Just ordered the X5L, what do you think of it!

[cheechoz]

I finally made the plunge, and ordered the iAudio X5L 30GB. I have two Ipods and was hoping you guys who have an X5 can tell me all about some of your favorite features of it.

 

[bangraman]

I'm not blown away at the moment, but nothing is a total disappointment either. It is more or less what I expected... An M3 with a screen and USBOTG. The big change is the navigation, which is better with the 'full' screen and matches the Sony HD5 for speed of scrolling and relative ease of use.


I have yet to do more comparisons but sound seems to me about the same as the M3 as far as I can remember, which was respectable but not an iPod-beater (with the use of headphones which in hindsight disadvantaged neither machine). I've yet to do things like the lower-end reference listening tests (with the E2c) so that might throw up more favourable results for the X5.


Having the H320 inbetween in the comparison is proving very interesting.


Lookswise, the hump of the screen has definitely spoiled the 'new retro' look that the M3 had. It's nowhere near as pretty anymore.


In comparison to the Photo and the H320, the screen is surprisingly... well... bad.

 

[Azure]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I have yet to do more comparisons but sound seems to me about the same as the M3 as far as I can remember, which was respectable but not an iPod-beater (with the use of headphones which in hindsight disadvantaged neither machine). I've yet to do things like the lower-end reference listening tests (with the E2c) so that might throw up more favourable results for the X5.

Interesting...after reading so many people's responses to the X5L as it having amazing SQ, I'm surprised you got these results (I thought I remember reading the iPod has rolled off highs and lacks in the bass department).

 

[XxATOLxX]

Video

I currently have 40 Family Guy episodes stored in it

 

[austonia]

bangraman - the screen is only "bad" if you seriously bought it for viewing pics + video, which would be dumb anyway. otherwise, it's more than sufficient for a bright and colorful GUI. could it be better? sure. and if they nudered all the extra features you get for the same price as the iPod, they could have put in a better screen. the H320 doesn't properly apply to that since it was originally much more expensive and is only in the same price now because it's a discontiued model.

 

[BIGtrouble77]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangraman I'm not blown away at the moment, but nothing is a total disappointment either. It is more or less what I expected... An M3 with a screen and USBOTG. The big change is the navigation, which is better with the 'full' screen and matches the Sony HD5 for speed of scrolling and relative ease of use. I have yet to do more comparisons but sound seems to me about the same as the M3 as far as I can remember, which was respectable but not an iPod-beater (with the use of headphones which in hindsight disadvantaged neither machine). I've yet to do things like the lower-end reference listening tests (with the E2c) so that might throw up more favourable results for the X5. Having the H320 inbetween in the comparison is proving very interesting. Lookswise, the hump of the screen has definitely spoiled the 'new retro' look that the M3 had. It's nowhere near as pretty anymore. In comparison to the Photo and the H320, the screen is surprisingly... well... bad.

Interesting. I'm assuming that you are testing the units amped because the sq is night and day compared to the ipod and iriver if you hook up headphones directly.

As for the screen, it's not all that impressive. The video is a gimmick, but kinda neat to have- it's pathetic compared to my treo650. I personally think the 10fps on the h320 is useless.

What Cowon should have done is make the usbotg usb 2.0 and integrate the line in and power connection on the unit and just do away with the flimsy subpack. The only thing we'd loose is the line out, but it's pretty useless anyway.

 

[bangraman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by austonia bangraman - the screen is only "bad" if you seriously bought it for viewing pics + video, which would be dumb anyway. otherwise, it's more than sufficient for a bright and colorful GUI. could it be better? sure. and if they nudered all the extra features you get for the same price as the iPod, they could have put in a better screen. the H320 doesn't properly apply to that since it was originally much more expensive and is only in the same price now because it's a discontiued model.

The Dapper Don doth protest too much, methinks

The iPod Photo is sufficient for it's alotted use, the H320's screen is good, and while the jerky animation is headache-inducing after a while it doesn't advertise itself as a video player. The X5 does. I was being polite when I said it was bad by the way. The significant saving grace for photos is the zoom (which I haven't learned how to pan yet, but you must be able to) but even when zoomed, the quality brings to mind the overall image-orientated uselessosity of H10. It might actually be worse. When the H comes back from repair I'll of course compare.


Quote:

Interesting. I'm assuming that you are testing the units amped because the sq is night and day compared to the ipod and iriver if you hook up headphones directly.

Sorry, no night and day difference so far in favour of the X5. And I'm listening / testing with a headphone on which night and day differences ought to be clear as... um... day.

As I said, if I stick something cheap and low-impedance on in the forthcoming tests the results may prove diferent.

 

[austonia]

heh ok. well i agree that photos look crap on the X5, and videos aren't very satisfying. but i'm spoiled now by comparing these functions to the Sony PSP, in which case, all DAPs with a 2-inch screen look crap in comparison.

by the way, you can indeed pan around insize pics when zoomed. you have to press or press and hold one of the buttons and then you can pan.

SQ-wise, i would say it's very much on par with other top-tier players including the iPod - not neccessarily better - but the fact is has a 5-band EQ pushes it one up over the iPod imo. i havn't done any proper A/B testing however.

 

[bangraman]

OK… well, initial A/B tests are interesting to some perhaps, but not news to me since it doesn’t seem to be that far off my listening notes with the M3.


I’m using the Qualia 010 unamped (bear in mind that the Q010’s efficiency is actually the same as the MDR-EX71, and it has a 70 ohm impedance), with the mid-track switch test that I demonstrated to Duncan. Basically, I use an assisted method to match volume (sine wave with RMAA etc) then set both players playing through a simple audio switch which has no major effect on the sound. In the middle of the test track I’ll switch. I repeat it with several tracks, but only switch once in any track from one player to another. The matched volume level on the X5 was at 20. Encoding ranged on the tracks between iTunes 256K rips and 320K MP3 using LAME 3.90.


The X5 (all effects off) did a good job with a pleasant and reasonably well conveyed sound, but it is somewhat murky all round compared to the iPod. I’ll stress that “murky” is different from “warm”… it conveys missing information as opposed to a colouring. Any ‘night or day’ über-hyped advantage can actually be conferred upon the iPod with this set-up.


In the next round of comparison, I found the X5 to be slightly superior to the Sony HD5, exhibiting better clarity and also a slightly more open sound. The Sony was certainly more sure-footed in the lows, but in contrast to the X5's performance, I have to say that technical issues aside, the bass felt comparatively lumpy at times especially in the jazz test tracks. The difference between the Sony and the X5 was noticeably less than the difference between the X5 and the iPod.


I’m waiting for one of my E2c’s to come back before further A/B tests. With the Qualia though, the iPod is superior to the X5 as far as authority, detail/clarity and staging are concerned... and yes, once again we're talking about the headphone out.


One other thing: Knowing what I do about the Sony's frequency response and my conclusions above, and also having used the H320 and X5 with the MDR-EX71 which I grabbed as I was going out the other day, I think that the X5 (and the M3) could suffer from a bass fall-off as the iPod does. I'll confirm or refute this once I've finished the listening tests and get onto the measurements.

 

[guyverl]

so you're sayingg that the X5 sounds very similar to the M3 from memory? If that's the case are you implying that there would be a bass rolloff on the M3's headphone out too?

I did non controlled comparisons between M3 and iPod photo (30GB) headphone out using the UE10s which as far as I know is the most sensitive phone on the market. Note here that I plugged the UE10s directly into the M3 as when I go through the remote this noticeably makes the music sound murkier. What I heard was that the M3 did seem to go lower in the bass; the bass on the iPod just didn't give that rumbling of the soul feeling that the M3 exhibited. It's also worth noting here that where the iPods bass was present it did seem ever so slightly tighter (maybe because of lack of it??).

Overall I preferred the M3s sound for its tonal balance across all frequencies...and I did not notice any bass rolloff ;though the sound through headphone out is definitely less refined than when using the Sr-71 through lineout.

 

[bangraman]

Regarding the falloff, I think so. Unfortunately I don't have the M3 I recently borrowed briefly any more to compare. You also spotted the noticeable degredation of the remote cable / circuitry I see... I'd sometimes end up creating a DPL and unplugging the remote the last time I did any serious comparisons (a year ago). At that time inthe iPod vs M3 comparison, I did the comparison with both remoted and without. I have listening notes which are not too dissimilar (the main phone used would probably have been the E5 and the HD25-1) to what I have now with the Qualia.


The relative tightness of the bass is probably down to the quantity and not any other issue. As I said, I'm not absolutely certain the X5 has a rolloff, but my main feeling about that came from using the EX71 with the H320, a source which I know to be flat with low impedance loads. If it has a rolloff, the next question would be how much of a rolloff. I'll get around to that in a couple of weeks maybe when I start on the measurements.

 

[BIGtrouble77]

Bangraman, I know this is probably sacrilege to suggest this here, but did you do sound tests with BBE enabled (set to around 3-5)? I noticed the default sound is much like you describe above, but enabling this 'effect' seems to produce a very warm and detailed sound. I just think the player's sound is tuned to this setting being turned on. Now whether a filter like BBE is an ok or horrible thing is another story.

I agree 100% about the bass. My H120's bass is much tighter than the X5's lumpiness, but the clairity isn't as good in the mids and highs.

-BT

 

[Otophonus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by XxATOLxX Video I currently have 40 Family Guy episodes stored in it

What software for ripping them from DVD? What do you think about watching it on a small screen versus Treo 650?
Family guy is great .

 

[DigDub]

if the x5 has a built in usb port and charger port instead of a dongle, i would have bought it. so look like i will stick to the hd5 for now.

 

[bangraman]

I didn't say the X5's bass was lumpy.


I'll give the iRiver, Sony and X5 a go with the additional effects later. But my experience with the X5 (short at this stage) and the M3 (much longer) indicates that the BBE and Mach3bass noticeably degrades sound quality. As such, I'm not going to be drawn into the relative merits of the psychoacoustic 'prettying up' of the sound by various DSP FX. And a treble hike (which along with spacialisation is what these FX do) does not equal detail... it merely accentuates the treble. The iAudio's ship with a certain amount of FX enabled in order to create a favourable impression out of the box. I thought "this sounds nice but a bit rough" when I unboxed the M3, and shortly afterwards discovered the default BBE and Mach3Bass settings. I noted the same with the X5 as well. When all the 'enhancement' was disabled, the M3 was among the players close to the iPod in terms of sound quality but not quite, although my listening notes were much less controlled than as of late. Enabling any of the effects detracts from the sound quality in the sense that we generally understand it on Head-Fi.


The same applies now with the X5, certainly with the 010.


Quote:

Originally Posted by BIGtrouble77 Bangraman, I know this is probably sacrilege to suggest this here, but did you do sound tests with BBE enabled (set to around 3-5)? I noticed the default sound is much like you describe above, but enabling this 'effect' seems to produce a very warm and detailed sound. I just think the player's sound is tuned to this setting being turned on. Now whether a filter like BBE is an ok or horrible thing is another story. I agree 100% about the bass. My H120's bass is much tighter than the X5's lumpiness, but the clairity isn't as good in the mids and highs. -BT