Opinions on the Surfans F28

[ciccio1378]

Could anyone give me an opinion on the Surfans F28 player?

 

[JSmith]

Could anyone give me an opinion on the Surfans F28 player?

There are no measurements of this product here or elsewhere from what I can see... so no opinion unfortunately apart from known functions/features.

This may be worth a look in;

Shanling M0 Pro DAP Review

This is a review, measurements and listening tests of the Shanling M0 Pro digital audio player and DAC. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $129.99 on Amazon. As you see, this is a very diminutive player, easily fitting in your pocket weighing almost nothing. Music is stored on...

www.audiosciencereview.com

JSmith

 

[Monkey3017]

I compared the sound quality of the F28 ito the eversolo DMP A6 connected to the topping PA5 ii with KEF LS50 speakers. While connected to the balanced input, the DMP 6 has a clearer and more effortless sound compared to the F28. Despite this, the F28 still produces a beautiful sound.

The device is well constructed and its main advantage is that it can be controlled remotely via Bluetooth using the HyBi app.

It can also use a 512 GB SD card, making it stand out from many other players in the price range.

It operates on a simple operating system that is similar to the one of SMSL DP5. However, unlike the DP5, it allows you to adjust the filter settings (although it doesn't seem to make a difference) and has an EQ. The internal storage capacity allows for a maximum of 20,000 songs, whereas the SMSL DP5 can hold 30,000 songs and the eversolo can handle much more.

Even if songs have not been added to the library, you can still find them in their folder, also using the HiBy APP. This works an the internal SD card or an attached USB SSD.

The operating system is very simple and the screen is not really hi-res. The navigation between screens is mainly done by swiping left and right, although this can be glitchy at times. The HiBy app (on a smartphone) serves as a main control interface.

The golden knob on the device functions only as a volume control. When just touched a volume control window pops up with a slider on the screen allowing for instant adjustments. However, the sensitivity of the volume slider can lead to accidental changes in volume which I find a huge oversight of the developers.

One of the main menu options is "Scan Music," which rebuilds the database without confirmation. Canceling the scan will only show artists/albums that have been added, all other songs are removed from te list of albums/artists. Despite this, users can still play songs from the folder structure and add them to playlists. Playlists are separate from the database but can also be managed in the HiBy app. Surprisingly this also works when the F28 is already connected to a bluetooth speaker (activate the HyBi link after connection to the speaker). The sound quality over bluetooth is excellent after you have activated aptX in the settings.

Because of the inconsistent touch navigation, I do not suggest using this as a mobile player at the moment with Firmware 2.1. However, with some improvements to the user interface, it has the potential to be an ideal device. By the way, it also plays music when the USB charger is plugged in.

It appears to be a great choice for stationary purposes given the price. Unfortunately the UI glitches and the the volume knob are really a nuisance.

 

[ciccio1378]

While waiting to receive opinions, I still decided to buy it. I completely agree with your opinions. Furthermore, I find the equalizer unusable, because when I adjust the various frequencies, the effect obtained is not the expected one, but completely random. The Bluetooth connection is often unstable.
A question: if I select an artist of which there are, for example, four albums, each with some songs, the playback does not automatically switch from the last song of the first album to the first song of the next album. It's normal?

 

[Monkey3017]

I cannot say. There is an option under Playback Settings: "Play through albums". Do you check this?
For me that "Scan Music" menu item is most disturbing. It makes it too easy to refresh the whole database which takes a lot of time. I would also like to control which tracks to include and which to not include, esspecially since there is a 20.000 track limit.
On the positive side: The play lists are independent from the library. Thats really cool.
I found bluetooth to be working ok - using aptX. The sound -

 

[ciccio1378]

"if I select an artist of which there are, for example, four albums, each with some songs, the playback does not automatically switch from the last song of the first album to the first song of the next album" For this problem I asked Surfans support, who suggested that I activate the options: "Play Through Albums/ Play Through Folders in the menu of play setting", but nothing has changed. As for Bluetooth, I have several speakers that support the LDAC codec and random disconnections often occur. Overall the F28 Surfans has excellent value for money.

 

[Monkey3017]

I can confirm the behaviour with albums when selected from the library. However it seems to work if I select the song from the folder list.

One feature of the F28 is missing from some much more expensive devices. This is "Crossfade" - if selected and "Gapless" as well, the next song is played without interuption.

Right now I have the problem that the system crashes as soon as I open up the entry of a specific artist. I assume the software is (also) developed by HiBy and wonder how it can be so unreliable. Is this to distinguish between products of different price ranges? And what about this track limit of 20.000? Why this fixed limit? I assume the computer inside this little device is a lot more powerful than any PC in the late 90th - and those handled much more database entries.

BTW - scanning all those 20.000 tracks takes only 6 min 30 sec. Time to boot is less impressive, 15 sec.

 

[Monkey3017]

I decided to get and keep the shangling M1s instead. It is lighter, but the Surfans looks much better. The M1s design is practical - form follows function. I like that the buttons are at the top (under the headphone ports), but you can turn the display by 180 degrees if you like.

The M1s sounds great, but there are enough reviews covering this.

Since there is so little technical information here some notes:

1) The M1s also has a track limit of 20.000 :-( [I do not think this limit is because of technical reasons. The processor is pretty fast.]
but: you can select which folders to scan, so you can explicitely exclude tracks from beeing included. The scanning is done in a single thread and the currently imported folder is displayed, so it does not import just half of a folder.. Scanning takes longer than on the F28.

2) The screen is smaller but has a larger resolution. The track titles (and file names) scroll, so you can read all of the text. There is always enough information.

3) Time to boot is less than 5 seconds - thats great.

4) Volume control can be done with the knob and also a slider on a second level. It is so protected against accidential use which I find a perfect implementation.

5) The Library scanning menu is located deeper in the settings menu and you can choose to only scan certain folders.

6) The playlists can be exported and imported from a certain folder on the SD card as m3u. They are simple text files with absolute paths. It is possible to create new playlists with a new name. (Keyboard is the telephone style: ABC DEF ...). The m3u playlists can also be located in the folder browser and they work as expected. (great!)
In the menu settings you can activate a webserver which allows you to upload and download files, such as playlists or songs, using your PC or cellphone.

7) The USB port is on the side. This makes it easier to put the player on a stand while it is connected to a charger. (There is no setting to limit the charging to 80%, but there is a "vehicle mode" which activates the player when power is switched on)

8) Analog USB Audio works.

9) The list of Tracks have an index (A...Z) but the Artists and Albums do not.

10) Like on the F28 there is no search function on the device.

11) I did not find a setting for Crossfade like on the Surfans.

12) The operation system is based on the same technology. The HyBi app is rebranded as "Eddict Player" for the M1s, looks a bit nicer, but I would have prefered the HiBy app since somehow the index and search does not work as expected. (I cannot get the HiBy program work with the M1s.)

13) The M1s can use up to 2 TB SD cards

14) For the M1s you can get a nice leather case for 15 euro and 2 screen protectors are included, too.

15) The 7 filter settings change the sound noticably. EQ also works.

16) It is possible to hide Icons which are not needed on the main menu. (swipe left on last page)

17) You can increase the play speed (... menu) which can be useful for audio books or podcasts.

18) The Windows driver for the DAC is signed.

The screen is much better on the M1s and the OS is better structured, although the functionality is very similar. You have always access to the system settings, no need to go to main menu to change bluetooth. The M1s supports Airplay (tried that) and also Tidal which I did not test. Spotify Connect is not included.
Right now I see a problem with the APP "Eddict Player" - why is search and index not working? I really like the M1s and the sound is great when using the Beyerdynamic DT880.

 

[ciccio1378]

First of all, congratulations for the valuable information you give us.
"Right now I have the problem that the system crashes as soon as I open up the entry of a specific artist." For this problem I understood that the cause was the presence of the "\" symbol in one of the four properties of the Flac file. See attached image. By eliminating the symbol, the file is played correctly.