FiiO X3

FiiO X3 Review

Marcus
DAP

Sound Impressions

Summary

At the heart of the X3 lies an E7/07k tonality and that does not surprise me in the slightest given this has been FiiO’s house sound for quite some time.

Don’t expect AK100 levels of resolution or DX100 levels of power but what you do get is a nice warm laid back tonality with next to no background noise or hiss for sensitive earphones, a well-defined midsection, good tight bass without being too dominant (you can eq that if you wish) and a slightly rolled off treble.

This is in no way a dark-sounding DAP with an attenuated treble but it does lack a touch of sparkle on the top-end articulation that higher-end models can produce such as the DX100.

The X3 is all about tonality over detail for me compared to the Hifiman, iBasso, and the AK100s of this world. You are going to pay more for those and you would rightly expect more but if you want something a little more forgiving with nice tonality that is flexible across a wide range of genres then the X3 is going to please a lot of listeners.

FiiO X3

Staging

What I did notice and enjoyed about the X3 sound presentation was the fantastic depth it achieved combined with a very noise-free background. Without ever creating the largest soundstage the X3 is able to give a really strong account of itself in good depth and fine instrument position and layering without losing any richness in the tonality.

It is not an overly forward or aggressive presentation and combined with the hiss-free background I really took to the FiiO X3 on vocals and jazz with some of my more considered IEM such as the Final Audition FA-BA-SS which is so painfully transparent I am almost reluctant to try anything less than perfect with them but with the FiiO it sounded rather more forgiving.

The Merlins, perhaps not the most detailed at the top end, did ok also but the FA IEMs, with their more balanced approach, were the better match for me.

FiiO X3

Synergy

The X3 has actually quite a decent amount of internal amping capability compared to some other similar-priced DAPs. I don’t think for the majority of on-the-go headphones you will need too much amping, to be honest.

Amping is only really necessary if you want something slightly different or a higher dose of power for more demanding planers or high impedance headphones or the inefficient AKG 7 series drivers (make the K501 part of that bunch also which hit 80% on the volume marker with a slightly underwhelming bass reproduction).

Portable mid-fi did just fine though with the Marshall Monitors (less the felts), P5, M80, and the inefficient Philips Downtown all being easy to drive and all sounding true to form. If I had to pick one I would stick with the M80 overall as the best complement out of those tested to work with the presentation of the X3.

Overall I had to say I enjoyed the musical and warmish tonality of the X3 though duly noted this is no AK100 tamer in terms of resolution, detail, and top-end articulation, it does come out a lot better than the lower-end iPod classics in a stock mode which can sound a little too digital, clean and at times thin sounding and have nowhere near the driving power of the X3.

Of course, you can slap an iPod now on the back of the superior Cypher Labs SOLO CLAS or Fostex HP-P1 but then you have that fat stack to carry around and an empty bank account as the final payback.

DSC_2702

Our Verdict

The X3 is a brave new world for FiiO and to be honest it ticks a lot of boxes for what an audiophile DAP on a budget might sound and look like for many.

As I mentioned right at the start though there is a ton of competition right now in the mobile and audiophile DAP market that a dedicated music player might just seem a tad irrelevant.

iBasso’s new D42 which is slightly cheaper than the X3 for existing android users might create a barrier to those thinking of migrating and the ever-present iPod and iPhone plus slightly more expensive but excellent-sounding DAC/AMP add-ons might appeal to those who simply must have the Jobsian dream.

 

 

Also, I have a question about what an audiophile considers acceptable for their money. Those on the upgrade path will surely cross swords with the X3 and for them, this is a serious option and it should sell but if you are dreaming ever onwards and upwards then the X3 will pass by pretty quickly to higher-end DAPs.

Now Hifiman does have a real competitor here for their lower-end HM6 series and it obliterates Creative and Philip’s range but the AK100 and DX100 market is pretty safe for now.

The X3 is still a cheeky contender albeit with some serious chops that should be treated with respect but not as a threat to the top-end guys. Now as word would have it the X3 is the junior in a ‘2-part story’ with the X5 (dual DAC?) due out in 2014. If this comes to fruition then I think whatever is learned from the X3 now is going to make the X5 a heck of a DAP.

FiiO X3 Technical Specifications

  • Color： Black
  • Weight： 122g
  • Size： 55 X 109 X 16 mm
  • Screen： 2.4 inches TFT，240X320
  • Power supply： Micro USB 
  • Firmware upgraded： Through TF card
  • Build-in Memory： 8GB 
  • Extra Memory： TF card（Micro SD card）， support up to 64g ( must be formatted as FAT32)。
  • Data transfer： USB 2.0 High Speed, Write/Read 4.5 MB/S
  • Audio Output： 3.5mm headphone out，3.5mm Line Out, 3.5mm Coaxial out
  • Sample rate： 32K/16BIT~192K/24BIT
  • Audio Format： WAV, APE, FLAC, MP3, WMA, OGG, ALAC(M4A), ACC, AMR
  • Music playback： Play All, Folder Play, Album Play, Artist Play, Genre Play, My Favorites.
  • Memory Play： Last song track or Last position of the soundtrack.
  • Sound Track manager: Deleted, Custom “ Favorites Play List.
  • Sleep Mode： Auto Power Off from 15 to 60 mins.
  • Screen Auto Off： Custom.
  • Display Brightness： Custom.
  • CUE Support： Auto Separate Sound Track, Support Next/Previous, Fast forward/Backward；
  • Play Display： Album Cover, Lyric， ID3.
  • Gapless Playe： Supported
  • Hardware Bass： +/-10dB, Frequency Center 100Hz
  • Hardware Treble： +/-10dB, Frequency Center 10Khz
  • Volume Setup： Custom start Up Volume
  • Listening Protect： Custom Maximum Volume.
  • Balance： L10~R10
  • Output Protect： Mini Relay protect circuit design, DC protect, Over Current Protect
  • Headphone plug off Auto Pause
  • Battery： 3000mAh 3.7V Lithium Polymer Battery
  • Hardware： Soc: Ingenic Z4760， DAC：WM8740，Amp：AD8397
  • Charge Time: 3 Hours by 1.5A USB Power, 7 Hours by USB Port in PC
  • Battery Life: 10 hours in the Engineer sample and may reach 12-15 hours when the firmware is optimized
  • Line Out Specifications ( Initial Output Level： >1.5Vrms
  • THD： Frequency Response： 20-20KHz, Less than 0.3dB
  • SNR： >100dB
  • Crosstalk： >90dB
  • Headphone Out Specifications ( Initial )
  • Output Power： >300mW@16 ohms； >200mW@32 ohms
  • Frequency Response： 20-20KHz, Less than 0.3dB
  • THD： SNR： >100dB
  • Crosstalk： >72dB@32 ohms

 

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Marcus
Editor
Marcus is the Founder & Owner of headfonics.com which started in 2011, and a former contributing music journalist to European regional printed newspapers in the late 1980's and 1990's. Prior to the start of Headfonics Marcus was the admin of the Headphiles national audiophile forum from 2009 to 2012.

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24 Responses

  1. Hi,

    I bought the X3 + Brainwavz R3 off of MP4nation and am quite happy with it. However, I think the player can do a bit better than what I get off the R3s. Could you maybe suggest a pair of ‘brighter’ earphones? Not sure if I should go for cans or IEMs, it would be great if you could shed some light on the subject.

  2. Hello again. You already know that I am enjoying my X3 and I am eyeing the X5 :)

    Aside from some vocals, R&B, movie soundtracks, I tend to listen mostly to classical music, leaning on the strings and baroque.

    Never planning to tread along the expensive upgrade path, I need to ask this budget-inspired question –

    Since you had the pleasant experience of testing the X5, what are your thoughts on X3+E12 “versus” the X5 by itself? Because if the difference is not night and day, I am thinking if it is more wallet-friendly to just to get the E12 for my planned upgrade to HD600 or HD650.

    Thank you.

  3. Hi there,
    Hate to lower the tone (geddit?) but does anyone know if this thing has a file limit on its ID3 database? Whilst I have some favourite stuff ripped to high bit rates I have a fair few standard MP3s and have bumped up against limits before.

    1. Not thats a really good questions and something I have not thought about in a long time. I loaded most of my MP3’s with pretty complete tags but most of the time I do my own tagging and not source from the databases online.

      I have loaded mp3 so far on it without issues but you know the old story – “your mileage may vary” and never more the case when I opened up my library in linux and everything just went belly up on the tags.

      1. My most recent problem was with the Sansa Clip Zip. I bought a 64gb card reformatted it and loaded it but the native software couldn’t cope with my 8000 odd tracks. Sorted it by installing rockbox which also improved the sound somewhat but I’m looking at this as a step up and there’s no option but to accept the onboard firmware. It’d be a shame to have all that capacity on the player/card but not be able to use it all.

        1. Actually I just remembered I stuck in my fat32 64GB microSD card from my Ak100 into my X3 and it worked fine, but being flac I am not sure how many tracks that ended up being – it was fully loaded though.

          1. Probably way below 8000. Maybe I should contact FiiO direct. I’ll let you know what I get back.

            1. I popped an email to Sunny in FiiO also sometimes I see James and Sunny in my chat online I can ask also. Good luck.

              1. Got the reply Magnus :)

                It is unlimited.

                Please the choose the upgrade the lib by Manual once you have installed other songs inside.

                Thank you very much !

                ************

                That should provide comfort.

  4. Would this be a “good” buy as a transport ?
    Thinking of upgrading my Ipod Video as portable source.

  7. Thanks for the review. How would you compare X3 to E17 soundwise? And what about the well-known Cowon D2+?

    1. NOt that different to be honest, though the E17 might have a slight edge on the amping but of course it cant store music etx. The D2+ I have not tried but I do have the X7 in my collection and I would say based on that the X3 is warmer and more analog than the digital Cowon though I love the BBE in Cowon which is fun to play around with and more advanced than what is available on the X3.

    1. Hi Kevin – every source needs amplification to get the sound out or else its just a DAC or transport with no end product.

      Me personally I would have to view it in context of the headphone – if its a 32ohm easy to drive headphone then great DAP or DAC/Amp combo is better, or to be more precise a DAP with a really well implmented DAC chip.

      Once you go up the power ladder the amp gets more and more important but it still only amplifies the quality of the original signal.

      For instance the HE6 planer is a great headphone that needs a ton of power that only something like a Mjolnir or Ef6 or Darkstar can get the best out of even with amazing sources.

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