FiiO JM21 review: my pick for a portable audiophile starting point

Introduction

Digital audio players used to be the exclusive domain of serious stereophiles, but nostalgia for not-an-iPods and wired earphones has shot them back into the mainstream. It helps that the cost of entry has plummeted lately, with budget-friendly models delivering similar specs, features, and – crucially – sound performance as their pricier rivals.

The FiiO JM21 might just be the pick of the bunch. At $200/£180 it’ll set you back less than a third of the price of the firm’s outstanding M23 player, and undercuts the likes of Sony and Astell&Kern by a significant margin. It’s sold under FiiO’s beginner-friendly Jade Audio imprint in certain parts of the world, but after a few weeks of listening, I can’t spot any real signs of corners being cut.

Design & build: on the case

On first inspection, this palm-sized player doesn’t look particularly entry-grade. Pick the JM21 up and you’ll quickly realise the rear casing is made from plastic, but using aluminium for the front half adds some reassuring rigidity. It also instantly elevates this above the compact, all-plastic competition from Hidizs.

I’m not the biggest fan of the baby blue and silver colour scheme, but both halves have held up well after several weeks of on-the-go listening. There are no scrapes, scratches or faded plastic, and it keeps fingerprints at bay. A set of physical buttons at either side (one for power and volume, the other for playing and skipping tracks) meant I wasn’t constantly tapping the touchscreen to change tunes, either. The way they fall right where your thumb and index finger rest make it ideal for one-handed operation.

About the only thing missing is a button lock switch; you’ve got to dive into the settings menus to disable them when the screen is off. At least you can pick which are always active, and which only function when the display is active.

The 4.7in screen dominates the front of the player, with glass that sits above the chassis. That could mean a greater risk of damage should you drop it, and the included plastic case is the bare minimum of added protection. The display itself is a decent enough 60Hz LCD, with a 1334×750 resolution that’s sharp enough to make track names easy to read at arms’ length. I had to really crank the brightness slider to make my album art pop, though; it looks pretty dim at anything below 75%, and there’s no automatic adjustment.

The dimensions get pretty close to an old-school iPod Classic. At 13mm thick the JM21 is a teensy bit thicker than a modern smartphone, but still perfectly pocket-friendly.

Features & battery: plug and go

FiiO has kitted the JM21 out with all the connections you’d expect from a portable player: a 3.5mm port that can also act as an SPDIF output; balanced 4.4mm analogue out with enough oomph for 700mW of amplification per channel; a USB-C port that can let the player act as an external DAC for your other audio gear; and two-way Bluetooth for either beaming tunes from another device or to your wireless headphones. LDAC, aptX HD and AAC codecs cover the major bases, and there’s an AirPlay mode for connecting to kit using Apple’s wireless audio standard.

32GB of on-board storage really doesn’t stretch very far if your music library consists entirely of high resolution FLACs and DSDs. If that sounds like you, then the microSD card slot is essential. You thankfully don’t need a pin or smartphone SIM tray tool to access it, either. Just keep in mind the USB-C connection isn’t the fastest; transferring 80GB of tracks from an external USB3 SSD took me over an hour. You only get one USB port here, unlike FiiO’s pricier players, which can handle both power and data at the same time.

That means you’re reliant on the built-in battery to keep the music playing, however you’re using the JM21. I didn’t quite hit FiiO’s claimed twelve and a half hours of playing using the 3.5mm port, and listening through the balanced 4.4mm port drained it in under nine. Streaming instead of playing local files, or swiping through Android will also lower your time between trips to a power socket. Idle drain isn’t great either, so I tended to switch off the JM21 altogether when I wasn’t using it.

Interface: new yet familiar

The JM21 is the first FiiO I’ve tried that runs Android 13. Until now the firm’s portable players were languishing on Android 10, so this is a welcome step forward – even if Google was gearing up to launch version 16 at the time of writing. It’s not like the interface has changed all that much, either, with the bare minimum of pre-installed apps.

Power comes from a Snapdragon 680 chipset. This was mid-range in the mobile world when it launched in 2021, so isn’t exactly speed demon today, and is paired with a modest 3GB of RAM. While you do get full access to the Google Play Store, FiiO suggests you stick to streaming apps only. I found there was enough oomph for the likes of Spotify, YouTube Music, SoundCloud and BBC Sounds, but animations felt a little sluggish. The FiiO Music app would also regularly redraw all my album art.

Got a local music library? That app is where you’ll spend the bulk of your time. It’s refreshingly customisable, with different themes and layouts to pick from, and can stream tracks from any networked PCs or DLNA media stores. The 10band equaliser is as fine-grain as you’d expect from FiiO, although it doesn’t apply system-wide, which is frustrating if you jump between multiple music services.

You’ve got to head to Android’s Settings screens (or the quick notification panel) to adjust things like gain amount and lowpass filter settings, or adjust the player’s current mode. Personally I couldn’t hear a difference using the Pure Music mode, which disables most of the Android back-end in pursuit of audio perfection. FiiO already bypasses Android’s habit of forcing all audio through a resampling process.

Sound quality: shining example

FiiO doesn’t hold allegiance to any one particular DAC brand, so you’re getting two Cirrus Logic CS43198 chips here rather than the AKM or ESS Sabre ones used in its pricier players. They’re very capable indeed, handling resolutions up to 32bit/384kHz and DSD256, while segmented power keeps the digital and analogue circuits separate to cut out interference.

The JM21 does its job with near complete transparency, as any good player should. Audio is delivered cleanly and well-balanced, with zero colouration no matter which tracks I picked or headphones I plugged in. I couldn’t detect any hint of background sound or equipment noise, even when using cans that were especially demanding to drive. A pair of Sennheiser HD 505s and FiiO’s own FA19 in-ears were no trouble whatsoever.

If you’ve got a pair of headphones this player can’t drive, you’re really not the target market; check out the FiiO M23 instead. For everyone else, you’d have to turn the volume up to deafening levels before the JM21 loses its composure. 60 volume steps let me make small adjustments, and I tended to hover around the half-way point.

Side-by-side with a more expensive player you might notice minor differences in clarity, texture and presentation. But there’s less in it than you’d expect given the at times huge price gap between the JM21 and its competition.

FiiO JM21 verdict

With a convincing sonic performance, clean UI and ample connectivity, the FiiO JM21 is a fantastic player that’ll please newcomers as well as long-time fans of head-fi. It only makes a few minor missteps.

Not having a system-wide equaliser will go over many beginner audiophiles’ heads, and the modest Snapdragon chipset only being adept at streaming apps isn’t a dealbreaker given this isn’t trying to be an everyman gadget like your smartphone. I do think battery life could be better, but given the asking price, it’s hard to grumble too loudly.

Other makers of entry-grade digital audio players should consider the bar raised.

FiiO JM21 technical specifications