FiiO X5III - FiiO Releases the New Firmware FW1.2.5 for X5 3rd gen
Sep 9, 2017 at 10:36 AM Post #31 of 84
I had two sessions today where I played music for over an hour without any glitching when the songs change. See if my method works for you.

Firstly, I'm on firmware 1.1.7. I'm using the tidal version from the fiio market (version 1.12.2.680.2)- I'm not signed into google play store and I don't have any other programs on my device other than what came with the unit. This means I won't get tidal updates, but i don't really care.

Secondly, I'm storing my tidal hifi tracks to slot 1 micro SD - it's a SanDisk Ultra 64GB microSDXC UHS-I Card - tidal is set to use external storage in the settings.

What settings I changed:

1. Google Settings> Location> set to off
2. Tidal Settings> Crossfade> set to 1 second (gives impression of gapless but not perfect)
3. Android Settings> Developer Options> (access this hidden menu by tapping 7 times on "build number" under "about device" section)
a. Allow mock locations> set to on (this spoofs a fake location without using CPU to try and get a location - a nasty byproduct of google play services framework)
b. Don't keep activities> set to on (I don't know why I did this, but hey, it's working so far)

After this, I turned off wifi and set tidal to offline mode as I normally do when I leave the house...then I prepped my ear holes for 15 minutes of music. To my shock I got through an entire album 1 hr 10 mins without any issues! I'm not sure if it's the location, the crossfade, or the activity killing, but it's not skipping. Best of all, the developer options aren't reset when I reboot the device. Curious if anyone can replicate.

I'll keep all posted here to see if this is short lived or if it is indeed a workaround. I'll refrain from posting in other threads until someone else can confirm it's working for them too. But if this works, it'll make a lot of people happy I suspect.
I tried your solution. I got all the way thru an album until the very last song. So, about the same time without the issue as when I went in and manually disabled everything.

I feel like the issue could be very easily resolved if the pure music mode supported a third party like Tidal. So, essentially just have a general setting to be able to dedicate all cpu to whichever music player you want as opposed to only working with the fiio music app.
 
Sep 9, 2017 at 2:45 PM Post #33 of 84
I tried your solution. I got all the way thru an album until the very last song. So, about the same time without the issue as when I went in and manually disabled everything.

I feel like the issue could be very easily resolved if the pure music mode supported a third party like Tidal. So, essentially just have a general setting to be able to dedicate all cpu to whichever music player you want as opposed to only working with the fiio music app.
Supposedly there is a way to remove Google services framework with this firmware version but I don't have the cods to try it. If anyone does this please let me know.
 
Sep 9, 2017 at 3:24 PM Post #34 of 84
Supposedly there is a way to remove Google services framework with this firmware version but I don't have the cods to try it. If anyone does this please let me know.
I'm not very tech savvy and completely new to all this, so forgive me if this is a stupid question...but wouldn't removing the Google services framework also eliminate the devices ability to run the apps associated with it, such as Tidal, Spotify, and other streaming services? Unless there is a difference between downloading the apps from the fiio market as opposed to thru the play store.
 
Sep 10, 2017 at 3:27 AM Post #35 of 84
Thank you, tried this but still didn't get anything. now its saying that it cant run google.gms ore something

This is strange - it suppose to bring back Google play store - Did you remove any thing earlier to customise? If yes,

Then try Factory Data Reset - It may wipe out the Inbuilt Storage if there is any music - So backup first. If all your music resides in Micros SD then no problem....remove Micro SD Card then do the Factory Data Reset, then reflash the firmware. Hope this solves your problem.
 
Sep 11, 2017 at 12:36 AM Post #36 of 84
I'm not very tech savvy and completely new to all this, so forgive me if this is a stupid question...but wouldn't removing the Google services framework also eliminate the devices ability to run the apps associated with it, such as Tidal, Spotify, and other streaming services? Unless there is a difference between downloading the apps from the fiio market as opposed to thru the play store.

To answer your question.... or at least try: I don't believe that removing google framework prevents it from running apk files (apps). Remember that android used to be a standalone OS before google bought it. You can still install and run apps on a device without google framework. Now please don't take this as the gospel because I haven't had the guts to remove it myself, but it shouldn't affect its ability to run apps. Under security there is an option to allow installation of 3rd party apps aka "unknown sources". By removing services framework you'll lose out on all things google, like the app store, your account syncing, location tracking, etc. But you should gain back any resources that are being soaked up by it (ram, cpu overhead).

Instead of uninstalling (which I can't find out how to do BTW, just read on the fiio release notes that it can be done) I went ahead and disabled all of these. Disabling will keep the process from launching but is easily reversed if you don't like the results:

google account manager
google play services
google play store
google services framework

really, the key is to keep the device as clean as possible so that my Tidal runs without glitching. I don't really care about google on this device. I'm still having luck with my previous post's method. No glitching in Tidal. Though a few others have reported that it still is affected, just holds out longer until the symptoms arise.
 
Sep 11, 2017 at 2:15 AM Post #37 of 84
To answer your question.... or at least try: I don't believe that removing google framework prevents it from running apk files (apps). Remember that android used to be a standalone OS before google bought it. You can still install and run apps on a device without google framework. Now please don't take this as the gospel because I haven't had the guts to remove it myself, but it shouldn't affect its ability to run apps. Under security there is an option to allow installation of 3rd party apps aka "unknown sources". By removing services framework you'll lose out on all things google, like the app store, your account syncing, location tracking, etc. But you should gain back any resources that are being soaked up by it (ram, cpu overhead).

Instead of uninstalling (which I can't find out how to do BTW, just read on the fiio release notes that it can be done) I went ahead and disabled all of these. Disabling will keep the process from launching but is easily reversed if you don't like the results:

google account manager
google play services
google play store
google services framework

really, the key is to keep the device as clean as possible so that my Tidal runs without glitching. I don't really care about google on this device. I'm still having luck with my previous post's method. No glitching in Tidal. Though a few others have reported that it still is affected, just holds out longer until the symptoms arise.
Oh I see. Yeah, I disabled all the Google stuff as well. Hopefully this will eventually be a non issue.
 
Sep 11, 2017 at 11:55 PM Post #38 of 84
update: with my changes described in this thread, I have yet to experience the skipping noise I call glitching. @AudioTransit9213 described the noise more succinctly by comparing it to the old portable cd players skipping sound when they encounter a bad sector or jar. Freeing up resources seems to have cured it for me, then again, I don't listen for any longer than 1 hour without having to queue up another album. Also, I love music, but can only take it in small doses (even with very smooth, non-fatiguing iems).

Anyway - I'm hoping that @FiiO can acknowledge the issue in this firmware thread. At least let us know that you're aware of the issue that is described here:

I'd like to report an issue I've had on software version 1.6 and now 1.7 as well.

Playing tidal offline tracks in 44.1/16 flac:

It plays fine for a few tracks, like 4 tracks usually.... then after 20 minutes when a new song comes on, it will make loud glitching sounds until I advance to the next track manually, then skip back to the affected track. After that it'll play fine for another few tracks.

It's not a deal breaker because I'm getting tidal offline without src and I love it. But it would be great if the glitching was fixed.

and here:

Yes, this the exact same issue I've been having! The sound starts out as a skipping type noise like the old portable CD players, the turns into a loud vinyl crackle almost with the skipping effect.

I went into settings and killed literally everything except tidal, the settings app itself, and the one process that Google play services didn't give an option to stop. It didn't completely eliminate the issue, but it definitely kept it from happening for a longer period of time.

Note that some of us are seeing some improvement as we free up resources, like RAM and CPU stress. But these setting changes only postpone the issue for most people. I hope our stories here help you to pinpoint the issue and institute a permanent fix in a new software release. Keep up the good work. I'm still a FiiO fan!
 
Sep 12, 2017 at 6:48 AM Post #39 of 84
update: with my changes described in this thread, I have yet to experience the skipping noise I call glitching. @AudioTransit9213 described the noise more succinctly by comparing it to the old portable cd players skipping sound when they encounter a bad sector or jar. Freeing up resources seems to have cured it for me, then again, I don't listen for any longer than 1 hour without having to queue up another album. Also, I love music, but can only take it in small doses (even with very smooth, non-fatiguing iems).

Anyway - I'm hoping that @FiiO can acknowledge the issue in this firmware thread. At least let us know that you're aware of the issue that is described here:



and here:



Note that some of us are seeing some improvement as we free up resources, like RAM and CPU stress. But these setting changes only postpone the issue for most people. I hope our stories here help you to pinpoint the issue and institute a permanent fix in a new software release. Keep up the good work. I'm still a FiiO fan!
Dear friend,

We have tried contacting the developer of Tidal about the issue with the Tidal. But currently, we did not get the reply from them. We will keep on following the problem. Sorry for bringing inconvenience.

Best regards
 
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Sep 20, 2017 at 8:20 AM Post #40 of 84
Dear FIIO,

Onkyo HF Player and USB Audio Player PRO not work!?
They did not fix the 32-bit floating point playback using the Android AudioTrack API is messed up.
Please fix it, thanks

Best regards

Hello FiiO Team,

I upgraded Onkyo HF Player app to v2.0.1 from v1.3.3 on my FiiO X5 3rd Gen running FW1.1.7 and I'm currently experiencing a lot of noise while playback using the app can you investigate and fix. I tried multiple formats FLAC, DSF, MP3, ALAC, M4A but the same issue. Other Player apps - HibyMusic, foobar2000, Pi Music Player play the same files just fine.

I had to uninstall Onkyo HF Player app v2.0.1 and downgrade to v1.3.3 to get the app to work for me as usual.
 
Sep 26, 2017 at 4:52 PM Post #41 of 84
Dear FIIO,

Onkyo HF Player and USB Audio Player PRO not work!?
They did not fix the 32-bit floating point playback using the Android AudioTrack API is messed up.
Please fix it, thanks

Best regards
Just installed Onkyo HF Player v2.0.2 and the noise issue is resolved, tested with Headphone output. Will test the USB audio output and post comments.
 

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