The FiiO X3 2nd gen (ex X3K, X3II) Thread : 192K/24B, CS4398,Native DSD, USB DAC with LO and inline remote

[bruce1967]

  25-30 on HG for me with a pair of Audiofly AF140s, I don't like listening to things loudly though to be honest. 
I find 25-30 is plenty 90% of the time even when outside, there are some low quality tracks I have that require ~50 though.

About the same as me...I don't like to listen too loudly either...gives me a headache I'll turn it up to 30 or so if the album was recorded at a low level. Oh yes I've noticed some HD tracks do require some extra volume but I don't have much HD music. Mostly alac cd rips and aac files at 256.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  coming from Cowon (S9, C2) sound signature, how different is Fiio X3 ii??

I owned a cowon j3, which has he same SQ as s9. 
 
I still own it, but do not use it.
 
The SQ will depend on headphones/IEMs but in general it sounds clearer, more power, more vivid. It will depend a lot on headphones and IEMs used though.

 

[fooboo]

How about dsd support? I assume dff and dsf are played as native, as mentioned in manual.
Since dff does not support tagging, what people with x3ii choose to listen to?
When I get my device, I intend not to equalize the sound, and would use shure se210.

 

[ngs428]

Dunno why I'd waited so long, but I finally got a SAP, obviously it's the Fiio X3 2nd Gen. Listening to some DSD tracks with it and my PSB M4U 2 with the amp enabled and it's sa-weet! I didn't know such clarity can be found with DAP's. Waiting for my IE800 and perhaps a Rooth LS3 for some portable audio bliss.

Congrats!

 

[aaDee]

I owned a cowon j3, which has he same SQ as s9. 

I still own it, but do not use it.

The SQ will depend on headphones/IEMs but in general it sounds clearer, more power, more vivid. It will depend a lot on headphones and IEMs used though.

I'm using takstar pro 80 mainly these days with cowon c2. Im concerned about the bass punch . Although I'm not a basshead but I like fuller sound. Despite having many bass boosting options on cowon players I'm not satisfied with the quality of bass. Especially the midbass. It's kinda slow i feel.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I'm using takstar pro 80 mainly these days with cowon c2. Im concerned about the bass punch . Although I'm not a basshead but I like fuller sound. Despite having many bass boosting options on cowon players I'm not satisfied with the quality of bass. Especially the midbass. It's kinda slow i feel.

I think that you might x3II better. Even with all bass options on in j3, with x3II and X5 I get more bass, because they have more power to drive headphones. 
 
C2 has less power for driving, so you might like the bass better. 
 
The sound is also less distorted. This was my first shock when enounctering Fiio in general. No distortions.
 
I would also advice you to test before buying.

 

[Roland P]

  I'd recommend getting rid of the apple earbuds and getting even an inexpensive pair of IEMs if you intend to listen much with those. $50 or so will get you a decent pair with much better sound that the apple buds.

I just found my old Sennheiser PX200's. Discrete enough for me to use outside/train. They actually sound pretty good. Goodbye apple buds!

 

[aaDee]

  I think that you might x3II better. Even with all bass options on in j3, with x3II and X5 I get more bass, because they have more power to drive headphones. 
 
C2 has less power for driving, so you might like the bass better. 
 
The sound is also less distorted. This was my first shock when enounctering Fiio in general. No distortions.
 
I would also advice you to test before buying.

thanks buddy..will definitely check if I get chance. I was thinking to buy from some website as in India they cost higher than other countries. Any website that  ships free to internationally at cheapest rate??

 

[ZMan2k2]

Question for those more "in the know" than I. How do I name an EQ setting, so I know which one is for which headphone? It's got to be easy, but for the life of me, I can't figure it out.

 

[x RELIC x]

Question for those more "in the know" than I. How do I name an EQ setting, so I know which one is for which headphone? It's got to be easy, but for the life of me, I can't figure it out.

It's easy, but not user friendly. You need to unpack the firmware using the custom firmware tools and then edit the names in the eq.ini file with a text editor like notepad in the /str folder, which you will see once the FW is unpacked. Then you repack it and reflash the device with the edited FW.

I use the X5 so I'm not sure where the X3 II firmware unpacking tool is but I'm sure it'll be easy to find with a quick search.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I am amazed that there does not exist ports of x5 custom themes for x3II

 

[interpolate]

Unless I was listening to Gabber music  I would find it hard to get distorted bass. I can't help thinking people are being pedantic. 

 
Anyway to be serious, what os platform does the FiiO use? 
 
Distorted Mid-Range and Treble bothers me more.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Unless I was listening to Gabber music  I would find it hard to get distorted bass. I can't help thinking people are being pedantic. 

 
Anyway to be serious, what os platform does the FiiO use? 
 
Distorted Mid-Range and Treble bothers me more.

... I really do not understand you.
 
I got a lot of distorted and weak bass from a lot of devices. Maybe because back then, I listened loud. Who knows?
 
It is a proprietary platform. 
 
Distorted mid range is the most easy to hear, and is what most DAPs avoid, because it is easy to detect. 
 
Distorted treble is rare. In fact, I am yet to hear a DAP that has distorted treble.

 

[interpolate]

OK I was generalizing......
 
Not a lot of equipment I use now is low-fidelity and tends not to distort. My Denon system I use at home, through headphones or the speakers has a good sound. The headphones I use at home are either the Shure SE425 or AKG K702 depending on what I'm doing. Whilst my equipment is not the cream of the crop, they do the job well enough.
 
One thing I did when setting up my headphone amplifier through my PC soundcard was calibrate the incoming level, so the signal is not too hot on the monitor level which happens to be -18dBFS on my monitor level. Without doing that things will be far too loud and eventually lead to something breaking.

 

[x RELIC x]

I am amazed that there does not exist ports of x5 custom themes for x3II

Too much work. Different resolutions. Different menus. Not many people own both to test.