[Dobrescu George]

  I use the High Gain setting all the time (dead silent background) regardless if I'm using my Westone W40's, B&W P7's or the HE-400/500's. I know that with the IEM's I almost never go any louder than 60-65 for any length of time. 

Kind of a similar experience. Sometimes, with IEMs, I do not go louder than 42-49, I guess that the noise in the room affects the exprience a lot with IEMs for me.

 

[mochill]

I'm happy to be getting the x5ii then , I need power and my phone doesn't cut it for me

 

[aerosuffly]

 
By DAC mode, I mean using it as a USB DAC for a computer, not outputting DSD signal via digital coax. Do you mean the same thing?

Got a confirmation from Fiio. The X5ii will only do up to DSD64 in USB DAC mode.

 

[sstyle]

DSD on portable device is just a marketing. DAC and amp in X5 is not so good as desktop DACs, so you can not hear DSD quality I think.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  DSD on portable device is just a marketing. DAC and amp in X5 is not so good as desktop DACs, so you can not hear DSD quality I think.

The DAC and AMP are up to desktop DACs and AMPs.
 
DSD or not DSD discussion is not for here. 
 
The AMP in X5II might be a little underwhelmed if driving planar, or HD800, but besides these situations, and for almost 90% of headphones and for all IEMs, it is a device up to full desktop devices. 

 

[sstyle]

  The DAC and AMP are up to desktop DACs and AMPs.
 
 
The AMP in X5II it is a device up to full desktop devices. 

OMG. I do not know what to say. You should listen a good desktop DAC and AMP like Metrum, Berkeley, etc. Even my "Matrix Mini-i New" (380$) sounds better than X5-II. And M-stage too.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  OMG. I do not know what to say. You should listen a good desktop DAC and AMP like Metrum, Berkeley, etc. Even my "Matrix Mini-i New" (380$) sounds better than X5-II. And M-stage too.

I had a listen to some great desktop AMPs and DACs. I guess that it depends on what headphones you are powering. 
 
With anything portable, the difference in price was not worth it. 
 
I would totally buy a desktop amp for HD800, LCD3, and maybe HD650. But the rest of 99+ headphones I tested sounded amazing from X5II, with desktop amps giving a little better sound, but not worth the effort most of times. I mean, I am using ie800, ultrasone dj one pro and plan to buy either ultrasone sig dj or el8c. None of these sounded eough better from desktop amps to be worth the extra effort. In my eyes, this is a very good accomplishment for such a small device, and people should not look down on it because of it's size and price. 

 

[sstyle]

I agree with you that 99% portable headphones sounds amazing ant that`s why I bought X5-II. But it`s about AMP. DAC can change sound,scene for any headphones. So I can not hear difference between DSD and flac on such device.

 

[Rob49]

Can you use a 256gb card with the X5ii ? If so, do you need to do a firmware update ?

 

[El Zilcho]

As far as I know there are no 256GB micro SD cards yet.  There are many listed on amazon and ebay, but they are fakes, usually with 16 or 32GB of actual capacity.

 

[Rob49]

  As far as I know there are no 256GB micro SD cards yet.  There are many listed on amazon and ebay, but they are fakes, usually with 16 or 32GB of actual capacity.

Oh right, I'd seen a Kingston brand on Amazon U.K.( £89 ) It's described as a flash memory card. Is that the same as micro SD ?

 

[El Zilcho]

 
Oh right, I'd seen a Kingston brand on Amazon U.K.( £89 ) It's described as a flash memory card. Is that the same as micro SD ?

 
Well, micro SD cards use flash memory, but so do all other memory cards.  Without knowing more about the description of the card it's hard to say if it's the correct card.

 

[DeLaw]

The only way to get 256gb is to get a sd to micro sd adapter. you can run one in each slot to get 512gb  with an sd card and run a otg cable with a 256gb flash drive to total 768gb. the otg will only work  with firmware 1.0 or 0.11 beta.

 

[aerosuffly]

Apparently, Sandisk just released a 200GB microSD card, so you can now have 400GB maximum in the X5 once Fiio updates the firmware. It will cost you $200 each though.
 
Regarding DSD128 in USB DAC mode, I am still confused why the X5ii will not do it if it can do DSD128 internally. Maybe @JamesFiiO can say something about it?
 
The X5ii DAC and AMP are good enough for my portable and office use, but yes I use iFi micro stack at home, and the difference is quite dramatic, especially on DSD. The stack cost me more than 1k$ though.

 

[ASpencer]

  Apparently, Sandisk just released a 200GB microSD card, so you can now have 400GB maximum in the X5 once Fiio updates the firmware. It will cost you $200 each though.

 
I've already been using a 200GB card with the X5 II and it works.  The latest firmware rectified the media library update that kept hanging.