[markrich]

After a few days of use I thought I could write my thoughts on my new music player.  I don't usually do this, so apologies if protocol or rules are broken.  I have only started to use this board recently.
 
Firstly the only comparison I have is with the iPod Classic playing ALAC files though my old earphones, Musical Fidelity EB50, and my current earphones, the Shure 425 (with stock cable and the Linum Music replacement).  I have never owned a Fiio, iBasso or similar before.
 
Body:
 
The construction of the unit isn't bad.  I won't say excellent, but it's not bad.  The wheel is a big let down.  A mechanical wheel and one that wobbles and not smooth shouldn't have passed by the QA team after the designers came up with it.  It may be similar to the other Fiio models but anything which moves will wear out and/or let things move under and around it.
 
The screen is far too easily scratched.  I have managed to create one by trying to remove the sticker glue from the screen with a microfibre cloth.  Not good.  Even the cheapest mobile phones come with anti-scratch screens these days.  Providing a screen-protector in the box is a cop-out when the unit costs so much to buy and placing stickers on the glass with glue that gets left isn't good.
 
Two gripes over, the unit feels solid, if a little hollow.  It's not going to bend and twist and the back doesn't look like it will fall out.  I like the brushed metal look.
 
Use:
 
Too easy to pause the music when in the pocket with the button in the centre.  I wish there was a long-press option to do this to avoid accidental presses.  More than once I have placed in my pocket to find within minutes I have paused it.  I hope Fiio provide more options to customise the button actions in the future.
 
What is the file-browser option for?  What advantage does it give over browse by artist/album/etc/?  Bury this option in settings.  It doesn't belong on the main menu as far as I can tell.  I don't understand the advantage it offers.
 
Scroll wheel doesn't have a stop for left and right on the opening menu so if you overshoot you end up going round to start again.  I can't see why this is useful either.  There are four icons, just stop after reaching icon 1 or icon 4.  If you want this to scroll round and round, make it an option in configuration.  Again, this shouldn't be hard to fix.
 
Quick random play button - where is it?  If I want to play a random song I can only do so by having the play settings set to random, choosing the first song and then pressing 'next'.  Too many buttons.  Perhaps I am doing something wrong, but why can't I have a shuffle button set to play random album or song based on setting made elsewhere?
 
No syncing with the music player on the desktop.  The fiio is treated as a hard drive to which songs are added or removed.  There is no way to sync play counts with the music player on the desktop as two way syncing doesn't exist for me.  I do not know if the X5 adds play count to files it has played anyway.
 
The interface designer ought to go and take some lessons on minimalism and design.  I have always subscribed to the rules good design should have two factors, a wow factor - and the X5 certainly has that - and the minimum number of steps to get to a chosen destination.  The later is sadly not the case.  Too many buttons need to be pressed to get somewhere, the interface is cluttered and hard to read, the equaliser is outside of the play menus so you need to make at least 6 steps to get to it from a song.  Further work to simplify it is needed.
 
Sound:
 
I know there are many variables here that can affect it including the earphones, cables, music and of course our ears and brains.  So I know this will be my opinion of the sound only,
It's dark.  It's clear, sharp but not very bright.  It lacks the sparkle, especially at the high end to make it sound airy and wide.  Some tracks just sound oppressive.  It's almost as if a ceiling is in place, not to muffle - because that's certainly not happening - but to enclose the sound.  Now I know others, with more experience, knowledge and other DAPs will say it's better and the best Fiio has made.  I read extensively before getting my player.  I also have read it's more neutral than previous models.  That is why I bought it as I like the music to do the talking.  It's also why I bought the Shure 425s for their neutral sound, but the brightness isn't there yet for me.  I have tried with the brightest tracks I could find, classic, pop, jazz and indie.
 
I will get used to it.  I have no doubts there.  I also have no desire to sell the Fiio or spend money on another as I can't afford to do so, but so far it's harder work than I thought it should be to listen to some songs.
 
I guess I need to play around with the equaliser and make something which appeals more to my ears
 
Conclusion:
 
Early days still.  I know I have more negatives than positives so far but I'm going to stick with it and become used to the sound.  I hope Fiio sort out the interface and have a way for suggestions and changes to be made to it.  It lets it down a lot when I am showing it to people and they get lost within a few button presses.  I'm sure I will get used to the sound.  Perhaps I have the wrong earphones for the player and perhaps I need to try some more variations on settings, equaliser and things.
 
Please don't burn me for my thoughts.  I am not a troll.  I'm just letting out a bit of steam

 

[mandrake50]

  Welcome to the support group. Check your wallet at the door 

 
They're not issues - just (positive) defects in our aural signal processors!

Sounds more like OCD to me... and yes, it takes one to know one..

 

[KLJTech]

  After a few days of use I thought I could write my thoughts on my new music player.  I don't usually do this, so apologies if protocol or rules are broken.  I have only started to use this board recently.
 
Firstly the only comparison I have is with the iPod Classic playing ALAC files though my old earphones, Musical Fidelity EB50, and my current earphones, the Shure 425 (with stock cable and the Linum Music replacement).  I have never owned a Fiio, iBasso or similar before.
 
Body:
 
The construction of the unit isn't bad.  I won't say excellent, but it's not bad.  The wheel is a big let down.  A mechanical wheel and one that wobbles and not smooth shouldn't have passed by the QA team after the designers came up with it.  It may be similar to the other Fiio models but anything which moves will wear out and/or let things move under and around it.
 
The screen is far too easily scratched.  I have managed to create one by trying to remove the sticker glue from the screen with a microfibre cloth.  Not good.  Even the cheapest mobile phones come with anti-scratch screens these days.  Providing a screen-protector in the box is a cop-out when the unit costs so much to buy and placing stickers on the glass with glue that gets left isn't good.
 
 

 
The X5 II comes with a screen protector in place once you remove the plastic cover that is attached to the white strip that sticks out to the side. Did you scratch the screen protector under that which was put in place by the factory or the actual screen itself under the screen saver?
 
Do you have the Gain set to Low or High? The X5 II comes with 3 screen protectors in all (1 in place by the factory and 2 in the box).
 
I've not heard anyone say they thought the X5 II sounds dark and lacking in HF air before...it sounds like this may not be the player for you. Have you tried the Pono player yet? 
 
Thanks for the review. 

 

[markrich]

   
The X5 II comes with a screen protector in place once you remove the plastic cover that is attached to the white strip that sticks out to the side. Did you scratch the screen protector under that which was put in place by the factory or the actual screen itself under the screen saver?
 
Do you have the Gain set to Low or High? The X5 II comes with 3 screen protectors in all (1 in place by the factory and 2 in the box).
 
I've not heard anyone say they thought the X5 II sounds dark and lacking in HF air before...it sounds like this may not be the player for you. Have you tried the Pono player yet? 
 
Thanks for the review. 

There was only one screen protector in the box in a small clear bag.  The screen had a small white sticker attached it to.  No screen protector was on the screen.
Gain is set to high.  I have been experimenting with this option.
Pono, no.  There are no shops I know of locally which sell these types of players in variety and allow one to experiment with.  It's a buy online and see affair.

 

[AndrewH13]

Mark, many of us predominantly use the File Browser. We don't all live in an Apple only world! Some like sub-folders A-C, d-E etc for quicker browsing on large collections. Not a great idea hiding it away. But then those of us using browsing probably like to keep our music in a good manual organised way, allowing for playing from Nas drives, PCs and other methods.

 

[markrich]

Mark, many of us predominantly use the File Browser. We don't all live in an Apple only world! Some like sub-folders A-C, d-E etc for quicker browsing on large collections. Not a great idea hiding it away. But then those of us using browsing probably like to keep our music in a good manual organised way, allowing for playing from Nas drives, PCs and other methods.

I never thought about that.
I store my music as genre, album artists, album, disc, song artist, song
It just makes sense to keep things organised that way.
It's a good point you raise.  I am learning more
 
As for Apple only, the iPod is my only Apple device.  I live in Linux land usually.

 

[mandrake50]

 
There was only one screen protector in the box in a small clear bag.  The screen had a small white sticker attached it to.  No screen protector was on the screen.
Gain is set to high.  I have been experimenting with this option.
Pono, no.  There are no shops I know of locally which sell these types of players in variety and allow one to experiment with.  It's a buy online and see affair.

I think that if you were to check closely, there is a screen protector in place. Pulling the white tab off takes the outer layer off leaving the screen protector itself in place over the glass (??) screen.
I did get two additional screen protectors in the package with mine. These are three layers. Remove one layer, apply the screen protector, remove the outer layer.
This is quite like all of the cell phone screen protectors that I have installed... too many of them... because folks found out I was pretty good at installing them without bubbles... were all built the same

 

[nmatheis]

Fiio puts screen protectors on all their DAPs at the factory. They have done this as a convenience to their customers since the very first X3 was released.

 

[AndrewH13]

I never thought about that.
I store my music as genre, album artists, album, disc, song artist, song
It just makes sense to keep things organised that way.
It's a good point you raise.  I am learning more

As for Apple only, the iPod is my only Apple device.  I live in Linux land usually.

I actually use Tunes and Alacs for iPod dock use, but iPods can lead you astray! For instance outside of idevices, many lose their album art. ITunes can keep it in separate files rather than embedded into tracks. And not having each track and filename preceded by track number can also be a problem. Good that we have a choice anyway, keeping meta data good (mp3tag rather than iTunes imo) and good folder organisation keeps the doctor away!

 

[Offworld42]

Fiio puts screen protectors on all their DAPs at the factory. They have done this as a convenience to their customers since the very first X3 was released.

Is there a cover charge for this? 

 

[ZimZam]

  Thanks for all the replies, its really hard to decide whether or not to keep the original X5 or X5ii based on all the reviews most members are saying they sound very similar but to my ears they are quite different. X5 undoubtedly sounds better with heavy metal music but I find X5ii sound far better with piano based music, unfortunately I listen to a very wide variety of music. So I was thinking maybe there may be a pair of headphones more suited to being used with X5ii, any advise or ideas is greatly appreciated. Im not a bass head cant stand "beats" headphones but having said that I like my AKG K550 but do find them lacking in bass, I don't use an equalizer, to me a good pairing shouldn't need to be equalized. Knowing I like the sound signature of sennheiser momentums would something like Audio Technica ATH-M50X be suitable or are they in a different league all together?

Hello scracy,
 
I'm a bit late to respond but did want to express my happiness with the ATH-M50x and FiiO X5ii. I understand there are better headphones out there and the majority of folks here have multiple pairs of phones much "nicer" that the ATH-M50x. For what it's worth, I love my set up and listen to a huge range of music (Metal, Classic Rock, Pop, Jazz, Electronic, etc.). I paid $129.95 on an Amazon special and don't regret the decision at all (even at $150.00 would feel the same way). Your ears are the best evaluator of course but since you referenced this model specifically, I thought it would be helpful to "hear" from someone with that same set up.

 

[ASpencer]

Some like sub-folders A-C, d-E etc for quicker browsing on large collections.

If you've read any of my previous posts in this thread, formatting a memory card using "A-C" subfolders causes both the X3 II and X5 II to hang and crash when updating the media library.  However, the files themselves and the organization system works unimpeded... so there's the rub, as the Bard might say had he owned a DAP.

 

[AndrewH13]

  If you've read any of my previous posts in this thread, formatting a memory card using "A-C" subfolders causes both the X3 II and X5 II to hang and crash when updating the media library.  However, the files themselves and the organization system works unimpeded... so there's the rub, as the Bard might say had he owned a DAP.

 
That does seem odd doesn't it! I don't use alpha sub-folders myself, I like having about 50 artists max drag and dropped at a time so no problem scrolling through folders at Artist level.

 

[markrich]

I actually use Tunes and Alacs for iPod dock use, but iPods can lead you astray! For instance outside of idevices, many lose their album art. ITunes can keep it in separate files rather than embedded into tracks. And not having each track and filename preceded by track number can also be a problem. Good that we have a choice anyway, keeping meta data good (mp3tag rather than iTunes imo) and good folder organisation keeps the doctor away!

iTunes only keeps album art in separate folders if you let it download the art from the iTunes store.
If you press SHIFT and right mouse button and choose info, you can paste the album art directly into the file.  All my music has album art embedded this way.  The art shows in any program I choose to use.
Sadly what I have discovered is album art of 1500x1500 is a bit too much for the little Fiio and it won't always show it so going back and downgrading the images to 1024x1024 bit by bit.
 
I don't understand the problem with file names.  My songs are named 1-01 filename.m4a, 1-02 filename.m4a, etc. with the first number being replaced by the disc number.  It seems logical to me.
 
I have easytag installed on the desktop but rarely had to use it.
 
I agree, nice to have choice.  Where would be be if everyone only liked one thing and we were told we could only like one thing?

 

[ZimZam]

   
What is the file-browser option for?  What advantage does it give over browse by artist/album/etc/?  Bury this option in settings.  It doesn't belong on the main menu as far as I can tell.  I don't understand the advantage it offers.
 
 

Hello Mark,
 
I was new to the file browsing feature also and questioned it like you UNTIL...I filled two 128 GB SD Cards and needed to manage the music in the X5ii. The process of deleting albums to create space for new albums can be taxing. With the file browsing feature, you can see what's stored where - on what card. Since I remove the cards to update on my PC, this feature helps save me some time in identifying what card I want to remove and when.
 
In addition to that, sometimes tags don't translate accurately (especially if I'm lazy and don't double check the data). If I'm having difficulty browsing by Artist/Genre, etc. the folder structure is always accurate for me and is based on the naming convention I used when creating the folder if that makes sense.