[grig]

one last issue, i can't upgrade from 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 or 1.2.5. I try to manually upgrade through FIIO system update OTA, manually selecting the OTA file from the sdcard.

As errors i get : failed to mount /dev/block/rknand_systemat /system: Block device is required

Error executing updater binary in zip

Suggestions ?

 

[altharic]

one last issue, i can't upgrade from 1.2.1 to 1.2.3 or 1.2.5. I try to manually upgrade through FIIO system update OTA, manually selecting the OTA file from the sdcard.

As errors i get : failed to mount /dev/block/rknand_systemat /system: Block device is required

Error executing updater binary in zip

Suggestions ?

I get that error when I try to flash stock firmware when TWRP is installed I have to flash back the stock recovery then run the update and factory reset.

 

[Toyface]

I'm sure a lot of people have already discovered PowerAmp, but I recently replaced the battery in mine, and was so fed up of all the lag and crashes of the FiiO music app and went for PA. It is EXCELLENT. The new UI they introduced some time ago is fantastic, a real eye opener and has truly changed my experience after two years with my X5. It is such a shame that the FiiO app is so tragic in terms of performance, but I understand it's probably more suited to their more powerful players.

I have turned off DVC and made some other changes but is there any top tips I should know about with specificity to the X5? I have a nice tasteful skin onboard and have fell in love with the X5 again - truly magic stuff. Once my 15 days is up I'll be paying for the license.

 

[WitzyZed]

I'm sure a lot of people have already discovered PowerAmp, but I recently replaced the battery in mine, and was so fed up of all the lag and crashes of the FiiO music app and went for PA. It is EXCELLENT. The new UI they introduced some time ago is fantastic, a real eye opener and has truly changed my experience after two years with my X5. It is such a shame that the FiiO app is so tragic in terms of performance, but I understand it's probably more suited to their more powerful players.

I have turned off DVC and made some other changes but is there any top tips I should know about with specificity to the X5? I have a nice tasteful skin onboard and have fell in love with the X5 again - truly magic stuff. Once my 15 days is up I'll be paying for the license.

I’ve used mp3tag on pc to automate a resizing of all of my embedded album art to 800x800 jpg’s (90-95% quality setting) followed by a backup of the original images to elsewhere (named according to the album tag).

It helps to keep Poweramp and Neutron running snappily with those image sizes not exceeding the max resolution of the X5iii display.

Liv Dark and Dais Dark are the two PowerAmp skins I can’t do without! (Great font options to be found there).

**edit** ~ I’d also recommend turning off any auto-rescan library on startup options found in Poweramp. Do them manually instead after the initial full scan. If you use an SD Card in slot 2, it can be un-mounted by the system during idle/display off state. Auto rescan will notice this un-mounting/re-mounting behavior and trigger a rescan. If you were playing a track from second SD card slot, then paused, left Poweramp idle and the display slept, when you woke the device it would lose that song from now playing screen while it rescanned the card. This hiccup is alleviated by avoiding automatic rescans.

Also, have you installed the custom kernel yet?

 

[Toyface]

Yepp, I installed the custom kernel the first week I got the player a couple years ago. It did run fine with the FiiO app but it’s just gotten so slow and bloated it’s ridiculous.

I had already turned off auto scan and do the exact thing you’ve mentioned once I add new music, even that is light years ahead of the FiiO app!

Album art I don’t pay much attention to really, as long as it’s there I’m okay with that, but I’ve yet to find anything that seems to slow PA down on that front.

I am experiencing some slow down and breaking up during playback occasionally which I think could just be down to the older CPU in this thing?

 

[Basstion]

Hi! I'm about to replace the battery of my X5 III and I have already seen some experiences of colleagues in this thread about it, but there are some issues that have not been mentioned. I have found in AE the following battery and I wanted to know if anyone has used it. It is larger than the original. I don't know if there would be a problem using it.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP1tzKu

I've seen that the battery terminals are welded to the protection circuit with a spot welding machine, is it possible to do it in another way? Although, I could get a machine for that purpose.

(Image borrowed from @TiborG's post)

Sorry for the long read, thanks in advance!

 

[DrJustice]

Hi! I'm about to replace the battery of my X5 III and I have already seen some experiences of colleagues in this thread about it, but there are some issues that have not been mentioned. I have found in AE the following battery and I wanted to know if anyone has used it. It is larger than the original. I don't know if there would be a problem using it.

https://a.aliexpress.com/_mP1tzKu
...

I've seen that the battery terminals are welded to the protection circuit with a spot welding machine, is it possible to do it in another way? Although, I could get a machine for that purpose.

...
Sorry for the long read, thanks in advance!

I'm skeptical of the capacity claim of 4500mAh there. The original is 3400mAh. If the battery is of a larger capacity, that shouldn't be a problem. There are other batteries with wires instead of alu tabs, you may know of them already.

I just replaced the battery in mine. Got one with leads from eBay. The capacity is appalling - I never see more than 97% charge, and the actual capacity seem to be 30%-40% down from the original. A bummer that... but from experience, batteries from places like that are not always good. I'm on the lookout for some confidence inspiring source of 3400mAh versions (the theory being that if they're honest about the capacity, the deal might be less scammy).

 

[Basstion]

I'm skeptical of the capacity claim of 4500mAh there. The original is 3400mAh. If the battery is of a larger capacity, that shouldn't be a problem. There are other batteries with wires instead of alu tabs, you may know of them already.

I just replaced the battery in mine. Got one with leads from eBay. The capacity is appalling - I never see more than 97% charge, and the actual capacity seem to be 30%-40% down from the original. A bummer that... but from experience, batteries from places like that are not always good. I'm on the lookout for some confidence inspiring source of 3400mAh versions (the theory being that if they're honest about the capacity, the deal might be less scammy).

Ok, I appreciate your response. Yes, I understand what you say. Unfortunately, Fiio, not being able to supply us with it, we have to resort to these alternatives that can be unreliable. I was basing it on the number of sales (13 items) and a buyer review:

I tried with an ebay link, provided in this thread, but they don't ship to my country. There they had the battery with the circuit already soldered, to fix it via cables.

 

[yonnon]

I have already received my seconda hand Fiio X5 mk3. Quite happy with first impressions. Stilll no custom firmware.
I would like to know if it is possible to use it only as a source and connect another DAC to it and how it should be done.

On my phones the DACs are automatically detected. No luck at this moment with the Fiio.
Some additional step must be done for an external DAC to be detected or it is not possible to use them?

Or I need to use a custom firmware?



Thanks in advance

 

[BobSmith8901]

I have already received my seconda hand Fiio X5 mk3. Quite happy with first impressions. Stilll no custom firmware.
I would like to know if it is possible to use it only as a source and connect another DAC to it and how it should be done.

On my phones the DACs are automatically detected. No luck at this moment with the Fiio.
Some additional step must be done for an external DAC to be detected or it is not possible to use them?

Or I need to use a custom firmware?



Thanks in advance

My experience with external DACs and X5III has been inconsistent. Sometimes it works other times it doesn't. I usually end up connecting the DAC with the X5III turned off and then turn it on (the X5III) and let it see the DAC from the start. There was a firmware at some point (if you have the latest stock 1.25 firmware it should be there) that specifically addressed ability to connect DAC so it is supposed to be able to. Check your firmware (make sure 1.25) and just keep trying; you should eventually have some luck. Bottom line is that it works but can be inconsistent in successfully attaching in each given session without re-connecting, restarting, etc.

 

[yonnon]

Hopefully this proves useful as a reference for those installing stock or custom firmware ,
and Custom Kernel [by jkbuha & prispewnic] for your very own FiiO X5iii / 3rd Generation !

See here for more info on how to support the developers of this custom kernel, or in hopes for future kernel development(s).

Links to anything you need are provided within. This set of instructions goes for anyone with a windows home computer. To get firmware restores or TWRP installation to work on MacOS see this post and then refer back to this one when applicable.
Best of luck!

-it is recommended for best performance with custom kernel to have external storages formatted as exfat. they may already be formatted as such from the factory if larger than 32gb, but please check before continuing.

I do not recommend using the Fidelizer ROMs without your knowledge that it will prevent proper TWRP / Custom Recovery backups of the system partition from being made. If you experiment with the Fidelizer ROMs, you acknowledge this and recognize you’ll have to use firmware upgrade tool all over again and start from a clean slate every time you encounter something problematic.
Stock is the way to go (first time around, at least).

Here's links for Firmware Upgrade Tool with stock 1.2.1 and 1.2.3 ROMS: 1.2.1 and 1.2.3
It's not strictly necessary to install 1.2.5 stock zip afterwards.

One could get the 1.2.5 purist rom as well as the FiiO firmware upgrade tool from this link:
Fidelizer ROM 1.2.5 (July 2021)

Whether or not you're installing custom firmware, I stand by using the firmware upgrade tool to reinstall the stock update.img that comes with it, then installing newer firmware 1.2.X variant afterwards, if you wish. (1.2.3 through 1.2.5 are superfluous...only changes seem to be relegated to FiiO music app and nothing else)

-If going Stock route, Once stock 1.2.X is reinstalled, you can opt to install the X5-ota-1.2.5.zip found here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/qf3x2cf2io6wp97/X5-ota-1.2.5.zip/file via the technical support application. Then perform a factory data reset (in the Settings App) w/ internal storage wipe. Again though, 1.2.3 is adequate. Note: I again recommend Stock over Fidelizer if this is your first rodeo.
-If going Fidelizer route, Once stock 1.2.X is reinstalled, repeat steps but replace the update.img as described below.

Begin by installing the latest usb drivers:
http://fiio-file.fiio.net/FiiO_USB_DAC_Driver-V4.47.0.zip

Then run the RKDriverInstall.exe from the firmware upgrade tool folder.

(Fidelizer Step Only: Delete or remove the ‘update’ disc image file from the firmware upgrade tool folder, and replace it with the ‘update’ disc image extracted from WindowsXPurist1.2.5 zip. The purist disc image will be the smaller of the two.)

Hold down the “Previous Track” rocker button (the one closest to the volume dial) with your player powered down and connect the micro USB cable from your computer to your player.
-You should have heard a connection chime, and your player's screen and blue LED should both remain off. The player is now in the "bootloader" mode
-If holding the Previous Track rocker button has not achieved desired effect, please re-attempt but instead hold the Pause Button when connection to USB cable. If then successful, use this method on subsequent steps requiring bootloader mode.

Right click on the firmware upgrade tool exe in the firmware upgrade tool folder and run as administrator.

With ‘√ Device Connected’ showing, click the green ‘Upgrade Now’ button ONLY ONCE.
-Wait patiently.
-The progress bar will move along, and in the process you will hear several connection chimes.
-STOCK: It is done when your player has booted up to the language selection screen.
-FIDELIZER: It is done when you see the white battery icon on your player's screen, and the blue LED power indicator illuminated.
-You can disconnect USB from player at this time.
-Hold down your player's power button and allow it to boot up/initialize, etc.

From the settings app, scroll to 'System', then hit 'Factory data reset', scroll down and check the 'Erase internal storage' box, hit the grey 'RESET DEVICE' button.
-Let this do its thing and wait for the player to reboot.

- END OF FIRMWARE STEPS -
******************************************************************************************************

Next we've got to install the TWRP (Custom Recovery) loader.
-found here: https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397899882
-unzip this to your desktop or wherever.

Power off your player again, and put it in bootloader mode by connecting to USB holding down the previous track button.

Open AndroidTool.exe from the loader folder.
- 'One Loader Device Found' should be displayed.
-Make sure that checkbox #2 'boot.img' & #3 'Image\recovery_twrp.img' are checked.

Press 'Run' and wait until the loader operation is completed.

Go to 'Advanced Function' and click "Reset Device".
-You should have heard a connection chime, and your player is released to a powered off and charging state, like when you installed the Fidelizer firmware.
-Go ahead and disconnect your player from USB cable.

Power on your player, allow it to boot up/initialize, etc.

Download the kernel+optimization scripts by jkbuha.
-links hosted by jkbuha found here (3.41 is latest): https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261607091

Download SuperSU (root).
-found here: http://www.mediafire.com/file/976u3lvrqjjw5pi/SuperSU_PRO_v2.79SR4.zip/file

It is recommended at this point to turn off the lock screen, changed under Settings app, Device, Security, then Screen Security, set screen lock to none.
Also in Settings app, Device, Display, Sleep After, set to 10 or 30 minutes.
-this will help to make sure you don't miss vital prompts down the line confirming successful kernel optimizations.
-once successful feel free to set these back to your preferred options.

Plug USB back into your player, and mount its internal storage.
-Without being too verbose, you should see the green android guy and a "turn on usb storage" button and click ok
-Once you see the internal storage as a volume on your computer, you're going to want to drag the two zips to an easy to access location, like the 'Download' folder on the X5's internal storage.
-Once that's copied go ahead and safely eject / unmount the X5 volume from your computer
-Click "turn off usb storage" button on your X5
-Power down your X5

To enter TWRP custom recovery, power off your player then simultaneously hold down the following three buttons:
-Play/Pause (Remain pressed until you see blue TWRP splash screen)
-Previous Track (Remain pressed until you see blue TWRP splash screen)
-Power (Release when FiiO ‘Welcome’ logo appears)

You should now be at the home page in TWRP

Just so you have a clean slate to come back to if needed, you can make backups in TWRP. Now is a good time to start.
-Click ’Backup’ Tile
-Select Kernel, Boot, Recovery, Data, & System check-boxes, and Enable Compression
-Swipe to Back Up
-This will be saved under /sdcard/TWRP/BACKUPS/X5/ with an auto-generated title based on when you made the backup.

This backup folder can be copied to your computer (while in TWRP)
-by connecting USB cable
-click the ‘Mount’ Tile from TWRP home menu -de-select all except Internal SD
-click ‘Mount USB Storage’
-do your copying business on computer
-safely eject on computer
-click Un-Mount in TWRP

With a backup made and safely stored, we can get underway...

Go to Home in TWRP

Press 'Install' Tile
-navigate to sdcard/Downloads
-select the SuperSU zip
-swipe to install
-then hit 'wipe dalvik/cache'

Go back home in TWRP
-Go to advanced 'Fix Permissions' then 'Reboot System' (do not check any SE Linux options here)
-If done right you should not see the 'It appears your device is not rooted, would you like to install SuperSU' notice.
-If it does appear, player will hang on reboot.
-Remedy this by doing the SuperSU swipe to install & dalvik/cache wipe TWICE. Then fix permissions (Do both twice, i.e. Install->wipe->Install->wipe->fix permissions)

Let your player reboot and initialize, etc.

Open SuperSU app on your device before you flash the kernel and turn off all logging. ‘Logging Access’ set to ‘None’, ‘Clear Logs’ set to ‘1 Day’ & hit ‘Clear All Logs Now’

Re-enter TWRP Recovery

Press 'Install'
-navigate to sdcard/Downloads
-Select the jkbuha 3.41 multi zip
-swipe to install
-AROMA installer should begin, go through prompts (preferably custom install)
-Select 1416, 1704, or 2016 MHz, recommended to begin with 1416 for stability and move up from there, if your device can handle them.
-disconnect your player from any microUSB connection before clicking Finish
-your player will then automatically reboot.

Depending on the number of applications installed on your device, this app optimization step can take up to 5 minutes or so, but stay vigilant.
-once you get to home screen observe bottom of the display for prompts for user to reboot device.
-these typically show up within 1-2 minutes.
-if user does not manually reboot (hold down power button, reboot) scripts will countdown to an automatic reboot of player (done in about 15-20 minutes)

Upon reboot observe bottom of the display for "Kernel 3.4: All Optimizations Done"

At this point you should have the Fidelizer 1.2.X firmware (if applied) and the latest kernel, scripts, boot optimizations, etc. installed.

Extra stuff:

With root access, you can use a kernel manager (SmartPackKernelManager), as well as an application like Titanium Backup Pro (about $6 on google play store) to freeze applications (like google play services or google services framework).

With root access and a file explorer, by changing the following folders' permissions:
/data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/cache
/data/data/com.android.providers.downloads/files
from 771 (-rwxrwx--x) to 551 (-r-xr-x--x), Google Play store and Google Play services can be forced to NOT update themselves. To download any application updates from Play store you need to change these back momentarily to 771 (and then back to 551 before it gets wise and tries to download Play store updates). The stock GP Store and Services are far more lightweight compared to the updated ones. Note with those folder's permissions set to 551 you can still download files from any other browser application.

If you get a permissions error (installer code: 7) during AROMA installer process, install kernel version 2.8 first: https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397926869, this will properly set up init.d scripts. Once you get optimizations done prompt with this kernel version, proceed with the 3.41 installer again.

If you get "low system memory" error upon boot, return to TWRP, select 3.41 installer zip again, this time use "Restore" and select only the last option, which will remove the junk application backups (from where they were saved in /system/app/X-Backup and /system/priv-app/X-Backup directories).

Some additional (but recommended) .apk‘s that you will find useful:
Flux (Requires Root)
NewPipe (Lightweight YouTube client)
Root Explorer (Requires Root)
Rotation Control
Simple Keyboard
Simple Reboot (Requires Root)
Via (Lightweight Web Browser)

Optional (but recommended) package(s?) to flash in TWRP:
Migabit’s UI Mod - mirrored from 4PDA - Use this version only if you have removed default FiiO Music Player, as this version assumes the ‘Pure Music Mode’ Drop-Down Menu Tile is gone.
Migabit's UI Mod - Use this version if you've kept FiiO Music Player.

Galleries of screenshots showing my installed apps & whatnot:
System Apps
Neutron Music Player
USB Audio Player Pro (UAPP)
PowerAmp

See here for more info on how to support the developers of this custom kernel, or in hopes for future kernel development(s).

Awesome. Prepared to update my "vanilla" X5 mk3. Just a couple of questions:



There are more current versions for TWRP and SuperSU?

TWRP (Custom Recovery) loader: 2.4
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397899882

SuperSU (root).
http://www.mediafire.com/file/976u3lvrqjjw5pi/SuperSU_PRO_v2.79SR4.zip/file

I think 3.41 is the latest for kernel+optimization scripts by jkbuha. : https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261607091



Thanks in advance.

 

[WitzyZed]

Awesome. Prepared to update my "vanilla" X5 mk3. Just a couple of questions:



There are more current versions for TWRP and SuperSU?

TWRP (Custom Recovery) loader: 2.4
https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=1395089523397899882

SuperSU (root).
http://www.mediafire.com/file/976u3lvrqjjw5pi/SuperSU_PRO_v2.79SR4.zip/file

I think 3.41 is the latest for kernel+optimization scripts by jkbuha. : https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=4349826312261607091



Thanks in advance.

I don't think the version # for the loader matters (you can try 2.6 which is also on androidhost site, but 2.4 works just fine), they both replace recovery img with the same TWRP version.

Everything else is up to date (no newer versions appropriate for our device).

 

[yonnon]

Ok.
Following the instructions
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...s-android-dual-card-slot.828402/post-14769688

Everything OK up to this point:

Go back home in TWRP
-Go to advanced 'Fix Permissions' then 'Reboot System' (do not check any SE Linux options here)
-If done right you should not see the 'It appears your device is not rooted, would you like to install SuperSU' notice.
-If it does appear, player will hang on reboot.
-Remedy this by doing the SuperSU swipe to install & dalvik/cache wipe TWICE. Then fix permissions (Do both twice, i.e. Install->wipe->Install->wipe->fix permissions)

Let your player reboot and initialize, etc.

Do NOT reboot. Gets stuck on Fidelizer welcome screen.
and if I turn it off it restarts

Any suggestion?

 

[yonnon]

Ok.
Following the instructions
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fii...s-android-dual-card-slot.828402/post-14769688

Everything OK up to this point:

Go back home in TWRP
-Go to advanced 'Fix Permissions' then 'Reboot System' (do not check any SE Linux options here)
-If done right you should not see the 'It appears your device is not rooted, would you like to install SuperSU' notice.
-If it does appear, player will hang on reboot.
-Remedy this by doing the SuperSU swipe to install & dalvik/cache wipe TWICE. Then fix permissions (Do both twice, i.e. Install->wipe->Install->wipe->fix permissions)

Let your player reboot and initialize, etc.

Do NOT reboot. Gets stuck on Fidelizer welcome screen.
and if I turn it off it restarts

Any suggestion?

I answer to myself. I started from scratch and now everything seems to be going well
Any link to know which are the most recommended optimizations of the new kernel?

 

[yonnon]

My experience with external DACs and X5III has been inconsistent. Sometimes it works other times it doesn't. I usually end up connecting the DAC with the X5III turned off and then turn it on (the X5III) and let it see the DAC from the start. There was a firmware at some point (if you have the latest stock 1.25 firmware it should be there) that specifically addressed ability to connect DAC so it is supposed to be able to. Check your firmware (make sure 1.25) and just keep trying; you should eventually have some luck. Bottom line is that it works but can be inconsistent in successfully attaching in each given session without re-connecting, restarting, etc.

I have checked 3 portable external DACs (Hidiz Sonata s9+, Cayin Ru6, Megatron) on X5 (vanilla firmare) NO LUCK

I have successfully installed custom firmware 3.41.

Is it possible to use external DACs with this or do I even bother to try it?

Is there any chance that in a future firmware it will be possible?

It would be wonderful!

Thanks in advance