- FiiO has released a slim-looking DM15 R2R portable CD player
- Player, USB DAC, Bluetooth transmitter, desktop source – that’s a lot
- Priced at $269 (so around £200 or AU$409)
Physical music is all the rage right now, isn’t it? Could products arise as a result of some music lovers (and some musicians) leaving Spotify’s increasingly expensive streaming service and returning to old-fashioned, tangible, enjoyable, human-curated music?
Some facts: We Are Rewind’s Duran Duran-themed Glitter Cassette Walkman launched on Spotify Wrapped release day yesterday (Wednesday, December 3), and this beautiful FiiO portable CD player launched today (Thursday, December 4), a day later. Oh yeah, and FiiO seems to have leaked its own answer to the iPod Shuffle, also launched yesterday…
Coincidence? I’ll leave that to you, but some could say audio manufacturers are seeing music fans looking for an alternative to what they’ve seen and heard recently.
Meet the FiiO DM15 R2R, a veritable Swiss army knife of music playback – and in the image above, it’s connected to the new FiiO FT13 that we just tested (and really liked).
How high can you go in high resolution, FiiO?
You probably know that CD’s typical 16-bit/44.1kHz resolution is the starting point for high-resolution audio, but the FiiO DM15 R2R can do better than that. It will play CD-Rs as well as regular CDs; Supported CD-R formats include WAV, WMA, FLAC, AAC, and MP3, so if you have archived discs (or if someone burned you a disc in 2001 and you’d like to play it again), this player can handle it.
As a DAC, FiiO says it will play music up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM and native DSD256. The coaxial output, meanwhile, promises up to 24-bit/192 kHz. And the optics? I thought you’d never ask about it – 24-bit/96kHz.
Essentially, if you want a portable CD player that doubles as a USB DAC without looking like a cute retro toy, this could be it. It even comes with an infrared remote control that comes with it when you set it up to enjoy playing with your speakers, anywhere in the room.
It’s the successor to the company’s surprisingly popular DM13, which arrived late last year, and while it feels much more premium, it’s also more expensive, at $269 (or around £200 or AU$409) compared to the first generation’s $139 / £139 (or around AU$275) price tag. model. Another sign of the growing popularity of CDs? Maybe.
What do you get for the money? A compact aluminum chassis and a transparent top so you can see the disc as it spins – so far, quite classic. But the innards have been upgraded a bit for 2025: the rechargeable battery should be good for seven hours of playback, and it now incorporates FiiO’s proprietary R2R DAC (which is why the player is so named – nothing to do with reel-to-reel playback and recording, this time).
The D15 R2R can function in several ways: as a normal portable CD player, as a Hi-Fi splitter (via its optical and coaxial ports), as a USB DAC and as a Bluetooth transmitter. You also get two headphone jacks (3.5mm and 4.4mm balanced), but the 3.5mm jack will also work as a line out.
Do you want to use your Bluetooth headphones or headphones? That’s great, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive and aptX Low Latency are all built in, and there’s an anti-vibration toggle to minimize the risk of your CD skipping if you’re listening to music on the go.
CDs aren’t the only physical music format gaining ground in 2025. Cassette tapes (see FiiO’s lovely option and even the Elvis-themed Walkman from We Are Rewind from earlier this year) are making a continuing comeback, as are those pretty silver CDs from my youth. Hooray!
And the thing is, when players are as versatile and legitimate as the new FiiO DM15 R2R, there’s absolutely no need to limit yourself to just playing CDs either.
The best music players for every budget
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