Unbelievably disappointed in the X5. First and last FiiO product for me.
The sound quality is great but just about everything else falls short.
If you're reading this thread and you're debating whether to get a FiiO product or not... don't bother.
I will have to disagree. I find both my X5 1st gen and X1 to be excellent players and I'm very happy with both of them. What my next player will be it's not decided but for me Fiio will be in the runnings and I'd love to get my hands on the X7.
I'll have to agree, on the other hand. It's a thing with Chinese brands, wait,
not saying that's a bad thing, but consumers new to these cheap alternatives (as I was back at the time) need to be aware of what they're likely to encounter, and that thing are flaws which may or may not be individually fundamental.
Fiio might have improved their presentation over the years, but each time I visit their website or read posts from their representatives I can't shake off the feeling that it was
all written by doge. Example? Here you go: http://www.fiio.net/en/products/5
It's not as awful Chinese >> Google Translate >> English, but to me, it's of things to come.
On to the products themselves, had these in chronological order, here's what I think:
E06 - The good: Sound quality; The bad: The clip sucks and the buttons are flimsy.
X5 - The good: Sound quality (*), two SD cards; The bad: Shrieking amplifier, awful irrelevant and unneeded scrolling wheel, OS full of bugs, line-out too loud to be amplified directly.
E12A - The good: Sound quality (*), bass boost; The bad: Volume not input-independent, channel imbalance, mismatching shell parts.
L16 - The good: Sound quality; The bad: Nothing, actually, good job.
RC-SE1 - The good: Sound quality; The bad: Microphonic, short, painful on the ear.
You see what I'm getting at here, like a lot of other people suckered into this by popularity? The sound quality for the most part, is just as advertised. Everything else however, falls short. Am I spoiled, oh no doubt, but if I knew what I'm getting into I might as well bought a Sony or an A&K and be done with it.