[x RELIC x]

Sorry Duncan, it's plastic. As a matter of fact I think I'll just use one of the silicone bands that came with the e12 instead (just under the screen, above the wheel). The frame bulks it up too much for me and I already got used to the single band so I didn't want to make it feel bigger. That's just me. It is solid however and the design is brilliantly simple.

My main interest was the cable and I prefer it much more than the angled connector that always got in the way with the stack.

Now I'm off to listen to my shiny new cans!

 

[Duncan]

  After a few days of playing around, I'm not confident that I want to keep my X5.  It does a lot of things well, but it also has some serious quirks that make it somewhat frustrating to work with for me.  
 
I'll likely post an FS in the appropriate place, but if someone stranded in limbo waiting for one here wanted to grab mine I'd be willing to let it go.  Just shoot me a PM.

As someone who has had theirs for less than 24hrs, what quirks do you see?
 
For me, my first 'annoyance' is how slow it is to write files to the SD cards whilst on-board - definitely no need for high speed cards if you don't have a card writer on your main pc / mac

 

[goldendarko]

Sorry Duncan, it's plastic. As a matter of fact I think I'll just use one of the silicone bands that came with the e12 instead (just under the screen, above the wheel). The frame bulks it up too much for me and I already got used to the single band so I didn't want to make it feel bigger. That's just me. It is solid however and the design is brilliantly simple.



My main interest was the cable and I prefer it much more than the angled connector that always got in the way with the stack.



Now I'm off to listen to my shiny new cans!

 


Any noticeable sound quality improvements with the HS6 cable over the stock cable?

 

[Sherwood]

 
As someone who has had theirs for less than 24hrs, what quirks do you see?
 
For me, my first 'annoyance' is how slow it is to write files to the SD cards whilst on-board - definitely no need for high speed cards if you don't have a card writer on your main pc / mac

 
There is certainly this.  My write speed dipped to ~3MB/s last night, but I can tolerate that.  I don't often load 100+ Gigs of music onlto anything, and I'm patient.
 
I hate that the player can't seem to display songs by tag info, rather relying on file name.  I can bulk rename my music files through JRiver, and include track number at the beginning, but the whole point of tags is to eliminate the need to name things perscriptively.  As it is now, every file on every album is alphabetical
 
I am having real difficulty getting the player to recognize my .dff and .dsf files.  I've tried re extracting them from .iso to ensure they are not compressed, but no luck.  I'm not sure what to try next.
 
I'm bugged by the operation of the volume rocker, and the reliance on a "duration of press" method of control, which I don't personally favor.
 
I'm also running into a lot of inconsistency with album art and lyrics.  I have these things attached to all my files, and they all display properly in JRiver.  However, when transferring them over (even when embedding album art into the files) it's hit and miss.  Some albums work, and some don't.  I don't even really need album art, but the inconsistency is maddening.
 
I'm a little bugged by the feel of the click wheel, specifically how it rocks in its housing, and how sensitive it seems to be to small movements.  I have a devil of a time choosing the right icon.
 
These are a few issues I have, off the top of my head.  I think the device feels and looks great, and I really like the sound and functionality, but the quirks diminish my enjoyment somewhat.  I've been spoiled, like many folks.

 

[pe3ucTop]

It would be very helpful if those of you having lock ups or freezes tell us what file format was playing when it happened.

Flac 96Khz/24bit

 

[x RELIC x]

Sorry Duncan, it's plastic. As a matter of fact I think I'll just use one of the silicone bands that came with the e12 instead (just under the screen, above the wheel). The frame bulks it up too much for me and I already got used to the single band so I didn't want to make it feel bigger. That's just me. It is solid however and the design is brilliantly simple.



My main interest was the cable and I prefer it much more than the angled connector that always got in the way with the stack.



Now I'm off to listen to my shiny new cans!

 


Any noticeable sound quality improvements with the HS6 cable over the stock cable?

Yeah, sounds like a whole new pair of cans now....... um, wait a minute..........

I couldn't tell you as I haven't compared the cables yet.

I'll let you guys know in a bit.

 

[x RELIC x]

Flac 96Khz/24bit

Do you know how much compression you have on your FLAC files? It would be interesting to know which way gives the X5 troubles, more or less. I haven't had any freezes and I listen to a mix of FLAC and ALAC.

 

[SwordAngel]

I just received my unit, preloaded with firmware 1.20.
 
Why does the Quick Start Guide recommend to perform firmware updates using a TF/MicroSD card of 32GB or less? What's wrong with using 64GB? I only have 64GB ones handy right now.

 

[pe3ucTop]

Do you know how much compression you have on your FLAC files? It would be interesting to know which way gives the X5 troubles, more or less. I haven't had any freezes and I listen to a mix of FLAC and ALAC.

Actually I take back what I said in my previous post - it seems like the compression is relatively normal, I used to have another version of this album and I remember it being heavily compressed, but the current one is OK. Dynamic range of about 10 when measured with foobar2000's plugin. I am not sure the compression specifically played any role.

 

[jbr1971]

  I just received my unit, preloaded with firmware 1.20.
 
Why does the Quick Start Guide recommend to perform firmware updates using a TF/MicroSD card of 32GB or less? What's wrong with using 64GB? I only have 64GB ones handy right now.

 
I think 32GB used to be the size limit for FAT. I've been using my 64GB card no problem. Just format it in the X5 first, then put it in your computer to copy the firmware over.

 

[x RELIC x]

Actually I take back what I said in my previous post - it seems like the compression is relatively normal, I used to have another version of this album and I remember it being heavily compressed, but the current one is OK. Dynamic range of about 10 when measured with foobar2000's plugin. I am not sure the compression specifically played any role.

I was referring to the file compression of the FLAC (file size), not the dynamic compression from the master tapes. FLAC's use a (lossless) codec compression and in most programs you can choose what level (0-8) when you rip them. If you acquired the music from someplace like HDTRACKS I'm not sure what the compression level is. The X5 has to work to unpack the music from the FLAC container and I'm wondering where it might stumble. More compression or less. The X5 may have trouble decoding highly compressed FLAC's (compression 8) or playing large file size low compression FLAC's (compression 0). I use the middle of the road level 5 compression.

Like I said, I've had no issues with my device freezing so I'm curious what may be the cause of yours acting up but I'm really just taking shots in the dark here, but the more data we have the better to solve the issues.

 

[droid23]

   
I think 32GB used to be the size limit for FAT. I've been using my 64GB card no problem. Just format it in the X5 first, then put it in your computer to copy the firmware over.

 
The only limit with FAT32 is the filesize. One single file must not be larger than 4GB, otherwise it cannot be copied onto the flash card or any other storage device formatted with FAT32.

 

[Duncan]

Relic, ugh, not what i wanted to read, although like you, the cable will be good (the one I'm using is very thick / stiff so the player and amp do not sit flush)

One thing i am happy to say though is that player and amp together do make an EXCEPTIONALLY good combination for the money, value wise i think the sound quality on offer will be all but impossible to beat.

 

[SwordAngel]

I just updated the firmware to 2.0.
 
I try to install the USB DAC driver but the installer can't detect my device. I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, fully updated.
 
In Windows 7's Device Manager, I see the unit listed as "USB Composite Device", under the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" category, with the exclamation-mark-on-a-triangle icon. In the device's properties, the "Device status" says "This device cannot start. (Code 10)"

 

[andrewjamesdean]

  I just updated the firmware to 2.0.
 
I try to install the USB DAC driver but the installer can't detect my device. I'm using Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, fully updated.
 
In Windows 7's Device Manager, I see the unit listed as "USB Composite Device", under the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" category, with the exclamation-mark-on-a-triangle icon. In the device's properties, the "Device status" says "This device cannot start. (Code 10)

have you tried hacking the mainframe?