[officerdibble]

Took the plunge and received my X3ii yesterday - my initial impressions echo all that other people have written. It's superbly built with an excellent form factor, so portable! GUI very easy to navigate and learn, yes it is not an IOS or Android interface but its excellent for what it does, I am actually really enjoying the tactile wheel and buttons as a welcome break from touchscreen this and touchscreen that!
 
The sound is very, very good. Much better than the S6 and partners exceptionally well with my Q-Jays v 2.0 really brings the best out of them. The DAC and AMP implementation is top notch, I have a Quad Vena amplifier which has the CS4398 chip and I know that done well it produces wonderfully natural, organic audio. I have only listened for a few hours but to me the depth this gives the sound is phenomenal. Listening to Eric Clapton's new album "I Still Do' you hear the movement of fingers on the frets, drum rolls have separation to the point you can hear individual ghost notes - on the S6 these just mushed into buzz....
 
Cannot wait to try as a USB DAC when I am next in work as I will really enjoy firing up Tidal and routing it via the X3ii.I may be tempted to get an Audioquest Jitterbug to clean up the works PC USB signal when I use as a DAC, I have a Schiit Wyrd at home and this to me (YMMV) made a big difference to my home setup, can't quite go to that expense for work use, so a bug it may be!
 
 
Couple of questions for all you helpful people......
 
1. Any idea how you add music to the now playing list, whilst it's playing?
2. Does anyone know if Fiio plan to support MQA with possible future firmware updates?
 
One happy Fiio customer!

 

[EinTheVariance]

 
Couple of questions for all you helpful people......
 
1. Any idea how you add music to the now playing list, whilst it's playing?
2. Does anyone know if Fiio plan to support MQA with possible future firmware updates?
 
One happy Fiio customer!

 
1. The Now Playing icon just takes you to the page of the currently playing song.  It is not a "list" per se.  The list of songs that gets played through is determined either by folder or by category.  For instance, if you have selected to play a song from the Category > Genre of Classical, the playing list is all the songs in that genre.  Similarly, if you select the song through the browse folder view instead, the playing list will be all the songs in that particular folder.  The only way to achieve a sort of dynamic list is to add the song to a playlist or as a favorite (which will put it in the Favorites playlist) while it's playing or otherwise creating the playlist beforehand in a .m3u8 file.
 
2. I believe FW 2.0 is final unless there are major issues with it, so no, it probably won't happen.
 
I enjoy my X3ii very much at work.  I use it with the Fiio K5 and it makes it convenient for charging the DAP, using it as a DAC with the PC or as the source.

 

[rkt31]

I use fiio x3 with latest firmware as source to chord mojo. I have fixed two small ferrite beads to the cable between fiiox3 and mojo . imho the setup can beat much more expensive portable or even desktop setup for sound quality.

 

[rkt31]

chord mojo is so resolving that it even resolves the distortion of cold electronics of source and associated equipments. so after about half an hour the sound becomes extremely transparent.

 

[Arsalan]

Hey Brooko,
do you think the X3ii could make a cleaner sound compared to X1 if i use a in ear headphone (DUNU 2002) with 10 ohm output impedance?
Thanks

 

[Brooko]

The X3ii's resolution is slightly better than the X1 IMO - so no matter which headphone you use, it will be a little cleaner / clearer.

 

[130597]

  Took the plunge and received my X3ii yesterday - my initial impressions echo all that other people have written. It's superbly built with an excellent form factor, so portable! GUI very easy to navigate and learn, yes it is not an IOS or Android interface but its excellent for what it does, I am actually really enjoying the tactile wheel and buttons as a welcome break from touchscreen this and touchscreen that!

 
I too enjoy the scroll wheel and buttons. I much prefer this to a touchscreen for a music player! With a touchscreen I'm always accidentally pressing something. I hope Fiio continues to use buttons and wheels in future iterations of their DAPs. With Apple no longer producing the iPod Classic, Fiio has certainly filled the void for many of us who prefer a scroll wheel interface.
 
I also love the L/R balance control. I like that I can adjust the L/R balance on the X3ii in precise increments. This was the main reason for purchasing the X3ii. My left ear cannot hear as good as my right, so the balance control is very, very welcome. My iPhone has a L/R balance control, but it uses a slider which is very hard to control with any amount of precision.
 
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase!

 

[originalsnuffy]

 
Say whaat?. Will that thing keep my laptop from trying to charge my X3?
Regardless, link that badboy

https://www.amazon.com/Cute-USB-2-Port-Splitter-White/dp/B00A81ISJ6
 
This "cute" unit does not stop laptops or iphones from trying to charge the X3.  However, it does somehow moderate how the iphone interprets the power draw of the attached DAC.  This unit makes it far more likely that the X3 will not cause the famous notification on the iphone that the attached device is drawing too much power.  (Yes I know this is a double negative but we are trying to moderate an error message and this is a more accurate summary of what is trying to be accomplished).
 
To summarize; I do not think this splitter will stop a laptop from trying to charge the X3.   In addition, I have never had the error message on the laptop about power draw that parallels the constant errors related to power draw when using the X3 as an external DAC tot he iphone in conjunction with the Apple Camera Connecting Kit.  Both the version and the new powered version can still generate the error message.

 

[Lavakugel]

Did anybody try out fiio x3 2nd with chord mojo together? Is this a step up in sq.

 

[Rob80b]

  Did anybody try out fiio x3 2nd with chord mojo together? Is this a step up in sq.

 
There are a few, just search Mojo in this thread....
 
Quote:

  I have used both the original X3 and the X3 II as sources for the Mojo.  Both were rock solid.
 

 
 

chord mojo is so resolving that it even resolves the distortion of cold electronics of source and associated equipments. so after about half an hour the sound becomes extremely transparent.

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[originalsnuffy]

The Mojo is a very fine piece of equipment.  But having heard some very nice all in one units (Shanling M3 comes to mind) there is a question as to whether you want to cart two pieces of equipment around.   But if the extra piece and the price is not a burden, it is hard not to like the Mojo   And it does pair well with the X3.

 

[FiiO]

 

  Took the plunge and received my X3ii yesterday - my initial impressions echo all that other people have written. It's superbly built with an excellent form factor, so portable! GUI very easy to navigate and learn, yes it is not an IOS or Android interface but its excellent for what it does, I am actually really enjoying the tactile wheel and buttons as a welcome break from touchscreen this and touchscreen that!

 
I too enjoy the scroll wheel and buttons. I much prefer this to a touchscreen for a music player! With a touchscreen I'm always accidentally pressing something. I hope Fiio continues to use buttons and wheels in future iterations of their DAPs. With Apple no longer producing the iPod Classic, Fiio has certainly filled the void for many of us who prefer a scroll wheel interface.
 
I also love the L/R balance control. I like that I can adjust the L/R balance on the X3ii in precise increments. This was the main reason for purchasing the X3ii. My left ear cannot hear as good as my right, so the balance control is very, very welcome. My iPhone has a L/R balance control, but it uses a slider which is very hard to control with any amount of precision.
 
Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase!

 
Thanks, we are so glad to know you love the buttons and wheels that we used for our player, we will try to keep it in the future. 

 

[inertianinja]

   
Thanks, we are so glad to know you love the buttons and wheels that we used for our player, we will try to keep it in the future. 

 
@FiiO I think you mentioned in a post a few months ago that these devices come out on a cyle of just a few years. I love my X3 2nd Gen, but I'm hesitant to buy a K5 if there's a chance things might change soon.
 
Do you guys anticipate making any significant changes to the X3 / K5 models in the near future? like changes in USB or dock connectors?

 

[FiiO]

 

   
Thanks, we are so glad to know you love the buttons and wheels that we used for our player, we will try to keep it in the future. 

 
@FiiO I think you mentioned in a post a few months ago that these devices come out on a cyle of just a few years. I love my X3 2nd Gen, but I'm hesitant to buy a K5 if there's a chance things might change soon.
 
Do you guys anticipate making any significant changes to the X3 / K5 models in the near future? like changes in USB or dock connectors?

inertianinja, as James mentioned, K5 is designed for our current products and for the future ones too, then the USB or dock connectors will not changed recently.
 

 

[bruce1967]

   
Thanks, we are so glad to know you love the buttons and wheels that we used for our player, we will try to keep it in the future. 

I agree that buttons and the wheel are is the best way to go. Much better than touch screens.