[nmatheis]

Can anyone confirm if the volume control on the X3 2nd gen works on the line out (analog & Coax) ?

Definitely not with LO.

Not sure about CO but doubt it...

 

[zippersnapper]

Thanx.I was all ready to scoop. My DX90 can control the volume on the line out, and was praying the Fiio would do the same, as I plan on connecting directly to a car stereo amp..
 
Darn

 

[emze]

  Thanx.I was all ready to scoop. My DX90 can control the volume on the line out, and was praying the Fiio would do the same, as I plan on connecting directly to a car stereo amp..
 
Darn

 
Not sure what you mean by volume control on LO.  I connect it through LO to a 3.5mm aux port to my car stereo and I'm able to use volume via the stereo or steering wheel controls.

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Thanx.I was all ready to scoop. My DX90 can control the volume on the line out, and was praying the Fiio would do the same, as I plan on connecting directly to a car stereo amp..
 
Darn

No fiio devices can do this, i consider it better this way, it should prove to be more transparent as software volume changing needs more than 16 bit samples to sound transparent, and high resolution resampling done inside a DAP could shorten it's life.

 

[zippersnapper]

Heres my situation, maybe someone can help. I'm currently using a modded 5.5 gen ipod for my head unit in my car. After spending 3 months ripping my (and my best friends) cd collection of 1000+ discs, all in apple lossless, we are finding that when using the headphone out on the ipod (in order to have the volume control in our hand) we get sever over saturation at higher volume. Naturally this is expected by utilizing the amped headphone out. When we use a LOD, we get a 10 fold increase in sound quality (naturally), but of course we loose the volume control of the device. I could simply use my DX90 in the car, but its dedicated to my portable rig only.
 
Im looking for a DAP that will give me CLEAN signal "line out" with variable gain (like the ibasso), or one that will at least  give me enough gain on the amped headphone out without having to grind the volume to 95% and over saturate.
 
Will the X3 2nd gen, still fill the need?

 

[Koolpep]

Can anyone confirm if the volume control on the X3 2nd gen works on the line out (analog & Coax) ?

Confirming that line out and coax are NOT being affected by the volume.

At least with the firmware I tested it with....

Cheers,
K

 

[zippersnapper]

Will the X3 2nd gen output a digital signal via USB?

 

[Dobrescu George]

  Will the X3 2nd gen output a digital signal via USB?

it will do so via the coaux out. 
 
I think that it could work with some android devices using android device micro usb out - microusb in to x3K, using x3K as a DAC/AMP

 

[nmatheis]

X3 does not output a signal via USB

 

[originalsnuffy]

Zipper

You could see if rockbox works on your ipod. I think that there is some variability in the line out with that.

I have a modified ipod 5.5 and both versions of the x3. All sound good but I favor the fiio line out. The x3 gen 2 is a tad more refined the the original fiio unit.

I would rate all 3 as hi res devices

As noted above one can present the files to another device for decoding via usb. In that scenario the fiio is a glorified memory stick.

 

[x RELIC x]

The whole purpose of line level output is to output the full power from the DAC to an external amplifier therefore bypassing the built in amp of the player. By not using the built in amp the volume is not available. This is the reason for a line out and a proper implementation.

The signal is clean but many car stereos can't handle a line level input and are designed for iDevices lower headphone power output. My 2010 370Z with a 'premium' Bose (Buy Other Stereo Equipment) factory stereo clips like mad when using the line out from the X5. However my Toyota Highlander takes the line level output just fine. So not all stereos can handle the Vrms of a line level output.

If the line out clips just use the headphone out. FiiO players headphone out is far superior to the iDevices headphone out IMO and you should notice a difference.

Coaxial bypasses all audio hardware from the player and outputs the decoded digital signal to an outboard DAC to handle the digital to analogue conversion.

The FiiO DAPs can not output audio via USB, but some car stereos may read the player as a hard drive to source music from......... Maybe, don't really know for sure.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Heres my situation, maybe someone can help. I'm currently using a modded 5.5 gen ipod for my head unit in my car. After spending 3 months ripping my (and my best friends) cd collection of 1000+ discs, all in apple lossless, we are finding that when using the headphone out on the ipod (in order to have the volume control in our hand) we get sever over saturation at higher volume. Naturally this is expected by utilizing the amped headphone out. When we use a LOD, we get a 10 fold increase in sound quality (naturally), but of course we loose the volume control of the device. I could simply use my DX90 in the car, but its dedicated to my portable rig only.

Im looking for a DAP that will give me CLEAN signal "line out" with variable gain (like the ibasso), or one that will at least  give me enough gain on the amped headphone out without having to grind the volume to 95% and over saturate.

Will the X3 2nd gen, still fill the need?

The whole purpose of line level output is to output the full power from the DAC to an external amplifier therefore bypassing the built in amp of the player. By not using the built in amp the volume is not available. This is the reason for a line out and a proper implementation.

The signal is clean but many car stereos can't handle a line level input and are designed for iDevices lower headphone power output. My 2010 370Z with a 'premium' Bose (Buy Other Stereo Equipment) factory stereo clips like mad when using the line out from the X5. However my Toyota Highlander takes the line level output just fine. So not all stereos can handle the Vrms of a line level output.

If the line out clips just use the headphone out. FiiO players headphone out is far superior to the iDevices headphone out IMO and you should notice a difference.

Coaxial bypasses all audio hardware from the player and outputs the decoded digital signal to an outboard DAC to handle the digital to analogue conversion.

The FiiO DAPs can not output audio via USB, but some car stereos may read the player as a hard drive to source music from......... Maybe, don't really know for sure.

As RELIC points out, you need to find out whether it's your iPod's output clipping or your head unit's input clipping. And if it's the latter, and it doesn't have a volume knob... well you need to mod the head unit somehow to increase its gain so it gives adequate output volume from a lower input level.

 

[zippersnapper]

Thanx for the replies. RELIC told me what I wanted to here with " FiiO players headphone out is far superior to the iDevices headphone out". I'm using the ipod 5.5gen as this and the 5 gen's were the only ones to utilize the Wolfson DAC's, and actually puts out a fairly clean signal out the LOD.
 
I'm not using a typical car stereo head unit, in fact the car stereo head unit is bypassed altogether. In the center console (which is tiny) I mounted a 3.5mm female to RCA (and a cig lighter socket for charging) for my player which is fed to a Linear power PA-1 preamp above a dash pocket (Honda Element) which is feeding a Audio Control EQ-X, which in turn feeds two Precision Power amps. I have numerous gains, at the Linear piece, input at the Audio Control, output at the Audio Control, and finally the input at the Amps of course. Its quit a task trying to get all these gains set correctly needless to say but it's jamming quite nice with 0 engine whine or RF interference. The idea was to have a pre-amp signal only going to the PA-1, with volume control, so I don't have to reach over to the pre-amp,(after every song) and adjust the volume.
 
Bypassing the head unit was paramount because of the loudness contour built into every single Honda it seems (I have 3). I will probably go ahead and roll the dice with the Fiio in hopes I can get satisfactory gain from the headphone out, without over saturating the signal. If that doesn't work, then I may have to resort to putting a Alps RK0971221Z05 in line before it hits the preamp and use the line out.
 
Out of the two headphone amps I currently have, a JDS Labs C5 and a Portaphile 627X, only the 627X has a volume pot. The C5 uses a digital volume control (rocker switch). I have indeed ran the iPod out of the LOD, into the amps, then onto the Linear power with great results of course, but the rocker on the C5 is a bit uncomfortable to use while driving, and I simply don't want to take the Portaphile (or the DX90) on the road to be used like that.
 
I can understand and appreciate why you shouldn't have a "volume" on a pure signal line out, but in the case of Ibasso, it seems to work rather well.

 

[TwinACStacks]

A quick unofficial poll here. Of THESE TWO amps which do you feel better pairs with the X3ii: The Cayin C5 or the Fiio E12A?
 
Thanx.
 

TWIN

 

[Light - Man]

  Thanx for the replies. RELIC told me what I wanted to here with " FiiO players headphone out is far superior to the iDevices headphone out". I'm using the ipod 5.5gen as this and the 5 gen's were the only ones to utilize the Wolfson DAC's, and actually puts out a fairly clean signal out the LOD.
 
I'm not using a typical car stereo head unit, in fact the car stereo head unit is bypassed altogether. In the center console (which is tiny) I mounted a 3.5mm female to RCA (and a cig lighter socket for charging) for my player which is fed to a Linear power PA-1 preamp above a dash pocket (Honda Element) which is feeding a Audio Control EQ-X, which in turn feeds two Precision Power amps. I have numerous gains, at the Linear piece, input at the Audio Control, output at the Audio Control, and finally the input at the Amps of course. Its quit a task trying to get all these gains set correctly needless to say but it's jamming quite nice with 0 engine whine or RF interference. The idea was to have a pre-amp signal only going to the PA-1, with volume control, so I don't have to reach over to the pre-amp,(after every song) and adjust the volume.
 
Bypassing the head unit was paramount because of the loudness contour built into every single Honda it seems (I have 3). I will probably go ahead and roll the dice with the Fiio in hopes I can get satisfactory gain from the headphone out, without over saturating the signal. If that doesn't work, then I may have to resort to putting a Alps RK0971221Z05 in line before it hits the preamp and use the line out.
 
Out of the two headphone amps I currently have, a JDS Labs C5 and a Portaphile 627X, only the 627X has a volume pot. The C5 uses a digital volume control (rocker switch). I have indeed ran the iPod out of the LOD, into the amps, then onto the Linear power with great results of course, but the rocker on the C5 is a bit uncomfortable to use while driving, and I simply don't want to take the Portaphile (or the DX90) on the road to be used like that.
 
I can understand and appreciate why you shouldn't have a "volume" on a pure signal line out, but in the case of Ibasso, it seems to work rather well.

Hidizs AP100 and Ibasso seem to be the only units offering variable line-out control.
 
I understand your problem as sometimes the line-out voltage is too high for the line-in input of the connected external device (active speakers etc.)