XDuoo X3 DSD 24Bit / 192KHz CS4398 Chip Lossless Music Player

Xduuo x3
Credit to: brian ganchua for lending me his unit for the purpose of this review
 
Pros
Basic and straightforward menu
2 MMC slots
Clean sounding 
Black background 
Spacious soundstage
Detailed sound
Best dap in its price bracket, even beyond its asking price
Bold color and discreet looks
Line out
Lightweight
Desirable daily beater dap 
Cheapest ticket to introduce you to hifi
Simple UI that works
 
Cons
Old style led screen
Not colored, no coverart
Aluminum front and sides, but back and buttons is made of plastic.
The design of the facia is dust magnet
No music or library organizer
 
 
 
 
The Xduuo X3 is very popular as a budgetfi dap here in our country. One of the reason why FITEAR also manages to rebrand it for its company as their main choice.
 
It has a hint of pitch black background. It retains musicality without loosing details from being too thick on mids. The sound reminds me of the famous dac amp - MOJO. Less the push, less the micro details and midbass. They share similarities in warmth.
 
Ill start this review with the use of my TG334 by FITEAR as my reference iem.
 
The lows is detailed, fast and accurate but less the fun factor and midbass you hear from MOJO.  Never boomy nor loose no matter what genre. It compliments well with the rest of the frequency.
 
The midrange is articulate and open. This is the big picture in the signature. There is no feeling youre too close or too narrow.  moves freely to its space. Its lush and never thick. With the right amount of smoothness to like it easily. 
 
Treble part has a right amount of sparkle in it. To bring out life to instruments and vocals. Not extended though. Its like playing safe, to stay away from harshness. I can say its well controlled for fatigue free-long listening sessions.
 
My hunch is the tamed treble may be the culprit to some micro detail's veil.
 
The separation is excellent for its price. Soundstage is wide and spacious. Its one thing you will notice. But not too much 3d-like like the ADR. More spacious than that of AIGO's.  
 
There are times when im having a doubt if what im testing here is from an iem, that terribly good!
 
My only gripe, personally, is its push and attack. Its a little on the soft side. (Add the +6db option to remedy softness) It lacks that powerful amp section which is present in the AIGO 105. You will have to increase the volume to get the perfect push, that thing you enjoy in the music.
 
UPDATE:
I was informed by mr. bryan ganchua about this:
 
Theres a hidden option on the option button when playing back music, theres a +6db additional for the volume. I was trully became more impressed when i pushed play WHAT CAN I DO song by THE CORRS. I was blown away!  It brings out that lossed pushed and impact i wanted to hear. Those i felt lacking just pop out of thr blue. It felt like this one has been a new level of XDUOO i once reviewed in the previous days. 
 
Adding that +6db will give you more balanced treble and bass. It will increase impact, push and attack. That softness will diminish instantly.
 
Compared to my usb dac amp, ADR, the sound is less thicker but more cleaner, a more on micro details, same black background and more 3d. More open sounding, instruments shine on their own right. I can hear the ADR is more spacious than XDUOO. But thats not to say the XDUOO is bad, its really competitive as a good dap.
 
When i changed iem, from FITEAR to INEAR Stagediver SD2S, the signature compensates a little in the treble area. It gives more life than what ive experience in TG334. However, i still feel that softness in the attacks. (This softness is gone with the additional +6db option)
 
UI is straighforward and basic, not confusing to use like the AIGO 105, no delay in UI. Its polished and very easy to use.
 
No library organizer. You will have to browse by folder. No artists, songs, or album browsing.
 
Two MMC slots! Yay!
 
This is your cheapest ticket to HIFI. It will  provide you good sound, good build and useful, functioning UI. 
 
The Xduuo x3 is smooth, warm and clean sounding dap. 
 
I just wish they provided a more powerful amp for this so that the push and attack in music is more present and not softly presented. (Add +6db option to remedy the softness)
 
But aside from it, ill consider buying myself one. Its one of the best daps ive heard next to AUNE M2S. It may not be as organic and as natural to the level of AUNE M2S, but smoothness is similar to the MOJO's.
 
The FITEAR TG334 and XDUOO combo provided good synergy. Its like you can touch the music, its organic and natural at the same time, I loved the outcome. That good timbre! Ugh! 
 
The XDUOO has more PROS than CONS. It has proved to be a good instrument to enjoy your music better.
 
Excellent details without being too clinical, couple that with spacious soundstage and good lows. And paint it with the smoothness of midrange and behave treble, thats what the XDUUO X3 is capable and is all about.
 
What i experienced with the XDUOO is really something memorable, it is something to write about. I never thought such dap existed for its price. Id definitely recommed it to anyone, Audiophiles or Newbies alike. This kind of sig is what i personally prefer, its more worthy than its asking price. Its really a pleasure trying it, I really enjoyed my time with it.
 
 
 
 
 
 

About me:


Preamble:

As you might know, I am always looking for the best bang for the buck. Until a while ago, my Smartphone (a Galaxy S3) was my daily driver for almost anything. Although, anything is relative in this case. I really only used it for making calls and listening to Music. Logically, I decided to invest into an DAP for some more flexibility. I was looking for a player which fulfilled following criteria:
1.: It must have decent modding capabilities. (Screen, Battery, UI)
2.: Battery should be atleast decent.
3.: It must take one or two hits to the ground.
4.: Reasonable Pricing.
Luckily, after just 5 minutes of search I found my unicorn. The XDuoo X3. A 100$ DAP with some of the best set of features in its class. Dual-Micro SD Slots, a OLED screen, 10 hour battery time, a great DAC unit. But obviously I was not entirely sold. I never buy into hype (*cough* ZhiYin QT5 *cough*), so I read the threads about some possible short-comings, which (to take it away) are quite a few.
However opting for the smaller brother X2 meant the lack of a second MicroSD-Slot and/or inferior sound-quality. All the other alternatives were around 50+$ more expensive, so I just took the leap and bought it off Aliexpress.

Enter XDuoo X3

Official Threads:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/782912/xduoo-x3-dsd-24bit-192khz-cs4398-chip-lossless-music-player
http://www.head-fi.org/t/803844/rockbox-xduoo-x3




Specs:

Power: 1500MAH 3.7V lithium polymer battery.
Processor: the king is smart chip JZ4760B
Operating System: LINUX
DAC chip: Cirrus Logic CS4398
Amplifier chip: one per channel rail-to-rail high-efficiency amplifier chip

Card support: maximum support two 128G TF / Micro SD Cards

Output power: 250mW (32Ω load)
Line out Output level: 1.5Vrms

Supported Formats:

DSD: DSD64
APE: 24bit / 192khz
FLAC: 24bit / 192khz
WAV: 24bit / 192khz
APPLE Lossless: 24bit / 192khz
CUE
WMA, MP3, AAC, ALAC, OGG

Frequency response: 20Hz ~ 20KHz (± 0.5dB)
Gain: + 6dB
Distortion: 0.001% (1KHz)
SNR: 110dB
Adapter Headphone Impedance: 8Ω ~ 300Ω

Battery Life time:> 10H
Charging time: <2H
Volume: 105.5 * 45 * 14mm
Weight: 100g
Color: Black, Silver, Gold

Build and Accessories:

The X3 is build out of an aluminium casing from top to bottom. Although the buttons are made out of plastic, overall build quality is excellent. Due to the small form-factor of around 10cmx4.5cmx1.4cm it is small enough to not get in the way. Accounting for the weight of only 100g plus sturdy build makes it an great DAP for on the run or in the gym. However it does generate some heat when running or charging, albeit it is only a small increase without further implication for user or player.

I.O. is plenty. We got 9 buttons, which are all distinctive from each other and easy to identify. Pressing each button creates a decent clicking response, which in my 3 months of usage hasn't deteriorated.
Moving to the top of device shows a Micro-USB port. Standard affair. Moving to the bottom reveals a 3.5mm (1/8'') input and line-out. Another mandatory affair. On the left is the Locking Slide, which does click quite audible and is satisfying to use, but annoying for anyone else within a 3 meter radius. The right side rocks the volume buttons, the Micro-SD card slots and a reset pin in case the X3 needs a hard-reset. Overall a solid package and everything I need. Great.

Accessories are a bit on the low side, however. Included are only a USB-Cable, a rather disappointing screenprotector and a manual. Futhermore third-party accessories are almost non-existant. Besides a little leather-pouch (which looks terrible), nothing else has been released thus far. Disappointing but somewhat expected considering the price-point.

The biggest downfall in terms of Hardware is the Screen and the Battery. While the X3 uses a OLED display (Which turns off #000000/black pixels entirely, in theory saving battery), it is lackluster. I actually like the low resolution, as I don't care about Album art. HOWEVER, it uses a terrible front-panel which dims the screen too much. Even in moderate sunlight the screen becomes unreadable.
There are DIY solutions to this problem, but the bright blue does cause quite a bit of strain for your eyes (why is there no option for changing the screen-colour?). Another gripe is the disappointing battery-management. With a 300x240p screen and a 1500mA capacity, run-time is only around 6 1/2h with moderate screen-on time. A far cry from the advertised 10h. I feel that these two quirks are holding the X3 off quite a bit.









User Interface:

(Note: I will only talk about Rockbox in this segment, as the default Firmware is quite frankly sub-par compared to Rockbox)

Installing Rockbox is fast and easy to do:

1) Download the bootloader (update-to-rockbox-xxx.zip) and rockbox system’s archives (rockbox-full-xxx.zip)

2) Rename update-to-rockbox-xxx.zip to update.zip and write to the root of the micro SD-card without unpacking.

3) Unpack rockbox-full-xxx.zip to the root of the micro SD-card. System folder .rockbox must be placed at the root of this memory card.
On Windows: (mSDCARD):/.rockbox
On Linux/Unix: /media/(mSDCARD)/.rockbox (Hidden files are disabled with some File-Manager; enable with CTRL-H)
Card must be formatted to FAT16 or FAT32 beforehand. Filesystems ExFAT, NTFS, EXT3/4 are not supported!

4) Install the SD-Card to the X3 slot number 1

5) Update your player. To do this, in the menu "Setting" select "Upgrade"

6) Profit

(One has to note that this is an unofficial port of Rockbox made by XVortex, hence there are some issues with stability)

After installing Rockbox you are greeted with a huge choice of options:

• Files
  
  Your file-manager for the most part. You access the SD-Card Storage from the Files options. Also your Playlists are saved here.
  
  
• Database
  
  Sorts your files via. flags. Has most relevant information displayed here.
  
  
  
  
• Resume Playback
• Settings
  
  What I really enjoy about Rockbox is the extensive ability to customize your layout. Furthermore it has all relevant settings for altering sound-properties.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Playlist Catalogue
• Plugins
• System
• Shortcuts

Thanks to the extensive libary of themes, custom fonts and icons making the U.I. your own is almost a necessity. There is no wasted space, everything is readable and information is plenty. Key-Mapping is sadly not possible, but the layout and most options are only 2 clicks away. For instance while playing a track you can access all options via. long pressing the PLAY/PAUSE. Killing the track via. short-clicking POWER is useful, though you have to either wait for the screen to auto-dim or use the lock slider for deactivating the screen.

The biggest strengh of the Xduoo X3 is the overall fluidity and speed, in which you can navigate. There is almost no lag to speak of. Even little things like fast-forward and rewinding are smartly done, with longer holds accelerating the process and decelerating when you reach the start/end of the track. In case you don't like this extra convience, disabling such controls via. the .cfg file is always an option and encouraged. Rockbox is vast.



Sound Impressions:

Drivability is quite good. As for someone who is exclusively using IEM, I have not encountered any issue with lacking volume. I have tested the X3 with my slightly modded T50rp and got moderately good results. It does sound under-powered, although volume is enough for most. What is more important to me is hiss, which often but not is somewhat apparant. Especially compared to the Soundaware M1Pro, hiss is notable when plugging in the earphone, although mostly disappears after music is playing. I recommend turning on High-Gain for all instances. Unless you want to drive something like a Hifiman HE-6 or similar, extra amping is not required.

Sound-Quality is certainly a improvement over my Phone. While the S3 is no slouch in terms of sound, the X3 does give my collection a certainly needed extra punch. There is not much coloration added with the X3. It sounds neutral, spacious and thanks to the extensive EQ settings of Rockbox can be tuned to your liking. While the aforementioned Soundaware M1Pro (750$) does add slightly more extra to the sound, difference is quite minimal. Maybe around 5%, which to me is almost negliable. Plus it leaves me with 650$ extra.



Conclusion:

Overall, the X3 is quite amazing. It does have a vast array of options and while it has various quirks holding it down, it never really bothered me too much. I do believe that Rockbox is the X3s saving grace. Without it you might want to consider something else. However all small things aside, the Xduoo X3 is one of the best options in the 100$ DAP realm.