[FiiO]

Ok, quoting myself

I can confirm using Kodi player setup with WASAPI that it bypass windows sound subsystem and sample rate setting, like ASIO with Foobar.
Using it that way FIIO X7 DAC sample rate is automatic.

But... unfortunately FIIO does support only 24bits, no 16 bits... which means most of the time resampling will be there unless we are playing 24bits high-res audio.

@FiiO: Why no 16bits DAC support?

Dear friend,

Do you mean the display from the DAC interface in the X7MKII?
The DAC interface always shows the output bit depth as 24bits, even when the song itself is 16 bit. This is because the data is padded to 24bits before sending to the internal DAC and is a known issue.

Best regards

 

[Fred-svv]

I've had no success in solving this issue.... This is really, REALLY unsatisfying. I'm thinking about selling the DAP because of this issue...

(Tvhe video is in portuguese, but you'll get the idea as I swap sample rates)
In youtube:
in vimeo:

As you can all hear, there is this weird ringing on the test file. So I tried testing it with just music: there is a slight "ringing" as the windows bell sample, but there is a weird after noise that lingers behind the sounds... the transients are just so weird. This all goes away when I lower the sampling rate. (this happens with every test file I have, independent of its resolution)

No one else has had this ringing issue using the USB DAC @ 96kHz or higher sample rates? If I lower the sample rate I have no "ringing" problem but I have a serious lag issue. When I'm watching movies the sound is very off sync the explosions/speeches. I tried setting in every "USB Streaming Mode" option to see if this gets better. It does not solve the issue and if I use some options I get weird artifacts and "pops" instead of the "ringing".

This happens when I use docked on the K5 and normally connected via microUSB and using headphones. I have tested with my CIEM and my Hifiman Edition X v2.

No one here uses the X7ii as a USB DAC? Only as DAP??

FW: 1.0.5
USB driver: 4.11.0

Please help!!!

I have the same problem. Using my X7 Mark II as a Dac I can realize a small delay on Youtube videos. When I change it to something like @96 or @192K is very easy to realize the ringing. FiiO, you need to fix it ASAP!

 

[Chrono251]

Thanks for the answer.
Here are more details:
- I know that ASIO is separate from DS, that is why I tried both audio from foobar and windows sounds at 96kHz. The ringing was there with both.
- It is correct that I first noticed the issue with audio files 24 bit and 96kHz in foobar. They sounded awful.
- I tried different USB ports, I might try USB 2 ports that I haven't tested yet.
- If I downsample the 96kHz to say 44.1kHz, the ringing goes away. With audio files at 44.1kHz there is no ringing. I don't have anything sampled at frequencies other than 44.1 and 96kHz, so I cannot really determine the threshold sampling rate after which the issue starts.
I also noticed that on the X7ii display, the audio stream is detected at 24bit even when playing a 16bit audio file. This also happens when playing a 16bit from the device: Fiio Music indicates 24 bit, while other apps indicate 16bit (for the same songs).

Today I will perform some additional tests:
- I'll try playing the same audio files from my laptop;
- USB 2 port;
- convert FLAC to a different format, keeping same Fs.

I noticed that DLNA still doesn't work in Fiio Music. Will it ever be fixed?

An additional issue I found yesterday playing audio from the X7ii (using the AMP3A that was included) directly was hiss.
When I play a FLAC song (and the vast majority of my tracks are saved in this format) I can clearly hear hiss with both H and L gain. I'm using the FH1 with the balanced cable, but hiss was there also when I tried a different IEM (16ohm impedance) with the unbalanced cable connected to the 3.5mm socket. I didn't hear hiss with the 300ohm HD650, but of course the volume was very low. I also tried different programs (Fiio Music, Hiby player and Neutron), but hiss sounds pretty much the same way with the same intensity, suggesting that the issue might be in the hardware itself.
I also noted that the sound is somewhat distorted in songs with very low volume parts (ie lead in with volume increase at the beginning of the song).
What I hear is this:
- when nothing is being played there is no hiss at all.
- as soon as I start playing a FLAC song I hear hiss right away.
- hiss might be covered as soon as volume of the song increases.
- in very low volume sections of songs, sound is often slightly distorted and "merged" with hiss.
- no difference when using Android mode or Pure Music mode.
- I have to try this properly, but I think that with MP3s the hiss is not as strong, is it maybe an additional issue with FLACs?
- I also have to test again using the X7ii in DAC mode, to check for hiss when playing audio from the PC.

The hiss issue is a potential deal breaker for me. I can't stand playing jazz or other music with quiet sections with such an annoying background noise level. I'm still within the return period of the X7ii, so I'll think about it.

 

[Judge584]

Dear friend,

Do you mean the display from the DAC interface in the X7MKII?
The DAC interface always shows the output bit depth as 24bits, even when the song itself is 16 bit. This is because the data is padded to 24bits before sending to the internal DAC and is a known issue.

Best regards

Thank you for answering.
But what do you mean by saying this a known issue?
Will it be fixed, or not?

 

[Luke Redgen]

The headphone output on my X7-II just stopped working. Line-out still works, but the 3.5mm in the AM3 doesn't make any noise or show up on the screen. Any ideas?

 

[majo123]

Well literally just ordered mine and will be here in the next couple of days can't wait to try it out and compare to the original which I previously owned.

 

[Chrono251]

I did some test tonight and here is what I found.

Hiss
It seems that the root cause was the equalizer in Fiio Music. Even if I moved the sliders very slightly, the sound quality was significantly compromised. Both the slight ringing and strong hiss went away after turning EQ off. I double checked by turning EQ on and off again and the effects were confirmed.
The difference between EQ on and off is quite impressive, actually. I also figured out that the position of the sliders doesn't influence the amount of distortion or hiss, just by turning the EQ on the sound quality degrades. With the EQ off, the same section of the song has a very nice sound quality.
Is anybody else having issues with the EQ?
Is the EQ in Fiio Music a bad implementation that distorts the sound so much?
Does the Fiio Music EQ affect only the output from the app?

DLNA
Same question as per my previous post. Please fix it.

Ringing
I was committed to performing some tests. I decided to try the "baseline" to check if ringing was there again: guess what? The same 24 bit 96 kHz that yesterday had the ringing issue tonight sounded much better, with no issue. The DAC was with the same settings as yesterday and I also used the same USB port. I tried another USB as well and sound was fine and also the same audio file converted to WAV.
Just to make sure I tried DS with the Windows sounds and all the settings up to 24 bit 96 kHz sounded correctly, with no issue. Ringing was there with a higher sample rate than 96 kHz (176.4 kHz and 192 kHz, both at 16 and 24 bit), though.
The only difference between today and yesterday was that I updated the Realtek Audio drivers: is it possible that maybe there was some sort of conflict that affected the sound before the update?

 

[Judge584]

So EQ was part of the problem, which explain why I didn't experience those issues because I never use it.
Still, it appears you still have ringing at 176.4 and 192Khz and I can't reproduce it : is your X7 set in performance mode? Which dac filter are you using?

 

[Chrono251]

So EQ was part of the problem, which explain why I didn't experience those issues because I never use it.
Still, it appears you still have ringing at 176.4 and 192Khz and I can't reproduce it : is your X7 set in performance mode? Which dac filter are you using?

It was set to balanced mode. I changed it to performance and also 176.4 and 192 kHz are not distorted, thank you!
It is interesting though that after switching back to balanced mode... 176.4 and 192 kHz work as well. I'm not sure what is the logic behind that.
This is similar to what I experienced yesterday playing some 96 kHz songs: yesterday it was there, today it is not. I'm happy for this of course, but I prefer knowing the reason why there is a change in the behavior of the device and in this case I have no idea what made the difference.

Does performance mode significantly affect battery life? I don't have audio above 96 kHz, but if the device works better without using too much power, I might just leave it in performance mode.

I don't normally use the EQ, but when I tried it in the past it just modified the frequency response without the amount of distortion I found in the X7ii. I don't think I will use the EQ again in this DAP anyway... I think that the implementation could be improved, there seem to be a big margin to make it usable. I'm not sure if other users of the X7ii had the same problem.

I also found another small issue (just an inconvenience). If I connect the X7ii to my PC as USB DAC without closing the Fiio Music app, after closing the DAC mode the previous/next buttons on the side of the device don't work any more, but just the pause/play button. To solve it I have to close the Music app and open it again, and then all the buttons work.

 

[skyline385]

I just ordered one and it should be here today but i am concerned about the EQ distortion posts i am reading. Is the EQ really bad on the X7 MK2? Also what about VIPER effect and it's FIREqualiser? Moreover, i just saw in some videos that VIPER effect can be accessed only through the Music app? Isn't it supposed to be system wide on Android?

 

[397324]

I've never had any problems with either FiiO's or Viper effects EQ. Viper effects is built-in to FiiO's music app and therefore is only effective when using it, as opposed to system wide.

 

[skyline385]

I've never had any problems with either FiiO's or Viper effects EQ. Viper effects is built-in to FiiO's music app and therefore is only effective when using it, as opposed to system wide.

That's really disappointing. I bought the X7 assuming it would be system wide and i could use it with some of my streaming apps too. So, you can't tweak the music then on any of the streaming services?

 

[397324]

Viper is function limited but free, as it comes with built-in with FiiO's music app. If you want/need Viper effects to be system-wide, I presume you could just purchase it, as you would have to do with any non-FiiO DAP on the market today.

 

[skyline385]

Viper is function limited but free, as it comes with built-in with FiiO's music app. If you want/need Viper effects to be system-wide, I presume you could just purchase it, as you would have to do with any non-FiiO DAP on the market today.

If i understand correctly, VIPER effect requires your phone to be rooted to be installed. I don't think it's available on the market sadly.

 

[397324]

I can't answer that one, unfortunately, as I always thought it was just an app you could purchase and use on any Android device. Aren't there other stand-alone EQ apps available?