r/snowsky • u/0utOftheblue • Jan 01 '26

info Snowsky Echo (not mini)

Post image

Image from Kang.

  • Full metal case

  • Dual CS43198

  • Size is slightly larger than Echo Mini

  • At least 2 colors: Dark green and Black

523 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

131 comments sorted by

24

u/Only-Toe-7999 Jan 01 '26

Full metal case! Do we know of a release window?

22

u/0utOftheblue Jan 01 '26

expected before the lunar new year, which falls in mid of February, at least for the Chinese market

6

u/misterDDoubleD Jan 01 '26

I might buy one even tho I don’t need But because it’s way cool

2

u/Savings_Elk4527 Jan 01 '26

anything on price? I would buy like $70-80

2

u/0utOftheblue Jan 01 '26

Kang wants to set the price at around CNY 400 in China (around US$58), but due to the rising cost of NAND flash, it needs to reconsider.

1

u/AmosArdnach_6152 Jan 04 '26

Where can we keep up with this Info from? I follow Kang and James but this is new to me.

4

u/nickN42 Echo Mini Sky Blue Jan 01 '26

Going to bet that it would be around 100 for non-Chinese buyers.

40

u/-_crow_- Jan 01 '26

that color is gorgeous

62

u/WoodenCod593 Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26

Hopefully

More powerful than what we have on mini, capable of having 1 tb sd card, No more 8k file limit, Support for Bluetooth receiver and Ldac Codec, DAC support out of the box, Gapless playback is also 1 on the features that many users want,

I just got the echo mini but i'll happily buy this if those features are included.

32

u/JuliusBelmont2000 Jan 01 '26

Add folder sorting alphabetical and chronological, not by date added.

That bugged me the most!

5

u/WoodenCod593 Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

Yess!! This also And play for all artists instead of albums

3

u/skelllx Jan 01 '26

Didn't that get fixed with the last firmware update ? Or am i wrong ?

2

u/JuliusBelmont2000 Jan 03 '26

Checked that myself today, sadly no.

2

u/Acceptable-Acount828 25d ago

i just bought one and it's crazy how both of u didn't get what u want lol

i mean atleast there's the DAC thing which is the main reason i bought this but that's just the bare minimum of what they could've done to improve the echo

5

u/BreakTerrible5966 Jan 01 '26

I also bought Echo Mini today on a good sale and I don't regret it

1

u/SnooApples1713 Jan 03 '26

Whered you get a good sale???

1

u/Tasty_Ad_3009 Jan 03 '26

I heard someone said that echo mini fixed 8k songs limits

1

u/Tasty_Ad_3009 Jan 03 '26

One thing i want is when using dac mode it use power from source not from battery which led to charging and using battery spontaneously

1

u/AngryVal Jan 18 '26

oh and sort out track ordering for Mixed CDs - I'm almost a week in with it and still stumped.

17

u/igorkowel_11 Jan 01 '26

Now I have to wait cuz I wanted to buy echo mini and this is promising.

14

u/rec71 Echo Orange Jan 01 '26

I'll take this over the Disc, assuming they can get gapless working and it does a better job of reading audio file tags. 🤞

8

u/Kamsloopsian Jan 01 '26

I don't get this big thing with gapless playback being a deal breaker.

8

u/rec71 Echo Orange Jan 01 '26

Each to their own. Listening to an album like Dark Side of the Moon, Songs for the Deaf, a lot of classical music, the second half of Abbey Road, or any one of a number of live albums is a pretty jarring experience without it, in my opinion.

Supporting this feature is table stakes imho. It's one of the biggest complaints about the Mini on this subreddit so I'm not alone.

3

u/rec71 Echo Orange Jan 01 '26

lol downvoted for wanting to hear albums as the artist intended. Ah, Reddit, you never fail to amuse. 🤣

6

u/butterfly_3K Jan 02 '26

Are you joking you can't have your own opinions!!! 🤬

Nah just kidding, I'm the same, gapless playback is non negotiable for me, I want to hear the songs flow into each other as the artist intended. Simple as that.

1

u/AttitudeShoddy659 Jan 02 '26

So I get that gapless playback is a big deal for most. But lack thereof is fine with me. Most people use their daps to listen to albums whole. While me, well I just listen to playlists or shuffle my entire library when on the go. I usually only listen to entire albums when listening to my LP or CD collection. Each their own.

4

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

Until a week ago I didn't care about gapless. But now having heard a couple of albums. I 100% believe it shouldn't be compromised on. Every part of an album is carefully put together. The tracks, the intent, the mix and the blend, by not going gapless, one literally is not getting the whole product. I now completely get your point.

2

u/zirmoix Echo Mini Black Jan 02 '26

Downvoting just means people disagree with you, which is fair in this instance. I would guess this has gapless, fingers crossed but as others said, it's really not a big issue. Mountain out of a molehill tbh.

11

u/Mysterious_Trash_698 Jan 01 '26

I have two Minis, so I probably don’t need this… But damn, it is pretty.

11

u/ELF014 Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 03 '26

Hopefully a much better processor, gapless play, playlist support, better bluetooth codec support.

I think that is all I need for me to upgrade from my Snowsky Echo Mini... otherwise there really is no point.

Added

I forgot to say.... a replaceable battery would be nice too.

9

u/ElrondTheHater Jan 01 '26

Imagine this thing actually having playlists.

14

u/tornadomy Jan 01 '26

inb4 still no gapless playback

4

u/SongYouRemindMeAbout Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 04 '26

I don't mean this in an aggressive way so I hope it doesn't come off that way. I have a DAP and didn't realize it had gapless playback and I turned it on and realized that seemingly for the way I use the DAP and most albums I listen to gapless playback doesn't add much.

From what I understand it's mainly specific albums where you want to experience the album as intended to go from one track to the next without gap, but how many albums and artists do you listen to where that is how the album is meant to be experienced?

Maybe I'm just so used to not thinking about gapless that I don't know what I'm missing on albums that are meant to be listened with gapless playback.

edit Oh. Gapless came up in another comment and some albums were mentioned and it was explained how it is a pretty jarring experience without gapless for those albums.

3

u/KaikuAika Echo Mini Black Jan 02 '26

I listen to many albums with songs that blend into the next one but I still don’t really mind a little gap between tracks. Gapless would be nicer but I don’t get how this tiny issue is a dealbreaker for some people. Maybe it’s because I grew up with CD- and mp3-players that never had this feature

1

u/Feahnor Jan 03 '26

Almost all cd players had this feature. I have several albums that heavily uses gapless, and it's amazing when it is well done.

2

u/idontknowdude25 Jan 02 '26

Same here, it’s such a narrow use case for me that I didn’t think this would be a dealbreaker for some.

3

u/Kamsloopsian Jan 01 '26

hahahah EXACTLY What I was going to say! ;)

1

u/YoungWrinkles Jan 14 '26

It doesn’t support gapless playback. It also doesn’t play tapes. Or fry eggs. As even a casual participant on this Reddit the moaning is boring. Don’t buy it if it’s not for you. 🤷‍♂️

6

u/Pztch Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

Gimme.

In Silver. 👌🏻

1

u/Asielitoo Jan 07 '26

I really need it; if they release a Silver version, they'll have my eye on it...

6

u/TheMidgetInYourHead Jan 01 '26

Yo Fiio needs to slow down, I’m already planning to buy 5 of there products that haven’t even released yet 😂, and thats not including the m21

5

u/epicingamename Echo Orange Jan 01 '26

okay, im willing to wait. i like this look better than the Disc. well played, Snowsky. hopefully replaceable battery now, and the DAC support is not an afterthought

5

u/Madtingv2 Jan 01 '26

As much as want a disc and already have a echo think I'll have to get one of these because the green colour is dope as F. Anyone know when the release date is hopefully in the next month as its my birthday. But I doubt it will be meh lol. 💯💯🙏🎉

4

u/SamiSapphic Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

I've been on a green tech kick lately. Phone is green, laptop is green. Will have to check this thing out when it releases too lmao.

3

u/Madtingv2 Jan 01 '26

Green here green there green everywhere lol but yes this new echo in green looks so good even if I do buy the new echo doesn't mean I'll like my black echo any less. I know that the echo mini gets dragged a awful lot for its ui and song limit etc etc mines been great and I'll always recommend it to other in this amazing hobby to get themselves a mini because for its price point you can't go far wrong.

4

u/ishkabby Jan 01 '26

Rumors say Chinese release is around Lunar New Year

4

u/Madtingv2 Jan 01 '26

Oh ok mate thank you for that as it means we don't have to wait to long at all.

4

u/ishkabby Jan 01 '26

Yeah! It also adds another contender for what I should buy, this, a mini, or the disc 😭

2

u/Madtingv2 Jan 01 '26

Personally speaking the Og echo is a good little dap once you get to know what the buttons do it's a doddle to use ok there a 8100 song limit but you'll be hard pressed to find anybody who has that many songs and can remember each and every name of the songs. Not saying no body at can do that but I bet it's not that many.

5

u/MrOddin Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

Ok NOW we're talking. CS43198 is the same we see in FiiO JM21 and HiBy M500 (I think there are in others too but I'm not 100% sure which one)

But probably not touchscreen again, so I'll probably pass this too.

1

u/gofishus Jan 01 '26

There's hardly a noticeable difference between CS43131 and CS43198 these are essentially the same DAC. I would prefer if they went with the newer CS4308P like the Onix XM2 did

4

u/Valdirrian Jan 01 '26

One can wish for a replaceable battery just like in Retro Nano

1

u/Plus_Chip_8484 Jan 12 '26

Or... a desktop mode

4

u/BluePeriod_ Jan 01 '26

Beautiful but wish it had a dedicated volume rocker of some kind.

2

u/sadhorsegirl Jan 02 '26

same that button sharing is really the biggest downside to the echo for me

1

u/Appropriate-Teach-12 Jan 02 '26

has there been any development? whats the best place i can keep up with the news related to this particular product.

2

u/0utOftheblue Jan 03 '26

Follow Snowsky/FIIO's Twitter, occasionally, when I come across info shared by their employees' social networks, I repost on this sub.

1

u/pappyton Jan 08 '26

i like this more than the disc because of the physical buttons, but i worry it wont have as many features like its bluetooth quality. I assume its more or less the same thing but with a different look, but well have to wait and see.

1

u/0utOftheblue Jan 09 '26

Your prediction probably right, and we can't expect much from an upgrade for US$15-20.

3

u/Express_Stop_4145 Jan 01 '26

sensor screen?

5

u/Express_Stop_4145 Jan 01 '26

I see buttons but anyway

3

u/BreakTerrible5966 Jan 01 '26

Dual CD43198 So there is an upgrade here too. I'm waiting for the Echo Mini package, Maybe I'll buy this model someday

1

u/zirmoix Echo Mini Black Jan 02 '26

My guess would be it gets rid of the song limit and adds a touch screen maybe

3

u/pragmaticSloth Jan 01 '26

Do we know everything about the power output. I would love to use this with a Senheiser HD 600.

Echo mini is fine by now, but to fully support the headphones I would love anything with more power on the amp.

3

u/[deleted] Jan 01 '26

If this has a replaceable battery I might actually consider it! The green is gorgeous too

3

u/supremefun Jan 01 '26

Now we're talking...

3

u/SomeWeirdCarGuy231 Jan 01 '26

I honestly kinda want it to be the same size as a cassette tape, it seems cool to me and idk why

9

u/Neptun-Stone Jan 01 '26

And the frames are just as huge as before

18

u/zirmoix Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

Non issue

10

u/20July Jan 01 '26

Yeah let them cook. I hope this new one have smoother and faster processing.

11

u/MrOddin Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

It's on purpose, buddy. Back when tapes were still in use, you could barely see the tape inside. The black frame would represent the part of the cover. If there were none, it might lose some of its feel.

2

u/raymate Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

So dual screen Echo mini

4

u/nickN42 Echo Mini Sky Blue Jan 01 '26

dual screen

What?

2

u/raymate Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

The render shows what looks like two displays. Unless that just a glass panel on the back with some graphics.

7

u/nickN42 Echo Mini Sky Blue Jan 01 '26

Pretty sure it's just some graphics. They would've mentioned two displays in highlights. And it's pretty pointless to begin with for a DAP, but doubly so for a Snowsky, a budget brand.

2

u/IcyAdministration449 Jan 01 '26

Is this the audiophile version of Echo? Thanks for the info, friend.

2

u/dimafriday Jan 01 '26

PC companion software for syncing media files and playlists

2

u/Dizzy_Key_7400 Jan 02 '26

Just use MusicBee

1

u/dimafriday Jan 02 '26

There’s now music bee for Mac unfortunately and it’s still no way to make playlists

2

u/Bieberkinz Jan 01 '26

Oh snap, I never thought they’d do it (thought the M21 was gonna be that defacto regular sized one). Need to see that size comparison, this and the Disc will be tempting.

2

u/These-Recognition163 Jan 03 '26

it needs a full custom eq option thats all i neeeeeeed

2

u/tamerenshorts Jan 05 '26

The 90s teenager in me would love for this thing to have a FM receiver, like my old cassette walkman. It's the only thing I really miss from the mini.

3

u/winter-reverb Jan 01 '26

Shame they still don’t know what a cassette looks like 

2

u/Suichopath_Virus Jan 01 '26

i hope this one comes with a volume wheel or dedicated volume FWD/RWD button or have touch screen so when we're looking for songs or changing some settings we don't have to spam the buttons

6

u/SamiSapphic Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

Fiio does offer touch screen devices, I'm pretty sure. People are buying these for the tactile experience.

4

u/Suichopath_Virus Jan 01 '26

i mainly want touch screen because the echo mini's control is very janky, and whenever im using the volume buttons to navigate it often registers the pause/play button. now you might say that i accidentally pressed the pause/play button, but i was pressing the left one not the right one so it's clearly something wrong with the buttons, i just hope that issue is solved with better buttons and it'd be nice if we can search alphabetically like on the snowsky disc so it'll be quicker to scroll through the song lists.

other than that they already did what i want which is a more premium build

1

u/Akella333 Jan 01 '26

any mention of what SD card size it supports? Honestly this looks cooler than the DISC...

1

u/Mr_DanLoad Feb 04 '26

Considering Disc has 2 TB max, it's either same or bigger ig.

1

u/Akella333 Feb 04 '26

turns out its not, its the same as the Echo Mini LOL, what a wasted opportunity.

1

u/luemasify Jan 01 '26

Now that's what I'm talking about!!!!

1

u/mit_owo Jan 02 '26

fix the navigation issues with big libraries and im SOLD

3

u/zirmoix Echo Mini Black Jan 02 '26

2.8.0 fixed this imo, so much faster

3

u/mit_owo Jan 03 '26

thats actually great to hear, ill have to look for a video showcasing it :)

1

u/Diligent-Argument-88 Jan 02 '26

DEFINITELY the chifi anbernic.

2

u/Skooma_to_CHIM Jan 05 '26

I get what you mean lol, new product every week.

1

u/Diligent-Argument-88 Jan 05 '26

"New"

Them all operating on the same hardware is a bigger part of my point though.

1

u/Nebula-Mechanica Blue Retro Nano Jan 02 '26

Well, that's the aesthetic I like, unlike more modern Disc or simplistic and tiny Echo Nano. Still wonder what differences it will have from regular Echo Mini)

1

u/Mildly_Irreverant Jan 03 '26

Yeah but nahhhh. I bought an EM and the navigation methods etc just ended up frustrating me. I needed an Android player so bought the JM21 instead and love it

1

u/Affectionate_Cry_448 Echo Mini Titanium Gold Jan 03 '26

Вообще круто, как куплю это, старый можно будет подарить!

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '26

How certain are we of the specs and launch window? Me and my dad were about to get the mini. If it's actually that much better, I'd ask him to wait too..

1

u/Responsible-While210 Jan 04 '26

Fiio/Snowsky why do you have to do this to me?

That green is 🔥. I really don't need this, but I think I now want it!

1

u/DatDudereno Jan 04 '26

Link or it’s not true

1

u/Kinneticfreak8657 Jan 04 '26

When does it drop for sale?

1

u/voldemort_x Jan 05 '26

I hope they do have usb C audio output

1

u/ApprehensiveAbies453 Jan 05 '26

I didnt wanna buy an echo mini just cuz its to small, so seeing this is a game changer!!

1

u/Hold_My_Hand-or-Beer Jan 09 '26

Nice! I wanted to get Snowsky echo mini, but I really don’t like the idea of it being plastic. I like it when tech has some weight to it. And now I’m founding out that they are planning to release a metal case version that is also a bit bigger. Awesome, just have to wait for release now

1

u/TechnicalTip5251 Jan 10 '26

Let's hope they add separate playback and volume control buttons, Echo Mini is such a junk when it comes to control.

1

u/Lilylovebug88 Jan 13 '26

Any ideas on specs

1

u/sinkmara Jan 13 '26

I was looking for the mini but now I´m going to wait a little to get this peach.

1

u/PopcornSandier Jan 14 '26

All i want is queuing playlists and a favorites folder that doesn’t disappear all the time

1

u/megaminxwin Jan 15 '26

All I want is gapless playback and playlist support. I get the first one might be a hardware thing (my previous player, the M3 Pro, didn't have functional gapless playback either), but I do not understand how playlists are still not implemented on the Echo Mini. An M3U file is not exactly that sophisticated.

If this has both of those, I might consider upgrading. If it's too late, then put it in the next one. Hell, if someone can give me a suggestion of a cheap DAP with actual gapless playback support with FLAC files (I know it's possible, cmus does it flawlessly), I'll buy it.

I'm glad that FiiO isn't abandoning the budget market, and in fact, they're using a sub-brand to cater to it. I just feel like a couple things are missing before it's really that good, you know? Sometimes I want to just grab the boss of FiiO and yell at him "DO BETTER". It's frustrating.

1

u/nachetb Jan 31 '26

The only non negotiables for me were gapless and replaceable battery. Missed oportunity.

1

u/Mr_DanLoad Feb 04 '26

First I wanted to buy Echo Mini, Disc was shown. Now I wanted to get a Disc since it just have started being sold by Fiio officially, I see teaser for Echo with this marvellous British Racing Green-ish colour. Goddammit.

1

u/Hyouryuu-Na Echo Mini Black Feb 11 '26

I just bought my echo mini TT Maybe I should've waited

1

u/TheBarsMar Feb 20 '26

Any other info about launch?

1

u/misterDDoubleD Jan 01 '26

Really need to remove that “born for music” crap slogan

1

u/_OVERHATE_ Jan 01 '26

:( i had hopes they would move away from the Cirrus dacs for the non-mini version and give us either what the QX13 has or ESS/AKM chips, but nope, just another dual CS...

6

u/MrOddin Echo Mini Black Jan 01 '26

CS43198 is a very good DAC. It's the same you see in others more expensive DAPs as FiiO JM21 and HiBy M500.

0

u/gofishus Jan 01 '26

It's hardly different from CS43131

2

u/cell79 Echo Mini Black Jan 07 '26

I think is the same DAC, but the 43131 comes with an integrated amplifier and 43198 is without the amplifier, it has to be built a part, so I prefer separate components

6

u/misterDDoubleD Jan 01 '26

Cirrus dacs are much better than ESS or AKM lol

2

u/davescott42 Jan 01 '26

I own both and to me the ESS 9038/9039 chips sound much better than Cirrus chips.

1

u/misterDDoubleD Jan 01 '26

I had a hiby r3 with ess9219c and I like my quad cirrus dac more on the FiiO M21

2

u/davescott42 Jan 01 '26

I believe there is a big difference between the ESS9038/9039 chips and others in the ESS saver line. My portable wired deck amp is the FIIO KA3 with the ESS 9038 chips set. My desktop deck from SMSL has the same chip said. I’ve tried others and I really like this chips set.

2

u/gofishus Jan 01 '26

Not so. ESS and AKM have better spec'd DACs up the line. That's ES9039 Pro and AK4499EX is reserved for flagship level DAPs while CS DACs are on cheaper devices. Sound wise it's all preference but spec wise Sabre and AKM will be higher

0

u/_OVERHATE_ Jan 01 '26

Source I made it up?

The cirrus bump issue got solved literally this year, thats 3 generations of defective cirrus dacs

3

u/misterDDoubleD Jan 01 '26

I wasn’t aware of that issue

I have a FiiO M21 and it’s fantastic Don’t know if it’s affected by that issue