FiiO X3MKIII || Dual TI PCM5242 || Dual-mode Bluetooth 4.1 || Dual headphone outputs || Balanced Out || 192kHz/32bit
Oct 12, 2017 at 4:25 AM Post #527 of 613
Can someone from FiiO tell me about authorized resellers and their pre-orders? I just have some questions, pm me please. Thanks.
You can check the authorized sellers from:http://fiio.net/en/stores. Pre-orders? We may need confirm with our colleage first. Would you mind detailed describe your questions to our email support@fiio.net. Thanks!
Best regards
 
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Oct 12, 2017 at 10:23 AM Post #528 of 613
There’s a fault in the new firmware. When the player resumes from sleep, it sometimes says file not found and plays another track. But i was listening to that particular track before it went to sleep. It happens very frequently especially if after the player is sleeping for a long while. Once it said track not found and just hung, black screen but music was playing. Had to press and hold power button for 10 seconds to restart player.
 
Oct 12, 2017 at 10:25 AM Post #529 of 613
Thanks. I already got it from the Fiio support page yesterday. And, yes the player still switches off when I plug in the headphone. So I guess it’s a faulty unit.
I got the unit exchanged for a new one with my retailer. Now it behaves correctly and shows the battery low signal at 1 bar, so i guess it was a faulty unit after all. But now the resume function seems broken as per my post above. This is definitely software related.
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 1:55 AM Post #530 of 613
So now that they've (presumably) had time to fix things with the X3 mkiii are there lingering problems? I've been waiting for a "28 days later" review. (How is bluetooth? How is sound quality? Usability? Has it improved? If so... how?)
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 5:33 AM Post #531 of 613
I got the unit exchanged for a new one with my retailer. Now it behaves correctly and shows the battery low signal at 1 bar, so i guess it was a faulty unit after all. But now the resume function seems broken as per my post above. This is definitely software related.
For both resume mode position and song? Where did you play the song from? Thanks!
Best regards
 
FiiO Stay updated on FiiO at their sponsor profile on Head-Fi.
 
https://www.facebook.com/FiiOAUDIO https://twitter.com/FiiO_official https://www.instagram.com/fiioofficial/ https://www.fiio.com support@fiio.com
Oct 13, 2017 at 6:02 AM Post #532 of 613
For both resume mode position and song? Where did you play the song from? Thanks!
Best regards
Yes both resume modes replicate the problem. What do you mean by where I play the song from? The song was playing on x3 before it went to sleep
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 6:28 AM Post #533 of 613
Oct 14, 2017 at 8:32 AM Post #534 of 613
Nice review @Brooko . I have a feeling that any way I ask the following question that it may come off as being harsh, but that's not my intention. It's really just a question I've had for a while now. Other devices were already on the market (Shanling & Cayin). Did FiiO not look at these devices and see what they were offering at or for less than what the X3III cost. I was an owner of the X1, X3II, and X5II, yet it appears the X3III offers no real advantage over these older models. I understand the X3III has bluetooth and balanced, but the bluetooth is not aptx, nor is the balance implemented correctly (just like the X5III). While the touch wheel is nice (coming from previously owning an X1II), the X3III doesn't seem like a real upgrade. It just seems like everyone else was actually upgrading their DAPs, yet FiiO appears to have gone backwards (maybe the wrong choice of words, but you get what I mean). The previous models were all very solid with responsive UI, whereas these new models appear to be the opposite. Am I the only one the feels this way? I'll be honest and say that I have no intention of ever buying an X3III regardless if the make it better or not, but it just baffles me the way FiiO operates.
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 8:39 AM Post #535 of 613
I think they missed the mark on both the X3iii and the X1ii. I don’t know if it’s hardware or that they simply haven’t optimised the UI - but neither I would call an upgrade over the preceding models. They still sound great - but that speed issue is a biggie.
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 9:19 AM Post #536 of 613
it just baffles me the way FiiO operates.

A number of us have been saying this for a while now. It's such a pity, as Fiio have genuine potential to make fantastic devices, but due to internal issues (what seems to be a mismanaged company), it's as though they don't care about their products, or have just become far too arrogant due to their past success and have somehow developed this attitude that no one can touch them... When in reality they've already fallen behind the competition. And when they release new devices before fixing their old devices, that simply leaves a bad taste in paying customers' mouths.
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 12:39 PM Post #537 of 613
I have a few minutes of experience with X3-3 now, the sound is not bad.

My take:

FiiO wanted to appeal to a larger market. In Romania, it is probably the most selling company when it comes to DAPs, so they are not doing bad. What I am not happy about is that they went for making lighter, slimer and say, trendy-looking devices instead of keeping the older industral look. All is well and nice, but I actually liked the X5ii quite a lot. X5-3 and X7mkii are ultra-solid devices, and while the sound of X5-3 is a bit smooth for my ears, I have close friends who love it and I personally really like X7mkii.

The main issue is the focus, I think that although X3-3 is proposed to the average consumer market instead of the enthusiast, changing the build was not as important as upgrading the sound. Adding BT and adding more features is always welcome, but it should never at the cost of sacrificing the UI and the general usability.

I trust FiiO will learn a lot from this and that the next generation will be even better for the X3 line, but so far, I can only state with certainty that I am really happy with X7mkii and would recommend it both in sound and abilities, truly their high end DAP segment is still going as strong as ever :smile_phones:
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 1:33 PM Post #538 of 613
A number of us have been saying this for a while now. It's such a pity, as Fiio have genuine potential to make fantastic devices, but due to internal issues (what seems to be a mismanaged company), it's as though they don't care about their products, or have just become far too arrogant due to their past success and have somehow developed this attitude that no one can touch them... When in reality they've already fallen behind the competition. And when they release new devices before fixing their old devices, that simply leaves a bad taste in paying customers' mouths.
Without any knowledge of their internal operations, I won't speculate. However, it seems like they lack research and development. Other companies were offering more for the same price or even less as was evident due to DAPs by Cayin and Shanling were already on the market. A simple scan of the forums shows that, yet FiiO really chose to go the opposite direction and that's where it baffles me. Most companies would be looking at what the other is doing and try to out do them, but not FiiO in the case of the X1II and X3III. I realize they don't want to be the same as everyone else, but at the same time you have to know what the other guys are doing in order to compete. The X1II and X3III just don't compare to those other guys IMO. I agree with @Brooko , FiiO missed the mark here. With that said, the X5III and X7II seem pretty solid, yet still have a few things to iron out, but still reading more positives than negatives when compared to the original X7.
 
Oct 14, 2017 at 2:18 PM Post #539 of 613
Without any knowledge of their internal operations, I won't speculate. However, it seems like they lack research and development. Other companies were offering more for the same price or even less as was evident due to DAPs by Cayin and Shanling were already on the market. A simple scan of the forums shows that, yet FiiO really chose to go the opposite direction and that's where it baffles me. Most companies would be looking at what the other is doing and try to out do them, but not FiiO in the case of the X1II and X3III. I realize they don't want to be the same as everyone else, but at the same time you have to know what the other guys are doing in order to compete. The X1II and X3III just don't compare to those other guys IMO. I agree with @Brooko , FiiO missed the mark here. With that said, the X5III and X7II seem pretty solid, yet still have a few things to iron out, but still reading more positives than negatives when compared to the original X7.

Oh, compared to the original X7, x7mkii is an excellent upgrade, both sonically and as a device.

Compared to X3ii, X3-3 is... a bit like a sidegrade...
 
Oct 16, 2017 at 8:36 PM Post #540 of 613
Yes both resume modes replicate the problem. What do you mean by where I play the song from? The song was playing on X3 before it went to sleep

I purchased a X3 MKIII as soon as I found out a firmware was available to fix its initial problems. I have been following your posts and everyone else's on this thread. My X3 1st gen got wet when sailing on Labor Day and everything works but the display. Fortunately it was set as a DAP beforehand so I can still use it as such. I got it 2 months before gen 2 came out so I was trying not to miss the new one this time. My unit became unusable after enabling the resume function. It was generally fine beforehand with the firmware update so far as stability was concerned. After enabling the resume play from the place your were before, the problem started. I usually turn my player off and do not let it go to sleep. When I turned it off and then turned it on, it did play the track I was listening to from the spot it had stopped before. The player stopped at the end of track. It did not proceed to the next track. I tried the back button and every other eventually and the same thing happened. Zeros and ones started flying onto the display in black and white and every time I pushed any button, more zeros and ones would be added to the those that were already there. I tried holding down the power button to shut it off and that just made more zeros and ones. I finally shut the unit down by holding down the buttons you use to update the firmware, After that it started up fine and resumed the track it stopped at. It stopped at the end of the track. Then I tried to push buttons, especially back, and next, and previous track and got streams of zeros and ones again on the display. I tried changing the resume to off or start a the beginning of the last track and it did not help. I think my unit was defective like yours.

It's on its way back to Amazon. I ordered a Shanling M2s. There were things I did like about the sound of the X3 MKIII. I purchased the FiiO F5 IEMs with the player and I liked the sound of the balanced cable over the unbalanced. I kept the F5. I joined Head-Fi because of this player but I have been using Head-Fi as a resource for audio info for a while.
 

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