[JamesFiiO]

  So, as i understand, there is no point to use any portable AMP with X7, like Mont Blanc-E12A or any else, right?

 
yes, that is what we hope .

 

[JamesFiiO]

CPU wise we could be quite fine on some form of ARM A5x series chipset. There are 3 models of that is used in the LITTLE.big system, each differing in power consumption and calculations per minute. Since it's just used to play music, I think the weakest of the 3 will be fine.

 
true, so far X7 is the fastest DAP based on Anroid. 

 

[jamato8]

I like this honest pricing.
If MSRP is 699, we can get this for around 500 on Amazon.
This is much better than AK380's 3500 price tag which makes no one can buy it.

Like James stated, the AK380 is for different people. There is a reason and need for some to buy something that might end up costing 4200$. It wouldn't matter if it cost 5200, oh no, AK might read this. lol  

 

[KT66]

this thread is over a year old now!

 

[originalsnuffy]

I would not be so quick to assume that pricing will collapse on these units.  FIIO has been fairly careful about its dealer roster and at least so far they have tended to stick to MSRP or slightly above.  So I would "go to market" assuming US pricing around $700 will prevail.
 
Pocketbook would hope I am wrong of course, but experience prevails.

 

[Gurashieruro]

   
true, so far X7 is the fastest DAP based on Anroid. 

In terms of RAM, 1GB to 2GB, will be fine as too much doesn't mean better. I could see 1GB so long as there is not much data that needs to be held by the RAM and the coding is good. The way Android sits on the memory management is that it keeps programs in RAM to allow for the user to return back to where they were. Since we are presumably not doing that, then that just leaves the player option. So the 2 things, from what I understand, that should be taken account for RAM usage is the OS itself (Android) and the audio player (which is the only thing that would be running). Just don't short yourself, but I doubt you will. I just want anyone who reads my posts to understand that the player is just a DAP not a full Android device and doesn't require a large size of RAM.
 
As for SoC, I'm curious on the decision on said CPU+GPU combo. What I find often is that companies will either mismatch the CPU and GPU for the type of device. Again, because the device is only just a DAP, it shouldn't need something like an A57 (or whichever one is the most powerful of their A5x series) not the big.LITTLE system. At the same time, the GPU must be good enough to rank out at 60 FPS on everything in its UI.
 
On the Android version, please don't use anything under 5.1. Google messed up the launch with their 5.0.x. You can read forum posts on XDA about those, like the Note 4, who are stuck on 5.0.x and complain about the various problems. However, the reason for requesting Lollipop is that it adds some audio enhancements in the background, regarding to stuff like sampling and such. In this section, I can't give a firm basis as FiiO can make magic happen here. This will be what ties the hardware and software together (with the addition of the kernel).

 

[reihead]

^ Amen.

Though I hope Fiio goes with 2gb of ram. If the UI is not smooth the player will be a failure.

 

[suman134]

 I havent been keeping an eye on the information.
 So i wonder if we have a resolution finalized, 1gb ram for 720p display will be enough. If we are going over it, 2gb is good.

 

[sithspawn1969]

I was thinking a good sounding 32bit/384Khz DAC for the technical requirements and I would support the mSata platform for storage options too.  Cost-wise, the current pricing of 1/4 AK's pricing would be fine
 
On the same lines, would be good is Fiio came up with a portable amp with balanced headphone outputs as well.  
I'd like to keep a setup that's portable and have reasonable functionality and sound quality to drive a good pair of open back headphones for home use as well without having to invest in 2 separate amp combos.
 
Thanks for putting up a wishlist in the first place!

 

[Gurashieruro]

^ Amen.

Though I hope Fiio goes with 2gb of ram. If the UI is not smooth the player will be a failure.

 I havent been keeping an eye on the information.
 So i wonder if we have a resolution finalized, 1gb ram for 720p display will be enough. If we are going over it, 2gb is good.

It all depends on the way FiiO sets up the system. From what I have seen, Android is good with anything higher than 1GB of RAM. Anything less and it lags, or will. The advantage of Android over most other mobile OS, is its ability to dynamically manage RAM. What I mean is that it preloads apps and other textures and animations and stores them in RAM. The less recalls the processor needs to make to recreate animations and textures and reload apps, the less power is used. At the same time, unused RAM is bad as the power is being used but no data is loaded into the RAM. So it's up to FiiO to figure out the worst case scenario, as well as normal operations, of RAM usage and decide how much they need.

On the side of SoC, I saw the chipset they are planning on using. I would like to see them change it. That specific chipset is based on the ARM A9, which is quite dated. There are other more efficient, while being faster, SoCs available. The newest of ARMs chipset are the A53, A57, and A72. The "slowest" of the 3 is the A53 but it provides faster speeds than the A9 but uses significantly less power. Its based on the ARMv8 architecture with 64 bit capabilities, providing even better performance and efficiency. It also can take advantage of the much faster Mali GPUs or go for something different like the PowerVR.

 

[Dobrescu George]

It all depends on the way FiiO sets up the system. From what I have seen, Android is good with anything higher than 1GB of RAM. Anything less and it lags, or will. The advantage of Android over most other mobile OS, is its ability to dynamically manage RAM. What I mean is that it preloads apps and other textures and animations and stores them in RAM. The less recalls the processor needs to make to recreate animations and textures and reload apps, the less power is used. At the same time, unused RAM is bad as the power is being used but no data is loaded into the RAM. So it's up to FiiO to figure out the worst case scenario, as well as normal operations, of RAM usage and decide how much they need.

On the side of SoC, I saw the chipset they are planning on using. I would like to see them change it. That specific chipset is based on the ARM A9, which is quite dated. There are other more efficient, while being faster, SoCs available. The newest of ARMs chipset are the A53, A57, and A72. The "slowest" of the 3 is the A53 but it provides faster speeds than the A9 but uses significantly less power. Its based on the ARMv8 architecture with 64 bit capabilities, providing even better performance and efficiency. It also can take advantage of the much faster Mali GPUs or go for something different like the PowerVR.

I remember the choice being made in the favor of that specific SoC because of cost efficiency. I guess that it is not all bad, if it is well implemented, it will run faster than other devices that have better chips, but are not so well optimized. The most important aspect, if you ask me is optimizations... You can optimize a software for a mobile platform Android to do complicated bicubic interpolations if you optimize it for the specific device. Yet, unoptimized, everything can lag. I had seen Android running very smooth with less than 1GB of RAM.
 
We should ne be dis-couraged by certain chips used, the most important aspects is how you use them, not what chips are, as long as they are good chips.

 

[T.R.A.N.C.E.]

Can't stick the latest greatest cpu in the X7 as it would unnecessarily drive up costs, even the ZX2 and AK240 run on ARM A9.

 

[warrior1975]

The speed of the zx2 when used as anything but a music player is horrible. If Fiio goes that route in hope they implement it better. ZX2 is basically useless for anything but music. Which is fine, but pointless to have a fully functioning device that is crippled.

 

[Dobrescu George]

The speed of the zx2 when used as anything but a music player is horrible. If Fiio goes that route in hope they implement it better. ZX2 is basically useless for anything but music. Which is fine, but pointless to have a fully functioning device that is crippled.

Actually i am happy that Fiio is working towards making a player that does music playback at it's best and nothing else^_^. This is exactly how it should be, if we aim to have a very good DAP.

 

[suman134]

It all depends on the way FiiO sets up the system. From what I have seen, Android is good with anything higher than 1GB of RAM. Anything less and it lags, or will. The advantage of Android over most other mobile OS, is its ability to dynamically manage RAM. What I mean is that it preloads apps and other textures and animations and stores them in RAM. The less recalls the processor needs to make to recreate animations and textures and reload apps, the less power is used. At the same time, unused RAM is bad as the power is being used but no data is loaded into the RAM. So it's up to FiiO to figure out the worst case scenario, as well as normal operations, of RAM usage and decide how much they need.



On the side of SoC, I saw the chipset they are planning on using. I would like to see them change it. That specific chipset is based on the ARM A9, which is quite dated. There are other more efficient, while being faster, SoCs available. The newest of ARMs chipset are the A53, A57, and A72. The "slowest" of the 3 is the A53 but it provides faster speeds than the A9 but uses significantly less power. Its based on the ARMv8 architecture with 64 bit capabilities, providing even better performance and efficiency. It also can take advantage of the much faster Mali GPUs or go for something different like the PowerVR.

 


they can simplify things and use Snapdragon 410, easy.