[NymPHONOmaniac]

Well, I would be hard pressed to call x3 analytical. Both are warmish with the x3 being more engaging while the d3 is more relaxed.

You can play with words...ill say of my Ibasso DX90 that is bright analytical and for X3 warm analytical COmparatively to D3....all this sound term can be confusing, but lets just say D3 is more relaxed than X3 if you prefer.

I'm curious. Did you try your D3 trough Line out??? If so, do you feel a difference in soundstage and impact?

 

[Ohmsssss]

Both sound very good, hard to tell my favorite in term of sound really, X3 is a little brighter and with a deeper soundstage while D3 have wider soundstage with more bass. D3 sound is thicker and with the IEM I use right now I prefer the D3, it feel more smooth and musical. With X3, I like to use line out and an amp to make shine the sound. SO if you prefer analytical sound X3 is the way to go, if musicality and warm bass and 20H battery life is what you need, D3 is the one for that (X3 have 8H of battery).

does the slow ui bother you so much? or it can be tolerated. The D3 would be my first dap since im only a beginner in this hobby. I ordered it online waiting to be received. Is it a good starting dap?

 

[kova4a]

You can play with words...ill say of my Ibasso DX90 that is bright analytical and for X3 warm analytical COmparatively to D3....all this sound term can be confusing, but lets just say D3 is more relaxed than X3 if you prefer.

I'm curious. Did you try your D3 trough Line out??? If so, do you feel a difference in soundstage and impact?

Well, the D3 smoothens the edges of the notes and presents the sound in a more relaxed fashion. It's softer and that paired with the bass and treble, which roll-off earlier gives it a more relaxed character. You can call it laid back instead, but it's pretty much the same thing - a less fatiguing presentation, which provides a more relaxing listen at the cost of some energy and excitement.
The x3 on the other head is more articulate and aggressive in comparison. Again, the x3 isn't really analytical. Analytical refers to something that is highly detailed and usually on the cool side of neutral or downright cold, which are characteristics of a brighter and less bassy sound. It sort of evolved from what people used to refer to as clinical or sterile. I could call the x10 analytical with its more technical and neutral presentation, which makes it a better tool to analyze the sound critically.
I didn't really hear much improvement. Also unlike the x10 and x3, the d3 doesn't limit the volume control to the amp and you can still change it from the DAP itself.

does the slow ui bother you so much? or it can be tolerated. The D3 would be my first dap since im only a beginner in this hobby. I ordered it online waiting to be received. Is it a good starting dap?

I have been professing sound quality before everything else and have defended a lot of sources that other bashed, because they lacked extra features or modern UI, but I can't defend the d3 - for me it's PITA to enjoy. The sound should have been very very impressive for me to tolerate this UI and while not bad it's not anywhere near as good to compensate for the slow and buggy UI. I just turned it on to check it again and timed it and from the moment it was on and started auto-playing one track to the moment of trying to the home screen and play another song the d3 took something like 35 seconds. Don't know how patient you are but I am not a buddhist monk, so for me that's unacceptable and I can tolerate a lot of shortcomings. It is kinda usable if you put all your music in one folder and just skip tracks back and forth, but once you push that return/menu button and the testing of your nerves begins. Also on several occasions I had to turn off and on the screen again because the display was blank. And add to that the cut in the beginning of tracks, which I think is the longest I've came by and the random reboots and I can't recommend it at all, but it sounds fine, that is if you can tolerate all of the foregoing.

I really don't know what went wrong coz the x10 is so good for the price and is supper snappy and haven't had any freezes or other issues with it. I hope they can fix the d3 with a software update coz that's not the performance of an $80 DAP released at the end of 2017. If it was 20-30 bucks, I might have let it go but it's about x3's price, not to mention some of the repeating sales of x10 at circa 120 bucks. And I guess it will stay around that price in the near future (if not lower with the release of the updated x10 ) and it's a completely different beast

 

[Carrow]

It does not do gapless. In fact there's an audible clunk between tracks, not even silence. Worst perhaps, it cuts off the first few seconds of every track.

Gross. Thought this might have been a good backup DAP option for me, but alas no.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

Difference aren't night and day, but aren't subtle neitheir. Soundstage expand and notes have more weight&impact, treble is a little push & more sparkly as well as bass feel thicker, fuller. Still, this Takstar Pro82 can be drive from phone out, sometime with high imprendance headphone its vital, not in this case, its just for extra enjoyment in soundsignature. For IEM, I don't use amp....really like the duo D3+Walnut V2, fit so well togheter! Find it quite cute too

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

To be clear about Xduoo X3 price, its 110$, not 80-90$, now, as with near every DAP lauch more than 1 year ago, it can be found for 80$, even see it at 66$ on Ebay, crazy deal for real.

Xduoo D3 is now 80, in one year, price will certainly be lower: no doubt about it.
In the 50-80$ price range there lot of choice, but near all have some drawback too, about sound or UI or construction. Fiio M3 (55-80$) is made of plastic, have no line out, good stable UI (I think) and okay sound, Zishan Z2 (40-50$) have excellent sound (AK4490 dac), but no screen and so so construction, Walnut V2S have okay sound but background hiss, no screen, but can be use as stand alone amp (27-35$), Ruizu A50 (55-80$) have BT and can play high res but I don't know about sound (don't trust Ruizu for sound quality so I will surely never try it), Hidizs AP60 (90$+) have BT, nice sound and construction and look good value but UI got problem and amping is not powerfull, there Ninthaus X10 (50-60$), Aigo DAP and other obscure chifi stuffs that surely have lot of Ui problem as well...this look a very recurent aspect with chinese DAP.

Anyway, I confirm that Xduoo D3 need to update the firmware FAST, so the UI will not ruin user experience, cause I really think it sound very very nice. I'm sincerly surprise by sound quality, not by UI because all I read was true so...I just confirm that, SLOW SLOW SLOW. About clic between track I do not heard it, it happen one or 2 times and it wasnt a noisy click, very subtle one.

So facts:
9 seconds to open.
8-13(!) seconds to begin a track from new folder.
The 2-3 seconds of begining of tracks that will not play do NOT always occur and I can't know what cause this.
For changing tracks it take about 2 sec.
DAP will play track where you stop it when you open it back(this work well).
Line out have volume control wich I like.
For such a small device, amping is very impressive from its own, about the same as X2 and X3 (250mw-32ohm, but X3 have a little more sound pressure at 112db vs 107db for d3-x2)
D3 is 2/3 the size of X3.
Sound is better and clearer than X2, and not inferior than X3, just different, some will prefer some don't, but I feel it have more body than X3 when using phone out, depending of pairing I can prefer one or another, its not like comparing DAP from another league here.D3 really is an excellent sounding DAP for soundvalue, no doubt about it.

 

[Igor Ruzaev]

I got my X2 long ago for 50 USD. Had to change battery after two years and continue t0 use it frequently,

And recently was lucky enough to get X3 during crazy sale on TomTop for same 50 bucks. IMO, it sounds awful, either stock FW or Rockbox port with different EQ settings, I have never enjoyed it.

Good point here is that I got it cheap and it was easy to sell it even as a 2nd hand.

X10 can be bought for 104 USD on sales and now I really doubt about such an upgrade.

X20 is coming to us real soon for 240 USD. But you can get Cayin N5 for this price. It will have less options but it's on Hiby, while xDuoo is a lottery.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

I got my X2 long ago for 50 USD. Had to change battery after two years and continue t0 use it frequently,

And recently was lucky enough to get X3 during crazy sale on TomTop for same 50 bucks. IMO, it sounds awful, either stock FW or Rockbox port with different EQ settings, I have never enjoyed it.

Good point here is that I got it cheap and it was easy to sell it even as a 2nd hand.

X10 can be bought for 104 USD on sales and now I really doubt about such an upgrade.

X20 is coming to us real soon for 240 USD. But you can get Cayin N5 for this price. It will have less options but it's on Hiby, while xDuoo is a lottery.

First person I read that do not find that X3 sound good, surely not the only on the planet, but I really consider X3 from another league in term of sound comparatively to X2, nodoubt about it, and I pay 90$ considering its the best DAP for such a price. X10 is another big upgrade in term of sound from X2, smooth, detailed and musical, really easyto listen soundsignature with a black bakground (X2 have some hissing in background-not an intense one). X10 perform especially well with vocal, that float in a clear organic way on a warm clean and quite neutral sound presentation, quite unique soundsignature! And at 104$ its a no brainer IMO

What other DAP do you have?
For X20, wait for feedback. I think it will come soon as its now available everywhere.

 

[Igor Ruzaev]

ipod nano 5 gen ---> X2 --> X3 --> X2 - that's my DAP story.

I like X2 aggression and listen to d'nb' - dubstep - electro music mainly.

X3 may be awesome with jazz and soul music, but these are not my fav styles.

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

ipod nano 5 gen ---> X2 --> X3 --> X2 - that's my DAP story.

I like X2 aggression and listen to d'nb' - dubstep - electro music mainly.

X3 may be awesome with jazz and soul music, but these are not my fav styles.

I like electro alot, big focked up beats especially that will make my brain dance and my body got some kind of strange convulsions aha
You use IEM or headphone?
Perhaps an external amp with gain bass can make your X3 more muscular and dynamic sounding, use it must of time trough line out cause I feel sound open up more, with very sensible IEM no need of amping, but 32ohm and higher it help imaging ALOT imo And with headphone its a must really, true, it can drive even 64ohm headphones, but its like throwing a fish out of water, it will not breath well (okay, the headphones will survive comparatively to the fish).

 

[velofoto]

Hi, all!

xDuoo X2 MKII

 

[fadlinaya]

With internal storage, lag test

 

[kova4a]

Well, this shows nothing. As I said, it is sorta usable if you keep all your files in one folder and just skip tracks back and forth without ever using the menu/back button. But that way of using it pretty much makes it a DAP with some of the most limited operation. I guess I could make one big workout folder on it and at least try to get some use of it other than as a dust collector. Still can't comprehend how xduoo could drop the ball that bad.

 

[bsoplinger]

Is there anywhere we can go to help pressure Xduoo into updating the firmware from a bad beginner programmer's first project to something that's usable? The more I play around with this the more frustrated I become. The entire UI is filled with mistakes that you'd see in a beginning programmer's first project. Did whomever created this software even test it themselves before releasing it to the world at large?

The frustration stems from the very decent sound quality and nice, small form factor. This player has so many good points that the horrid firmware negates completely.

 

[velofoto]

Everything will be fine!