The review sample was kindly provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review. I didn’t receive monetary or any other kind of compensation and I don’t use affiliate links. The price of the FiiO SP3 is $299.99 and you can buy it from FiiO.eu.
Introduction
FiiO is one of the best manufacturers in the field of personal audio. Their range includes almost everything, from entry level USB DAC dongles, to earphones, full sized headphones and DAPs. This is well known to almost everyone but how would you react to learn that they now make speakers? Yes, speakers, the FiiO SP3 is a nearfield, active desktop speaker, the first made by the brand, a premiere that will soon be followed by more similar products.
Technical highlights
The FiiO SP3 is a compact sized, active speaker that is designed for nearfield, desktop use to enhance your experience either when listening to music or gaming. The FiiO SR3 is a two-way, bass reflex speaker featuring a 3.5″ carbon fiber mid-woofer and an 1″, in-house developed, silk dome tweeter. Each speaker uses two-channel class-D amplifiers from TI, outputting 10W for the highs and 30W for the lows with 100W of total peak power.
The SP3’s 3.5-inch carbon fiber midwoofer outperforms its smaller counterparts in dynamics, soundstage projection, and overall sonic attributes. Its carbon fiber composition ensures rapid transient response and reduced non-linear distortion. The SP3 utilizes asymmetrical internal and external magnetic circuits to maximize the potential of the 3.5″ carbon fiber midwoofer. This innovative design increases magnetic flux, reduces non-linear distortion, and ensures consistently excellent sound quality.
The 1″ silk tweeter in the SP3 offers exceptional treble reproduction and natural timbre. With a frequency range reaching up to 35kHz, this tweeter ensures you hear every subtle vibration generated by instruments. The SP3’s tweeter is precisely angled for lossless transmission of sound waves, while the horizontal striped pattern diffuses sound effectively throughout the room.
Small sized speakers struggle when it comes to low end response so FiiO in order to improve the performance have designed an innovative double-diffused S-shaped porting tube that enhances bass extension and control, resulting in fast bass transients and superior bass quality.
You can read the full technical breakdown here.
Build quality and appearance
Build quality is stellar, the FiiO SP3 is well made with premium materials throughout. The cabinets are assembled from two pieces of solid die-cast aluminum that are securely bonded together. The FiiO SP3 doesn’t have much to envy from similarly priced active monitors by well established brands while they are certainly better made and looking than most multimedia speaker sets.
Each FiiO SP3 cabinet is very compact, measuring just 163x120x132mm, but they are also quite heavy, considering their size. They weigh about 1.8kg each and they are well dampened against vibrations and resonances. The bottom part of each cabinet houses an RGB led stripe that will illuminate the base of it with a pulsing light. The FiiO SP3 is available in both black and white finishes.
User interface
All controls and inputs are located in the primary speaker: A volume control knob, a knob to adjust the bass amplitude between -8dB to 0dB for easier placement near walls, stereo RCA and 3.5mm inputs, an input selector, an RGB led light selector and a toggle switch to invert left and right speaker. The FiiO SP3 doesn’t include any digital or wireless inputs. The FiiO SP3 is powered by a 24V external power adapter that plugs into the main speaker while a special cable connects the main with the secondary speaker to transfer both power and sound.
Accessories
Inside the box you are going to find the DC power adapter, the main and secondary speaker connection cable, a high quality interconnect cable (stereo 3.5mm to RCA) and two rubber base stands, one flat and one with 7° elevation. The last one is specially designed after numerous listening tests and measurements to offer the best nearfield listening experience when standing about 1 to 1.2m away from the speakers. Both stands also act as vibration absorbers and offer good isolation from the placement surface.
Associated gear
The FiiO SP3 was left playing loud music for about 50 hours in order to let the woofers and the electronics break in. The SP3 has analogue only inputs so you need an appropriate source in order to listen to your music. You can connect them directly to your PC audio output jack or use an external DAC with fixed or variable analogue outputs, like the FiiO K5 Pro ESS and the FiiO R7. The speakers were placed at a desk with the elevation stands and the bass knob set to 0dB.
Listening impressions
Let’s start with some fundamental principles regarding sound reproduction from speakers. A speaker with 3.5″ woofers and a small sized cabinet with an internal volume as low as 2.5l will not reproduce actual bass no matter how well implemented is the bass reflex port and the tricks employed by the manufacturer, its the laws of physics. The FiiO SP3 can go as low as 90-100Hz, at the best, and then it will steeply roll-off. Everything below this frequency are just harmonics and not actual bass. As long as you understand the physical limitations of the design, then you will know what to expect from this tiny desktop speaker.
So, for the intended use scenario and size, the bass of the FiiO SP3 is acceptable, you can listen to most kinds of music, play games and watch your favorite movies. Don’t expect hard hitting bass, thundering dynamics or visceral and full bodied texture but the good news is that the driver is pretty fast, the low end is controlled and clear enough for the listener to distinguish multiple elements. You can also boost the bass with the embedded knob or a software equalizer but you better use these options with caution because things can get boomy and out of control really fast. Someone could just add a subwoofer to get the missing bass but unfortunately the FiiO SP3 doesn’t have such an output.
The mid-range is the strongest point of the FiiO SP3, it sounds balanced and alive, well textured and full bodied with good clarity, great definition and expressiveness. The speaker is flat and linear, it will not color the sound, nor add or detract anything. But it has the means to highlight all the sonic qualities and timbral characteristics of your DAC so don’t skip in source quality, the SP3 deserves more than its size would imply. This is an engaging and musical sounding speaker, slightly warm and lush, certainly not clinical or sterile.
The treble is also very special, crisp, lively, energetic and crystal clear without sharpness, edginess or brightness. You can listen for hours long without the feeling of getting fatigued by the treble. There is plenty of refinement, airiness and shimmer, the tonality is quite realistic and the speaker will not imbue any artificiality into the higher frequencies. The crossover and the drivers are well implemented, the sound is coherent and balanced throughout the whole frequency range, bass excluded of course. The FiiO SP3 is very enjoyable with small classical music ensembles like string quartets where the mid-range and the treble really shine while the lack of bass doesn’t get very noticeable.
Small speakers are famous for their “disappearing” act and the FiiO SP3 is a master at that. Place it at a 1-1.2m distance from your chair, give a touch of “toe-in” and it will vanish from your eyesight to fill your ears with beautiful music that is reproduced with a solid center image and great stereo effect where you can easily distinguish the various performers, despite the limited size of the soundstage. The FiiO SP3 can get surprisingly loud and will only slightly distort in the maximum volume setting. There is a slight hissing noise when no music is playing but nothing too worrying in actual listening situations.
How does it fare against the competition?
The FiiO SP3 is an impressive sounding speaker for the size but it is lacking a couple of features that most of the competition now offers. At the $300 price bracket the competition is really fierce, you can buy both home and professional active speakers from well established brands like Fostex, Audioengine, Edifier, Klipsch, JBL etc. Most of them will come with bigger cabinets and larger woofers, wireless connectivity, digital inputs and remote control. It is pretty obvious that this is a very saturated market where the FiiO SP3 becomes really competitive only when someone needs the best possible sound quality for the most compact form factor. This is the part where the FiiO SP3 excels and outperforms the competition.
In the end
The FiiO SP3 is a very good sounding speaker with an overall audio performance inversely proportional to size. If you need a desktop speaker with the most possible compact cabinets without compromising too much in sonic quality and you are willing to live with some limitations, then the FiiO SP3 is really made for you.
Copyright – Petros Laskis 2023.
+ Great sound quality relatively to the size + Neutral and uncolored sound + Expressive mid-range + Smooth and resolving treble + Spacious soundstage with solid center image + Can get really loud without distortion + Good clarity and transparency + Compact sized cabinets + Easy placement + Bass compensation adjustment + Excellent build quality + Plenty of accessories - Very limited bass response - Lacks in dynamics and punch - Doesn't have any wireless or digital inputs - No subwoofer output - Tough competition
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