[ASpencer]

  I think it is optimistic to think all the problems will be resolved in firmware updates.  It would certainly be nice if that would happen but perhaps unrealistic.  With the X5-III now hitting the market and the X3-III likely being released this year devoting resources to fixing the X1-II along with the X7 and supposed continued work on the M3 how many resource can be devoted to this one DAP?

 
Since FiiO has been migrating into new operating systems for their DAPs, I would think the trial and error for one would yield improvements on the subsequent.  I’m still very impressed how they were able to achieve a touch wheel without violating Apple patents.  I never minded the physically spun wheel, but some did as far as wear and tear, possibly effecting longevity.

 

[TheoS53]

   
Since FiiO has been migrating into new operating systems for their DAPs, I would think the trial and error for one would yield improvements on the subsequent.  I’m still very impressed how they were able to achieve a touch wheel without violating Apple patents.  I never minded the physically spun wheel, but some did as far as wear and tear, possibly effecting longevity.

I think this is partly what bewilders us so much. How is it that they can improve and "invent" on the hardware front, yet always seem to show such relative incompetence when it comes to the software?

 

[Killcomic]

  I think this is partly what bewilders us so much. How is it that they can improve and "invent" on the hardware front, yet always seem to show such relative incompetence when it comes to the software?

Probably because they are two completely different animals.
I don't know what the situation is like in China, but it does seems like good electronic engineers are far more plentiful than software engineers.
From what I've seen, Chinese products always seem to lack in the software side of things as opposed to the hardware.

 

[ASpencer]

  I think this is partly what bewilders us so much. How is it that they can improve and "invent" on the hardware front, yet always seem to show such relative incompetence when it comes to the software?

 
The difference between "hard" and "soft" no doubt.  Hardware can be forged with strength and more easily tested in factory conditions whereas software turns mercurial once it's placed in the hands of different users.  Once you start diving into the addition of apps and personal configurations, not to mention respective memory cards, file formats and various international factors, more and more bugaboos pop up. 
 
 

 

[TheoS53]

 
Probably because they are two completely different animals.
I don't know what the situation is like in China, but it does seems like good electronic engineers are far more plentiful than software engineers.
From what I've seen, Chinese products always seem to lack in the software side of things as opposed to the hardware.

Whilst they may be different, they do go hand in hand. Limit 1, and you'll limit the other. There's a lot of time and money (the cost of which eventually gets passed on to the consumer) invested in the hardware side of things, so why implement hardware which cannot be fully utilised due to the software? The Bluetooth is 1 such example. Either Fiio knew that AptX couldn't be implemented with their chosen MIPS system...or they didn't research enough and only found out afterwards. It's a similar story with gapless. 

 

[TheoS53]

But whatever the case. Let's hope that Fiio have learned from their past hiccups and that it'll be relatively smooth sailing going forward 

 

[Killcomic]

  Whilst they may be different, they do go hand in hand. Limit 1, and you'll limit the other. There's a lot of time and money (the cost of which eventually gets passed on to the consumer) invested in the hardware side of things, so why implement hardware which cannot be fully utilised due to the software? The Bluetooth is 1 such example. Either Fiio knew that AptX couldn't be implemented with their chosen MIPS system...or they didn't research enough and only found out afterwards. It's a similar story with gapless. 

Yes, they do go hand in hand but you do require people with completely different skillsets. How many good, experienced software engineers are compared to electronics engineers in China? I have no idea, but methinks that they are not easy to get a hold of.
And don't forget that management in businesses are ALWAYS making stupid decisions for which the business is not ready (like changing the OS of their DAPs).

 

[Dobrescu George]

I got a feeling that composing a circuit is easy compared to composing the software when using custom CPU architectures and set of instructions. 

which brings me to the following statement: While some audiophiles might dislike the idea - using the most basic Android release would probably allow to get rid of some headaches. 

 

[Killcomic]

which brings me to the following statement: While some audiophiles might dislike the idea - using the most basic Android release would probably allow to get rid of some headaches. 

I totally agree with this. Heck, they can just use Poweramp as the player and we'll have half the problems gone.

 

[TheoS53]

  I totally agree with this. Heck, they can just use Poweramp as the player and we'll have half the problems gone.

from what I understand, Android isn't the most efficient, which may mean thatit requires more advanced hardware than what is actually necessary when we're talking about a "simple" music player. But hey, maybe using somehting like Android would be the lesser of 2 evils. 

I'll be getting the new X5 sometime this week for review..so let's see how much Fiio has learned from the X7 and whether or not Android is a viable option. 

 

[Dobrescu George]

  I totally agree with this. Heck, they can just use Poweramp as the player and we'll have half the problems gone.

 
Almost all problems gone 

 
IDK, feels like the difficulty of building a custom music app is much greater than we all thought. 

I would just fork a free and open sourced app if it were me, then add closed source modules that don't break the usage copyrights. 

  from what I understand, Android isn't the most efficient, which may mean thatit requires more advanced hardware than what is actually necessary when we're talking about a "simple" music player. But hey, maybe using somehting like Android would be the lesser of 2 evils. 

I'll be getting the new X5 sometime this week for review..so let's see how much Fiio has learned from the X7 and whether or not Android is a viable option. 

 
Android is not efficient at all but it's simple, we can make it obey (?) 

 

[ASpencer]

 
I'll be getting the new X5 sometime this week for review..so let's see how much Fiio has learned from the X7 and whether or not Android is a viable option. 

 
I like the X7, especially with the second amp, but whenever I'm using it I get the occasional urge to place a call... and can't.

 

[kaegell]

@ASpencer @TheoS53 Are we talking about Android on the Fiio X1-II? Because I don't know if putting Android on a monoprocessor embedded system is such a good idea.

 

[kaegell]

   
Almost all problems gone 

 
IDK, feels like the difficulty of building a custom music app is much greater than we all thought. 

I would just fork a free and open sourced app if it were me, then add closed source modules that don't break the usage copyrights.

 
A solution I thought of would be to migrate from mplayer to MPD (Music Player Daemon). It is a music server that allows the users to play music, among other nice tricks. Gapless and Crossfading is already there, it is quite customizable and really rich of features, since it is a specific audio server, and not a multimedia player. It can then, be controlled with some apps or CLI, mpcc being the standard one. The only downside of this one program is that it doesn't permit queue'd playback outside of playlists, a playlist first needs to be prepared and then we can play multiple files one after the other, but aside from that it's all good.
Personally, I've been using this since last year, and I'm satisfied with it. Oh, and it can generate its own database.

 

[ASpencer]

  @ASpencer @TheoS53 Are we talking about Android on the Fiio X1-II? Because I don't know if putting Android on a monoprocessor embedded system is such a good idea.

 
No, I wasn't.  The X5 III is android, correct?