bit too wide for modern music, trying to also appeal to classical, orchestral and acoustic music rather than sticking to a compressed tuning for modern music only. This being said, the forward vocals and overall bass presentation makes it better for rock and metal music as well as EDM and pop rather than orchestral and classical.
Loudness Saturation Gradient – Echo Nano does not like a high power draw and with most IEMS I find that I need to reach 90 volume, and at times, it will shut down if it has too little battery. It seems to be draining its own battery during the USB DAC function which is not great, and it does draw more when you’re using a high listening volume.
Soundstage – I feel like it is quite forward, and presents a smaller, more narrow soundstage. Echo nano is good if you want to get intimate and personal with the singer and the orchestra and it does not create a large space in music, but it will allow music to expand a bit laterally. While great for some styles, it can feel flat as it has little depth, yet it has a clean and good instrument separation. A unique tuning which I feel like I heard before with DAC AMPs based on the same chip.
Value – Conclusion
FiiO Echo Nano is incredibly cheap, and it even is cheaper than the MP3 Players I was getting around 50 USD in 2008, but it is FAR better. Value wise, it is one of the best DAPs you can get, but it is a very specific thingy that you need to be at least 30 years old to understand and to get the reference. It is interesting though and I wish that Mp3 Players were this cool back when I was young.
As things round up to the conclusion of our review today, FiiO SnowSky Echo Nano is an interesting little piece of tech and achieves many things it did not set out to do. Even so, it is best paired with portable IEMS and earphones rather than full-sized headphones, but for 50 USD, it is an excellent deal and a fully recommended purchase.
PROs
- Really thinking about it, it is the first high refresh rate portable music player launched
- Mini OLED display that is easy to read
- Small and ergonomic
- Good for IEMS and portable headphones
- Natural and clean sound with good resolution
- Zero USB DAC delay, perfect for real time content
- Reliable and can support large microSD cards
- Great for a simple and fun lifestyle
Cons
- It takes time to get used to the interface
- Not a lot of driving power
- Somewhat short battery life
- Just 2 rows of information on the display, makes it hard to manage large playlists
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/4xgyzoM
Aliexpress – https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_c38DoTsn
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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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