Budget-Friendly Future-Fi Solutions: A ‘Strings’ Guide to Desktop Listening

By Greg Cahill | From the July/August 2025 issue of Strings

It’s called Future-Fi: budget-friendly digital music delivered by audiophile-quality desktop gear at affordable prices. Unlike large stereo systems, Future-Fi is all about bringing great sound to small spaces—the home office, work cubicle, dorm room, or bedroom—and often with just a simple headphone amp, streaming Bluetooth device, and modest “near-field” speakers, headphones, or in-ear monitors (IEMs). Many of these streamers, audio equipment optimized for streaming digital music, use state-of-the-art digital-to-analog converters (DAC chips that can add detail, clarity, or tubelike warmth to music) and easy-to-use apps equipped with tonal equalization (EQ) and digital room correction. At its best, Future-Fi is a satisfying and simple sonic solution that fits any lifestyle, any space, and any budget.

Future-Fi has its genesis in budget-priced audio gear that has undergone a miniaturization revolution in recent years, thanks for the most part to such innovative China-based companies as WiiM, Eversolo, FiiO, Edifier, Fosi, Ayima, Kanto, SMSL, xDuoo, and DUNU, among others. (The California-based Schiit Audio is their strongest US competitor; iFi is a popular UK Future-Fi company.)

The prices may be low, but the quality can be startlingly high. Fosi, for example, uses high-end Japanese-made resistors and inductors, German capacitors, and microchips designed by Dallas-based Texas Instruments, equaling or surpassing parts found in some pricier US- and European-made gear. I use a rugged little Fosi V3 class-D integrated stereo amp ($109.99 with 48-volt power supply upgrade) and a Fosi P3 hybrid-tube pre-amp ($79.99) with bass-and-treble controls and built-in aptX HD Bluetooth. (Unlike traditional linear amplifiers, Class D amps operate in a switching mode, rapidly turning output transistors on and off at high frequencies.) The V3 is rated at 300 watts.

The whole stack, about the size of two small paperbacks, easily handles my bedroom Bowers & Wilkins 706 S2 speakers, using an iPhone or Apple iPad as a source. Added bonus: Audio nerds can roll different op-amp chips into the V3 to experiment with the sound, though the stock Texas Instruments TPA3255 chip is beautifully balanced.

Of course, the Future-Fi rabbit hole is deep and wide—a dizzying parade of DACs, streamers, headphone amps, and other gear. So, know your budget, and look for equipment that best suits the style of music you listen to, compatibility with your preferred streaming service, and reliability. Here are four popular all-in-one desktop streamers, one with active speakers and three that excel with a set of high-resolution headphones (see sidebar).

Edifier S1000 MKII powered bookshelf speakers, Courtesy of Edifier USA

Living the Stream

The affordable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled WiiM Ultra Music Streamer and Digital Preamp ($329) is a computer masquerading as a stereo amp (with powerful 2.0 gig Quadcore A53 CPU). It was one of the best-selling Future-Fi products of 2024. About the same size as your kid’s “retro” Lite-Brite, this feature-packed unit sports a 3.5-inch color touchscreen; premium 32-bit/384kHz ES9038 Q2M Sabre DAC (producing clear, detailed sound); Texas Instruments TPA6120A2 class-D amplifier; Bluetooth 5.3; and WiFi 6. It’s compatible with Google Cast, Chromecast, and Alexa, as well as Qobuz, Spotify Connect, Amazon Music, BBC Radio, Tidal Connect, and other streaming services; multiroom connections; HDMI ARC (for Netflix, YouTube, and home theater); RCA, USB, optical, and coaxial inputs; optical out; RCA out to connect powered speakers; a phono input; a sub out; and headphone output. Note: Though the WiiM Ultra does not offer native support for Apple AirPlay, you can still stream Apple Music via Bluetooth, and you can use a USB-C to optical adapter and an optical cable to achieve hard-wired bit-perfect hi-res streaming from your iPhone to the WiiM Ultra.

All that for just over 300 bucks.

Plus, the WiiM Home app lets you select streaming services, adjust volume and ten-band EQ, access favorite tunes, set alarms, and customize settings. The WiiM Ultra punches way above its weight—it’s easy to use and, along with the WiiM Amp and the company’s other low-cost Bluetooth streamers, is a clear Future-Fi favorite.

Stepping up in price and quality, the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth-enabled EverSolo DMP-A6 Master Edition Gen 2 High-Fidelity Music Streamer and DAC ($1,399) has sophisticated technology (supporting DSD, MQA, FLAC, APE, and WAV, as well as Roon and Tidal Connect); customized versions of Tidal, Qobuz, Highresaudio, Presto Music, Radio Paradise, and other streaming services; the ability to create a personalized music library; and app-controlled settings, including automatic wake-up. It offers one DAC for each stereo channel, is crystalline clear, and produces a big soundstage. It is more detailed than the WiiM, but four times the cost and lacking a phono stage and other components found in the WiiM.

The same can be said of the Bluetooth- and internet-enabled FiiO R9 ($1,579.99), one of the most versatile headphone amps on the market, though you practically need to be a rocket scientist to access all its many features. This attractive desktop unit has an eight-channel DAC, balanced THX headphone amp; multiple output modes; HDMI inputs for Blu-Ray and gaming; a media memory-card slot; six-inch LED color touchscreen; onboard EQ; and Apple AirPlay and open-Android OS (that can handle any app on the Google Play app store); among other features. And the handy FiiO-Cast feature lets you use your phone as a controller.

If you find headphones to be uncomfortable or cumbersome, you might consider Edifier’s S1000 MKII 120-watt, powered bookshelf speakers ($399.99). Offering Bluetooth 5.0 with aptX HD and both RCA analog and optical, coaxial, and Bluetooth digital inputs that let you connect to your smartphone, tablet, or laptop, these compact near-field monitor speakers feature a 5.5-inch aluminum alloy midrange-bass woofer and one-inch titanium-dome tweeter, powered by a high-efficiency built-in class-D amp, and wireless remote. The S1000 MKII recently won a Consumer Reports nod for best of class.

Many YouTube channels offer reviews of Future-Fi equipment. A few reliable ones are the Audiophiliac (former CNET audio re-viewer Steve Guttenberg), Darko.Audio, A British Audiophile, and iiWi Reviews.

AirPod Max headphones, Courtesy of Apple

Take a Bite of the Apple

Sometimes a good pair of Bluetooth-enabled headphones and an iPhone or iPad is the way to go. Apple offers easy access to immersive Dolby Atmos via its updated, USB-C-–connected Apple AirPod Max headphones ($549.99), which serve as a stylish portal to Dolby Atmos and Apple Music’s lossless audio codex (ALAC), all found on Apple Music and Apple Classical Music apps. Simply put, ALAC is a method of compressing audio files to retain a maximum amount of data. The entire Apple Music catalog is now encoded using ALAC in resolutions ranging from 16-bit/44.1 kHz (CD quality) to HD 24-bit/192 kHz. When you play supported music on your iPhone with AirPods Max, or AirPods 3 or AirPods Pro, you can access Spatial Audio and head tracking (which allows the music to follow the movement of your head) to create an immersive, theater-like environment with sound that surrounds you. —GC