The FiiO X3 Thread UPDATE: Project Back On! Read the First Post for Information.

[lee730]

Quote:

 
Not yet.  I know the amp is beyond fixable for my needs but the DAC is another story I need to investigate further w/ new firmware.  I suspect I would still need to disable all the fluff included w/ Android to get acceptable performance.

Well I guess if transparency is first on your list above everything else then yeah the Internal Amp may not be to your liking. While I do like transparency, too much for me gets fatiguing and it makes the sound sound kinda artificial (guess a better comparison would be watching HD Blue ray DVDs; it looks great but doesn't look real lol). I found firmware 1.2.3 to be a joke as it ruined the sound and caused what you had mentioned earlier (boosted and artificial detail). I was shocked that most didn't hear what I heard. The bass is the biggest give away. It is bloated and distorted. Plus the treble and mid range are noticeably more aggressive and not to my liking. I had to enable EQ to find it listenable but the sound was still off even with EQ enabled. It is quite horrible to be honest. Not to mention ibasso said they didn't change the sound. I call BS. 1.1.7 is where it is at. I think this change has something to do with enabling support again for Power Amp. I mean if it is gonna cause a compromise in sound to the Stock Player then I say let it be and just stick with the Stock player. You don't need to use EQ on 1.1.7 and you get a very natural and organic sound with all the detail.

 

[OMG teh Jambands]

There is nothing wrong with Blu-Ray and how real the picture looks. The problem is with these TVs that "enhance" the picture by taking away all the motion blur...but this is a discussion for another thread.

 

[qusp]

I suggested the transport only version back on the first pages. this device has limited appeal/market and the software will not be a small amount to do properly, its what stuffed them up last time afaik. yes fiio normally do good value products, but do we really want something thats done to a low budget? most of the development cost will be in the chassis, firmware, MCU and transport + clocking and MUX, adding a dac and amp, sure done properly not a small cost, but still much less than the rest. there are application notes to follow for the dac/amp, the software and transport section will mean quite a lot of prototyping and their own design

 

[frenchbat]

That was a long time ago Qusp

Quote:

I suggested the transport only version back on the first pages. this device has limited appeal/market and the software will not be a small amount to do properly, its what stuffed them up last time afaik. yes fiio normally do good value products, but do we really want something thats done to a low budget?

 

[qusp]

Quote:

That was a long time ago Qusp

it was indeed, I did repeat the request a few times though, for basically the same reasons discussed here. i'll never use the dac/amp section, it would always be a compromise for me, not much chance of it being balanced and i've already got my chosen dac/amp that was built without budget (within reason) finding a commercial product that uses quad matched zfoil resistors and copper/polystyrene caps in the analogue stages? I dont think so. other less 'esoteric' parts too of course. I use iriver still for transport, but I would welcome a replacement.

 

[frenchbat]

I have to say that I wish I had the DIY skills at the time of the Wire board GB. Maybe next year, assuming OCP release's another batch. The buffalo is a different story altogether as a (trans)portable DAC. You a mad man

! 
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it was indeed, I did repeat the request a few times though, for basically the same reasons discussed here. i'll never use the dac/amp section, it would always be a compromise for me, not much chance of it being balanced and i've already got my chosen dac/amp that was built without budget (within reason) finding a commercial product that uses quad matched zfoil resistors and copper/polystyrene caps in the analogue stages? I dont think so

 

[qusp]

I wouldnt be surprised if there was another run, not for a while yet though; I think Owen's all GB'd out for now. if only I could get this thing into a proper new case, final format is now decided, but the guy who was to do my CNC for me has been screwing me around, so its not overly portable (understatement) at the moment because it nolonger properly fits in the hammond case I was using.
 
the battery takes up more than half of the case. its a 14.4v 2300mah (~+/-7vdc) lifepo4 (nearly double whats in the dx100) and there is a total of 9 low noise regulators on my PSU/MCU/battery management PCB, part of which is in my avatar. i'll get around to it, the models are all done and places like firstcut are popping up around the place.
 
so yeah i'm covered, bring on the new transport! the iriver (rockboxed, SD modded, coax modded) could use an update

 

[ClieOS]

Little Dots is actually released a DAC-and-amp-section-less player / digital transport called the DP_II (a simplified version of their previous DP_I). It only has output of COAX and Toslink SDPIF, but still cost well over $300.. They also release a portable amp/DAC called the DAC_M at the same time to pair with the DP_II. Together I think they cost well over $500, which isn't cheap by any mean.

 

[qusp]

Quote:

Little Dots is actually released a DAC-and-amp-section-less player / digital transport called the DP_II (a simplified version of their previous DP_I). It only has output of COAX and Toslink SDPIF, but still cost well over $300.. They also release a portable amp/DAC called the DAC_M at the same time to pair with the DP_II. Together I think they cost well over $500, which isn't cheap by any mean.

hmm no thanks unless I can try it first, given it seems they still havent fixed V1 FW… I have no desire to be a paying beta tester

 

[frenchbat]

Qusp, your project is just mad

. I've read snippets about it around here and the other forums, and it sounds great, albeit transportable rather than portable. If I had the same DIY skills I'd probably get into something like that. Hopefully I'll get to snatch a wire board in the GB, I'll keep working on getting skills of my own for now.
Quote:

I wouldnt be surprised if there was another run, not for a while yet though; I think Owen's all GB'd out for now. if only I could get this thing into a proper new case, final format is now decided, but the guy who was to do my CNC for me has been screwing me around, so its not overly portable (understatement) at the moment because it nolonger properly fits in the hammond case I was using.
 
the battery takes up more than half of the case. its a 14.4v 2300mah (~+/-7vdc) lifepo4 (nearly double whats in the dx100) and there is a total of 9 low noise regulators on my PSU/MCU/battery management PCB, part of which is in my avatar. i'll get around to it, the models are all done and places like firstcut are popping up around the place.
 
so yeah i'm covered, bring on the new transport! the iriver (rockboxed, SD modded, coax modded) could use an update

 

[sofastreamer]

so since the new project will use android, we can expect another useless touchscreen player, right? man, i hope industry will soon understand the needs for hardware buttons with mp3-players.

 

[shotgunshane]

I think I'm coming around to the transport only idea. If I remember correctly, the original plans were for this dap was for it to bassically be an E7 for the Dac and amp, so basically head-fi will be strapping other amps and dacs to it. Why not offer a much more manageable sized transport that you can strap to an e17 or any other Dac/amp combo of your choosing? If I wanted to have a huge brick I could get a Hifiman 601. I'd prefer something small.

 

[stozzer123]

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so since the new project will use android, we can expect another useless touchscreen player, right? man, i hope industry will soon understand the needs for hardware buttons with mp3-players.

If you took the time to read back a few pages you would see that clieOs said it wont use android.  I agree though with a preference for hardware buttons. 
 
For me it must be a full player with dac and amp, option of bypassing would be nice as an additional feature.  The one pictured (no idea whether its just the pre-production model from the last project) looks thick enough its toting some good sized hardware on the inside, originally i thought the thickness may be due to the removable battery option but i think they said that was a no go?
 
Iv got the c3 and ck4 coming next week as a bit of a stop gap to this though.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

so since the new project will use android, we can expect another useless touchscreen player, right? man, i hope industry will soon understand the needs for hardware buttons with mp3-players.

 
Uhh did you read any of the recent pages? It has buttons. 
 

 

[qusp]

why make just another player with average or best case only slightly better than ipod dac and amp? whats the point of that? the market is already crowded enough with these type of DAPs that dont really offer anything new or better and almost always worse as far as software. if its not top notch for audio performance, people will just use another dac/amp with it, making for a larger and more expensive overall package utilizing only half of the capabilities. why not make it a high quality transport, spend more money on a really good digital section with solid software and navigation, to integrate with other dac/amps including their own models and widen the market? if the end result is just another dap with compromised dac/amp sections due to battery life for features I wont use, then i'm not so interested.
 
at least consider a version like this as another option, do proper low jitter clocking with dual clocks for both 44.1 and 48x multiples, transformer coupled and buffered spdif and isolated USB output with a proper power supply. present something a bit more unique with a more focused and savvy feature set. if its good enough trust me, people will use it for home audio as well, you just need to see how many of the QA350 are modified and used this way