[darkarn]

Perhaps some people are more sensitive to subtle audio changes than others. Perhaps I'm from Vulcan and have different ears than everyone else, I dunno, but I find the whole conversation fascinating (see what I did there).

Is this when I say "Listen long and prosper"?

 

[nmatheis]

 

[darkarn]

No wait, I just realised, how can you listen/live long and prosper, when it means that you will have to keep going up the audiophile ladder until you go broke?

 

[gelocks]

  Hi Forum Participants - Well, I've decided.  It turns out that after a couple of months of listening and carrying my little X5 around, I ALSO got a Note 3.  Doing some test listening with my Note 3 OTC USB out, to the DAC into my Leckerton Audio UHA-6S MKII compared to the X5 with my UE900's, UM3Xr's, and my Senn IE8s. I've made a rather surprising discovery.
 
I actually prefer the Note3/UHA-6S combo to my X5.  It really shocked me.  One of the features of this combo is that I use Neutron in the Note, and it has a parametric eq that let's me knock the ear-canal resonance right out of the picture.
 
Just look for an X5 with bonus Sandisk 128GB Micro SXHD in the "for sale" section soon. 
 
Thanks for all the info shared here, I've really enjoyed the read.
 
Steve

 
Not surprising at all.
That Leckerton amp kicks serious butt (one of my faves) and the Note is a good source (or a Dell Venue Pro...).

 

[514077]

  Hi Forum Participants - Well, I've decided.  It turns out that after a couple of months of listening and carrying my little X5 around, I ALSO got a Note 3.  Doing some test listening with my Note 3 OTC USB out, to the DAC into my Leckerton Audio UHA-6S MKII compared to the X5 with my UE900's, UM3Xr's, and my Senn IE8s. I've made a rather surprising discovery.
 
I actually prefer the Note3/UHA-6S combo to my X5.  It really shocked me.  One of the features of this combo is that I use Neutron in the Note, and it has a parametric eq that let's me knock the ear-canal resonance right out of the picture.
 
Just look for an X5 with bonus Sandisk 128GB Micro SXHD in the "for sale" section soon. 
 
Thanks for all the info shared here, I've really enjoyed the read.
 
Steve

Curious.  Did you try the X5 with the UHA-6?  I thought I might try it when I get a small coax cable.

 

[x RELIC x]

/ Rant /

Just had a chance to load the new 2.2 FW and I must say I'm rather disappointed. I haven't even listened to it yet but the one thing I was hoping for was not implemented properly. You guys may have seen my many posts about FW2.02beta nailing the way the Play By All Artist subcategory organizes files by album, one album after the other.

Since then FiiO has not been able to replicate this behaviour and I must say it's insanely annoying given that they got it right the first time and then messed it up in every revision since. I simply don't understand why it worked perfectly and they just can't use the same behaviour. I don't want to come off like I'm complaining because I really do appreciate the effort and time FiiO is putting toward improvements, but I can't fathom why they have stuck with a regression compared to 2.02beta.

In 2.02beta it lists The Wall (disc 1), then The Wall (disc 2), then Dark Side of the Moon, and so on....... In the pic below you can see the organization is broken between albums. My tags work fine in the other categories such as Album, Artist, Genre. I would reorganize/rename my tags IF I wasn't aware of how well 2.02beta works for organizing the Play All By Artist subcategory. Frustrating.



Also, FiiO, when do you think we can have more than one customizable EQ?

\ Rant over \

 

[CH23]

/ Rant /

Just had a chance to load the new 2.2 FW and I must say I'm rather disappointed. I haven't even listened to it yet but the one thing I was hoping for was not implemented properly. You guys may have seen my many posts about FW2.02beta nailing the way the Play By All Artist subcategory organizes files by album, one album after the other.

Since then FiiO has not been able to replicate this behaviour and I must say it's insanely annoying given that they got it right the first time and then messed it up in every revision since. I simply don't understand why it worked perfectly and they just can't use the same behaviour. I don't want to come off like I'm complaining because I really do appreciate the effort and time FiiO is putting toward improvements, but I can't fathom why they have stuck with a regression compared to 2.02beta.

In 2.02beta it lists The Wall (disc 1), then The Wall (disc 2), then Dark Side of the Moon, and so on....... In the pic below you can see the organization is broken between albums. My tags work fine in the other categories such as Album, Artist, Genre. I would reorganize/rename my tags IF I wasn't aware of how well 2.02beta works for organizing the Play All By Artist subcategory. Frustrating.
\ Rant over \

even though i completely agree with you that this should naturally be played by album, you can get around a lot of the problems that were/are in the tagging system by renaming your files. (Artist / year / album / disc/track / title )



i'm also still hoping we'll see, instead of filename, title name(the tag)

furthermore, the album artwork is still not shown completely, as it's looking at the width of the screen, instead of the height:

 

[x RELIC x]

^ I know, but if it worked great without having to modify names and tags why not stick with that? ^

Just had to vent and I've mentioned it a million times already. I'll patiently wait for the 2.02beta behaviour to come back and hopefully it won't affect any other organization tweaks they have done. If it doesn't come to fruition I'll adjust accordingly.

 

[CH23]

^ I know, but if it worked great without having to modify names and tags why not stick with that? ^

Just had to vent and I've mentioned it a million times already. I'll patiently wait for reason to sink in.

I wish i knew.

What's happening here is that, due to FiiO being quite open about everything, we want more of it.

This is a privilege, not a right though... (Not meant at anyone in particular, just a reminder)

 

[x RELIC x]

I wish i knew.

What's happening here is that, due to FiiO being quite open about everything, we want more of it.

This is a privilege, not a right though... (Not meant at anyone in particular, just a reminder)

I hear you. Apologies if I came across as a entitled brat. That's far from my intention. And like I said, if I hadn't used 2.02beta I would have worked around it.

Moving on........

 

[fzman]

   
I actually prefer the Note3/UHA-6S combo to my X5.  It really shocked me.  One of the features of this combo is that I use Neutron in the Note, and it has a parametric eq that let's me knock the ear-canal resonance right out of the picture.

 
I enjoy my X5, it sounds good, holds lots of music, and works pretty well with 2.07 and 'albums' playing in correct track-order.  My 901 sounds better, and it sounds different with each of the amp cards I've been able to audition.
 
I also like the x5 better with an external amp, tried the sae Leckerton, and a p51 Mustang (also burning in a Fiio E12DIY).  Alas, with my new iFi micro iDSD it is smokin!  I made up a 3.5 to rca digital cable with some  75 ohm Mogami coax, and the thing rocks.  None of the other amps comes close....   It's huge, relatively speaking (Note 3 size, in fact), and heavier than most if not all portable amps, but holy screw*!  
 
Seems logical that having a big battery for the amp section, and more space for proper parts and board design should sound better-- nice to see theory and reality converge every once in a while.....

 

[Duncan]

I also like the x5 better with an external amp, tried the sae Leckerton, and a p51 Mustang (also burning in a Fiio E12DIY).  Alas, with my new iFi micro iDSD it is smokin!  I made up a 3.5 to rca digital cable with some  75 ohm Mogami coax, and the thing rocks.  None of the other amps comes close....   It's huge, relatively speaking (Note 3 size, in fact), and heavier than most if not all portable amps, but holy screw*!

I wish I was a dab hand with a soldering iron, would love a right angled RCA to mono-jack cable - in the meantime I'm making do with the supplied FiiO cable, as below...



...Bit cumbersome with the big elbow adaptor, but best I can do

BTW, cannot hear any difference in SQ between beta and 2.20 using digital out...

 

[CH23]

I hear you. Apologies if I came across as a entitled brat. That's far from my intention. And like I said, if I hadn't used 2.02beta I would have worked around it.

Moving on........

Nah you didn't sound like a brat. They finally did that one thing you really want right, and then they ******* it up again.

That would make any person feel bad...

 

[sree]

I am listening to X5 line out to Just Audio AHA-120 and B&O H6 and the sound is really pleasing. It is not analytical and makes the H6 play at a different level to what it is used to. Without the amp, X5 still drives the H6 but the sound does not seem controlled and clean to my ears. X5 really does work better with a great amp, will give it a shot with Hugo through the coax sometime later. Hopefully that should work better than X5 and AHA120. 

 

[514077]

I wish i knew.

What's happening here is that, due to FiiO being quite open about everything, we want more of it.

This is a privilege, not a right though... (Not meant at anyone in particular, just a reminder)

I believe I said something similar to what you said about FiiO maybe being too open to suggestions.  And for that, I was labelled a friggin troll, the lowest form of skumlife on the internet IMO.  I'd say we're lucky to have an accessable company like this.And for that, the X5 seems to take such a slagging.
For me, it plays songs with a full rich sound, holds all my files with room for more in the future and has real buttons and a pleasureful wheel to work with. As for files, I don't even know which file I'm going to hear until I press the play button. 
So, please forgive me if I feel a little gratatude and protectiveness toward my beloved X5.
'My psychorant over.'