x RELIC x
Headphoneus Supremus
I owned an X3 since it was released and also purchased an X5 when it was first released. I've sold the X3 shortly after receiving the X5.
For me the X3 doesn't have the same level of detail retrieval, clarity, or accuracy of the X5. The X3 does have hardware based bass/treble control (which I miss dearly) and a very musical presentation. The amp section of the X3 is slightly more powerful and the DAC section is warm and smooth.
I would have kept the X3 if it were not for the continuous crashes that I experienced, even on official FW2.1. My cards were formatted with the X3 and my music is clean ALAC rips from CD. That's it, one file type. I feel the limitation is with the X3 hardware itself. Not enough memory or not powerful enough CPU. I could be wrong, but the fact that turning off gapless playback fixed many of my freezing issues leads me to think the hardware isn't powerful enough to buffer the next song, and for me gapless is essential.
I haven't heard the latest beta FW and I'm very interested to hear the SQ improvements that have been made. I will point out that there a still a lot of reports of freezing. I realize the latest FW is beta but I don't feel this will go away (I hope to be proven wrong, Fiio is a great company). If the freezing issues go away I may pick up another one given the low price of the unit.
With the X5 I haven't had any freezes and the interface is nice and zippy. The library update is much faster and the SQ is very good. The wheel has been reliable and makes navigation a snap. I prefer the larger footprint and weight as my hands are large and the X3 always felt like it was going to slip out of my hand.
YMMV.
For me the X3 doesn't have the same level of detail retrieval, clarity, or accuracy of the X5. The X3 does have hardware based bass/treble control (which I miss dearly) and a very musical presentation. The amp section of the X3 is slightly more powerful and the DAC section is warm and smooth.
I would have kept the X3 if it were not for the continuous crashes that I experienced, even on official FW2.1. My cards were formatted with the X3 and my music is clean ALAC rips from CD. That's it, one file type. I feel the limitation is with the X3 hardware itself. Not enough memory or not powerful enough CPU. I could be wrong, but the fact that turning off gapless playback fixed many of my freezing issues leads me to think the hardware isn't powerful enough to buffer the next song, and for me gapless is essential.
I haven't heard the latest beta FW and I'm very interested to hear the SQ improvements that have been made. I will point out that there a still a lot of reports of freezing. I realize the latest FW is beta but I don't feel this will go away (I hope to be proven wrong, Fiio is a great company). If the freezing issues go away I may pick up another one given the low price of the unit.
With the X5 I haven't had any freezes and the interface is nice and zippy. The library update is much faster and the SQ is very good. The wheel has been reliable and makes navigation a snap. I prefer the larger footprint and weight as my hands are large and the X3 always felt like it was going to slip out of my hand.
YMMV.