FiiO SA1 Desktop Speaker

Small Speaker, Big Features

The FiiO SA1 Desktop Speaker is a feature-packed, budget-friendly solution for desktop audio. Available in two colors, I personally went for the white but the classic wood look with the brown is also very nice.

It delivers an unexpected level of connectivity and for its size it delivers excellent performance. Its compact size makes it a perfect desktop companion, and when paired with a subwoofer, tuned some of the configurable onboard PEQ, it transforms into an excellent sounding system for a home working space or even a bedroom.

After a few weeks of intensive use, I think I can describe what is great about the SA1 and where it has some limitations. So hopefully this review will be able to give you some insights.

So first, let’s see what you get in the box.

Unboxing and Build Quality

The unboxing experience with the FiiO SA1 is straightforward but does come in a big box:

And the back of the box:

Opening the box you see some cables, the remote and the power supply:

Removing this top layer reveals the speakers underneath in their protective covers:

I specifically went for the white as I felt it would work better in a minimalist workspace setup and as you will see later I think it worked out nicely, but I did try it in a few different places around my house, I think my wife thought I was a bit crazy.

Upon opening, you find: • Main Speaker • Secondary Speaker • Custom Infrared Remote Control (requires 2 AAA batteries) • Power Adapter • RCA to 3.5mm Audio Cable • Main and Secondary Unit Connection Cable • Quick Start Guide

The compact yet sturdy design looks well with a high-density MDF cabinet with a 9mm imitation solid wood veneer, which gives the speaker a more premium look than a simple “box speaker”, it is very small, here is it with an already tiny Micca MB42:

If you set your expectations relative to its size, I think you will be ultimately be impressed, but there is only so much you can drive a tiny speaker without a little help but thankful FiiO does provide a few ways that you can decent sound from this speaker.

The Speaker itself

Driver setup:

• Woofer: A 3.5-inch wood fiber construction.
• Tweeter: A ¾ inch aluminum-magnesium alloy dome tweeter.

I do think it is a pity you cannot remove the grills easily - but I see those screws around each driver so will be possible to open this speaker up easily:

The right Speaker has the Volume which you can push to switch inputs, a bass boost dial and a power button:

Bass boost dial

This bass boost dial is really just a simple way to boost the overall bass frequency, ultimately when pairing this with a subwoofer, I actually lowered this to the lowest possible value as I wanted to avoid pushing that tiny woofer too much and if you plan on playing this speaker even slightly loud without a subwoofer I would also lower this value as the bass does distort easily.

But if you listen a lower volumes (especially in a small desktop setup) it will be ok to use dial to give the speaker a little bass boost and I do appreciate that this is a super simple way to give the sound a little bass boost without resorting to having to use the FiiO Control app to switch PEQ profiles.

The back and sides

The back of the Left side has nothing other than the cable connection from the right hand side:

The other sides mostly just have the very nice wooden finish:

You have extensive connections on the back:

So you get an incredible extensive set of connections:

• Usb-c from a computer
• Optical input
• Coaxial input
• Phono or RCA (including a ground terminal) and a Photo/RCA switch
• Subwoofer output
• Aux input

Here are the main ones I used for this review:

DAC Input

When using it as a USB-c DAC options on my Macbook when using the SA1 you get a reasonable support with up to 24bit/96Khz:

Specifically the supports up to 192Khz over coaxial:

• USB (Type-C, supporting up to 96kHz/32bit)
• Coaxial (supporting up to 192kHz/24bit)
• Optical / Toslink (supporting up to 96kHz/24bit)

Bluetooth support

You also get Bluetooth input you get LDAC from Android and AAC from IOS as well as the standard SBC protocol using Bluetooth 5.4. You can also control the SA1 over bluetooth from your mobile with the FiiO Control application, more on this application in a bit.

Some setups

I thought it might be interesting to setup the SA1 in a couple of different ways:

Small Working from Home - Desktop setup This was why I picked the white colour as I felt it would go well in this room and I think it does and crucially both the SA1 and the JDS Element IV that was feeding it RCA output take very little space away from the desk:

It sounds great in this space, even without the subwoofer (which is hidden under the table) but especially with the subwoofer and some room correction PEQ configuration.

With some turntables I thought I would test both the Phono and RCA inputs with 2 different turntables my old Audio Technica which is now in my converted garage space and the new FiiO TT13:

It sounded great with both, the built-in phono preamp was as good as the one built into the Audio Technica so its a nice option if you have a turntable with only phono outputs.

With the TT13 in this much larger space, I definitely needed that subwoofer next to the table, but I did quiet a few measurements which I will present later in this setup.

Features

I thought it might be worthwhile to just pick up some of the many features of the SA1 that I think are important so lets start with the amplifier used:

Internal Amplifier

The speaker is powered by two Texas Instruments TPA3118 class D digital amplifiers, delivering 20W2 for the woofer and 5W2 for the tweeter. I have seen this class D used in many class D amplifiers from companies like Fosi Audio and Aiyima, and it is reasonable good class D chip (though not as good or powerful as the TPA3255) but given you get 2, one in each speaker it is easily adequate for driving the SA1.

FiiO Control and PEQ Capabilities

One amazing feature for a speaker at this price it comes with both a built-in DSP and a companion application. FiiO have nicely integrated the same application with many of their devices including the recent K17 and the SA1:

You get reasonable useful remote control of the SA1 from your mobile (over Bluetooth):

Including switching inputs:

But the best feature for me (and one that is very rare in a powered speaker at this price) is the ability to configure a 31-band high-precision PEQ using this the FIIO Control app. So you get some built-in sound presets (pop, jazz, classical, R&B, dance, and a monitoring-style curve):

And then ability to save three custom PEQ setups which I think is fantastic feature especially if you understand a little about room correction and have access to a measurement microphone like a Umik-1:

Npte: As you can see above as a test I lower a bit of “room mode” bass and the midrange need a bit of adjustment to get a more neutral response, I will show the effect later on in the measurement section.

Remote

I also like that the speakers come with a useful remote to change the inputs and the volume:

Note: As someone with lots of similar remotes I really appreciate FiiO have started to put the device name on the remote, it is a nice simple touch.

Standby support

I also like that there is automatic standby and wake-up time is pretty fast.

Subwoofer support

The inclusion of an RCA subwoofer output I think is crucial. And ultimately how I rated this speaker. Without it, I feel it will the SA1 will be limited the places where it is only used near field, where do not need to push the woofer too much. But with the inclusion of a subwoofer you can now use these tiny speaker in many more setups, while it doesn’t suddenly transform the SA1 into a “home theatre” killer, it does allow you, when paired even with a cheap subwoofer to get decent “full range” sound in smaller rooms and even worked well for me in my medium size converted garage space.

Sound Impressions

For its size the FiiO SA1 delivers a well-balanced and dynamic sound, though due to its size the bass does roll off significant and if boosted too much it will distort, but ultimately pair it with a subwoofer, do a little room correction using the PEQ filters, and then it became a different speaker, one that can compete with much more expensive setups.

Here’s how it performs across the key audio elements:

Bass

While its compact design naturally limits deep bass output, the 3.5-inch woofer produces a rich and warm low end. When paired with a subwoofer, the bass extension down well below 65Hz and really comes to life, making for a satisfying low-frequency performance during movie nights or bass-heavy tracks.

Mids

The midrange is clear and detailed, ensuring vocals and instruments are rendered with natural warmth and precision. The customizable DSP and PEQ settings allow you to fine-tune the mids to suit any genre, from classical arrangements to modern pop.

Treble

The SA1’s ¾ inch tweeter provides crisp and articulate highs without sounding overly bright or harsh. The result is a smooth treble that adds sparkle and clarity, bringing out the finer details in your music. I did find you can tune the treble a little by either toeing it in towards you ( a bit brighter) or toeing out ( a bit darker ).

Soundstage and Imaging

Despite its small footprint, the SA1 manages to produce a surprisingly spacious soundstage. Its imaging allows you to pinpoint individual elements within a mix, making for an immersive listening experience even on a desktop.

Specifications and Measurements

Measurements

So, I used my Minidsp UMIK-1 setup on a tripod to measure (as best I could) the performance of the SA1, setup on a desktop (as per the pictures earlier).

Frequency Response in Room:

So first I thought it was interesting to see the difference of the bass boost button and when the bass boost and a subwoofer is blended (yellow) into the sound:

So, obviously you get a much lower bass response with the subwoofer, but the crucial difference is the level of distortion between these 3 measurements, as you can see below - the (yellow) measurement has the least distortion and especially with the bass boosted the SA1 is generating a lot of distortion:

I then looked at applying some PEQ and measuring the overall frequency response I got at roughly 80dbSPL:

Note: I only used 2 PEQ adjustments for this I could easily use some of the other 29 PEQ filters to get a much smoother FR, but I thought this REQ equaliser recommendation showed how well it can measure (and sound) with a little EQ and a subwoofer blended.

Next I thought I would just compare the default sound without PEQ or the subwoofer with those simple changes and you can see below the sub-bass extension goes way down and this subwoofer isn’t anything special it just happended to be one that I was not using, it is a Yamaha SW050:

Distortion with and without the Subwoofer

Specifically focusing on the distortion as speakers this small (really woofers in speakers in small) will struggle when pushed and the difference when I removed the bass from SA1 by lowering the Bass boost and tuning the bass with the PEQ. So the orange distortion measurement here shows how well you can lower the distortion by offloading all bass to the subwoofer:

And again as I mentioned above the least distortion and the most balanced sound:

So in summary, on its own the SA1 will struggle playing even at 80dbSPL but lower the bass and add a subwoofer and you get a pretty good sounding yet tiny desktop speaker setup for very little money.

Rating

I feel the FiiO SA1 without its extra features would be a fairly average tiny desktop speaker, but it has
some outstanding features and some of those features, like the subwoofer and the 31 band PEQ can make a real difference to the sound you get. Other features like the remote and the ability to use a companion mobile app really set this speaker apart from the competition at this price.

So, I am giving the FiiO SA1 a very pragmatic rating of 5 due to these features. I feel this speaker makes a very nice desktop or small bedroom speaker and when paired with a subwoofer and some PEQ configuration applied to remove some “bassy” room modes, you can get some outstanding quality at a very reasonable price.

I also think this would make an excellent first speaker for someone to tinker with and start to understand audio, maybe paired with their first turntable and with all its input and the various controls available in the FiiO Control app this could really be a “gateway” speaker into the whole home audio hobbie.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the FiiO SA1 Desktop Speaker is a shining example of smart design and value in the budget audio market. Its rich feature set—including multiple input options, advanced digital processing, and intuitive control—ensures that it stands out among similarly priced competitors. While its compact size makes it best suited for desktop use, pairing it with a subwoofer unlocks an expansive, immersive sound experience.

If you’re looking for a desktop speaker or small bedroom setup that doesn’t compromise on connectivity or performance, the SA1 is certainly worth considering.