Many of us in the tech world have been loving the resurgence ofretro tech.CDsare back in style, and Fiio clearly saw that and knew what to do. Available in September, the company is making a portable CD player that combines the tried-and-true appeal of the Discman with modern convenience by including Bluetooth support. It’s a Discman for the modern era, and even more of a reason to get back into ourold CD collections.
The announcement of the Fiio DM13 comes after the release of Fiio’s Walkman-inspired cassette player, theFiio CP13, which debuted at CES 2024 back in January. After the success of the cassette player, Fiio surely saw an opportunity to keep up its modernization of older audio player technology.
After using wired headphones, I see why retro tech is on the rise
After a few months of wired listening, I’m sold on making old tech new again, but wireless buds still do this one thing better.
A Discman for 2024
The Fiio DM13 will include both wired and wireless connectivity options, with a 3.5mm headphones jack, a 4.4mm headphone balanced connection, and Bluetooth connectivity with support for the aptX,aptX HD, aptX Low Latency, and SBC codecs. This means you may get fullCD-quality lossless audiothrough your wired headphones, and very high quality (but not quite lossless) audio over Bluetooth using AptX HD.
You can listen to all your favorite albums on CD in the DM13, but if you want to load music on to a CD yourself, the CD player supports MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, and WMA file types. That way you can be sure you’re able to revisit that mix CD your crush gave you back in 2008.
It will also have a reasonably long eight-hour battery life, as well as a desktop mode that bypasses the battery and gets power from the source it’s plugged into. That way you can enjoy it while stationary for as long as you want, and save that battery life for when you’re out and about. If you want to plug it into your home stereo system, you can do so with its analog, SPDIF, or USB outputs.
The Fiio DM13 will be available in September for $179, first launching with just a silver colorway, with red, blue, titanium, and black options available later in the year.
The Fiio DM13 reimagines the Sony Discman for 2024. It’s a portable CD player with support for modern Bluetooth codecs, including aptX HD and aptX Low Latency. Fiio is promising eight hours of battery life, with the ability for users to plug the device into their home stereo setup though analog, SPDIF, and USB outputs.
