[Urchinn]

Nope...did not work.  Again, I get the "Failed to read" notice on this driver.  I'm thinking its time to send it back to Adorama, and pull out my old Cowon D2.  Damn....

 

[Urchinn]

Okay, get ready for this one...I am using IZArc software to unzip my files.  A quick phonecall to a computer-savvy friend revealed that my friend had trouble with IZArc.  So we used another program to unzip, and therein lies the nightmare of IZArc:  the files were poorly unzipped.  Now all is well.  The drivers work, the DAC works. The headaches are over. And the sweet voice of Francoise Hardy is flowing out of the laptop, into the USB cable, into my X3, and into my ol' Grado headphones!  Fiio, I love ya!  Head-fi denizens, Iove ya! 
Thanks to one and all for putting up with me.
TJ

 

[Urchinn]

Once more: Thanks to everyone who tried to help me!

 

[davidsh]

Your welcome. Glad it works

 

[bogi]

Nice, that it happened to work!
 
I am very interested to know, how is the X3 quality in the role of DAC in comparison with USB DACs like ODAC, Schiit Modi, HRT Music Streamer II, or others in this category. Is there any X3 owner who could compare it?

 

[rikaldrey]

Nice, that it happened to work!

I am very interested to know, how is the X3 quality in the role of DAC in comparison with USB DACs like ODAC, Schiit Modi, HRT Music Streamer II, or others in this category. Is there any X3 owner who could compare it?

Up for this one. I'm curious how it compares to standalone dacs.

 

[SYRadio]

I have an Audioengine D1 DAC  I was quite happy with it until I got the X3.  The X3 is capable of 192/24 through USB, the D1 can only do 96/24 - so this is a big step.  I have used the D1 with the optical feed, but still limited to 96/24 even though it is capable of 192/24 via optical.  This is not the D1's fault.  It is a Mac Core Audio issue.
 
I'm using the X3 with Fidelia as a music player.  I also have Amarra, but it has had issues with the X3 or just issues in general with 192/24.  However, it is useful to note that Amarra does not down sample - so it is really doing 192/24 in case anyone wondered whether the X3 was for real.
 
I really like the idea of having a hi-res portable player that can also play my entire library via USB.

 

[Urchinn]

I just compared it to my buddy's Dragonfly DAC.  I thought they both sounded just fine...although I'm 54, and no longer have the ears of a younger, more opinionated, audiophile!!!

 

[davidsh]

  I just compared it to my buddy's Dragonfly DAC.  I thought they both sounded just fine...although I'm 54, and no longer have the ears of a younger, more opinionated, audiophile!!!

Bah, don't feel bad. The ears and the brain is are very dangerous and bad combination regardless of how good your hearing is. People claim to hear big differences between gear, yet I am positive a lot if it is just the brain playing tricks.
 
Depending on mood I like to think that if I wouldn't be able to pick out differences in a blind test, there is no difference. Ohh, the blasphemy.

 

[BobbyA]

  I have been following this thread and, although I use a Mac, I decided to see if I could make the X3 work as a DAC with my Toshiba laptop.  Here's what I did.
 
1.  My X3 is already updated with the latest firmware - 2.10.
 
2.  On the PC I downloaded the driver.  Urchinn has referred to unzipping the firmware on the PC.  Make sure you have downloaded and unzipped the DRIVER not the firmware.
 
3.  Double click Set-Up in the driver directory.  When I did that it told me to connect the X3 before proceeding.  At this point (aside from a couple of fussy Windows messages about unknown drivers) it proceeded successfully.
 
4.  Then go into the Control panel and select "Hardware and Sound"  then "Manage audio device" - the X3 should show up as "speakers."  Select the X3 and then click properties in the lower right side of the screen.  Select the "Advanced" tab and change the bit rate and bit depth to 192/24.  You can click test to double check. 
 
5.  Go back to the original screen and right click on the X3 and make it you default device.
 
6.  I'm using the AIMP3 player and its working fine.  Playing a 192/24 file now.
 
As I said I usually use my Mac, its nice to have everything working on the PC too.

In my case everything appears to be setup correctly, even to the point that changing the bit rate and depth as you direct above results in the X3 LCD updating to the same 192/24 setting (although clicking the test but results in no sound.).
I can not hear anything that should be coming from the computer to the X3 via the USB (same song, player, and laptop that worked w/ E10). I can switch the player to storage mode and the sound levels are fine, but nothing in DAC mode via USB.
Help !   
 
Update:
I got it working, after everything described above I gave up and stabbed the X3 reset. It reverted to 44KHz/24bits
in the LCD and started playing, now shows 192KHz/24bits and still plays !

 

[Lespectraal]

  Nice, that it happened to work!
 
I am very interested to know, how is the X3 quality in the role of DAC in comparison with USB DACs like ODAC, Schiit Modi, HRT Music Streamer II, or others in this category. Is there any X3 owner who could compare it?

Anyone else? Would really love the input on this one.

 

[FritzL]

If I just want to listen to flac files on my X3 through headphones in the best possible SQ do I change to DAC mode in settings, or does it matter what mode I am in for best SQ using X3 with headphones?

 

[BobbyA]

If I just want to listen to flac files on my X3 through headphones in the best possible SQ do I change to DAC mode in settings, or does it matter what mode I am in for best SQ using X3 with headphones?

The answer to this question depends on if you plan to play the flac files from your computer through the X3 via a USB cable (in this case use DAC mode).
Or if you plan to copy the files to the X3 and play them directly from the X3 memory ( then use storage mode to load them into X3 memory)
I don't think either makes much difference in sound quality, with the possible exception of problems in your PC.

 

[bogi]

I asked for comparison with other USB DACs, so I meant X3 in USB DAC mode too.
 
I don't think either makes much difference in sound quality, with the possible exception of problems in your PC.
 
It can make difference in sound quality.
I don't understand what "problems in your PC" do you mean. ) Playing music from PC through USB DAC is quite ordinary thing today. You can for example use X3 as USB DAC while playing music stored on your NAS server, including HiRes music formats. I am wondering that X3 users are not interested more into this feature.

 

[rikaldrey]

  I asked for comparison with other USB DACs, so I meant X3 in USB DAC mode too.
 
I don't think either makes much difference in sound quality, with the possible exception of problems in your PC.
 
It can make difference in sound quality.
I don't understand what "problems in your PC" do you mean. ) Playing music from PC through USB DAC is quite ordinary thing today. You can for example use X3 as USB DAC while playing music stored on your NAS server, including HiRes music formats. I am wondering that X3 users are not interested more into this feature.

This is what I exactly want to know as I want to do the same. Maybe most of them already have decent desktop setups that they just bought the X3 for portable use. Me, OTOH, bought the X3 as my first dac/amp and consider its portability as an extra feature. I'm still awaiting for mine.