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.
Umm.......hate much?
I will take this as directed at me, because I am the one who purchased the Z3Compact, so, I will give you MY opinion of it. When I took my microSD card with me to the local Sony store, I asked if I could load some music on the phone, as that was one of the main reasons I was interested in it. The salesman didn't mind, so I spent about a half-hour with the phone. Here's my conclusions.
-I have 16ohm, easy to drive IEM's that I use everywhere. The phone was more than capable of driving these to pleasing bass and treble levels, with a little adjustment of some of the settings in the Walkman app on the phone. I used Clear Bass, and upped the treble a bit. Not only did the phone play MY music to satisfying volume levels, it sounded as good as the X3. Probably because I am not using the X3 to it's full potential, driving hard to drive cans, such as in the 300ohm territory.
-The walkman app is a little dated, and does have some shortcomings, but I plan to bypass the Walkman app, and use PowerAmp. I am fully versed in how to use PowerAmp to get the performance that I like, without the need to carry around 2 devices to play music, and talk on the phone. Speaking of which, sometimes I miss calls or texts, because the vibration function on my phone, the Nexus 5, is very weak IMO, and I am surprised when I do get around to checking my phone. I then have to remove my IEM's, and return the call, or depending on which one's I'm using, unplug from the X3, and plug into my phone, to make a call. PERSONALLY, I find that annoying.
-The DAC chip in the X3, and the DAC chip in the Xperia Z3 do sound different, what's wrong with that. A little tweaking of the PowerAmp EQ, and I can make both sound similar, if not the same. I couldn't A/B them, as I had my SD card in the phone at the time. I didn't load PowerAmp on the store phone, because it's not mine, and I didn't want to clutter the phone with another app, like some store patrons had already done.
-Carrying 2 devices is tiring to me. I have decided, through much research, that I wanted one device that could play MY music, to satisfy MY needs, and to meet MY expectations. I decided on the Z3 Compact. It does NOT mean that I will part with my X3, although that is a possibility, at which time, you are more than welcome to buy it, as it will be in the classifieds on this site.
-If I want, I can get the Fiio E18 Kunlun DAC/Amp combo at any time that I am not satisfied any longer with the output of the phone. You see, I researched what I can and can't do, BEFORE I made my decision, which, unlike you it seems, required forethought, not like making the above rant post.
-I like the X3, I like the sound it produces, and the ability is has to drive my IEM's to satisfying levels. That DOES NOT mean, however, that I am married to it for life. If I decide that I want to do something else, I am more than within MY RIGHT to do so. So you see, I have, with forethought, research and testing, have decided to go another route. I am truly sorry if this offends you, because, as we all know, THE MIGHTY X3 reigns supreme in the DAP world. No my friend, it does not. I am tired of putting on a new firmware, only to discover that something else is broken. As an example, with the latest firmware 3.3, now it says "Unknown Artist" when a song starts. It worked before, why is it broken now? Why does the X3 not read ID3 tags, when the X1 and the X5 do just fine. I had to go through my entire music collection, and change the way the filename's were saved, so as to delete the Artist name, so that all the X3 displays is track # and song name. You call that conveinience, or proper functioning? I don't. I call it poor programming. Fiio does not allow access to the main SoC firmware, so these things cannot be changed by the user. All that can be done is change the function by putting new "skins" on it. Some work, most don't. PowerAmp works well to me, and reads ID3 tags, shows embedded album artwork without cutting the sides off, and just plain functions the way I want. If you don't approve, I'm sorry.
Finally, I am happy with my purchase, the fact that I can get 20 hours of lossless FLAC playback, and replace a phone that was crippled by Google when they applied the EU volume limit to ALL Nexus 5 phones. I don't root, I don't sideload firmwares, I just use a phone as a multi-function device that does what I want. If you don't like it, fine, but there is no need to RAGE on here about how YOU think the Z3 Compact is junk compared to the X3. It all depends on how you want to use the device, and I am confident that I will have a device that does what
I want it to. End of story.
