[CH23]

  Yes I know. It was a (maybe bad) joke, therefor I put a smiley with a wink behind the question.
Btw, to all headfi-ers who think ''Hey, let's try this'': Please don't! I did it once by mistake and almost lost my iem/hearing over it...
 
And concerning full volume on LO: I like it as it is, using a Cayin C5 on it almost all the time...

i just plugged my IEMS into my phone, and pressed play.
 
the volume was at 100%.
 
years of taking proper care of ears and earphones could go down the drain with one loud note... (luckily it doesn't seem to have had permanent effect on me this time)

 

[Hikoki]

Isn't what you're hearing pretty much to be expected if you made your EQ "V-shaped"?

No offense to EQ (I use it all the time), but do try with the EQ:OFF setting first before laying the blame on the X5

HI. In no way do I want to put the blame on the Fio, I still think its a great device. It was just that I suddenly  felt  so frustrated after getting a new DAP and a new DT 990Pro headphone and hearing loads of sibilance on some high/quality flac tracks I HAD NEVER HEARD before. Plus I V-SHAPED my old HD 595 Senns so as to partly compensate for their notorius lack of highs and lows to make it sound a bit more listenable. Mind you, I used to normally use the EQ with them, or the treble and bass on my hi-fi, and I cant remember ever being so annoyed by sibilant vocals.
Fact is, later I did some testing against my CD player and my old iAudio x5, I found the sibilance exactly on the same tracks. So the Fio is definately not the villlain.
I am inclined to think now that there two things at play here: my prior excitement and expectations of THE best sound without any blemishes with my new equipment and the highly V-shaped character of the DT 990 which most likely started this by giving  for me unprecedented  prominence to those sensitive high pitched sounds. And the rest is psychoacoustics, I guess.

 

[kingdixon]

  HI. In no way do I want to put the blame on the Fio, I still think its a great device. It was just that I suddenly  felt  so frustrated after getting a new DAP and a new DT 990Pro headphone and hearing loads of sibilance on some high/quality flac tracks I HAD NEVER HEARD before. Plus I V-SHAPED my old HD 595 Senns so as to partly compensate for their notorius lack of highs and lows to make it sound a bit more listenable. Mind you, I used to normally use the EQ with them, or the treble and bass on my hi-fi, and I cant remember ever being so annoyed by sibilant vocals.
Fact is, later I did some testing against my CD player and my old iAudio x5, I found the sibilance exactly on the same tracks. So the Fio is definately not the villlain.
I am inclined to think now that there two things at play here: my prior excitement and expectations of THE best sound without any blemishes with my new equipment and the highly V-shaped character of the DT 990 which most likely started this by giving  for me unprecedented  prominence to those sensitive high pitched sounds. And the rest is psychoacoustics, I guess.

 
i think its all about mixing and matching !
 
Allow me to share what i experienced with you, but this is not in any way facts or proven technicalities, its all based on my feelings, and can be corrected by any other more experienced member.
 
lets say we have alot of factors mainly daps, headphones and mastering of the track.
 
lets put aside mastering of a track that shows sibilance because we can't change that.
 
we will talk about the daps and headphones,
 
i had a dx50 with lots of iems that shows no sign of sibilance, then i updated to ASG 2 iem, i started hearing sibilance, but not much i still can live with while enjoying the upgrade in SQ.
 
for me the dx50 sounded a bit dark, and i read alot about brighter x5, then i updated to x5.
 
for me x5 + ASG 2 was unbearable, the sibilance is just crazy, i couldn't enjoy it at all.
 
x5 + my other fa-4e iem or my newly bought jh16 is just a bliss, couldn't sound any better i think, and little to no sibilance at all.
 
i never heard the dt990 or even read about it, but a bright source with bright headphones i think it can be very annoying,
 
so i recommend that you take your x5 to any shop with a show room, and try some headphones that are a bit dark where the highs are tamed a bit.
 
or search for someone who listens to the same stuff, where he can share his experience with his equipments..
 
if i can help with anything, pm me !

 

[jugglingsoot]

 
 Can't and will not argue with you... but I just flat don't hear it. Having listened with a dozen different IEMS and half a dozen headphones... and specifically the Paul Simon album, which also is one of my favorites... that I have listened to a few thousand times since buying it when new.. and a few dozen times on my X5.
 
Of course, I can't worry much about what  are hearing... hearing is a very personal thing. I only care how the device works for me...
Fortunately for me, I do not hear what you say that you are hearing... I have never thought the X5 was unlistenable.... quite the contrary, I very much like listening to mine!
 
Just curious, why is it important to convince people who enjoy listening to the X5 , that it is a lousy, unlistenable device?

 
Ah yes, my apologies, I see now where I should have chosen my words a little more carefully. Of course I'm not trying to convince anyone the X5 is lousy, it's a popular and well regarded device for good reason, the problem is with my aural perception of it, and apparently I'm not alone:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/products/fiio-x5-high-res-portable-music-player/reviews/10602
 
As you say, hearing is a very personal thing, and my post was predicated upon the assumption that this was understood. After all, I did stipulate that this is how it sounds to me, which was in response to another whose experience of the sound seemed similar to mine.

 

[jugglingsoot]

I have booth the X5 and DX90 and if I had a choice the X5 would be my go to, I do like my DX90 a lot but there is something about the X5. I do not share your thoughts but I do have it paired with my E12 always and to my Hifiman HE 400i and this is the only way I listen to it. So maybe you are just using the wrong phones as most daps are dependent or have better synergy with certain phones.

I wouldn't disagree with you, although I would point out that the X5 was tested with four different headsets, but the harsh characteristics remained, albeit to different degrees.
 
Perversely, the parts I heard which didn't sound shrill simply convinced me that I had originally made the right choice in selecting the X5 over the DX90. Oh if only I didn't have this cruel, cruel aural allergy to the Fiio! (And before I get into more trouble, let me make it clear that there's nothing wrong with the iBasso either!)

 

[Hikoki]

Hi  and thanks for your input in the sibilance topic. However, my other phones Senns HD 959 couldnt possibly  be  callled ' bright '. Quite the opposite, Id say. Yet, the sibilance is still there. I'm going to pick up a supposedly neutral amp and see if anything changes for the better.
 
Cheers !!

 

[uzi2]

  Hi  and thanks for your input in the sibilance topic. However, my other phones Senns HD 959 couldnt possibly  be  callled ' bright '. Quite the opposite, Id say. Yet, the sibilance is still there. I'm going to pick up a supposedly neutral amp and see if anything changes for the better.
 
Cheers !!

Paul Simon's Graceland lyrics are a punishing test for sibilance, especially the title track. Unfortunately the recording is so compressed, that sibilance will always be an issue with any equipment that is capable of extracting the detail in the recording.
I've just listened to the SACD from PC at 352.8k using Foobar => Chord Hugo => Hifiman HE-560 and the sibilance is pronounced.
Great album - poor recording.
 
edit: Diamonds On the Soles Of Her Shoes ought to be the worst lyrics for sibilance, but it is less prominent here.

 

[trunolimit]

     Especially 24/96 rips of Vinyl records......

I don't know because I recently got my hands on a vinyl recording of System of a down at 96/24 and I hear the actual record spinning in the background. It's a sound I really don't much care for. I also have that same record in MP3 at 44.1/16 and to me the MP3 is more enjoyable.

 

[x RELIC x]

Everyone has a reference point when switching gear in their audio chain. When a piece of kit is introduced that resolves more detail it takes some getting used to. Myself, going from an iPod Classic HO and upgrading to line out to a portable amp was a big improvement that didn't alter the signature too much but helped with dynamics and staging. Getting the X3 was better but I kept boosting the bass to compensate for the change from the iPod. Not because the iPod is bass heavy but because it sounds veiled and flat. The detail and clarity from the X3 was more than I was used to so I tried to compensate with the lower end, if that makes sense.

Then I purchased an X5 and it was another step up in natural detail and clarity over the X3. Again, to compensate, I added the e12 with bass boost so I could have a more familiar sound. Fast forward to more headphones and more gear upgrades and I can not listen to a Clip+ or iPod Classic anymore for listening appreciation because they just sound so dead and lifeless to me now. They simply sound like recorded reproductions of what I want to hear and the X5 sounds closer to a live performance. It all starts with a reference point. Once you get used to more clarity and detail I suggest going back to the old players and do a comparison. Chances are you'd be surprised at what you thought was 'better' no longer appeals to the aural senses.

Sometimes I'll turn on the bass boost or EQ for some fun rocking out but I do it for a purpose having a more neutral mental reference point. What surprises me most is that there are a lot of recordings that are simply bad. That is when I have to trust that it's the gear revealing this instead of the gear causing it, and I've spent considerable time cross referencing gear to make sure it's the recording (volume matched, thank you Brooko) and not the gear.

Some may not want to go through the whole process and thats cool, but then once they get used to better gear it's more than worth it in my opinion for tracks that are produced and mastered well. Others who come from a reference point of, say, an AK240 may find the X5 too warm without the same clarity. It's all about points of reference.

That's my take on it anyway. Apologies for the long post. Hope this helps.

 

[OneL0ve]

  Anyone get bad stuttering while playing MP3 songs on the X5?
 
It only happens once per song, a few minutes into the song and lasts for about 4 seconds, then continues normally.

 
I will continue to debug.

 
I was able to figure out this issue!! 

I had my 128 GB PNY card formatted to NTFS and it was causing read issues. I reformatted to FAT32 and its all good.

 

[trunolimit]

I'm using NTFS on my 

   
I was able to figure out this issue!! 

 I had my 128 GB PNY card formatted to NTFS and it was causing read issues. I reformatted to FAT32 and its all good.

I am using NTFS with my Samsung evo 64GB.
 
The reason I chose NTFS over FAT is because NTFS is supposed to have faster search capabilities. "NTFS minimizes the number of disk accesses and time needed to find a file".  "In mathematical terms, the average time to find a file on a FAT folder is a function of N /2, where N is the number of files. On an NTFS folder, the average time is a function of Log N." 
 
Although reading over the article FAT might have been a better choice because NTFS tends to fragment more and all the permissions and attributes have to dealt with on a per file basis which I assume will slow things down. 
 
Maybe I should do an A-B comparison. 
 
By the way I think it might have been a fragmentation problem. if anyone else has that issue try a defrag. 
 
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc938440.aspx

 

[davesa]

Hi,
 
I have been lurking around and reading a bunch here over the years. I am just completing a round of gear upgrades and my new X5 / E12 combo arrived Friday. I already owned an E17 Alpen and was very happy with it. I sold it off to a friend at work to help fund the X5 / E12 upgrade.
 
One thing I loved about the E17 was that you could just plug it in and "boom" you were using it on a newer Windows PC - I use a lot of PC's and move between them and this made it very easy to have a great / same DAC across them all.
 
I had read thru a lot of posts about the X5 - both pros and shortcomings of the X5 here in this thread. I knew it needed a driver - but then so did my new Oppo HA-1 and that install was easy and it has worked great.
 
Fast forward to today when I went to install the driver and realized that none of them seem to work with Windows 8.1 without disabling driver signing. This is a huge miss in my opinion, especially since driver signing is there specifically as a security feature to make sure that all drivers come from traceable sources and can't be altered.
 
I am very happy with other aspects of my X5 so far - sound quality is great. The UI was easy to master and the pairing with the E12 works great for my larger headphones.
 
I really wish that the DAC had a well supported driver that was signed and installed on newer versions of Windows without having to compromise on security.
 
This really is the equivalent of saying in order to load our iPhone app you have to jailbreak your phone... some folks will go "OK" but for most it is not a good trade off.

 

[trunolimit]

  Hi,
 
I have been lurking around and reading a bunch here over the years. I am just completing a round of gear upgrades and my new X5 / E12 combo arrived Friday. I already owned an E17 Alpen and was very happy with it. I sold it off to a friend at work to help fund the X5 / E12 upgrade.
 
One thing I loved about the E17 was that you could just plug it in and "boom" you were using it on a newer Windows PC - I use a lot of PC's and move between them and this made it very easy to have a great / same DAC across them all.
 
I had read thru a lot of posts about the X5 - both pros and shortcomings of the X5 here in this thread. I knew it needed a driver - but then so did my new Oppo HA-1 and that install was easy and it has worked great.
 
Fast forward to today when I went to install the driver and realized that none of them seem to work with Windows 8.1 without disabling driver signing. This is a huge miss in my opinion, especially since driver signing is there specifically as a security feature to make sure that all drivers come from traceable sources and can't be altered.
 
I am very happy with other aspects of my X5 so far - sound quality is great. The UI was easy to master and the pairing with the E12 works great for my larger headphones.
 
I really wish that the DAC had a well supported driver that was signed and installed on newer versions of Windows without having to compromise on security.
 
This really is the equivalent of saying in order to load our iPhone app you have to jailbreak your phone... some folks will go "OK" but for most it is not a good trade off.

So the thing about that is that Fiio has to apply for a Microsoft license and all the hoops it takes to get that. The sad fact is Fiio is a Chinese company and things with us and China technology wise are not that great. It's why we don't have an Apple compatible Fiio DAC.
 
Also I'm a fellow e17 owner. I found that the Dance EQ with the last 2 channels turned up all the way is the best way to get some awesome E17 like bass out of this thing.

 

[davesa]

Other Chinese companies sign their drivers - it is not a hard process to accomplish.
 
As I stated in my post my new Oppo HA-1 has signed drivers for their DAC
 
There is no "licensing to Microsoft" involved - a company just obtains a certificate from a trusted Certificate provider.
 
Here is how to go about it - the cost is minimal
 
A commercial release certificate refers to a digital certificate that a publisher obtains from a trusted, third-party, commercial certification authority (CA) that is a member of the Microsoft Root Certificate Program. GTE and VeriSign, Inc. are two examples of such CAs. A CA that is a member of this program validates the identity and entitlement of an applicant and then issues a certificate that the applicant uses to sign its drivers. The signing process stamps the driver with the publisher's identity and can be used to verify that the driver has not been modified since it was signed.
 
For security reasons, you should not use a digital certificate that is used to release-sign drivers to test-sign drivers. You should obtain separate digital certificates to use for release-signing and for test-signing. For information about how to manage digital certificates, see Managing the Digital Signature or Code Signing Keys.
 
Follow the instructions that are provided by the CA about how to obtain and install the release certificate on a computer that you will be using to sign a driver.
 
For more information about how to obtain a digital certificate from a CA, see the Microsoft Root Certificate Program Members website.
 
Easy to do for manufacturers regardless of their nationality and makes sure drivers do not get modified when shared from different sources.

 

[Hawaiibadboy]

nevermind...figured it out