[Musiccc]

  I´ve written an article about decoding lossy codecs to elaborate on what I´ve already written here in response to the decoding problems of the X3. It bugged me that my arguments in this thread weren´t very... erm, cohesive so I tried to rectify it with my article, an article I wanted to write for quite some time (long before the X3).
 
I´ve also described what to avoid with lossy codecs, how to create the best MP3, WMA and AAC files ever... in short, it´s a long article. May you read it or not
 
"MP3 and other HiRes formats"
 
Enjoy!
 
P.S.: not interested in the X5

 
We should probably move this to another thread as it is off topic...
 
Liked the article. I also use dbpoweramp but I use ABR at 320kbps (q0) since it can then use higher bitrates if the source demands.
How do you feel the two modes compare?

 
I do not think it's really off topic, even if it is, it's just a link and I'm glad that I see it here, otherwise I would not have discovered about such thing.  Just a LITTLE off topic is not bad every now and then.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I was online with the chief programmer of the x3 yesterday. I told him that Marlene wanted mp3 decoding not just fixed but done in floating point as well. He told me that's what they're doing, that if it's something requested by users, it's easy to do. Chalk one up to the shiny FPU on the x3

I asked him if it would be easy to make the x3 fly if I asked for it

 

[MrJohnnyHan]

Just got my X3 today. It came fw1.31, I had upgraded to fw2.05 straight away out of the box. My files with korean text is unable to display correctly , seems that all korean text display as squares. Japanese text is fine though. Any solution to fix this?

 

[Marlene]

I was online with the chief programmer of the x3 yesterday. I told him that Marlene wanted mp3 decoding not just fixed but done in floating point as well. He told me that's what they're doing, that if it's something requested by users, it's easy to do. Chalk one up to the shiny FPU on the x3

I asked him if it would be easy to make the x3 fly if I asked for it

 
Oh my, now I´m feeling guilty... I don´t want to stress people out... 

 
Are the other formats also decoded in floating point? I´d just like to add that floating point is of course more than wonderful (and honestly: this is something I´d never expect from any company to do) but if it´s easier, cheaper and faster for the engineers to do, 24 bit integer decoding would be just as fine.
 
Before I forget, I´d like to ask for some other function: I always wanted to have a flying coffee machine. Can they do that with the X3? 

 

 

[tjw321]

I was online with the chief programmer of the x3 yesterday. I told him that Marlene wanted mp3 decoding not just fixed but done in floating point as well. He told me that's what they're doing, that if it's something requested by users, it's easy to do. Chalk one up to the shiny FPU on the x3

I asked him if it would be easy to make the x3 fly if I asked for it

That's awesome. I'm so glad I bought my DAP from Fiio.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

Oh my, now I´m feeling guilty... I don´t want to stress people out... 

Are the other formats also decoded in floating point? I´d just like to add that floating point is of course more than wonderful (and honestly: this is something I´d never expect from any company to do) but if it´s easier, cheaper and faster for the engineers to do, 24 bit integer decoding would be just as fine.

Before I forget, I´d like to ask for some other function: I always wanted to have a flying coffee machine. Can they do that with the X3?   

Yeah, should be all of them, I'm just using mp3 as an example. Actually they've finished recoding ogg decoding and haven't got to mp3 itself quite yet. 24bit will be fine eh? Well if FPU decoding makes the x3 start catching fire or something I'll be sure to tell them that I guess we should also check if we can make the FPU walk and chew gum at the same time to provide another feature many users have been asking for

 

[shrimants]

If you're able to talk to the programmer, can you get a clear explanation on exactly why the following items "cant be fixed":

1) track numbering: 01 01 01 02 02 02 03 03 03 etc. under all songs, genre, and artist view (album mode has the problem too, but not as apparent)

2) no /artist/album/track, no /genre/artist/album/track

And apart from that, something ive noticed:

first button press turns screen on. This gets very annoying, dunno how your guys' experience is though. I feel like when i hit "next track", or "volume up" i expect immediate response, not "screen on". However, this kind of goes back to not enough buttons on the X3. Ipod classic has 7 total buttons: middle click, up/down/left/right click, scroll "up", scroll "down". also screen lock. X3 has 6, plus screen lock. Difference between them is that ipod didnt try to make play/pause the "select" button. So some intuitiveness and a LOT of field testing for figuring out proper methods of what feels natural becomes necessary.

I mentioned before, for example, we have a ton of menu options that have like 3-4 options. yet, for some reason instead of using play/pause to cycle through them in one direction, we need to use volume +/- in order to cycle through them, which also disables our ability to control volume through the player. If you want to make it so you can only play/pause on the now playing screen, fine. but at least let the volume be controlled in all places. Use Play/Pause to cycle through different options.

Also, I think the X3 should try to take advantage of multi-button presses. However, this is often a limitation of the microcontroller, and I wouldnt be surprised if it cant be implemented. Just a thought. Like press play/pause+back at the same time to turn off the screen or something. or volume up/down at the same time. Or even toggle hold switch while holding play/pause button.

 

[castleofargh]

your brain is telling you to go buy an ipod obviously.

 

[Bytor123]

No point in good sound if you can't find the effing song

 

[shrimants]

No point in good sound if you can't find the effing song

not only that, but "we cant" is just not a good enough explanation for me. I'm sorry. You can turn something into a dac/amp combo but you cant add a menu item? give me a break.

 

[Bytor123]

I've got to agree with you - I am loathe to invest in a DAP that won't allow me to easily manage the contents - no matter how good it sounds.

 

[shrimants]

I've got to agree with you - I am loathe to invest in a DAP that won't allow me to easily manage the contents - no matter how good it sounds.

And this is why, despite how many improvements the X5 makes over the X3, i cannot bring myself to be excited over it. I'm sure it will be a fantastic product. But can you really sell me this X3, have me struggling to use it, tell me "i cant" whenever i ask for the most simple of UI tweaks all while adding crazy other features like usb dac mode and worrying about stuff regular users dont give a crap about (32 bit floating point mp3 decode WHO CARES IF YOU CANT FIND THE MP3).....And after i've spend 200 bucks on this and 50 bucks on an SD card, you say "btw, we fixed everything, now spend another 300 on our new player without the issues in our last player. BTW, we might have a whole new set of issues".

Yeah, i'm totally buying an ipod. Maybe not a touch, but a classic. Sure, it doesnt have the best sound quality. But it supports rockbox, plays back just about any format i need, has an intuitive interface, huge number of accessories/docks, and gets the job done.

Fiio needs to prioritize, IMO.

EDIT: lemme step back for a second. I would appreciate if fiio shared their priorities with us, so we could see the direction the X3 is going and how the X5 plays into this. From what it seems like to me, they are trying to ditch the X3 as somewhat of a backburner project already, and are focusing all of their (EXTREMELY LIMITED) developer efforts on the X5. I really hope that isnt the case. I get that they promised a release date, but they shouldnt be rushing ANOTHER project out the door just to have it fail miserably like the X3, especially when they havent even bothered fixing the main glaring issues of the X3. This is assuming one of their main priorities doesnt involve porting the X5 firmware to the X3, but AFAIK that was entirely speculation, and there is no real hope for that.

Which is why I keep asking for the simple UI tweak or some explanation as to why a developer finds it so impossible to add that into the firmware.

 

[Bytor123]

I have a Classic, I just use an amp with it (and of course decent headphones will help!). I have to say that ease of navigation probably pips sound quality to the post in terms of importance - given that the sound quality is good to start with (i.e the Classic is, in my experience, perfectly acceptable). You'd think that they would start with the look and feel of the interface and then add the SQ...I have other FiiO products (E09, E07, E06 - all really nice) - and I'd buy a DAP if it was useable!

 

[CH23]

And this is why, despite how many improvements the X5 makes over the X3, i cannot bring myself to be excited over it. I'm sure it will be a fantastic product. But can you really sell me this X3, have me struggling to use it, tell me "i cant" whenever i ask for the most simple of UI tweaks all while adding crazy other features like usb dac mode and worrying about stuff regular users dont give a crap about (32 bit floating point mp3 decode WHO CARES IF YOU CANT FIND THE MP3).....And after i've spend 200 bucks on this and 50 bucks on an SD card, you say "btw, we fixed everything, now spend another 300 on our new player without the issues in our last player. BTW, we might have a whole new set of issues".

Yeah, i'm totally buying an ipod. Maybe not a touch, but a classic. Sure, it doesnt have the best sound quality. But it supports rockbox, plays back just about any format i need, has an intuitive interface, huge number of accessories/docks, and gets the job done.

Fiio needs to prioritize, IMO.

I'd say, having read everything you said about the X3 in the past, WE are better off if you'd buy an iPod (i kid, of course)

 

[james444]

I was online with the chief programmer of the x3 yesterday. I told him that Marlene wanted mp3 decoding not just fixed but done in floating point as well. He told me that's what they're doing, that if it's something requested by users, it's easy to do. Chalk one up to the shiny FPU on the x3

I asked him if it would be easy to make the x3 fly if I asked for it

 
Forgive me if that's already been answered (haven't been following this thread lately), but will this fix the mp3 decoding issue I reported earlier?
 
I haven't been able to enjoy mp3 encoded classical music on my X3 so far, due to excessive background noise (still present with FW 2.05).
 

  Afraid to say, I think there may be some issue with the Fiio X3's mp3 decoder and Lame encoded mp3s. I'm on FW 1.31 and some of my rather quiet classical tracks exhibit a lot of background noise on the X3. In fact more so than on any of my other DAPs, including my SGS3 smartphone. So, if any of you audiophile folks would care to listen to this test track and tell me what they hear, I'd appreciate it very much. I'm wondering if this will sound similarly noisy on everybody else's X3.
 
Download links: file1 file2 file3 (same file, just different locations)
 
With revealing IEMs like the ER4S, UERM or FI-BA-SS, this mp3 file exhibits horrible background noise if I crank up the volume a bit. Now, you'd probably think these are mp3 compression artifacts, but the same file plays fine on my other DAPs. Moreover, if I decode the same file to WAV or FLAC, it also plays fine on the X3. So I suspect it may possibly be an mp3 decoder issue on the X3.
 
Thanks in advance to everyone taking the time to test this on their X3!

  We have tested the music in our X3 and confirm this is a bugs in our X3, will fix it in the next two firmware version.