[zzffnn]

Here is the reason why USB OTG is useful on a portable DAP: you may be able to add 256GB-1TB of USB flash storage now.
 
Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 3.0 USB flash drive offers up to 1TB of USB flash storage:
http://www.kingston.com/us/usb/personal_business#DTHXP30
http://www.kingston.com/us/company/press/article/6487
 
1TB USB flash drive is available now for $1260:
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12138170325661239202?q=kingston%20Traveler%20HyperX%20Predator&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=666&dpr=1&sa=X&ei=d2bVUrbUHbDKsQTchYLQAg&ved=0CPwDEJwVKAAwAA&prds=scoring:tp
 
512GB for $530:
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/12889624063367181784?q=kingston%20Traveler%20HyperX%20Predator&es_sm=93&biw=1366&bih=666&dpr=1&ei=d2bVUrbUHbDKsQTchYLQAg&ved=0CIIEEKYrMAA&prds=scoring:tp
 
256GB for $300:
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/15155313190113380396?q=kingston+Traveler+HyperX+Predator&prds=hsec:specs&ved=0CA4Q4Ss&ei=P2fVUof-LMHa2AWp74HgDA
 
I said "you may be able to ...." as I haven't tried them myself. Kingston's web pages indicate that those USB flash drives are exFAT-formatted, backward compatible with USB 2.0 and will work for Windows, Mac and Linux. Assuming that no special driver is needed (as Kingston does not indicate such), I am speculating that those drives may be reformatted as FAT32 and work with any portable DAP with USB OTG function. 

 

[razorblader]

 
I refuse to buy one for the time being until I can form an opinion by audition. What you've said sounds about on par with some other comments. I just worry about the detail levels and areas like separation, tonality. I believe it will be a fun DAP and sometimes I just want to listen to tunes rather than strip them apart like dissecting the bass, mids, treble all the time. Sadly my brain has wired itself to do just that most of the time which makes me analyze songs instead of just listen, therefore faults pop up easily in gear.

I'm demoing X5 in coming months though still X3 intrigues me for the experience, I've done this with other DAP's in the past, simply bought them to test then move them on so I can have my say on the boards and  form point of reference. For now I will wait for the audition X3 which is somewhere in limbo atm.

Thanks for quick impression btw. 
 

For what it's worth I wonder about some of the comments describing the X3 as overly warm, having a very noticeable mid-bass hump and the like.
The X3 to me is definitely more resolving than something like my rockboxed Sansa Fuze or Clip+ and there's a lot of detail and resolution on hand here.
One thing of note is also that there are still some issues with mp3 and ogg decoding which is why the sound quality should be judged by listening to lossless formats atm.
Fiio promised to address these issues in future FW revisions.
 
I think what a lot of people are describing as being overly warm in comparison to other players is due to the relatively high output power (for a portable player) that gives the lower frequencies more oomph and presence on a lot of IEM's and headphones as compared to players with lesser output stages that have less controll over the bass.
 
The sound signature is certainly not on the cold and overly neutral side but to my ears also not in the overly dark/somewhat veiled territory as some have described (not singling out anyone in particular).
Seems to me there's a bit of an expectation bias at play here since some of the early reviews described the X3 as being on the warm side.
I would describe the sound signature as well rounded and musical but not necessarily as dark or lacking in detail.
The X3 can sound quite bright with the right headphones, for example the Beyerdynamics DT990's. YMMV.

 

[nonrality]

I do that sometimes but its been mentioned many times in few places around the net that its better to use it to convert to WAV or iTunes lossless format (ALAC). Then use a bespoke MP3 encoder like LameXP front end to do the conversion to compressed formats such as AAC or MP3.

I tried dBpowerAMP and liked the functionality, however I find it pointless that you have to pay for something which can be achieved for free using other methods.

So far I only tried my newly acquired JVC HA-S680. Will give it a go with my FXT-90s today and see what the X3 sounds like with them, then maybe my Zero Audio Carbo Tenores as well (really looking forward to this!).


Hmm, hard to say since its been a long time since I heard the Colorlfy C3 (sold it ages ago).

From what I remember the C3 is definitely more neutral (less exciting if you like) than the X3, with a much colder presentation and flatter spectrum overall. Not to say that the X3 is bloated or bassy by any means, but its definitely more rounded with a much more livelier sound.

PS. Can't believe you still haven't got one! :eek:  

You can't achieve what dBpoweramp does for free. That's exactly like saying I can play music on a $10 player so why should I get a X3.

 

[Coop]

My Tuffluv pleather case arrived today. 
 
I'm not going to do a full review, but here's some pics & thoughts...
 
 
The packaging
The case came in a simple zip-lock style baggie, with Tuffluv logo's all over.
The front: 

 
The back:

 
A nice detail, they put Fiio on the label, unlike their website, Amazon and Ebay, where it says Fioo.

 
The contents
In the baggie, there's the case, a belt-clip and a screw-on belt-clip attachment point:

 
Inside the case there's the rest of the stuff that comes with it (Instruction leaflet, cleaning cloth, screen protector, and a circular shaped carabiner):

 
 
The outside
 

 
Lanyard attachment point:

 
Logo:

 
Belt-clip attachment point:

 
Snap closure:

 
 
The inside
 

 
Plug holes:

 
Attention to detail? Or do they just like the look of their own logo a lot?

 
Stitching looks decent:

 
 
X3 inside
It does add a little bulk:

 
Buttons well-reachable, but the thickness of the pleather helps in preventing accidental keypresses:

 
MicroSD slot accessible without removing the case:

 
Plug-hole-alignment is ok, but could be a little better:

 
Plug-holes could be a tad bigger, slim connectors (like that of the Sennheiser Momentum shown here) are the maximum that fits:

 
With headphones plugged in, the flap still opens, but doesnt fold back (duh):

 
Closing strap partially covers USB & Line out port (you can push it aside far enough for one connector to fit):

 
 
The good:
- No more accidental key presses
- Better protection than the silicon sleeve thingie that came with the X3
- Looks pretty good
 
The bad:
- Plug holes a little tight
- Plug hole alignment could be better (less of an issue if they were a little bigger)
- Closing strap (partially) covers connectors
- Adds quite a bit of bulk
 
The personal:
- MicroSD slot exposed. It wouldn't be the first time if I lost a MicroSD due to accidental ejection (I'll probably end up sticking some electrical tape over it to ease my mind)
- I could do without the whole belt-clip thing, I haven't worn personal audio on my belt since the 1st half of the 90s
- The snap and the belt-clip attachment point might make attaching an amp a little awkward
 
 
Oh, I almost forgot... I haven't noticed any change in sound using this case
 
I hope this info is useful to you guys

 

[nonrality]

why not use iTunes to rip to MP3 or AAC directly?

dBpowerAMP also works for converting to anything you'd like(i use this) and Exact Audio Copy works fantastic for ripping to Wave.

what headphones do you use?

Mainly because itunes has junk mp3 ripper. Real good aac/alac ripper though if that is your taste.

 

[RASeymour]

With five months of use, here are my observations:
 
Gapless works fine.
 
While the player freezes from time to time, it is no more or less than any other electronic gizmo I have.
 
Sound is fantastic, especially with Etymotic 4S and Comply tips.
 
Wish it had replay gain for shuffle play.
 
Still not sure what the digital out is for.
 
Works best alone.  I tried a couple of different portable amps and the DigiZoid, but best just by itself.  Plenty of power, even on low gain.
 
Works well w/ FLAC and MP3, I've noticed no difference other than FLAC tends to play at a little lower volume for some reason.
 
Haven't used it as a DAC, so can't comment.
 
Great value player.

 

[nonrality]

Click on an artist will bring up all the songs done by the artist. If you want to play one album at a time, you should select album instead of artist. Remember, not all album is done by one single artist. There is however talk on supporting artist > album sorting in the future.



No replaygain support, at least not for the current firmware. Gapless works fine on mp3 and FLAC, provided they are properly tagged.

Thank you for the info. I use the album artist tag for the main artist and artist tag is either the same (over 90% of the time) or it's the individual artist on mixed albums. That way The Last Waltz will show uo under the band and most players can use the artist tag to show track artists. You can get a lot of Various Artists but not a problem for me. It would be for someone that mainly has mixed albums.

 

[nonrality]

It seems to have some problems that force people to use folders to navigate. Clicking on an artist doesn't bring up albums by that artist or am I misinformed? Can you play more than one album at a time? Slightly different topic but does it support replaygain? Also is gapless working for mp3 and flac? I'm still considering one but there are some things that I really don't want to give up. Right now I'm enjoying a rockboxed ipod 1st gen nano line level out to the E11 amp to my Westone UM2 in the ear phones. Crazy setup but works very nice. Also just got a sansa clip zip to play with. Pretty amazing for the money and it does everything I want. Not for critical listening but good for most uses. Ok sound quality, adding rockbox to see if it improves. It would be nice if they came out with a rockbox version for the X3.Sorry about the off topic but I think I wrapped it back in at the end.

 


To answer a couple of your questions:

I can play by artist or album, no problems there. Eg choosing 'artist' daft punk brings up all songs by them regardless of which album they are in and can play them all.

You can also select an album to play from start to finish.

One thing I did do before the x3 arrived was to use mp3tag to tidy up the tags within my music files using a standard convention. I think this has helped in avoiding issues.

Scrolling through long lists to get to the song/album you want takes a long time, there should be a feature where the scrolling accelerates more the longer you hold down an arrow button.

Thanks for the info. I really feel when clicking on an artist it should show albums and not tracks. Best of both worlds is to be able to set that up in the settings of the player. Some do that. Most use artist/album.

 

[Stekos]

  With five months of use, here are my observations:
 
Gapless works fine.
 
While the player freezes from time to time, it is no more or less than any other electronic gizmo I have.
 
Sound is fantastic, especially with Etymotic 4S and Comply tips.
 
Wish it had replay gain for shuffle play.
 
Still not sure what the digital out is for.
 
Works best alone.  I tried a couple of different portable amps and the DigiZoid, but best just by itself.  Plenty of power, even on low gain.
 
Works well w/ FLAC and MP3, I've noticed no difference other than FLAC tends to play at a little lower volume for some reason.
 
Haven't used it as a DAC, so can't comment.
 
Great value player.

 
I pretty much agree with your review.  I've had a handful of random lockups or times when it said the song was playing, but no output.  But it's very rare.  The only reason it really bugs me is because my iPod just works, all the time.
 
It works great right out the headphone jack, especially playing FLAC files through my Grado 60's. 
 
I do use the digital out, when it's connected to my E17 amp, using the E17 as the DAC.  More volume, obviously, and I think the E17 exposes more of the low-end.  But in "portable" mode, I prefer just to use the headphone jack.
 
Digital-out to my DAC100 works great.  I love, love, love having a portable source for my 192/24 FLAC files.
 
No opinion on FLAC vs MP3, mine is loaded only with FLAC files.  My iPod is for my MP3 and AAL files.
 
Overall, very happy with the X3.

 

[vincik]

I did a test today with my x3 and ath es700. I uploaded songs in three different formats. 320kbs mp3, 44/16 flac and 96/24 flac. I liked 96/24 the most obviously and dont thing it was just psychological aoudiophile difference. I really hear the difference. Now question is, how much it will drain my battery compared to more lossy files. Can i tell how much my battery will stand by the volume? When listening 96/24 flac i had to add another 5-7 points in order to get on same level.
Also i would like to ask one more thing. How i should charge battery in order to prolong its life as much as possible? I read, that you dont have to discharge this type of acumulator completely. Is that true? Also cant i harm it if i will connect it just for a short time without charging it to full?

 

[razorblader]

   
I pretty much agree with your review.  I've had a handful of random lockups or times when it said the song was playing, but no output.  But it's very rare.  The only reason it really bugs me is because my iPod just works, all the time.
 
It works great right out the headphone jack, especially playing FLAC files through my Grado 60's. 
 
I do use the digital out, when it's connected to my E17 amp, using the E17 as the DAC.  More volume, obviously, and I think the E17 exposes more of the low-end.  But in "portable" mode, I prefer just to use the headphone jack.
 
Digital-out to my DAC100 works great.  I love, love, love having a portable source for my 192/24 FLAC files.
 
No opinion on FLAC vs MP3, mine is loaded only with FLAC files.  My iPod is for my MP3 and AAL files.
 
Overall, very happy with the X3.

Just to clarify, the majority of mp3 files play absolutely fine, it's only certain files (mostly classical music) with a very wide dynamic range that occasionally trip up the mp3 decoder.
Other than that I've also had very little trouble with my X3, the FW is still a bit buggy though. I'm sure most (if not all) of these issues will be taken care of by Fiio.

 

[razorblader]

@Coop: Thanks for your impressions and pictures. They probably added a belt clip after realizing that their case added too much bulk to the player for putting it in a pocket.

 

 

[gika85]

My fiio x3 just arrived today and woow i like it more with my gr07 BE's then the momentum and have only 80 hours or so with te BE;s(trance hip hop )i think i ll trade my momentums(over ear)

 

[Togril]

My Tuffluv pleather case arrived today. 

The bad:
- Plug holes a little tight
- Plug hole alignment could be better

I hope this info is useful to you guys

Mmmmm.......pleather.
You could easily punch those holes bigger with a $4 dollar hole punch.
Thanks for putting all that up. It is indeed very useful.

 

[jimmers]

 
Thanks for your impressions and pictures.
 

Agree, but why re-post them?