The equalization response charts were awesome. So my take is that there are very subtle differences between firmwares but nothing huge in terms of sound stage. So the placebo effect is still a valid theory.
I had two x3s over the last days, one on fw 3.0, the other on 3.2.
Both had 64 gb micro sd cards with exactly the same songs on them.
It tried to do a blind comparison, shuffling the x3s around, selecting tthe same song on both and then comparing short portions of the same song on the same volume level with both devices.
When I first put on fw 3.2 on an x3 I had the impression that the sound became cleaner and slightly more treble was audible. So I first compared thr sngs on treble.
i failed more than I succeeded, that is i more often identified fw 3.0 as having more treble.
Then I compared on bass, e g with what firmware I heard a more powerful, more detailed bass. For this I picked bass-heavy songd such as from Depeche Mode Delta Machine Song 1 or Guns 'n Roses Paradise City.
Concentrating on bass, I picked the more bass heavy firmware 3.0 9 times out of 10.
I just scanned this thread and found the frquency response graphs of fw 3.0 and fw 3.2 and those seem to support my own finding - fw 3.0 has a bit more bass. Fw 3.2 appears to sound a little bit cleaner as a result but also - depending on headphone and song - a bit less fun.
With some songs And headphones I prefer 3.2, with others 3.0. Good that there's a choice. Perhaps Fiio could release future firmwares in two versions - clean and warm/more bass?
