[Mahdi8]

Picked up mine from Noisy Motel in Melbourne today.

I was worried that I would be disappointed coming from RWAK100, but am pleased to announce 0% buyer's remorse, 100% smiling with musical enjoyment. Thus is an amazing DAP regardless of price, but especially for around $400!!

Hi Loquah, how is your merlin in it? Using my ciem there is an audible floor noise that I can hear. not a bad hiss but definitely audible. It's gone if I use external amp though

 

[nmatheis]

ok im going to stick with this order then. Hopefully that information is true. Thanks! All i have is and ipod touch 4th gen with no amp. X5 will be a big step up for me.

Man, are you in for a treat! The X5 should devastate your iPod Touch . You should try and get a Fiio E12 DIY if possible. It'll be a good match for the X5, and you can swap opamps to fine-tune the sound signature to your liking. I adore mine!

 

[Peter_S]

Hi Loquah, how is your merlin in it? Using my ciem there is an audible floor noise that I can hear. not a bad hiss but definitely audible. It's gone if I use external amp though

I'm not hearing a noise floor with a AKG K550s. Pretty black background.

 

[Peter_S]

Man, are you in for a treat! The X5 should devastate your iPod Touch . You should try and get a Fiio E12 DIY if possible. It'll be a good match for the X5, and you can swap opamps to fine-tune the sound signature to your liking. I adore mine!

I just got mine set up, and I'm listening with AKG K550 headphones. Definitely much better than my iPod classic. Right now I would rate it "very good", a "B" compared to a very good desktop system. I'm saying to myself "very good" rather than "wow". I'm wondering if I should try the E12 or the E12 DIY to further improve the sound. What do people think? Is the E12 DIY worth paying the extra 80 or hundred dollars over the E12? I already have a JDS labs C5D headphone amplifier and DAC that I could try as an external amp. How does the E12 compare to that?

 

[Peter_S]

I can't push them in with my finger, I need to use a key or something to lock them in, it's too far for my finger to push

Thanks, that worked for me.

 

[Mahdi8]

K550 is not prone to noise though. I don't have problem with my headphones just my iem. Well not all of them only the really sensitive one.

 

[Peter_S]

I find the display of the album art to be kind of wasted due to the large black semi-transparent background of the song info at the bottom. Is there a plan on future firmware to have an option to hide it after like 3 seconds of inactivity? Or maybe make the black background be more transparent? The screen is beautiful and it is wise maximize its potential by displaying the album arts fully. Anyone with me?

Absolutely with you on that one. Make the song information background transparent over the album artwork. Move the song progress slider down to the absolute bottom of the screen.

 

[nmatheis]

I just got mine set up, and I'm listening with AKG K550 headphones. Definitely much better than my iPod classic. Right now I would rate it "very good", a "B" compared to a very good desktop system. I'm saying to myself "very good" rather than "wow". I'm wondering if I should try the E12 or the E12 DIY to further improve the sound. What do people think? Is the E12 DIY worth paying the extra 80 or hundred dollars over the E12? I already have a JDS labs C5D headphone amplifier and DAC that I could try as an external amp. How does the E12 compare to that?

Haven't heard the C5D, but I've got the E12 and E12 DIY. Prefer the DIY by a healthy margin. Check out the dedicated E12 DIY thread: LINK.

 

[Chris J]

Well, I almost feel guilty of having iniciated such a fire with my rather innocent comment....

My friend, he is brilliant, a science mind, and his statement is based on factual science (as many people have argued).

Me, not a scientist, but someone who has been raised with audio gear around. My father owned a bit of hi fi gear:thorens turntabler, sm tonearm, Shure magnetic coils, Nakamichi, Stax headphones, etc..... That was forty years ago....I had myself bought the best audio I could afford:Stax SR-5 headphones, Harman Kardon hifi gear, mission speakers, I even had a baby stax and a high end sony portable cd player....

Lately I had lost the interest in music. I had an ipad classic but I was missing the sounds from the cds.....although. I was not aware of this...
Then I stepped by chance on the issue of Flac files and DAPs like fiio. I gave it a try and I was shocked to see the difference between the X3 and the ipod classic. I could see (read hear) the difference, it was shouting at me....

So although my brain tells me my friend is right, my heart/ear tells me he is wrong....

But the only way to know it for sure is trying a blind taste of mp3 vs flac, hd tracks vs cds, ipods vs fiios, etc.......

 
A very contentious topic!
Seems the consensus is:
there is no consensus!

 

[Chris J]

   
Alternate POV.  Why would anyone want to have the screen going all the time to admire the album art?  All it does is chew through the battery.  On my iDevices, it's nice to see the album art when I'm scrolling through album choices, or when I quickly see the track list - but after that I turn the screen off.
 
I just think asking for the album art in all its glory (when realistically you're only going to see it for a few seconds) is pretty much OCD.
 
Like I said - an alternate POV.

 
I hear ya man.
Just show me the album art iPod style.
Give me a few seconds of album art work, then, fade to black.........

 

[FatmanSize48]

@EthanHarte: I'm in the 2nd pre-order batch at MP4 Nation. When I contacted them last week, they said their next batch of X5s would be in later this week and I should expect mine to arrive next week. Hopefully they follow-through on that. In the meantime, I've got an X3 and brand new DX90 to play with so I can't complain too much

.

Pick one up from the Classifieds section; that's what I just did

 

[Seskoi]

EthanHarte: I'm in the 2nd pre-order batch at MP4 Nation. When I contacted them last week, they said their next batch of X5s would be in later this week and I should expect mine to arrive next week. Hopefully they follow-through on that. In the meantime, I've got an X3 and brand new DX90 to play with so I can't complain too much .

They told me the exact same thing 2 weeks ago... Hope this time isw true..!

 

[mikaveli06]

  LOL That's really funny to read, I ordered from Micca Store last Monday, paid $7.95 for expedited shipping and they shipped UPS Ground from Virginia to Seattle. That was fine, but I asked for a refund for the expedited charges, figuring they made a mistake shipping UPS Ground. I got an extraordinarily rude response back telling me that UPS shipping times were not their fault. I responded again explaining that UPS shows on their ground maps how long ground shipping takes, etc etc and I got an even more inflammatory response.
 
Anyway, I've got mine now and am happy. I am just striking out with customer service with these dealers.

i paid 7.95 too and got usps priority mail (michigan)

 

[Loquah]

  Hi Loquah, how is your merlin in it? Using my ciem there is an audible floor noise that I can hear. not a bad hiss but definitely audible. It's gone if I use external amp though

 
I think I know what you mean. My one observation in comparison to my recollection of the RWAK100 is that there seemed to be more space around instruments in the RWAK100 even though the overall stage is bigger and better in the X5. This is probably due to a slightly less black background.
 
I can't hear any audible hiss, but I think you're right that there's something going on that flattens the overall dynamics and space ever-so-slightly. I'm really looking forward to bundling it up with my E12DIY for the trip home now...

 

[mhammond]

  i paid 7.95 too and got usps priority mail (michigan)

Yeah, I'm sure it was a mistake that I got UPS ground. But the customer service has been the real joke. After reading the other posts today that people did get faster shipping, I contacted them once more about a refund and they almost immediately replied slamming the door on a refund. Incredibly rude, insisting they are right. These guys can pack it up with MP4, will never give any business to these companies again. Really grinds my gears when CS is rude on a simple matter.  As someone with a lot of electronics hobbies and lots of dealings with Chinese manufacturers/dealers, I have never experienced anything like the poor CS in trying to get one of these players from MP4 and Micca! Though to be fair, MP4Nation was never rude, they just kept pulling dates out of nowhere and took a paypal dispute to get a refund.
 
 
On a totally different, happier note, if it was bothering anyone else that they can't see the charge light indicator in the silicone case, I used a simple, small leather drive punch to punch a tiny hole and can now happily see the charge indicator
 
Speaking of, how are folks finding the battery life realistically on their X5? I know its been discussed, but now that a lot more folks have them, I'd be interested to know how they are finding it and which firmware they're using.