[Richsvt]

Thought I'd post this here as well...

 
New A5, X3ii, IT03

 

[notfitforpublic]

  Thought I'd post this here as well...

 
New A5, X3ii, IT03

Hows the combo sound with the IT03? Found the X3ii on its own to do a decent job. A5 bring anything to the table?

 

[Richsvt]

The A5 is a little warmer, or so I can tell at this time. Only had it on for a couple hours so it may some settling in. Besides the obvious push for volume, it does seem to add a level of lushness over the range. I found the X3ii by itself to sound a little sterile, this adds a little more depth and seems to keep the treble from sounding harsh while providing some nice detail. The IT03 is already a dark piece (at least it is for me), so I think the combo really smooths everything out.

 

[DavidA]

Modded doesn't count. Clones don't count. I'm talking standard off-the-shelf Grado's. Those are bright and can be harsh.
[/quote
Not all Grado's stock are bright, my RS2e is not overly bright and the PS500, GS1K and RS1i that I've heard were nicely balanced and not overly bright imo. I do agree that the lower end models r on the bright side and a little harsh but they are so easy to mod, and the mods r reversable.

 

[Indigo Bob]

I have a question.  When I listen to my x3ii alone I don't hear much of a background and i don't notice it while playing or much in between songs....
 
However, when I connect the x3ii as a DAC to my macbook air, it makes a hiss in the background.  Has anyone else had this occur with them?
 
I was using the x3ii as a DAC for a while and the hiss just sprouted up one day when i was studying and has been around since.
 
I have been using trinity audio vyruses for IEM's.

 

[JWolf]

Maybe the hiss is coming from the Macbook Air.

 

[howdy]

Got my X3ii today, this thing is smaller than I imagined it to be. The wheel feels really great compared to the original X5. Happy customer so far. I will need to update it as it's on fw 1.6.

 

[tracyrick]

Hey, Stein.
Your themes kick ass. I really like the new green and color ones for trying to read in sunlight. One request for people like me that need reading glasses...Can you make a theme with a SUPER large font? Especially for the song title? Even if you have to cut out a bunch of other details to show a super large song title, I think that would be great. I'm trying to change songs while riding on a bike (or walking sometimes), in the sun, without reading glasses. Big challenge!

 

[Grado Diesel]

 
Modded doesn't count. Clones don't count. I'm talking standard off-the-shelf Grado's. Those are bright and can be harsh.

 

I would agree that off the shelf they are bright/articulate.

Yes I agree, my SR80i's are pretty damn harsh and wearing hard on my eardrums. Are the HD650s the same as the Massdrop HD6xxs?

 

[Grado Diesel]

Yes I agree, my SR80i's are pretty damn harsh and wearing hard on my eardrums. Are the HD650s the same as the Massdrop HD6xxs?

Let me mention they were fine with apple products. I've owned them 4 years and have used them daily so they are well broken in. It's just the X3II that has given em' hell so far.

 

[Tober138]

I've only used the LO to transport to an amp so have no experience using it as a transport.  I also use it as a stand alone DAC for my PC.  Never used the usb port to transmit to another DAC.  Is that in the settings?  TBH, I didn't know it could do that out the usb.

Completely off topic but is your avatar the cover of the new Fates Warning album? Way cool.

 

[Tober138]

If anyone's still interested, I've updated my high-contrast, bold font variation on the 2.0 firmware. I've removed the black-on-white theme and "greenified" some more controls. The 3 odd numbered themes are identical and the 3 even numbered themes are identical. The odd ones show the (ugly clipped) album art, the even ones cover it.

Unlike the official big font version, the font is bold instead of merely bigger, and the playtime numbers at the bottom are larger too, but probably the high contrast colours help most to make it much more readable to me.

To install: copy the file X3II.fw under folder 2.0 to the root folder of the X3II's memory card, and restart it while pressing the button northwest of the scrolling wheel.

Stein

Can you post some screenshots?

 

[Spidworthy]

Brilliant, thanks so much for sharing your new modded themes Zweistein! It makes all the difference to those of us who are not particularly hawk-eyed, given that the X3ii's mediocre screen is perhaps its only weak point. Now if only there was a way to display an entire album cover rather than just the top two-thirds (he said, preparing for the customary deluge of 'Who cares about album art!!' responses....  Well, some of us do, but YMMV!)
 
A couple of these new 'in your face' themes look particularly good on the black model.

 

[cazone]

If anyone's still interested, I've updated my high-contrast, bold font variation on the 2.0 firmware. I've removed the black-on-white theme and "greenified" some more controls. The 3 odd numbered themes are identical and the 3 even numbered themes are identical. The odd ones show the (ugly clipped) album art, the even ones cover it.

Unlike the official big font version, the font is bold instead of merely bigger, and the playtime numbers at the bottom are larger too, but probably the high contrast colours help most to make it much more readable to me.

To install: copy the file X3II.fw under folder 2.0 to the root folder of the X3II's memory card, and restart it while pressing the button northwest of the scrolling wheel.

Stein

Hi Stein

Thank you for this fw mod.
I don't know what version I actually installed but I like the bold white font on black background.
Also the white square around the icons for selection.
I think the variations of pacman or sailboat or dot for the bar that shows the advancement of the track are cool too.
I'm just not so fond of the green half sphere.
Maybe something more graphic would be nice.
Just a green line for example.
Also it could be cool to replace theme 5 and 6. Nobody uses those anyway...
thanks for your work!

 

[Zweistein]

Thank you for all your praise.
 
Quote:

  Can you make a theme with a SUPER large font?

I've made themes 5 and 6 the same as theme 1 but with a larger font. Theme 5 with the biggest size that fits vertically (20), theme 6 goes beyond (24) and therefore cuts off the tail of letters (g, j, p, q, y). Even bigger works too, but then the bottom of all letters is cut off. I've made artist and "media info" (the line with MP3, FLAC, bit rate...) equally big because keeping them smaller doesn't give the title more space. Though of course you may prefer them smaller because the bigger the font, the more text becomes too wide and scrolls left and right nervously.
 
 

Can you post some screenshots?

I could but I won't. It's too much effort to produce very poor quality photos. Maybe one day we'll have an emulator.
 
 

  if only there was a way to display an entire album cover

Not in the firmware, I'm afraid. The only way I see is to specialise the media files for this DAP: process each of the embedded images to draw a black/transparent border around them.
 
 

I'm just not so fond of the green half sphere.

I was flabbergasted by the 3D effect. To me it seems the weeds grow inside the player, particularly when looking from above. If I knew how to render images like that, I'd stuff a musical instrument or a cricket under the glass.