[Paulus XII]

   
Well, the tight bass is not in the original files so the FiiO doesn´t play it. 

 
lol.
 
Besides the tightness and resolution of the bass, the more hi-fi sound, etc, soundstage depth was highly reduced too. The immersion you get from 2.14b is another dimension from 8 driver IEMs.

 

[Unfie]

I figured I'd check out head-fi before taking my X3 and heading to the gym. Luckily, the new FW was out so I loaded it up. The sound quality has definitely changed! It sounds as if the veil has been removed. I'm not sure why the category option doesn't load any files, but it works with the browse option. I'll give more impressions when I get back.
 
Man...I almost considered selling the X3 too.

 

[Marlene]

   
lol.
 
Besides the tightness and resolution of the bass, the more hi-fi sound, etc, soundstage depth was highly reduced too. The immersion you get from 2.14b is another dimension from 8 driver IEMs.

 
I disagree. Soundstage depth is the same - with improved stability. On 2.14b instruments tended to change their position slightly. That is now gone. Now you can even pinpoint reverb tails if you so desire. And that is something not many devices are able to.
 
Resolution of the bass? I can still decode every syncopated rhythm dance music gives me. This hasn´t changed IMO.
 
And what is 'more hi-fi sound'? I cannot decode this expression into a meaningful sound description.

 

[Paulus XII]

Marlene, just get some really good phones and test it again.

 

[Spiderman]

What is the main difference between 2.14 and 2.18? I definitely noticed the difference between 2.18 and 3.0 though.

 

[SallymaeHogsby]

I've had 3.0 a few hours now. No real long term listening sessions yet. I've found a sound I like, that reminds me of 2.1, but I had to set it at treble -10, bass +6 to get it. (My 2.1 settings were more normal.) I'll see what my ears prefer tomorrow.

For the moment, I prefer the 2.14 sound, which I think I had set to treble -2, bass 0.

I've had freezes if I try to switch tracks fairly quickly. I normally set up playlist-folders, which I listen to all the way thru, so this normally wouldn't be a problem for me. But I was switching tracks to see how different kinds of music sounded, and that's how the freezes happened.

If I'd never been seduced by the 2.14 sound, I'd be quite pleased with the sound I have now, in spite of the rather extreme treble & bass settings I have to use to get it. So I'm in favor of having the sounds being independent of the FW updates, if that's possible.

By the way, I've never had a problem with having "successful" FW upgrades while having folders of music files on the same memory card. But with my rather extreme treble & bass settings, I'll try it tomorrow on its own card, just in case that did somehow make a difference.

 

[steelglam]

  All you guys... please, please stop fretting about firmware 3.0.
 
It is - in my humble opinion - the most 'correct' sounding firmware for the X3 yet. And soundwise it is a huge step from 2.1 to 3.0 and a smaller step from 2.14b to 3.0.
 
For all the doubters, here is a little summary:
 
Sound of 1.x - 2.1:
 

1. flat and constricted stage, soloists seem to take a few steps back from the microphone
2. diminished upper bass, mids and lower treble -> leaving deep bass and high treble
3. dynamics suffer from muted mids
4. far from the original sound of the files it plays
5. perceived frequency response feels unbalanced
6. not very colourful sound, definitely not audiophile

 
Sound of 2.14b - 2.xxb:
 

1. holographic stage
2. stage is slightly instable, instruments move around a bit
3. less deep bass and high treble - because upper bass, mids and lower treble are back
4. much more balanced perceived frequency response
5. more details
6. perfect dynamics with some slight added aggressiveness
7. very colourful sound
8. some slight 'glare' at high mids / low treble

 
Sound of 3.0:
 

1. holographic stage with correct dimensions
2. stage is completely stable, instruments are 'glued' to their places
3. perfectly balanced perceived frequency response (maybe there´s a touch of warmth)
4. the same amount of details as before - they´re just not so much 'in-your-face'
5. perfect dynamics
6. neutral sound
7. glare completely gone

 
In short, after firmware 3.0 this simply is the best portable player I own. And I own many, which, in some cases, have been superior to the X3 before (using firmware <2.1). I have no idea, how FiiO could change the sound without me being able to measure it but it´s a fact that they did. And the improvement is so huge that I feel that every review written to this day should be rewritten... because they´re all wrong now.
 
The X3 now is not only the best DAP I have, it´s also one of the best sources I have. There´s only one device that´s better: the Xonar Essence STX. And the difference is not that big. This truly is remarkable, especially after I considered selling it until a month ago because of its mediocre sound quality. Firmware 2.14b already shattered the idea of selling, firmware 3.0 crushed it completely.
 
IMO, Astell&Kern, iBasso and Sony can pack their bags. And FiiO too... because, in all honesty... I feel that the X3 is superior to the X5 (judging from what I´ve heard when I had the preview model).
 
When not talking about sound the firmware has so far been a delight. Fast, responsive, free of bugs. If there´s one thing I don´t like too much it´s that the cover art is resized to (I assume) 300x300 px and cropped because it doesn´t fit. But that´s it.
 
Very well done, FiiO.

I agree with you about the soundstaging and the imaging being superior on 3.0, and also that the slight glare of 2.14b is gone.
 
But I disagree about 3.0 being more neutral, dynamic, and detailed than 2.14b.  My perception is that with 3.0, the warmth is forward and veils the mids to a greater degree, and it's slower and less dynamic.

 

[Paulus XII]

  What is the main difference between 2.14 and 2.18? I definitely noticed the difference between 2.18 and 3.0 though.

 
I know nothing about 2.18, but it's colossal the difference between 2.14b and 3.0.

 

[leebSaMmY]

testing 2.19b. Enjoyed 3.0!

 

[Milesian]

OK developers, I gotta say although I loved the X-3 for it's capabilities and price, I didn't really use it a lot. Sure I'd take it into work and listen to a few tracks on night shift. But since this latest FW 3.0 upgrade, I'm addicted. The sound is lovely, very organic, tonally balanced and most importantly for me very musical. Sound seems to flow effortlessly out of this thing now and I can't take the headphones off. Very impressive indeed.

 

[Dixter]

Just updated to 3.0...  The stage seems to be just where it should be...   no problem here with the SQ...  but I do like the X3 played through an E12 for better dynamics...  it just gives me more options with that great bass boost, cross feed and the power boost is great when you are driving hard to drive phones... 

 

[ngs428]

  Thanks, I was trying lots of different ways without success and thought I was going mad.
 
I thought having a external jpg for the album cover was on the to do list, guess it was dropped which is a shame.

From the V3 Manual:
"Can't display the album cover
It supports jpg, bmp and png formats (the picture should be within 1M, and with less than 1024px
resolution), yet no display for other formats.The built-in cover can be embedded in to the music
file by means of Foobar, TTPlayer, iTune or this kind of software on PC. The name of the external
cover should be identical to that of the music file, and they two should be put in the same folder
so as to display normal."

 

[Marlene]

  Marlene, just get some really good phones and test it again.

 
Excuse me?

 

[johanchandy]

 
IMO, Astell&Kern, iBasso and Sony can pack their bags. And FiiO too... because, in all honesty... I feel that the X3 is superior to the X5 (judging from what I´ve heard when I had the preview model).
 

In light of this I'm wondering if Fiio will release a firmware update for the X5 refining the sound more so it stays clearly superior to the X3 

 

 

[darkarn]

  All you guys... please, please stop fretting about firmware 3.0.
 
It is - in my humble opinion - the most 'correct' sounding firmware for the X3 yet. And soundwise it is a huge step from 2.1 to 3.0 and a smaller step from 2.14b to 3.0.
 
For all the doubters, here is a little summary:
 
Sound of 1.x - 2.1:
 

1. flat and constricted stage, soloists seem to take a few steps back from the microphone
2. diminished upper bass, mids and lower treble -> leaving deep bass and high treble
3. dynamics suffer from muted mids
4. far from the original sound of the files it plays
5. perceived frequency response feels unbalanced
6. not very colourful sound, definitely not audiophile

 
Sound of 2.14b - 2.xxb:
 

1. holographic stage
2. stage is slightly instable, instruments move around a bit
3. less deep bass and high treble - because upper bass, mids and lower treble are back
4. much more balanced perceived frequency response
5. more details
6. perfect dynamics with some slight added aggressiveness
7. very colourful sound
8. some slight 'glare' at high mids / low treble

 
Sound of 3.0:
 

1. holographic stage with correct dimensions
2. stage is completely stable, instruments are 'glued' to their places
3. perfectly balanced perceived frequency response (maybe there´s a touch of warmth)
4. the same amount of details as before - they´re just not so much 'in-your-face'
5. perfect dynamics
6. neutral sound
7. glare completely gone

 
In short, after firmware 3.0 this simply is the best portable player I own. And I own many, which, in some cases, have been superior to the X3 before (using firmware <2.1). I have no idea, how FiiO could change the sound without me being able to measure it but it´s a fact that they did. And the improvement is so huge that I feel that every review written to this day should be rewritten... because they´re all wrong now.
 
The X3 now is not only the best DAP I have, it´s also one of the best sources I have. There´s only one device that´s better: the Xonar Essence STX. And the difference is not that big. This truly is remarkable, especially after I considered selling it until a month ago because of its mediocre sound quality. Firmware 2.14b already shattered the idea of selling, firmware 3.0 crushed it completely.
 
IMO, Astell&Kern, iBasso and Sony can pack their bags. And FiiO too... because, in all honesty... I feel that the X3 is superior to the X5 (judging from what I´ve heard when I had the preview model).
 
When not talking about sound the firmware has so far been a delight. Fast, responsive, free of bugs. If there´s one thing I don´t like too much it´s that the cover art is resized to (I assume) 300x300 px and cropped because it doesn´t fit. But that´s it.
 
Very well done, FiiO.

 
Thanks for the summary Marlene, that's very helpful in telling me what to look out for during tests. Just to repeat my question, is the SQ of the E07K same as the X3, or rather, how different it is from the X3's?