Disclaimer.

I bought my FiiO X5III for my money and have no interest to promote anything. Just my critical opinion, because lot of reviewers was talking about good and all good stuff about this player it is easy to find.

Packaging 5/5

Double shell – outside thin, with FiiO X5 III photo, basic specifications of device, etc. Inside – trending black box, promising something nice inside and nice unboxing experience.

Accessories 5/5

I would give 7. There FiiO set new high standard in the black box you will find:
Protective glass screen shield factory assembled
Two cases – one transparent silicon, another – nice black artificial leather!
USB cable
Coaxial adapter
Special key for SD card removal

Build 5/5

Red dot award – what I can to say more? Really nice looking, good feel at hand. Choice of three colors – black, titanium and red (why red, not blue?) Safe durable closed slots for SD cards. One thing I don’t like – power button – hard to push inside, especially when turning on, because you need to do it for quite long time.

Battery life 3/5

Mediocre. Hope, will improve when FiiO will fix software issues.

Computing hardware 3/5

Processor – mediocre, slow. RAM – small. There start problems – about them I will talk later.

Sound, video hardware 4/5

All chips are really high class, promising good sound. Display – just OK, lacking of resolution and vivid colors.

Connectivity 5/5

Bluetooth, WiFi working flawless, SE and balanced output sturdy with lot of grip, separate line out with possibility for coaxial output, OTG – it looks not working, but, hope, coming soon.

Software 2/5

Software full of bugs plus slow processor – and we got slow FiiO. You have wait eternity when you turn on, holding power button till you thumb feel tired – then you know, that player waking up and you have time for some breathing exercises to calm down. Second part of exercises you will have when you will start FiiO native player. Even when you turning on Viper effects you need to wait for about 2 seconds when they start working. Slow. Very slow.
Bugs…. Software so raw, that still full of bugs. Player freezes and need to be restarted. FiiO is doing their best to fix them and updates are coming often. Improves.

UI 3/5

Tricky navigation, some features access need unnecessary clicks and jumps.

Sound 3/5

Honestly, I was expecting more from chips and amps, balanced output available. By my opinion player have much bigger potential and it is limited by software. Why? Maybe FiiO wanted not to compete with X7, maybe lack of experience with Android. Maybe both. Maybe at first all attempts were concentrated only for mp3 files reproduction to make it sound pleasant and not harsh? Anyway, good friend of mine working on mods on FiiO software and now my player sounding much better without any EQ. That’s why I can tell that problems with sound is in software, not hardware.
Native sound veiled, lacking of micro dynamic and details, sound stage mediocre, poor depth and instrument placement. Distortion in some middle frequencies. High frequencies recessed, lacking of air and sparkle. Bass boomy and woolly.
Musical, emotional, pleasant sound, but in need for improvement.
Output power – enough even for up to 300 Ohm headphones to have mediocre loudness.

Customer support – 5/5

FiiO listening their customer and doing all they can to improve their products and solve issues. Nobody is perfect.


Overall score 48/12 - 4

Disclaimer: device I bought for my hard earned money, have no involvement with any producer/dealer.
Short about me: former DJ, now listening music for pleasure. Like old school musical output, active EQ for my most musical enjoiment.
 
Physical design 2/5
 
On photos or on the desk X1 looks interesting, but when you are holding it in your hands you will understand that designers have no idea how portable device should look or feel. Why sharp corners ready to cut fingers, even on control buttons? Further – even worse – SD cards compartments open – for dust and dirt, generating future problems. Or users have to clean their pockets before they are going to take their X1 with them? At least, for using X1 you have to prepare special semi-hard pocket – X1 sockets are so fragile, that requires not extra care – super extra care. They can brake or (the best variant!) loose connection with headphones easy. As I know even new, „improved“ batch still have problems with sockets loosing contact.
If you looking player to last on the go – skip reading this article and look for something else. X1 only for caring audiophiles with big forgiving heart.
 
Software 3/5
 
Again – Onkyo guys have no idea about portable. Just few comments:
 
1.Native player display not turning. At all – even manually.
2.APE files – not supported. ISO – not supported (Onkyo – you can ask support from IBasso – they already did it)
3.EQ – 12db only. Onkyo can advertise it as EQ with lowest equalization on the market. You need ask 3 years old girl to help you to set up your EQ, because with you grown up fingers you wil spend on it hours.
Free advice for Onkyo – magnification function would save you EQ.
But no, no chance for saving. EQ is working like filter – if you rise 5db 10kHz, it means that all frequencies are going down by 10dB.
Only solution – go for third party players like VLC and Foobar. They sound much better than Onkyo native too.
For those who are hoping for fixes and upgrades – by now (July 18, 2016), the last one was on April 19, 2016.
 
Wireless connectivity 3/5
 
Bluetooth – at first I thought that it is not working at all. Problem solved with third party app – Bluetooth pair. Software glitch? Range – about 6 m of interrupted space – fair enough.
Wi Fi – no problems occurred yet.
 
Sound 4/5
 
A lot of owners of X1 are ready to forgive all fails for that sweet sound. Everything good, except – fun. No fun at all. Crazy engineers of Onkyo decided to tune their player with software making it vailed, rounding all sharp edges, making emphasis on mids (Why? – Personal preferences of general manager?).
But even that was not able to kill X1. It was saved by Android, which allows you not only to use third party apps, but even root it and make it perfect. Gift for DIY geeks?
Anyway, I must admit that X1 can sound realy great, but only if you are ready to spend some time on making it better and use the most of it can give hardware inside.
By the way – do not believe in specification, claiming about possibility to use up to 600Ohm headphones. 300 – red mark for X1. Fail again, dear Onkyo.
Balanced output makes X1 really shine. Just one question – Onkyo already made new headphones and earphones – but none of them with balanced. Why? Departments miscommunication? Gift for custom cables makers?
 
Overall: 3/5
 
I am going to keep this player – maybe for sound, maybe – as collectors item to remind me – never buy the first try!