bikerboy94
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Man you way over paid I got mine for $7.68 LOL. I really like it better than bands alone.
The Fiio X3 Thread.
- Thread starter eke2k6
- Start date
Man you way over paid I got mine for $7.68 LOL. I really like it better than bands alone.
thedude22
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KLJTech
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Mine took a couple weeks, it's worth the wait. I just assumed it would take a month and then was happy when it came in sooner than that. I paid less than $8 for mine.
thedude22
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Where at?
thedude22
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Pen on I'm guessing I'll give it a try. I keep putting it off bur it doesn't look like a us sellers going to get them anytime soon
KLJTech
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bikerboy94
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sparda0
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So there you go! Now some users are comparing the FiiO X3 to an XPERIA Z3 Compact which uses a Qualcomm WCDxxx DAC (proven worst than any available DAC's on some flagship phones like those with Exynos from Samsung albeit capable of 192/24 audio decoding) and Sony's "Software" Sound Enhancing Tech like DSEE HX and ClearAudio+. One user also commented on using PowerAMP.
Things I do not like about the X3.
1. Laid back instruments and way too forward vocals. Can't even reproduce the sound of a live concert performance. Listening to The Eagles Hell Freezes Over, BeeGees One Night Only, and a few James Blunt concerts doesn't please my ears at all.
2. Analytical sound as if it tries to remaster every track. All of my 600+ track in FLAC sounds different than they are on any audio device. Don't get me wrong, I've been listening to these tracks for almost 10 years. Remastered or not, I know how they sound. FiiO X3 creates a totally different presentation. I compared it to my PC with decent set up and Altec Lansing speakers, Sony and AIWA HiFi Mini Component, Sony 5.1 Channel Home Theater, iPod Touch 4th and 5th Gen, Sony Discman, old Sony Walkman MP3 player, Sony XPERIA S, Galaxy S5 and then my trusty Voodoo'd Galaxy S1.
3. The sound it produce is clean and detailed. You hardly ear hiss or noise-- which is good. All thanks to the $10.00+ AMP which is so powerful but sucks plenty of juice on its beefy 3000mah battery. Bass is clean and deep BUT lacks the air and making TOO narrow sounding in overall presentation. Everytime the musician hits the drums, it sounds as if the drumsticks also hits the metal on the edge and since it lacks the presence of air, you can't feel any vibrations coming from the drums.
4. Sounds digital rather than analog. This is where I disagree with most people calling it organic sounding. It is not in my opinion.
5. It doesn't do basic sound normalization. Listening to old tracks from The Carpenters would sound as if the volume is at 20/120. Then next comes a track like Runaway Train from Soul Asylum will almost make your ears bleed as if the volume jumps from 20 all the way to 80.
6. There are some people who favors the so-called audiophile sound rather than consumer like signature. I still do not understand the logic. Audiophiles should know better about the "correctness" of sound if that is even a word. On the X3, there are instruments that stands out among others which is not how these songs were supposed to be heard and recorded as intended. I have almost 10 music source with me, and only the X3 sounds different in presentation. Listening to soundtracks and orchestra pieces like Carmina Burana, Liberi Fatali, and One Winged Angel Sephiroth is not pleasant at all. Sounds powerful and detailed but dead in presentation.
7. Shuffle issue is still present. Selecting and scrolling is a pain on the X3 as it doesn't have the option to jump from one letter to another in a click. Thus you have no choice but to shuffle your tracks. Early firmwares seems to have a single pattern for this playing the same tracks no matter where you start. FiiO said it was fixed already, yeah partly because there are still a lot of tracks that i was not able to listen when i only have 600+ on my SD card no matter how I hit the next button.
These are just some of the few things that keeps me from using it as my daily driver. And I have 3 IEM's at the moment. Sony XB90EX which is focused on bass. A flat neutral sounding Sony MDR-EX510-- my favorite, and the new Sennheiser Momentum which has an almost V-shaped sound signature to me and surprisingly hard to drive.
Things I do not like about the X3.
1. Laid back instruments and way too forward vocals. Can't even reproduce the sound of a live concert performance. Listening to The Eagles Hell Freezes Over, BeeGees One Night Only, and a few James Blunt concerts doesn't please my ears at all.
2. Analytical sound as if it tries to remaster every track. All of my 600+ track in FLAC sounds different than they are on any audio device. Don't get me wrong, I've been listening to these tracks for almost 10 years. Remastered or not, I know how they sound. FiiO X3 creates a totally different presentation. I compared it to my PC with decent set up and Altec Lansing speakers, Sony and AIWA HiFi Mini Component, Sony 5.1 Channel Home Theater, iPod Touch 4th and 5th Gen, Sony Discman, old Sony Walkman MP3 player, Sony XPERIA S, Galaxy S5 and then my trusty Voodoo'd Galaxy S1.
3. The sound it produce is clean and detailed. You hardly ear hiss or noise-- which is good. All thanks to the $10.00+ AMP which is so powerful but sucks plenty of juice on its beefy 3000mah battery. Bass is clean and deep BUT lacks the air and making TOO narrow sounding in overall presentation. Everytime the musician hits the drums, it sounds as if the drumsticks also hits the metal on the edge and since it lacks the presence of air, you can't feel any vibrations coming from the drums.
4. Sounds digital rather than analog. This is where I disagree with most people calling it organic sounding. It is not in my opinion.
5. It doesn't do basic sound normalization. Listening to old tracks from The Carpenters would sound as if the volume is at 20/120. Then next comes a track like Runaway Train from Soul Asylum will almost make your ears bleed as if the volume jumps from 20 all the way to 80.
6. There are some people who favors the so-called audiophile sound rather than consumer like signature. I still do not understand the logic. Audiophiles should know better about the "correctness" of sound if that is even a word. On the X3, there are instruments that stands out among others which is not how these songs were supposed to be heard and recorded as intended. I have almost 10 music source with me, and only the X3 sounds different in presentation. Listening to soundtracks and orchestra pieces like Carmina Burana, Liberi Fatali, and One Winged Angel Sephiroth is not pleasant at all. Sounds powerful and detailed but dead in presentation.
7. Shuffle issue is still present. Selecting and scrolling is a pain on the X3 as it doesn't have the option to jump from one letter to another in a click. Thus you have no choice but to shuffle your tracks. Early firmwares seems to have a single pattern for this playing the same tracks no matter where you start. FiiO said it was fixed already, yeah partly because there are still a lot of tracks that i was not able to listen when i only have 600+ on my SD card no matter how I hit the next button.
These are just some of the few things that keeps me from using it as my daily driver. And I have 3 IEM's at the moment. Sony XB90EX which is focused on bass. A flat neutral sounding Sony MDR-EX510-- my favorite, and the new Sennheiser Momentum which has an almost V-shaped sound signature to me and surprisingly hard to drive.
Seriously...
@sparda0
Wow, I hope it was good getting that out of your system
I won't comment on your impression other thatn saying that I disagree with most if not all of it.
What I'd like to comment on though is the reason for me comparing the X3 to the Z3 Compact: In the Z3C thread one user claimed that the Z3C was a high qualtiy audio source and a since that's not my impression of it I wanted to prove that even a cheap dedicated DAP would perform better. Instead of just saying so I went through the trouble of doing a comparsion between them that showed just that.
I'm sorry that you don't enjoy the X3 and I truly hope that you will find a player that suits you better.
Wow, I hope it was good getting that out of your system
I won't comment on your impression other thatn saying that I disagree with most if not all of it.
What I'd like to comment on though is the reason for me comparing the X3 to the Z3 Compact: In the Z3C thread one user claimed that the Z3C was a high qualtiy audio source and a since that's not my impression of it I wanted to prove that even a cheap dedicated DAP would perform better. Instead of just saying so I went through the trouble of doing a comparsion between them that showed just that.
I'm sorry that you don't enjoy the X3 and I truly hope that you will find a player that suits you better.
KLJTech
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Luckily there are a lot of reasonably (and not so reasonably) priced DAP's out there to choose from so there's no reason to "settle" for one that doesn't have a sound signature that you enjoy.
I prefer the X3 via its Line Out to the FiiO E12A when used with my IEM's or B&W P7's or the E12 for my planar headphones but in a pinch the X3 does a pretty darn good job driving most of my headphones and to me, sounds great in doing so.
My stacking kit came in a while ago so now I simply leave the X3 strapped to the E12A. Having been in this audiophile/music lover/nut-case hobby since the early 80's it really amazes me at times that I'm able to walk around with better sound than I had in my listening room full of expensive gear (expensive to me) years ago and my portable setup isn't close to being top of the line. My usual portable setup is the X3 (w/128GB card...nothing but 16 and 24 bit FLAC) & E12A along with the Westone W40's.
I prefer the X3 via its Line Out to the FiiO E12A when used with my IEM's or B&W P7's or the E12 for my planar headphones but in a pinch the X3 does a pretty darn good job driving most of my headphones and to me, sounds great in doing so.
My stacking kit came in a while ago so now I simply leave the X3 strapped to the E12A. Having been in this audiophile/music lover/nut-case hobby since the early 80's it really amazes me at times that I'm able to walk around with better sound than I had in my listening room full of expensive gear (expensive to me) years ago and my portable setup isn't close to being top of the line. My usual portable setup is the X3 (w/128GB card...nothing but 16 and 24 bit FLAC) & E12A along with the Westone W40's.
bzippy
100+ Head-Fier
Oh yeah, I forgot to report I got mine too and also from Aliexpress (I think mine was $8 iirc) . Only took a little over a week to get here I think. What a great little kit! Looks very slick. My only complaint (there's always at least one, ain't there?) is that the rubber band partially covers the sd card slot and makes it pretty hard to get the card out (though not impossible, I admit). As a card swapper this is kinda inconvenient for me. But everything else is great and I really like it.
gerelmx1986
Headphoneus Supremus
hehe, get a 128GB SanDisk and you will stop swapping cards, got mine when costed 299 and now they're dirt-cheap
bzippy
100+ Head-Fier
um well, that's what i have. but it's still not enough because i do mostly lossless. for the recrod, they're $100 now and that's quite a bit more expensive than most dirt i know of.
now 256GB, THAT would do me just fine! can't wait til a good one is available and supported.
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