[seanwee]

Cleaning the X5III touchscreen:

What is the best way to clean the screen? I mean I occasionally use a soft cloth to wipe off the fingerprints but is there a safe way to use some sort of screen cleaner or eye glass cleaner to remove the fingerprint oils? I know there is a screen protector of some type on it and I wouldn't want even a mild solvent to damage that. Maybe just some distilled water?

No need for fancy stuff. Just a steamy breath or two and a piece of tissue paper will do

 

[Powderphinger]

Follow up to my earlier posts about my start up woes.....

WindowsX (Fidelizer) suggested I might want to try re-formatting my micro card to XFAT 128 as he suspects it is the source of my woes. I hate like hell to do that because I have 260 gig of tunes on it. If I was certain that it would remedy it, I would jump at it. However, the thought of me doing that and then finding out I still have issues would likely result in me setting my hair on fire.

I will say this though, I just downloaded a new album onto the player but this time, put it on the internal drive. I also took the micro card out of the player and rescanned my music library. Hence, there is only one album worth of data on the player. It has started up without issue and quickly after two attempts. This makes me suspect my woes may indeed be connected to the card. Again, I purchased a high speed San Disk at the recommendations of FIIO. I will also add that in the past(as late as this morning) when I would attempt start up, I would see the wallpaper screen(monochrome mountain landscape scene) but oddly, no time, date, etc. The only symbol that would show was up at the top and appears to be a micro card. Anyone seen such a symbol at start up and had the time/date/etc fail to appear?

I'm going to mess with this thing for a couple of days. If it plays nice with me and doesn't act up, I guess I will bite the bullet and re-format the micro card.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to painlessly restore 260 gig of music ?

Powderphinger

 

[DavidM2]

Follow up to my earlier posts about my start up woes.....

WindowsX (Fidelizer) suggested I might want to try re-formatting my micro card to XFAT 128 as he suspects it is the source of my woes. I hate like hell to do that because I have 260 gig of tunes on it. If I was certain that it would remedy it, I would jump at it. However, the thought of me doing that and then finding out I still have issues would likely result in me setting my hair on fire.

I will say this though, I just downloaded a new album onto the player but this time, put it on the internal drive. I also took the micro card out of the player and rescanned my music library. Hence, there is only one album worth of data on the player. It has started up without issue and quickly after two attempts. This makes me suspect my woes may indeed be connected to the card. Again, I purchased a high speed San Disk at the recommendations of FIIO. I will also add that in the past(as late as this morning) when I would attempt start up, I would see the wallpaper screen(monochrome mountain landscape scene) but oddly, no time, date, etc. The only symbol that would show was up at the top and appears to be a micro card. Anyone seen such a symbol at start up and had the time/date/etc fail to appear?

I'm going to mess with this thing for a couple of days. If it plays nice with me and doesn't act up, I guess I will bite the bullet and re-format the micro card.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to painlessly restore 260 gig of music ?

Powderphinger

I have 128g samsung very fast card, i format it fat32 and it working great, before that it dident work

 

[sjb57]

Anyone have any suggestions on how to painlessly restore 260 gig of music ?

My own procedure:
1. Put cards in your computer rather than in DAP
2. Format as NTFS
3 Reload music overnight

 

[mitland]

Follow up to my earlier posts about my start up woes.....

WindowsX (Fidelizer) suggested I might want to try re-formatting my micro card to XFAT 128 as he suspects it is the source of my woes. I hate like hell to do that because I have 260 gig of tunes on it. If I was certain that it would remedy it, I would jump at it. However, the thought of me doing that and then finding out I still have issues would likely result in me setting my hair on fire.

I will say this though, I just downloaded a new album onto the player but this time, put it on the internal drive. I also took the micro card out of the player and rescanned my music library. Hence, there is only one album worth of data on the player. It has started up without issue and quickly after two attempts. This makes me suspect my woes may indeed be connected to the card. Again, I purchased a high speed San Disk at the recommendations of FIIO. I will also add that in the past(as late as this morning) when I would attempt start up, I would see the wallpaper screen(monochrome mountain landscape scene) but oddly, no time, date, etc. The only symbol that would show was up at the top and appears to be a micro card. Anyone seen such a symbol at start up and had the time/date/etc fail to appear?

I'm going to mess with this thing for a couple of days. If it plays nice with me and doesn't act up, I guess I will bite the bullet and re-format the micro card.

Anyone have any suggestions on how to painlessly restore 260 gig of music ?

Powderphinger

I think it's time for you to get your music organized. All 260 gigs of your tunes should reside in one folder on a computer hard drive. Within that folder should be artist folders. Within each artist folder will reside album folders which obviously contain the songs for that particular album.
It's easier to load sd cards outside of the X5iii. I have various sized card readers built into my desktop computer. Use something like that to plug in your sd card, format from there and then tell your computer to copy the entire music folder in one action. All you have to do is walk away and let your computer do the work. My 205 gigs of flac files take about 4.5 hours to copy to a freshly formated card. I incidentally format my sd cards in NTFS with 16K cluster size. This was recommended by a power user on a X1ii forum here on HeadFi.
If you don't have a card reader, I think you will find that purchasing one is a wise investment. I've formated my cards a few dozen times "quickly" and easily using the one I have.

Good luck with this. There is nothing better than being totally organized.

I might add that I have zero problems with my unit.

 

[Powderphinger]

I think it's time for you to get your music organized. All 260 gigs of your tunes should reside in one folder on a computer hard drive. Within that folder should be artist folders. Within each artist folder will reside album folders which obviously contain the songs for that particular album.
It's easier to load sd cards outside of the X5iii. I have various sized card readers built into my desktop computer. Use something like that to plug in your sd card, format from there and then tell your computer to copy the entire music folder in one action. All you have to do is walk away and let your computer do the work. My 205 gigs of flac files take about 4.5 hours to copy to a freshly formated card. I incidentally format my sd cards in NTFS with 16K cluster size. This was recommended by a power user on a X1ii forum here on HeadFi.
If you don't have a card reader, I think you will find that purchasing one is a wise investment. I've formated my cards a few dozen times "quickly" and easily using the one I have.

Good luck with this. There is nothing better than being totally organized.

I might add that I have zero problems with my unit.

Thanks, dude. I do have them somewhat organized. It's the thought of the copying that has me dreading the endeavor. Good suggestions though. It does appear that everyone has a different opinion on the formatting though....

Powderphinger

 

[MinnieOne]

NTFS for me. Tried FAT32 and it worked but I started having some issues on the second card so reformatted everything. Either free MediaMonkey or one of the other programs can do simple sync. If you set it up once, then next time it really isn't more than a minute to start the process and go to bed. Card in the computer is way faster.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I forgot who exactly but I do remember a reviewer saying that he could not tell the difference between the X7ii and the Q5 when both are using the same amp module.

You won't get any sonical difference between phone+Q5 and X5iii+Q5 by the way

Yes, I said that

I could challenge anyone to describe the differences between the two using the same AMP module

Literally the same device in my honest opinion, Q5 and X7mkii sound the same.

Also, absolutely agreed, smartphone + Q5 = Any DAP + Q5, I have not heard any differences and I tried a lot of combinations for the sake of it.

I do prefer having something like Hiby R6 + Q5 than having my smartphone strapped to it though.

 

[brick42]

unboxed last night and just staring at it was fun hehe
I'm waiting to hear from you good folks a bit before I start messing around because I would like this set up properly.

Any advice for a total newb here just in terms of setup/usage/organization? I assume the first thing I want to do after charging it fully is run a firmware update to the latest greatest?
Will be using this mainly in the car and the home stereo which I assume is best to use the coax? In the car I can plug in but would prefer bluetooth just for the ease of it.

I'm literally stepping into the digital age *today* from CDs, so I'm really challenged with figuring out how to get the most out of it. I have a ton of music between CDs and flac backups. If I ever get everything transferred over I'll likely have 3-4 TBs of mostly flac. IDK whether I'll want to rotate flacs through the SD cards etc. or just bring everything down to a 320 or v0 mp3 and have a whole lot more.

Anyway that's getting a bit off topic. Hoping to get setup soon - please let me know any crucial do's and don'ts so I don't mess this up.
Amazing thread here....I've begun to read through it starting at page 300!

 

[Demo3]

unboxed last night and just staring at it was fun hehe
I'm waiting to hear from you good folks a bit before I start messing around because I would like this set up properly.

Any advice for a total newb here just in terms of setup/usage/organization? I assume the first thing I want to do after charging it fully is run a firmware update to the latest greatest?
Will be using this mainly in the car and the home stereo which I assume is best to use the coax? In the car I can plug in but would prefer bluetooth just for the ease of it.

I'm literally stepping into the digital age *today* from CDs, so I'm really challenged with figuring out how to get the most out of it. I have a ton of music between CDs and flac backups. If I ever get everything transferred over I'll likely have 3-4 TBs of mostly flac. IDK whether I'll want to rotate flacs through the SD cards etc. or just bring everything down to a 320 or v0 mp3 and have a whole lot more.

Anyway that's getting a bit off topic. Hoping to get setup soon - please let me know any crucial do's and don'ts so I don't mess this up.
Amazing thread here....I've begun to read through it starting at page 300!

Welcome to the club... the poor mans club.
Get those CDs ripped, subscribe to Tidal and your done... not.

 

[sjb57]

unboxed last night and just staring at it was fun hehe
I'm waiting to hear from you good folks a bit before I start messing around because I would like this set up properly.

Any advice for a total newb here just in terms of setup/usage/organization? I assume the first thing I want to do after charging it fully is run a firmware update to the latest greatest?
Will be using this mainly in the car and the home stereo which I assume is best to use the coax? In the car I can plug in but would prefer bluetooth just for the ease of it.

I'm literally stepping into the digital age *today* from CDs, so I'm really challenged with figuring out how to get the most out of it. I have a ton of music between CDs and flac backups. If I ever get everything transferred over I'll likely have 3-4 TBs of mostly flac. IDK whether I'll want to rotate flacs through the SD cards etc. or just bring everything down to a 320 or v0 mp3 and have a whole lot more.

Anyway that's getting a bit off topic. Hoping to get setup soon - please let me know any crucial do's and don'ts so I don't mess this up.
Amazing thread here....I've begun to read through it starting at page 300!

Since 3-4TB of FLAC files implies a HUGE collection, why not consider buying a couple of 200GB micro SD cards, format them as NTFS, and sift through your CD collection for your top 15,000 tunes (1000+ albums) as you rip the lot to an external hard drive. Gives you a chance to think about what you really like listening to & getting your album art & tags sorted & any playlists created. Personally, I would not rip directly to 320 but first go to FLAC middle compression. That way, if you want more than +15K tunes to play via BT in the car you can always & easily create a 320 version for on-the-go where top quality can't be full appreciated over road noise.

 

[sjb57]

A 1st for me: Just paid 3x more for a couple of Bocelli albums @96/24 from HDTracks compared to buying the CD's on Amazon & ripping them to 44/16 FLAC. Enjoying the music very much but not sure if I'll make a habit of the higher cost option & files 3x bigger. I still remember the tactile loss moving from vinyl to CD, but this time I got nothing tangible - a strange feeling.

 

[aangen]

A 1st for me: Just paid 3x more for a couple of Bocelli albums @96/24 from HDTracks compared to buying the CD's on Amazon & ripping them to 44/16 FLAC. Enjoying the music very much but not sure if I'll make a habit of the higher cost option & files 3x bigger. I still remember the tactile loss moving from vinyl to CD, but this time I got nothing tangible - a strange feeling.

I am using high end gear to record my LP's at 24.96 to listen to on my computers and Fiio gear. My recordings always seem to be a major improvement in the dynamic range department. I am listening to one now as I type this. Buying 24.96 files? No thanks. Making my own, yes indeed.
I am using a Rega RP10 with a Soundsmith Zephyr MIMC Star cartridge to a PS Audio NuWave Phono Converter then off to the computer via a Wireworld Silver Starlight 7 USB cable. It makes really sweet recordings.
Every CD I buy that is manufactured in the last two years is compressed to the point of being useless. Ah well.

 

[Brooko]

A 1st for me: Just paid 3x more for a couple of Bocelli albums @96/24 from HDTracks compared to buying the CD's on Amazon & ripping them to 44/16 FLAC. Enjoying the music very much but not sure if I'll make a habit of the higher cost option & files 3x bigger. I still remember the tactile loss moving from vinyl to CD, but this time I got nothing tangible - a strange feeling.

Most of the time the differences will be in the mastering (so different source file) or slight changes in volume. Whenever I am transcoding, there is usually slight differences in volume as a result of the transcode. We humans are incredibly sensitive to volume, and the natural tendency is to hear slightly louder as better (even if it was exactly the same mastering).

If you have the time (and the inclination), its a really good idea to test yourself on perceived differences. This link will give you the tools and the method. You don't have to publish it or anything like that. Its just a private test for you, and one where you can find out if you really are able to tell hi-res from redbook from lossy, and where your actual threshold is. Mine is actually only around 200 kbps - so I now encode exclusively for my portables at aac256. For home use I still use FLAC - because I have the hard-drive space, and I like to keep the original copy. The only time I'll buy higher than redbook now is if its a particular master I can't get from elsewhere.

Best thing about it - I know Bluetooth sounds pretty darn good to me (no misconceptions), so happily utilise it when I have an opportunity. And even better, can fit my entire library (around 500-600 albums) on a single 128 Gb card with plenty of room for growth.

 

[seanwee]

Most of the time the differences will be in the mastering (so different source file) or slight changes in volume. Whenever I am transcoding, there is usually slight differences in volume as a result of the transcode. We humans are incredibly sensitive to volume, and the natural tendency is to hear slightly louder as better (even if it was exactly the same mastering).

If you have the time (and the inclination), its a really good idea to test yourself on perceived differences. This link will give you the tools and the method. You don't have to publish it or anything like that. Its just a private test for you, and one where you can find out if you really are able to tell hi-res from redbook from lossy, and where your actual threshold is. Mine is actually only around 200 kbps - so I now encode exclusively for my portables at aac256. For home use I still use FLAC - because I have the hard-drive space, and I like to keep the original copy. The only time I'll buy higher than redbook now is if its a particular master I can't get from elsewhere.

Best thing about it - I know Bluetooth sounds pretty darn good to me (no misconceptions), so happily utilise it when I have an opportunity. And even better, can fit my entire library (around 500-600 albums) on a single 128 Gb card with plenty of room for growth.

I wholeheartedly agree. I finished the Philips goldenear challenge a few years back and was surprised how hard it was to differentiate flac and 192kbps mp3.

I've tried ABXing AAC 256 before and I failed miserably

Nevertheless, I still keep my songs in flac for that placebo effect of sounding "better"