FiiO has made a network streaming amplifier, and nobody is pretending who it is for. Darko.Audio's headline was "FiiO comes for WiiM", and that is exactly right. The AIR AMP is EUR 269.90, it uses the same amplifier chip as the WiiM Amp, and it is more powerful than any WiiM streaming amp costing less than $400.
FiiO AIR AMP streaming power amplifier
Quick facts
- 90W + 90W into 8 ohms, 120W + 120W into 4, with the supply in the box.
- EUR 269.90. US listings run $249 to $320.
- No HDMI. Not ARC, not eARC, nothing.
- TI TPA3255, ES9020Q DAC, Roon Ready, AirPlay, 930g.
It is in our database as of today, which makes it the first FiiO amplifier we have ever listed. So we can do the thing a press release cannot: put it next to the WiiMs it is aimed at, and against every other amplifier we hold at this price. That turns out to be the interesting part.
The power number, and which one to believe
This needs care, because there are four different wattage figures floating around and they are not all measuring the same thing.
FiiO's own page leads with 120W + 120W at 4 ohms using the included 48V/5A supply, and mentions 235W + 235W at 4 ohms if you buy a 48V/10A adapter separately. The full table, as published by HiFi BLOG and matched by two retailers, fills in the rest:
| Power supply | Into 4 ohms | Into 8 ohms | Distortion |
|---|
| 48V/5A, included | 2 x 120W | 2 x 90W | under 1% |
| 48V/10A, optional extra | 2 x 235W | 2 x 150W | under 10% |
So the honest number for a box you take out of the carton and plug in is 90 watts into 8 ohms. The 235W headline needs a power supply you have to buy, and it is quoted at under 10% distortion, which is a measurement taken at the point the amplifier is clipping. It is not a lie, it is just not a number you would ever listen to.
Treat 90W into 8 ohms as the real figure. Anything quoted at 10% distortion is telling you where the amplifier gives up, not how loud it plays cleanly.
FiiO AIR AMP Key Specs
- 120W into 4 ohms (Class D)
- Integrated Amplifier
- Minimum Impedance: 4 ohms
- Built-in DAC: ESS ES9020Q with XMOS XU316 USB controller
- Max Bit Depth: 32
- Max Sample Rate: 768
- 1 Subwoofer Output
- Bluetooth
- Wi-Fi
- Roon Ready Roon Ready
- Read the Review
One irritation while checking this. FiiO's own parameters page for the AIR AMP currently serves the spec table for a pair of Bluetooth ear hooks instead, so the manufacturer's site is the one place you cannot read the specs. Retailers have the full table; FiiO does not.
What it is up against
Here is where our own data says something a press release cannot. We hold 194 amplifiers with a price on record. Only nine of them cost $300 or less.
Of those nine, exactly one has Wi-Fi and real network streaming: the WiiM Amp, at 60 watts into 8 ohms. And only three of the nine make 90 watts or more into 8 ohms, the same as the FiiO: the Sony STR-DH190, the Yamaha R-S202 and the WiiM Vibelink. Not one of those three has Wi-Fi. Two are Bluetooth receivers and the third is a plain integrated amp.
Which makes the AIR AMP the first amplifier in our database to combine 90 watts into 8 ohms with full network streaming at or under $300. That is a genuine gap in the market, not marketing.
FiiO AIR AMP rear connection panel
The thing it does not have
Look at that back panel and count what is missing. There is a USB-C input, optical, coaxial, an RCA line in, Ethernet, a USB-A socket for a drive, speaker posts, a sub out and a preamp out. What there is not, anywhere on the chassis, is an HDMI socket.
The WiiM Amp, the Amp Pro and the Amp Ultra all have one, and on the Ultra it is eARC. For a lot of people buying a small amp for a living room, that single socket is the whole reason: one cable to the TV, and the TV remote does the volume. Optical will carry TV sound, but it will not do volume control from the TV remote and it will not pass the newer formats.
Two other gaps worth naming, since both WiiM models at this price have them covered:
- No room correction. FiiO gives you a 10-band PEQ in the app and a web interface, which is manual EQ. The WiiM Amp and Amp Pro do measured room correction. Those are not the same job.
- No phono stage, and only one analog input. If you have a turntable you are buying a phono preamp as well.
WiiM Amp Pro the amp it is aimed at
Where WiiM is actually vulnerable
This is the part that surprised me when I pulled the numbers. Our four WiiM rows have racked up serious comparison traffic between them, with the WiiM Amp sitting comfortably in the top half of the 194 amps readers compare here. But look at what people compare them against.
For the WiiM Amp, the single most compared rival is the WiiM Vibelink, and the second is the WiiM Amp Pro. Between them those two account for more than a third of every comparison run on the WiiM Amp. For the Amp Pro it is worse: over four in ten of its comparisons are against another WiiM.
Read that as a market signal and it is not a sign of strength. It means readers shopping this category keep ending up choosing between WiiM and WiiM, because there has not been an obvious alternative. FiiO has clearly noticed the same thing.
Here is the AIR AMP against the three WiiM streaming amps, from our own database. You can also take any pairing further, for example the AIR AMP against the Amp Pro.
| FEATURE and SPECS COMPARISON | |  |  |  |  |
| Model | FiiO AIR AMP | WiiM Amp | WiiM Amp Pro | WiiM Amp Ultra |
| Type | Integrated Amplifier | Integrated Amplifier | Integrated Amplifier | Integrated Amplifier |
| Amplifier Class | Class D | Class D | Class D | D |
| Power into 8 ohms | - | 60 watts | 60 watts | 100 watts |
| Power into 4 ohms | 120 watts | 120 watts | 120 watts | 200 watts |
| Minimum Impedance | 4 ohms | 4 ohms | 4 ohms | - |
| THD | - | 0.0025% | 0.0005% | - |
| Signal to Noise Ratio | - | 98 | 105 | - |
| Frequency Bandwidth | - | 20-20k | 20-20k | - |
| Built-in DAC | | | | |
| DAC | ESS ES9020Q with XMOS XU316 USB controller | ESS SABRE HyperStream | ESS Sabre ES9032QM2 | ESS ES9038Q2M |
| Max Bit Depth | 32 | 32 | 32 | 24 |
| Max Sample Rate | 768 | 192 | 192 | 192 |
| Analog Inputs | 1 | - | - | - |
| Phono Input | | | | |
| Optical Digital Inputs | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Coaxial Digital Inputs | 1 | No | No | No |
| USB Input | Yes | Yes | Yes | 1 |
| HDMI Input | No | Yes | Yes | eARC |
| HDMI ARC | - | ARC | ARC | ARC |
| XLR Input | No | No | No | No |
| Preamp Outputs | Pre out, Sub out | Sub | Sub | - |
| Subwoofer Output | 1 | 1 | 1 | Mono RCA |
| Headphone Output | No | - | - | No |
| Bluetooth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Wi-Fi | Yes | Yes | Yes | 802.11ax |
| AirPlay 2 | - | | | |
| Chromecast built-in | - | | | |
| Roon | Roon Ready | Ready | Ready | Ready |
| BluOS | - | | | |
| HEOS | - | | | |
| Room Correction | - | Yes | Yes | - |
| Tone Controls | | | | - |
| Handheld Remote | | | | |
| Height | - | 62.0mm | 62.0mm | 76.2mm |
| Width | - | 191.0mm | 191.0mm | 201.6mm |
| Depth | - | 220.0mm | 220.0mm | 258.8mm |
| Weight | - | 1.85kg | 1.85kg | 2.40kg |
| MSRP | 300 USD | 299 USD | 379 USD | 549 USD |
| Check Current Price | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo | Amazon, B&H Photo |
So which one would I buy
If your amp is going next to a TV, buy the WiiM. That is not close. The HDMI socket does a job nothing else on the FiiO does, and at $299 the WiiM Amp is not expensive.
If your amp is going on a desk, a shelf or in a second room, fed from a phone, a NAS or Roon, and it has to drive real speakers, the FiiO looks like the better buy on paper. Half again the power into 8 ohms, a lower price, LDAC, DSD512, and a proper gigabit Ethernet port rather than Wi-Fi and hope.
The caution is that FiiO is new to this. WiiM has spent three years shipping firmware updates and building an app people put up with, and a streaming amplifier lives or dies on that software far more than on its amplifier chip. Both of these use the same TI TPA3255, so the app is most of what you are actually choosing between.
FiiO AIR AMP in black
Before you commit to any 90 watt amplifier, check it against the speakers you own rather than guessing. Our amp and speaker matcher takes the sensitivity and impedance off a speaker's spec sheet and tells you whether there is enough power in hand for your room. 90 watts is a lot for a bookshelf pair and merely adequate for an inefficient floorstander.
Questions answered
How much power does the FiiO AIR AMP really make?
90 watts per channel into 8 ohms and 120 watts into 4 ohms with the 48V/5A supply that comes in the box, at under 1% distortion. The 235 watt figure in the headlines needs an optional 48V/10A adapter and is measured at under 10% distortion, which is the clipping point rather than usable clean power.
Does the FiiO AIR AMP have HDMI?
No. There is no HDMI socket of any kind, so no ARC and no eARC. You can feed it TV sound over the optical input, but you lose volume control from the TV remote. Every WiiM streaming amp in our database has HDMI.
Is the FiiO AIR AMP better than the WiiM Amp Pro?
On the spec sheet it has more power into 8 ohms, 90 against 60, for less money. The WiiM Amp Pro answers with HDMI, measured room correction and a mature app. Both use the same TI TPA3255 amplifier chip, so the difference is features and software, not amplification.
How much does the FiiO AIR AMP cost?
EUR 269.90 in Europe. US listings have been appearing between $249.99 and $319.62 depending on the retailer, which is a wide spread for a product this new, so it is worth shopping around once stock settles.
Is the FiiO AIR AMP in your database?
Yes, as of today, and it is the first FiiO amplifier we have listed. You can read the full specification page or put it side by side with any other amplifier we hold. A few figures came from retailer listings rather than FiiO, because the manufacturer's own parameters page is currently showing the wrong product's specifications.
The short version
The AIR AMP is the most credible attempt anyone has made at WiiM's price, and the comparison data says that market needed one. FiiO has picked the right fight and brought more power than the incumbents at a lower price.
Then it left out HDMI, which for a large slice of the people buying a small streaming amplifier is the first thing they look for. That single decision splits the audience cleanly in two, and which half you are in decides this for you.
Would the missing HDMI rule the FiiO out for you, or is the extra power worth more where your amp is going?