[sandalaudio]

Quote:

No I am talking about the adapter cable that came with the X3, it has a 1/8 mono plug on one side and a female RCA on the other side. I would like to pick up a more robust version with better shielding. I have a shielded RCA to RCA to connect to it.

 
The SPDIF output on the X3 is a great bonus, but it is not really intended to be a stellar performer (compared to a dedicated desktop unit), so the main bottleneck would be the SPDIF output of the X3 itself. 44.1kHz is OK, but 192kHz is getting to a very dodgy speed for SPDIF.
 
Most modern DACs should lock on to the 192kHz from the X3 fine, but if you are using some ancient or badly designed DAC then you might get some lock issues (let alone quite a messy jitter spectrum). In that case, replacing the 3.5mm adaptor cable provided on the X3 might make some difference. I just made up a custom 3.5mm to BNC SPDIF cable and it certainly made a big difference to the signal quality by eliminating strange reflections.
 

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

No I am talking about the adapter cable that came with the X3, it has a 1/8 mono plug on one side and a female RCA on the other side. I would like to pick up a more robust version with better shielding. I have a shielded RCA to RCA to connect to it.

 
Not just shielded, but you should also make sure the cable is 75ohm rated to get the maximum effect (more important if you need the cable in length). If you can get plugs that are 75 ohm rated then it will be even better. However, no 3.5mm is rated 75ohm AFAIK.
 
I made this a while ago:
 

 

 
It is made with Cardas GRLM RCA plug, Nexans RG179 75ohm coax cable, and Neutrik 3.5mm plug.

 

[JamesFiiO]

About the cover, and Tags information support please see below and we will keep improving  the firmware so X3 can support all the to music formats.
 
 

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

 
The SPDIF output on the X3 is a great bonus, but it is not really intended to be a stellar performer (compared to a dedicated desktop unit), so the main bottleneck would be the SPDIF output of the X3 itself. 44.1kHz is OK, but 192kHz is getting to a very dodgy speed for SPDIF.
 
Most modern DACs should lock on to the 192kHz from the X3 fine, but if you are using some ancient or badly designed DAC then you might get some lock issues (let alone quite a messy jitter spectrum). In that case, replacing the 3.5mm adaptor cable provided on the X3 might make some difference. I just made up a custom 3.5mm to BNC SPDIF cable and it certainly made a big difference to the signal quality by eliminating strange reflections.
 

 
sure, the best way is not use the 3.5 to RCA male  cable, but the question is people may need different length of the 3.5 to 3.5 coaxial cable or 3.5 to RCA female , like 1 feet, 2 feet, it make us impossible to make so many cable.

 

[MrScratch]

The one-folder trick resolved my issue, I'm quite sure now that the Browse function shows all the music files on the SD. The library update took a while but it's working! As a plus, the tagged MP3s show up in Play All/Album/Genre/Artist functions. There's definitely some kind of bug with the folder structure, previously I had my music sorted in folders organized as Artist/Album/Song and it didn't work.

 

[phlashbios]

Quote:

The one-folder trick resolved my issue, I'm quite sure now that the Browse function shows all the music files on the SD. The library update took a while but it's working! As a plus, the tagged MP3s show up in Play All/Album/Genre/Artist functions. There's definitely some kind of bug with the folder structure, previously I had my music sorted in folders organized as Artist/Album/Song and it didn't work.

 
Yep, I did have Music/Artist/Album/Song, but I have also tried just Artist/Album/Song and neither work. One folder with 8000 songs in it is not an option for me, as I rely on the folder structure when using the sd-card in other devices. It would be easy to say "well just buy another sd-card and stick all your songs in one folder and use that on the X3", but then I am having to maintain multiple sd-cards to try and work around a problem that I don't have on any other device.
 
It would be useful if James from Fiio could give us an estimated timescale to fix this problem, so that I know whether to wait for a fix or return my X3 for a refund.

 

[PiteCZek]

Guys, probably stupid question, but is there a way to remove the sticker on a screen protector without leaving that trace of glue on it? 

 

[Grendelrt]

Quote:

 
The SPDIF output on the X3 is a great bonus, but it is not really intended to be a stellar performer (compared to a dedicated desktop unit), so the main bottleneck would be the SPDIF output of the X3 itself. 44.1kHz is OK, but 192kHz is getting to a very dodgy speed for SPDIF.
 
Most modern DACs should lock on to the 192kHz from the X3 fine, but if you are using some ancient or badly designed DAC then you might get some lock issues (let alone quite a messy jitter spectrum). In that case, replacing the 3.5mm adaptor cable provided on the X3 might make some difference. I just made up a custom 3.5mm to BNC SPDIF cable and it certainly made a big difference to the signal quality by eliminating strange reflections.
 

 
Quote:

 
Not just shielded, but you should also make sure the cable is 75ohm rated to get the maximum effect (more important if you need the cable in length). If you can get plugs that are 75 ohm rated then it will be even better. However, no 3.5mm is rated 75ohm AFAIK.
 
I made this a while ago:
 

 

 
It is made with Cardas GRLM RCA plug, Nexans RG179 75ohm coax cable, and Neutrik 3.5mm plug.

Thanks guys, I was hoping to be able to buy a longer version of something like this if possible, it looks like most people are making theirs =) I was previously using a motherboard out on a old pc to optical on my Bifrost, but was trying to use the X3 so I didnt have to run an entire PC at night when I listen to music in bed. From what I read coaxial is usually preferred over optical but it sounds the coaxial out on the X3 isnt that great?

 

[sandalaudio]

Quote:

 
sure, the best way is not use the 3.5 to RCA male  cable, but the question is people may need different length of the 3.5 to 3.5 coaxial cable or 3.5 to RCA female , like 1 feet, 2 feet, it make us impossible to make so many cable.

 
I think the free 3.5mm to RCA cable that comes with the X3 is already a great bonus to have. I wouldn't really want the X3 price to go up just so that it comes with a fancy SPDIF cable. Most people would probably never need to use it anyway. (X3 already has a good D/A and output driver anyway...).
 
I simply wanted to make a point that the SPDIF cable does make a difference, especially at high sample rates. Most modern good DACs will work fine but I have also seen many badly designed DACs with improper SPDIF receiver and poor jitter elimination. I read some previous post saying to just measure the cable with a multimeter, which is rather meaningless for high speed digital data cables like SPDIF. I'm just worried that some people might fall for expensive "botique" SPDIF cables made of super pure copper and silver etc, which has nothing to do with how to achieve good digital signal quality.
 
 
Quote:

 
Thanks guys, I was hoping to be able to buy a longer version of something like this if possible, it looks like most people are making theirs =) I was previously using a motherboard out on a old pc to optical on my Bifrost, but was trying to use the X3 so I didnt have to run an entire PC at night when I listen to music in bed. From what I read coaxial is usually preferred over optical but it sounds the coaxial out on the X3 isnt that great?

 
Good news is that the SPDIF output quality of the X3 did not noticeably change depending on whether you are running on battery or on micro USB charger cable. I think X3 would be a fantastic unit as a bedroom transport to replace your PC.
 
The coax SPDIF on the X3 is good, or at least better than majority of the common CD players SPDIF output. It is not as sharp or grunty as some of the expensive high end transport, so I was worried that it can misbehave if you are pairing with some dodgy DAC if you use a bad cable. In any case it is a lot more useful than those 3.5mm optical Toslink mini jacks equipped on lots of laptop PCs nowadays.

 

[Stuff Jones]

Sorry to be that guy, but I'd love to hear more impressions on the SQ from new owners.

 

[shrimants]

Sorry to be that guy, but I'd love to hear more impressions on the SQ from new owners.

Its flat and neutral. whatever headphones you plug into it, thats the sound impression you'll get out of it.

I think the bigger concern is the glaring firmware bugs, and I havent seen any response as to an ETA on when we can expect a fix for things like:

1) incorrect sorting of tracks (all numerically)
2) 64 gig sd card needing to be only 1 directory with all music
3) inability to use player to format the SD card.

This is extraordinarily basic functionality that I would expect a device to have before shipping. I may have missed a post that said when the fix is coming for this stuff though. this thread moves pretty fast.

 

[alphabetagaga]

Quote:

I think the bigger concern is the glaring firmware bugs, and I havent seen any response as to an ETA on when we can expect a fix for things like:

1) incorrect sorting of tracks (all numerically)

 
this is how i name and tag my files for any given album. for the file name i have track number followed by track title. so how will x3 sort them?
 

 

 
if i load the above album onto my x3 and browse to that album i assume it will show me 11 tracks starting with track 01 and ending with track 11. is that not how it is?

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

1) incorrect sorting of tracks (all numerically)
2) 64 gig sd card needing to be only 1 directory with all music
3) inability to use player to format the SD card.

 
 
1, We will not add the format feature in X3, sorry for that.
 
2, We need time to estimate the 64 gig sd card needing to be only 1 directory with all music, I have not problem about this issue and will be willing to hear more report so we can check out the real reason.
 
3, The new firmware which will be released soon may fix the incorrect sorting of tracks.

 

[shrimants]

this is how i name and tag my files for any given album. for the file name i have track number followed by track title. so how will x3 sort them?

01album 1 track 1.mp3
01album 2 track 1.mp3
01album 3 track 1.mp3

02album 1 track 1.mp3
02album 2 track 1.mp3
02album 3 track 1.mp3

03album 1 track 1.mp3
03album 2 track 1.mp3
03album 3 track 1.mp3

ETC.

The way around this for now: Use the "browse files". However, you cannot do this if you use a 64 gig card. So the new way around this: rename every single track to "Artist Album ## title.mp3" and dump it into a single directory if you have a 64 gig card. If you have a 32 gig card, you're fine and can keep whatever folder structure you want, and use "browse files" to look at artist\album\track.

1, We will not add the format feature in X3, sorry for that.

2, We need time to estimate the 64 gig sd card needing to be only 1 directory with all music, I have not problem about this issue and will be willing to hear more report so we can check out the real reason.

3, The new firmware which will be released soon may fix the incorrect sorting of tracks.

1) not a huge deal. Its one of those "would be nice" things, at least you have mentioned in the manual and online to format the card to FAT32 if it is not recognized. that is the only reason i mentioned it.

2) Please detail what exactly you need to hear so that we can provide that information. If necessary, we can run testing for you. Perhaps we can create a second thread dedicated to bugfixing.

3) yayyyyyyyyyy

 

[alphabetagaga]

Quote:

The way around this for now: Use the "browse files". However, you cannot do this if you use a 64 gig card. So the new way around this: rename every single track to "Artist Album ## title.mp3" and dump it into a single directory if you have a 64 gig card. If you have a 32 gig card, you're fine and can keep whatever folder structure you want, and use "browse files" to look at artist\album\track.

 
that applies to me so i'm happy thanks for the info