[Slim1970]

Can the Apple iPhone connect to the X7 II with Bluetooth?

 

[Marvellous_DAP]

I did the test non stop, and took battery and temp readings every hour. Battery drain was very linear on both devices. X7ii dropping 13% and X5iii dropping 11% each hour.

Below is %charge showing on each device read on each hour.

X7ii: 100%, 87%, 74%, 61%, 48%, 35%, 23%, 9%

X5iii: 100%, 89%, 78%, 68%, 57%, 46%, 36%, 24%

That seems about right and consistent with my overall impression as well.

Decent battery life for a DAP driving a desktop-class chip, not the best but good enough for a day use.

Just used up the last bit of battery (left 5%) after 2-hrs of continuous listening - non-fatigue smooth listening without stop, a similar experience as my favourite Calyx M.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I've got a X5iii and was looking for some X7ii reviews but couldn't see any. I must be missing them, can anyone point me to any?

Thanks.

No official full-length review yet, X7mkii is a bit too new to expect those to come in so quick. The tours are also just starting right now

I'll be sure to answer questions and help people find the answers they are seeking!

I did the test non stop, and took battery and temp readings every hour. Battery drain was very linear on both devices. X7ii dropping 13% and X5iii dropping 11% each hour.

Below is %charge showing on each device read on each hour.

X7ii: 100%, 87%, 74%, 61%, 48%, 35%, 23%, 9%

X5iii: 100%, 89%, 78%, 68%, 57%, 46%, 36%, 24%

Thank you! Tests like this are quite valuable! I often don't have the time to do this type of test so test so precisely!

What volume were each running on? Also, only playig music, FLAC, or also streaming and other stuff going on during the tests?

 

[dsrk]

Yep! You're having the exact same quality with all levels of FLAC compression

Higher FLAC compression levels will make the algorithm save more space by using a more agressive compression algorithm, but lossless is lossless!

FLAC offers the exact same data as it was in the CD, so you're basically archiving the CD versions of the songs, nothing can beat that, maybe except for Hi-Res, if you can find your favorite music in Hi-Res formats... I can't really do that

You do sound like you're having quite a bit of fun with your DAPs in there! The oldest DAPs I have lying around are mostly Clip+ and Cowon J3... Both functional, but that clip+ has some issues with its 3.5 jack and I didn't really had a chance to fix it, maybe won't have soon because I don't have good skill with a weilding pen.

To stay on thread, I can't wait to get my paws on X7mkii. It should arrive at the same time with DX200 which is another DAP I am really curious about

I am desperately waiting for the comparison between these two, enjoy your time with both!!!

 

[CarstenF]

I guess it's because 256kbps is good enough for most people and Apple is more than happy with the growth of Apple Music. Switching to lossless streaming (like Tidal) won't attract much more customers but will inevitably add cost to their infrastructure. I'd like to see Apple Music streams at CD quality, but it may never happen...

I think they are generally too slow to embrace the trend to higher resolution both in video (where Apple TV still does not support 4K res and 10 bit color) and in audio. They are slowly catching on with the next Apple TV supporting 4K (almost two years later than Amazon Fire TV) and now flac support in ios 11.
I"m sure under Steve Jobs they would have been leading in high res (he was the first to introduce retina resolution to displays) and he would have talked all music labels into having hi res audio in iTunes. Sadly, Tim Cooke is not an innovator but only a good production manager...

 

[CarstenF]

My X7 II arrived today!!!
That was pretty quick considering I ordered only 3 days ago from seller FiiO on Amazon.co.uk and I don"t live in the UK.

First impression: it looks and feels good -
And most important : it also sounds very good. My first impressions are based on listening to it only for a few hours.
The battery was almost fully charged when it arrived so I installed Tidal (HIFI mode), connected to my WLan and started listening straight away. Headphone used for these first impressions was Sennheiser HD 800S connected to the single ended 3.5 mm port, gain mode on the FiiO was low as it had enough power to drive the 300 Ohm Sennheiser to a good volume (on pop music tracks).

First impression : I think sound quality single ended is on about the same level of sound quality as the Pono Player (which I prefer over Chord Mojo and IDsD Micro Black Label, which I have both sold) and it is better than my old IBasso DX90.

I think the Apodizing Fast Roll-off filter which was preset as standard is actually a good choice as transients sound pretty good with it and treble extension is also good with it.
I also compared the minimum phase slow and fast roll-off filters.
A good way to compare these filters is to select a song with good percussion, for example with cymbals. I used Same Ol" Mistakes from the album Anti Deluxe by Rihanna for this.
I expected the minimum phase slow roll-off filter to sound best, as the Pono Player uses a customized version of this filter (Pono does not use the standard filters built into the ESS Sabre dac chip). While the minimum phase slow roll-off filter sounded quite good, it had slightly less treble extension than its counterpart on the Pono, so perhaps the kHz where the filter kicks in or the degree of slowness are differently chosen from the Pono. I then changed to minimum phase fast roll-off which had more treble. But from first comparison I actually preferred and switched back to the Apodizing Fast Roll-off filter, which I then used for the rest of my listening.
Filter choices are most important when listening to 44,1 kHz PCM (normal CD quality or mp3 / aac) music. They are not so important for high res or DSD. That is because there is only a small kHz segment between the highest frequency we can still hear (15 to 19 kHz max depending on age) and the cd Nyquist frequency of 22,05 kHz. With high res music, there is more distance between the Nyquist frequency and the maximum frequency humans can hear so that filters can be chosen which are less steep and affect phase and timing in the audible range less. DSD also does not have the same filter problem as PCM but unfortunately most current recordings are not available in DSD.

So as a quick summary: the FiiO X7 II sounds very good from first listening, with good detail, an even reproduction of all frequencies, decent bass, good mids and treble, good transients (Apodizing Fast Roll-off filter).
Tomorrow, I"ll try a more power demanding Hifiman headphone and hopefully do some listening in balanced mode.

 

[CarstenF]

Does someone know whether it is possible to enable double-tap to wake (from screen off) on the X7 II or is that an Android 6 feature (my Android phone has this function which is quite convenient).

 

[XP_98]

I am desperately waiting for the comparison between these two, enjoy your time with both!!!

I'm waiting fir this comparison too (in balanced mode)...
Also X7II vs X5III (in balanced mode).
...And if possible, X7II vs Plenue 2 (in balanced mode).

Thank you in advance

 

[superbike999]

Is there a comparison between the AM3 and AM3A ? (not a spec comparison but a listening comparison)

I'm not sure whether anyone has answered this as I'm just catching up on some older posts.

I have tried the AM3 and compared it with the the AM3A. I am using Sennheiser HD800A with a Sennheiser HDVD amplifier with the supplied balanced cable. I prefer the sound of the AM3A. The AM3 does not appear to reveal as much detail. It sounds a bit muffled in comparison, whereas the AM3A has a slightly lighter sound, which I prefer as it reveals a little more of the treble frequencies.

I have swopped back to the AM3A. I have also used it with the Shure SE846 with the FiiO balanced cable and again I prefer the AM3A.

I have tried several tracks, mainly progressive rock and some old rock'n'roll recordings, ripped from CD. Dark Side Of The Moon sounds excellent. My test track for treble frequencies is Chubby Checker's Limbo Rock, which has some excellent cymbal work.

Hope this helps. YMMV.

 

[Zike]

I'm not sure whether anyone has answered this as I'm just catching up on some older posts.

I have tried the AM3 and compared it with the the AM3A. I am using Sennheiser HD800A with a Sennheiser HDVD amplifier with the supplied balanced cable. I prefer the sound of the AM3A. The AM3 does not appear to reveal as much detail. It sounds a bit muffled in comparison, whereas the AM3A has a slightly lighter sound, which I prefer as it reveals a little more of the treble frequencies.

I have swopped back to the AM3A. I have also used it with the Shure SE846 with the FiiO balanced cable and again I prefer the AM3A.

I have tried several tracks, mainly progressive rock and some old rock'n'roll recordings, ripped from CD. Dark Side Of The Moon sounds excellent. My test track for treble frequencies is Chubby Checker's Limbo Rock, which has some excellent cymbal work.

Hope this helps. YMMV.

Thank you for the feedback.

I was waiting for such a comparison (AM3<>AM3A), I have a HD800S and your comparison is really helpful.

I read that you compared the sound of the AM3 to the AM3A and you preferrered the AM3A.

But with your setup did you also compare the X7II sound amplified by the HDVD 800 to the sound amplified by the AM3A ?

 

[JaviAl]

Thank you for the feedback.

But with your setup did you also compare the X7II sound amplified by the HDVD 800 to the sound amplified by the AM3A ?

I'm interest in that too.

 

[tomwoo]

I think they are generally too slow to embrace the trend to higher resolution both in video (where Apple TV still does not support 4K res and 10 bit color) and in audio. They are slowly catching on with the next Apple TV supporting 4K (almost two years later than Amazon Fire TV) and now flac support in ios 11.
I"m sure under Steve Jobs they would have been leading in high res (he was the first to introduce retina resolution to displays) and he would have talked all music labels into having hi res audio in iTunes. Sadly, Tim Cooke is not an innovator but only a good production manager...

I remember Jobs said MP3 was encoded by 3-year old during one of his presentations. That was one of the reasons why he believed his iTunes store, which had AAC encoded and artwork embeded music, was the best at the time. Perhaps he was pretty satisfied with the sound quality of 256kbps AAC.

 

[CarstenF]

I remember Jobs said MP3 was encoded by 3-year old during one of his presentations. That was one of the reasons why he believed his iTunes store, which had AAC encoded and artwork embeded music, was the best at the time. Perhaps he was pretty satisfied with the sound quality of 256kbps AAC.

At the time AAC was an advancement over pm2 and a good compromise given the Internet and cellular download speeds (the 3G network wasn"t even operational in all countries if I recall correctly) and given that the first iPhones had limited storage capacity. But today we have LTE speed, almost everyone has a quick WLAN with 50 or more mbps and the iPhone has 256 GB an the X7II can have 512 GB.

 

[CarstenF]

Off topic: I just discovered that archive.org has made available several thousands of old records in 78rpm as 24 bit flac downloads: https://archive.org/details/georgeblood?&sort=-downloads&page=2

I tried to research the copyright situation. Apparently for these old music recordings prior to 1972, US Federal copyright law does not apply but US state copyright law may apply. But most archive.org should have researched that and I guess the copyright of these works has expired.
I"m going to download some Billie Holiday tracks in flac format to try on the FiiO X7.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

I'm waiting fir this comparison too (in balanced mode)...

Last compare before DX was sold. Always found that device to be a puzzle with a missing piece. Dry flat audio with a stage/detail/neutrality like the original X7....which i didn't like. Power specs not seemingly reflected in regular listening or bass tests fr the extreme bass thread using identical app settings and track as we usually do over there

Also X7II vs X5III (in balanced mode)....X7ii sounds less warm and more treble presence. Wider presentation IMO