[Yukicore]

Hi, I am looking for a portable MP3 player, and I won't find myself moving to any other format any time soon, since rarely the music I'm listening to is available in other formats than MP3. So I'm stuck with MP3...
 
Anyway, I am wondering if it would be worth getting Fiio X5, It's quite expensive, but there is not a lot of choice, other choice would be an Apple product. I currently listen on iPod Touch, but I really would prefer something smaller, which FiiO X5 is definitely not, but would it's sound quality be much different if I am listening to MP3's?
 
I listen on ath-m50 and steelseries flux in-ear headphones.
 
Thanks.

 

[Barra]

  Hi, I am looking for a portable MP3 player, and I won't find myself moving to any other format any time soon, since rarely the music I'm listening to is available in other formats than MP3. So I'm stuck with MP3...
 
Anyway, I am wondering if it would be worth getting Fiio X5, It's quite expensive, but there is not a lot of choice, other choice would be an Apple product. I currently listen on iPod Touch, but I really would prefer something smaller, which FiiO X5 is definitely not, but would it's sound quality be much different if I am listening to MP3's?
 
I listen on ath-m50 and steelseries flux in-ear headphones.
 
Thanks.

The X5 rocks. It is one of the few players for which it is typically the headphone that is holding back the player - its typically the other way around. The best bargain in portable music players is the Clip Zip for good sound quality, price, and ease of use. However, if top quality audiophile sound is of key importance to you, then the X5 is the bargain of the century so far matching or beating the quality of players 3 times its price.
 
However, it concerns me that you call it an MP3 player as the greatest favor you can do for yourself is to upgrade to lossless by ripping your own albums from CD. If you intend on using MP3, you may as well use cheap headphones and the cheapest player you can find as this is the biggest bottleneck to sound quality. Even with the best headphones and the best player, garbage in/garbage out.
 
That being said, here is a link to my X5 review that covers all of this with SQ perspective and equipment pairings:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/fiio-x5-high-res-portable-music-player/reviews/10579

 

[Yukicore]

The X5 rocks. It is one of the few players for which it is typically the headphone that is holding back the player - its typically the other way around. The best bargain in portable music players is the Clip Zip for good sound quality, price, and ease of use. However, if top quality audiophile sound is of key importance to you, then the X5 is the bargain of the century so far matching or beating the quality of players 3 times its price.

However, it concerns me that you call it an MP3 player as the greatest favor you can do for yourself is to upgrade to lossless by ripping your own albums from CD. If you intend on using MP3, you may as well use cheap headphones and the cheapest player you can find as this is the biggest bottleneck to sound quality. Even with the best headphones and the best player, garbage in/garbage out.

That being said, here is a link to my X5 review that covers all of this with SQ perspective and equipment pairings:
http://www.head-fi.org/products/fiio-x5-high-res-portable-music-player/reviews/10579

I hate the MP3's myself, but as I mentioned before - I don't have a choice. The music genre I'm listening to (Electronic music e.g. Deep House, Drum & Bass etc.) is rarely delivered in any other format than MP3.

I just have to deal with it, there is no other option. Actually a nice sounding headphones can make them sound a lot better. I wasn't so sure about that until I tried it. But of course, once you go lossless, you won't ever want to go back. That's why I keep all the music I have in MP3 format, rather than mixed.

 

[H20Fidelity]

The X5 is an awesome unit, even using MP3 files will be fine, but I personally wouldn't drop below 320kbps. It's not only the sound with X5 , the features like dual card slots and 24bit playback if you're ever interested are all there and now with 128gb card on the market imagine how many MP3 files you could carry with you. I think it's worth the money and some more for your M50. But do research as much as you can. I have one on loan it kicks a**.

 

[Yukicore]

The X5 is an awesome unit, even using MP3 files will be fine, but I personally wouldn't drop below 320kbps. It's not only the sound with X5 , the features like dual card slots and 24bit playback if you're ever interested are all there and now with 128gb card on the market imagine how many MP3 files you could carry with you.

I think it's worth the money and some more for your M50. But do research as much as you can. I have one on loan it kicks a**.

320kbp/s is my standard, wouldn't go lower than 256kbp/s, but I only have about 1% @256 of all songs, rest are 320kbp/s or variable 320+ MP3/MP4.
 
I can't find the X5 anywhere for sale, but X3 costing 200Euro's, I can imagine X5 will be 300Euro. Which is quite expensive and overpaid if I will be listening only MP3'ses.
 
What other alternatives I might have? I really like the touch wheel and physical buttons, it makes it usable with gloves in cold weather, and fast and fun way to scroll. I almost never listen to the highest volume setting on iPod Touch 3G, I listen to about 75-85% of the volume, so I don't need an extra amplified player.
 
And I need at least 16GB's of available storage. How good or bad is the Sansa portable players compared to iPod Nano's or iPod Classic's?

 

[H20Fidelity]

  320kbp/s is my standard, wouldn't go lower than 256kbp/s, but I only have about 1% @256 of all songs, rest are 320kbp/s or variable 320+ MP3/MP4.
 
I can't find the X5 anywhere for sale, but X3 costing 200Euro's, I can imagine X5 will be 300Euro. Which is quite expensive and overpaid if I will be listening only MP3'ses.
 
What other alternatives I might have? I really like the touch wheel and physical buttons, it makes it usable with gloves in cold weather, and fast and fun way to scroll. I almost never listen to the highest volume setting on iPod Touch 3G, I listen to about 75-85% of the volume, so I don't need an extra amplified player.
 
And I need at least 16GB's of available storage. How good or bad is the Sansa portable players compared to iPod Nano's or iPod Classic's?

Sansa players are decent, why not try one first, you may be suprised at their performance and be happy. 

 

[Joe Bloggs]

320kbp/s is my standard, wouldn't go lower than 256kbp/s, but I only have about 1% @256 of all songs, rest are 320kbp/s or variable 320+ MP3/MP4.

I can't find the X5 anywhere for sale, but X3 costing 200Euro's, I can imagine X5 will be 300Euro. Which is quite expensive and overpaid if I will be listening only MP3'ses.

What other alternatives I might have? I really like the touch wheel and physical buttons, it makes it usable with gloves in cold weather, and fast and fun way to scroll. I almost never listen to the highest volume setting on iPod Touch 3G, I listen to about 75-85% of the volume, so I don't need an extra amplified player.

And I need at least 16GB's of available storage. How good or bad is the Sansa portable players compared to iPod Nano's or iPod Classic's?

Hi Yukicore,

The X3 and X5 have what I'd say is an average mp3 quality right now, but the crack team at FiiO are putting the final touches on a new decoder section for them that will decode most lossy formats in 32bit floating point, including mp3s. It has been externally tested (by Marlene of head-fi) to be transparent to the level of the decoder sections of the best desktop music player apps and capable of decoding high resolution music information above 16 bits even from mp3s (assuming a high-bitrate well-encoded mp3 of a high-res source file). So I think the X3 and X5 will be fine choices for listening to mp3s too