Rockbox Xduoo X3
Jul 20, 2017 at 12:51 PM Post #1,832 of 2,617
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Jul 20, 2017 at 1:06 PM Post #1,833 of 2,617
Jul 21, 2017 at 5:30 AM Post #1,834 of 2,617
I made some rough modifications to my already roughly modified (I put the clip on when I first got it maybe about 10 odd years ago) roughed up old ipod classic case.

It looks like hell, but hey, it does the job. Quite well actually. And I didn't have to pay any additional funds for it. Plus I only spent about 5 minutes making it Xduoo friendly, haha.

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Jul 21, 2017 at 10:48 AM Post #1,835 of 2,617
I made some rough modifications to my already roughly modified (I put the clip on when I first got it maybe about 10 odd years ago) roughed up old ipod classic case.

It looks like hell, but hey, it does the job. Quite well actually. And I didn't have to pay any additional funds for it. Plus I only spent about 5 minutes making it Xduoo friendly, haha.


That's awesome! I love repurposing old stuff into usable things.
 
Jul 21, 2017 at 10:09 PM Post #1,837 of 2,617
I was just glad I didn't have to buy anything new or make something from scratch, haha. I need something with a clip for my purposes.

Believe it or not, I was considering adding a clip to mine. I have an old cell phone belt pouch, and was just eyeballing the clip the other day. It was plastic though, so I'd much prefer a metal clip like you used. I'll likely steal one from an old pocket knife and attach it to my case with rivets. I'm going to mount it upside down though, so the headphone and LO jack is facing UP (which makes the most sense when wearing on the belt). Either that or I might mount it horizontally so I can wear it sideways like an old Sony Walkman ;0)

The only downside is it would prevent me from stacking with my headphone amp. I just haven't made up my mind yet.
 
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Jul 24, 2017 at 4:59 PM Post #1,843 of 2,617
OK HFers, I was inspired by the recent discussion of adding belt clip functionality to an X3 case (or possibly even the X3 itself).

I thought that having a belt clip would be pretty cool, and make the X3 even more useful. Obviously this voids the warranty, but my warranty is already expired and it was voided when I swapped the stock smoked screen with the clear screen. So whoop-dee-doo.

I wanted a metal clip (not plastic) if possible, and it had to have a fairly small profile so it didn't interfere my $3 DIY Nintendo DS case. (If you are not familiar with the DIY Nintendo DS case, you can get all of the details here: https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/rockbox-xduoo-x3.803844/page-93#post-13317169).

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Luckily, I found an old broken pocket knife that was destroyed beyond repair, and it had a nice polished stainless steel belt clip that would work perfectly for my purposes. The tiny machine thread screws that originally mounted the belt clip to the pocket knife could be reused as well. The screws were a little bit too long, but that could easily be corrected later.

All that was needed was to remove the back cover of the X3 via the (2) small T5 screws. Once the cover was removed, I noted the exact position of the battery (which is stuck to the INSIDE of the back cover via double sided tape). I then gently separated the battery from the back cover (if the battery doesn't seem to want to come off, gently heat the cover with a hair dryer and the battery will easily come off).

Here's what the X3 looks like with the cover removed. You can see where the battery is installed on the cover - it's kind of stuck to the center of the cover, to allow clearance for the yellow capacitor at the bottom of the X3 and the 3.5mm jacks at the top of the X3:

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Next I determined where I wanted the belt clip. I decided that clipping the X3 "upside down" on my belt or in my pocket would be best - in other words, with the 3.5mm jacks facing UP. I marked where the back cover needed to be drilled using a Sharpie and the 2 holes in the stainless steel belt clip as a guide.

You can see a rough guide of where the clip will be going in this photo (marked in red):

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With my screw holes marked, I used my Dremel to drill (2) holes slightly SMALLER than the (2) mounting screws. Once the holes were drilled, I simply forced the screws into the holes and as I turned the screws, the threads of the steel screws themselves were strong enough to cut the appropriate threads into the soft aluminum back cover. Then I removed the screws, added the belt clip, and reinstalled the screws using a drop of red Loctite (thread locker) so the screws wouldn't work their way loose.

Remember how the screws were a little bit too long? Well, now is the time to fix that. I tightened the screws down (tight but not so tight that they stripped the soft aluminum), then I sanded down the excess screw threads (ie the extra that was poking through the INSIDE portion of the back cover) using a sanding drum on the Dremel. Once the screws were sanded down nice and smooth with the INSIDE of the back cover, the cover is ready to reinstall.

Remove any dust particles /metal shavings from the back cover. Then I stuck the battery back onto the INSIDE of the back cover exactly where it was originally (reusing the same double sided tape).

Here is the finished product:

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Obviously you would want to use the button locking function (via the switch on the side) to prevent inadvertent button presses while the player is clipped in your pocket.

Now, that the belt clip was finished, the next step was to make the clip compatible with the DIY Nintendo case. To do this, I simply laid the X3 back into the DIY case, and noted where the belt clip made an impression into the foam that lined the inside of the case. Then, using a Sharpie, I made a slightly LARGER area around the impression that the clip had made. I then used an Xacto knife to cut away the foam where the Sharpie mark was.

With that done, I then cut out a matching rectangle in the DIY case using a cutting disc on the Dremel (in other words, using the rectangle cut out of the foam as a guide of where I needed to cut the plastic case). The result was this:

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All that's needed now is to put the X3 into the DIY case and make sure the cutout clears the pocket clip, adjusting the rectangular cutout if needed. Nice, it fits fine:

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Finally, remember how I mentioned that I needed a belt clip that had a fairly small profile? The reason is that I sometimes stack my X3 with my FiiO E12A amplifier, and if I used a clip that was too large I would lose the ability to stack the X3 with the E12A (because the belt clip would stick through the rectangular cutout and hit the body of the E12A amplifier). Luckily the belt clip was the perfect height (did NOT protrude from the DIY case), so it's still perfectly stackable with the E12A. Here you can see the flushness of the clip in relation to the DIY case:

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And here it is when stacked with the FiiO E12A:

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Also, if you haven't already done so, consider doing the clear screen mod (which makes the X3 usable outdoors, and saves battery life by allowing you to lower the screen brightness). You can read about the clear screen mod here: https://www.head-fi.org/f/threads/rockbox-xduoo-x3.803844/page-101#post_13376076

Enjoy!
 
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Aug 2, 2017 at 6:24 PM Post #1,844 of 2,617
I dont know if X3 bypasses amp section when connected via Line Out or if it just adjusts volume level to 100% So my question is, since Rockbox doesn't adjust the sound to full when Line Out is connected, does using Rockbox while connecting to an amp via Line Out sound inferior to stock FE? And since I feel Rockbox sound a bit quieter when at full volume, is the device on low gain (0dB) when using Rockbox? I'm so tired of pitch error thing of the stock FW but found myself so desperate to figure out the question. Now I have 2 separate libraries of 32GB each, one with 48kHz files to use with stock FW and one with 44.1kHz files but now I'm running out of storage, so I'm considering using Rockbox as my go-to.
 
Aug 2, 2017 at 6:29 PM Post #1,845 of 2,617
To make the questions easier to understand, if the volume on Line Out is adjustable on Line Out, isn't it double amping the signal when using Line Out with Rockbox?? and is there a difference between HP and LO port when using Rockbox?? And which one sounds better (lower noise floor, etc. although I know RB cant decode hi-res) between Rockbox and stock FW, since I noticed quieter volume on Rockbox and I dont know if it's because Rockbox cant access gain setting on the hardware like stock FW does.
 
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