[secretsubscriber]

I got a x5 III, from ebay for $158 brand new, a few days ago. I bid at $153. I was outbid. I bid $158 and expected to get outbid during the final seconds and it didn't happen.
I charged it up, installed stock firmware with custom kernel. 2 sd cards installed. 22,000+ tracks on the latest Fiio App and Spotify. Its all working great so far.

 

[Darren Cotter]

Hi

I've just bought an X5iii in red. What IEM's should I shortlist for it, up to £200? I can't listen to anything as I live on a small island between England and France.

Regards

Darren

 

[misteral201103]

Hi

I've just bought an X5iii in red. What IEM's should I shortlist for it, up to £200? I can't listen to anything as I live on a small island between England and France.

Regards

Darren

Wow! Fingerbobs! That takes me back!!
IEMs - it depends what music you're into. For 200 quid I'd say you should explore the ChiFi side of things. Fiio's own IEMs are pretty decent. I've recently been rather impressed with the Tanchjim Oxygen as well but I think there may be more recent releases which are equal or better for about the same price. Tell us what you're looking for in your listening experience.

 

[RaddoVR6]

Hi

I've just bought an X5iii in red. What IEM's should I shortlist for it, up to £200? I can't listen to anything as I live on a small island between England and France.

Regards

Darren

I'm really happy with my flc8s, they were less than £150 when I bought them about 2-3 years ago. If I was buying again I'd get the updated ones, flc8D or flc8N.
Although they all seem difficult to get at the moment in the UK.

 

[Darren Cotter]

Thanks for the replies. I've just sold my FH7 as they had too much top end no matter what I did.

I'm looking for a good amount of accurate bass and not too much treble.

 

[misteral201103]

Thanks for the replies. I've just sold my FH7 as they had too much top end no matter what I did.

I'm looking for a good amount of accurate bass and not too much treble.

From personal experience, considering price and seeing that you have the Meze 99 Classics (which to my ears are similar to, but not the same as, Nighthawks) I'd double down on my Oxygen recommendation. Obviously you want a demo if possible. But I believe that would fit.
However, there may be others which are a little cheaper which would fit your needs just as well - I just haven't heard them. Can certainly uphold the rec for FLC8 though - cracking set.

 

[ruthieandjohn]

What a disappointment my FiiO X5iii has become! Its volume knob does not work, it takes several tries to get the Tidal app to work, and when it does, it pauses playing several times, the touchscreen requires several tries to make anything happen, and it keeps prompting me for OTA software updates, always the same size 343 MB, yet when I install, it just asks for another one.

The FiiO X5iii transforms music listening from a pleasure to an ordeal. It seems like it needs a big master reset or rebuild, yet I tried that (when Tidal had completely quit working). Tidal was saying that they no longer supported the FiiO X5iii. Yet many people here talk about using Tidal, and I learned that if I reloaded the Google Play Store, after many attempts, then I could get some versions, but it is So Buggy!

I only endure the X5iii because it is my only DAP for online listening other than my iPhone or iPod (both of which are dreams in ease of use, but do not provide hi-res audio.). I used to be so pleased with the X5iii.

 

[mandello]

Me too in truble with tidal

 

[BobSmith8901]

Me too in truble with tidal

A few thoughts as a regular FiiO X5III user:

I haven't run Tidal using the Android app in a while on my X5III but the USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) Android app works well streaming Tidal (with the MQA plug-in too).

I have the X5III w/stock firmware 1.25, and it can be frustratingly slow and unresponsive at times. Turning it on and leaving it for 10-20 minutes idle after boot-up seems to help a bit, maybe it has to get some internal processes out of the way...

I've yet to do the custom Kernel and scripts upgrade (as seen on another thread here on Head-Fi). However, every so often I will perform a relatively safe and easy cache and data wipe in recovery mode and this will help somewhat (for a while anyway).

IMO the X5III was a sort of test bed for a full streaming DAP, that was realized much more fully with the M11/M11 Pro and M15.

I use my X5 a lot but find that even my older Tegra Note 7 tablet is faster and much more responsive in UAPP when used as a streaming source connected via USB to assorted DACs and DAC/Amps. The good thing about UAPP is that it even works with older versions of Android (my Tegra tablet is stuck at V 4.3). UAPP seems more dependent on processing power (which the FiiO does not have) than Android versions, but it works passably well (for me) with my X5.

 

[Mfont89]

What a disappointment my FiiO X5iii has become! Its volume knob does not work, it takes several tries to get the Tidal app to work, and when it does, it pauses playing several times, the touchscreen requires several tries to make anything happen, and it keeps prompting me for OTA software updates, always the same size 343 MB, yet when I install, it just asks for another one.

The FiiO X5iii transforms music listening from a pleasure to an ordeal. It seems like it needs a big master reset or rebuild, yet I tried that (when Tidal had completely quit working). Tidal was saying that they no longer supported the FiiO X5iii. Yet many people here talk about using Tidal, and I learned that if I reloaded the Google Play Store, after many attempts, then I could get some versions, but it is So Buggy!

I only endure the X5iii because it is my only DAP for online listening other than my iPhone or iPod (both of which are dreams in ease of use, but do not provide hi-res audio.). I used to be so pleased with the X5iii.

My volume knob also stopped working! Resorted to using the fiio link app. Or pairing with my E17K via USB.

 

[mandello]

A few thoughts as a regular FiiO X5III user:

I haven't run Tidal using the Android app in a while on my X5III but the USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP) Android app works well streaming Tidal (with the MQA plug-in too).

I have the X5III w/stock firmware 1.25, and it can be frustratingly slow and unresponsive at times. Turning it on and leaving it for 10-20 minutes idle after boot-up seems to help a bit, maybe it has to get some internal processes out of the way...

I've yet to do the custom Kernel and scripts upgrade (as seen on another thread here on Head-Fi). However, every so often I will perform a relatively safe and easy cache and data wipe in recovery mode and this will help somewhat (for a while anyway).

IMO the X5III was a sort of test bed for a full streaming DAP, that was realized much more fully with the M11/M11 Pro and M15.

I use my X5 a lot but find that even my older Tegra Note 7 tablet is faster and much more responsive in UAPP when used as a streaming source connected via USB to assorted DACs and DAC/Amps. The good thing about UAPP is that it even works with older versions of Android (my Tegra tablet is stuck at V 4.3). UAPP seems more dependent on processing power (which the FiiO does not have) than Android versions, but it works passably well (for me) with my X5.

thanks, i'll give a try to UAPP

 

[WitzyZed]

So, as of version 2.32.0 and moving forward , Tidal requires android version 6 see here.

Version 2.31.0, see here, is the last version supported on FiiO X5iii. -link to download-

The last version that is of the “modded” variety is version 2.28.1.1002.1, see here. -link to download-

 

[WitzyZed]

Compressed air, high alcohol content rubbing alcohol, q-tips, and a dry washcloth was all I needed to smooth the volume knob behavior

 

[WitzyZed]

And instructions for custom kernel again are right here, https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...s-android-dual-card-slot.828402/post-14769688

 

[ruthieandjohn]

So, as of version 2.32.0 and moving forward , Tidal requires android version 6 see here.

Version 2.31.0, see here, is the last version supported on FiiO X5iii. -link to download-

The last version that is of the “modded” variety is version 2.28.1.1002.1, see here. -link to download-

So my FiiO X5iii has lost its usefulness for me... as my one and only streaming high-res DAP. I can no longer get Tidal's current release because the X5iii only supports an older Tidal release. Or go for the custom kernel.

Rats! Now I need to find another streaming hi-res player. The Sony 40th Anniversary ZX-507 (at $828) is stated to be supportive of Tidal and have a good user interface.

Thank you for your help!