[Berserker]

Looking good.

 

[snedanator]

If it turns out like the photos, i like very much.  Ive a great feeling about this one, its about time someone came up with a dedicated player for all Headfiers, fingers crossed Fiio has been listenin to us

 

[mbiker]

Beautiful !

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Holy cow. E7 aesthetics FTMFW!
 
Quote:

Hope I'm not stealing James' thunder by re-posting THIS here:
 

 
Merry Christmas everyone!
 
Source

 

 

[LevA]

what is the difference between x3's wolfson dac chip and the ones found in imod?
 
Am I expecting too much and jumping the gun by thinking that this can possibly be on par with imods, since there will be special emphasis on line out quality and audiophiles in mind during planning and development of this unit?? 

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

what is the difference between x3's wolfson dac chip and the ones found in imod?
 
Am I expecting too much and jumping the gun by thinking that this can possibly be on par with imods, since there will be special emphasis on line out quality and audiophiles in mind during planning and development of this unit?? 

The Wolfson chips on iPod (iMod included) are mostly low power type, and by spec the WM8740 should be better, though this is only in theory. I think only the new WM8741 and WM8742 have better spec than WM8740. Whether they are indeed better sounding is out of me.

 

[LevA]

Quote:

Quote:

what is the difference between x3's wolfson dac chip and the ones found in imod?
 
Am I expecting too much and jumping the gun by thinking that this can possibly be on par with imods, since there will be special emphasis on line out quality and audiophiles in mind during planning and development of this unit?? 

The Wolfson chips on iPod (iMod included) are mostly low power type, and by spec the WM8740 should be better, though this is only in theory. I think only the new WM8741 and WM8742 have better spec than WM8740. Whether they are indeed better sounding is out of me.

so far this is sounding better and better....
I hope they will also come up with some sort of skin or case with the final product.

 

[SharkSkin]

Looks very nice. The only thing I'd do is make it so that the play/pause, FF, RWD are on the same row and the same for the menu and vol+/-.

 

[Ishcabible]

...holy cow that looks nice. A lot more attractive than the Hifiman affair.

 

[wichogt]

I like it 

 
maybe it could come with some clear silicon skin(transparent not withe), but it's not essential.

 

[Train]

Looks really nice (better than I was expecting, in fact), but the front button placement doesn't seem that great to me.

 

[stevenswall]

I couldn't imagine what my price limit would be on a device with Rockbox and BBE... The Back looks like it is screwed on, is it perhaps removable? Battery replaceable? Those would be two very good things, especially if one could de-dust the device periodically. That is the biggest problem with the S9. It gets dust under the screen.
 
Likes/Dislikes
 
+ Aluminum Chassis
+ Multiple Outputs
 
- Button placement

 

[EddieE]

+1 on the button placement on the face. On the top of the sides would allow for easy control inside the pocket. I can imagine having to take the whole thing out of my pocket to replay a track or adjust the volume. Not a massive deal I guess, but a shame.
 
Re. silicone skin - the E7 which is made of essentially the same shell as the X3 comes packaged with its own (very nice) skin and a carrying pouch, so it's not so unrealistic to hope for the same with the X3.

 

[tds101]

OMG!!! I am SO GETTING THIS!!! It looks fantastic, and I bet it will sound better than it looks!!! Wow, totally impressive.

 

[JoetheArachnid]

I actually quite like the button layout. I won't judge how usable it is without one in my hand, but DAYUM - that's a VERY pretty little unit. Possibly the play/pause button needs to be more central, but other than that it looks great to me.
 
I still think it's worth considering a 2.5mm socket for the coax out, especially given how close it is to the HP out. That is, unless it's an adaptive socket that can change between analogue or digital out (giving us two HP outs, which would be pretty awesome). If not, I can imagine people accidentally plugging 'phones in without looking properly and having their ears explode.
 
Thanks for a year of fantastic products James, and I hope you and the rest of the FiiO team had a great Christmas.