[Wildcatsare1]

Just in case I'm not the only X7 classical fan, Classics HD has informed me that they don't presently support the X7, shame since it's the only 24/192 Streaming Service I'm aware of, at least in the States.

 

[OSiRiSsk]

Hi, how do you get rid of the "bubblegum" music that plays when you turn your unit on? It's quite annoying!

+1. FiiO take a note of this. Sometimes when player is turned on, or woken up after inactivity, random music starts playing. Please disable this "feature".

 

[Paulo Abreu]

  ...
 
As for comparing the single-ended to balanced on AM3, I go more in-depth in my AM3 review. But in short - (at least for full-sized headphones, not sure about IEMs since I don't have balanced IEMs) you get much better separation (and thus layering and imaging), slightly larger soundstage, and better bass and treble with balanced as opposed to single-ended.

 
My exact reading on AM3 balanced with IEM's.
I can hear AM3 for longer times without fatigue and it sounds better and richer at lower volumes, doesn't loose body and texture. I am extremely pleased with my X7/AM3/IEM combo, it gives me "the" (better...) SQ I was expecting.
 
All I wish now is the new FW for a better usability, but with some reserve concerning SQ changes that might arise from it - Saying that, I trust FiiO and their testers, I guess many of you guys here, to deliver a FW update that only affects (or desn't affect at all!) SQ in a positive way.
 
My 2 cents

 

[FiiO]

 

Please kindly give us one or two months, we will try our best to release the new one soon.

Hi, how do you get rid of the "bubblegum" music that plays when you turn your unit on? It's quite annoying!

Widcatsare1, 
 
Any good suggestion you have,please do not hesitate to tell us, we will report it to our UI designer. 

 

[Brooko]

I know that Brooko's reviews have already been cited here, but I also have reviews of all amp modules and compared them against each other: http://www.head-fi.org/users/398973/reviews

(Look at the AM2, AM3, and AM5 reviews.)

As for comparing the single-ended to balanced on AM3, I go more in-depth in my AM3 review. But in short - (at least for full-sized headphones, not sure about IEMs since I don't have balanced IEMs) you get much better separation (and thus layering and imaging), slightly larger soundstage, and better bass and treble with balanced as opposed to single-ended.

Did you properly volume match? Most people don't. I did, and measured the output as well. The difference was in volume - nothing else. And with balanced vs SE IEMs, which I could rapidly A/B, the only difference turned out to be how loud they were. And of course we hear louder as:
- more vivid
- better separation
- better bass or treble
Etc

To back up what I found, I measured the frequency response (it's in the review) using the harder to drive MEE P1. If the output was "better bass and treble" it would show up on the freq response. There is no difference. And the reason they sound the same is that you are using either one or two OPA1622 (same chipset).

It's really easy to think you are hearing something when the playing field isn't equally matched. Human nature kicking in. It's why I always try to avoid potential bias when I review.

 

[Sound Eq]

so today i connected the fiio x7 to the e18 to be used as an amp, honestly i found it so much better sounding than any amp module with my iems, everything sounds full bodied and bigger sound stage while with the amp module I get sometimes that things sound brittle and thin, i am not complaining about loudness but i simply do not get the same full bodied sound from any amp modules as compared to when connected to a portable amps
 
i guess logically how can a small amp module give a better sound than a dedicated amp like fiio e12 or other portable amps
 
it seems I will order the fiio e12 to enjoy that combo with fiio x7 and the extra bass boost, as it seems that fiio is not gonna release a bass boost amp anyway

 

[ReizeiMako]

so today i connected the fiio x7 to the e18 to be used as an amp, honestly i found it so much better sounding than any amp module with my iems, everything sounds full bodied and bigger sound stage while with the amp module I get sometimes that things sound brittle and thin, i am not complaining about loudness but i simple do not get full bodied sound from any amp modules compared to portable amps

i guess logically how can a small amp module give a better sound than a dedicated amp like fiio e12 or other portable amps

it seems I will order the fiio e12 to enjoy that combo with fiio x7 and the extra bass boost, as it seems that fiio ix not gonna release a bass boost amp anyway

That's why I always stack X7 with my old Picollo. I believe it better than any Fiio amp module I've tried (AM2, AM5). Still want AM2 for more portable alternative though.

 

[Blommen]

so today i connected the fiio x7 to the e18 to be used as an amp, honestly i found it so much better sounding than any amp module with my iems, everything sounds full bodied and bigger sound stage while with the amp module I get sometimes that things sound brittle and thin, i am not complaining about loudness but i simply do not get the same full bodied sound from any amp modules as compared to when connected to a portable amps

i guess logically how can a small amp module give a better sound than a dedicated amp like fiio e12 or other portable amps

it seems I will order the fiio e12 to enjoy that combo with fiio x7 and the extra bass boost, as it seems that fiio is not gonna release a bass boost amp anyway

I feel the same way with the headstage Arrow 5tx, which i fully recommend!

 

[Sound Eq]

i feel the thin sound and brittle sound signature need an amp that gives full bodied compensation to the sabre dac
 
i have the am3 and am5 and honestly its not getting me the joy as having a portable amp connected to fiio x7,
 
maybe fiio need to think of making a tube amp to go with the fiio x7 as simply that brittlness and lack of body in sound needs a warm full bodied amp and non of the amp modules is doing it for me
 
i wish that they choose a different dac as it seems sabre dacs still sound brittle and thin
 
again i am not talking bout loudness i am talking about sound signatures of that sabre dac, to overcome that i have to rely so heavily on eq which can be frustrating as that thin signature is a pain to fix

 

[Sound Eq]

I feel the same way with the headstage Arrow 5tx, which i fully recommend!

yeah i have the 5tx but its sent to be fixed which is why i miss it alot

 

[Laird]

James,
 
If you guys would consider the following - this is how other, more sophisticated players geared for larger libraries tend to work (or something very similar):
 
Firstly - PLEASE put artist and album inside genre for browsing. Don't just go from genre to song. It is pretty much unusable this way. Really, even going straight from Artist to Song can be pretty unusable. Going Genre->Artist->Album->Song or Artist->Album->Song makes finding music much easier. If some users prefer the more direct method, an "All Songs" Pseudo-album under artist and an "all artists" pseudo-artist on the artist list would take care of it.
 
Secondly -
Consider adding two options for browsing in the player app:
1) "Use Album Artist rather than Artist for browsing"
2) <if option 1 is ON> "Ignore compilation tag"
 
Then alter how you build the artist lists for navigation as follows:
 
if (UserPrefs.UseAlbumArtist == false) {  // pretty much what you do now...
   ArtistToUseForNavigation = TrackTags.Artist
} else {  // a far better way to manage artist lists for large libraries, using a potentially "computed" album artist value ...
 
   // if this is a compilation, and the user wants compilations grouped
   if ((Tags.isCompilation) && (not UserPrefs.IgnoreCompilationTag)) then {
      if (existsAndIsNonBlank(TrackTags.AlbumArtist)) then {
         ArtistToUseForNavigation = AlbumArtist  // if they force-feed you the album artist, you should use it - even if it "wrong" in theory.
      } else {
         ArtistToUseForNavigation = "Various Artists" // or "Compilations" or whatever - just always use the same thing and make it make sense
      }
   } else {  // treat track as though it is not from a compilation, either because the compilation tag is not set or because the user prefers to ignore it
     if (existsAndIsNonBlank(TrackTags.AlbumArtist)) then {
       ArtistToUseForNavigation = AlbumArtist
   } else {
      if (existsAndIsNonBlank(TrackTags.Artist)) then {
        ArtistToUseForNavigation = Artist
      } else {    // not a compilation and yet neither artist nor album artist are set...ouch
        ArtistToUseForNavigation = "Unknown Artist" // or something like that
      }
   }
}
 
Note however, that when the track data is displayed during playback (the "now playing" display - which is NOT browsing), the actual artist field should be used rather than album artist. So you navigate to your copy of "Subdivisions: A Tribute to Rush" you find it under "various artists" (or "compilations" or whatever) but when you have Kip Winger's rendering of "Spirit of the Radio" playing the "now playing screen" shows the album art, the song title as "Spirit of the Radio", the album name as "Subdivisions: A Tribute to Rush", and the Artist's name as "Kip Winger" (and NOT "Various Artists").
 
Thx

 

[Sonic Defender]

@Laird thank you for mentioning those items, it kills me how compilations are handled. In JRiver for instance, unless I force the album artist flat, and the track artists, you end up with folders for every single artist on the compilation in your library. I simply detest that. I just want to see and access the compilation as one entity, sure as you rightfully mention, during playback it may be nice to see the actual track artists, but for pure organizational purposes, you nailed it, I just want the compilation treated as a single entity. I purchase the Saint-Germain Des-Pres Café series, 18 volumes of mostly double discs. What a nightmare it was when I was getting a folder for each artists!
 
I think for a portable device this is even more important as browsing through a massive artist library can be extremely frustrating when it is composed of many artists you don't care to separate out, you only want the compilation access. Not sure if I made sense, but I like your suggestions.

 

[y2jdmbfan]

I seem to be having an issue with the X7 I got from Amazon.com last week that was a used unit when it was supposed to be now. It seems the volume magically will increase when starting to play a track after the unit has been paused. Is this normal?

 

[jorge8]

yes

 

[boris65]

Why yes it's impossible and angry the firmware has a lot of bugs need to improve