The Fiio X3 Thread.

[rawrster]

I got the JDS Labs C5 yesterday and I think I'm going to start using that with the X3 just to see how it pairs. It's a much better combo size wise as the E12 was a bit too large.

 

[bowei006]

Metal Bar? Not sure, mine didn't have one, it was all plastic with a rubber thing on top of it. I just lifted it out.
 
I also had a pre production sample so it was different.

 

[serious7]

Quote:

Metal Bar? Not sure, mine didn't have one, it was all plastic with a rubber thing on top of it. I just lifted it out.
 
I also had a pre production sample so it was different.

Yea there is something on top of the rubber thing that is preventing me from taking it out. It seems the only way to take it out is to remove the entire unit from the shell.
 
I got to hand it to FiiO, they made this device EXTREMELY hard to put back together. It took me a good hour to figure out how to put it together again. I understand now why you warned me against from opening it. You gotta be extremely patient when opening it. 

 

[CH23]

The cost to ship it back to MP3Nation was $90. I decided to just open it up and fix it myself.  You were right. It's the battery. the glue is very minimal.  What I also  found shocking is that the device is completely different from ClieOS's.  It doesn't look like I can remove the battery connector easily? Take a look at the photos below.  There is a metal bar on top of it that is preventing me from removing it. Do you have the same thing bowei? If it is not easily replaceable then I am disappointed because James mentioned a while back that it will be. Ugh. 

Could you remove the spongy plastic on top of the possible connector? I think the metal part is actually part of the connector plug, however on these pictures it's not clear.

 

[serious7]

Quote:

Could you remove the spongy plastic on top of the possible connector? I think the metal part is actually part of the connector plug, however on these pictures it's not clear.

Im too scared to remove the spongy plastic. The metal part is actually screwed on if you look at the top right. Sorry if the pictures are not clear. I think the plastic spongy thing is there to keep the battery cable from falling out. Maybe FiiO foudn something wrong with the pre-production unit as this was not there before. It looks like a quick cheap fix -__-. 

 

[alphabetagaga]

Quote:

2, about the dust, it is the same as above, BTW, we improve the build quality from 3st batch, it is not a common situation.

 
hi james how do i know which batch number my unit is from?

 

[sandalaudio]

Quote:

OK, I am new to the head-fi game so I have a question.  How do those microchip and digital op-amps start processing the 1s and 0s differently after the components have aged?

 
"Ones and Zeros" is often the generalisation statement made by people who have never done amplifier circuit designs.
 
The only thing that is Ones and Zeros in the system is the signal from the storage to the D/A converter chip. Everything surrounding it is analog (e.g. op-amps are analog), with its inherent problems.
For example, the battery is one of the biggest sources of instability and spike noises. A lot of people think battery operation is smoother and better than AC power supplies, but cheaper batteries have very poor stability and noise issues that need to be extensively filtered out in the circuit to make a smooth power supply. Power supply noise really hurts the accuracy of the D/A converter. In many cases a 24 bit converter is only as good as 18 bits beacuse the power supply is bad. Similarly the opamp after the D/A converter needs a very stable power. Battery changes its characteristics over time (as you should be aware from iPods and smartphones), and they "may" affect the sound.
 
Another thing might be capacitors. Many capacitors (either in the power supply or in the music signal path) gets damaged by the heat of the soldering process, and some of these damages recover over time by passing signals through it. Especially for the electrolytic capacitors (not really applicable for X3), the build-up chemical film that forms inside the capacitor is very much dependent on what sort of signal is passing through over time. They also degrade over time, so a 10 year old component will sound different to a same model new.
 
There are many other reasons, and I am not saying any of them definitely affects the X3 in a significant way. However, these are the common things that high-end audio manufacturers try hard to get right, instead of assuming what is designed on paper actually behaves exactly as it should. It's also the typical reason why a hi-fi gear designed by electronics/computer brands may not sound as good as dedicated audio companies, because they don't have these kinds of experience.

 

[boombobby289]

Does X3 support USB OTG?
 
I read DX50, it has this feature.
Therefore you can play music directly from your portable Hard disk without having copy them to SDcard.

 

[howdy]

Quote:

looks like im going to skip the x3 and go wtih cowon.but i wish they made a small cowon with a micro sd card slot,looks like all there players with a slot are big

I have a Cowon D3 and that can take a micro sd card, and has really great sounding music with the BBE.
It is smaller than the X3 and a lot lighter.

 

[madmonkey]

ive been thinking about the d3 or x9

 

[doublea71]

I finally had a chance to listen to the X3 and I thought it sounded noticeably better than my J3, but it wasn't night and day. The UI takes a bit of getting use to, but I didn't think it was bad at all for a non-touch screen player. It's a fairly straightforward piece of kit (not designed for Candy Crush) that is a pretty good value, so anybody on a budget ought to audition it if given a chance. 

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

The cost to ship it back to MP3Nation was $90. I decided to just open it up and fix it myself.  You were right. It's the battery. the glue is very minimal.  What I also  found shocking is that the device is completely different from ClieOS's.  It doesn't look like I can remove the battery connector easily? Take a look at the photos below.  There is a metal bar on top of it that is preventing me from removing it. Do you have the same thing bowei? If it is not easily replaceable then I am disappointed because James mentioned a while back that it will be. Ugh. 

 
Not true. It is near identical to mine.
 
The original battery clip (which is actually decently tight, as I have disconnect the battery a few times) is known to loosen in rare cases, especially over rough shipping condition or dropping. To totally eliminate that possibility, FiiO puts in a extra piece of metal to make sure it will never come off by itself. Once you loosen the screw and remove the metal, the clip should still be able to unplug easily. I don't think that can be referred as 'completely different'. That will be like installing a rear spoiler and say you have a completely different car now. It is an overstatement.

 

[visanj]

Today I received my X3 from mp4nation. Off the box it sounds boom, I mean accentuated lower mids....
 
Does burn-in solve this?

 

[Rudivanb]

Quote:

I am also using Hifiman Re-400's with my X3. The combination is certainly good. The X3 drives them well. I have had the X3 for just under two weeks now and only have about 10 hours on it so it may still need some time for it's sound to fully flesh out.
 
I did use the RE-400's with my previous player (Creative Zen) and I have to admit that so far I have to say that my impressions of the Hifiman buds are not as enthusiastic as many here and elsewhere. Initially I tried to tell myself that they are not light in the bass, but I'm sorry they are and significantly so. I don't want a bass heavy earphone but I certainly want one that provides impact in the lower register and so far the RE-400's just don't deliver in this area. I have the bass adjustment control of my X3 set to plus 5 and I'm still not getting acceptable output in the lower registers. I have experimented with various different tips for the Re-400's and I have managed to get a good fit with a very good seal so it's definitely not a matter of fit. I have owned several IEM's over the years and I think I have the know how to obtain a proper fit. Now to keep things in their proper context the previous earphones I used were Shure SE215's which have a reputation of being very bass heavy, yet I certainly did not find them to be so. Full and robust in the bass yes, but bass heavy, no. Monster Turbines are what I consider overly bass heavy earphones. I do also have some other issues regarding the 400's and it appears by the almost universal praise  these ear buds have received that I may be the only one, so maybe I just don't appreciate their neutrality and simply prefer a more coloured sound, but enough about the 400's as this is a FiiO X3 thread. .......
 
 

 
Had the same kind of experience. With approx. 25 hours playing time on the X3  bass was too lite. This changed after 50 hours. Since you have 10 hours on it maybe your X3 has room for improvement?.

Thank you for the advising the Shure SE215, you made me curious and hope I can try them at a meeting in a few weeks.
May I ask this in this thread?: Which other IEM's up to 1,5x the price of the RE-400 or Shure SE215 make a good or even better match with the X3?

 

[AmberOzL]

Quote:

 
Had the same kind of experience. With approx. 25 hours playing time on the X3  bass was too lite. This changed after 50 hours. Since you have 10 hours on it maybe your X3 has room for improvement?.

Thank you for the advising the Shure SE215, you made me curious and hope I can try them at a meeting in a few weeks.
May I ask this in this thread?: Which other IEM's up to 1,5x the price of the RE-400 or Shure SE215 make a good or even better match with the X3?

Vsonics GR07 and GR07 BE have all the respect in here I think, everybody love that combination.