The Fiio X5 Thread

[hoekeat]

You can already do whatever you like in terms of warmth/colour/bottom end with the EQ.
[Once they make it work for HD files, that is.]

well then "problem" solved for James. China edition FW with a tad bit warmth, International edition FW as flat/neutral as Fiio can make it. Everyone happy

What say u James?

 

[MickeyVee]

Or how about neutal across the board with Bass and Treble +/- in addition to the Equalizer
Quote:

well then "problem" solved for James. China edition FW with a tad bit warmth, International edition FW as flat/neutral as Fiio can make it. Everyone happy

What say u James?

 

[ClieOS]

Or how about neutal across the board with Bass and Treble +/- in addition to the Equalizer

 
We talked about that before. The bass + treble feature on X3 is hardware based, and that hardware is not on X5.

 

[doki81]

i have this ape file and when i loaded on my x5 and the x5 say it's not supported  
 
is there many format of ape format?

 

[thericochet]

 

There is no need for bass/treble controls with the equalizer present. You have enormous control over bass/treble and can do much more with the equalizer, which is what everyone was asking for on the X3 when it only had bass/treble controls.
 
The bass/treble controls weren't a luxury, they were in lieu of a proper, powerful equalizer, which the X5 has.

 

[emklap]

   
I don't care about what an MP3 player used to do; I don't want random playback of 8,500 files or a lot of other BS.  For those of us who don't care about these things, I would like to see a separate album only firmware that just eliminates the media library scanning and uses the freed up memory for useful tasks like buffering gapless playback and preventing skipping during decompression and playback of 24 bit flac files. I like my X5 - it's all about the sound. keep going James and Fiio!

+1

 

[reihead]

I know there are a few posts about this, but want to ask, specially after a few members have more time using the unit / combo.
 
Is the X5 / E12 combo a clear upgrade to the X5. Is it worth to add the E12? 
I'm using the Vsonic GR-07BE and plan to get the Dunu DN-2000 soon.

 

[ClieOS]

  i have this ape file and when i loaded on my x5 and the x5 say it's not supported  
 
is there many format of ape format?

 
Yes, somewhat. There are different compression rate in ape, and X5 support fast, normal and high, but not extra high and insane.

 

[lee730]

Lee730, can you take a look at my last comment under the above mp3tag guide. Maybe you will help me fixing the issues which I have with tracknumber/track.

 
There is a setting in mp3 tag that can number them for you automatically. But the tracks have to be in order otherwise it will rename your track numbers. The setting can be set to name them 01, 02, 03, etc. I also explained in the guide how you can combine the track name and file # to create the file name itself, or the other way around.

 

[Stevemitchell]

Well, I've had my FIIO X5 High-Res player for about a week, and have been auditioning since then.  I've transferred all my high-res flac files from my PC w/o any down-conversion from standard-res CD/DVD quality to the high-sample-rate/bit-depth sources I've purchased from HDTracks (this took literally hours).  I've equipped it with 2) SanDisk 128GB MicroSDs so I should be set for space for a while.
 
The sound is definitely different.  I use the word "different" because I don't want to use any unqualified superlatives that I cannot qualify with empirical data, and alas, there is no "empirical" data to be had.

   
 
A better question to ask would be "do I like the sound?".  And with that, I can answer with a strong "yes, so far".  Time will tell.  In the meantime, it looks like my phone can go back to just being a smartphone (Note 2), and my external amps may, and I say "may" be retired and sold.
 
One thing I've noticed reading through this thread is the number of folks who are using outboard amps instead of the onboard amp the X5 provides. 
 
I'm just curious, is this aurally a better approach?  I have a couple of portable amps I could add to the mix, each with their own high-quality DACs, but so far haven't felt the need.  My first idea was simply to find belt-holster that would suffice to keep my X5 from speedy impacts with the ground and just enjoy it.
 
Steve

 

[Muenchener]

I'm pretty sure that the freezings and crashes are related to the tags and/or file names. I have 2x64 GB full of FLAC files, and I haven't experienced any crash, not even once. But, my files are very clean, and all have their tags well done.

What I do see, however, is strange symbols in some file names that have accents or not-english letters, such as "ö". Something might be broken there.
 
I think Fiio should release firmware updates more often, even if it means less bugs fixed on each iteration. There are some bugs that are very easy to fix, and should have been fixed by now.

For all that are experiencing crashes, I would try starting from scratch and adding one album at a time. You may find out that just one album or one song is causing you the problem.

 

[Muenchener]

  I just received a HS6 kit from miccastore.com.  It is not listed on their website and you can add it as an option only when buying the X5.  I've already had the X5 so I asked them if they could sell to me just the HS 6 kit.  They told me to buy the 8 of the $1 Special order payment units.  I did it and they shipped this kit to me the next day.  If anyone is interested in getting the kit from FIIO US dealers just contact them.

You final cost was $8? I just contacted Micca and they asked for 13 $1 special order units. I'm in New York. Thanks!

 

[Scorpion667]

  I'm pretty sure that the freezings and crashes are related to the tags and/or file names. I have 2x64 GB full of FLAC files, and I haven't experienced any crash, not even once. But, my files are very clean, and all have their tags well done.

What I do see, however, is strange symbols in some file names that have accents or not-english letters, such as "ö". Something might be broken there.
 
I think Fiio should release firmware updates more often, even if it means less bugs fixed on each iteration. There are some bugs that are very easy to fix, and should have been fixed by now.

For all that are experiencing crashes, I would try starting from scratch and adding one album at a time. You may find out that just one album or one song is causing you the problem.

I can confirm 100% that my crashes were due to tags and/or file names.
 
On the X5 I had a folder with 7 of my best songs. If I left the X5 shuffle these 7 songs it would crash eventually, sometimes after an hour, sometimes after 3.
I redid all the tags properly as well as the file names and my X5 has been running non stop since 1:30AM last night playing those fixed 7 songs. It is now 3:34 PM which is 14 hours, the LONGEST my X5 has ever ran without crashing, on the same songs that used to crash it the most.
 
The main things I fixed in the tags/file names as follows:
-"track name.(blabla.Music.vol13)" changed this to Track Name.
-All tracks purchased from Beatport follow this format: 576575_Track_Name which I changed to Track Name
-Some of my album art had a large file size like 250kb, removed the originals and replaced with smaller file size arts (from Beatport and soundcloud as they follow 500x500 format)
-Some of my songs had 3 album art images... somehow itunes overlapped multiples? Removed all and replaced with correct album image
 
Now I only have to do that manually for 1653 more songs. Beatport purchases = no tags
Rumor has it Itunes will start selling lossless music (what with Apple purchasing Beats by Dr. Fart Cannon) which I look forward to.
 
Thanks to Lee730 for his suggestion to fix my tags =)

 

[Flomet]

what with Apple purchasing Beats by Dr. Fart Cannon

That made me laugh, thanks

 

[x RELIC x]

I know there are a few posts about this, but want to ask, specially after a few members have more time using the unit / combo.

Is the X5 / E12 combo a clear upgrade to the X5. Is it worth to add the E12? 
I'm using the Vsonic GR-07BE and plan to get the Dunu DN-2000 soon.

For me the sonic differences are improved by an order of magnitude when using the e12. However, my listening preferences are obviously going to be different from yours. I like to use the X5 / e12 combo with my full sized cans when I don't want to be tied to a listening station. This is great because the X5 provides the clarity I'm looking for and the e12 provides the oomph my cans require. The IEMs your looking at don't have the same requirements as my full sized headphones so I don't imagine you'd need the extra power.

Sometimes I need the bass boost on and sometimes I have to turn it off. It all depends on the headphone. AKG K-550 bass boost on. LCD-XC sometimes on, mostly off. LCD-2 always off. Vmoda m-100 always off with bass EQ down using the X5. Again, based on the IEMs you listed, it seems like you should be getting some terrific bass out of them so I'm not sure you'll benefit from the e12.

What you may find with the e12 is some added soundstage and instrument separation over the X5, at least that's what I find with my gear (could be because of the power I need). The big question is, do you want to pay $130 and double the thickness to hear what may or may not be better SQ with your IEMs?