[ClassicGOD]

 
UPDATE: All Units are faulty, send them all back, run fiio outta business

They'll probably won't go out of business but I fear that a serious fault in a flagship product can really damage their business. I love my X7 and don't have noise issues (maybe it's due to headphones I use, maybe due to industrial-grade access point at my house, maybe my unit is one of few lucky ones, maybe the units with noise are few unlucky ones, that's not important. ) but I don't know if releasing X7 early without finished software so people can get them for holidays was the best idea. Looking at reviews X7 gets slammed for unfinished software quite a bit lowering it's average score significantly and let's face it plenty of people are just interested in the score and won't read the review.

 

[davidmolliere]

Deezer is working perfect with the external card, so it is not a Kitkat issue.

 
It is a KitKat issue alright, some developers have found workarounds probably tweaking the permissions to access external SD (Spotify, Deezer apparently have worked around it but it's there for all apps and was a big issue. Why Tidal is not implementing it is beyond me, I had the same issue with ZX2).
 
Right now it seems like aside from rooting the X7 or waiting till Tidal does something about it, I would be stuck with much too small 32GB offline storage... At this point although I love the X7 I am thinking about returning it and wait till the issues and Lollipop ships with the X7.

 

[mrhizzo]

Fiio will update the Android version? This is official?

 

[SureDie]

No..they dont have the expertise as u can see from their so call flagship X7..software really suck..i will return mine and hopefully they can refund me 880 of what i paid..

 

[yoyorast10]

  FiiO is clearly on the case.  They’re on the way… http://fiio.net/en/story/376
 

 
what's with fiio and leather?

 

[mikolaj612]

No..they dont have the expertise as u can see from their so call flagship X7..software really suck..i will return mine and hopefully they can refund me 880 of what i paid..

Firmware is really poor.
But few monts and FW will be nicely fixed/optimized.

 

[Ultrainferno]

   
what's with fiio and leather?

 
It was requested by the users in this case as all totl DAPs have a leather case. I do hope they look better in real though

 

[ChristopherOwen]

There's been a lot of comments regarding wifi interference, bad firmware, rubbish gui and so on, so I just wanted to share my thoughts.
 
I bought the X7 when it first became available in the UK and have been using it daily.
 
To me it sounds great. The Android implementation is great. Having dual modes is great. Being able to use Spotify and Tidal is great (luckily for me no wifi issues).
 
Maybe I'm easily pleased. Maybe I'm partially deaf and blind; or just plain stupid. But the X7 is great.
 
I get how expensive it is and that people demand quality. I have previously bought a car that was cheaper than the X7, so maybe that has altered my perception...
 
But all in all (and for the last time): the X7 is great awesome.

 

 

[tomcourtenay]

I have the X7 for nearly three weeks and i dont find neither the firmware or the Pure Music App really buggy.
 
At first, i had problems with my card not being well recognized, i looked for help in this forum and discovered i have a "_*_" file for every music file, which are hidden files from Mac, so i started to use Eject for Windows, and the problem solved. I embebed Album Art in all my files too. Since this day i have no single problem with the Pure Music App. Its a little counterintuitive because takes to many steps to arrive to the folder navigation, but for me its fast and reliable once youre there.
 
About the wifi interferences, i started to noticed them reading this thread. In my case, are low and only when i have low wifi signal on Tidal (by the way i downloaded from Google Store and i dont have any crash,  the streaming is good and fast, but the Lock screen interferes qith the Fiio App, hope it will be solved by firmware) its not big with my AK Angies, but definetly is there for sure. Normally i get good wifi signal in my home and work (two three bars) so i didnt happen very often, althoug as i said is there.. My SN is T333a
 
Last nite, i made a comparison between my Mojo and X7 and the conclussion is the Fiio (with the last two firmware) stand up well with the Mojo, the Mojo have more grunt and power, presents a little more resolution, a little better imaging , but the Fiio is really good on its own (its a litte smoother than the Mojo), at leat with my Angies and my ex-Fitear 334. Hope the new amp modules raise up the sound with an inexpensive price
 
For me the X7 soundwise  is a step up to all the other players i owned previously (Cowon P1, AK100 II, Dx80, Dx90...)

 

[ASpencer]

   
It was requested by the users in this case as all totl DAPs have a leather case. I do hope they look better in real though

 
Dignis is apparently making cases as well, of their obvious quality.

 

[Kyosato]

Hi everyone,
 
I am testing intensively my X7 unit from France, it's been 2 weeks now.
 
I had a few mails with FiiO reporting somes bizarre behaviors (shutting down, lagging) that were mostly corrected in FW1.5. I have been asking for some features for a long time such as DST full support and mostly DSD related features.
 
DST is supported through Hiby app and it works well! FiiO have no excuses to not implement it in FiiO music now.
 
I noticed some very faint noises when connecting to wifi, and I tried a lot of different headset and intras. Yes my unit is prone to this phenomenon, but it can be get unnoticed depending wich intra or Headphones you use.
 
for example, I used yesterday the Focal Spirit Professionnal on its mobility cable (shorter, thiner, and with a command to return call), I barely noticed the penomenon when actively streaming with Qobuz (better to Tidal IMHO, I am a sublime subscription user). I used a ATH w1000x with an jack adapter. Again, barely noticeable (faint noise though) in complete silent moments.
 
But there is the most effective intra I have in showing imperfections of shielding : some unknown intra from China, sourced by the famous french shop Audiophonics :
 
http://www.audiophonics.fr/fr/casques-intraauriculaires/iem142-casque-audio-intraauriculaire-drivers-142-p-8265.html
 
for the price they are incredible but the construction is poor, the cable is noisy, but the sound is getting pretty low in the bass with great quality. This little guy show no mercy to hifi equipement regarding shielding. You can hear the bursts of wifi connection pretty well of the FiiO X7. But this not limited to FiiO, with this intra I can hear noise from pretty much every Hifi Equipement I have, even my Asus Essence STX in a Hifi PC, with filtered current supply, I could hear noise when setting the volume high enough with no song playing. This card has an imbedded Headphone amp able to drive headphones up to 600 ohms. It's great quality, and measured to have -124dB of noise on these channels. It was the first time I heard anything like this with this marvelous sound card.
 
I am very curious to try AK 240 or 380 with those intra...I am sure it will show something as well.
 
And here is my point : Sure FiiO can acknowledge the problem, but it is not specific to the X7, because if the DAP manufacturer can always improve the shielding, so can the intra and headphones manufacturer ! I will continue testing, but this chinese intra is very poorly made (even if the sound quality is very good...When you don't move at all), and can be a good benchmark for identifying this problem, and I am sure there is no shiedling at all in this intra, hence the noises. When I used greater quality headphones, the phenomenon is greatly reduced, sometime, to nothing I can hear.
 
I have seen a message from FiiO (I can't find it again though) saying that hearing noise during wifi streaming is normal...its clearly not in my case. There seem to be multiple wifi card installations possible inside the X7, some may be more effective than others in reducing the phenomenon.
 
This is the first time they implement Wifi, and they have to improve shielding and internal shielding as much as possible, but due to a physical phenomenon call EM diffraction, this phenomenon can be reduced only, not totally cancelled.
 
The people saying that cellphones have solved the problems years ago are mainly wrong, but not entirely. The audio components and the sensitivity required cells are leagues away from what we are talking about now, plus the fact that the headset are very poor in terms of audio components, and since the quality is not the main issue here (its more the power saving) integration is massive in SoC.
 
yes your 1000$ iphone is not build aiming at the best sound quality when listening to music.
 
You can't build a high end DAP like a so called high end phone, the methods of design have to be different.
 
This problem should interest headphones manufacturers too because their flagship babies will be connected to network able DAP more and more, and wifi shielding as well as EM shielding in general should become and mandatory part in the V and V (verification and validation) product engineering qualification.
 
FiiO should tell how to identify the units most prone to the problem and find a solution, and we, demanding users, should better choose our headphones and take EM shielding into account.

 

[davidmolliere]

  yes your 1000$ iphone is not build aiming at the best sound quality when listening to music.
 
You can't build a high end DAP like a so called high end phone, the methods of design have to be different.
 
This problem should interest headphones manufacturers too because their flagship babies will be connected to network able DAP more and more, and wifi shielding as well as EM shielding in general should become and mandatory part in the V and V (verification and validation) product engineering qualification.
 
FiiO should tell how to identify the units most prone to the problem and find a solution, and we, demanding users, should better choose our headphones and take EM shielding into account.

 
True, but it's possible, the ZX2 is a good example but it's a very different architecture with class D amp...

 

[Kyosato]

mmm, I think you may have nailed the problem .Maybe, class D amp could be more immune to this by design.
 
I have just tried again with my sensitive intra on the line out jack, when i pause the tracks and put in on (I don't want to damage my ear !!) I hear nothing at all. When I do the same in the headphone amp jack, I hear the noises when the song is bufferizing.
 
So it could be the amp, of the circuitry just before the amp that is prone to EM noise from the wifi. If so, it could be easy (though costly to send modded amp modules to replace them, or to offer a discount on the next amp module.
 
But I think it's only part of the problem, because wifi output can increase when the signal is weak and wifi management is also something to be taken care of in the next firmware. But cancelling wifi power management have to have an impact on the spec, especially the battery life. So if the specs change, it could lead to legal action if no statement is done and/or nothing is done.
 
A possible hypothesis would be that not everything can be solved by changing the amp module, and that  maintenance is needed on each X7 main body. This maintenance could be to insert a better battery to tackle the higher power consumption caused by the cancelling of wifi management, change setup of the wifi module, and change the amp module if this can help.
 
While I am sure now that the amped jack output is touched by the wifi noise problem, and not the line out (on my unit though), we can't say for sure that the amp is faulty, or is simply exposed to an an unusual level of EM due to a poor internal layout of wifi module. The "tape mod" seem to validate the second hypothesis, but it will be very difficult for FiiO to organize a massive product return operation. Sending and upgraded and better shielded headphone amp module (with a second MicroSD slot BTW !) would be much more feasible, along with a FW mod that implement new wifi management scenario.

 

[davidmolliere]

@Kyosato BTW, nice review of the X7 on son-video.com
 
I'll be returning mine, unfortunately, until things iron out especially 32GB is not enough for Tidal storage which means no SD Fix or Lollipop is a show stopper. I'll stick with ZX2 for now!

 

[jynxed]

  I have the X7 for nearly three weeks and i dont find neither the firmware or the Pure Music App really buggy.
 
At first, i had problems with my card not being well recognized, i looked for help in this forum and discovered i have a "_*_" file for every music file, which are hidden files from Mac, so i started to use Eject for Windows, and the problem solved. I embebed Album Art in all my files too. Since this day i have no single problem with the Pure Music App. Its a little counterintuitive because takes to many steps to arrive to the folder navigation, but for me its fast and reliable once youre there.
 
About the wifi interferences, i started to noticed them reading this thread. In my case, are low and only when i have low wifi signal on Tidal (by the way i downloaded from Google Store and i dont have any crash,  the streaming is good and fast, but the Lock screen interferes qith the Fiio App, hope it will be solved by firmware) its not big with my AK Angies, but definetly is there for sure. Normally i get good wifi signal in my home and work (two three bars) so i didnt happen very often, althoug as i said is there.. My SN is T333a
 
Last nite, i made a comparison between my Mojo and X7 and the conclussion is the Fiio (with the last two firmware) stand up well with the Mojo, the Mojo have more grunt and power, presents a little more resolution, a little better imaging , but the Fiio is really good on its own (its a litte smoother than the Mojo), at leat with my Angies and my ex-Fitear 334. Hope the new amp modules raise up the sound with an inexpensive price
 
For me the X7 soundwise  is a step up to all the other players i owned previously (Cowon P1, AK100 II, Dx80, Dx90...)

 
On the software side of things, I too have had zero software problems appart from the google play implementation, it took a little bit of time and paitents to sort this out as it wouldnt download from my account at the beginning, but was sorted and is fine now.
 
If the wifi signal on mine was cleaned up I would be estatic, provided Fiio are reasonable about the hiss issue and their criteria is not too outlandish, I am pretty sure mine would qualify, as I find it very hard to listen too the vast majority of the time. Occasionally if I am very lucky the issue wont be too bad and I can listen to it on my M2's provided I dont concentrate too much, this is not something you want to be saying about a £500 dap though.
 
The UK store I bought mine from is not open to the 4th Jan, by witch time I will be living in Sweden for 6 months so will have the opportunity to test it out on its 4th wifi router and its 3 different providor....this of course doent include using 3 phones as a 4g hotspot...