Fiio X5 3rd gen || 2x AKM 4490 || Balanced Out || DSD || DXD | DTS | Android || Dual Card Slot

[Dobrescu George]

   
Ooooh LCD-4. How much effort I have spent avoiding giving her a listen. A like the LCD-2 but I ADORED the LCD-3, and if the 4 is a further refinement, my wallet just couldn't take that kind of beating.
 
On topic again, I would be happy to give the LCD-2 + X5 stack a go. I have Alo's Green Line cable with a few termination options, including 2.5mm TRRS if anyone was interested in a comparison with the balanced output?

 
LCD-4 needs a lot of power, but.... It is the best LCD so far 

 
Intteresting combo between X-3 and LCD-2. Curious how you would feel about it! 

 

[Persco]

For anyone in Canada interested, Headphone Bar has the red X5iii in stock.

 

[Karendar]

For anyone in Canada interested, Headphone Bar has the red X5iii in stock.

They took too long AND i got 25 airmiles ordering off amazon haha

 

[Persco]

They took too long AND i got 25 airmiles ordering off amazon

haha

 
 
Lol.

 

[ShinoX5]

Hi Fiio,
 
I've tested the combo x5 + k5 for 1 week now and i have some issues.
- First, I can't access/transfer to files or use Dac (through the USB ) when the x5 is plugged in the dock. (maybe an issue with thunderbolt 3 / usb-c connector)
- There is also an issue when I pause music and restart later, the dock doesn't amplify as well as at start, and the sound is very poor. I need to switch on/off the dock to recover the good amplification
 
Firmware 1.1.4
Laptop: Macbook pro 15" Touchbar late 2016
 
Best regards

 

[enragedlemon]

  Hi Fiio,
 
I've tested the combo x5 + k5 for 1 week now and i have some issues.
- First, I can't access/transfer to files or use Dac (through the USB ) when the x5 is plugged in the dock.
- There is also an issue when I pause music and restart later, the dock doesn't amplify as well as at start, and the sound is very poor. I need to switch on/off the dock to recover the good amplification
 
Firmware 1.1.4
 
Best regards

 
I have not experienced the first issue personally, but I can also connect my X5 directly to my PC without any issues to. However, on your second point I only encountered this once, when switching from storage to DAC mode on the X5. Though I don't use it via the PC that often.

 

[HungryPanda]

Yes same for me
Did anybody notice that Foobar2000 can only scan slot 2 and the internal storage. No chance to scan both microsd cards as far as I can tell.

 

[HungryPanda]

Been listening to my x5 mkiii with fiio e18 kunlun and just wow

 

[FidelityCastro]

 
In the X5iii the real battery consumer is the hardware itself. FiiO says that "Because of the chip limitation, our X5III may have bigger stanby current than some phones".
In "standby mode" has a sustained consumption of approximately 10/12% every 8 hours. Nothing to do with that.

Apart from that, everything related to Google Services always consumes many resources and as Google updates versions is consuming more and more.
If you really want to "free" resources on the X5iii there are many things that can be disabled, but others are blocked and you can not.

Once I installed the apps I wanted (Spotify basically), I have disabled/unistalled all that:

• Android Live Wallpapers
• Android System WebView
• Basic Daydreams
• Black Hole
• Bubbles
• Clock
• Com.android.smspush
• Com.android.wallpaper.holospiral
• Exchange Services
• ES Explorer
• HTML Viewer
• Music Visualization Wallpapers
• MusicFX
• One Time Init
• OpenWnn
• Phase Beam
• Photo Screensaver
• And something a chinesse ...

In a second round, i remove (disable) all Google related services. Obviously, you lose the app store, but I actually install apps directly as apk, and of course you lose the link to the google account.

• Google Account Manager
• Google Play services
• Google Play Store
• Google Services Framework

Another thing you can do is uninstall ES Explorer (which is rubbish) and install a good and light browser like MiXplorer
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/hootanparsa/mixplorer-hootanparsa/mixplorer-hootanparsa-6-13-1-beta-release/mixplorer-6-13-1-beta-android-apk-download/

The system is now as clean and fluid as it can be with the original ROM and everything I use works fine. In any case you can always re-enable everything

​Thanks for this excellent post and information. Going to do some serious tweaking with this.

Seconded. I was going through the same list of apps and wondering which ones I could get rid of. Very useful, thank you.

 

[Soundtrap]

   
Like a Prime Rib Hoagie.....mmmm. Yup Love that and X5iii
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
Lol! That is exactly what I had in mind.

 

[Snowball0906]

May I know where can I get accessories for Fiio x5 iii?

 

[antz123]

@Snowball0906
 
except red case there is no other accessories currently listed.  I think stacking kit is still under iteration.

 

[FluffyBunnyFeet]

I found a workaround for Foobar recognising all SD cards.
I added Internal Storage, External Storage (which for me was SD1) and then used "Specify path manually" and typed in /mnt/external_sd2
That meant the library scanned both SD cards and internal too. 10,000 tracks though and it took about FOUR HOURS to scan them. I got my precious Replaygain working but after all that effort, not sure if it was worth it. Here's hoping ReplayGain is implemented in Pure Music mode in the future.

 

[Inof]

  I found a workaround for Foobar recognising all SD cards.
I added Internal Storage, External Storage (which for me was SD1) and then used "Specify path manually" and typed in /mnt/external_sd2
That meant the library scanned both SD cards and internal too. 10,000 tracks though and it took about FOUR HOURS to scan them. I got my precious Replaygain working but after all that effort, not sure if it was worth it. Here's hoping ReplayGain is implemented in Pure Music mode in the future.

That foobar trick worked for me!
Does anyone know how to do the same for Rocket Player?
I can only get the first SD slot working.

 

[Karendar]

  In the X5iii the real battery consumer is the hardware itself. FiiO says that "Because of the chip limitation, our X5III may have bigger stanby current than some phones".
In "standby mode" has a sustained consumption of approximately 10/12% every 8 hours. Nothing to do with that.
 
Apart from that, everything related to Google Services always consumes many resources and as Google updates versions is consuming more and more.
If you really want to "free" resources on the X5iii there are many things that can be disabled, but others are blocked and you can not.
 
Once I installed the apps I wanted (Spotify basically), I have disabled/unistalled all that:
 

1. Android Live Wallpapers
2. Android System WebView
3. Basic Daydreams
4. Black Hole
5. Bubbles
6. Clock
7. Com.android.smspush
8. Com.android.wallpaper.holospiral
9. Exchange Services
10. ES Explorer
11. HTML Viewer
12. Music Visualization Wallpapers
13. MusicFX
14. One Time Init
15. OpenWnn
16. Phase Beam
17. Photo Screensaver
18. And something a chinesse ...

 
In a second round, i remove (disable) all Google related services. Obviously, you lose the app store, but I actually install apps directly as apk, and of course you lose the link to the google account.
 

1. Google Account Manager
2. Google Play services
3. Google Play Store
4. Google Services Framework

 
Another thing you can do is uninstall ES Explorer (which is rubbish) and install a good and light browser like MiXplorer
http://www.apkmirror.com/apk/hootanparsa/mixplorer-hootanparsa/mixplorer-hootanparsa-6-13-1-beta-release/mixplorer-6-13-1-beta-android-apk-download/
 
The system is now as clean and fluid as it can be with the original ROM and everything I use works fine. In any case you can always re-enable everything

 
Great rundown! Kudos. 
 
Just for people who don't want to get rid of Google Services Framework, but want to attempt upgrading it instead with the latest beta version to see if it helps anything: 
 
Go here: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.google.android.gms
 
Click agree to be a beta tester
 
Wait for around 30 minutes for it to sync up
 
Then go on the play store here from your Fiio or a browser: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.gms&hl=fr
 
It'll let you update your Google Services framework to the latest beta. If you ever want to roll back, you can just leave the beta test or uninstall from the same link. This will let you install and run youtube as well.  
 
I'm still testing root and what I can achieve with it. RK3188 tweaks and governor fixes. If I find anything else interesting, I'll post it here.