[amigoloco]

I uploaded fw3.0 to my x3 and saw and heard many changes to the x3 with this new firmware. All of the look and feel changes are great. I liked the expanded volume granularity.
 
My first listen, I do not remember what resolution of files I put on, the sound seemed more spacious than fw2.1. But it was a cursory listen for background music.
 
Upon first critical listen of some 24/96 flacs, the performance was so poor I unplugged the X3 and put on a CD instead. Songs had horrible audio dropouts to the point of making it unlistenable.
 
With the 2.1 firmware the X3 sounded so wonderful that I never questioned its' audio performance. I just enjoyed fantastic sound.
 
I went home and assured myself that the problem was not with the flac files by playing the masters on my computer with foobar glitch-free and wonderful.
 
So I reverted to fw2.1 and now my audio is back to wonderful, but now I am skeptical of FiiO truly doing audio QA on their firmware upgrades.
 
These audio problems were on my X3 with a PNY 32GB class 10 microSD card that I had listened to prior to the upgrade without audio issues, and am presently listening to with my X3 running fw2.1.
 
So please fix the 24/96 flac audio issues in fw3.0.
 
Thanks for your support. Love the product!

 

[EtS13]

  So please fix the 24/96 flac audio issues in fw3.0.
 

May I suggest you to send the problematic files to FiiO support team?
I can play all my 24bit/96KHz without any glitch.

 

[tjw321]

  May I suggest you to send the problematic files to FiiO support team?
I can play all my 24bit/96KHz without any glitch.

+1 My 24/96 FLACs also play fine with 3.0 and the exFAT beta.

 

[mchoop]

I too, am having no issues with my 96/24 files and I have quite a few of them on the player.
 
McHoop

 

[amigoloco]

I did NOT try the exFAT beta download. I used the fw3.0 release.
 
The files play fine on the X3 with fw2.1. So I am no longer running fw3.0 on my X3. But if a support person would provide me with an email address I would gladly send a file or two.
 
The dropouts were not tied to one specific file or folder on the microSD card, they just made the listening unbearable. I have played 24/192 files just fine with fw2.1.

 

[vdgraaf]

I have the same problem with this new 3.0 Firmware..and I am trying to downgrade to the previous version.
 
I have tons of 24bit 96KHZ and all of have the same problem with this new FW.
 
Has anyone got a fix from FiiO?
Where is the previous version of the Firmware, as my unit is unusable right now...

 

[amigoloco]

After seeing that others were not having the issues I was, I put all the files that were on the PNY 32GB uSD card onto a Patriot 64GB uSD. They have played fine with FW3.0. I would have preferred to try another PNY, but did not have another PNY 32GB.
 
The Patriot 64GB would not format using the X3 menu. So I used the SmartDisk FAT32 tool and it formatted it. I did use the X3 to copy the files onto the Patriot 64GB.
 
I have not heard the issues that I had heard in those files on the PNY 32 GB card.
 
So I copied another group of files onto the 32GB PNY to see if it was flaky. I have listened to four full albums with no audio issues.
 
So my conclusion is that FW3.0 prefers files loaded onto the uSD card using FW3.0.
 
I could put the music that messed up back onto the PNY 32GB to see if they would mess up again, but I'm happy to have the music on both those uSD cards.
 
I do have some PNY 16GB uSD cards that I loaded with music using FW2.1 that I will eventually listen to see if the problem shows up on them and will update the thread if they exhibit problems.
 
I hope I don't have to redo many downloads to hear them problem-free in FW3.0, but if that's what I have to do, I will. Thus far, I like the improvements to the UI in FW3.0.
 
You can download both FW2.1 and FW3.0 from http://www.fiio.com.cn if you click on support and then on download and search for  "x3 fw.2.1" or "x3 fw3.0" as needed.

 

[tjw321]

  ...
So my conclusion is that FW3.0 prefers files loaded onto the uSD card using FW3.0.
...

I *think* this is not very likely since the controller on the card manages the final writing of the files to the card, so I wouldn't get too hung up on it (yet) if I were you. I'd suggest that it's more likely that the file system on the card had gradually got messed up over time and then when you copied all the new files across *in one go*, it sorted it out.
 
Would that fit the facts?
 
I'm not saying that you're wrong, just hoping that there is a simpler solution than messing about with multiple firmwares 

 
 
Edit: Thinking about it a bit more, it's possible that there are bugs in the earlier firmwares which are causing potential issues with the filesystem. In which case, the fix is to copy music onto the card using firmwares 3.0+, or just to copy music to the card directly with your PC. I do the latter, which may be why I don't have the problem. (If this is the case, you pretty much are correct 

, but, you just need to re-copy the files to the card, preferably in a card reader and, preferably, reformatting the card in between).

 

[amigoloco]

I'm not messing with multiple firmwares. I just knew that particular card had played fine on version 2.1 and went back to version 2.1 and verified that the files would still play without issue. This indicates the files were NOT corrupted.
 
I am using FW3.0 and have encountered no other issues. But I saved a card with fw2.1 on it so that I can revert to that for testing purposes if needed.
 
I have had better luck with files loaded onto the uSD card through the X3 than I have with files loaded using a card reader. And until the Patriot 64GB card I mentioned earlier in this thread, I had much better luck formatting the cards using the X3 format utility. I have one other 64GB card, a SanDisk, and it would not format with the SmartDisk FAT32 tool, but formatted fine with the X3 built-in formatter under fw2.1.
 
I would like to use the card reader to load files, so that I can listen to the X3 while I'm copying files. But I have had better luck reading them reliably if I load them onto the uSD through the X3.
 
I have 5 PNY 16GB cards and have listened to an album each from 3 of them with no issues. One had only CD quality flacs: 16 bit/44.1KHz, one had 24/48KHz and one had 24/96KHz files. I listened to George Harrison's 'All Things Must Pass' and 'Living In The Material World' from the 24/96 card: sounded great!
 
I do have other brands of uSD cards at 16GB & 32GB (27 uSD cards total) loaded with music from 16/44.1 to 24/192 and will report issues that I find pertinent back to this thread. I had thought the brand or size of cards might have been part of the problem.
 
Some of these issues may be related to the computer platform, especially if you're running a Mac. I am running a Dell with Intel quad core 3GHz and Windows 7 Pro SP1.
 
X3 Rocks!

 

[tjw321]

...
I would like to use the card reader to load files, so that I can listen to the X3 while I'm copying files. But I have had better luck reading them reliably if I load them onto the uSD through the X3.
...
Some of these issues may be related to the computer platform, especially if you're running a Mac. I am running a Dell with Intel quad core 3GHz and Windows 7 Pro SP1.
...

Interestingly, I am using a Mac, I format my cards using my Mac, and nowadays I use either the SD slot in my Mac (more convenient), or a USB card reader (slightly faster) to copy my files and have had no problems. Before I started using the Mac to copy my files, I did have one disaster when I was copying files using the USB cable and the cable fell out - that, and the speed, is why I don't use the X3 itself to copy files any more.
 
But, I only have Sandisk cards. I doubt that is significant, though. I have three 64GB cards - all formatted FAT32 in my Mac, and one 128GB card which I left as exFAT so that I could try out the new beta firmware (which seems to work really well - it's a pity that my NAS can't read exFAT).
 
So, no conclusions. It's all far too confusing... I think the only advice I can come up with is: If the music is stuttering, it might be worth reformatting the card (in the X3 is probably best), and then copying the music back on again. And, as you said, if you're using the X3 to copy it, use the most up to date firmware.
 
Edit: Just realised that that is near enough what I said before - but it's basically the SD card equivalent of "Have you tried turning it off and on again". I.e. generic advice for when you don't really understand what's going on....

 

[inglis]

With firmware 3, I have tried to play a 24 96 rip of the Beatles Love DVD-A on an X3 in both wav and flac.
 
These files play on VLC but not the X3. They do show up on audacity as 24 96.
 
The files open on the X3, but when I click on a single file, each one "plays" for a second and then the unit shifts to pause. 
 
I added the files through the usb cord from a macbook pro.
 
Any thoughts on what else I could try?
 
My other 24 96 files work fine.
 
John