[Joe Bloggs]

The x1 is starting off with nice reviews. Meanwhile things are looking bleak for the resale value of the x3. Worse user interface. No equalizer. Relatively useless DAC support (some pc units work sometimes but forget your iphone one ipad). Oh yo do get dsd support. Except you might as well convert files to flac as the dsd support does just that.

Don't forget the X3 still sports the most powerful amplifier ...

 

[x RELIC x]

Don't forget the X3 still sports the most powerful amplifier ...

And the best treble/bass controls (I love the hardware SQ adjustments).

 

[Hungryhoss]

What are the benefits of getting a X1 over any other player, including smartphones? Is it just that it is cheapish and gets loud? I don't count high resolution playback as a bonus, since that is a complete red herring.

Sell it to me fanboys!

 

[Momo-chan]

+1 to that

iam planning to get the xperia z3 compact when it comes out

 

[razorblader]

Don't forget the X3 still sports the most powerful amplifier

...

 
 

And the best treble/bass controls (I love the hardware SQ adjustments).

Right on!

The X1 seems very nice but so far the X3 is still the dark horse (literally) in the Fiio DAP stable if you consider the price/features ratio, there's nothing comparable at a price-point that isn't that much higher than what the X1 will go for.
As far as FW and feature differences that'll change with the upcoming X3 FW updates. And don't forget the stealth mode.

 

[originalsnuffy]

What firmware updates should we expect on the X3?  I know this is the X1 forum, but that actually should matter to prospective X1 buyers as the most logical alternative to the X1 is the X3.

 

[twister6]

What are the benefits of getting a X1 over any other player, including smartphones? Is it just that it is cheapish and gets loud? I don't count high resolution playback as a bonus, since that is a complete red herring.

Sell it to me fanboys!

 
When it comes to smartphones, X1 sounds better than any one I owned (older Droid Motorola stuff as well as Samsung Note 2, S4, and S5).  Also, if I want to enjoy my music, I don't want to be interrupted by emails, texts, updates, or any other notifications that run in the background and make the playback choppy.  Furthermore, you have a lot of electronics cramped into smartphone shell without any proper layout partitioning of the ground or room for filtering caps, thus a poor signal to noise ratio.  I know, some EU or Chinese models now use a high quality DACs, but US versions have water down hardware or if you are on a carrier like Verizon - you can't use any of the Chinese phones that require GSM sim (Verizon is 4LTE CDMA).  'Nough said about smartphone. 
 
Regarding comparison to other DAPs, X1 is not designed to be the BEST DAP among everything else available out there.  It's the best entry level budget DAP in $100-$150 price range.  If you have unlimited budget or your budget is in $300-$500 range, there are much better options.  But in a lower tier price range, nothing beats X1 (sound quality, build quality with metal casing, scrolling wheel control, powerful DAC, HO and LO selected outputs, file format support, EQ, microSD card capacity, etc).  You can find plenty of mp3 players that can play music.  I just posted a review of $20 ONN mp3 player that doesn't sound too bad.  But if you want a real deal DAP and have $100 budget - there is nothing really to sell here because I don't believe there is anything else available in that price range that can beat X1 price/performance ratio.

 

[JamesFiiO]

   
When it comes to smartphones, X1 sounds better than any one I owned (older Droid Motorola stuff as well as Samsung Note 2, S4, and S5).  Also, if I want to enjoy my music, I don't want to be interrupted by emails, texts, updates, or any other notifications that run in the background and make the playback choppy.  Furthermore, you have a lot of electronics cramped into smartphone shell without any proper layout partitioning of the ground or room for filtering caps, thus a poor signal to noise ratio.  I know, some EU or Chinese models now use a high quality DACs, but US versions have water down hardware or if you are on a carrier like Verizon - you can't use any of the Chinese phones that require GSM sim (Verizon is 4LTE CDMA).  'Nough said about smartphone. 
 
Regarding comparison to other DAPs, X1 is not designed to be the BEST DAP among everything else available out there.  It's the best entry level budget DAP in $100-$150 price range.  If you have unlimited budget or your budget is in $300-$500 range, there are much better options.  But in a lower tier price range, nothing beats X1 (sound quality, build quality with metal casing, scrolling wheel control, powerful DAC, HO and LO selected outputs, file format support, EQ, microSD card capacity, etc).  You can find plenty of mp3 players that can play music.  I just posted a review of $20 ONN mp3 player that doesn't sound too bad.  But if you want a real deal DAP and have $100 budget - there is nothing really to sell here because I don't believe there is anything else available in that price range that can beat X1 price/performance ratio.

 
lol, yes, but I think we can see some competitor after couple months. 

 

[Hungryhoss]

   
When it comes to smartphones, X1 sounds better than any one I owned (older Droid Motorola stuff as well as Samsung Note 2, S4, and S5).  Also, if I want to enjoy my music, I don't want to be interrupted by emails, texts, updates, or any other notifications that run in the background and make the playback choppy.  Furthermore, you have a lot of electronics cramped into smartphone shell without any proper layout partitioning of the ground or room for filtering caps, thus a poor signal to noise ratio.  I know, some EU or Chinese models now use a high quality DACs, but US versions have water down hardware or if you are on a carrier like Verizon - you can't use any of the Chinese phones that require GSM sim (Verizon is 4LTE CDMA).  'Nough said about smartphone. 
 
Regarding comparison to other DAPs, X1 is not designed to be the BEST DAP among everything else available out there.  It's the best entry level budget DAP in $100-$150 price range.  If you have unlimited budget or your budget is in $300-$500 range, there are much better options.  But in a lower tier price range, nothing beats X1 (sound quality, build quality with metal casing, scrolling wheel control, powerful DAC, HO and LO selected outputs, file format support, EQ, microSD card capacity, etc).  You can find plenty of mp3 players that can play music.  I just posted a review of $20 ONN mp3 player that doesn't sound too bad.  But if you want a real deal DAP and have $100 budget - there is nothing really to sell here because I don't believe there is anything else available in that price range that can beat X1 price/performance ratio.

 
Is anybody who cares so fanatically about sound that they worry about signal to noise ratios going to be so poor they only have $100 to spend on a DAP?
 
 

 

[Siriphum]

can you compare it with the colorfly c3 ??? about the detail and the mid sound

 

[Saoshyant]

Is anybody who cares so fanatically about sound that they worry about signal to noise ratios going to be so poor they only have $100 to spend on a DAP?

Well, let's say you're a dedicated IEM user with zero desire for full sized use. The X1 has enough power on it's own to power a large majority of IEMs well. Combine that with the various other features the X1 has, and it's very competitive, and therefore attractive, to the IEM community.

 

[razorblader]

But in a lower tier price range, nothing beats X1 (sound quality, build quality with metal casing, scrolling wheel control, powerful DAC, HO and LO selected outputs, file format support, EQ, microSD card capacity, etc).

Could you kindly comment on the EQ in the X1, is it working well and efficient in boosting/cutting the respective frequency bands or does it just make everything sound worse like the one that was part of the 2.14b FW for the X3?

 

[twister6]

   
Is anybody who cares so fanatically about sound that they worry about signal to noise ratios going to be so poor they only have $100 to spend on a DAP?
 
 

 
That was another point I forgot to mention.  X1 is very portable in comparison to other higher quality DAPs.  Here is an example.  When I'm on a go, working out, or go for a bike ride, I used to take HM700 with me because of a small footprint, light weight, and included armband.  The only problem, for a direct HO connection you need balanced wired headphone to enjoy it to a full potential (it comes with RE400B which is the only IEM I used with it), and it's touch-button control is kind of a PITA without a direct hardware playback buttons.  Now, with X1 and upcoming armband, as James showed in the picture, I don't have to think twice and will take X1 with me on the go.  X1 is not a replacement DAP for someone how values sound quality, it could be thought of as a portable companion.  And btw, even so X5 has a better sound quality, I prefer X1 scrolling wheel and menu control (moving pointer instead of moving icons) over X5.

 

[twister6]

  Could you kindly comment on the EQ in the X1, is it working well and efficient in boosting/cutting the respective frequency bands or does it just make everything sound worse like the one that was part of the 2.14b FW for the X3?

EQ is precise with what I'm hearing as a relatively narrow band filter bandwidth for a specific frequency being adjusted.  Also, included presets are not bad at all!

 

[Smgwee1]

Think Fiio will have an accessory pack to pair both X1 n E11k nicely. Just like X5 n E12
 
regards.
 
 
 
Quote:

   
 
With E11k