[McCol]

Who cares,  489€ is still a good price for such a product.

Too early to say if it's a good price, good price at say €400 but the Cayin I5 has excellent sound quality and may in time be the better player for £100 less.

 

[MarkGL]

My apologies if I missed it somewhere in this thread but has there been a rough release date given for the UK release of the X5iii?

 

[ClieOS]

Fiio.  Does the volume have a setting to lock it so it doesn't blow your eardrums out if the X5 3 is in your pocket or bag and gets bumped?

Already mentioned that the volume is actually not easy to turn because it has some resistance to it. Besides, there is 120 steps in total volume and the most you get from each push of the volume knob is 4 steps - so it is impossible to 'bump' the knob and suddenly turns the volume to very loud. All you get is a very mild increase / decrease of volume. You literally have to keep bumping the volume knob like 5 to 10 times to get any significant volume change, and it is near impossible to do that accidentally due to the resistance.

 

[ClieOS]

Guys, Chinese New Year is coming at the end of January and typically we will see all businesses (including shipping companies) slow down significantly at least two weeks before and after CNY. So realistically speaking I think the full roll out of X5iii on international market is going to be pushed near end of February or early March.

 

[JWolf]

  No USB-C, only outdated MicroUSB. But everything else reads very, very nice!

 
We do not want USB-C. If you use a poorly made cable, the device can become damaged and thus, the warranty is invalid and your X5III would be useless. USB-C would be a very bad idea,

 

[Niyologist]

Guys, Chinese New Year is coming at the end of January and typically we will see all businesses (including shipping companies) slow down significantly at least two weeks before and after CNY. So realistically speaking I think the full roll out of X5iii on international market is going to be pushed near end of February or early March.

I hope there can be pre-orders made.

 

[JWolf]

Will the sq be an upgrade over the x7ii?

 
There is no X7ii. There is an X7.

 

[Niyologist]

There is no X7ii. There is an X7.

There might be one. There are rumors floating around btw.

 

[JWolf]

It's understandable to find this confusing, since manufacturers have used the DAC chip has their major marketing tool for a while now. But in reality, they aren't as significant as one might think. Any of the "audiophile-grade" DACs over the last three years can sound as good, or better, than whichever one came out just last week, depending on their implementation/circuit architecture. Now a days they all do an amazing job rendering an honest recreation.

Why one DAP sounds better than another very often comes down to how much money the company invests in all the less marketable components. And of course, implementation, implementation, implementation. Utilizing the small real estate available in a DAP more efficiently than the other guy can win you the day.

Now, lets not kid ourselves. Astell&Kern products are overpriced. Everyone knows it. And yet, the fact they are overpriced does not mean there is no benefit to going with AK. They do offer more than FiiO does, generally speaking. Not only do find the sound better than any Cayin or FiiO product, even on my AK120ii, but the build quality is true luxury-tier. Cayin does a skillful job of faking luxury, much better than FiiO, but even they fall short of Astell&Kern. AK uses higher-grade materials, even in the chassis, because they know they'll make that money back 10-fold by pricing it as a "luxury item."

Not to mention, they offer SIGNIFICANTLY more Gigabytes of internal storage.

This is why I recommend folk buy used, if they're interested in Astell&Kern. It brings the price/performance ratio down to a more realistic level.

 
For the cost of an AK unit, I can get a superb rig with the X5III, amp (if needed) and cans for a lot less. And have money left over to buy music. You are not going to be getting $3000 (difference in price) worth of sound from AK.

 

[GREYH0UND]

There is no X7ii. There is an X7.

Y ny bad i meant the actual x7

 

[PinkyPowers]

For the cost of an AK unit, I can get a superb rig with the X5III, amp (if needed) and cans for a lot less. You are not going to be getting $3000 worth of sound from AK.

That's more or less exactly what I said.

 

[SubSTI]

Guys, Chinese New Year is coming at the end of January and typically we will see all businesses (including shipping companies) slow down significantly at least two weeks before and after CNY. So realistically speaking I think the full roll out of X5iii on international market is going to be pushed near end of February or early March.

 
Thanks for your impressions so far. Do you know if it is possible to run the (Chinese?) version internationally, so with US/UK language?
Maybe @FiiO can tell?: Will there be different versions of the X5III for different regions?
Maybe I can get myself one from China.

 

[JackDiesel]

We do not want USB-C. If you use a poorly made cable, the device can become damaged and thus, the warranty is invalid and your X5III would be useless. USB-C would be a very bad idea,

Simple fix, don't buy poorly made cables. All Android phones are switching to USB-C, USB-C is the future and a much better design than micro USB.

If you are really worried about your cheap cables buy a micro USB to USB-C adapter and use your old cables.

 

[funkforfood]

Just for example: AK70
 
US Amazon price: 599$
IT Amazon price: 667 Euro
 
The gap is much more acceptable!
I do not complain of the absolute price, is the price difference compared to other countries that it really does seem excessive to me.
It is a question of principle.

 

[JWolf]

Simple fix, don't buy poorly made cables. All Android phones are switching to USB-C, USB-C is the future and a much better design than micro USB.

If you are really worried about your cheap cables buy a micro USB to USB-C adapter and use your old cables.

 
Problem is, you can't always know what cable is not made to spec. Even some brand name cables are not made to spec. So tell me, how would you know when a cable is made to spec? You won't know. You'll just have to go with it and if it isn't made to spec, you can kill your device. I'd rather stick with micro USB than risk damaging my device.
 
USB-C was a good idea, but the implementation is garbage.