[Koukol]

  I am having problem updating my firmware on the x5ii. It keeps saying "File not support" .. It's getting me frustrated and the website says pick a fat32 sd card like I have one just laying around.. I only have a 128 sd card. I have 80 gigs of music I just put on it and I dont want to erase everything on there !!

SOME ONE PLS HELP !!

Just move your music onto a PC then reformat the card in the X5ii.
Then move/copy the music back on.
Fiio recommends the cards be formatted with the player for smoother sailing.

 

[vincik]

can somebody explains low pass filter settings? when should i set it gradual and when steep?

 

[Chaz1952]

Hello. I asked the same question to Joe from FiiO. This is his reply to me:
"It should affect the X5II both in DAP and DAC mode. The digital to analog converter (DAC) (of the X5, which operates whether in DAP or DAC mode) reconstructs the audio signal from the digital signals given (by the audio file being played by the X5, or the connected device in the case of DAC mode). At the end of this reconstruction, components of the output signal that are higher than half the sample rate must be discarded (filtered out). In an attempt to simply the explanation: those are spurious signals created by the converter that do not appear in the original signal that was digitized. And no, this is not a flaw of the DAC used in the X5: all DACs work like this.

The reconstruction lowpass filter is responsible for filtering out these spurious signals. The steep slope filter attempts to preserve as much of the digitized signal in the output as possible while filtering out all of the spurious signal; this is the "correct" filter, but if you play artificially generated square waves through the system, what comes out at the output (as measured by an oscilloscope) is square waves that have extra waves of overshoot before and after each step transition (google "Gibbs phenomenon").

People misinterpret these oscilloscope outputs to mean that the "correct" filter produces audible ringing artifacts, when in fact these "artifacts" occur outside of the audible range and in any case only occurs with artificial square wave input signals, in which case those are the mathematically correct output.

Nevertheless, a "gentle slope" filter may now be chosen, which will eliminate the ringing "artifacts" in the square waves. It does just as good a job at eliminating the spurious output signals, but also attenuates some of the high frequencies--it starts cutting off signal in a "gentle" slope between the high audible frequencies and the top frequency that can be digitized (at half the sample rate). The possibly audible effect of this is more "rounded" highs--somewhat comparable to how high frequencies are attenuated by the air between loudspeakers and your ears, except you can now apply this to headphones."

So the setting is your choice/personal preference.

 

[vincik]

thanks... so it is recommended to use steep over gradual as gradual can cut off some of the high frequencies if i understood it correctly. Want to ask one more question: did anyone measure down different format's impact on battery duration? i heared dsd drains battery more but how much more? and is there difference between redbook flac and 192/24 flac in terms of battery drain? thanks

 

[Dobrescu George]

  thanks... so it is recommended to use steep over gradual as gradual can cut off some of the high frequencies if i understood it correctly. Want to ask one more question: did anyone measure down different format's impact on battery duration? i heared dsd drains battery more but how much more? and is there difference between redbook flac and 192/24 flac in terms of battery drain? thanks

 
About steep vs gentle, steep sounds more harsh treble, gentle is smoother, a bit rolled off in treble. 
 
Battery is not affected a lot. maybe it can go down from 10 to 7-8 hours, but it relies heavily on the volume you're listening on. 
 
Quick advice is to not force usage of DSD or HIRES as just a few bands / albums are in these formats, just enjoy what is there to enjoy. You won't be able to use EQ with anything over Redbook, this might be a problem. It's not a fault in the DAP, it just is not feasible. With DSD, EQ or DSPs are absolutely impossible, and with high resolution, the number of samples is too high to process with DSP, it would cause a lot of battery drain. 

 

[Tuneslover]

can somebody explains low pass filter settings? when should i set it gradual and when steep?

I'm a bit in left field on this subject but it sounds intriguing. Is this something that you can turn on/off that should be in the System Settings or Play Settings? Does it apply to hirez files only or does it work with FLAC? Sorry for the naive questions.

 

[Koukol]

From what I understand about the filters is a lot of people are confusing it with EQing like I did earlier.
Unlike other digital players the only reason most of us know about it is because we're given an option with it. (steep/gradual)
It usually just runs in the background.
 
Fiio could have easily just set it to steep (or gradual) and be done with it.
Both filter settings filter out noise and don't change the EQ curve in any way.
It would be great to know when each one should be applied but I guess it's impossible so we have to trust our ears.
 
The odd thing is last night I found the Steep setting less harsh with a bright Punk Rock recording conflicting with an earlier suggestion that gradual is less harsh.

 

[Tuneslover]

From what I understand about the filters is a lot of people are confusing it with EQing like I did earlier.
Unlike other digital players the only reason most of us know about it is because we're given an option with it. (steep/gradual)
It's usually just runs in the background.
Fiio could have easily just set it to steep (or gradual) and be done with it.
Both filter settings filter out noise and don't change the EQ curve in any way.
It would be great to know when each one should be applied but I guess it's impossible so we have to trust our ears.

The odd thing is last night I found the Steep setting less harsh with a bright Punk Rock recording conflicting with an earlier suggestion that gradual is less harsh.

How exactly do you switch from one setting to the other?

 

[Koukol]

 

From what I understand about the filters is a lot of people are confusing it with EQing like I did earlier.
Unlike other digital players the only reason most of us know about it is because we're given an option with it. (steep/gradual)
It's usually just runs in the background.
Fiio could have easily just set it to steep (or gradual) and be done with it.
Both filter settings filter out noise and don't change the EQ curve in any way.
It would be great to know when each one should be applied but I guess it's impossible so we have to trust our ears.

The odd thing is last night I found the Steep setting less harsh with a bright Punk Rock recording conflicting with an earlier suggestion that gradual is less harsh.

How exactly do you switch from one setting to the other?

There's a low pass filter setting in the play settings where the EQ is
If you haven't updated your firmware you don't have it.

 

[Ab10]

How exactly do you switch from one setting to the other?

Here - How you do it.
 

 

[Tuneslover]

Here - How you do it.

Ah like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Thank you for that. I only have FW1.2 and I've noticed that there is a FW2.1 on the FiiO website. I guess an update is in order. However before I do the update does FW2.1 have any drawbacks over FW1.2, especially in sound?

 

[Ab10]

Ah like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words! Thank you for that. I only have FW1.2 and I've noticed that there is a FW2.1 on the FiiO website. I guess an update is in order. However before I do the update does FW2.1 have any drawbacks over FW1.2, especially in sound?

 
Answer is in the post number #5411 given by the Fiio Official - below is the link 
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/765943/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-impressions-and-discussion-thread/5400#post_12717751

 

[Tuneslover]

I was wondering if anyone is using their HD650 with a FiiO X5ii? I have tried my 650's with the X5ii Line Out (thereby utilizing the X5's DAC and Equalizer) into a Schiit Vali2. I normally don't mess around with EQ settings and just run it as is but I don't care for the way the 650's sound. They are to muddy and lifeless sounding. I have experimented other tubes but I still find the sound too dull.

Yesterday I fiddled around with the FiiO's EQ and noticed that the sound tailoring is helping a bit. I have read that the HD650's have this mid bass hump. Perhaps if I made some EQ adjustments in that region I could reduce or soften that hump. Where in the frequency range is this hump? Better still does anyone have some X5 EQ settings for their HD650's that help?  Thanks!
 

 

[Tuneslover]

Answer is in the post number #5411 given by the Fiio Official - below is the link 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/765943/fiio-x5-2nd-gen-impressions-and-discussion-thread/5400#post_12717751

So I successfully upgraded from FW1.2 to FW2.1. I also made a minor EQ adjustment in order to lower the mid bass hump of my HD650's. I'm not sure if my mind is playing tricks on me but the sound quality of my source X5ii is noticeably better now whether I go Line Out into my Vali2 or Coaxial Out into my Bifrost MB/Lake People G109S. Even when I turn off EQ both of my setups sound more alive and engaging. I switched to my HE500's and they too sound better. Weird but obviously I'm very pleased, can't stop listening.

 

[vincik]

can i use fiio x5 as DAC with my pc and desktop stereo amplifier Pioneer A-A6MK2-K and loudspeakers? How would i connect Fiio with Pioneer?
 
edit: that Pioneer amp doesn't have coax or optical input, so... is there any other way how to connect it?