[justaguy93]

"Sounds like we're on the ground floor with a somewhat new company developing it's place in the world."

This is exactly how I feel. Seems like audio quality in general has been on the decline for a couple of decades now and I'm willing to give a lot of latitude to a company putting out products that has potential to turn that trend around. Which is the same reason I give hdtracks.com some slack despite the fact that they also are a bit rough around the edges.

 

[Ripvanlink]

What experience have you had with HdTracks that makes you say they're rough around the edges? I'm curious. They do charge an awful lot, it seems to me.

 

[goldendarko]

What experience have you had with HdTracks that makes you say they're rough around the edges? I'm curious. They do charge an awful lot, it seems to me.

 


Have you ever explored the website? It's rough enough just looking around, downloads can fail sometimes and sometimes even when they don't, sometimes you get a bad track that won't play. Still I buy from them just about every week as there aren't a whole lot of choices other than them and Acoustic Sounds that carry the music I like.

 

[justaguy93]

Well aside from every album I have viewed being a buy in entirety only option, I hear a lot about some albums being essentially up samples of the regular CD audio. However I have purchased a couple of albums and so far have been very impressed, if for no other reason than that the mastering of some albums sold on there is finally reversing the brick walling trend.

 

[Ripvanlink]

Yes, I've looked at their site and I have bought one hi-rez recording I downloaded. Didn't have too much trouble with it but I understand there would sometimes be download problems and it taking too much time but I managed it.
It was a classical recording of Lalo's Symphony in G.
I also set up a wishlist. I like the fact that they cared enough to create the wishlist feature.

 

[Brooko]

  Most of the hard work's already been done for you here: http://www.head-fi.org/t/730848/fiio-x5-firmwares-sound-quality

 
Thanks Loq.  I already know I can't tell the difference though. What I'd like though is some sort of comment from Fiio .......

 

[Loquah]

   
Thanks Loq.  I already know I can't tell the difference though. What I'd like though is some sort of comment from Fiio .......

 
I agree. It'd be nice to have confirmation.
 
Perhaps they're sitting back and giggling at all the different opinions we crazy people are throwing around about FW-related SQ changes!

 

[Ripvanlink]

  This thread is to discuss the product and issues around it. So we don't need your drama or your bold conclusions from "anecdotal evidence". Some of the issues raised here will never see the light of the day hopefully. Most people stay quiet and don't express their opinions about weird proposals.
 
So if anyone have anything to say avoiding misplaced bashing and drama, we can exchange opinions. 
 
Your "inside information"  says more about you than about the product. Putting your friend's job at stake for disclosing that info to the public says a lot about you. I really don't care if you're a troll or a kid, but you're not contributing to the discussion. Your bold business predictions about the product are useless drama. 
 
Wanna talk about markets? OK, this is a niche market caring about high-res music. High-res music is a niche within the bigger download music market. So any comparison with mainstream players with limited storage, lower SQ targeting the mass market is off the mark. Fiio's future is more linked to the development of high res music than the competitors. Fiio doesn't have the distribution capabilities of Apple and Sony. The product features would be only one of their problems if they were in direct competition.
Fiio still have most of their strategic choices open.
So your bold statements about Fiio and the competition are also misplaced. Your friends who want a better UI and don't need big storage or high-res capabilities should buy other product. And the business decisions of those friends don't imply Fiio demise.
But it seems that the other time around you were not able to understand the questions that other members were raising to you. But you came back with the same stuff.

Jorge, I think it's you who are being overdramatic. It's like you're giving orders here. Chill out!

 

[Ripvanlink]

  1: download the stock firmware from FiiO
2: download this firmware: https://mega.co.nz/#!fIwVlawI!OTH2NV15wX5gDAKk1DwpTG_QdZxpu0qbYozeZGnou3g
3: place the firmware i gave you on the root of your first mSD card
4: "upgrade"
5: boot the device, you should only see a white screen
6: turn it off again
7: connect to your PC again, to replace the firmware i gave you with the stock firmware from FiiO
8: upgrade again
9: ?????
10: profit! (i hope)
 
the firmware file i gave you is without the file system, thus clearing all images, and files that come with the stock firmware, and this may fix it.

Thanks so much for your very kind attention. I appreciate what you are doing here. I am going to have to put this on hold while I consider what I'm going to do. I guess I am a bit hesitant about doing such a major operation but your attention has caused me to consider always leaving a listening session directly when turning the X5 off. That way, the way my device works anyway, I can go pretty directly to the card page.

 

[Ripvanlink]

  Yes, I've looked at their site and I have bought one hi-rez recording I downloaded. Didn't have too much trouble with it but I understand there would sometimes be download problems and it taking too much time but I managed it.
It was a classical recording of Lalo's Symphony in G.
I also set up a wishlist. I like the fact that they cared enough to create the wishlist feature.

Oh, btw, I was unimpressed by the sound quality of this particular recording. I've heard much much better on regular flacs.
 
Evidently, this is b/c the mastering was not optimum, whether b/c there was not enough or too much humidity or some other condition. Anyway, just b/c a recording is hi-rez doesn't mean it will sound better than, say, a flac 16/44. I will probably hold off for now buying hi-rez until I get my K10s in November. Then I will see if hi-rez affects soundstage, air and imaging like I suspect may be the case.

 

[goldendarko]

It's quite unfortunate that they do sell so many dissapointing hi-res releases like you said, but obviously they are just selling what the labels give them. I think it just hurts business for them though if the first album you try is something no better than a CD, and you end up suffering too because there are some fantastic hi-res releases available as well. If you don't use it, I would highly recommend you use the Dynamic Range Database before making purchases from them, it will tell you a lot of times if the HDTracks release is listed just how good it is, usually anything over a 9 or 10 is pretty solid.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/

 

[Ripvanlink]

It's quite unfortunate that they do sell so many dissapointing hi-res releases like you said, but obviously they are just selling what the labels give them. I think it just hurts business for them though if the first album you try is something no better than a CD, and you end up suffering too because there are some fantastic hi-res releases available as well. If you don't use it, I would highly recommend you use the Dynamic Range Database before making purchases from them, it will tell you a lot of times if the HDTracks release is listed just how good it is, usually anything over a 9 or 10 is pretty solid.

http://dr.loudness-war.info/

Thanks so much for that list, I just bookmarked it for future use. I hope it lists the classical albums I'm interested in buying. When looking over the HDTracks website, I had perhaps stupidly assumed the managers are enthusiasts and would check the sound quality of the recordings they sold before giving them out for consumption as to protect their reputation.

 

[goldendarko]

Yeah, it would be nice if they did that, unfortunately you basically have to do your own research whether a purchase is worth it or not, I think most older recordings seem to be better, the new pop/rock stuff is really no different from what I've seen. Another good forum to check is computer audiophile, there are many threads there that discuss HDTracks releases, some being great and some being very poor too.

 

[ClieOS]

   
Thanks Loq.  I already know I can't tell the difference though. What I'd like though is some sort of comment from Fiio .......

 
I added another 6 music clips for the comparison, try them out and see if they make any difference for you:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/730848/fiio-x5-firmwares-sound-quality/30#post_10817860

 

[Brooko]

Posting answers from Joe on the question of SQ changes from 2.0 (including Betas) through to current 2.20 final.

Here is what I asked:

1) Did you change anything that would affect frequency response (or codec) in moving from any of the 2.xx series through to 2.2 official release?

2) Has there been anything else changed - especially between 2.0 and 2.2 to account for "perceived" sonic changes by some members of the forum?

His simple answers - "no" and "none"

Hopefully that puts this issue of sonic changes to rest .........