FiiO X3-II High Resolution Music Player (2nd Generation)

First, let me tell you about myself and my reasoning for buying this product. I am not an audio expert but I love music! As a kid I was a member of the Columbia Record Club (I’m showing my age). I have migrated from vinyl to 8 track tapes to cassettes to CD’s and now to digital. My vinyl records, 8 track and cassette tapes have long disappeared but I have a fairly sizable CD collection; my guess is around 500. Like most, my first digital music player was an iPod. I have purchased music from iTunes, converted you tube music to MP3 files and imported CD’s to create my library. I’ve enjoyed listening to my music but I knew something was missing in the sound quality so I did my research. My sole intent was to get better sound quality from my existing iPod. This is when I found out about the MP3 file format vs. the lossless format. I’m not sophisticated enough (nor do I care to be) to get into the weeds on this but the bottom line is that MP3 files are missing some of the “data” from the original music. This was done to save space i.e. to get more music stored on your computer and your portable music player, but sound quality suffers. The lossless format is not missing “data” so the sound quality is better. Logically, this made sense to me. So the easy answer for me was to make sure that iTunes supported the lossless format and, if so, convert my music library to this lossless format, right? Wrong! As it turns out, iTunes does support a lossless format (their version, more on that later) but you can’t convert an MP3 file because it is missing the data. That data was not compressed, it is actually missing. The good news is that you can download any music that you previously purchased from iTunes again, free of charge, using their lossless format. This is easy to do and you can find help on the internet. But for the CD’s that I imported, I have to import them again making sure that I have the import settings set to do so using Apple lossless format. Problem solved, right? Wrong! Although the sound quality is better, it is still not great. The issue is that, although Apple makes a great product, the iPod was not designed to produce high fidelity sound so I ended up with high quality audio files but not so good hardware for playing them.Look, I just want two things: 1. My music to sound better through my ear phones and in my car, the way I remember it sounding before digital, and 2. I want it to be easy. So I did more research. I found that there is a category of High Resolution portable music players available and that you can spend as little as $100 or as much as $5,000. Like I said before, I like music, but I like my money more! After looking into the Fiio X3 second generation for around $200, I thought I found my answer. Turns out, I was right. The sound quality is outstanding. I can’t give you details on “highs” and “lows” and “warm” sounds like I’ve read in other reviews. Like I said, I’m not that sophisticated. I just know what sounds good and this does. It’s like night and day between this and my iPod. Granted, I did also invest in a moderately priced ($75) set of ear buds. You have to in order to get the full benefit of the player so I recommend you do so as well. However, the most noticeable improvement in sound quality is in my car. I can’t begin to describe the difference in quality but it is where I am most happy with my decision to purchase this product. So, number 1 objective achieved.Number 2, I want it easy. If you use iTunes, let me save you some time here, continue to use it. You will read some saying that you need to download Easy Audio Converter (EAC) and then rip your CD’s into FLAC files, and so on and so on. They will say that FLAC is the industry standard format for lossless, that ALAC (Apple’s lossless format) is only compatible with Apple products. They will say that FLAC is better quality than ALAC. First, this is not true. Lossless is lossless. No lossless is better than another but I was sucked in by this and tried EAC. It is complicated to use. I loaded it and ripped a few CD’s and then copied them into the Fiio X3. They did play, but the artist name, album name, track names and album artwork are not there. Turns out you have to do a lot of extra steps using another 3rd party software to get this stuff. It’s too complicated and just not worth it to me. I’m convinced that most folks that do this do so just because they have an underlying dislike for Apple. I’m not that way. My approach is just give me whatever works the best. So I imported a few CD’s into iTunes using their lossless format then copied them into the Fiio X3 and it worked beautifully. The artist name, album name, track names and album artwork is all there. And here is another plus, provided you have hard drive space, when you import the CD in lossless, you can elect to NOT cover up the prior MP3 file. This way, you can still load MP3 files on your iPod or iPhone and use them the way you always have.The only negatives I have concern playlists and ease of use in your vehicle. It is not easy to create playlists on the Fiio X3. There are instructions on how to do so on the internet but it is way too difficult. As far as using the Fiio X3 in your car, the sound is amazing but you have to connect it using the AUX in port using an AUX cable (not provided). It will not work by plugging it into the USB port using the USB cable provided (that is just for charging and data transfer). As is the case with most devices you connect via an AUX cable, you can only control it via the unit itself. That is, you select the songs you want to play, pause, skip, previous, etc. by pressing the buttons on the X3. You can’t do so through your head unit controls. (At least not in my vehicle.)Bottom line, if you want near high fidelity sound in a portable music player at a good price without sacrificing too much in the ease of use department, I highly recommend the Fiio X3.

This is by far one of the best sounding DAPs I've ever listened to. For my budget it met every expectation possible, not only that but I've never actually personally owned a DSD decoder so being able to listen to those files on demand especially while working is a great luxury. I have sampled a lot of formats at this point, if your collection consists of a lot of high quality FLAC you're going to love it, although it still brings new life into my lossy formats as well.For frame of reference, my testing equipment has consisted of Sennheiser Momentums, as well as the coax and line out outputs. All work flawlessly and have warm clear sound. I would be hesitant to say that it is capable of driving larger cans, the output of the X3ii is 200mw <(200mW'@32''224mW'@16''24mW (@300') according to ea audio uk>. For my purposes this is more than sufficient, you can argue about output and impedance all day for all I care, I know what I hear and for what I'm looking for this is perfect. I listen between 74/120 volume to 88/120 volume depending on mastering and its plenty loud with 9.5/10 accurate sound reproduction. I still would like to try it with a headphone amp like the MontBlanc, but I don't really have any desire to upgrade and sacrifice portability.The EQ is pretty good for what it is, although I tend to leave it off and let the individual mastering of the track speak for itself. The Momentums are good for this purpose, however I did encounter overly bright mids in a few tracks (probably due to mastering or vinyl reproduction errors) which I was able to EQ out and it sounded better. Technically its no longer an accurate reproduction of the high fidelity track if you're EQing it. I think though that's what I enjoy most about this player, it has very serious aspects yet remains absolutely practical and most importantly simple to use and enjoyable.Included in the box is a silicon glove style case, three protective wrap cases, and two extra screen protectors. Mine is resting in the accessory clear case, however for most the included silicon is probably sufficient.I really hope I didn't get a clone from Amazon, I'll be returning if I did, but the build quality is the only place where I would possibly say its lacking, and when I say lacking I mean in Quality Control not design or production. One button on my X3ii is not the same as the rest on the face, it does not press as accurately or as well and seems a bit ajar. Scroll wheel center button slides around.My biggest gripe is the USB port. Using the included USB cable I have copied files from my computer, rather than just using my micro SD card reader. Don't ask me why, just thought it would be as efficient. I was dead wrong. Copy speed bottlenecks at around 3-5 mb/s, as well as several of my high quality lossless files had a bunch of data missing when compared to the source file. This really concerns me, if data is being lost over USB then my sense is that using it as a DAC (which I have yet to do, will report back when I have) could potentially suffer from signal loss. This very well could be the USB cable, or worse the USB port, the cable was supplied so I was inclined to trust it. From now on I'm just going to transfer directly to the microsd from the card reader.All in all, TLDR: sound quality is really good, I've found it perfect for my needs and spent a lot of time looking around. Be advised of output and have realistic expectations. There are several alternatives that are at least worth looking at, iBasso, HiDiz, Astell and Kern, as well as the FiiO x5 and x5ii (to be released next week at time of writing). I speak not out of actual listening experience with most of these devices, but with my own research and personal listening tests of Astell Kern products as well as Apple, FiiO, and Sony.

I want a simple, good-sounding portable music device that includes a micro-SD card in its design. Also, I really do not want to spend more than a coupla hundred bucks. I read the reviews, and opted for the X3-II. the item arrived swiftly, I then took steps to put it to use; I charged it up, then slapped a 128GB micro SD card into it, loaded it up with tons of WAVs (using WMP), and plugged it in (via the line-out into a Y cable) into the digital input of my integrated amplifier. Yes the UI is truly clunky, but who cares- it sounded great! I listened to it for a few hours and I knew that I could really like this thing.Later that night, I tested it with headphones. The headphone jack was faulty; one channel was loud and clear, but the other would flicker in and out if I jiggled the base of the wire. From my experience with a few digital music players, this is generally the Achilles' Heel of such devices. But Damn! Straight off the Shelf?!?!? Well, I am a forgiving person, and I do believe that everybody deserves a second chance. And I am a sucker, so I returned it, and bought another one.The second X3 arrived, I charged, synced, and loaded it; I then went straight to the headphones. Again the headphone jack proved to be faulty.I read the reviews, and this is generally a well-liked device. So either I have had the most uncanny misfortune, or there is a pattern here. I suspect that on both occasions, I was sold returned merchandise, despite the fact that it was not advertised as such.I give it two stars. The UI sucks, but is good enough, and it sounds really nice. But what good is that if it is shoddy and malfunctioning?