[Richdel]

what all the fuss is about! Been looking at one of these off and on over the past several years.

So, I just purchased a used X5L, and I am totally blown away by the SQ. My basis of comparison to this point has been a Creative Zen V (4GB)+ and Iaudio5 (512mb). Both are nice portable flash players, but nothing that "wows" you. The X5 is just heads and shoulders in terms of SQ, IMO. I have been in the process of (slow, been doing a few discs a night

) converting my CD collection (~600) to FLAC files on a seperate HD. Within 45 minutes of receiving the X5, I was able to load almost 18GB of FLAC files from my HD. This alone was almost worth the price of the X5!!!! No conversion, and superior sound quality. Yes i could have done it with the Iaudio5 ( I think the Iaudio5 has the FLAC codec), but with only 512MB, not much room for music. The sound of the X5 ( compared to the ZenV+
(my current everyday player) is very "bright". Even with the Atrios M5, I am still struggling to EQ them properly. But the punch from the player has just brought the M5's to a level I hadn't heard before from my other flash players. They really are making the M5 shine! Still haven't played too much with all the functionality of this little beauty, just can't find time since all I have been doing is listening to my music which now sounds so new and fresh.

I was going to purchase a Trekstor Vibez for my own Christmas present, but I am now thinking of waiting and just enjoy the X5 for the time being. Still unsure if I will rockbox the X5 as i am not sure if the improvement is worth the effort. The X5 only came with the subpack, so I need to purchase an external powerpack in order to do the rockbox upgrade. Any suggestions on where to purchase or whether the upgrade to rockbox is worth it?

 

[johnanderson]

Congrats on your purchase. I'm surprised you were still able to find one since they're pretty rare now adays. As for rockbox, I personally think its functions are about the same as the original firmware. There are still some bugs that they have to work out but otherwise its a pretty decent alternative. You could always run dual boot with both firmwares or you could just flash back to the original firmware if you don't like RB.

 

[Richdel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnanderson /img/forum/go_quote.gif Congrats on your purchase. I'm surprised you were still able to find one since they're pretty rare now adays. As for rockbox, I personally think its functions are about the same as the original firmware. There are still some bugs that they have to work out but otherwise its a pretty decent alternative. You could always run dual boot with both firmwares or you could just flash back to the original firmware if you don't like RB.

Thanks for the info on Rockbox. I don't think I will add it if there is much of a uplift in SQ or functionality.

As for the X5L, I did not mention that the one I purchased was used. They are little easier to find when they are used.

Still digging the sound though...

 

[mucklechumps]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Richdel /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any suggestions on where to purchase or whether the upgrade to rockbox is worth it?

I run the dual boot on my X5l and the big advantage to running rockbox is the super fast start up time. It can take a minute with the stock OS but no matter how full the HD is Rockbox starts up in 10 seconds or less. RB doesnt support .wma files though so convert your audio to something else first.

You might want to try building some of your own subpacks. I bought some generic connectors and made a dedicated line-in and a line-out subpack.
Have fun with it!

 

[LostPhil]

Rockbox adds ID3 tag browsing and gapless playback plus a LOT of sound adjustment options.

It IS worth it.

 

[wolfen68]

The X5 is a great player...enjoy!

P.S. - I miss my old 30 gig X5L.

 

[Richdel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LostPhil /img/forum/go_quote.gif Rockbox adds ID3 tag browsing and gapless playback plus a LOT of sound adjustment options. It IS worth it.

Hmmmm, gapless playback. I had forgotten about that. That was one of the major selling points that almost led me to purchase a new Vibez ( still may purchase one.). I have a lot of live recordings that would really benefit from gapless.

I need to get a AC adapter before I attempt to run a dual boot system. Been checking out EBay and Amazon.

 

[tjumper78]

congrats on the nice purchase.
i have a x5 60gb, and i love the sq so much. music sounds great even without amping. since i got x5, my ipod has been collecting dust b/c its sq was just way below iaudio's. i originally wanted an imod but changed my mind b/c x5 has been so great.

 

[Donnyhifi]

Yeah, the X5/X5L is really awesome!

I tested many players including the Sony a808, Creative Zens, Ipod Touch/Classic/5G/4G and its a step above all these units though the Sony did sound very good. Like you I also picked up an X5L with the Super.fi.5 pros from Barry and its a great sounding package.

Cheers,

Donny

 

[gp_hebert]

The X5 is a great player. Mine have been used and abused, fell on asphalt several times and it still worked very well until the headphone jack went loose after about three years of daily use. Rockbox brings the player to its fullest potential (gapless playback), but you loose quite a bit of battery life.

 

[Richdel]

Still trying to decide if I should Rockbox.
Watch a thread started here by LordEarl on this exact topic.
I do have a question that someone might know the answer to.
If I only use FLAC files onthe X5L, will the battery life be lessened
because of the processing that needs to take place on each file?
Also, are there any thing that owners do, or don't do, that helps with
battery life? Because of the nature of my job, I turn my player off (to
put it away, couldn't bear the thought of it being stolen at work), quite often.
I would assume my first charge lasted only about 20 hours or so. This is
a 20GB X5L, with a "supposedly" newer battery. I thought the "L" might get me closer to 30 hours or so. Maybe turning it on and off as often I as do
affects the battery?

Anyone?

 

[FrederikS|TPU]

I have an iAudio i7, but here are some general tips to improve battery life.
Background light: switch it to low, and set the off timer to the minimum amount.
That should give measurable results. I don't know how the X5 is constructed, but I guess you could get even more hours out of it by turning off all the stuff you don't need. FLAC decoding should be just as efficient as MP3 decoding on newer players power consumption wise, but obviously since you need to move more information from the disk on the X5 it could decrease battery life somewhat. If it had been flash based I bet that the difference between FLAC and MP3 wouldn't be noticeable.

I've been looking for a better firmware for my i7 hopefully Rockbox will add support for it some how.

 

[freid77]

i loved my X5L's SQ for a long time even with the supplied ear-buds... they were the best earbuds i can remember using.
then came the SR-60s in the mail and things stepped up a notch!
I had a great run with the thing until the headphone jack started to break up on me (cutting to one ear with slight movements).
Ive opened it up a few times to bend the headphone jack's pins which ends up to just be a short-term fix. I think the grados's strain from the big connector was to blame.

Anyways i rockboxed it and use it for line-out purposes now. I recommend rockbock if your the kind of person who prefers more power/customization over simplicity/ease of use.

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mucklechumps /img/forum/go_quote.gif RB doesnt support .wma files though so convert your audio to something else first.

Rockbox has supported .wma since early July.

 

[ILikeMusic]

For someone who hasn't head the Cowon product, in what ways (specifically) is the SQ superior to other DAPs?