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FiiO X1 II Digital Audio Player Review

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FiiO X1 II DAP Review

The X1 II is a fine little DAP, with an inherently smooth sound, perfect for those wanting a player that is powerful and easy to use.

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Powerful headphone output
  • Form factor

Cons:

  • Lacking in detail
  • Slight hiss with sensitive IEM’s

FiiO X1 II

Aesthetics and User Interface

The little X1 II is styled like the iPods of old, with a small screen and scroll wheel, where it differs is the scroll wheel is surrounded by 4 buttons (menu, back, FF, RW). The edges of the player are rounded, making it comfortable to hold, and you will find the volume and power buttons on the side of the player. On the bottom you will find the MicroSD card slot, along with the USB port and the headphone jack.

This DAP feels solid in your hand, the buttons all feel solid and the headphone jack is tight. I have no issues with the build or the look of this player.

The FiiO X1 II is quite a simple DAP to get set up, once you put your MicroSD card with music in the player you will need to go to the system settings and scan the media on the card. This takes a little while, but once done the music should all be easy to find by the normal tags (artist, album, genre etc…).

The main now playing screen shows the album art, along with the band and track playing, if you press on the top left button you will get options to add the track to a playlist, or add it as a favourite. Also in this small menu are options to change the playback mode from shuffle to repeat to normal.

Going back to the main menu you have a folder view along with a category view, now playing, play settings and regular settings.

In the sound settings, you can toggle gapless playback on/off, change the playing order, resume mode, max volume, default volume, EQ, line-out and L/R balance.

In the system settings you have the update library option, Bluetooth, key-lock settings, screen timeout, brightness, idle standby (and timer), sleep, sleep timer, output select (headphones or line-out), USB mode (storage / in-vehicle), USB charge, font size and more.

Getting used to the X1 II won’t take long, it isn’t the snappiest player out there, but for the price it is perfectly functional. The battery life is around 10hrs of continuous playback, perfect for long commutes.

Sound Quality

The FiiO X1 II leans towards Fiios house sound, erring on the side of warmth and smoothness over absolute detail and clarity. This means it is quite an easy listen and you can click play and forget. There is a small amount of hiss in the background when using it with very sensitive IEM’s. The sound has an underlying warmth to it, with a little added body and weight to the low end, but without masking the midrange. The treble is well extended, but it is never bright, there is good detail retrieval but sometimes the smoothness makes the X1 II come across a little too safe.

What Fiio have created with the X1 II is a player for those not wanting the last word in detail, a player for the masses who want good sound at a low price, and in this respect it delivers. It still sounds a fair bit better than your average smartphone, with a full, impactful, but inherently smooth sound that is just easy to listen to. There is nothing missing from the core sound of the X1 II, it has excellent extension on both ends, with a wide soundstage and good layering, all delivered in smooth, harsh free listening experience.

The X1 II is powerful, it can drive IEM’s and portable headphones with ease, it even drives a lot of full-size headphones with authority.

Conclusion

For the price, and size the FiiO X1 II is a great little DAP, it will serve you well on your daily commute or when out and about. It has a smooth, easy to listen to sound that is about enjoyment over ultimate detail.

FiiO X5 Lossless Portable Digital Audio Player & DAC Review

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FiiO X5 Lossless Portable Digital Audio Player & DAC

Summary

The FiiO X5 is the new contribution from this great brand; the company which is making a huge name for itself by bringing high quality budget-priced items to the market. Almost a year ago we were all taken aback by the arrival of the X3 which has certainly shaken up the digital audio player (DAP) market, but now FiiO has X-ceeded itself with the X5.

After coming to know the FiiO X3‘s sound quality, it was a little difficult to imagine how it could be bettered; both in terms of sound quality and power. The X5 creates a certain expectation as it’s larger. It is still pocket-sized, but it certainly makes for a pocket which is full.

Unlike the X3, the X5 has no internal storage so a micro SD card is required to get started. However it has 2 slots for these cards, so there’s a potential 128Gb storage capacity with current firmware/size limits.

Price – £289.95

FiiO X5 Lossless Portable Digital Audio Player & DAC

Pros

  • Fantastic Sound
  • Two Micro SD slots
  • DAC capability
  • Powerful amplification

Cons

  • Wobbly wheel
  • Auto hold – no manual hold button
  • No internal memory
  • Relatively bulky

 Key Features

  • Supports High-Definition192kHz/24bit audio
  • Lossless Playback for DSD/APE/ FLAC/ALAC/WMA/WAV
  • High-Quality DAC Functionality
  • Headphone Out, Line-Out and Coaxial Digital Output
  • Dual Card Slots with 1024GB Memory Capacity (with future firmware updates)

First Impressions

Appearance takes priority over usability for perhaps the first 30 minutes of use; the buttons are not marked and the user can feel a little helpless initially. This soon passes, but the wheel remains a point of contention; its build does not appear to sit well with the rest of the device. It’s very light and wobbly, with a rubber touch wheel to select options or tracks on the screen. Notches or slight clicks are encountered as the wheel goes round, but these tend not to be linked so much with what is happening on the screen. A ‘two click’ turn of the wheel may not necessarily move you along by two options so watch the screen. It can be frustrating if the required option is just one ‘click’ away; it seems that a gentle turn of the wheel can turn into a few gentle turns, as the selected option doesn’t change, or changes too far. Fortunately the lower two buttons on the front of the X5 can be used to scroll through these items, so it’s not something we’re stuck with using.

Sticking with the wheel, the centre acts as a ‘select’ button for the X5; however it is machined and is uncomfortable to touch with the thick skin on my thumb. It’s worth it though. Also I was a little concerned that there appears not to be a space where I can throw a band over and have it strapped to my FiiO E12 – the X5 is full of buttons, screen and wheel, but I have found that a band can be placed over the wheel area and operation is not affected. Maybe the addition of an E12 is overkill however; having tried the X5 now, my demanding 600 Ohm AKG K240 DF headphones sound fantastic straight out of the headphone socket.

There is no ‘hold’ button on the X5, there is a simple timer function (from 30s to 120s, or off) which renders the screen blank and most of the buttons inoperable, until the power button is pressed. I noticed that the volume buttons turn into ‘track skip’ buttons in this state.

The screen shows a little more of the track titles than the X3 when browsing, for example I am able to read the full title of Duran Duran’s ‘Is There Something I Should Know’ but no band name is present in the filename. Compilations may still require guesswork as to the track title, or you might want to encode your files with the ‘Track Artist’ after the ‘Track Title’ so song names can be read with no problem. Also the screen is less square than that of the X3; it’s wider, but only the top half of any cover art is visible when tracks are playing as it gets stretched to fit across the screen. Not a real issue, but Sweet’s ‘Desolation Boulevard’ cover isn’t the same!

Sound Quality

I tried the X5 against the X3 with the HiFiMAN HE-400; despite their 35 ohm impedance, these are thirsty headphones and can really take some power to get them up to their full potential. The X5 felt a little more relaxed, more analoguish, more controlled. It appeared to go a little louder as well, although the two models are evenly matched. Both the X3 and X5 powered the HE-400 adequately, although a little more headroom (on both players) might be nice with quieter tracks.

Next, a high quality dynamic headphone was tried – the Beyerdynamic T1. With this headphone the differences were harder to spot between the two Fiio players but the X5 appeared to give a slightly wider and more spacious presentation; the X3 had a little more bass impact or ‘slam’ to it.

FiiO has beefed up the bass/treble setting of the X3 with a full equaliser in the X5 model; there are now 10 bands between 31Hz and 16kHz, the frequency bands roughly double in breadth as they move up through the frequency spectrum; ie. 31Hz, 62Hz, 125Hz, etc. The steps in terms of EQ volume are very fine indeed, so this is a useful tool to anyone wanting fuller control.

Verdict

In all, the X5 is a winner if you have headphones which can reveal its audio quality. If you plan to stick with sub-£100 headphones or only have portable uses, you may as well save your money and get the X3. If you’re confident that your equipment can get the best out of the X5, then that is what I recommend – it is a clear improvement over the X3 and the extra money spent will not be in vain.

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