[x RELIC x]

Very low noise floor on the X5ii. Something's amiss.

 

[Brooko]

Folks, this a short review/opinion I posted on Amazon. Its quite critical, so be warned!
 
Twister6 has written a great in depth review of the x5 II here and on headfi so I wont go into too many details here. The one thing I found was that the Fiio does benefit from a prolonged burn in (120 hrs or so) Out of the box the highs are rough, the bass thin and the vocals have an uncomfortable sibilance to them. Around the 40 hr burn in mark everything begins to settle down nicely. Double that and the bass starts to come thru and at around 120 everything is just optimum.

So why the three stars? Because what I find absolutely unforgivable is the high noise floor I'm experiencing through the headphone out.. Its a bit better through the line out, but there i have no control over the volume. My headphones are NAD Hp 50's and Stax portables and 90% of my music files are 24 bit or Dsd.

When connected through the coaxial out to the ami ds5, the sound is simply exceptional. way better than what my laptop running Jriver and fidelizer is capable of. One downside is that Dsd streams are converted to Pcm via the coaxial, while it does offer up native Dsd via the HP out and Line out. So as a stand alone unit feeding a good external DAC you cant go wrong. Dsd converted to 24/44 still sounds superb through the ami ds5.

Yes, as a portable device it does beat the likes of apple but that high noise floor is simply unforgivable. This is a high resolution portable player and I'm looking for that blacker than black background. Its not enough that it decodes hi res and dsd files. it needs to deliver them in audiophile quality as well. Like I said, it does whip your apple and generic music player but its not blowing my auditory mind. Yes, the highs are there, the bass is there, depth and soundstage are all there but that grey background (not black) ruins it for me. so now I'm listening to x5 ii exclusiively through the outboard Dac at home, and yes, its thoroughly enjoyable. As a portable device I would give it 2 stars, as a stand alone source, 4.

i know my views may rub fanboys the wrong way but I stand by my findings. Maybe I have high expectations, but for 349$ I'm not prepared to lower them.

Would I use it as a portable? Yes I will,l But at home the outboard DAC is the the way for me.

I'd suggest you contact Fiio. First up - their measured specs show an SNR via H/O of >117 dB and via L/O of >115 dB (compare this to the flagship AK380 at 116 dB) and THD figures at below the realms of audibility. Secondly - every review I've read suggests an extremely black background - I know the review unit I had definitely shows this. I'd suggest either look at your set-up, or contact Fiio to get the unit tested, and then maybe go back and edit your review (once you find the cause).

You review is contrary to both the majority of other reviews and to actual measurements. That should suggest there is an issue with your unit or set-up.

 

[Luvdac]

Very low noise floor on the X5ii. Something's amiss.

Could be I have a defective unit and I have no way to compare it with another x5 II. This was bought on  US Amazon and I am in India. So unless Fiio does me a kindness and sends me a replacement unit, I'm out of luck.

 

[Brooko]

Could be I have a defective unit and I have no way to compare it with another x5 II. This was bought on  US Amazon and I am in India. So unless Fiio does me a kindness and sends me a replacement unit, I'm out of luck.

So contact them and find out

 

[celcius]

  Folks, this a short review/opinion I posted on Amazon. Its quite critical, so be warned!
 

 Background not completely "Black", July 17, 2015

By 
Luvdac

 

This review is from: FiiO X5 (2nd Generation) High Resolution Music Player (Titanium) 2015 NEWEST MODEL (Electronics)

Twister6 has written a great in depth review of the x5 II here and on headfi so I wont go into too many details here. The one thing I found was that the Fiio does benefit from a prolonged burn in (120 hrs or so) Out of the box the highs are rough, the bass thin and the vocals have an uncomfortable sibilance to them. Around the 40 hr burn in mark everything begins to settle down nicely. Double that and the bass starts to come thru and at around 120 everything is just optimum.
So why the three stars? Because what I find absolutely unforgivable is the high noise floor I'm experiencing through the headphone out.. Its a bit better through the line out, but there i have no control over the volume. My headphones are NAD Hp 50's and Stax portables and 90% of my music files are 24 bit or Dsd.
When connected through the coaxial out to the ami ds5, the sound is simply exceptional. way better than what my laptop running Jriver and fidelizer is capable of. One downside is that Dsd streams are converted to Pcm via the coaxial, while it does offer up native Dsd via the HP out and Line out. So as a stand alone unit feeding a good external DAC you cant go wrong. Dsd converted to 24/44 still sounds superb through the ami ds5.
Yes, as a portable device it does beat the likes of apple but that high noise floor is simply unforgivable. This is a high resolution portable player and I'm looking for that blacker than black background. Its not enough that it decodes hi res and dsd files. it needs to deliver them in audiophile quality as well. Like I said, it does whip your apple and generic music player but its not blowing my auditory mind. Yes, the highs are there, the bass is there, depth and soundstage are all there but that grey background (not black) ruins it for me. so now I'm listening to x5 ii exclusiively through the outboard Dac at home, and yes, its thoroughly enjoyable. As a portable device I would give it 2 stars, as a stand alone source, 4.
i know my views may rub fanboys the wrong way but I stand by my findings. Maybe I have high expectations, but for 349$ I'm not prepared to lower them.
Would I use it as a portable? Yes I will,l But at home the outboard DAC is the the way for me.

I was actually coming into the thread to ask about this very topic but then saw your post. I was considering buying one of these but while reading the amazon reviews came across your post and if true then this would be a deal breaker for me. I've used ipod 5g's and iphone 6's which had absolutely no background hiss or floor noise that I could hear but haven't tried other DAPs... can any other x5 owners attest to how their unit fares? Also, does this unit have the same limitation as the x3 where it can only recognize a certain number of files, or can it recognize as many as you can fit in storage?
 
edit: Seems that perhaps he had a defective unit...

 

[x RELIC x]

Could be I have a defective unit and I have no way to compare it with another x5 II. This was bought on  US Amazon and I am in India. So unless Fiio does me a kindness and sends me a replacement unit, I'm out of luck.

Did you try to listen for noise with music paused? Or are you just hearing hiss/noise in the recording that you didn't know was there? X5ii can be quite revealing. Just curious what may be causing what you're hearing as it's completely opposite from mine and pretty much every other review so far.

 

[Luvdac]

Did you try to listen for noise with music paused? Or are you just hearing hiss/noise in the recording that you didn't know was there? X5ii can be quite revealing. Just curious what may be causing what you're hearing as it's completely opposite from mine and pretty much every other review so far.

Thats what I thought at first, that the noise was just a result of the x5 being revealing. Then thru the ami ds 5 the hissiness disappears and there is this "blackness" or "space" between instruments. Everything is a lot more clearer. I don't know how to describe what I'm hearing.....Its more something at the outer reaches of perception. Something that adds a kind of stress to the whole auditory experience. Like someone drew a thin white gauze over the whole music. I am reminded of a post a while back from Markrich who seemed to have a somewhat similar experience.
 
I am doubting that this is a faulty player. Believe me, I want to love this player, and I do love it as a standalone source. I was hoping that this "Gauziness" would disappear with burn in. While the bass and treble have vastly improved, this thin veil is still there and it makes everything sound compressed as well. Dunno if i'm making any sense here, but its hard to explain.
 
A friend who has the x3 II is reporting a similar noise issue. I'll be meeting him in 3 weeks time and I'll get to listen to it then.

 

[Luvdac]

And as far as specs are concerned, I stopped putting faith in tech specs a long time back. I prefer to trust my ears. After all, If I cant enjoy the music then the specs don't matter. I've heard Hi-end equipment with outstanding specs leave me stone cold at times.

 

[x RELIC x]

Completed my battery test and it's getting almost exactly 11 hours just playing music through the headphone output and not using the screen. I guess it was just playing around with it too much with the screen on, or my earlier findings of a shortened battery life were just from the musical time warp I was in.

 

[JaZZ]

  Thats what I thought at first, that the noise was just a result of the x5 being revealing. Then thru the ami ds 5 the hissiness disappears and there is this "blackness" or "space" between instruments. Everything is a lot more clearer. I don't know how to describe what I'm hearing.....Its more something at the outer reaches of perception. Something that adds a kind of stress to the whole auditory experience. Like someone drew a thin white gauze over the whole music. I am reminded of a post a while back from Markrich who seemed to have a somewhat similar experience.
 
I am doubting that this is a faulty player. Believe me, I want to love this player, and I do love it as a standalone source. I was hoping that this "Gauziness" would disappear with burn in. While the bass and treble have vastly improved, this thin veil is still there and it makes everything sound compressed as well. Dunno if i'm making any sense here, but its hard to explain.
 
A friend who has the x3 II is reporting a similar noise issue. I'll be meeting him in 3 weeks time and I'll get to listen to it then.

 
I'm sure it is. I get no hiss from my X5 II. (The same goes for the X3 II.)

 

[Dobrescu George]

to people who do not get hiss:::
 
There are people who did get little hiss on x5 first generation, while I get enough to use an external amp. I guess that not everybody has the same sinsitivity to hiss, and this is why some hear it badly, and some do not hear hiss at all.

 

[good sound]

  to people who do not get hiss:::
 
There are people who did get little hiss on x5 first generation, while I get enough to use an external amp. I guess that not everybody has the same sensitivity to hiss, and this is why some hear it badly, and some do not hear hiss at all.

I can understand this if you are using very high sensitivity IEM's. The person who posted the X5ii review on Amazon was using a pair of NAD Viso HP50 headphones and a pair of Strax portables, both of which have medium sensitivity. There should be no hiss at all with headphones like that. Actually I am not sure he was even referring to hiss, exactly. He refers to the noise floor, which to me would indicate some form of residual noise present. Hiss would most likely be due to the noise floor of a recording not the device. He describes it as a veil over the music not dissimilar to compression.
 
When I had my HP50's there was no residual noise present at all with my X5 gen1 and there is none with my Oppo PM-3'as either. The background is below the threshold of the recording.

 

[Mark2010]

I have a first gen X5 but I actually think the  Sony NWZ A17 sounds much better.
 
Another thing I don't like about the X5 is that it is like carrying a brick while the Sony A17 is more like feather and is a thousand times more portable.

 

[JaZZ]

  I have a first gen X5 but I actually think the Sony NWZ A17 sounds much better.
 
Another thing I don't like about the X5 is that is like carrying a brick while the Sony A17 is more like feather and is a thousand times more portable.

 
I don't believe in the «much better»; not even the Chord Hugo sounds much better than my X5 to me, let alone my X5 II. BTW, this thread is about the X5 II, so you may want to post your comparison in the A17 or if you need to in the X5 thread.

 

[mandrake50]

  I was actually coming into the thread to ask about this very topic but then saw your post. I was considering buying one of these but while reading the amazon reviews came across your post and if true then this would be a deal breaker for me. I've used ipod 5g's and iphone 6's which had absolutely no background hiss or floor noise that I could hear but haven't tried other DAPs... can any other x5 owners attest to how their unit fares? Also, does this unit have the same limitation as the x3 where it can only recognize a certain number of files, or can it recognize as many as you can fit in storage?
 
edit: Seems that perhaps he had a defective unit...

I have a few IEMs rated from 101 to 106 db/mw. I can crank the volume all of the way up with music paused. I hear nothing. I just tried it. I had never had the X5II turned all of the way up... never had a reason to do that. Seems like a silly test. At that point the music would be damaging. With music at the 50 to 70  (low gain, where I usually run it) level of volume, there is no way I could hear any noise.
 
Of course, my ears with my particular unit. In any case, with all of the reviews (I have read everything that I can find on the X5II) saying it is noise free with a black background, I can't imagine that it is typical to have audible noise with the X5II (especially at any volume that is safe to use).