[phillipwareham]

I just bought a Fiio M3 and felt like it sounded slightly worse than the headphone jack on my Xiaomi 5 phone. Am I crazy, or are phones catching up to the point now where this is realistic? I'm returning the M3 and can't decide if I should buy an X1 instead, or just keep using my phone.
 
Background info: I previously had a Xiaomi 2 which had terrible sound and bought a Fiio X1 which sounded amazing by comparison. The X1 got stolen a while ago and I've been using the Xiaomi 5 more recently. The test today was done with cheap earbuds because my JVC S500 are getting a new jack put on them.

 

[Intensecure]

Does the N3 sound worse than you remember the X1 to be?
Because I have the M3 and it sounds almost exactly like my 7th Gen iPod - i.e. really very good! (Despite the audiophile snobbery about iPods
I'd be surprised if your phone sounded better, but maybe the sound signature is just more to your liking? I've got a similar android phone, not the Xiaomi though, and I much prefer the M3.
Better try to get a listen to the new X1 first, lots of complaints about the hardware, although the sound is good.

 

[phillipwareham]

Does the N3 sound worse than you remember the X1 to be?
Because I have the M3 and it sounds almost exactly like my 7th Gen iPod - i.e. really very good! (Despite the audiophile snobbery about iPods

I'd be surprised if your phone sounded better, but maybe the sound signature is just more to your liking? I've got a similar android phone, not the Xiaomi though, and I much prefer the M3.
Better try to get a listen to the new X1 first, lots of complaints about the hardware, although the sound is good.

The M3 does sound worse than I remember the X1 being, but the cheap xiaomi earbuds were at least part of the issue. I mostly used that with the JVC S500 or a pair of quality earbuds. It's confusing why the M3 sounded worse, but I can certainly believe the earbuds were not good enough to showcase its sound.
 
With my JVC headphones getting repaired I bought Xiaomi piston 3s at the same time as the M3, but they were delayed, so I had to make my keep/return decision based on weak evidence. Live and learn.