[shrimants]

I like to use the "play all" function, and this throws in all the music in alphabetical order, so if you have albums which have songs the like of "01 music.mp3", "01 song.mp3" it'll play them in numerical order, instead of album order.

Now it doesn't:

Artist A - albums by year, in tracknumber order
Artist B - albums by year, in tracknumber order

This has been discussed to death. People actually get pissed off on here when you point out this glaring shortcoming of the x3. It is a problem, everyone (including fiio) is aware of it. It is NOT a problem in the chinese market, apparently. No one has any real plans to fix this at Fiio. According to them, it is too hard and too time-consuming of a process, and since they cannot open source the fw or anything like that, this will likely remain a problem with the X3 firmware.

So here's how you fix it yourself.

If theres a certain way you prefer to view your "all files", you need to change your TRACK TITLE to that, and remove any TRACK NUMBER information from it. Your song name should be : "Year Tracknumber Title.mp3".

In your actual SD card, sort the tracks the usual way, however you like. Either dump everything into 1 directory or keep it organized by X:\artist\album\track title.mp3.

This way, when you do "category view", it will automatically sort by year/track number/title. This will be a completely unique sort order, because of track number. I would go 1973.track.title.

The problem with this category view sort order is that the text will have a huge padding applied to it: there will be at least 7 characters across the screen that arent used, so you have no way but waiting to control this if you want to look for a specific song in "all songs" or in any of the categories.

In browse mode this wont be a problem because your file names can remain ## title.mp3.

The real problem arises when the player sorts everything based on ID3 tag instead of only by file name or relative location in the directory or some other way like that. For example, if "Artist" listed artists based on their file name rather than listing SONGS based on their ARTIST field, this problem would be aleviated somewhat.

But what it really boils down to is a difference in the way browse works and the way categories works. A difference that personally, I would have implemented exactly the same way. It makes sense to do browse by file and category by id3 tag.

Fiio, hope you read this. Start ignoring the track number field in id3 tags when you sort.

 

[TokenGesture]

Category Search by Artist bringing up tracks, not albums, and gapless playback apparently not working, those are the two issues that are bugging me.  No doubt that the player sounds great.  

 

[CH23]

This has been discussed to death. People actually get pissed off on here when you point out this glaring shortcoming of the x3. It is a problem, everyone (including fiio) is aware of it. It is NOT a problem in the chinese market, apparently. No one has any real plans to fix this at Fiio. According to them, it is too hard and too time-consuming of a process, and since they cannot open source the fw or anything like that, this will likely remain a problem with the X3 firmware.

So here's how you fix it yourself.

If theres a certain way you prefer to view your "all files", you need to change your TRACK TITLE to that, and remove any TRACK NUMBER information from it. Your song name should be : "Year Tracknumber Title.mp3".

In your actual SD card, sort the tracks the usual way, however you like. Either dump everything into 1 directory or keep it organized by X:\artist\album\track title.mp3.

This way, when you do "category view", it will automatically sort by year/track number/title. This will be a completely unique sort order, because of track number. I would go 1973.track.title.

The problem with this category view sort order is that the text will have a huge padding applied to it: there will be at least 7 characters across the screen that arent used, so you have no way but waiting to control this if you want to look for a specific song in "all songs" or in any of the categories.

In browse mode this wont be a problem because your file names can remain ## title.mp3.

The real problem arises when the player sorts everything based on ID3 tag instead of only by file name or relative location in the directory or some other way like that. For example, if "Artist" listed artists based on their file name rather than listing SONGS based on their ARTIST field, this problem would be aleviated somewhat.

But what it really boils down to is a difference in the way browse works and the way categories works. A difference that personally, I would have implemented exactly the same way. It makes sense to do browse by file and category by id3 tag.

Fiio, hope you read this. Start ignoring the track number field in id3 tags when you sort.

I'd say it's too early to tell if Fiio will fix this, i hope they will.
As you know they are bugfixing this thing at lightspeed.

 

[rasa92re]

Hey ladies and gents. I started hearing something very odd from my X3 today. 
 
Both the line out port and headphone port are yielding sound only on the left speaker, headphone, and ear bud. My "Balance" setting is at 0. Any suggestions? I've been keeping up with the thread, but has this happened to anyone else?
 
Even worse, @James, is this a hardware issue?

 

[good sound]

  Hey ladies and gents. I started hearing something very odd from my X3 today. 
 
Both the line out port and headphone port are yielding sound only on the left speaker, headphone, and ear bud. My "Balance" setting is at 0. Any suggestions? I've been keeping up with the thread, but has this happened to anyone else?
 
Even worse, @James, is this a hardware 

Nevermind.

 

[sbradley02]

  After carefully watching the situation over at the DX50 thread. I just ordered the X3 off Amazon.com. Authorized Dealer fulfilled by Amazon that is. Anyway, I'm looking forward to it and joining the discussion as an owner now.

What situation?
 
Haven't been following

 

[Vidmaven]

  What situation?
 
Haven't been following

 
They're also having firmware/new hardware issues.

 

[zach915m]

Just got the X3 and am surprised at both how lush/dark sounding a source it is and also at how much power it has.  It easily powers orthos to a nice volume level, and is certainly strong enough to get a lot out of my Heir 5.0's.  Is there any way to get more EQ options out of this thing than just the bass/treble that is in the main menu?  Would be great to have a 5 or 8 band eg.....
 
Also of note it makes my Sony/RSA Intruder combo sound almost bright, going to try the X3 with the RSA and see what happens with report back afterwards...

 

[caracara08]

So I've been using both the X3 and the DX50 yesterday and here are some things that I noticed.
 
The X3 sounds more dynamic with great bass, but with my DT1350, its too much bass.  Sometimes the mids get a little congested with my 4.Ai but overall, just sounds a bit more alive on the X3 vs the DX50. 
The X3 feels more sturdy in my hand when holding it.  Came with a crappy silicon case that people were not happy with but at least it came with something.  The DX50 came with a pouch that is not working out for me. So now, theyre gonna release a silicon case and I will probably have to pay more to buy it.  
 
I am not a fan of the X3 button layout.  The DX50 wins completely there.  
 
The DX50 needed another week or so before release because the UI is horrible.  I am far from a picky person in regards to UI.  I just want it to play all randomly (for the most part), and it wont do that. The screen is responsive though which is good.
 
 
I am leaning towards keeping the dx50 because: user replaceable battery (i always use spare batteries for phones etc), better button placement, cleaner mids.  
 
I feel like I'm going to miss the X3 sound though.  It is very tough. 
 
Depending on your headphones, the X3 can be absolutely amazing for the price.  The fact that Fiio also listens and responds to all our whining is very respectable as well.  

 

[shrimants]

It's been discussed by James that bug fixes are one thing that they can do relatively quickly. They are trying to make it a monthly release cycle. However the artist album id3 tag stuff is a huge issue from the development perspective. They have no plans to fix that right now because they would sooner get the other bugs fixed rather than attempt a whole overhaul. Also with the X5 on the development board, they are thinking they will get a seperate company to make the firmware. If the UI works better on the x5,tbey will simply make the x3 use that UI. As long as the artiat/album thong works in browse files mode I'm OK with this player. Its certainly a titan in the sound quality department there's not much more I can ask for at this point except playback related stuff being fixed.

 

[madmonkey]

not sure how to explain this but i wish the cymbals was more noticeable on this player

 

[shrimants]

The player is neutral (measurement) , as it should be. Try different headphones or an equalizer.

 

[zach915m]

So the X3 does indeed sound much better/cleaner with the RSA Intruder...I guess that's to be expected....I'll try to compare the DAC's at some point too.  The sound is a bit muddy/congested on it's own, of course I am using the Heir 5.0 which is supremely dark, I'm sure with a more analytical headphone this thing could be magical.  Anyone tested with the Tzar 350 or any other flat -ish IEM's?

 

[M-13]

Every Fiio product I"ve had from the E07 to the E17 has been slightly dark. Nothing wrong with that, but I wish Fiio would move to a more neutral signature eventually. I think I agree with the statement that Fiios pair really well with slightly bright headphones that need a little bass emphasis.

 

[MattTCG]

  Every Fiio product I"ve had from the E07 to the E17 has been slightly dark. Nothing wrong with that, but I wish Fiio would move to a more neutral signature eventually. I think I agree with the statement that Fiios pair really well with slightly bright headphones that need a little bass emphasis.

 
I guess you are talking about iem's?? By my estimation and very limited iem experience I'd guess that the gr07mkii would pair well. Anyone want to confirm or deny? What about the re400 regarding pairing with the x3?