Anyone know what the plan is for the upcoming X7?
All we know is that it's a full touchscreen device, but will it run a major OS like Android? Or will it be first-party?
It does seem to be jumping the gun when the X5 has barely released, but I do happen to think that while the X5 has great, top level SQ (heard it, agree with most people's impressions), I find the UI a bit too fiddly (too many functions, too many buttons, too many corners and contextual changes), and that's why I have opted for the Sony F886 despite its being inferior in SQ.
Also, a full touchscreen device means that the X7 will consume battery power like nothing else. Sony had to make their F880/ZX1 use PWM/Class D conversion/amplification to save on power, and it still only outputs 15-20 mW.
While I'm sure there will be solutions for reducing power consumption while maintaining sound quality, grabbing the X5's guts and transplanting them over to the X7 probably won't fly when there's a bit huge touchscreen eating up power. The PCM1792A and OPA1611 were never really meant for mobile use. While yes, they could just stick a bigger battery on the X7, I would not really be keen on the X7 being any larger than a modern smartphone.
I wonder what FiiO thinks about the recent announcement of ESSTech's
ES9601 chip amp. On top of being very, very high performance in terms of specifications (122 dB SNR, -117 dB THD+N), it seems to be designed for mobile use, and draws power from single 3.3V rails and eliminates DC blocking caps.
On top of that, the 20-QFN package is really, really small, allowing space for other components. However, my guess is that the ES9601's unit price will be quite high, and I'm not sure if it'll fit within the budgetary constraints of the X7 (assuming it hits a <$499 target).
Months ago, I remember JamesFiiO mentioning that they were looking at using the ES9018-2M with their upcoming E20, and that they'd been longtime partners with ESSTech since they were working with Oppo, so perhaps it's possible for FiiO to get a good bulk price on the ES9601.
Of course, this all hinges on the ES9601 actually being an IC that sounds good, and while I tend to trust what ESS is doing, the ES9601 has not yet been released and is therefore unproven. It also remains to be seen whether or not the 9601 will have handicaps such as that of the TPA6120A2 --- while the 6120 also has great performance numbers and actually does sound great in the hands of the right engineer, it does require output current resistance to prevent instability, and that's why almost all TPA6120 amps have 10 ohms of output Z. Some have tried using an inductive solution in lieu of resistors, but if not implemented correctly, it's easy for inductors to introduce a lot of noise into the system.
I'm also looking forward to seeing some quality, precision LDO regulators being used in future products; there are a few newer offerings from AD that seem to work very well for audio purposes.
