FiiO SP3 BT review

If you haven’t heard of them, FiiO is a Chinese audio brand best known for making some stonking hi-fi equipment. Their new SP3 BT speakers are small, powerful and reasonably priced, while offering sublime audio and connectivity to make them a fantastic pairing for PCs. Moreover, all for an attractive price point.

As much as you might term the SP3 BT as a set of ‘gaming speakers’, they’ve got a lot more personality and purpose than the traditional canon of desktop speakers with flashy lights and noticeably middling audio. Instead, because these have been approached from the angle of a company known for great audio developing speakers that can be used for general listening and gaming, it makes a difference to the end result.

And that end result is a set of speakers that sound sublime. They’re crisp and clear with plenty of body and punch for a smaller set of desktop speakers in comparison to monsters from other hi-fi giants such as KEF. Yes’ Roundabout, Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing, and Gloria Estefan’s Get On Your Feet demonstrated the speaker’s notable power and excellent soundstage, even if they were only separated by a 27-inch monitor on my 120cm desk. 

Roundabout also allowed the SP3 BT to flex its muscles with its low end, thanks to Chris Squire’s iconic, prominent bassline, which came through wonderfully with a fair bit of power, while the slow-building intro for Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing offered up a lot of punch with the song’s drums and Mark Knopfler’s meaty riff.

Frequency: 65 – 20,000 Hz
Drivers: 3.5-inch carbon fibre midwoofer with 1-inch silk tweeter
Weight: 3.61 kg
Connectivity: USB-C, 3.5 mm, Optical, Coaxial, RCA line-in, Bluetooth 5.0
Lighting: Addressable at base of speakers
Price: $349/£319/€379 

As much as the low end isn’t as prominent as with other units, the SP3 BT still served up plenty of immersion with gun fights in Counter Strike 2, or the cinematic goodness of Los Santos in Grand Theft Auto V. To be truthful, turning the game’s radio