FIIO’s innovative sub brand, SNOWSKY Pure Music Player ECHO MINI Is Officially Released!

[ElectricKaibutu]

Edit: Just a quick disclaimer. This comment was not made to be condescending or confrontational. I am just trying to explain why the topic of "Artist" vs. "Album Artist" tag came up and what difference it makes for the user.


Music files have two distinct tags that apps use in different ways to ensure that songs are categorized correctly and the information displayed matches user expectations...

I'll use the album "Alter Ego" by LISA as an example to illustrate what i'm going to say:



Notice that the songs have TWO tags: Artist (the ones featured in that specific song) and Album Artist (the one that released the album). You can see that all songs in that album are tagged the same under "Album Artist", but in that one specific song that's been selected, you can see that there's multiple people tagged under "Artist" because there's multiple artists featured...

Apps usually categorize albums by "Album Artist" to keep things organized and users usually expect it to behave that way.

If i browse through these files using the desktop app named Gapless and then show you what the experience is with the Echo Mini is, you can tell the difference...

These are EXACTLY THE SAME FILES FOR THE ALBUM I USED AS EXAMPLE. NO CHANGES MADE BETWEEN THESE 15 FILES IN THE DESKTOP APP AND THE ECHO MINI.

I search for "LISA" in the search bar in Gapless and i see this:


The artist that released the album in question ("Alter Ego") showed up. Only one name.

Now here's a picture of what i see in the Echo Mini:




You notice that under "Artists" i see multipe options for the exact same album instead of just "LISA" which is what i expected to see...

The Echo mini divided the songs into multiple different instances categorizing them by the "Artist" tag, instead of using the other tag which would be "Album Artist".



Anyway... Going back to the app Gapless:

Once i select the option "LISA" i am greeted by this:


As expected, the Album "Alter Ego" is under "LISA" when i select her name (along with other releases by her)

In the Echo Mini it's not much different, i see the name of this album too, after selecting "LISA":






Selecting the album "Alter Ego" under "LISA" in the desktop app, i see this:



I select the album and as expected, all songs are displayed, and they are all in order, no issues here. All songs are correctly categorized.

Notice that even the song that is tagged "LISA; Doja Cat; raye" still showed up under "LISA". Because this app uses the tag "Album Artist" to categorize albums by Artist, instead of using the tag "Artist".

Notice that the tag "Artist" is only used to be displayed on the interface so the user knows what artists are featured in a given song but it's NOT USED TO CATEGORIZE SONGS.

That's the expected behaviour. You search for a specific artist and the app/device displays all albums from said artist complete with all songs, using the tag "Album Artist" to correctly categorize everything, ainstead of using the tag "Artist" that may differ from the other tag due to songs that may feature multiple people.

Now let's do the same in the Echo Mini:



As you can see, if i follow the same steps as i did in the desktop app (following the path "LISA" > "Alter Ego" ), i am greeted by a completely different experience.

After selecting LISA and then "Alter Ego" in the Echo Mini, i see there are songs missing from the album, because they were categorized using the tag "Artist" instead of "Album Artist", which is not the behaviour most people want or expect. I expect to look for an artist, select an album, and listen to the whole album, including the songs in which other artists are featured... but instead the Echo Mini only presents me with the songs tagged "LISA" under "Artist" ignoring the FIRST song in that album, just because it features other people.

Suggested correction for this small issue: Change the way Echo Mini categorizes songs under "Artist" to make it use the tag "Album Artist" instead of "Artist" just like most music apps...


This can be corrected on the user side by just changing the metadata in the songs i download to have "Artist" and "Album Artist" be the same, but it's very frustrating that i have to change metadata a lot of the song i download, even the ones where the metadata is completely correct...

This is such a great post explaining Album Artist and what the issue is.

I see there is an update to allow sorting by Album Artist. Have you happened to give that update a shot? Is it working now?

 

[mseis]

¡Se recomienda encarecidamente que todos compren Anytime en combinación con ECHO MINI! Jaja:cerveza:

doo tenga la misma calidad que los de cable, que se ha ido pelando en una semana y ni siquiera respondéis al mensaje en AliExpress...

 

[FiiO Kang]

doo tenga la misma calidad que los de cable, que se ha ido pelando en una semana y ni siquiera respondéis al mensaje en AliExpress...

Sorry. Maybe it's due to the time difference. I'll urge my colleague. You can send me the purchase order number via private message and I'll ask my colleagues to handle it promptly.

 

[mseis]

Sorry. Maybe it's due to the time difference. I'll urge my colleague. You can send me the purchase order number via private message and I'll ask my colleagues to handle it promptly.

Two weeks of time difference?

 

[guyo]

General feedback, in addition to feedback provided previously - would be nice if a future firmware update separated the cassette tape animation theme from the "interface style" setting. I would ideally want the UI for the Echo Mini to always be white text on black background (so much more legible than black on white on that small screen), and still be able to choose between the two different cassette playback animation themes. Even better - add more cassette designs/colors!

 

[Impidimp]

This is such a great post explaining Album Artist and what the issue is.

I see there is an update to allow sorting by Album Artist. Have you happened to give that update a shot? Is it working now?

It's been working as expected for me.

 

[guyo]

It's been working as expected for me.

Implemented in firmware 1.50…

 

[FiiO Kang]

Two weeks of time difference?

Sorry. During this period, it also happened to be the Labor Day holiday, and there was too much information, causing a delay. I asked my colleague and said that they had replied to you yesterday and informed me of the handling method. Sorry again.

 

[FiiO Kang]

General feedback, in addition to feedback provided previously - would be nice if a future firmware update separated the cassette tape animation theme from the "interface style" setting. I would ideally want the UI for the Echo Mini to always be white text on black background (so much more legible than black on white on that small screen), and still be able to choose between the two different cassette playback animation themes. Even better - add more cassette designs/colors!

Thank you for your suggestion! Everyone's needs are different. It's so difficult for me, haha

 

[iipxls]

Dear Fiio developers. Could you please add balance option. I have few iems that needs this ( left/ right sounds not the same )

 

[FiiO Kang]

Dear Fiio developers. Could you please add balance option. I have few iems that needs this ( left/ right sounds not the same )

This is rather difficult. However, we will evaluate it later. I will announce any new information

 

[guyo]

Thank you for your suggestion! Everyone's needs are different. It's so difficult for me, haha

You guys are doing absolutely GREAT so far!

 

[ArthHexx]

I guess i found they issue about the burst in the songs, it happen in the begining and when you use the play and pause it sounds like a static noise, i don't notice this before until today i tested a new iems, the burst is present when i have none filter but if i select Fast-LL the burst disapear, can you test if it happen to you all too?

 

[CakeIsALie]

I love the devs are responsive on this thread, and the device is getting regular updates!

I noticed that yet there was no comment about ability to keep a log of songs played in some form. @FiiO Kang, would appreciate some feedback about this possibility.

 

[FiiO Kang]

I love the devs are responsive on this thread, and the device is getting regular updates!

I noticed that yet there was no comment about ability to keep a log of songs played in some form. @FiiO Kang, would appreciate some feedback about this possibility.

What kind of log of songs played do you mean specifically?