FiiO DM15 Portable CD Player

Takes patience

Initial review (will update as appropriate). Box and manual arrived badly damaged (though shipping box was not, so they shipped it in that condition). Enough to worry me but the unit appeared intact. Save yourself some frustration and make sure you have a 32gb (or less) flash drive for firmware update and a CR2025 battery for the remote ahead of time. The buttons and switches on the device are indeed comically small. Sounds pretty good on a JBL Flip6 BT speaker so am expecting good things when Klipsch The Three Plus arrives and can be connected via optical or RCA. I chose to give away all my vinyl but couldn't part with CDs, and streaming has real limitations phonically. My wife can now truly appreciate all the remastered Beatles boxed sets she has purchased. Wasn't cheap but not a fortune either.

Michael W. Oliver

October 7, 2026

Off to a bad start...

Purchased on 2026-09-13, gave to son for his birthday on 2026-09-19, and on 2026-10-05 the face plate has detached (see video). Pretty disappointing given the cost. I've reached out to FIIO via their support email and will update this review as progress is made.

UPDATE - 2026-10-09 - No response from FiiO, which sadly is not surprising. Fortunately I am still within the return window so have opened a return/replacement case and the replacement is on the way. Given the issues experienced by others, which my son did not fall victim to, I am not hopeful that the replacement will be devoid of issues. I'll keep updating this review as progress is made. Dropping to one star for zero support from manufacturer.

0:10

Hope this guy is with me for a long time

Absolutely superb player for all types of inputs. Using it for a half year and didn’t notice any issues, hardware or software.

My setup: FiiO DM15 / PC + JBL 305P Mk2 connected through the balanced output. Love the front switches to fast change input sources. Use the player in Desktop mode as external audio processor, killer feature.

Brad Mills

August 13, 2026

Perfect Hi-Resolution, high fidelity audio output

Completely blows away any cheap $50 CD player. Extreme, high resolution, audio, fat and punchy gain from internal preamp. Multiple outputs front and back. Runs on internal battery and has remote control.

Great portable CD player with a few flaws

This FiiO DM15 is a good CD player, sounds great and features gapless play. It also works great as a DAC and includes an OTG adapter to use with the phone. The internal battery means it can be used as a Discman, and it's very stable even with ESP turned off. Not as slim as my Discman used to be, though.

On the negative side, it has issues when playing long duration CDs (over 70 min) where the playback skips. Hopefully this will be solved in a firmware update. Speaking of which, since I bought it there has been a few updates so FiiO is actively providing support for the player.

If they fix the skipping issue, it's a 5 star from me.

It's a great match for my vintage system.

GREAT hardware let down by BUGGY software

As a CD player used with headphones:

The sound quality is excellent, especially when using the 4.4mm balanced headphone output. I like the glass window and watching the disc spin. I like the build quality and I really like the flexibility of it also being usable as a nice DAC for my digital music player (Pixel 7). I like that it can run with battery or USB power. I like that the skip protection can be disabled. I like that it has the full traditional array of CD player controls and they behave as they should for navigating tracks, shuffle, repeat, etc. I like the EQ presets, sometimes I use them, sometimes not, but they are fun to play with on various types of music. Overall, the sound quality is excellent to my ears. I've really been enjoying returning to CD listening, both with my old collection from the 90s and 2000s and for the new albums I've been scooping up at the local record store.

However, here are some bugs:

- On max-capacity discs the player may not be able to play the final track or 2 on the disc. I heard this was a problem on the DM13 and hoped FIIO fixed it for this model. They did not. This has only been an issue on 2 discs so far out of dozens I have played.

- In some instances I hear a weird distortion of bass notes when using the "Magic Bass". I don't hear it on every song, mostly with big isolated drum beats come surrounded by, like, this fizzy noise surrounding them. It's annoying and I've mostly stopped using this function.

Here are some quirks:

- It's a *little* slow at starting a disc. You put it in and it spins up to read the disc and then must come to a complete stop before you can hit the play button and then it spins up again and plays. My ol' Discmans (Discmen?) could go right into playing a disc once you closed the lid and pressed play.

- The controls are quite small but that doesn't bother me. I have big hands but I hit the buttons with my thumbnail and it's fine. I didn't want

As a DAC:

Blows the your average dongle DAC out of the water for sound quality and amplification. BUT...again...it's buggy:

- In order for it to work properly the player cannot be in "Desktop Mode" and the USB power must be disconnected. Only then should you connect the source to the USB input and you should see the transmission protocol show up on the display.

-A nice feature is that, at least with my phone as a source, the play/pause button on the FIIO can play and pause the music. The next and previous track buttons work too, except they are backwards for some reason.

- If you pause the music for too long sometimes the player stops outputting sound and you have to power down and restart to get it working properly again.

Depending on whether FIIO addresses most if not all of these bugs will determine if this is the first or first and last product I buy from them.

I haven't tried the bluetooth capability so no comment there. I have not used the analog or digital outputs.

RICHARD HANNAYS

May 3, 2026

Solid!!!

Looks good and quality is great! Love seeing the cd spin also. Waiting on some Dt770 pros to pair with these but sounds good with all the other headphones I have. Buttons are small but really not a problem if you’re looking for a small compact cd player that provides a good experience. Definitely love this cd player and will be using it for a long time!

R2R perfectio. Excelent sound including Bluetooth

Sounds better than Denon DCD-600NE. Sounds more natural, maybe warmer or sound stage is better. Not sure how to explain. Denon is good but Fiio little better.

Paired with Sony Bluetooth headphones (5.2) and V-Moda (4.2). So generally good for 5 and 4. Pairing is instant.

Very heavy for the size. I am using coaxial cable.

Loving this cd player.

As described. Such a fun little cd player. Sounds amazing. Getting me back into my cd collection. Great price for a very solid piece of equipment.

It does everything.

Coolest thing Ive ever bought.

Great new CD player with R2R Dac technology