Urchinn
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2013
- Posts
- 17
- Likes
- 10
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....
Up for this one. I'm curious how it compares to standalone dacs.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?
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!!!
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.
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?
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?
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.