[BubbaBob]

Wouldn't it be possible to measure the difference by recording the output for the same track twice, then use some program to measure frequency & loudness?

Yes, but that would be far too scientific for this crowd. It would border on the heresy of ABx testing.

 

[CH23]

Wouldn't it be possible to measure the difference by recording the output for the same track twice, then use some program to measure frequency

Yes, but that would be far too scientific for this crowd. It would border on the heresy of ABx testing.

I'm a man of science. Without proof/evidence i even doubt myself.

 

[514077]

  Yes, but that would be far too scientific for this crowd. It would border on the heresy of ABx testing.

I think you'll find a fair number of people would be into A/B testing.  I, for one, wouldn't participate because I'm tired of the irritating arguing and sniping that goes on with yet another version-to -version sound war.

 

[aleos97]

Hey folks,
Sorry about this, but the DropBox download isn't working for me. Could someone post a mirror?

Thanks!

 

[aleos97]

EDIT: Sorry, it's working now and I can't find a way to delete my comment

 

[aleos97]

Am I the only one who wasn't at all satisfied with this update? Scrolling was improved, and there is noticeably less lag when shuffling, which are both nice, but all I really want are some improvements to the user interface.
 
Firstly, it feels a bit ridiculous that we can't view songs by their titles (not file names) in any list view. For me, this makes the All Song list completely useless and adds unnecessary hassle in finding any other individual songs.
 
Secondly (and I hope to hell this next complaint isn't hardware related), it's also rather ridiculous that the device has to fully shut down in order to save battery when not in use. It's an annoyance which gives the device a feel as though it is a portable electronic from 15 years ago; this is nowhere near as big an issue for me as the first I just mentioned.
 
Lastly, lack of other small customizations in UX, such as custom button assignments.
 
I don't want readers to think I am bashing the X5. I love the device for its amazing sound, which is what matters most. I suppose I'm just disappointed (somewhat irrationally - I watched reviews and knew beforehand what I was getting into) because I hoped the FiiO X5 would be like an iPod classic with a good DAC and amp, file browsing, and SD card support.
 
Sorry for the rant, I was just hoping for some GUI improvements in this update.

 

[Brooko]

  I don't want readers to think I am bashing the X5. I love the device for its amazing sound, which is what matters most. I suppose I'm just disappointed (somewhat irrationally - I watched reviews and knew beforehand what I was getting into) because I hoped the FiiO X5 would be like an iPod classic with a good DAC and amp, file browsing, and SD card support.
 

 
I understand what you're asking for - but really you may be better off with an iPod Classic and amp.  The GUI is what it is.
 
FWIW - I agree with some of what you are saying - my biggest gripe is (in category/tagged browsing) not having everything sorted into Artist/Album/Track - eg when doing All Songs.  But that has been like that since first introduction.
 
I'd imagine the X7 with it's Android interface will solve a lot of the GUI "issues" (at a higher cost of course) - but IMHO any expectations of the X5 (or even X5ii) GUI being as good as the well polished Apple GUI is (like you said) "irrational".  If you're coming from Apple ecosystem - you're going to get frustrated.  If you're coming from something like HiSound Audio or other boutique DAPs (non main stream) - you're going to love the Fiio.  Different perspectives.
 
What you get with Fiio is great sound, and (again just my opinion) extremely good feature to cost ratio.  Expecting more is going to lead to frustration long run.
 
Not sure if they can implement the fast start they have in the X3ii with the X5 hardware (maybe the next version X5ii) - but one option is to simply turn off "Idle Poweroff" in settings.  As long as you remember to manually turn it off when you need to, it will work.  If you forget though, you'll end up with a few flat batteries ...... "trade-offs" 

 

[Romani]

Am I the only one who wasn't at all satisfied with this update? Scrolling was improved, and there is noticeably less lag when shuffling, which are both nice, but all I really want are some improvements to the user interface.

Firstly, it feels a bit ridiculous that we can't view songs by their titles (not file names) in any list view. For me, this makes the All Song list completely useless and adds unnecessary hassle in finding any other individual songs.

Secondly (and I hope to hell this next complaint isn't hardware related), it's also rather ridiculous that the device has to fully shut down in order to save battery when not in use. It's an annoyance which gives the device a feel as though it is a portable electronic from 15 years ago; this is nowhere near as big an issue for me as the first I just mentioned.

Lastly, lack of other small customizations in UX, such as custom button assignments.

I don't want readers to think I am bashing the X5. I love the device for its amazing sound, which is what matters most. I suppose I'm just disappointed (somewhat irrationally - I watched reviews and knew beforehand what I was getting into) because I hoped the FiiO X5 would be like an iPod classic with a good DAC and amp, file browsing, and SD card support.

Sorry for the rant, I was just hoping for some GUI improvements in this update.

For me, fast scrolling in Artist and Album view not being present till now is a big miss. I am also perplexed at the fact that that there is battery drain with the device left on even if there is no music playing and the screen off. I find that if I switch on the option of it auto shutting down after 5 minutes of no play, and if I do this by switching the device on and leaving it untouched until it auto shuts and do this repetitively, the battery depletes rather quickly. I get more battery out of it leaving the thing playing continuously in the background. The GUI changes I'm not concerned about as the modding community is alive and well.

 

[aleos97]

The GUI changes I'm not concerned about as the modding community is alive and well.

FiiO only allows modification of the aesthetics of its UI, eg. color scheme and backgrounds. It's all surprisingly rudimentary, for example the main menu is literally just images. Modders simply create a new image for each item (Now Playing, Equalizer, Play settings, etc.,) creating the aesthetic of the menu. You can't go any deeper, so one couldn't go in and write the option to show songs in lists by title.
 
The community is awesome though; they've come out with a good selection of aesthetically revamped software, many of which I prefer to stock.

 

[Romani]

FiiO only allows modification of the aesthetics of its UI, eg. color scheme and backgrounds. It's all surprisingly rudimentary, for example the main menu is literally just images. Modders simply create a new image for each item (Now Playing, Equalizer, Play settings, etc.,) creating the aesthetic of the menu. You can't go any deeper, so one couldn't go in and write the option to show songs in lists by title.

The community is awesome though; they've come out with a good selection of aesthetically revamped software, many of which I prefer to stock.

I completely agree there are restrictions but it allows just enough tweaks to make one feel like they have a different OS. I had an ipod classic for years and I couldn't do crap with it unless I jailbroke it. Fiio not only allows us to install these updates but to revert back as much as we like without implying warranty is void and all that political BS.

 

[bubba-ho-tep]

   
I understand what you're asking for - but really you may be better off with an iPod Classic and amp.  The GUI is what it is.
 
FWIW - I agree with some of what you are saying - my biggest gripe is (in category/tagged browsing) not having everything sorted into Artist/Album/Track - eg when doing All Songs.  But that has been like that since first introduction.
 
I'd imagine the X7 with it's Android interface will solve a lot of the GUI "issues" (at a higher cost of course) - but IMHO any expectations of the X5 (or even X5ii) GUI being as good as the well polished Apple GUI is (like you said) "irrational".  If you're coming from Apple ecosystem - you're going to get frustrated.  If you're coming from something like HiSound Audio or other boutique DAPs (non main stream) - you're going to love the Fiio.  Different perspectives.
 
What you get with Fiio is great sound, and (again just my opinion) extremely good feature to cost ratio.  Expecting more is going to lead to frustration long run.
 
Not sure if they can implement the fast start they have in the X3ii with the X5 hardware (maybe the next version X5ii) - but one option is to simply turn off "Idle Poweroff" in settings.  As long as you remember to manually turn it off when you need to, it will work.  If you forget though, you'll end up with a few flat batteries ...... "trade-offs" 

I have to respectfully disagree with you on part of this.  If Fiio's approach to dealing with some of the basic GUI problems with the X5 were to advise the consumer that they might be happier with an Apple device, it would be a very poor business model indeed.
 
It's not like anybody here bought the X5 expecting a well-oiled Apple device.  Everybody knew going in that there were some improvements to be made.  For the most part, Fiio has been very good about fixing bugs and fine-tuning the performance of the X5.  What frustrates others and myself is Fiio's neglect of some really basic browsing features that are found not only on Apple devices but on just about every other computer media player in existence.
 
I'm not looking for bells and whistles on the X5.  I'm happy with the performance and I'm more than happy with the simplicity of the navigation of menus.  But I'm extremely surprised at the apparent flippant attitude towards the implantation of some extremely basic browsing options ("Album Artist", for example).  At the very least, I would appreciate some comments on why this would not be possible with the X5 instead of being told over and over to buy an Apple device.
 
I apologize if this is coming across as snarky.  That's not my intention.  As a technical neophyte, I would just like some input as to why some basic browsing capabilities are not supported.

 

[Dobrescu George]

 
I have to respectfully disagree with you on part of this.  If Fiio's approach to dealing with some of the basic GUI problems with the X5 were to advise the consumer that they might be happier with an Apple device, it would be a very poor business model indeed.
 
It's not like anybody here bought the X5 expecting a well-oiled Apple device.  Everybody knew going in that there were some improvements to be made.  For the most part, Fiio has been very good about fixing bugs and fine-tuning the performance of the X5.  What frustrates others and myself is Fiio's neglect of some really basic browsing features that are found not only on Apple devices but on just about every other computer media player in existence.
 
I'm not looking for bells and whistles on the X5.  I'm happy with the performance and I'm more than happy with the simplicity of the navigation of menus.  But I'm extremely surprised at the apparent flippant attitude towards the implantation of some extremely basic browsing options ("Album Artist", for example).  At the very least, I would appreciate some comments on why this would not be possible with the X5 instead of being told over and over to buy an Apple device.
 
I apologize if this is coming across as snarky.  That's not my intention.  As a technical neophyte, I would just like some input as to why some basic browsing capabilities are not supported.

I would say that not using album artist is better. Artist is enough, and most people, would not make a deep difference. In fact, for my tags, i have erased the album artist tag.
 
It would be extremely hard to implement such a thing, it needs a lot of data to implement, and would be worthy, but not for many...
 
 
On the other hand, you can actually fiind a substitute solution, which can work.

 

[Brooko]

I have to respectfully disagree with you on part of this.  If Fiio's approach to dealing with some of the basic GUI problems with the X5 were to advise the consumer that they might be happier with an Apple device, it would be a very poor business model indeed.

It's not like anybody here bought the X5 expecting a well-oiled Apple device.  Everybody knew going in that there were some improvements to be made.  For the most part, Fiio has been very good about fixing bugs and fine-tuning the performance of the X5.  What frustrates others and myself is Fiio's neglect of some really basic browsing features that are found not only on Apple devices but on just about every other computer media player in existence.

I'm not looking for bells and whistles on the X5.  I'm happy with the performance and I'm more than happy with the simplicity of the navigation of menus.  But I'm extremely surprised at the apparent flippant attitude towards the implantation of some extremely basic browsing options ("Album Artist", for example).  At the very least, I would appreciate some comments on why this would not be possible with the X5 instead of being told over and over to buy an Apple device.

I apologize if this is coming across as snarky.  That's not my intention.  As a technical neophyte, I would just like some input as to why some basic browsing capabilities are not supported.

No need to apologise, and you're definitely not being snarky . Our difference in expectations could also be because I've used a few Asian based audiophile DAPs before. I note you refer to "computer media player" which the X5 is not. Semantics maybe - but everyone seems to expect Fiio to have an almost perfect GUI, but they forget that Fiio is an electronics company who only introduced their first DAP just 2 years ago. Perhaps someone could tell me of another DAP coming out of China in the last 2 years (non Android based) which has a better GUI? Especially one made by a company who has just started in this field. I'd imagine the list would be very short.

Unfortunately I'm just another member here. Maybe PM Joe or James direct with your questions. I really do hope that they have plans to address the shortcomings. But somehow I think it still may be some time.

 

[514077]

A quick point of inquiry.  What does 'album artist' have for catagorizing over 'artist'?  I just did what Skerry did in removing what I thought is unnecessary clutter in tags.

 

[Brooko]

In other software it can still order tracks if they appear under "Various Artists" (eg under a compilation album), then the album artist tag can be useful for giving them an actual artist name.  Or vice-versa.  Depends how you tag them, and how the media player works / categorises them.
 
I still use album artist - but I have all my tags showing exactly same info for both album artist and artist.  Probably redundant - but might be me just being a little OCD.