[MicroEuphoneum]

TrollDragon;
I'm testing out the FLAC file format. Using 24bit 44.1k in both wav and flac to compare file sizes,
and SQ.
For file size, the FLAC files come out 85% the size of WAV files.
For sound quality, playing the FLACs on X3 gives very good results. Very clean and smooth sounding.
Maybe not quite as loud as the WAV, a slight difference.
I'll send you a PM with links to the files. Please to download and test the veracity of them.

 

[TrollDragon]

Well those are great tracks!

The RH track I listened to it first from the E17/E09K and I said "Wow this needs the tubes!" So I hooked the X3's Line Out to the MKIV and was carried away! I listened to all the tracks on my DT880's and the GMP 8.300 D's. Very smooth, I do love me some nice Jazz!

The EC track I pick up what sounds to me like distortion at the 1:09 mark, it might just be a resonance in the microphone but it has a crackle to it, you would have to compare it against the source. It's a great track otherwise!

The PU track I didn't like, as the synth sweeps or whatever it is in the background was quite annoying, I'm not a huge fan of fusion anyway. The audio is perfectly fine though.

What was the source on these, did you down sample to 44, I'd like to hear a 16/44 version as well.

Nice stuff thanks for the listen.

 

[nmatheis]

Thank you very much.
What a relief, I'm going to order one !
I will let you know as soon as I receive it.

Does it deserve to update the firmware to the latest one?

I'd definitely update to the latest stable firmware, but it doesn't hurt to try out the firmware it ships with. It's easy to downgrade, so if you update and don't like it - just downgrade. Once you get your feet under you with the DAP, you'll find Fiio's rep on the forum (Joe) has posted beta firmware to try out.

One thing people seem to like is a list-based user interface. There's a thread where you can find a modded version of the newest firmware with a list-based user interface.

Good luck, and have fun!

 

[nmatheis]

MicroEuphoneum: FLAC albums are getting pretty common these days outside of the iTunes world. In fact, I buy almost all of my music in FLAC format these days and re-encode in MP3 or AAC if I need to save room on my DAP.

 

[alershka]

I am continuing to try to deal with the 5800 song limitation of the unit with a library of 7800 songs. I had previously copied my library identically to the structure that I have on my PC:
Artist/Album/filename.  I realized that due to the 5800 song limit I could only list to one folder at a time and shuffle all only worked with the 5800 songs that the library has cataloged.  To remedy this, I used mediamonkey to move all of my music over into a single directory instead of using the file structure on my pc. Now when I go to the folder on my sd card, the unit freezes and I can't view any of the songs, it just stays on the view of the folder.
 
So I have two choices:
Keep my music in folders, have the ability to listen to individual folders (albums) or shuffle the 5800 songs that are cataloged 
Put the songs in a single folder, have the ability to shuffle 5800 songs that are cataloged or try to open the folder and have the unit freeze.
 
Is my unit defective because it will not load the folder with over 5800 songs or is this another limitation of the X3?
 
I've tried resetting to defaults and it didn't seem to help.  I'm using a 64gb card formatted to Fat32.
 
Thanks!

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I am continuing to try to deal with the 5800 song limitation of the unit with a library of 7800 songs. I had previously copied my library identically to the structure that I have on my PC:
Artist/Album/filename.  I realized that due to the 5800 song limit I could only list to one folder at a time and shuffle all only worked with the 5800 songs that the library has cataloged.  To remedy this, I used mediamonkey to move all of my music over into a single directory instead of using the file structure on my pc. Now when I go to the folder on my sd card, the unit freezes and I can't view any of the songs, it just stays on the view of the folder.

So I have two choices:
Keep my music in folders, have the ability to listen to individual folders (albums) or shuffle the 5800 songs that are cataloged 
Put the songs in a single folder, have the ability to shuffle 5800 songs that are cataloged or try to open the folder and have the unit freeze.

Is my unit defective because it will not load the folder with over 5800 songs or is this another limitation of the X3?

I've tried resetting to defaults and it didn't seem to help.  I'm using a 64gb card formatted to Fat32.

Thanks!

Hello alershka,

The current limitation of the X3 is indeed as you've outlined, your unit is not defective

We are working on upgrading the firmware. In the short term, the developing playlist function on the X5 should be ported over to the X3, so you can make a playlist of all the tracks on your X3 and shuffle that. In the long term, the 5800 song limit should be lifted.

OTOH, if you desire to get around the 5800 song limit right now, you may load an older firmware, such as 2.1, which did not have this limitation (but had some shortcomings in other areas that may or may not matter to you)

Best regards,
Joe

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

@TrollDragon: Ha ha, PU track. It's PF, for Paolo Fresu. That's the only track on the album I think where the keyboard player plays noise samples. Sounds like bamboo squeeking or something. All ripped from CD's and converted with Sonar Studio X3. I think the noise you hear may be spit in the horn.
@nmatheis: Where do you get these FLAC albums? I buy some pretty esoteric stuff. Mostly Jazz imports. Think there would be such albums from your source. I won't buy bootlegs being a musician.
 

 

[Pituky]

Hello guys.
Im thinking to buy the x3 but my bigest fear is to find a battery replacement. Contrary the ibasso dx 50 uses the galaxy s3 battery.
I fix my own electronic toys replacing a battery is realy easy to my, but the biggest fear is if the replacement battery is going to be available.
Import things here is almost impossible I will try to find a cellphone battery with same capacity to adapt , not sure if there is currently one to adapt. Maybe if you can share the voltage, amperes and size it could be good start to identify a similar cellphone battery.
I prefer fiio products, I like the ffiio guys are present here, like the way they give support and they put the effort to improve the ffw all the time.

Best regards and thank you

 

[alershka]

Hello alershka,

The current limitation of the X3 is indeed as you've outlined, your unit is not defective

We are working on upgrading the firmware. In the short term, the developing playlist function on the X5 should be ported over to the X3, so you can make a playlist of all the tracks on your X3 and shuffle that. In the long term, the 5800 song limit should be lifted.

OTOH, if you desire to get around the 5800 song limit right now, you may load an older firmware, such as 2.1, which did not have this limitation (but had some shortcomings in other areas that may or may not matter to you)

Best regards,
Joe

Thanks Joe. I will give 2.1 a try.

 

[Pituky]

Hi Guys
 
talking about headphones
I have the same question posted here, it seems the topic reached a dead end.
http://www.head-fi.org/t/722882/best-headphone-for-fiio-x3
 
Still do not have any idea, now that the x3 has some time out, according to your experience with is the best Headphone to pair with X3 to have detailed and clear sound and a good soundstage?...(open to use indoors, full headphone that covers all the ear. to listen classic, jazz, chill out etc...  300 /400 dollars max )
 
Thanks guys

 

[Saoshyant]

The first headphone that comes to mind is the Sennheiser hd598. I'm sure for your price range there are better options.

 

[KLJTech]

The X3 sounds great with the B&W P7.

 

[MicroEuphoneum]

The EC track I pick up what sounds to me like distortion at the 1:09 mark, it might just be a resonance in the microphone but it has a crackle to it, you would have to compare it against the source. It's a great track otherwise!

I listened to that track again after making the new Strasbourg.flac at 16/44. I heard a transient just before 1:09 so I loaded it up in Sonar Studio and zoomed in. Have to say you have got the ears. Here it is,  a quick little clipping event...

 

[good sound]

  The X3 sounds great with the B&W P7.

Yes they do, but he asked about open back headphones intended for indoor use.
 
BTW, I auditioned the P7's directly against the NAD Viso HP50 with my X3, before I sold it, and ended up purchasing the HP50. It was a tough choice, but i thought the NAD's were a very slightly better match overall for the X3, with the P7's being just a little bloated in the bass regardless of the tone control settings on my X3 andf very slightly veiled sounding in the mids. The fact that the NAD's were $100 cheaper doesn't hurt either, although that did not factor into my decision. If I had felt that the P7's were the better match I was completely prepared to and would have shelled out the extra cash. In any event you can't go wrong with either headphone with the X3.
 
Now that I own the X5 I think the choice could very likely be reversed if I were to demo the two headphones head to head again, but this time on the X5.
 
This is not to say that the HP50 doesn't sound good on the X5, they certainly do, but the bulk of my files are hi-res, so no EQ available on the X5 and at the flat setting the combination of a slightly bass shy DAP and a slightly bass shy headphone adds up to a somewhat significantly bass shy combination. Not devoid of bass by any means, and not that I am a total basshead, but honestly low frequencies are meant to be felt and heard so bass should be deep, very deep and resolute. The X5/ HP 50 combo just doesn't quite get there bass wise for me.

 

[KLJTech]

  Yes they do, but he asked about open back headphones intended for indoor use.
 
BTW, I auditioned the P7's directly against the NAD Viso HP50 with my X3, before I sold it, and ended up purchasing the HP50. It was a tough choice, but i thought the NAD's were a very slightly better match overall for the X3, with the P7's being just a little bloated in the bass regardless of the tone control settings on my X3 andf very slightly veiled sounding in the mids. The fact that the NAD's were $100 cheaper doesn't hurt either, although that did not factor into my decision. If I had felt that the P7's were the better match I was completely prepared to and would have shelled out the extra cash. In any event you can't go wrong with either headphone with the X3.
 
Now that I own the X5 I think the choice could very likely be reversed if I were to demo the two headphones head to head again, but this time on the X5.
 
This is not to say that the HP50 doesn't sound good on the X5, they certainly do, but the bulk of my files are hi-res, so no EQ available on the X5 and at the flat setting the combination of a slightly bass shy DAP and a slightly bass shy headphone adds up to a somewhat significantly bass shy combination. Not devoid of bass by any means, and not that I am a total basshead, but honestly low frequencies are meant to be felt and heard so bass should be deep, very deep and resolute. The X5/ HP 50 combo just doesn't quite get there bass wise for me.

 
My mistake, "open to use indoors, full headphone that covers all the ear. to listen classic, jazz, chill out etc...  300 /400 dollars max" ...I mistook "open to use" indoors as meaning he simply intended to use them indoors. I should have taken more time to read what he was asking. 
 
I didn't buy the P7's for the X3, I bought them to use in my office system with either the Gungnir and Asgard 2 (or Lyr) or Benchmark DAC1 USB and they've never sounded bloated nor veiled in the midrange with either setup. But, that's why so many different headphones are available...I've only heard good things about the NAD's.