[Zxzxxcxc]

New design not as good as the previous one. Hope x7 will get volume knob.

 

[x RELIC x]

Almost 100% of opinions are not in favour of the new design, while almost 100% of opinions love the old/original design.

It baffles me to see this happen. Same with the dual card slots. Still, holding out for sound quality opinions as that's what's most important to me.

 

[nmatheis]

Maybe Fiio fans in China voted up the newer design? I agree that the original design and two mSD slots would be preferable. We'll just have to wait and see the final product. Whatever it turns out to be, it can't be as ugly as AK's flagship product (my opinion - no flame war please).

 

[headwhacker]

Whatever it turns out to be, it can't be as ugly as AK's flagship product (my opinion - no flame war please).

You are not alone. 

 

[Kerouac]

  New design not as good as the previous one. Hope x7 will get volume knob.

Yep, I also prefer a volume knob over small buttons...
 

Almost 100% of opinions are not in favour of the new design, while almost 100% of opinions love the old/original design.

It baffles me to see this happen. Same with the dual card slots. Still, holding out for sound quality opinions as that's what's most important to me.

+1
Excactly my thoughts and opinion on this...

 

Maybe Fiio fans in China voted up the newer design? I agree that the original design and two mSD slots would be preferable. We'll just have to wait and see the final product.

I've been told there are living quite some people in China, so this probably would be a very wise marketing decision

 

[AndrewH13]

I've been told there are living quite some people in China, so this probably would be a very wise marketing decision

But how could anyone prefer such a bland style!

 

[JamesFiiO]

About the volume knob in X7,
 
1, You can use the volume knob by one hand.
 
2, We don't want to be regard as the copycat of AK's DAPs 

 

[x RELIC x]

About the volume knob in X7,

1, You can use the volume knob by one hand.

2, We don't want to be regard as the copycat of AK's DAPs 

The original design didn't look too much like the AK designs.

Still, keep tuning the X7 for the best sound and people will jump on board. Until we can hear solid impressions what else will we talk about?

 

[reihead]

What's the new design???

 

[Mython]

What's the new design???

 
The prototype:

 
 
 
 
 
 
became:
 
 
(rear view)

(front view)

 
 
I dare say it may change a bit more prior to going into production, but probably not too much.
 
 
.

 

[Kerouac]

Oh man, I love the design of that prototype => what a classy and luxury design!
I can't believe that the real thing will turn out looking (at least imo) like a cheap smartphone / cigarette lighter as in the other pictures shown above

 

 

[reihead]

Thanks Mython, those are the same images of a few weeks ago. For a minute I thought there was a change.

Waiting for the final thing, which it seems will be in 3 - 4 months.

 

[Audio Reiner]

The prototype is very nice, the other devices are boring.

 

[all999]

I like new design. The idea of second screen and ability to run streaming services makes me really interested.

 

[Happytalk]

I'm confident at least 1TB microSD will already have been successfully produced, in R&D lab, but they won't take it into full production now, because they know they can milk the memory-hungry public for each capacity increment.

Same with Intel, nVidia etc. - they have far more advanced processor hardware already developed, but it won't exist outside the lab until 2-3 yrs later, while they milk, milk, milk each little spec improvement.


I do appreciate that there may be a higher wafer failure rate as the capacity density increases. I acknowledge that. But that shouldn't be used as an excuse to charge nearly 4x more for 200gb than 128gb. That's just B$. Do the job properly and do it at a fair price.

Please don't anyone make excuses for the memory industry profiteering - that's being naive (and I assure you, I don't mean that disrespectfully).

The memory industry have us over a barrel and they know it. They are more than capable of producing 256gb or 512gb, but they don't want to decrease their profit margins (higher wafer failure rate) or reduce their opportunity to play the increment game.

As someone with a substantial collection of Redbook flac, and a currently-small, but ever-increasing, Hi-Res collection, I'm sorry, but I cannot allow myself to be extorted by the memory industry just because my DAP-maker doesn't consider it important enough to support more than one card, under the assertion that bigger capacity will be here sooner, or that it's easy to incessantly swap cards during the life of the DAP.

Maybe 2ndGen X5 might be a worthy contender, but I have to protect my finances by avoiding single-card DAPs (unless they have an additional 128gb or more soldered onboard), and by avoiding moronic $400 microSD card-pricing. I'm sure I'm not alone :wink_face:

You're not alone. I'm willing two wait a long time for the ideal DAP. More time to prepare, I guess.