Fiio X3 Mastering Quality Music Player w/ Wolfson DAC WM8740 24Bit 192K

I've had my FiiO for about a week now, and enjoy it a lot.The unit comes with three screen protectors, one already mounted, a USB cable, and a cable so you can use the X3 to play music through your stereo, and a tiny instruction manual. It has 8gb internal memory, and a bonus copy of Dr. Chesky's Sensational, Fantastic, and Simply Amazing Binaural Sound Show, a collection of high-resolution files (the kind that an iPod cannot play). There are a few test sounds; the remainder are real songs which demonstrates the quality of the player. My player came fully charged, so I could enjoy it right away.I also bought a 32gb external chip (SanDisk class 10), which I simply inserted into the FiiO, and then connected the whole to my Mac via the included USB cable. Two discs immediately showed up on the desktop, the internal 8gb and the external 32gb. I dragged the Mac music files directly onto the desktop files. It takes an amazingly long time to copy 32gb of music, so if you can buy the SanDisc early and preload the files, you'll be doing yourself a favor.FiiO, I think, works best for people who know what files they want, and where they want them. It allows nested folders; for example I have one folder named MISC, and inside that Indian, Chinese, Pop, etc, and in each of those a folder for each separate album. The iPod can't handle this, and I very much prefer the X3 style.I found the X3 easy to navigate; forward and back form a circle, so if you are at A Ceremony of Carols and want to navigate to Zap Mama, you just push the back button. Once. Very fast. After a week, I can easily navigate in the dark. There are a couple of places FiiO could learn from Apple. While there is a battery level indicator, there are no warnings before the unit simply shuts down. Also, I haven't been able to get the unit to remember my position in a playlist, after I turn it off.I've listened to the X3 with the Sennheiser HD 598 open-air headphone, as well with the in-ear HifiMan RE 400. These are middle-of-the road phones, well-reviewed here on Amazon, and I think you need phones of this quality to hear what the X3 can do. Compared to an iPod, the sound did amaze me, as it has others. I didn't hear hiss or noise, even on cuts that played very noisily on the iPod. The sound here was richer, clearer, and the instruments better defined.I also listen to music through my Mac, using a player that can handle high-rez files, a USB DAC to eliminate jitter, another DAC, amplifier, speakers and a bunch of pricey cables. How does the X3 compare? It's nowhere near as good, but then it doesn't cost in the thousands, either. The `big' system produces clearer sound that has a presence as though the performers are right in front of me; instruments like pianos and guitars have a very rich sound, clearly reproducing the reverberations and overtones of the acoustic instruments.The X3 has some of the clarity, but is much less rich. Still, the X3 fills an important niche for me, and I expect I'll continue what I do now -- listen to the X3 two hours every day, when I can't access the big stereo.I like it, I think the price is great, and I'm glad I bought it.

I picked this up four months ago and I can tell you that it was a shrewd move, if I do say so, myself. Why?At the time I purchased this, Fiio's X3ii had been on the market for several months and it was quickly discovered by "audio enthusiasts" that the X3ii was THE TOP VALUE for a dedicated DAP (digial audio player). The user interface is not as simplified as the discontinued ipod classic and there is a slight learning curve if you are jumping the fence of the WALLED GARDEN (pardon the pun) that is Apple.I exited Apple's world way back when the iPod looked like a pregnancy test stick and my wife almost........eh...... anyway, I had been buying those things for my kids at the big box store & purchased their extended coverage for $8 each. Good thing because I had to bring both iPods back the first time & even one of the replacement iPods a second time. I liked the iPods convenience but wasn't impressed with their reliability.Some months later, I came across the Samung K3 (2gb-$100) and thought I'd give it a shot. I was literally shocked by the sound difference. The sound was much fuller. MUCH MUCH fuller. Without getting in to the whole 'sheeple' mentality discussion, let's just say that I think that most consumers were so enamored with the new technology (mp3 players) and convenience that sound quality seemed to have taken a backseat.What do I mean?iTunes in it's earliest iterations sold relatively low bitrate audio files (aac & 128kbsmp3) compared to todays higher bitrate standards. I still have iTunes tracks that I bought way back in the mid 2000's and they sound.....eh.....mediocre (background hiss et al).I bring this up because even way back then my Samsung K3 was playing WAV files (1411kbs) ripped directly from my cd's.In addition, the IEM boom started to take hold and I had picked up a pair that isolated outside noise quite well and really brought my WAV files to life. As far as I was concerned there was NO going back to Apple.As the game progressed, Apple addressed it's shortcomings and leveled the playing field when it came to the actual sound of the files on iTunes. Apparently, Apple upped their game on their iPod's as well. Glad to hear it, though I've literally spent all of 30 minutes on test units in the past 10 years.I spent the next 10 years picking up Samsung DAPs and ZuneHDs.All of this gibberish is to preface one of the main reasons I purchased the first gen X3 instead of the X3ii.It turns out, and I didn't find this out until recently, the reason all of my Samsung's sounded so luscious was because Samsung had installed and properly implemented a Wolfson DAC (digital to analog converter). My little Samsung DAP, which was half the size of a deck of cards sounded like a high end hifi system, mostly due to the implementation of the Wolfson DAC.So, let's fast forward to today. Samsung is no longer in the portable DAP business.Why?Primarily because they placed their hopes and dreams on their partnering with Wolfson to bring the best portable sound possible to the consumer, offering the ability to playback most of the lossless formats like WAV, OGG, FLAC, etc. But, things went awry.The problems were threefold.First, there just weren't enough people who cared about the advantages of lossless audio, which seems to be approaching fever pitch, today.Second, as I mentioned earlier, Apple improved their game considerably and Apple maintained the lions share of sales of all portable DAPs.Third, Wolfson was on track to be the DAC supplier for the iPod, but Apple pulled out and went with Cirrus Logic.While lossless files and higher quality lossy files (320kbs mp3, 256kbs AAC) started to close the sound gap, there was still the issue of amplification. Portable headphone amps hadn't taken hold like they have today to improve mobile sound even further.In the meantime, consumers slowly start showing up to the party, but beyond fashionably late, but as the saying goes, "timing is everything". Samsung and Wolfson were at the right place at the wrong time.The saddest casualty of this whole ordeal is the promising partnership Wolfson and Samsung had developed. It's ironic that their efforts fell on deaf ears. Fewer sales meant both companies had to focus their attention where things were more profitable. Long story made short, Wolfson is sold to Cirrus (who made millions from providing the DAC for the iPod) and becomes a bittersweet chapter for us audio enthusiasts.Word on the street is that, prior to acquiring Wolfson, Cirrus Logic DACs were good but not great. Now that they've acquired Wolfson, it only makes sense that they've kept the engineers & technicians that made Wolfson such a formidable name in the world of hifi. If this is true, then the new Cirrus Logic is really Wolfson technology with a Cirrus label. Problem is we don't know which technicians and engineers stayed. All or none? Some or one?????This brings me to the Fiio X3. This first gen X3 is THE ONLY Fiio WITH A WOLFSON DAC. The X3ii has a Cirrus Logic DAC which is rumored to have a brighter sound signature than the Wolfson.I wanted the X3i for two reasons.The first is the Wolfson DAC. They "ain't makin' em anymore" and properly implemented they sound fantastic.The second is this: When Fiio released their first DAP (this X3) it was fitted with enough power (540w) to run 16ohm IEMs or 300ohm (maybe more) high impedance cans without a hiccup. The current batch of Fiio DAPs are scaled from lower power to higher power. Starting with the X1 (100w) at the bottom for in-ear monitors then moving up the foodchain to the X3ii (224w) and finally to the X5ii (460w) at the top for more power hungry cans. Note that this X3 is 540w. All quoted power outputs are based on 16ohms. (A little side note: imho stacking headphone amp on top of headphone amp is overkill).The Fiio X7 is a different proposition altogether being an Android capable DAP & the Fiio M3, while very, very good is not for the demanding audio enthusiast. It was designed strictly for "on the go" purposes and that usually means the benefits of Hi-Res audio will be (mostly) negated by the ambient noises in the various environments you travel through.I'm still considering picking up an X3ii & an M3, but I wanted this X3i before it became impossible to find. When I get the X3ii I can compare the sound signatures side by side. For me it's really the only way to confirm or negate my bias. I admit I have warm fuzzies for all my Wolfson DAPs.Probably, the best review you can read on the Fiio model comparisons here on Amazon is the 'Twister6' review found under the Fiio X3ii.All I will say is that this Fiio X3i sounds more dynamic than my ZuneHD and that takes some doing. My suspicion is that the amplifier inside the X3i (the Fiio E17) drives the music files with more authority, particularly in the lower and mid spectrums. I should mention that like the Fiio E17 headphone amp this X3 has a bass adjustment (+/- 10db) and a treble adjustment (+/- 10db). There is no equalizer. This is fine by me because I have discovered the joy of keeping my source flat (no eq enhancements) and instead use different headphones for my desired sound signature depending on the genre I am listening to. If I am listening to Jazz I choose an earphone that brings forward the mids in a warm smooth fashion. If I am listening to EDM I choose an earphone that cleanly delivers a stronger bass and enhanced treble. At any rate, with this X3 the bass is driven with more authority and female vocals are silky and intimate. It's not a night & day difference, but it is a richer experience.I have two ZuneHDs (22w)which are equipped with Wolfson DACs, that are still going strong, that I use to compare IEMs. I load the same exact tracks on both ZuneHDs and do back to back comparos. I have several hundred hours of eartime and familiarity with my ZuneHDs. The clarity and balance has been second to none when it comes to playing high quality 320kbps recordings, hence the price of a used ZuneHD is still hundreds of dollars, but the X3 does take things to the next level because they push more power which brings more body and a pleasant thickness to everything. I can hear it in Ella Fitzgerald's silky smooth "Do Nothin' 'Til You Hear From Me". I can hear it in John Williams guitar virtuoso in his "Concerto De Aranjuez". I can hear it in the opening and closing of Otello's "Masterworks Collection: Dreamstate" (edm) and I can hear it in Shania Twain's "Home Ain't Where His Heart Is Anymore".The Fiio X3 is easy to use, it sounds fantastic and as I said, it has the Fiio E17 Alpen amp inside. As I write this review an original "used" E17 is $100 and an original "new" E17 is about $350. I paid $147 for my Fiio X3.It was a sound investment. :) Couldn't resist.

Let's be honest. The product has an execellent DAC and render a very good sound. However the software totally sucks.No playlist management, no sorting, no album per artist choice... You can browse by artist, by gender or by album, and that's it. If you select artists, you can find the artist you want, and then, you get all the tracks from this artist. No album hierarchy.Also, the tracks are not automatically sorted by track number and you cannot choose to.The Favorite option is just a joke ! It's a folder. if you want favorites, you have to put them in the appropriate folder ... Come on..Price is good, sound is good because dac is good, but really, the software is a joke and should be totally remade for something usable.

I like it. Been using it for months now and still works well. very good sound and easy to use.Ce lecteur est excellent. Meilleur que tous les téléphones pour ce qui concerne la qualité du son. Bien sûr, il ne faut pas compresser le son lors des enregistrements. Peut prendre un carte mémoire donc la limite d'espace est infinie.

El sonido es impresionante y me parece muy versátil por sus conexiones y funcionamiento como USB/DAC. Ahora puedo tener toda mi música metida en este aparato incluyendo archivos de alta resolución y conectarlo de diversas maneras. Para mi, este es el reproductor definitivo, lo uso con unos Sennheiser Momentum Over Ear y aunque estos auriculares son de baja impedancia, los estruja al máximo (poniendo el level en LOW), saca un sonido super limpio, detallado, potente, ... impresionante. Si se usan auriculares de mayor impedancia, imagino que los moverá también de sobra porque como he dicho, el nivel de salida lo tengo en LOW y no soy capaz de subir el volumen a tope...También puedo conectarlo por usb en modo DAC al ordenador y después a mis auriculares, de esta manera puedo utilizar programas como FIDELIA y escuchar la música en los auriculares a través del DAC de este aparato, también suena mucho mejor que si conectara los auriculares directamente al ordenador, esta opción no la utilizo mucho pero se agradece tener esa posibilidad.Por si fuera poco, a través de la salida LINE OUT, mediante un cable de jack a rca estéreo, lo conecto a mi amplificador del salón DENON en modo DIRECT a través del AUX-IN y la música suena mejor que nunca a través de mis altavoces Monitor Audio Bronze BX2, sencillamente es tener un reproductor de calidad conectado de la manera más simple.Obviamente la apreciación de la calidad en el sonido será más evidente si usamos auriculares/altavoces buenos, no hablo de un equipo excesivamente caro, sino de buena calidad.Por último, cuando voy al coche, lo conecto al equipo (por LINE OUT al AUX-IN de la radio), el coche tiene un equipo sencillo, dos vías separadas delanteras y un subwoofer con todo amplificado, pues bueno, con el FiiO X3 el coche también suena mejor que nunca...Conclusión, por este rango de precio creo que es de lo mejorcito en cuanto a versatilidad y calidad de sonido, la interfaz de usuario me parece bastante básica pero no está mal, es fácil de usar pero muy inferior a la manejabilidad de un iPod, pero eso si, en calidad de sonido, este aparato le supera con creces...Totalmente recomendable

Ce baladeur est pour l'audiophile ce que l’instrument est pour le musicien : indispensable. La restitution du spectre sonore de chaque morceau est une perfection et vous donne des frissons, la sensation d’espace est impressionnante et le plaisir est extraordinaire si comme moi, la musique est vitale pour vous.Vous redécouvrez réellement des musiques que vous avez pourtant écouté bien souvent et depuis longtemps. Pour vous donner une idée du degré de qualité très élevé de ce baladeur, fermez les yeux et imaginez-vous seul, dans une salle de concert avec devant vous un orchestre philharmonique qui joue uniquement pour vous. Et bien ce Fiio X3 vous procure la même expérience. Concernant son utilisation, la navigation est minimaliste, certes mais très intuitive. Le baladeur est petit, compact et peut donc vous accompagner partout facilement. A la livraison, il est déjà équipé d'une protection complète ainsi que d'une protection pour l'écran, ce qui est toujours appréciable. Vous ne pouvez pas être déçu en faisant son acquisition !

This is a terrific audio player that beats all popular brands hands down. Most of the known popular commercial brand names rely on marketing & advertising (usually fake and glorified) since a huge amount of their budget goes into proving the quality they claim it possess at does not exist and we as consumers pay the share for their advertising and marketing which these commercially big brand names either could have utilised to upgrade quality or lowered the price to provide value. Every single person who heard was full of praises saying, they have not heard anything which is as musical with every sound as clear as this. And these people owned brands like IPod (most of them), Cowon, Sansa Clip Plus, Sony / Philips portable audio player and as such.Used it for two weeks and very happy and enthusiatic about the proud possession. This product is for serious music enthusiasts for whom quality is paramount. For ones who weigh quality much higher than quantity (with popular formats of mp3 etc.) Someone who loves to dig for quality to enjoy nuances and details and rather than get easy available mp3Well, FiiO X3 is truly amazing.. easy interface with loads of goodies..Pros:+ Sound quality : True sound. no accentuated bass, clear vocals, and high frequencies not jarring at all. Good with all genre.+ Wav and bit perfect Flac files sound amazing and audio with 24/96 sound pristine.+ Great battery back-up.+ Great packaging and tagged accessories are of high quality.+ Finish: Premium.Just a few suggestions to FiiO to push the envelope on their truly amazing creation(s).Consider stickers (one that glows in dark) over silicon cover for control button to make it easy to see when there isn't enough light to see - at nightMake the buttons vertical straight up, instead of diagonal up which takes a while to get used to - will make it more user friendly for a new adopterProvide 1 meter quality connector coaxial 3.5 mm to regular coaxial pin on the other end (for coaxial out on top left of X3, not auxillary 3.5mm) to hook the player up with amplifier to enjoy high quality audio files (Wav, Flac, 24/96 & 24/192). You may like to charge extra thats okay for quality seekers.For those who wish to ENJOY Top class audio (dont compare it with Astel & Kern - they are much highly priced..)

If you're considering buying a 64gb Apple iPod Touch, hold back and ask yourself what you really want from a player.Got a huge iTunes collection? You've pretty much locked yourself into Apple's eco-system as there's no real way you can transfer your collection without thorough research of technique and software and that's not counting the £329 rrp of the player itself. No doubt an iPod touch is slick to use and the ability to use apps is great, but if you're after a portable music player an iPod's sound quality is passable. Sure you you attach a Fiio portable headphone amp to improve the sound but this jacks up the price by another £60 and bulks up your pocket.EDIT: If you bought the "iTunes Plus" versions of music on iTunes, this is DRM-free and CAN be played on the Fiio X3.If you have a small iTunes collection and you buy your mp3s from other sites and/or if you have a huge CD collection then this is where your options widen.The Fiio X3 is not fancy. It doesn't have a touchscreen and it can't load different apps or games. The only purpose is to provide the best sound quality at an affordable price and at a combined price of around £200 for an 8gb + 64gb player, this is for pure audio freaks who enjoy the sound of music.Adding songs is as simple as hooking up the player via USB to a PC or Mac and dragging and dropping files onto your card. No faffing with iTunes or correcting messy ID3 tags so the music shows up correctly. You can simply organise the music how you want by using simple folders. You can get the player to index your music and it will look at all of the metadata on your music files so you can have the ability to search by category such as Artist or Album, but it only does an OK job. Looking through your music in this fashion doesn't alter the way it displays songs as it still displays the file name rather than the song title in the metadata but this is a minor niggle.The controls are intuitive and simple to use with just 6 buttons on the face in an unorthodox arrangement but you can control the player without having to look at it. Connectivity is great with this player. You have your standard 3.5mm jack for your headphones/earphones and you have a micro USB socket. You also have another 3.5mm jack for line out audio, very useful for hooking up to analog amps and another 3.5mm jack for an electrical digital connection to hook up to coaxial-digital equipped amps such as AV receivers. In terms of accessories supplied, you get a 3.5mm to RCA adapter for the digital jack, you get a latex feel silicone case AND 3 screen protectors, one of which Fiio has gladly applied for you.And now for the most important part of the review - the sound quality. The sound puts all iPods to shame. Simple as that. It's characteristic is a warm yet tight, impactful and detailed sound quality that is delivered with an airy spaciousness that is missing from Apple's offering. On Danger Doom's "The Mouse and the Mask" 1st track - "El Chupa Nibre", vocals can be cleanly heard above quick and punchy beats whereas on DJ Shadow's "The Private Press" 6th track - "Six Days", the shrill vocals do not distort and does a great job representing cascading sounds and beats without making a sonic mess of soup, something that my iPod classic had trouble with. A further display of its soundstaging ability can also be heard on Radiohead's 2nd track on "OK Computer - "Paranoid Android" from about 3:30 onwards. It will play almost anything you throw at it: mp3s, FLAC (up to 24/192), APE but ensure your files are free from corruption. My old PC has a tendency of corrupting data over USB and corrupted files will crash the player. As far as customising the sound goes, you don't have an EQ but you do have tone controls for bass and treble in +/- 10 increments and you do have 2 gain settings - high and low. I set mine to low as the level is sufficient enough to drive my Yamaha EPH100 earphones and actually makes the newer Apple Earpods sing better than it did on any apple device I've had previously. Yup, that good.It that it? No. From November 2013, firmware 2.1 has added a fantastic feature: the X3 can actually double-up as a DAC. What does this mean? Ever plugged in your headphones into your PC or Mac and hear noise in silent spots? Well this is usually due to integrated designs picking up noise from other electronics that reside on the board. For instance, I usually notice this noise when a disc is spinning in a DVD drive. Well if you plug the Fiio X3 to a PC or Mac via USB, the computer will push all audio data through to the X3 and use its own electronics to deliver sound. I used my X3 as a go-between for my audio amp and my PC and noise is significantly reduced as well as beefing up the audio with its own characteristics. Sound is punchier and spacious even on YouTube videos!All in all, you've read my messy review but you get the gist. If you're serious about your audio but don't have cash to splurge on a Colorfly or an Astell & Kern and you're tired of Apple's sub-standard audio quality this player is the one to get. The sound quality and ease of use will make you forgive everything else on this fantastic piece of audio equipment.