[159650]

Well, came around to finally upgrade my original 770's firmware (currently running V1.04) and it doesn't sound like the new V2.02 is worth the trouble. Is there anything good about the new FW? my only complaint about the current FW which Xuelin failed to address since the original V2.01 is the playback issue with some FLAC files when there would be random skitting and cracking of files while playing consecutive tracks. Really annoying.
 
But as always, SQ matters most. I'll sit and wait for the V2.03 or whatever. Seems like FW is an afterthought for Xuelin. Such a disappointment. Don't think I'll be buying another Xuelin player after this. Probably go for a Fiio X1 or Xduoo X3.

 

[MrMixzy]

  Well, came around to finally upgrade my original 770's firmware (currently running V1.04) and it doesn't sound like the new V2.02 is worth the trouble. Is there anything good about the new FW? my only complaint about the current FW which Xuelin failed to address since the original V2.01 is the playback issue with some FLAC files when there would be random skitting and cracking of files while playing consecutive tracks. Really annoying.
 
But as always, SQ matters most. I'll sit and wait for the V2.03 or whatever. Seems like FW is an afterthought for Xuelin. Such a disappointment. Don't think I'll be buying another Xuelin player after this. Probably go for a Fiio X1 or Xduoo X3.

I know how you feel. At first I was really sold by the 770c, and the fact that it was much cheaper than the competition; but after owning you can really tell the difference in the price. I would pick the x1 in a heartbeat over the 770c, my X3 really feels that much better, granted it costs more, but the extra money makes all the difference. If anyone wants to get 770c, I recommend saving up and getting the x3.

 

[jdog]

Unfortunately, Xuelin DAPs will never reach their full potential due to poor software development.  I do believe the players are well built and compare very well with competition in terms of sound quality.  The Rockbox program is an outstanding upgrade for the 960 dual core, and I've even emailed Xuelin directly with the files they need to Rockbox a 960 to check it out.  Don't know if they ever did this or not, but I would be willing to bet good money that if one of the execs at Xuelin Rockbox'd a 960 dual core, they wouldn't be messing around with the half-backed firmware update they have recently released...  I really am a bit surprised that Xuelin has not invested more into firmware development, as the Chinese forums are all shouting for better firmware...  Anyway, if the 770C remains popular, then maybe someone with the talent/time will develop a Rockbox port for it...  I guess we can dream, anyway.

 

[159650]

  Unfortunately, Xuelin DAPs will never reach their full potential due to poor software development.  I do believe the players are well built and compare very well with competition in terms of sound quality.  The Rockbox program is an outstanding upgrade for the 960 dual core, and I've even emailed Xuelin directly with the files they need to Rockbox a 960 to check it out.  Don't know if they ever did this or not, but I would be willing to bet good money that if one of the execs at Xuelin Rockbox'd a 960 dual core, they wouldn't be messing around with the half-backed firmware update they have recently released...  I really am a bit surprised that Xuelin has not invested more into firmware development, as the Chinese forums are all shouting for better firmware...  Anyway, if the 770C remains popular, then maybe someone with the talent/time will develop a Rockbox port for it...  I guess we can dream, anyway ​

I won't deny Xuelin's claim to SQ. I like my 770 and generally have no qualms about the sound it produces. But the UI is so bad that I can't compel myself to buy another one. Generally, I can forgive UI issues since I don't use much of what a modern DAP UI has to offer. I don't care about album covers as much as some, I don't care about navigation as much, heck I can forgive pretty much everything about the 770's interface except two things; the playback glitches on FLAC files and the fact that it also won't play anything above 24/44.1. These are functional issues and can affect how the player is used. For me the FLAC playback issues is the worst. Nobody wants to hear all sorts of skitting and breaking noise from a digital audio file, and the need to convert high resolution FLAC to WAV is just plain annoying. Not to mention wasteful for storage which is something that matters on portable DAPs.
 
I can overlook aesthetics, ease of use and even some functions. But not the essentials basics that has to do with functionality. There are some very glaring issues with Xuelin as a company; first, their desire to expand into the global market should have also come with the ability to respond in english to written emails as well as establish an official webpage in english. Second, they seem to have taken care of most other issues beyond SQ as an afterthought. The build quality of the 770 isn't stellar, there are lighting issues on my LCD and the programmers who make the FW also need to do a better job.
 
There are companies that nail most of these at this price. Fiio is one such a company. Sorry about the rant but had I known, I wouldn't have bought the 770.

 

[ShiftyParadigm]

  I won't deny Xuelin's claim to SQ. I like my 770 and generally have no qualms about the sound it produces. But the UI is so bad that I can't compel myself to buy another one. Generally, I can forgive UI issues since I don't use much of what a modern DAP UI has to offer. I don't care about album covers as much as some, I don't care about navigation as much, heck I can forgive pretty much everything about the 770's interface except two things; the playback glitches on FLAC files and the fact that it also won't play anything above 24/44.1. These are functional issues and can affect how the player is used. For me the FLAC playback issues is the worst. Nobody wants to hear all sorts of skitting and breaking noise from a digital audio file, and the need to convert high resolution FLAC to WAV is just plain annoying. Not to mention wasteful for storage which is something that matters on portable DAPs.
 
I can overlook aesthetics, ease of use and even some functions. But not the essentials basics that has to do with functionality. There are some very glaring issues with Xuelin as a company; first, their desire to expand into the global market should have also come with the ability to respond in english to written emails as well as establish an official webpage in english. Second, they seem to have taken care of most other issues beyond SQ as an afterthought. The build quality of the 770 isn't stellar, there are lighting issues on my LCD and the programmers who make the FW also need to do a better job.
 
There are companies that nail most of these at this price. Fiio is one such a company. Sorry about the rant but had I known, I wouldn't have bought the 770.

I hate to say this, but I think I agree with Kwangsun.  I'm starting to regret my choice.  When I was searching for a reasonably-priced player for my library that I'd recently ripped to FLAC my research immediately pointed to the Fiio players, but I started hearing about a very promising, new DAP by Xuelin that was slightly less-expensive.  I took a gamble, against my better judgement, and went with the *new* 770C.   I'm starting to question the wisdom of that choice:
(1) timely manufacturer support in other languages (English, in my case);
(2) real support for FLAC (which, among audiophiles, IS the preferred standard);
(3) hate me all you want, but I think displaying Album Art & other meta-data DOES have real value;

... these are things I should've looked at more closely before choosing my Xuelin 770C  over a Fiio X1 or X3.
<sigh>

 

[waynes world]

  I won't deny Xuelin's claim to SQ. I like my 770 and generally have no qualms about the sound it produces. But the UI is so bad that I can't compel myself to buy another one. Generally, I can forgive UI issues since I don't use much of what a modern DAP UI has to offer. I don't care about album covers as much as some, I don't care about navigation as much, heck I can forgive pretty much everything about the 770's interface except two things; the playback glitches on FLAC files and the fact that it also won't play anything above 24/44.1. These are functional issues and can affect how the player is used. For me the FLAC playback issues is the worst. Nobody wants to hear all sorts of skitting and breaking noise from a digital audio file, and the need to convert high resolution FLAC to WAV is just plain annoying. Not to mention wasteful for storage which is something that matters on portable DAPs.
 
I can overlook aesthetics, ease of use and even some functions. But not the essentials basics that has to do with functionality. There are some very glaring issues with Xuelin as a company; first, their desire to expand into the global market should have also come with the ability to respond in english to written emails as well as establish an official webpage in english. Second, they seem to have taken care of most other issues beyond SQ as an afterthought. The build quality of the 770 isn't stellar, there are lighting issues on my LCD and the programmers who make the FW also need to do a better job.
 
There are companies that nail most of these at this price. Fiio is one such a company. Sorry about the rant but had I known, I wouldn't have bought the 770.

 
Thoughtful post. I'm still very happy with my 770, but that's probably because I'm not playing high resolution flac files on it (yet). If/when I do, then I'll probably start getting annoyed. Right now I'm just happy that it's SQ is great, that it has quite a bit of power, that it's fairly small, and that it has auto shutoff and auto resume lol. But yeah, a lot of things would have to change for me to buy another xuelin.

 

[159650]

   
Thoughtful post. I'm still very happy with my 770, but that's probably because I'm not playing high resolution flac files on it (yet). If/when I do, then I'll probably start getting annoyed. Right now I'm just happy that it's SQ is great, that it has quite a bit of power, that it's fairly small, and that it has auto shutoff and auto resume lol. But yeah, a lot of things would have to change for me to buy another xuelin.

 Using lossy mp3 files is probably the best way to use the 770 if I'm honest. The FLAC support and glitchy playback is definitely a non-issue with mp3s, and it will also allow the 770 to last longer on a charge and store more music in a given size. Sadly, my entire collection is FLAC lossless so I can't say I like the idea of a lossy format that I have to work to get. Still.. given the 770's tendancies, I may have to consider it. ​
 
How's the battery life running mp3s?

 

[1TrickPony]

 Using lossy mp3 files is probably the best way to use the 770 if I'm honest. The FLAC support and glitchy playback is definitely a non-issue with mp3s, and it will also allow the 770 to last longer on a charge and store more music in a given size. Sadly, my entire collection is FLAC lossless so I can't say I like the idea of a lossy format that I have to work to get. Still.. given the 770's tendancies, I may have to consider it. ​

How's the battery life running mp3s?

I say about 8 hours (it really depends on my bg light setting). I'm coming from the opposite camp - I'm now converting my favorite recordings into Flac. Aren't cd music no better than 44.1/16 Flac? My other small amount of Flac (same resolution) doesn't really bother the experience.

I'm so grateful for the L/O fw upgrade - this plays really well with my a high quality amp!

 

[159650]

I say about 8 hours (it really depends on my bg light setting). I'm coming from the opposite camp - I'm now converting my favorite recordings into Flac. Aren't cd music no better than 44.1/16 Flac? My other small amount of Flac (same resolution) doesn't really bother the experience.

I'm so grateful for the L/O fw upgrade - this plays really well with my a high quality amp!

Yeah, CD quality is 16/44.1. To clarify, you're converting your favorite tracks into FLAC from a lossless source like lossless WAV right? Shouldn't have any issues. I have stuff at 24/96 and they are a pain to play on the 770.

 

[1TrickPony]

I'm converting directly from CD. So 16/44.1 just makes sense. At first, I couldn't distinguish the difference with 320kbps, but generally speaking Flac sounds more fluid and smoother slightly cleaner. Still, mp3s are pretty reasonable. I don't really get bothered when I'm on the go.

 

[jdog]

  Yeah, CD quality is 16/44.1. To clarify, you're converting your favorite tracks into FLAC from a lossless source like lossless WAV right? Shouldn't have any issues. I have stuff at 24/96 and they are a pain to play on the 770.

So, what you really mean to say is that the 770s (at least at this point) don't play FLAC files that are 24/96 format...  They will play WAV files up to 24/192, and this format appears to me to be more popular in China than higher resolution FLAC files which appear to be more popular in other areas.  There is no question that the Xuelin players were designed primarily for MP3 and WAV files.  I still don't understand why Xuelin has so much difficulty getting firmware right to handle FLAC files (even more highly compressed 16/44 FLAC) and Apple formats.  Many budget DAPs have performed much better for years with these file formats, so this just underscores Xuelin's weak firmware development department... The good news is that if Xuelin decides to go all out for "state of the art" firmware development, then the players are already here to support their efforts...  But, I'm not holding my breath, yet.  I realize that I've said this repeatedly, but Rockbox has truly saved the 960 dual-core for me, and if significant upgrades in file format support and other things (gapless playback, graphic equalizer, file sorting options, album art, etc) do materialize, then I believe that Xuelin owners will appreciate their DAPs a whole lot more.

 

[jdog]

Well, Xuelin is at it again; yes they are developing a new DAP that is tentatively named 790.  Here is a link that shows some early renderings:  http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4153437983.  I don't think I'll be getting anymore Xuelin players, but maybe with this one, they will finally get serious about firmware development and maybe this will benefit all owners of other Xuelin DAPs... I guess we'll see...

 

[Niyologist]

  Well, Xuelin is at it again; yes they are developing a new DAP that is tentatively named 790.  Here is a link that shows some early renderings:  http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4153437983.  I don't think I'll be getting anymore Xuelin players, but maybe with this one, they will finally get serious about firmware development and maybe this will benefit all owners of other Xuelin DAPs... I guess we'll see...

 
Wow. I may actually get this. It's around 172 USDs. I was planning on buying the Fiio X3 (2nd Generation) btw. 

 

[159650]

Well, Xuelin is at it again; yes they are developing a new DAP that is tentatively named 790.  Here is a link that shows some early renderings:  http://tieba.baidu.com/p/4153437983.  I don't think I'll be getting anymore Xuelin players, but maybe with this one, they will finally get serious about firmware development and maybe this will benefit all owners of other Xuelin DAPs... I guess we'll see...

Bro, this thing looks awesome! I detect a hint of Astell & Kern jr. The moment I saw it I thought to myself that it would be worth looking into if it was a Fiio X3ii competitor at under 200 and low and behold, 172 USD? Awesome. If the internals are good and the FW is sorted out, might be a winner.

Also, the Xduoo X3 is a decent DAP at 110 dollars. Dual micro SD slot guys. The only one I know of at this price.

 

[159650]

So IHIFI790

-2.4 IPS screen
- Astell & Kern jr. inspired design - IMO
- 3400mah internal battery
- OP amp OPA2134
- Ampllifier chip TPA6120 - a common choice, powerful but if I'm not mistaken, a bit unsuited for high sensitivity IEMs. Let's see if Xuelin's engineers can do their thing on this.
- Burr Brown's high-end PCM1792 D/A chip. Similar to the one used on the Fiio X5ii if I'm not mistaken
- CNC aluminum construction

Projected price - 175 USD, so same as what the 770's MSRP.

Looks like the internals are good too. It's not special, but if well implemented, should yield a solid player at this price. Definitely looking forward to this. As long as they get the UI right on this one, should have a solid X3ii fighter on our hands.