[oliv928]

Hello jdog,
 
I have some progress, but I still worry with the device
What happened :
SD card unusable : file names, evrything wrong with strange characters
Then I try to format another 16G SD card, and process RockBox with this card : FULL SUCCESS : thank you very much for your help
 
but...
When using this card with the 770c, file transfer is very slow ; 2MB/s. And, from time to time it is disconnected from PC...
 
So I am afraid that my 770c is bad working with SD card, and, progressivly make it unusable (Rockbox is not the cause)
Maybe I should use a new SD card with high quality and speed standard. What is your experience about that ? Mine is a Sandisk microSD HC I
 
I will now experience RB with this great 770c
Thank you again

 

[jdog]

  Hello jdog,
 
I have some progress, but I still worry with the device
What happened :
SD card unusable : file names, evrything wrong with strange characters
Then I try to format another 16G SD card, and process RockBox with this card : FULL SUCCESS : thank you very much for your help
 
but...
When using this card with the 770c, file transfer is very slow ; 2MB/s. And, from time to time it is disconnected from PC...
 
So I am afraid that my 770c is bad working with SD card, and, progressivly make it unusable (Rockbox is not the cause)
Maybe I should use a new SD card with high quality and speed standard. What is your experience about that ? Mine is a Sandisk microSD HC I
 
I will now experience RB with this great 770c
Thank you again

So, are you trying to transfer files to your microsd card while it is in the 770C?  I never do this because it is so slow. I don't think the 770C will harm your microsd card, it's just a very slow transfer.  Instead, I put the microsd in an adapter and then transfer the files to the microsd card directly from my computer.  Your current microsd card is probably ok, but I am sure you will eventually want to use at least a 64 gb card.  The nice thing about rockbox is you can set up files in your 770C by  artists' names alphabetically, so you don't have to use another program like Drivesort.en to arrange your files.  I'm happy to see you were able to rockbox your 770C, I think you'll find that the 770C is much more valuable with good firmware.  Enjoy...

 

[oliv928]

Yes
I have listened yesterady night some music with 770c RB
I will now compare sound quality with RB & Xuelin software with some particular tracks. My feeling was : sound is confusing in bass with RB but I am not sure about that, and it dépends also of my headphones for sure. Also I am not sure that the EQ is really efficient.
For that, I will now retrieve the way to boot with Xuelin software : I am sure it was described by you here. Don't worry about that.
For SD card problem : maybe it was due to the various reboot I made, but I really suspect that transfering files directly to the SD via 770c really hurts the card and sudenly it becomes unusable, even with PC; I will re format my previous 32G card and try to use it again. 16G card is not enough. I can confirm that RB plays well 24/192 FLAC files, as Xuelin FW can't.
Next step for me is to try and by new headphones : my actual old HD545 reference Senheiser is very nice but lacks bass. I have tryed Sony MDR-1000X : nice. JVC HP-DX700 : nice too. I have prepared a comparison table and will Schedule test in shops.
This is exciting !!
I think, yes, 770c is the best value in this range of price. The only bad point is : missing real switches, but this is manageable. Before buying the 770c, I did also a comparison table, after days of review readings, with calcultated rank. I can share it with any one who is interested.
Again, thank you very much jdog. Without your support I am sure I would have stop 770C RB project.

 

[jdog]

  Yes
I have listened yesterady night some music with 770c RB
I will now compare sound quality with RB & Xuelin software with some particular tracks. My feeling was : sound is confusing in bass with RB but I am not sure about that, and it dépends also of my headphones for sure. Also I am not sure that the EQ is really efficient.
For that, I will now retrieve the way to boot with Xuelin software : I am sure it was described by you here. Don't worry about that.
For SD card problem : maybe it was due to the various reboot I made, but I really suspect that transfering files directly to the SD via 770c really hurts the card and sudenly it becomes unusable, even with PC; I will re format my previous 32G card and try to use it again. 16G card is not enough. I can confirm that RB plays well 24/192 FLAC files, as Xuelin FW can't.
Next step for me is to try and by new headphones : my actual old HD545 reference Senheiser is very nice but lacks bass. I have tryed Sony MDR-1000X : nice. JVC HP-DX700 : nice too. I have prepared a comparison table and will Schedule test in shops.
This is exciting !!
I think, yes, 770c is the best value in this range of price. The only bad point is : missing real switches, but this is manageable. Before buying the 770c, I did also a comparison table, after days of review readings, with calcultated rank. I can share it with any one who is interested.
Again, thank you very much jdog. Without your support I am sure I would have stop 770C RB project.

Your 770c now has dual firmware, it has the Rockbox firmware and the Xuelin firmware (v2.03B).  To get the Xuelin firmware, start with the player off.  Then press the power on button and then immediately press one of the touch keys on the front (any one will work).  The timing can get a little tricky at first, but you have to press a touch key button right AFTER you power on the player.  Don't get frustrated, because you may have to power off and then on a few times to get this to work. The first time you do this, the Xuelin firmware will be in Chinese.  On the first screen, you will go to the bottom line and select.  I think the player will "update" the files on your microsd card, and then you will come to another screen in Chinese.  I think you will go down to line 7 and select, then you see your  language choices.  On any subsequent returns to the Xuelin firmware, the language will be in the language will be the one you chose....

 

[oliv928]

hello,
After some time here is my experience :
With my device, 770c with RB is not stable at all : Music is sometimes freezing with horrible noise not depending the music format. Regulary system is frozen with error message. Difficult to boot with Xuelin firmware, even with pressing button just after pressing ON.
So I decided to flash it to original firmware and then, problem again with device not detected after pressing switch. After a lot of manipulations, I finally succeed to flash to Xuelin firmware and it seems to work well. By the way, image downloaded from ihifi website for new 770C (wm8740) is still 2.02; Rockbox is providing 2.03b. I don't know which one is the latest one for new770c earlier than 2016.06; Maybe I will try to put the one providen by Rockbox (2.03b).
Well, this is it : It is bad, because of poor Xuelin firmware, but I prefer to have a Player working well, even with restrictive possibilities...
My opinion is : RB for 770c is not mature today, maybe a beta version, or this is due to my particular device, knowing the issues I have had with SD cards. I have recently bought a 128GB new one, formatted to FAT32 of course. I am of course curious to know other people experience.
I will now try to listen to music with this very good player and stay informed.
Thank you jdog for your precisous help

 

[oliv928]

I wonder what is the last firmware for new 770c earlier than 06.2016 ?
Is it 2.02 available at ihifi xuelin site ?
Or is it 2.03, 2.03b or 2.04 ? Provided in Rockbox bootloader ? I think 2.03 and 2.04 have new user possibilities ? EQ ? file alphabeticaly sorted ? FLAC24 bits ?
Xuelin does not communicate about 770 versions and détails on firmware updates. This is not very "professional"
I will ask Penon audio.
I am also wondering : what is exactly the difference between new 770c after 2016.06 and new 770c earlier 2016.06 ? Is  the 770c after 2016.06 better ?
Penon has delivered me the earlier 2016.06. Delivering was in february 2017... Why not the new one ? Old stock ?

 

[jdog]

  hello,
After some time here is my experience :
With my device, 770c with RB is not stable at all : Music is sometimes freezing with horrible noise not depending the music format. Regulary system is frozen with error message. Difficult to boot with Xuelin firmware, even with pressing button just after pressing ON.
So I decided to flash it to original firmware and then, problem again with device not detected after pressing switch. After a lot of manipulations, I finally succeed to flash to Xuelin firmware and it seems to work well. By the way, image downloaded from ihifi website for new 770C (wm8740) is still 2.02; Rockbox is providing 2.03b. I don't know which one is the latest one for new770c earlier than 2016.06; Maybe I will try to put the one providen by Rockbox (2.03b).
Well, this is it : It is bad, because of poor Xuelin firmware, but I prefer to have a Player working well, even with restrictive possibilities...
My opinion is : RB for 770c is not mature today, maybe a beta version, or this is due to my particular device, knowing the issues I have had with SD cards. I have recently bought a 128GB new one, formatted to FAT32 of course. I am of course curious to know other people experience.
I will now try to listen to music with this very good player and stay informed.
Thank you jdog for your precisous help

I'm not sure why you are having problems with Rockbox.  Rockbox has been very stable on my 770C (and on my 960 dual-core and 800).  I have had no problems at all.  I do not know how Xvortex was able to get the the Xuelin v2.03b version for his Rockbox port for the 770C.  Just to make sure, you did  extract both the rockbox-full...zip and the rockbox-update...zip files for the 770C to your microsd card?  The Xuelin v2.03 firmware does not seem to add very much to the 770C as far as I can tell...  You might consider a PM to xVortex to see if he can send you a copy of the Xuelin v2.03b.  Again, I'm sorry to see you are having difficulties with Rockbox.  

 

[jdog]

  I wonder what is the last firmware for new 770c earlier than 06.2016 ?
Is it 2.02 available at ihifi xuelin site ?
Or is it 2.03, 2.03b or 2.04 ? Provided in Rockbox bootloader ? I think 2.03 and 2.04 have new user possibilities ? EQ ? file alphabeticaly sorted ? FLAC24 bits ?
Xuelin does not communicate about 770 versions and détails on firmware updates. This is not very "professional"
I will ask Penon audio.
I am also wondering : what is exactly the difference between new 770c after 2016.06 and new 770c earlier 2016.06 ? Is  the 770c after 2016.06 better ?
Penon has delivered me the earlier 2016.06. Delivering was in february 2017... Why not the new one ? Old stock ?

Again, I do not think that the v2.03b for the pre-6/16 770C adds very much compared to the v2.02.  Xuelin's weak point is firmware development and they do not answer emails very often either.  I can tell you that the Xuelin v2.03b (co-loaded) with the Rockbox firmware does offer cue support and does seem to handle 16/44 FLAC files better than some of the earlier versions, but I don't know if it will play higher resolution FLAC files or not.  I'll have to try this out later and let you know.  The EQ choices are still pre-sets, so no graphical equalizer...  There is no album art either.  Again, PM xVortex and ask him about the v2.03b; I don't know if he modified the Xuelin firmware or not, but he has been very generous with us in the past and I would think he would be willing to share the v2.03b file with you.  Good luck and keep us updated....  You might consider contacting Penon Audio at some point if you feel your 770C is defective, they are an excellent company and they tend to go out of their way to help people who are members of Head.fi.

 

[oliv928]

  I'm not sure why you are having problems with Rockbox.  Rockbox has been very stable on my 770C (and on my 960 dual-core and 800).  I have had no problems at all.  I do not know how Xvortex was able to get the the Xuelin v2.03b version for his Rockbox port for the 770C.  Just to make sure, you did  extract both the rockbox-full...zip and the rockbox-update...zip files for the 770C to your microsd card?  The Xuelin v2.03 firmware does not seem to add very much to the 770C as far as I can tell...  You might consider a PM to xVortex to see if he can send you a copy of the Xuelin v2.03b.  Again, I'm sorry to see you are having difficulties with Rockbox.  

hello,
jdog : "you did  extract both the rockbox-full...zip and the rockbox-update...zip files for the 770C to your microsd card?"
> No ! maybe that is the point I missed ! : I did extract only rockbox-full. I was wondering why there are 2 different packages, with the same ".rockbox" folder and some with the same file names (245). When I compare contents, some files in the update are older than the same files in original full. How do you do what you said ? Do you copy paste the 2 package contents in the same folder on the SD card ? When I try to do that, Windows asks me : 245 files have same name. Do you want to replace with new ones ?
This is very Strange from xvortex. They just release at the same time these 2 contents...
 
I will try this after your answer ...
 
Thank you also for the explanations about 2.02 and 2.03b.
Xuelin weak point is for sure firmware, but I woul say : their weakpoint is also : clear communications about firmwares and different versions of 770 & 770c. So many different versions is not clear for customers. Also I Wonder : 1 why this post 06.2016 version ? Is it better than earlier 06.2016 ? Why did Penon deliver me a earlier 2016.06 ?

 

[jdog]

 
hello,
jdog : "you did  extract both the rockbox-full...zip and the rockbox-update...zip files for the 770C to your microsd card?"
> No ! maybe that is the point I missed ! : I did extract only rockbox-full. I was wondering why there are 2 different packages, with the same ".rockbox" folder and some with the same file names (245). When I compare contents, some files in the update are older than the same files in original full. How do you do what you said ? Do you copy paste the 2 package contents in the same folder on the SD card ? When I try to do that, Windows asks me : 245 files have same name. Do you want to replace with new ones ?
This is very Strange from xvortex. They just release at the same time these 2 contents...
 
I will try this after your answer ...
 
Thank you also for the explanations about 2.02 and 2.03b.
Xuelin weak point is for sure firmware, but I woul say : their weakpoint is also : clear communications about firmwares and different versions of 770 & 770c. So many different versions is not clear for customers. Also I Wonder : 1 why this post 06.2016 version ? Is it better than earlier 06.2016 ? Why did Penon deliver me a earlier 2016.06 ?

Yes, all you do is first extract the rockbox full file to your microsd card, then you extract the rockbox update file to your microsd card; you will get a pop-up that asks if you want to replace files, you then click on "yes to all"...  I can tell you that Xuelin is infamous for making modifications in their DAPs and then selling them as different versions.  The 960 had three different versions, the 770C has now had 3 versions.  This makes it very difficult to keep up with their firmware updates, esp for the 770C line.  The absolute weakest point for all Xuelin DAPs is the firmware; it tends to be very basic and simplistic.  I would have thought they would have improved this aspect of their products by now...  It looks like Xuelin has made some progress with the 990, but this is one of the few Xuelin DAPs I don't have....  Xuelin does not answer e-mails well at all either....

 

[jdog]

OK, so the Xuelin v2.03b firmware does not enable the 770C to play hi-res FLAC files, but the Rockbox will allow the 770C to play hi-res FLAC files.  Xuelin firmware does not allow for gapless playback either...

 

[TwinQY]

  hello,
After some time here is my experience :
With my device, 770c with RB is not stable at all : Music is sometimes freezing with horrible noise not depending the music format. Regulary system is frozen with error message. Difficult to boot with Xuelin firmware, even with pressing button just after pressing ON.
So I decided to flash it to original firmware and then, problem again with device not detected after pressing switch. After a lot of manipulations, I finally succeed to flash to Xuelin firmware and it seems to work well. By the way, image downloaded from ihifi website for new 770C (wm8740) is still 2.02; Rockbox is providing 2.03b. I don't know which one is the latest one for new770c earlier than 2016.06; Maybe I will try to put the one providen by Rockbox (2.03b).
Well, this is it : It is bad, because of poor Xuelin firmware, but I prefer to have a Player working well, even with restrictive possibilities...
My opinion is : RB for 770c is not mature today, maybe a beta version, or this is due to my particular device, knowing the issues I have had with SD cards. I have recently bought a 128GB new one, formatted to FAT32 of course. I am of course curious to know other people experience.
I will now try to listen to music with this very good player and stay informed.
Thank you jdog for your precisous help

I've had maybe 5-6 hard crashes total with my Rockboxed 770C - one of them happened yesterday. I am using a 128GB card as well. The crashes don't bother me; this port does not have the luxury of being maintained for bug fixes like the more popular Rockbox ports. Plus the crashes are mostly predictable on my part as they seem to occur for specific files/codecs. No problems with noise or freezing though. If a file is being iffy, it usually results in a hard crash.
 
I will note that XVortex pulled in a bunch of changes from upstream to his repo some time in March, and that seems to be reflected in the system update archives on his site for the new 770C. Nothing 770C specific though, from the looks of the commit:
​https://github.com/xvortex/rockbox/commit/162cb901ded39291cee08a9b09b61288fad62804
​
​More pressing, is the general performance. This 128GB card is zippy enough, but file access and just sifting through menus is quite a bit slower than, say, a Rockboxed Clip Zip. Also, the USB port has become rather finicky - very difficult to keep the adapter in and maintain a connection.

 

[1TrickPony]

@jdog -- question of the latest iteration of the 770C, is there more than 1 fw available?
 
Eventually this may simply conk out on me. I am sure to buy another (what's a hundred bucks right?). From what I read the 780 is warmer and mid forward. I'm also using an OPUS#1 dap, but I'm drawn to the forgiving warm sound of the 770. Tis a really decent entry level dap. I just wanted to ask, since I'm on the fence on buying this one again vs the 780.

 

[jdog]

@ 1TrickPony.  Ok, as usual, Xuelin has done their best to confuse the masses.  The new 770C (Wolfson Dac 8740) actually has 2 versions, one made prior to 6/16 and the other made after 6/16.  I really do not know the exact differences in hardware between the 2 versions, but they each have their own firmware.  They also both have their own Rockbox port, thanks to xVortex.  The newer model has the date written on the back of the DAP, so just make sure which one you have before you start trying to change firmware.  Believe me, the firmware for the older (new) 770C and for the newer (new) 770C are not interchangeable....The older (new) 770C has a new Xuelin firmware version (v2.03b) that is included with the Rockbox port, but it does not appear to add much to previous versions. If you get a new 770C produced prior to 6/16, you might see if xVortex can direct you to a place to download this new firmware version, but I would personally recommend you just Rockbox the 770C.   I think the latest firmware for the newer (new) 770C is v2.04b or maybe 2.04c.  I don't have the newer new 770C so I can't say anything about the firmware update; I do see from the Chinese forum that people are being asked to contact Xuelin customer service to find out where to download the newest firmware versions.  I agree with your choice for the 770C over the 780.  Although I really enjoy the sound quality of the 780 and the ease of navigation with the side buttons, the firmware is very simplistic and except for its ability to play hi res files, the 780 is a very rudimentary DAP....  The 780 is also very slow in handing high res files.  So the 780 is a very nice secondary DAP, but if you plan to carry around a lot of files, and you want the features offered thru Rockbox,  go with the 770C.  Good luck.

 

[zepmaj]

I can confirm, my 770c (new version) came with 2.04c.