Disclaimer:
This unit I am doing a review is from the "Fiio X1 Preview World Tour". I would also like to thank Joe and FiiO as well! Unfortunatly, there will be no pictures at the moment since my only camera, which is my phone, has problems at the moment so I apologize for that. Lastly, as usual, please take my review with a grain of salt.
Short story and my expectation for the FiiO X1:
Not so long time ago, I was in a market for a DAP because my current (not anymore) needs to be replaced. I found out a thread about the X1 and I thought it would be a good DAP for replacement because it is basically a simplistic no-frills DAP that might possibly have a decent sound. But then I came across some reports that it is warmer than a FiiO X3 or a Ibasso DX50, which I am not fond of its sound. At that point I became skeptical if it would be my replacement DAP. Also, having owned different DAPs from Chinese/Korean manufacturers before I sold them, most, if not, all of their UI ranges from so-so to good. Nothing really impressed me even one of the previous "high-end" DAP which is an Ibasso DX100 (which I also owned before by the way) did not also impress me regarding UI.
Then the "Fiio X1 World Tour" came, and I signed-in so that I can try the X1 first before purchasing an actual unit.
Impressions and random stuff:
At this point of review, I have yet to receive the box and accessories from the previous reviewer, he only brought the unit when we meet up. Although I do know from a retail package, it comes with a couple of screen protectors, a USB cable, a manual, a rubber case, and a bunch of vinyl stickers for one to customize the X1's appearance.
When I get my hands on the accessories, I wouldn't really put those vinyl stickers because I would basically call that a "downgrade" instead of making it look "better." I mean, the X1 is already made up of aluminum, why put a sticker on it? And there is that rubber case as well in case one does not want his/her X1 get scratched. Personally, I would just leave the X1 as it is. The X1 just looks much better that way.
Anyways, going back on track, the build quality of the X1 is really good. Maybe it simply because it is made of aluminum? Probably. But if one puts the X3 beside the X1, the X3 will actually look like an entry level DAP, compared to the X1. The X1 has this "premium" look on it, compared to the X3.
However, I have a bit of an issue with the review unit's scroll wheel, it is loose and inaccurate. For example, when I am looking for a song, and the song I want to listen to is directly above or below the current song that is playing. Turning the scrollwheel will either not move, or move past that song majority of the time, which I find it abit annoying.
I don't know whether the X1 was abused during the tour or not because I was the last one to receive the X1. Although I would guess that the scrollwheel "issue" is normal since when I first tried the X5, I got a similar impression of it. Maybe it could be fixed with a firmware update (this review unit is still using 0.17beta)? I hope so!
I also found out about the lettering on which buttons is which specially infront of the X1, which I find it funny. From the first few days I've owned the X1, I am abit confused about the four buttons in front until my friend borrowed it. I am baffled why he does not have problems navigating the X1, and he said there are markers beside the buttons infront, and indeed there is! I was expecting no markers and said "I can probably memorize those buttons in a few minutes..." and oh boy, I was wrong!
In addition to the buttons, the power button at the side is further inserted compared to the volume buttons. I first thought it was a defect but I realized it makes sense so that there will be no accidental presses, making the screen appear, combining with a loose scroll wheel inside a pocket, it will have a bit of a problem there.
Overall, the buttons are sturdy, it needs abit of force to press it in order to register, which I like. It would be perfect if the scrollwheel does not have issues!
MicroSD card position is good, and I don't think it needs a cover for it to prevent accidental dismount of the MicroSD card. I mean, I either need a really long fingernails, or use another MicroSD card and use its edges to make the MicroSD card inside the X1 to be unmounted because it is seated really deep.
Battery I think lasts for about 10-11 hours, which is good enough in my book. I really wish that the battery is user-replaceable though.
Regarding the UI, I find it fantastic, but with a bit of improvements. Again, please note that the firmware of the review unit is using is still at 0.17beta, and I can already tell that this beta version of firmware is better than the previous Chinese/Korean DAPs I tried/owned. When I first installed my MicroSD card in the X1, I didn't have problems recognizing the tags, specially non-english ones. Even the embedded artwork is already recognized! Those two is already a big plus for me because everytime I own a new DAP I have to edit tags or re-embed artwork and that usually took from at least a couple of hours to days to finish, depending how many files I am going to put into a DAP. I do not have any complains about media scanning, although I only tried 500 songs that consists FLAC and mp3 files, I find the scanning them is fast and does not try to scan again when the X1 rebooted, so all is well.
The menus, there are some options there that are not present in the previous DAPs I've owned, like changing to a different theme, volume limit lock (I only saw this on an iPod, nothing else), and an option how does a user want to resume playback. All of them are not really needed, but those are still good features for anyone to enjoy. I personally use the volume limit feature, it is really nice.
In addition to that, I saw something special that is not present on majority of the DAPs in the market-- The L-R Balance. This feature is a godsend for those who have imbalanced hearing, like me, although only a bit. Before this feature is only available through RockBox, and not all DAPs can support it. FiiO has done a great job by adding this neat feature.
As of this version (0.17beta), my only complain with the UI is only one, and its about scrolling through songs. Scrolling through a lot of songs will be much easier if they did it similar to iPod's scrolling, where the scrolling gets faster as long as you spin the scrollwheel. Not sure if it is implemented in newer firmware versions but I sure hope so!
Lastly, the price. For $100 (~$130 converted in our country), all these features, the quality of build, the accessories included, and the UI, it pretty much is a winner in my book. Note that I did not mention the X1's sound because if I assume that it sounds warmer than the X3, the price is still pretty much worth it. I can just use an equalizer if it is needed anyway.
Impressions:
In this section is my impression about the X1's sound and how do they compare with other DAPs. I will describe the sound mostly for newbies, who might be in a market for a DAP, and majority of my impressions are on the tonality-side, since IMHO newbies will most likely won't be able to tell those technical terms like soundstage, instrument separation, etc.. Of course, I will still give a bit of info regarding other technical terms. I also did not have all the DAPs side by side with me, I just took notes as I listen to the DAPs.
Headphones/IEMs used:
Songs used:
Sound Quality Impression:
First thing that came into my mind, is the X1 is not THAT warm at all, which is not expected! Very surprising. It is still warm in a sense but the best that I can describe that the X1 is fairly neutral/balanced sounding, with a bit of warmth added to it. The X1 has decent soundstage and instrument separation, I don't really notice those until I changed songs with a good recording, which makes both of them noticeable almost immediately. Considering that the X1 is only $100, that is a plus as well.
Comparison to other DAPs:
For this section, I will just use bullet form for this comparison. I won't be pairing an amp with it, I only used headphone out with as close volume between DAPs from each other as possible since I don't have a device to measure the SPL through headphone out. All headphones/IEMs that I tried are good enough to run through the X1's headphone out anyway.
Against Ibasso DX50
Against FiiO X5
Against FiiO X3
Against iPod Touch 4th Gen
Against Hisoundaudio Studio V
Final words:
The FiiO X1 gave me a very positive impression during this preview tour because it gave me more than what I would want. This is honestly the first time I had this impression on all the DAPs I've owned in terms of overall performance in terms of UI, build, sound and price. Definitely bang for the buck. The X1 does not even need hype to get it running! It clearly stands on its own.
I would definitely recommend the X1, specially for newbies, specially with that price. Even students who has limited budget can most likely afford to buy an X1. It is no means a "giant" killer per se, but it gives way too much pros than its cons for its price. Other expensive DAPs there gives more cons than its pros, which is kind of disappointing in most cases, so the X1 really has great value.
Should I buy one after the tour? Thats not even a question!
This unit I am doing a review is from the "Fiio X1 Preview World Tour". I would also like to thank Joe and FiiO as well! Unfortunatly, there will be no pictures at the moment since my only camera, which is my phone, has problems at the moment so I apologize for that. Lastly, as usual, please take my review with a grain of salt.
Short story and my expectation for the FiiO X1:
Not so long time ago, I was in a market for a DAP because my current (not anymore) needs to be replaced. I found out a thread about the X1 and I thought it would be a good DAP for replacement because it is basically a simplistic no-frills DAP that might possibly have a decent sound. But then I came across some reports that it is warmer than a FiiO X3 or a Ibasso DX50, which I am not fond of its sound. At that point I became skeptical if it would be my replacement DAP. Also, having owned different DAPs from Chinese/Korean manufacturers before I sold them, most, if not, all of their UI ranges from so-so to good. Nothing really impressed me even one of the previous "high-end" DAP which is an Ibasso DX100 (which I also owned before by the way) did not also impress me regarding UI.
Then the "Fiio X1 World Tour" came, and I signed-in so that I can try the X1 first before purchasing an actual unit.
Impressions and random stuff:
At this point of review, I have yet to receive the box and accessories from the previous reviewer, he only brought the unit when we meet up. Although I do know from a retail package, it comes with a couple of screen protectors, a USB cable, a manual, a rubber case, and a bunch of vinyl stickers for one to customize the X1's appearance.
When I get my hands on the accessories, I wouldn't really put those vinyl stickers because I would basically call that a "downgrade" instead of making it look "better." I mean, the X1 is already made up of aluminum, why put a sticker on it? And there is that rubber case as well in case one does not want his/her X1 get scratched. Personally, I would just leave the X1 as it is. The X1 just looks much better that way.
Anyways, going back on track, the build quality of the X1 is really good. Maybe it simply because it is made of aluminum? Probably. But if one puts the X3 beside the X1, the X3 will actually look like an entry level DAP, compared to the X1. The X1 has this "premium" look on it, compared to the X3.
However, I have a bit of an issue with the review unit's scroll wheel, it is loose and inaccurate. For example, when I am looking for a song, and the song I want to listen to is directly above or below the current song that is playing. Turning the scrollwheel will either not move, or move past that song majority of the time, which I find it abit annoying.
I don't know whether the X1 was abused during the tour or not because I was the last one to receive the X1. Although I would guess that the scrollwheel "issue" is normal since when I first tried the X5, I got a similar impression of it. Maybe it could be fixed with a firmware update (this review unit is still using 0.17beta)? I hope so!
I also found out about the lettering on which buttons is which specially infront of the X1, which I find it funny. From the first few days I've owned the X1, I am abit confused about the four buttons in front until my friend borrowed it. I am baffled why he does not have problems navigating the X1, and he said there are markers beside the buttons infront, and indeed there is! I was expecting no markers and said "I can probably memorize those buttons in a few minutes..." and oh boy, I was wrong!
In addition to the buttons, the power button at the side is further inserted compared to the volume buttons. I first thought it was a defect but I realized it makes sense so that there will be no accidental presses, making the screen appear, combining with a loose scroll wheel inside a pocket, it will have a bit of a problem there.
Overall, the buttons are sturdy, it needs abit of force to press it in order to register, which I like. It would be perfect if the scrollwheel does not have issues!
MicroSD card position is good, and I don't think it needs a cover for it to prevent accidental dismount of the MicroSD card. I mean, I either need a really long fingernails, or use another MicroSD card and use its edges to make the MicroSD card inside the X1 to be unmounted because it is seated really deep.
Battery I think lasts for about 10-11 hours, which is good enough in my book. I really wish that the battery is user-replaceable though.
Regarding the UI, I find it fantastic, but with a bit of improvements. Again, please note that the firmware of the review unit is using is still at 0.17beta, and I can already tell that this beta version of firmware is better than the previous Chinese/Korean DAPs I tried/owned. When I first installed my MicroSD card in the X1, I didn't have problems recognizing the tags, specially non-english ones. Even the embedded artwork is already recognized! Those two is already a big plus for me because everytime I own a new DAP I have to edit tags or re-embed artwork and that usually took from at least a couple of hours to days to finish, depending how many files I am going to put into a DAP. I do not have any complains about media scanning, although I only tried 500 songs that consists FLAC and mp3 files, I find the scanning them is fast and does not try to scan again when the X1 rebooted, so all is well.
The menus, there are some options there that are not present in the previous DAPs I've owned, like changing to a different theme, volume limit lock (I only saw this on an iPod, nothing else), and an option how does a user want to resume playback. All of them are not really needed, but those are still good features for anyone to enjoy. I personally use the volume limit feature, it is really nice.
In addition to that, I saw something special that is not present on majority of the DAPs in the market-- The L-R Balance. This feature is a godsend for those who have imbalanced hearing, like me, although only a bit. Before this feature is only available through RockBox, and not all DAPs can support it. FiiO has done a great job by adding this neat feature.
As of this version (0.17beta), my only complain with the UI is only one, and its about scrolling through songs. Scrolling through a lot of songs will be much easier if they did it similar to iPod's scrolling, where the scrolling gets faster as long as you spin the scrollwheel. Not sure if it is implemented in newer firmware versions but I sure hope so!
Lastly, the price. For $100 (~$130 converted in our country), all these features, the quality of build, the accessories included, and the UI, it pretty much is a winner in my book. Note that I did not mention the X1's sound because if I assume that it sounds warmer than the X3, the price is still pretty much worth it. I can just use an equalizer if it is needed anyway.
Impressions:
In this section is my impression about the X1's sound and how do they compare with other DAPs. I will describe the sound mostly for newbies, who might be in a market for a DAP, and majority of my impressions are on the tonality-side, since IMHO newbies will most likely won't be able to tell those technical terms like soundstage, instrument separation, etc.. Of course, I will still give a bit of info regarding other technical terms. I also did not have all the DAPs side by side with me, I just took notes as I listen to the DAPs.
Headphones/IEMs used:
- Sony MDR-EX800ST w/ EX1000 Cables
- Sony MDR-Z1000 w/ Mundorf Cables
- Sony MDR-CD900ST
Songs used:
- Majority of it are poorly recorded tracks, FLAC or mp3 format. I have my reasons for it.
- Songs come from most genres, except metal and dubstep because both genres gives me a headache for some reason.
Sound Quality Impression:
First thing that came into my mind, is the X1 is not THAT warm at all, which is not expected! Very surprising. It is still warm in a sense but the best that I can describe that the X1 is fairly neutral/balanced sounding, with a bit of warmth added to it. The X1 has decent soundstage and instrument separation, I don't really notice those until I changed songs with a good recording, which makes both of them noticeable almost immediately. Considering that the X1 is only $100, that is a plus as well.
Comparison to other DAPs:
For this section, I will just use bullet form for this comparison. I won't be pairing an amp with it, I only used headphone out with as close volume between DAPs from each other as possible since I don't have a device to measure the SPL through headphone out. All headphones/IEMs that I tried are good enough to run through the X1's headphone out anyway.
Against Ibasso DX50
- The X1 sounds smoother than the DX50. I said smoother because there is this bite on the upper midrange/lower treble that the DX50 always has no matter what song I threw, while that bite is not present on the X1. It is noticeable on accoustic guitars and sibilant tracks.
- The DX50 is defenitely bassy than the X1. Even on non-bass heavy songs, the bass on DX50 is apparent when compared to the X1.
- Soundstage on the DX50 is a bit bigger, but I can't tell the difference unless I do some critical listening.
- A friend (who owns the DX50) can't really tell the difference between the DX50 and the X1 on his song choicess, and got a bit sad why he bothered buying a DAP that has twice its price than a FiiO X1 (lol)
Against FiiO X5
- If I just do some casual listening, like throwing a random song and just enjoy the music, I honestly can't tell the difference between the X1 and X5. Seriously.
- But when I use some specific test songs that has good recording, and the X5 outshines the X1 on soundstage and detail retrieval.
- The X1 is more forgiving than the X5 on poorly recorded tracks.
Against FiiO X3
- The X3 is warmer than the X1, which I did not expect at all! I thought it will be similar to the DX50 where it is bassier, but not.
- Same as X5, the X3 has bigger soundstage than the X1 in specific songs with good recording.
Against iPod Touch 4th Gen
- X1 is better overall because it is more balanced-sounding than the iPod Touch
- Giving abit more specifics, the X1 bass is refined than the iPod Touch, the X1 is alot less boomy too!
- On poorly recorded tracks, the iPod Touch is really harsh, specially on upper midrange/treble.
Against Hisoundaudio Studio V
- Studio V is brighter then the X1, but not harsh.
- Soundstage and instrument separation is clearly noticeable even on poorly recorded tracks compared to the X1. Not sure what sorcery Hisoundaudio put into their Studio V, but I really can't say the same impressions with the X5.
- Overall, the Studio V trumps the X1 in sound quality. I can simply say it is night and day difference no matter what song I throw at it.
Final words:
The FiiO X1 gave me a very positive impression during this preview tour because it gave me more than what I would want. This is honestly the first time I had this impression on all the DAPs I've owned in terms of overall performance in terms of UI, build, sound and price. Definitely bang for the buck. The X1 does not even need hype to get it running! It clearly stands on its own.
I would definitely recommend the X1, specially for newbies, specially with that price. Even students who has limited budget can most likely afford to buy an X1. It is no means a "giant" killer per se, but it gives way too much pros than its cons for its price. Other expensive DAPs there gives more cons than its pros, which is kind of disappointing in most cases, so the X1 really has great value.
Should I buy one after the tour? Thats not even a question!
