Interesting thread. I'm in the market for a DAP, so I'll keep my eyes on here. I don't know much about audio, but I know about shopping in China, so I'll give a little input. I was in Guangzhou city centre a couple of days ago, near an audio market in the dashatou area, so I thought I'd look around for fiio products and try to get a listen on an x3 or x5. It was mostly home audio; separates, fancy looking tube amps, and wooden speakers. The rest was commercial stuff. Huge PA things for nightclubs and outdoor events. I didn't see a single portable DAP. In the end I asked three guys and got nothing except the observation that people don't really buy mp3 players anymore. They hadn't heard of Fiio by it's Chinese name looked baffled by a picture of the x3. One suggested the large computer market at Gangding (also Guangzhou), which would be a better bet, but the moral of the story is don't expect things like this to be easy to find for a new arrival. What the OP says about it being rare to find someone in a shop that speaks English is probably more true in Guangzhou than in Beijing (assuming that's where he is). If I fid one a store or market with DAPs I'll post on here or create a thread.