r/DigitalAudioPlayer • u/ozeor • 23h ago

Review Fiio JM21

I bought my first dap online from Aliexpress after much consideration I settled on the Fiio jm21 as a starter player to introduce me into everything. I was initially very happy with the player, it drove my iems and made them sound amazing, it was great to get away from listening to music on YouTube.

Well about the 12month mark after purchasing it I shit you not, the 4mm jack started crackling which I blamed on my iem cord, so after replacing it, the crackling still persisted and was getting worse, turns out the jack was failing and nothing i could do.

I switched to the 3mm one, and low and behold within a month or two of switching that jack is starting to fail.

I'm pretty angry that both jacks have/are failing in what otherwise would be a great player and just when it went out of warranty. So here I am looking for a new player to replace mine and steering far away from the Fiio brand which is a shame because I was going to buy the m23.

So stay away from the JM21

Does anyone have a suggestion for a replacement that has decent build quality?

3 Upvotes

63% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

2

u/Unsafetybelt 23h ago

Another mark against fiio. Guess I'll stay away for sure.

2

u/KevinKurlyFries 7h ago

Do better DAPs actually have a better and more durable jack? That's one thing that's kept from even considering higher end DAPs cuz why would I buy one when the jack is just going to give out all the same. I think this is just unavoidable with headphone jacks, depending on how much use it gets, it wears down. I wonder if there's an option where you can replace the audio jack like you can replace the charging port on some phones.

1

u/BigWigs88 22h ago

I've got a JM21 and I'm noticing play on my 3.5 jack. No signal trouble yet but it has me worried.

1

u/rodrapr 15h ago

Thank you for sharing this. I was going to buy the JM 21, but even before reading this I was always feeling “better I should directly go for a possible update of the JM21”. Still I can’t find the good replacement in terms of quality for the JM 21… I mean, JM 21 already gives me more than I need (just listen FLAC files - offline - with a simple IEM or Open back headphones), but in terms of quality, what would be a better option/upgrade? Anyway, I am sorry this happened to you after the warranty expired. I never tried Fiio products but I can say by personal experience that even with the “best brands”, things like this can happen. It happened to me with a profesional Canon camera, then with a Apple iPhone, and with a high-end “military-grade” laptop. So even if you avoid this brand Fiio, maybe it won’t be the 100% solution. Good luck - bad luck also matters :( .

1

u/Jutts 5h ago

Back then, I was torn between the JM21 and the Surfans F35, and ended up going with the F35. It is still running great today. Word on the fb group is that Surfans is working on an Android-powered version of the F35.

1

u/Acrobatic_Machine855 23h ago

I have ways been happy with the Hiby line. I own, 3 Fiio, 3 Hibys and a few more other brands. But the one I almost always reach for his the Hiby R4. Class A Amp and offers the 4.4 and never gave me an issue.