[Mr Trev]

An external card reader (usb 3.0 enabled) is only like 8 bucks, free shipping, so im not terribly distraught about it. Its not like the microsd card is hard to insert/remove like it is in my phone, where i have to take off 2 layers of casing (defender series otterbox) and then the backing of the phone, and then make sure i dont get fingerprints on the screen or the inside of the case.

I know what happened, more or less, to cause the corruption. its not really a fiio problem, i think. Basically, i used windows to do the formatting the first time, then drag and dropped the files over. Everythign was fine at this point. Later, I did the firmware update. Everything was probably still fine at this point. Then I plugged it into my work laptop (also running win7 x64), which reported that there were problems with the microSD card. I hit "fix" because otherwise it wouldnt let me access the card. This is probably where things got screwy.

I'm pretty sure if i drag and drop things over now that nothing wrong should happen to the files, but im also certain that there is some disparity with the 32K allocation size and windows itself, because regardless of if bootice/guiformat utliity does the formatting or if the fiio firmware does the formatting, windows always reports that the volume is dirty and needs to do a "scan and fix" operation. That scan and fix operation is what screws everything up.

The solution (workaround) is to do the format, then plug in and get the dialog to do the scan/fix, and THEN do the file transfer.

However, if any other PC has a problem reading the card after that point, its a better idea to unplug the device than it is to try to read the data on the card.

 
When I first got my SD card (kingston 64gb) I had some probs getting it formatted (I think GUIformat was the only program that worked), and even then I did get some scan/fix warnings. I just ignored 'em cause I just formatted the card and everything worked fine for a while, then I started having transfer problems with Musicbee. Turns out my SD card reader drivers were REALLY out of date. Moral of the story I guess is, always update your drivers. Transfers have been fine since. (My laptop is kinda old - ~2009, so I'm not even entirely sure if the card reader is fully SDXC compliant in the first place).

 

[shrimants]

im not using any card reader driver.....im using a USB cable into the x3.

I'm able to replicate this 100%. I can format the card using the X3, plug it into windows, and get "scan and fix errors" message on both my home and work computers.

 

[Mr Trev]

I guess for kicks you could just ignore the scan/fix warning. I remember reading some posts a while back where people did the same and everything worked o.k. I know my Rockboxed ipod classic will give me that warning occasionally and I haven't bothered with the scanning.

 

[shrimants]

when i ignore it, it doesnt let me access the drive. it works ok for a bit, after that it just stops mounting and whatnot.

 

[tjw321]

when i ignore it, it doesnt let me access the drive. it works ok for a bit, after that it just stops mounting and whatnot.

It's a long time since I used windows regularly but, IIRC, those warnings are sometimes caused by not ejecting the card properly. There is no eject option on the X3 but maybe some kind of power off would result in the card being correctly "finalised". Not that I can find a way of doing that...

 

[uzi2]

  It's a long time since I used windows regularly but, IIRC, those warnings are sometimes caused by not ejecting the card properly. There is no eject option on the X3 but maybe some kind of power off would result in the card being correctly "finalised". Not that I can find a way of doing that...

That's why it says in nice big friendly letters - USB Connected Quit Before Disconnect...
Press and hold the right button to power off - this puts it into charging only mode and you will see the battery anim - it is now safe to disconnect.

 

[tjw321]

 
That's why it says in nice big friendly letters - USB Connected Quit Before Disconnect...
Press and hold the right button to power off - this puts it into charging only mode and you will see the battery anim - it is now safe to disconnect.

I'm talking about after formatting the card in the X3 and ejecting it from the X3. I don't think it is being "ejected" from the X3 after the format correctly. I don't mean physically, either, I'm talking about the X3 setting the flag in the file system which says that it has been ejected correctly - which TBH, I'm not sure exists, but windows sure used to behave as if it did.

 

[c9hris]

Hello!
 
I got today the FIIO X3.But i not very happy at all.
 
Change Font Size is impossible
Cover Support are Poor (Dont display cover art with Wave/Flac File and also if it inside a Folde)
Menu is really Oldschool like.I like to display my Media like Coverflow or more View Options
No real Equalizer just Treble & Bass
No Headphone Remote Support

 

[ticoss]

It is not the right topic, but – like all the audiophile players - you'll always have basic UI and basic functionality.
They are not designed for that, especially because they do not have a large corporate structure, no 25 men working only for three or four features...
It's clearly not the right choice for you

 

[beachpea]

I have been trying, without success for two days, to upgrade the firmware on my X3 from 1.31 to 2.05 using my Apple iMac computer; a brand new 32gb ScanDiskUltra Class 10 microSD card formatted to FAT32; and a card reader connected directly to the USB port on the computer itself (no USB hub). I'm using the fw2.05 file downloaded directly onto my hard drive from the FiiO website. Each failed attempt has resulted in the same reply from the X3, " update file not found".
 
As an experiment, I successfully reloaded the 1.31 firmware using the same card, so there seems to be nothing wrong with the card, the reader, the computer, or the X3. The problem seems to lie in the 2.05 firmware upgrade file downloaded from FiiO! I have been in constant communication with the FiiO Customer Support staff by e-mail. They have been very pleasant, but so far they have not solved the problem. 
 
Anyone have similar experiences with this upgrade, some advice to offer, and perhaps a solution? Thanks in advance for any help you might give!

 

[AgentXXL]

I have been trying, without success for two days, to upgrade the firmware on my X3 from 1.31 to 2.05 using my Apple iMac computer; a brand new 32gb ScanDiskUltra Class 10 microSD card formatted to FAT32; and a card reader connected directly to the USB port on the computer itself (no USB hub). I'm using the fw2.05 file downloaded directly onto my hard drive from the FiiO website. Each failed attempt has resulted in the same reply from the X3, " update file not found".

As an experiment, I successfully reloaded the 1.31 firmware using the same card, so there seems to be nothing wrong with the card, the reader, the computer, or the X3. The problem seems to lie in the 2.05 firmware upgrade file downloaded from FiiO! I have been in constant communication with the FiiO Customer Support staff by e-mail. They have been very pleasant, but so far they have not solved the problem. 

Anyone have similar experiences with this upgrade, some advice to offer, and perhaps a solution? Thanks in advance for any help you might give!

First step is to re-download the 2.05 firmware file from the Fiio site. When you extract/copy the x3.fw file from the zip you downloaded from Fiio, make sure it has that exact name and is copied to the root of the microSDXC card. The file must be extracted from the zip, named exactly as x3.fw and appear at the root level of the microSDXC card for the X3 to recognize it.

Dale

 

[shrimants]

seems ive fixed my transfer issues, so far at least. i used the x3 to format the card, let windows do its scan and fix thing, then transfered music over. listened through an album today but didnt get to listen to more than 1 album. I'll let you guys know if anything else crops up, and i'll try out some USB DAC functionality at work when Im trying out youtube albums or something and using the x3 as a dac.

 

[djenkov]

I have a suggestion to give:
 
I'm an owner of X3 for a while now. Its an amazing device.
 
My only gripe with the player is that on start up it doesn't remember the path to the song it last played.
 
I mean, it remembers the last song that was played, but it doesn't remember the path to that song. And since I have a relatively big library, I have lots of sub folders and its kinda annoying to go through 3-5 folders, just to go where I left off every time I start the device.
 
So, it would be nice to add this, at least as an option.
 
Other than that, the device is ******* great. Sorry if I have any grammar mistakes.

 

[beachpea]

Thank you, Dale! You were exactly right, and I appreciate your help very much!
 
The key to the problem was in the name of the file! When I upgraded the firmware the first time to FW1.31 back in September, the downloaded file was stored on my hard drive as x3.fw. A few days ago when I downloaded the FW2.05 file from the FiiO website, it was stored on the hard drive necessarily with a different name: x3-1.fw. Following your instructions, as soon as I deleted the 1.31 file from my computer; renamed the FW2.05 file as x3.fw; transferred the renamed file to my microSD card; and inserted the updated card into my X3, the file upgraded perfectly!
 
Who knew the filename would have such a dramatic effect! Obviously, you did, but I sure didn't! There's always something new to learn here about headphone gear, and, happily, there's always someone willing and able to teach you here on HeadFi!
 
Many thanks again, Dale! I will pass this information on to FiiO Customer Service, and by way of this post, also pass it on to others who may be struggling with this problem, too. 
 
Cheers!

 

[pennylane]

Is there where I can ask for more features?
 
I just got my X3.  It's fantastic.  I had trouble updating to 2.05 with the 64 GB micro sdxc card I'm using with it, but I had an old 8 GB microsd card lying around that worked just fine.  Getting the 64 GB microsdxc card to work was a little trouble.  I had to format it in exFAT, and it works nicest when I transfer music directly through the X3 rather than with an external reader.  When using an external reader, the files weren't recognized by the X3, but I haven't had that issue when transferring through the X3.  It's not a big deal.  Transferring tons of files isn't a common thing.
 
Gapless FLAC playback works fine, even under "browse files" mode.  I haven't had a chance to check gapless MP3 yet.
 
I heard talk about a new UI, so I won't say much about that.  I find it perfectly functional already.  The only thing I'd like is to be able to customize the "top menu" a little bit.  I'm mainly using the "browse files" mode, so I'd like that to be sitting at the top. I basically never use the other library browse menus, so I'd like to hide those.
 
Okay, actually I found another thing about the current UI that sorta bugs me.  There doesn't seem to be a way to go from the "browse/menu screen" to the "playing screen" except by pressing back and going all the way to the "top".  I think there ought to be, so you don't lose your place from where you happen to browse.  I often play a song, then browse to queue up next album or whatever.  It's more a habit and I can manage, but it seems like something people do.  This maybe goes with what djenkov was talking about with remembering browse locations.
 
The other things I want are more ID3 tag use, replaygain, and to a lesser extent, more lyrics support.
 
I think more ID3 tags would aid in library navigation.  For example, I would use the library function if I could browse by Album Artist, then by Year/Date, then by Album. Perhaps there could be a few more options or even let the user pick how they want to browse the library.
 
Replaygain seems to be a standard feature in players, so I don't see why the X3 shouldn't support it.  An option for album-gain versus track-gain would be nice, but album-gain is all I want.
 
Lastly, I don't think anyone else but me cares about lyrics, but if people do, this is what I'd like: I would not mind if lyrics were incorporated through the ID3 tags and not the separate LRC file.  It's a super super minor quibble, but it'd be nice.  I also would love if it it could display unsynced lyrics instead of the synced lyrics if the synced wasn't available.  ie, just have the lyrics scroll at a speed determined by the number of lines of lyrics and the length of the audio track.  
 
Again, I doubt anyone else cares about lyrics, so that's a super low priority, but I, at least, would take advantage of the feature.