The rated power output of the Q3 is higher than the Q1 mkii with 160mW/32Ω and 300mW/32Ω from the balanced out. The sound of the FiiO Q3 will depend on the headphones you’re using. This section should really only be about performance, as the Q3 is designed to improve the sound of your headphones. The Q3 itself doesn’t produce the sound, but it does process the signal from your source.

Mids: The Midrange presents very clear and detailed , vocals had a good presentation with no sibilance even on boarder line IEMs. Not only it offers greater headroom but it also takes advantage of the fully balanced circuit that sounds better with greater technical performance. To those measurements, you can add the USB-C cable, or USB-C to 8-Pin if you’re using an iPhone like me (all provided by the brand) and the silicone straps designed to be attached between your phone, and the Q11. Thanks to that, the DAC can easily be carried on the go, recreating the decade old audiophile sandwich, something that some of you may never have tried before! Build Quality We didn’t have the chance to get this one for review, but I can give you an excerpt of the previous K5 review, by Lieven: Want to upgrade your old DAP? You can with the Fiio Q3. All you’ll need is a USB cable, connected from your player to your DAC, as long as you can use it in USB-out mode.And this is where the Q3 outshines the old one: it’s immensely more powerful than before. Sure, the Q1 could drive my LCD-X, but the Q3 is able to do so almost effortlessly. Going through the 2.5 and 4.4mm outputs will immediately give you a surge of power, even in low gain. I of course had to try the FH3 with the Q3. Both made for a great pairing. I found the FH3 to be on the edge of too bright up top sometimes with other gear but the Q3 keeps it accurate and controlled so I really like this pairing. Low end and mids also come across clean and accurate. Soundstage is still small here. Those looking to open up the FH3’s stage will maybe wanna look at stepping up to FiiO’s Q5s.

Last but least, the FiiO Q3 is provided with a line input, where you can connect your own DAC or DAP. This way, you can bypass the DAC and just use the embedded amp, to pump up the power. The Q3 in contrast to the Q1 mkii does not feature a dedicated line out that bypasses the amplification stage. The Q3 sound incredibly smooth and natural. The soundstage places sound tastefully around your head without overdoing it. The 3D image is enhanced only slightly to give a solid yet natural feeling presence that wasn't there before. The bass feels more impactful, especially with the Bass switch in the On position. The mids are slightly smoothed out but in a way, that enhances the overall clarity of the sound and helps it accommodate a variety of mixing styles. The highs are especially crisp and clear, thanks in no small part to the extended frequency range on the Q3. The noise floor is incredibly low and that helped give the dynamics a cinematic feel. Rather than distort or alter what's there, the Q3 subtly enhances it to improve your listening experience exponentially.From the golden-toned brand logo (with a new font by the way), to the arabesque directly milled on the front-panel, or the unmistakable glass-panel upfront, everything gives a cyberpunk vibe to this new model – something that I’m personally fond of, but not everyone may find it as cool as I do. A convenient modular solution which includes power supply, and can operate from a single 3.6V battery.

So nothing new under the sun… but that was to be expected, this is an entry-level device, not the same as the Q7 that stand as the herald of FiiO’s new catalogue. Reduction of harmonic, intermodulation, and crossover distortion by up to 40dB, resulting in a realistic and fatigue-free listening experience Reduction of harmonic, intermodulation, and crossover distortion by up to 40dB, resulting in a realistic and fatigue-free listening experience. Mids gave me no issues and everything came through super clear and detailed. Vocals were a pleasure to listen to as well. I never ran into sibilance with female vocals on brighter mid focused headphones.

UI & Usage

Lastly, we want to talk about the sound of FiiO Q3 and iFi Hip DAC 2. The former Hip DAC was very well-known for its warm sound signature, and we can still feel it on the Hip DAC 2, but it is more moderate now. There is an improvement in clarity and separation but still mid-forward. On the other hand, Q3 is best if you prefer articulation and a wide soundstage. The frequency response feels more controlled and modest, but the Hip DAC 2 is just as good. FiiO Q3 Vs iFi Hip DAC 2 Treble: Honestly seems neutral and very detailed without added boost or harshness, it mirrored the source well. I used the Sennheiser HD 58X headphones to test the Q3. I also used the AirPods Max and the Bowers & Wilkins Px8, but both of those are less than 40ohm headphones. While the sound quality was better with the Q3 on those headphones, it was significantly more noticeable on the 150ohm HD 58X. Considering that its Reference design can output up to 168 mW of power in 32 Ohms and Q3 outputs 160mW of power in the same impedance, it is safe to say that FiiO squeezed the most out of these modules. Since FiiO used two stereo modules, its internal amplifier topology is fully balanced and in the same impedance Q3 is outputting almost double the power on its balanced outputs, 300 mW to be more precise. If you are new to THX AAA modules, these are reducing harmonic, intermodulation and crossover distortion by 20 to 40 dB and are offering a true to life, realistic and a fatigue-free listening experience. THX AAA modules accomplishes that by using a patented feed-forward topology to null conventional distortion and noise levels, resulting in the world’s most linear sounding amplifiers.

At the other end of the device there is the data/charging usb type C port plus three extra buttons. It has digital volume control, just like the Q1 mk2, which is a must have for me. In this case, there's a potentiometer but the analog audio signal doesn't pass through it, it's encoded to digital and then the digital value is used to control the output volume. This ensures there's no channel unbalance, which is a common thing when the signal passes through a potentiometer, specially with low volumesInternally the Q3 is completely renovated with all components and circuit arrangement being brand new.