FIO M11 Plus?

[LtMandella]

I did a search and found nothing so:
I would like to use my FIIO M11 Plus as an external DAC but the FIIO only has USB for wired input. It has no s/pdif COAX or OPTICAL inputs. So how would I use that player as an external dac? I believe the FIIO supports airplay (not sure about airplay 2) and possibly chromecast if using a 3rd party player app. I use a WIIM pro as the master in main listening room (where I would like to use the FIIO as the DAC) and a WIIM mini as a slave for a multi-room listening.
Anyone have any ideas?

[[edit]]
According to "new feature" in wiim blog, looks like I can send (cast using airplay) the digital music stream from my wiim pro to my M11 Plus for use as external dac. And hopefully the synced mini in another room will still work as wireless slave. Correct?

And perhaps the reverse? Can I use the M11 Plus as the player in one room feeding my main system, and use airplay to cast the music stream from the M11 Plus to the two wiim devices as synced slaves, so I can have 3 room multi-room listening with FIIO in one room, and the two wiim devices in two other room systems?


thanks!
LT

 

[Brantome]

Current WiiM devices don’t support USB connected DACs, nor do I see Airplay compatibility mentioned in the FIO spec I’m reading. You maybe could Bluetooth to it, but that rather nullifies any benefits you might be expecting from using the DAC.

 

[LtMandella]

Current WiiM devices don’t support USB connected DACs, nor do I see Airplay compatibility mentioned in the FIO spec I’m reading. You maybe could Bluetooth to it, but that rather nullifies any benefits you might be expecting from using the DAC.

looks like the M11 Plus supports airplay according to FIIO docs?

18.How to use the AirPlay function?-FIIO---BORN FOR MUSIC

www.fiio.com

 

[Brantome]

[[edit]]
According to "new feature" in wiim blog, looks like I can send (cast using airplay) the digital music stream from my wiim pro to my M11 Plus for use as external dac. And hopefully the synced mini in another room will still work as wireless slave. Correct?

And perhaps the reverse? Can I use the M11 Plus as the player in one room feeding my main system, and use airplay to cast the music stream from the M11 Plus to the two wiim devices as synced slaves, so I can have 3 room multi-room listening with FIIO in one room, and the two wiim devices in two other room systems?


thanks!
LT

That’s more a question for a FIO forum tbh as the Wiim devices would then just be dumb Airplay speaker, and the question is then whether the FIO can simultaneously feed your main system while at the same time act as an Airplay transmitter sending the same audio to a further two devices which just happen to be WiiMs. It’s sounding rather messy tbh…

 

[LtMandella]

[[It’s sounding rather messy tbh…]]
yep, story of my life
IF the two wiims can receive airplay broadcast as their music source and output to optical, I may be in business. I have not received the M11 PLUS yet from Ebay purchase. I will update this thread with results of my attempt.

 

[jfbuk]

Have you thought about just connecting your FiiO 3.5mm output to the Aux or RCA inputs on a Wiim ?
You can link multiple Wiims using the native WiimHome app support for multi room over your home network without worrying about Airplay.

 

[LtMandella]

that's an idea, but those wiim analog inputs send the input to an ADC and since the signal was originally digital in the FIIO, then converting to analog for input into the wiim analog inputs, then converting in the wiim to digital again then wiim optical output to external dacs and then converting back to analog in external dacs seems like a prescription for adding jitter and distortion?

The M11 plus has coax s/pdif out, but the wiim pro only has optical s/pdif in. Perhaps I could use an inexpensive COAX to OPTICAL converter. Those are not very expensive. That would probably be the way to go if airplay does not work out...

Also I was hoping using the M11 to get a 3 room multi-room going using the FIIO and then the two wiims, all in different rooms. We'll see...

 

[LtMandella]

So I have learned M11 Plus can NOT cast to airplay, it can only function as airplay receiver device. M11 however does have coax out. I could output from the M11 to the wiim pro using a coax to optical converter. So if the M11 can simultaneously output the coax and also output to it's analog out, I can do what I want (create a 3 room multi-room system using the M11 as DAP in 1 one room with synced play using the wiiims in 2 other rooms.

 

[Griff]

So I have learned M11 Plus can NOT cast to airplay, it can only function as airplay receiver device. M11 however does have coax out. I could output from the M11 to the wiim pro using a coax to optical converter. So if the M11 can simultaneously output the coax and also output to it's analog out, I can do what I want (create a 3 room multi-room system using the M11 as DAP in 1 one room with synced play using the wiiims in 2 other rooms.

Look out for the specifications coax/optical converters. Many of them will output 192khz only on the coax input or output. The Optical input output is sometimes limited to 96khz. Ran into this issue when using one with a Wiim Mini to an older dac that only accepted 192khz on Coaxial. shop around and check the specification carefully, unlike what i did, twice! .

 

[LtMandella]

good to know, thank you!
as I say above I will update this thread with the results. I would really like to use the M11 analog output in main system room, I expect it will sound better than the dacs I am using now.
Although I am very, very impressed with the sound quality of these streamers outputting optical to my external dacs. They easily beat the sound of USB out from my PC, and they do multi-room just great! The improvement was instantly easy to hear.
And I tried for a couple years to do multi-room with RPI4s and LMS. Sound was great with dac hats, but what a friggin' hassle!

 

[LtMandella]

gave up on the concept of using analog output of DAP in main system with wiim playbacks in other rooms. only way i could find do this and keep the audio sycnronized was by routing all output through the wiims. otherwise almost 1 second time delay of wiim outputs in secondary room systems vs. DAP analog output in main system.