[Merkurio]

@XVortex

As you're the true xDuoo's development reference (way ahead than the xDuoo software team itself, unfortunetly), I like to share with you some GUI flaws related to the album covers in the original firmware that I think should be addressed in order to make the user interface more polished and consistent. I really hope xDuoo takes note of this as well, because is their own responsability.

The reference model is my X20, but I think it applies to the X3II too (due to the same screen resolution).

Like you pointed before, the screen resolution of these devices is 240 pixels (horizontal) x 320 pixels (vertical).

Well, I figured out that putting a pefectly squared and normal cover image of 240x240 pixels (or 480x480, 720x720, etc.) causes an ugly magnification that totally ruins the image quality and it's overexposed with the reproduction bar in the playing menu, as I show here:

But at least it displays the main menu thumbnail correctly:

So, playing and experimenting with diferent crops and resolutions, I decided to "mod" my albums' images in order to get the full cover displayed in the playing screen and let the reproduction bar clear. I found that the perfect result was a 240x320 pixels image with the cover image positioned at the top above, a 235 pixels of height adjustment (ruining the aspect ratio a little bit, but with much better visual result) and finally filling the remaining bottom part of the image in black color. The result is explained in the next image:

Sadly, aside for the minor flaws with the corrected album image (basically the 240x235 px distored aspect ratio to make everything else fit and look ok), now the main menu thumbnail completely ruins out:

As you can see, I fix the cover image display in the play menu, but then it ruins out in the main menu thumbnail.

Do you think something can be done or ultimately address the design suggestions and flaws directly to xDuoo so they're aware?

I really like to contribute making the original firmware better, but with my unexisting programing skills I don't know if there's something I can help you with, albeit I'm good at designing and editing this kind of stuff (skins for music players and so on).

Please tell me if if I can help you or do something useful with this information.

 

[counterclockwise]

I've been using the x20 for a few weeks now and thought I'd share my impressions. I’ve been pairing it mostly with etymotic er4sr and fostex t50rp mk3. My other DAPs are a Zishan Z3, a Hidizs AP60II and a rockboxed clipzip, so I can't compare against players in the same price class.

-- I didn't think burn-in was a thing with players but this thing sounded terrible for the first few hours. dark and muffled and inarticulate. However after a few hours it started to open up and after a few days it's transparent and crystal clear and gorgeous. I'm puzzled.

-- Japanese language setting is kinda bad. 平衡装置 for equaliser… sounds Chinese. There are a few of such quirks in the UI. Also, even with the UI set to Japanese, Japanese file names get mangled badly on the “now playing” screen (but not on the file selection screen). boo. English setting is fine though.

-- Buttons feel good. Subtle markings make it easy to control in-pocket. Button placement contributes there as well, and the lack of buttons on front does a good job avoiding accidental presses. Being fully controllable by physical buttons is a big plus to me (no fan of touch screens). Overall it's nicely built and the housing's texture feels quite nice.

-- One screen protector came pre-applied but with the front protective film still on it for the user to pull off. Turns out the screen protector sticks better to its protective film than to the screen. Oops…

-- Came with a case but it's super ugly. ^_^;

-- Switching to balanced output gives a somewhat more spatial impression (only tried with etymotic er4sr). I need to experiment a bit more but it seems worthwhile.

-- There is a visual glitch on the equaliser screen when you return to it from the volume setting screen, where the selected slider is not correctly highlighted (firmware 1.2). It's minor but annoying, cause volume adjustment is common while setting up the eq.

-- Eq works well, but I wish it had more than one user-adjustable setting so I could make separate settings for different iems and headphones (now possible via rockbox, yay!). That said, paired with er4sr I finally have a setup that I can enjoy without toning the bass down.

-- kinda wish the back button would wake up the screen. often when an album ends I thoughtlessly hit back to return to my album list but you need to hit the power button once first to wake up the screen before you can navigate. save for niggles like this and the equaliser glitch the UI is pretty good though. Well organised and responsive.

-- gapless. yes, but.
no gaps between tracks but sometimes it has a short fade-in when you first select a track. hitting rewind then plays it without the fade. odd.

-- With the digital filter set to sharp it sounded a little lacking in depth (compared to the zishan z3). Setting the filter to slow gives a more spatial impression. Surprised me cause on the z3 I greatly prefer the sharp filters.

-- Bluetooth dac functionality. I didn't even know that's a thing but I like it. Haven't tried to push it with big audio formats and such but it's serving me well for streaming some soundcloud.

-- Sound! Detail is (by my uninformed standards) amazing. precise, revealing, and fast, with very well extended highs. I listen to a lot of stuff with harsh digital distortions and raw primitive waveforms (breakcore fanatic here). the x20 sounds razor sharp where it should. however, it does so without adding artificial sharpness; mellower music never sounds fatiguing. Biggest surprise to me is the bass though. being a treble head my main demand w.r.t. bass is “not too much of it”, but in addition to checking that box, the x20 brings out textures i didn't realise bass could have. it's fast, controlled and detailed.

let me reiterate that I have nothing to compare with in this price range and I'm no pro with the jargon, but I'm pretty happy with this thing. even more now that there's a rockbox for it (thanks XVortex!).

 

[Slater]

I've been using the x20 for a few weeks now and thought I'd share my impressions. I’ve been pairing it mostly with etymotic er4sr and fostex t50rp mk3. My other DAPs are a Zishan Z3, a Hidizs AP60II and a rockboxed clipzip, so I can't compare against players in the same price class.

-- I didn't think burn-in was a thing with players but this thing sounded terrible for the first few hours. dark and muffled and inarticulate. However after a few hours it started to open up and after a few days it's transparent and crystal clear and gorgeous. I'm puzzled.

-- Japanese language setting is kinda bad. 平衡装置 for equaliser… sounds Chinese. There are a few of such quirks in the UI. Also, even with the UI set to Japanese, Japanese file names get mangled badly on the “now playing” screen (but not on the file selection screen). boo. English setting is fine though.

-- Buttons feel good. Subtle markings make it easy to control in-pocket. Button placement contributes there as well, and the lack of buttons on front does a good job avoiding accidental presses. Being fully controllable by physical buttons is a big plus to me (no fan of touch screens). Overall it's nicely built and the housing's texture feels quite nice.

-- One screen protector came pre-applied but with the front protective film still on it for the user to pull off. Turns out the screen protector sticks better to its protective film than to the screen. Oops…

-- Came with a case but it's super ugly. ^_^;

-- Switching to balanced output gives a somewhat more spatial impression (only tried with etymotic er4sr). I need to experiment a bit more but it seems worthwhile.

-- There is a visual glitch on the equaliser screen when you return to it from the volume setting screen, where the selected slider is not correctly highlighted (firmware 1.2). It's minor but annoying, cause volume adjustment is common while setting up the eq.

-- Eq works well, but I wish it had more than one user-adjustable setting so I could make separate settings for different iems and headphones (now possible via rockbox, yay!). That said, paired with er4sr I finally have a setup that I can enjoy without toning the bass down.

-- kinda wish the back button would wake up the screen. often when an album ends I thoughtlessly hit back to return to my album list but you need to hit the power button once first to wake up the screen before you can navigate. save for niggles like this and the equaliser glitch the UI is pretty good though. Well organised and responsive.

-- gapless. yes, but.
no gaps between tracks but sometimes it has a short fade-in when you first select a track. hitting rewind then plays it without the fade. odd.

-- With the digital filter set to sharp it sounded a little lacking in depth (compared to the zishan z3). Setting the filter to slow gives a more spatial impression. Surprised me cause on the z3 I greatly prefer the sharp filters.

-- Bluetooth dac functionality. I didn't even know that's a thing but I like it. Haven't tried to push it with big audio formats and such but it's serving me well for streaming some soundcloud.

-- Sound! Detail is (by my uninformed standards) amazing. precise, revealing, and fast, with very well extended highs. I listen to a lot of stuff with harsh digital distortions and raw primitive waveforms (breakcore fanatic here). the x20 sounds razor sharp where it should. however, it does so without adding artificial sharpness; mellower music never sounds fatiguing. Biggest surprise to me is the bass though. being a treble head my main demand w.r.t. bass is “not too much of it”, but in addition to checking that box, the x20 brings out textures i didn't realise bass could have. it's fast, controlled and detailed.

let me reiterate that I have nothing to compare with in this price range and I'm no pro with the jargon, but I'm pretty happy with this thing. even more now that there's a rockbox for it (thanks XVortex!).

So Rockbox supports Bluetooth functionality?

 

[counterclockwise]

So Rockbox supports Bluetooth functionality?

I don't think so. except where stated otherwise, I was talking about the original UI. it's easy to switch back and forth between rockbox and (a slightly tweaked version of) the original UI though (you choose at boot up time).

as for themes, there is no .rockbox folder on the SD card (I do have hidden files set to display). I made the folder myself and tried putting some themes of appropriate resolution in it. loading these partially applies the theme (colour settings), but files referenced from the theme (e.g. background images) fail to load, despite the files being present at the specified paths on the SD card. this seems to suggest that it's looking for the files in a .rockbox folder in its internal memory instead... starting to think it might be easiest to just change the file references in the theme specification to point to files on the SD card, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet...

 

[Slater]

I don't think so. except where stated otherwise, I was talking about the original UI. it's easy to switch back and forth between rockbox and (a slightly tweaked version of) the original UI though (you choose at boot up time).

as for themes, there is no .rockbox folder on the SD card (I do have hidden files set to display). I made the folder myself and tried putting some themes of appropriate resolution in it. loading these partially applies the theme (colour settings), but files referenced from the theme (e.g. background images) fail to load, despite the files being present at the specified paths on the SD card. this seems to suggest that it's looking for the files in a .rockbox folder in its internal memory instead... starting to think it might be easiest to just change the file references in the theme specification to point to files on the SD card, but I haven't figured out how to do that yet...

There’s a Rockbox config file that you can edit in a text editor and set lots of settings. You should be able to set paths to specific folders there (for instance, point it to the memory card for the themes).

 

[trifajar]

How to change the black and white background wallpaper to color wallpaper in the xduoo x3ii?

 

[counterclockwise]

still getting nowhere in my quest to configure a theme on x20 rockbox.
@XVortex is there any practical way to move files into the .rockbox folder? I'm not afraid of a bit of scripting. ^^

 

[XVortex]

You can connect with ADB and edit /usr/rockbox -> themes folder.

P.S. added X3ii and X20 Rockbox firmwares to my site

 

[Charente]

Had this player for a few weeks now and I agree it does benefit from some hours 'running in' ... much better now. I've been trying out my full-size headphones with it and my favourite is the Massdrop HD-58X, although Mr Speakers Aeon Flow Open is also pretty good but not as good as a dynamic ... possibly just not enough power ?

Very happy with this my first decent DAP... altho I won't be abandoning my main rig anytime soon !

 

[vault108]

Here's my first impression of x3ii, I didn't like the sound out of the box.
However, after playing with custom EQ settings, it sounds a lot better.
I wish it have more than one custom slot. Default EQ presets suck.
Navigation is simple and easy. BT works fine, no LDAC.

 

[jaxz]

You can connect with ADB and edit /usr/rockbox -> themes folder.

P.S. added X3ii and X20 Rockbox firmwares to my site

Great! How to boot on stock firmware with your build? I cannot see instructions on these topic. Thanks mate.

 

[tawa]

HI guys

Wondering if we can sort music files based on track no. not file name?

My problem is i have many album with multiple disc ("best love songs" disc 1-5 etc)

this is what shown on my album

01.xdsdsdsd
01.dsadewrfed
01.wqeqwwrwqte
01.dsadsadsargtrh
01.ohughrdughrdu
02.jijiijgesdg
02.jidjaijsdfsarfh
02.nuusngvdngso
02.nuhgreuge
02.bgdsgdsbgids

or maybe a feature request for vortex firmware, appreciate if you could make this possible ( arrange music base on track no. and disc no.)

many thanks

 

[Charente]

DAP Newbie question ... how do I know what version of firmware is running on the X20 ?

 

[Slater]

HI guys

Wondering if we can sort music files based on track no. not file name?

My problem is i have many album with multiple disc ("best love songs" disc 1-5 etc)

this is what shown on my album

01.xdsdsdsd
01.dsadewrfed
01.wqeqwwrwqte
01.dsadsadsargtrh
01.ohughrdughrdu
02.jijiijgesdg
02.jidjaijsdfsarfh
02.nuusngvdngso
02.nuhgreuge
02.bgdsgdsbgids

or maybe a feature request for vortex firmware, appreciate if you could make this possible ( arrange music base on track no. and disc no.)

many thanks

Believe it or not, I grew up next door to the lead guitarist for Nuhgreuge. Although the band was called Ooogaaboogaa originally.

He was a pretty cool guy (a little eccentric though, but most German Death Metal stars are).

I remember they would practice all night (and apparently often get rowdy), and it made it difficult for us to sleep (I was in primary school at the time). When they got too loud, my dad would often go over and bang repeatedly on his garage door to make them quiet down LOL!

I remember I was outside mowing my parents’ lawn once.

HansEnFranz came out and said:

“Slater, me and the band mates are thinking about changing the band's name. We just aren’t having much success with Ooogaaboogaa. What do you think about Nuhgreuge instead”?​

I was like:

“HansEnFranz, follow your dreams mate. Follow your dreams.”
​

The rest is Rock history!

 

[tawa]

Believe it or not, I grew up next door to the lead guitarist for Nuhgreuge. Although the band was called Ooogaaboogaa originally.

He was a pretty cool guy (a little eccentric though, but most German Death Metal stars are).

I remember they would practice all night (and apparently often get rowdy), and it made it difficult for us to sleep (I was in primary school at the time). When they got too loud, my dad would often go over and bang repeatedly on his garage door to make them quiet down LOL!

I remember I was outside mowing my parents’ lawn once.

HansEnFranz came out and said:

“Slater, me and the band mates are thinking about changing the band's name. We just aren’t having much success with Ooogaaboogaa. What do you think about Nuhgreuge instead”?​

I was like:

“HansEnFranz, follow your dreams mate. Follow your dreams.”
​

The rest is Rock history!

I am so glad that you are happy making fun of my comment