FiiO X3 Mark III Portable High Definition Audio and MP3 Player 192Khz/32Bit Bluetooth 4.1 Satnav Wheel

Product Information

It also marked a new stage in their own in-house R&D capability with the expansion of their proprietary Linux OS where once HiBy Music reigned supreme. Previously the OS was used in a gingerly fashion with the X1 2nd Gen. Mixed results ensued. The 2.3″ screen is decent, but nothing more; its viewing angles are rather small and its brightness is acceptable. The 320 x 240 resolution is enough to provide a decent user experience. It could see a few improvements, though it works pretty well even as it is. Specifications FiiO X3 III

For classical recording, best pairing is with JVC HA-FRD80 (similar as HA-FXD80-Z), this pair is really superb sounding for classical. People say the Cayin N3 doesn’t play nice with Windows 10. The price tag on the Hidisz AP60 II is a bit enticing as well, but the damn thing looks like a vape…clunky and whatnot. Chg: On Windows 7 and newer OS: Driver Setup does not requirethat device is connected during install The 3rd Gen X3 also marks the first time they have gone dual DAC at this price point with a pair of TI PCM5242 DAC chips, one per channel. This is combined with no less than 3 separate PCB boards for the DAC, amp and Bluetooth module in an effort to reduce any potential interference with the quality of the output. BluetoothBoth work very well. Line out and heapdhone out can actually work and output at the exact same time, this allowed me to do the A/B testing below. However, Coaxial out does have priority over the both of them if the plug is inputted there. I did not detect any sonic problems when testing this feature out. update media lib” can be set to “auto” or “manual”– it will automatically update the library when changes are detected, as opposed to only when manual action is taken;

Apart from that, the performance was excellent using our Windows platform in the office. No issues with lag in audio dialogs and movies which used to be a thing a few years ago on previous models. Chg: control panel now shows maximum ASIO buffer size depending on the maximum supported sample rate

Final Thoughts

My XRK Uber + X3II combo sounds very good and combined with the excellent UI, the experience is very enjoyable. I’d like to see the hardware used in the design that is friendlier to alteration in the next model.

This is the most immediate difference between the old X3 and the new X3 Gen 2 and is more in keeping with the new form factor of the X5 and the X1. In fact, from a distance, you could mistake one for the other but for a few key differences. This is also the first X3 generation with a built-in Bluetooth 4.1 capable module. Previous players were a bit cut off from the universe and had no connectivity. Today’s modern DAPs, even at the budget level now have some form of connectivity and this keeps FiiO up to speed in that respect. All New Design Scanning on the new X3iii was much faster than the X1ii. Given they have the same processor I can only presume better optimization of the code from FiiO. It is still sluggish by mid-fi DAP standards taking 5 minutes and 42 seconds to update the media library with 2544 16BIT 44.1k FLAC files compared to 1 minute and 20 seconds on the X5iii.

Battery Life

EarSonics SM64: The X3 has a similar spatial presentation to the Nova, but with better imaging and layering within the soundstage. The sound is a bit darker and not as clear even though the overall presentation is better. Dynamics are very good, but detail levels and resolution aren’t at the level of the DX50, leading to less of a sense of “ambiance.” 5.5/10 Formating the SD Card: For 64GB Micro SDXC cards, it is recommended to format to FAT32. I have not used it, but SD Formatter 4.0 seems to work and do what needs to be done. 32GB's and other cards are also recommended for FAT32 formating. This should fix most problems with X3 not recognizing your micro SD card. 128GB Micro SDXC is not yet confirmed to work or if it will work. If it keeps the same number of pins as the current SDXC cards, it should work. But that is not a definite. Pairing and range of this BT module and implementation are much better than the X1 2nd gen though with far less dropout, greater distances by up to 3-4m and a faster bootup and pairing time. USB-DAC Compatibility The level of pixelation from the new OS on the X3 Mark III screen is similar to the X1ii’s performance with slightly inferior anti-aliasing to the 2nd gen HiBy system and glass. I have seen this on a few Linux powers software systems before and is usually related more to the font choice which has stayed the same for both DAPs. Memory Single Slot