My wife bought this player about 6-7 months ago, first let's talk about the sound, highs are great, seem very nicely extended, the mids also seemed very good, the lows are very very good, this player's sound is great, neutral warmish sound, me and the wife both liked allot, but I decided to get a zishan z3 instead, she bought the fiio x1 ii, the z3 has it's subbass and highs slightly rolled off, and it doesn't look as pretty as this fiio x1......

Hold on, had to restart the x1.... Ok back to the review

In sound against the z3, the fiio wins , fiio has more low end and high end, giving the fiio and advantage when it plays, if it plays, sometimes........

Hold on again. Fiio froze........
the zishan has a bit more in the vocals, but the roll off is noticed and it doesn't give as many details as the x1

The fiio's screen and menu layout seems very nice, high quality build and materials make this player seem very nice.....
oops, froze again, hold on......
easy to navigate, the zishan z3 is simple and even easier to navigate, but it's not as pretty as the fiio, the fiio wins in feel and looks.

But the fiio x1 has a fatal flaw, this is why my wife sold her fiio and got a zishan dsd.
The u.i. is horrible, no updates from fiio meens nothing will ever fix the u.i.
It freezes when you connect to Bluetooth, freezez if you don't refresh the library Wich takes 10 minutes, it freezes wile you update the library. so it takes twice as long to update the library, it freezes if you play music longer then 30 minutes, it freezes if you use line out, it freezes if you use a SD card larger then 64gigs
Some times it freezes when you start it
We tried factory reset, but still freezes constantly

It freezes if you look at it funny......

The zishan z3 has not frozen on me in the last 7 months, neither has her zishan dsd, the dsd having much better sound then the fiio x1 ii and zishan z3, and cost us as much as the fiio x1 ii so in general if you're thinking of a fiio dap, check out anything else, no updates and constant firmware problems make it hard to enjoy the sound, for the price it's useless garbage, sounds great but only for around 30-45 minutes

I have received this burson v5i-d free of charge in return for an honest review

I know sound is subjective and this is my first review so I will try to do my best.


My first impressions was wow, I spent a week listening and in general am very happy with how it sounds in my zishan z3. The z3 has a bit of a roll off in the bass and highs , I used the kz zs5 (good combo) for this review and ty hi z hp150. I also try it in my Walnut F1(beautiful combo) and my wife's zishan dsd but for this review I will use my zishan.


For most of this review I used a few songs and albums that I know and listen to often. Here is a list of some of these;


Pink Floyd's dark side of the moon (whole album) the subbass in opening track is wonderfully defined (better then all the opamps I have heard)

And the clocks in time really come alive!


Rush's caress of steel ( necromancer) soundstage is wider then before, some small details seem better pronounced and the drums sound beautifully separated and kick a bit harder


For bass and subbass

21 Savage's issa (close my eyes) bass hits hard and rumbles but never bleeds into the rest, vocals seem less veiled and better defined


Beastie boys's hello nasty special edition (stink bug) the percussion is very well defined, the rumble from the sub bass has more control but everything stays clean and crisp


DJ Shadow's the mountain has fallen( three Ralphs) the bass reaches deeper without overwhelming, bass hits with better depth and definition and rumble, soundstage seems wider, separation seems more defined and the metal coin at the end of the track is really textured, just the right amount of highs


For mids

El gran combo de puerto Rico's sin salsa no hay paraíso, the brass instruments, and percussion seem better defined, vocals more emotional, Made me want to dance across my living room!


For the highs

The beatles’ sgt. Pepper's lonely hearts club band, adds a bit of sparkle that the z3 is missing, not much but a bit more and seems smoother and yet more outlined, instruments seem more discernable


And for vocals all of the above plus

Portishead's portishead, the vocals come alive, become more emotional, bass never takes away from the vocals, highs are just right, and Beth gibbons voice sounds beautiful


I compared the burson with the original opamp and my budget favorite the now obsolete lme49720ha


To me it seems as the v5i brings the vocals forward a bit, not in a bad way, in a nice way, more emotional, intimate, but doesn't take away from the rest of the range, the lme49720ha seems to have a bit more bass and highs but not as well controlled or textured, and against the original opamp they both are better but the v5i seems to separate and control the frequencies much better, soundstage is wider even though the lme49720ha is pretty close the v5i takes the cake and the original opamp simply doesn't compare, seems a bit too aggressive in the mids, bass is not as hard hitting and sub bass seems less controlled and a tiny bit muddy and highs are a bit too harsh compared to the v5i


For the hell of it I compared it to my wife's zishan dsd, I remember it being I jump ahead of my little z3 but with the v5i it seems the z3 catches up, I was baffled, didn't expect that


I would say the burson v5i has a slight focus on mids, they seem more emotional and intimate but doesn't take away from lows or highs, and the sub bass and bass is very well controlled and textured reaching deeper, having the perfect amount of rumble but never sloppy. highs are nice, sparkly, and have a bit more air but never piercing even with the kz zs5. Brass instruments are really a joy to listen to, honestly I would recommend this opamp it really is a step up.