[bowei006]

Quote:

Ok, what's the official price tag on this in the US. I see some for sale on ebay for $235...

First page, should be $199
 
Final price is determined by the retailler, FiiO only has a recommended price that they recommend sellers sell at.
 
Competition between retailers and good deeds and conscience obviously doesn't create ultra high price differences once the units become highly availble.
 
I'm expecting $199 to $220 for most retailers in the U.S. 

 

[tds101]

Yes, I'd say $199 should be it. Especially since Amazon will honor that price point when they sell it,...

 

[Change is Good]

Quote:

Yes, I'd say $199 should be it. Especially since Amazon will honor that price point when they sell it,...

 
It's not Amazon, so it will be up to the retailers. They are only 'fulfilled by Amazon' when it is applied to the item.
 
Also, I doubt it will be honored to the true pricepoint while it is still new. The E12 is currently $150 on Amazon, $20 more than its retail price.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

First page, should be $199
 
Final price is determined by the retailler, FiiO only has a recommended price that they recommend sellers sell at.
 
Competition between retailers and good deeds and conscience obviously doesn't create ultra high price differences once the units become highly availble.
 
I'm expecting $199 to $220 for most retailers in the U.S. 

 
yes, the retail price will be $199.9 when X3 become highly available on amazon.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

 
It's not Amazon, so it will be up to the retailers. They are only 'fulfilled by Amazon' when it is applied to the item.
 
Also, I doubt it will be honored to the true pricepoint while it is still new. The E12 is currently $150 on Amazon, $20 more than its retail price.c

 
currently, we have not delivered enough E12 to our customer in U.S

 

[Change is Good]

Quote:

 
yes, the retail price will be $199.9 when X3 become highly available on amazon.

 
If this is so, then why is the E12's price jacked up on Amazon right now?

 

[Change is Good]

Quote:

 
currently, we have not delivered enough E12 to our customer in U.S

 
Oh ok, gotcha...

 

[MattTCG]

James...any update on the US release or do it remain sometime in July?
 
thanks...

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

 
I have FIIO E17 (based on WM8740) and 2 ES9023-based DACs - ODAC and Hifimediy.
Both of them sound superior to FIIO E17.
 
ES9023 isn't even that power hungry - ODAC works fine powered by my cellphone.
It's very cheap too - hifimediy has a new 30$ USB DAC based on it.
It's quite affordable for a DAP that costs hundreds of dollars.
 
BTW, the same question can be addressed to FIIO's DAC/AMPs - why no ES9023?
 
WM8740 is not a top Wolfson DAC for a while - WM8741 and WM8742 replaced it.

 
1, From the Objective tested result, WM8740 is better than ES9023. 
 
2, From the purchased price, WM8740 is expensive than ES9023.
 
3, From the subjective SQ , the hiss(noise) of WM8740 is lower than ES9023. ( it maybe the most noticeable thing among subjective tested )
 
4, WM8740 still is the flagship DAC from Wolfson which designed for portable used, of course, WM8741/42 are better but it is for desktop used. 
 
We can see lots of HiFi audio device used WM8740, the price range cover from $60 - $1500. includes Linn, Sony, iRiver and some famous brand. of course, but as I known , not so many brand used ES9023 . 
 
the world will become quite boring if every brand bring the same thing to the end customers, that is the one reason why we change to PCM1792 but not WM8741, it is more logical to upgrade from WM8740 to WM8741 in X5. and don't forget 
 
we start to use WM8740 from 2009. we are not follower .
 
BTW, we have very good relationship with ESS, in 10 years ago, ESS was famous by their chip sets for DVD. and I was working in the company ( now called OPPO ) who was the biggest customer of ESS, and the Soc of our D7 is made by
 
ESS too. 

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

James...any update on the US release or do it remain sometime in July?
 
thanks...

 
about 100 - 200 will be delivered to U.S in next week.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
1, From the Objective tested result, WM8740 is better than ES9023. 
 
2, From the purchased price, WM8740 is expensive than ES9023.
 
3, From the subjective SQ , the hiss(noise) of WM8740 is lower than ES9023. ( it maybe the most noticeable thing among subjective tested )
 
4, WM8740 still is the flagship DAC from Wolfson which designed for portable used, of course, WM8741/42 are better but it is for desktop used. 
 
We can see lots of HiFi audio device used WM8740, the price range cover from $60 - $1500. includes Linn, Sony, iRiver and some famous brand. of course, but as I known , not so many brand used ES9023 . 
 
the world will become quite boring if every brand bring the same thing to the end customers, that is the one reason why we change to PCM1792 but not WM8741, it is more logical to upgrade from WM8740 to WM8741 in X5. and don't forget 
 
we start to use WM8740 from 2009. we are not follower .
 
BTW, we have very good relationship with ESS, in 10 years ago, ESS was famous by their chip sets for DVD. and I was working in the company ( now called OPPO ) who was the biggest customer of ESS, and the Soc of our D7 is made by
 
ESS too. 

I know Sabre's generally have a higher power draw.
 
How much is the SABRE ES9023's power draw compared to the WM8740? I was mentioning it last page. But I didnt go into specifics as every chip is different. 
 
Out of AK4396, PCM___, WM 8741, ES 90xx, CS4398
 
What would be your favorite DAC that is also power efficient? I'm currently choosing another DAC for another set.

 

[AUDIOBREEDER]

$235 for something thats worth $199.

 

[BenF]

Quote:

...
BTW, we have very good relationship with ESS, in 10 years ago, ESS was famous by their chip sets for DVD. and I was working in the company ( now called OPPO ) who was the biggest customer of ESS, and the Soc of our D7 is made by
 
ESS too. 

 
Do you have any plans to use Sabre DACs in the near future?

 

[BenF]

Quote:

 
about 100 - 200 will be delivered to U.S in next week.

 
When will MP4Nation receive X3?

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

 
I have FIIO E17 (based on WM8740) and 2 ES9023-based DACs - ODAC and Hifimediy.
Both of them sound superior to FIIO E17.
 
ES9023 isn't even that power hungry - ODAC works fine powered by my cellphone.
It's very cheap too - hifimediy has a new 30$ USB DAC based on it.
It's quite affordable for a DAP that costs hundreds of dollars.
 
BTW, the same question can be addressed to FIIO's DAC/AMPs - why no ES9023?
 
WM8740 is not a top Wolfson DAC for a while - WM8741 and WM8742 replaced it.

 
I have a WM8740 based desktop DAC (FireStone CustomCute) that sounds and measured as good as the three ES9023 (ODAC, iFi iDAC and UD100) I have. Implementation is the key. In fact, it is more important than what chips a DAC used IMO.
 
As James pointed out, the hardware spec on ES9023 isn't better than WM8740, so there is no inherent benefit to change from WM8740 to ES9023. Instead of focusing what chip is used, it is better to look for way to optimize the current design - and no, I don't think the WM8740 in X3 is at its best sounding (compared to what I have heard on CustomCute). But then again, it is in a portable player so naturally it is not going to be as good sounding as when it is implemented inside a desktop system. There is something to consider - even though ES9023 sounds good as a desktop DAC, it doesn't mean it will sound just as good in a portable device when everything is designed in very tight topology. Even among all the desktop DAC that use WM8740, there are those that sound okay and those that are great. The only plus I see on ESS chip is that they tend to be more highly integrated, so they demand less attention on the circuit around it.
 
WM8741 is pretty much the DSD enable WM8740 with additional digital filter for the most part. The hardware improvement from WM8741 to WM8740 isn't nearly as significant as the price jump (regularly 3~4x more expensive) has suggested. In fact, some higher end manufacturer still stick to WM8740 because they think WM8741 is most a marketing push to phase out the older chip so they can justify selling the newer chip on much higher price. Plus WM8741 sucks up too much power and not suitable for mobile device (> 4x the current draw compared to WM8740). In fact a dual WM8740 configuration is probably cheaper than one WM8741 and still draw less power. In any case, the hardware spec on both chips is well beyond what human hearing can detect. So again, it really is down to the implementation to make sure they can sound as good as possible. The chip itself is less important.