[Malakei]

Hi there guys, looking for FLACS for my newly aquired Iaudio X5. Please pm me. ALSO looking for someone with experience with the x5 and its settings. Im trying to set up my DAP for ideal SQ, right now i have all the bbe and mech bass set to off as well as all other features and set up my EQ to flat 5s.
Im looking into the purchase of a Qables silvercab LOD as well as a high end MINI-RCA for my car. Anyways any input would be great please pm me.

Oh and when i say aquire FLACs i mean purchase flacs from an original disc. I just simply dont need the cd since i have nowhere to store them in my car.

 

[cribeiro]

Hello Malakei,

the EQ of the original firmware will be "flat" when disabled. If you set all bands to 5, you will be boosting those frequencies, and the result will not be "flat" anymore (at least, it does not sound flat to me).

If you want to get the best out of your X5, load Rockbox. I did it, and never looked back.

Use the headphone output as line-out (the line-out in the "dock" has some SQ issues). If you have Rockbox, set the volume level to 0 if you are not plugging the DAP directly to headphones. Otherwise, just a tad below max. should be ok.

Regarding the purchase of FLACs, I am afraid I cannot help.

 

[Murugesh]

No need to Rockbox your X5. X5 already supports FLAC. Also, don't use X5's line-out, it's bad. If you planning to use headphone amp, then X5 is not a good choice (because of bad line-out).

I don't know about purchase of FLACs. Sorry.

 

[cribeiro]

Murugesh, you are of course right, the X5 supports FLAC. What I mean is that Rockbox allows to get even more out of the X5 for a number of reasons.

Maybe the most remarkable are gapless playback and a very flexible equalizing.
I should have mentioned that you will void the warranty if you do Rockbox.

Regarding the use of a headphone amp, I disagree. You can use a headphone amp, just plug it to the headphone output, instead of using the line-out. Then set the volume a tad below max to avoid distortion. If you use Rockbox, you should set it to 0.

I read somewhere here that the X5 is better than the "equivalent" Ipod when used without amp, while the Ipod through line out is marginally better than the X5 through headphone-out when used with amp. I have no experience with the Ipod, but I do use often the combination ogg6->X5 (through headphone out)->CordaPorta->Sennheiser HD650. I was very happy with it (until I listened to a vincent cd player with tube output + class A speaker amp (can't remember which) + K1000). It won't disappoint, in any case.

 

[Murugesh]

Cribeiro, I thought you meant Rockbox only for FLAC, sorry. I agree for other features like gapless playback Rockbox is the only option.

Using headphone out for amplification is not good choice IMHO. Because the reason for using dedicated amp is to by pass the X5's built-in amp. If we use headphone out for amp, then I guess the main purpose is defeated. Line-out, on the other hand is unaltered by the built-in amp. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[legatedm]

"If you planning to use headphone amp, then X5 is not a good choice (because of bad line-out)." ... From someone who has recently been interested in buying the X5, what's wrong with it?

 

[Murugesh]

The line-out sound is supposed to be unamplified but X5 line-out volume can be increased and decreased using the volume control. So it means it's going thru amplifier.

Also, the SQ of line-out is poor compared to headphone-out's.

 

[Malakei]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murugesh /img/forum/go_quote.gif The line-out sound is supposed to be unamplified but X5 line-out volume can be increased and decreased using the volume control. So it means it's going thru amplifier. Also, the SQ of line-out is poor compared to headphone-out's.

Are you serious???

I had no idea, i've been struggling with trying to find the best SQ DAP period and x5 came up numerous times in suggestions and it does sound good in the HPO, but i havent yet amped the LO, however I just bought a LOD and a mini IC for this which sounds like it was a total waste now. SOB!!! Howcome nobody ever pointed this out to me in my other x5 threads

Well i guess i get to compare at least and give my opinion about the LO. I hope for my sake you guys are wrong bout it. If not, i guess ill have some gear up for sale shorty after my purchase of it. What a pain in the ass lol.

As for rockbox, i do not care about gapless, unless by gapless you mean when i switch songs i didnt have to wait for the next song to start to skip again. This feature bothers me about the x5. Anyways, i wonder if firmware will help the SQ of the Line Out, as i only have 2.07 and I believe there is now 2.10 out.

hmmmmmm

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murugesh /img/forum/go_quote.gif The line-out sound is supposed to be unamplified but X5 line-out volume can be increased and decreased using the volume control. So it means it's going thru amplifier. Also, the SQ of line-out is poor compared to headphone-out's.

Not always. Some have a very high output signal and the only thing they do is decrease it by means of the volume pot.
This means that the signal at max volume (resitance reduced to zero) is the same as a line-out would be.
I don't know if the X5 is built that way, but to my ears it certainly seems so. I have my amp hooked up to the headphone out with volume (of the X5) on max and it sounds just fine.

 

[Murugesh]

Kees,

Unfortunately X5's line-out is not built that way. After verifying with lot of members I came to know this after I purchased it. Moreover, I used EQ and I heard EQed sound thru line-out. Can line-out be EQed? Since I did not have any idea to use headphone amp for X5, I'm saved. But X5's headphone out is really good. I'm very satisfied with it.



Malakei,

Sorry that no body did alert you about line-out issue. If you are considering Rockbox option, then I think I should warn you about some low points of RB. Rockboxed version will consume more battery power and the warranty will be void. You might have already knwon this but anyway wanted to tell you.

 

[jpelg]

The lineout of the X5 is reputed to have severe bass rolloff. There are FR graphs posted around here somewhere.

Its headphone-out does not experience the same FR problem.

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif The lineout of the X5 is reputed to have severe bass rolloff. There are FR graphs posted around here somewhere. Its headphone-out does not experience the same FR problem.

Severe is a bit of an over stetement I think, but the headphone out is better.
If the headphone out is an amped output, it is very well done. I cannot detect any sign of it and it serves me very well as input for my amp (Headroom Micro/desktop).

 

[Caribou679]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Murugesh /img/forum/go_quote.gif The line-out sound is supposed to be unamplified but X5 line-out volume can be increased and decreased using the volume control. So it means it's going thru amplifier. Also, the SQ of line-out is poor compared to headphone-out's.

This is weird! My X5 has a broken headphone jack so I pass through the line-out with the sub-pack to an amp and the X5 volume is not affected!It has no effect on the amp output.Only when the volume of the X5 is at zero, then no output, but from 1 to 40 it does nothing on the output.

Mind you to get proper sound out of the line-out I do not use any EQ and the EQ is set at NOR with the 5 bands at zero. If any EQ is set than the sound is crapped!