[CH23]

Okay, a suggestion:

I was thrilled to see that the X5 has a balance control.  My hearing isn't perfect and I have a slight deficit in my right ear -- a balance control would let me compensate a bit.  However, balance only works on the X5's internal amplifier and has no effect on line out.  As I want to listen to my X5 through my E12 amp, the balance control offers no benefit.  Any chance of putting it ahead of the amplification stage, rather than after it?

I understand why you would want this, but doesn't that defy "line out" as a concept?

 

[scottcocoabeach]

Speaking of this Amazon is now accepting backorders for the SanDisk Ultra 128 GB microSDXC @ $120, may as well lock orders in so you know you will be getting that price and not whatever the hell inflated prices people have been selling them for, no ETA on shipping however.

Thanks for this. Just ordered 2.

 

[ptravel]

I understand why you would want this, but doesn't that defy "line out" as a concept?

It would in a standard components context.  However, these are portable players, intended to be used with portable amps.  The E12 doesn't provide a balance control (nor did the Headroom Total Airhead that it replaced).  I'm not aware of any amps that do.  The iPod doesn't provide a balance control.  It seems to me that, if Fiio recognizes the value in having control over balance, and Fiio's own top-of-the-line amp doesn't have a balance control, it would make sense to allow balance over the line out.  In the recording world, we talk about "pre-send" verus "post-send" which refers to where in the signal chain equalization gets applied.  I think that concept could have application in the world of portable players and amps.
 
After the younger folks ruin their hearing listening at too high a volume, they'll all want balance controls, too.

 

[scottcocoabeach]

Okay, a suggestion:

I was thrilled to see that the X5 has a balance control.  My hearing isn't perfect and I have a slight deficit in my right ear -- a balance control would let me compensate a bit.  However, balance only works on the X5's internal amplifier and has no effect on line out.  As I want to listen to my X5 through my E12 amp, the balance control offers no benefit.  Any chance of putting it ahead of the amplification stage, rather than after it?

You could pair it with the E17 and use the balance control of the E17 for this. Another option would try to set the volume output very close to line level output if possible.

 

[Metalomaniac]

   
At the moment you could browse music by genre and it lists every track within a particular genre by filename. Not very useful except maybe when listening on shuffle.
 
Also yeah, the lack of playlists is kind of odd. At the moment the only way to listen are either repeating an album/folder, or manually choosing another when it's done. It would be nice if it at least had a "jump to next folder/album".

 
Playing by genre is exactly what I do, so that would be a decent workaround to lack of playlists for me - but not for the majority of people who rely on playlists.
 
Can the play by genre/folder play mode be done in shuffle?

 

[ptravel]

  any particular requirements (which work better) regarding micro SD cards i.e. make, model, speed and all
 
thanks for your time,
 
jhv

Fiio recommends Class 6 or better.  Aside from that, it doesn't matter.  The X5 can only read FAT32 or NTFS cards.  A lot of cards come pre-formatted exFAT and, if you're running Windows 7, your only formatting choices are exFAT or NTFS.  If you want to upgrade the firmware in the X5, you'll need a card formatted as FAT32, only.  However, you can format the card in the X5, and there are free stand-alone utilities for PCs that will allow you to format as FAT32.
 
My X5 has two 64Gb Sandisk Class 10 cards formatted as NTFS.  They came formatted as exFAT, but I just reformatted them in my PC and used the PC to transfer my music directly to the cards.  It took about 3 hours to transfer 60+ Gb to each card.

 

[ptravel]

You could pair it with the E17 and use the balance control of the E17 for this. Another option would try to set the volume output very close to line level output if possible.

I can't buy more hardware -- my wife would kill me.  She noticed the E12 last night for the first time and asked, "What is that?"  I had to tell her it was something I've had for awhile.  Not exactly a lie, as "awhile" could me 6 months or 6 weeks.
 
I was thinking about using the phones output to do this, but I don't know if I'd lose any quality -- presumably, the E12 has better amp capability than the X5.

 

[Loquah]

  I can't buy more hardware -- my wife would kill me.  She noticed the E12 last night for the first time and asked, "What is that?"  I had to tell her it was something I've had for awhile.  Not exactly a lie, as "awhile" could me 6 months or 6 weeks.
 
I was thinking about using the phones output to do this, but I don't know if I'd lose any quality -- presumably, the E12 has better amp capability than the X5.

 
I was just going to ask if this was the case as I have a feeling that the standard E12 (i.e. unless you've got the E12DIY) would be about the same as the X5's HPO

 

[mhammond]

@ptravel sorry don't want to quote your whole review (thanks btw) but...the track number tags are ignored, seriously? Is that only in folder view? This is the first I've seen on that. I sure don't want to go back and rename files, either.

 

[CH23]

For some reason the device ignores the album tags on a number of files, seemingly random.


I thought i knew what soundstage was, as a Grado user, but the X5 really multiplies it.

 

[Metalomaniac]

@ptravel sorry don't want to quote your whole review (thanks btw) but...the track number tags are ignored, seriously? Is that only in folder view? This is the first I've seen on that. I sure don't want to go back and rename files, either.

 
While that is yet another inexplicable oversight and should be a basic feature, renaming audio files is very easy. You can use pretty much any metadata editor to pull artist, track name, genre, track # and any other ID3 tag field and use that as a source for folder structure and filename.

 

[ptravel]

   
I was just going to ask if this was the case as I have a feeling that the standard E12 (i.e. unless you've got the E12DIY) would be about the same as the X5's HPO

Once the X5 is fully charged and I get it home, I'll experiment and report back -- I've already spent too much time playing with it and need to do some work.  Our paralegal looked in my office and saw me sitting behind my computer with my phones on.  She asked, "Are you ready to take off?"

 

[mhammond]

While that is yet another inexplicable oversight and should be a basic feature, renaming audio files is very easy. You can use pretty much any metadata editor to pull artist, track name, genre, track # and any other ID3 tag field and use that as a source for folder structure and filename.

Good to know, thanks. I haven't done a lot with those tools, will have to look into it this week. Still, a little perplexed at the necessity. Oh well, another thing to do while I wait for mine, heh.

 

[ptravel]

@ptravel sorry don't want to quote your whole review (thanks btw) but...the track number tags are ignored, seriously? Is that only in folder view? This is the first I've seen on that. I sure don't want to go back and rename files, either.

Yes, they're only ignored in folder view.  Happily, the Album tag view seems pretty effective and, when you select an album by its tag, it plays correctly in track order.  I think I recall reading somewhere in this thread that gapless works better in folder view.  When I get home (see above ), I'll rename the files in one folder and see if that's true.  If it is, I may go through the exercise of renaming everything, rather than wait for the firmware update.

 

[ptravel]

I thought i knew what soundstage was, as a Grado user, but the X5 really multiplies it.

Amen to that!  I'm not an audiophile, but have a reasonably good ear for audio reproduction from recording and mixing my own music.  I thought understood what soundstage meant when I read it here on head-fi but now, after listening to the X5 for a little while, I finally really know what everyone is talking about.  The difference is truly dramatic.  I went from hearing a "blob" of sound on the left, one on the right, and a big blob in the middle of my head to being completely immersed within the musicians.  It is really a very different (and much more fun and grantifying) listening experience, and well worth the price of the X5, particularly considering it is only a bit more than an iPod classic.