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General => General Music Discussion => Topic started by: Dr. DTVT on August 23, 2017, 09:04:46 PM
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First of all, no, my account was not hacked. This is Doc.
A few months back, my iPod Classic had a hard drive failure and left me without a dedicated music player. After doing research, I decided to go with the FiiO X5 second generation. I wanted to make sure I was happy with it after a few months before giving it my stamp of approval.
Link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWAC25E/ (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWAC25E/)
Link to their website: https://www.fiio.net/en/products/41 (https://www.fiio.net/en/products/41)
For those of you familiar with the iPod classic, I will do a pros and cons of the X5 compared to the iPod. After a few months, the pros outweigh the cons, but I want to give you the information I have.
Pros:
+ Can play all the formats an iPod can, in addition to several others including FLAC.
+ The sound quality is better than the iPod. The same file on the same headphones sounded less tinny. The X5 has three sound processing chips, and the end result is a better sound.
+ Does not use the unnecessary anti-piracy system the iPod uses, and instead uses the same file system that computers use. This means you can just drag and drop things into the memory cards.
+ Can store up to 256 GB of songs. Memory is in the form of MicroSD cards, so two 128 GB cards = 256. I heard it only recognizes up to 128 GB, so bigger cards may be wasted. Still, 256 > less than 160 (since the OS and games and stuff take up some of that 160 on the iPod).
+ Can be used for data storage.
+ Uses microUSB connection
+ Has built in line out port for use with other electronics / car stereo.
+ Built in customizable equalizer
+ Playlists are easier to use.
Same:
= Uses same files as iPod, including and uses same metadata as iPod (artist, album, song name, track number, genre, etc.)
= Gapless playback
= Holds a good charge, can play in low power mode.
Cons:
- Adding new songs requires the library to update in order to incorporate the added tunes. Right now I have about 16000 songs, and updating the library takes about 10-15 minutes.
- The scroll wheel is a physical wheel, and it can there is no way to scroll quickly.
- Albums with multiple discs may need to have their track numbers redone. It will play all track 1s, then 2s, etc.; so you have to number them all sequentially.
- Slightly bigger and heavier than an iPod (not by much).
There are probably more pros and cons that are not coming to mind as I type this, but if you have any questions I'd be happy to let you know my opinion.
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I dread the day my 160gb I pod dies.
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I have the same one I believe and love it way better than my Ipod. Songs sound great and Nothing wrong with playback. I mainly bought it to replace my ipod as I hit the max capacity.
I agree with your pros and cons. And would recommend this.
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I've had my eye on FiiO products as a potential replacement for my iPod for years, and I've recommended them to people here a couple of times when the question has come up.
But lately I've changed my mind, I think the price point of these products, despite their high quality, puts me off. When the day comes I will probably just get a high capacity micro SD for my phone and leave it at that.
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When the day comes I will probably just get a high capacity micro SD for my phone and leave it at that.
My first thought whenever I see these is "Hey, I should get one of these! Wait, why don't I just keep using my phone?"
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I dread the day my 160gb I pod dies.
Word.
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We celebrated our 20 Anniversary this year, so while the checkbook was out, I got another 160gb iPod for the $400. So it's an extra $150. I can live with that.
First of all, no, my account was not hacked. This is Doc.
A few months back, my iPod Classic had a hard drive failure and left me without a dedicated music player. After doing research, I decided to go with the FiiO X5 second generation. I wanted to make sure I was happy with it after a few months before giving it my stamp of approval.
Link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWAC25E/ (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZWAC25E/)
Link to their website: https://www.fiio.net/en/products/41 (https://www.fiio.net/en/products/41)
For those of you familiar with the iPod classic, I will do a pros and cons of the X5 compared to the iPod. After a few months, the pros outweigh the cons, but I want to give you the information I have.
Pros:
+ Can play all the formats an iPod can, in addition to several others including FLAC.
+ The sound quality is better than the iPod. The same file on the same headphones sounded less tinny. The X5 has three sound processing chips, and the end result is a better sound.
+ Does not use the unnecessary anti-piracy system the iPod uses, and instead uses the same file system that computers use. This means you can just drag and drop things into the memory cards.
+ Can store up to 256 GB of songs. Memory is in the form of MicroSD cards, so two 128 GB cards = 256. I heard it only recognizes up to 128 GB, so bigger cards may be wasted. Still, 256 > less than 160 (since the OS and games and stuff take up some of that 160 on the iPod).
+ Can be used for data storage.
+ Uses microUSB connection
+ Has built in line out port for use with other electronics / car stereo.
+ Built in customizable equalizer
+ Playlists are easier to use.
Same:
= Uses same files as iPod, including and uses same metadata as iPod (artist, album, song name, track number, genre, etc.)
= Gapless playback
= Holds a good charge, can play in low power mode.
Cons:
- Adding new songs requires the library to update in order to incorporate the added tunes. Right now I have about 16000 songs, and updating the library takes about 10-15 minutes.
- The scroll wheel is a physical wheel, and it can there is no way to scroll quickly.
- Albums with multiple discs may need to have their track numbers redone. It will play all track 1s, then 2s, etc.; so you have to number them all sequentially.
- Slightly bigger and heavier than an iPod (not by much).
There are probably more pros and cons that are not coming to mind as I type this, but if you have any questions I'd be happy to let you know my opinion.
I actually got one of these for Christmas a couple of years ago. Yes, it does sound amazing. But between formatting the cards, updating, remembering where I put the instructions, I preferred to just get another iPod.
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I dread the day my 160gb I pod dies.
Word.
Word for sure.
I love my iPod Classic, I love being able to have pretty much all my music on one, separate dedicated device.
OP - thanks for posting this seems like a great option when my iPod does finally run out of gas.
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When the day comes I will probably just get a high capacity micro SD for my phone and leave it at that.
My first thought whenever I see these is "Hey, I should get one of these! Wait, why don't I just keep using my phone?"
This. Maybe the dedicated device has better sound, but I hate having multiple devices. Using my phone (I now have a 128GB microsd card dedicated to music) just simplifies my life more so than a bit better sound. (I have no issues with the sound on my phone, I just have to imagine a dedicated device is better in this regard)
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Never had an Ipod, but if I ever wanted something like that, the X5 seems like a good idea to me.
Thanks!
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I just got my wife a FiiO (it doesn't arrive in the mail til tomorrow)...
It said that it will play Apple's format....does that mean I can drag and drop from my iTunes? I just finished ripping my ENTIRE CD collection to iTunes (literally took me months) and because of how many formats this played (and specifically mentioning Apple) I just figured it would play my iTunes stuff. Am I going to have to rip my CD's again to play on my wife's player?
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Am I going to have to rip my CD's again to play on my wife's player?
Pretty sure you cannot drag from iTunes. But I think in your music folder in your documents, there's a sub folder called Apple Music. If the file folders are in there you should be able to drag those.
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I don't have anything in documents. But in my music file, all my stuff is in an iTunes folder. It's all in m4a though. If FiiO doesn't play that, am I screwed?
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I don't have anything in documents. But in my music file, all my stuff is in an iTunes folder. It's all in m4a though. If FiiO doesn't play that, am I screwed?
I think you might be OK. It's been a couple of years since I loaded mine. I didn't really use it a lot because the iPod is just so much easier. To me, it was worth spending the extra cash for another iPod.
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It's drag and drop. Just copy the folders you want.
After an initial adjustment period, I think you'll be happy with it.
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It's weird. I never know what players *actually* play any more. My mother got me a cheap piece of crap that I ended up giving to my son. It did NOT list any Apple formats in the things in played....but I tried anyway, and it worked. It's almost like some companies want their products to play Apple files, but they don't want Apple to find out they're doing it (or something).
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I might have been into this if I didn't just update my phone to iPhone 7 with 256GB. I find that it's weird not having to bring an iPod with me along with my phone. But it's been really great so far.
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The last couple of high end smartphones I had didn't have worse sound quality than my Creative Zen Vision M or Ipod to my ears with the headphones I use, so I skipped using dedicated players entirely. I am sure there are some better sounding players out there, but what I have is more than sufficient for portable use (upgrading my headphones would be my first step).
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The biggest reason I will never use my phone at work is because I use my phone at work all the time and the battery is usually down to 10% by the end of my shift as it is. If I was playing music, it would constantly get interrupted and the battery would be dead by lunch time.
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I have a modified classic iPod that holds roughly 240 gb. It has, in the last year, shit the bed. My wife has a 160 gb, and I have an 80 gb that runs in my car.
Suffice it to say, my current total of music, with all files ripped to 256 kb mp3, is over 200 gb. So, I cannot have my entire collection of music with me in the car, because I am stuck with an 80 gb ipod ever since the modified 240 gb went down.
I see more and more devices coming on the market, but none are as easy to use as the iPod. I realize that people such as myself (and I am sure a lot of you) who like to have the entirety of their music collections with them at all times, are just as frustrated as I am. I have no idea what to do.
I might have been into this if I didn't just update my phone to iPhone 7 with 256GB. I find that it's weird not having to bring an iPod with me along with my phone. But it's been really great so far.
I am an Android user. I had no idea you could upgrade an iPhone to that sort of memory capacity. This might solve my problem, honestly. Can you give me more info.
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I am an Android user. I had no idea you could upgrade an iPhone to that sort of memory capacity. This might solve my problem, honestly. Can you give me more info.
The iPhone 7 is sold in 3 different capacities - 32GB, 128GB, and 256GB, so no real memory upgrade or anything like that is needed. It'll just cost you a crap ton of money for the phone (or you could lease it directly through Apple).
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Ipod? FiiO?
you'll have to pry my Zune out of my cold dead hands! :biggrin:
The biggest reason I will never use my phone at work is because I use my phone at work all the time and the battery is usually down to 10% by the end of my shift as it is. If I was playing music, it would constantly get interrupted and the battery would be dead by lunch time.
What kinda phone do you have?
I switched to this offbrand, BLU, gotta say, totally nervous at first but the battery on this thing is amazing, and I listen to music all day at work and the battery is still at, like 30% if I don't attempt to charge it at any time during my shift.
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It's good to have choices.
After 10 years, the hard drive of my iPod Classic (160gb) died last year, and I looked at both the Zune and the FiiO, but I ended up replacing the hard drive with a 256gb card, and I've been happy with the results. Turns out that my particular model has the older OS that only recognizes 128gb, but the difference in price between the two cards was only $20, so I didn't bother changing it out once I'd managed to put it all back together and discovered my mistake.
So now I have an iPod Classic with a solid state drive, and it uses a fraction of the battery that it did before, which is a big plus. Also, I bought two kits at the time, because I was going to do my wife's iPod as well, but she changed her mind and didn't want me messing with hers (some minor damage to my case getting it open and then almost sealed back up right, kinda scared her). So if/when the card fails, I'm already set to replace it again and go another 10 years. So I should be good for a while. Sound quality isn't an issue because I do 95% of my listening via the line output (in my car or the docking station on my stereo).
For folks with an iPod classic, I recommend just replacing the hard drive with a card. The guy I got mine from on Ebay sells kits with a card, a new battery, a new back (because you'll probably damage the old one opening it up), and directions on how to do it all.
But if I wasn't into performing surgery on a relatively delicate and expensive piece of equipment, yeah, I'd probably get a FiiO.
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UPDATE:
I dropped and dragged an Elton John album directly from iTunes, and it totally worked. The update process you have to go through to organize everything is a hassle, but it works great.
One thing that sucks is I think the touch wheel on this one is defective. GROSSLY oversensitive. I barely touch it and it moves 3 spaces.
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I have the Fiio M3 and works amazingly and has a great sound. One day I'll get the X5 or similar.
- Adding new songs requires the library to update in order to incorporate the added tunes. Right now I have about 16000 songs, and updating the library takes about 10-15 minutes.
This can be easily be cut down if you get high-speed SD cards - I have a 64GB one that's almost full (plus some stuff on internal storage) and it takes like 30 seconds to update everything, and the M3 isn't nearly as powerful as the X5 :P
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I rarely use my iPod 160GB, the battery life is less than a couple of hours when fully charged. I've got 85GB or so of my library on my iPhone 6 (128GB), which is sufficient. With a Spotify membership, if there's anything that I absolutely must listen to while away from my laptop, I'll just stream it there - which has never happened. It's just too much of a hassle to carry two devices with me - and I always want/need my phone when I'm out. I use my iPod while working out (home gym), or listening around the house doing chores.
When I do finally upgrade my iPhone, I'll shell out for 256GB.
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I had a Creative mp3 player. It broke after a month.
They sent me a replacement. It broke after two weeks.
They sent me a second replacement. It's been going strong since 12 years.
I dread too the day it will finally break, since my knowledge of mp3 players dates essentially to the stone age, technologically speaking. I should try and get a culture about what's current just in worst case scenario.
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I had a Creative mp3 player. It broke after a month.
They sent me a replacement. It broke after two weeks.
They sent me a second replacement. It's been going strong since 12 years.
I dread too the day it will finally break, since my knowledge of mp3 players dates essentially to the stone age, technologically speaking. I should try and get a culture about what's current just in worst case scenario.
I still have my Zen. I LOVE that thing. But it pisses me off because the *only* reason I really can't use it any more is because the screen is failing. If I'm in a totally pitch black room, I can just barely read the menu screen. If it weren't for that, it would still be my "go to".... I used it for audio books for a long time. I think I've had it over 10 years.
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this may sound silly, but ever since having all sorts of issues with an iPod about 10 years ago (having it forcing me to install iTunes, which I loathe among other issues), I switched to burning CDs.
Then about 6 years ago, I started using laptops, and was able to just put all my music on there and use it at work.
I will say a little over 10 years ago, I used an iRiver and then a Zune, which for what they were, worked, but they only lasted about a year each, which told me like a pair of shoes, these things (for me at least) don't last and aren't worth my money.
I suppose if I found something like the device on the original post, for say under $100, I might consider one again.
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I bought a FiiO X1 2nd Gen for $100.
(btw guys, my wife surprised me last night. When she bought hers, she bought me one too)
One other thing, if you go big, the memory is almost as expensive as the player. I was in a crunch last night because I wanted to make sure hers worked, but Costco was closed. So I went to Fred Meyer and they had a 128G Micro for $100. It was a rip off, but I wanted my wife to be happy, so I got it.
For mine, I will be getting something cheaper off Amazon.
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Does anyone with a FiiO X5 know if it will display lyrics? I've tagged just about all of my mp3s with lyrics and can see them on my iPod. I do have another iPod still in the box ready to go if/when my current one dies, so by the time I'd be ready for something else the FiiO might not still be on the market, but I'm curious.
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Then about 6 years ago, I started using laptops, and was able to just put all my music on there and use it at work.
I will say a little over 10 years ago, I used an iRiver and then a Zune, which for what they were, worked, but they only lasted about a year each, which told me like a pair of shoes, these things (for me at least) don't last and aren't worth my money.
I suppose if I found something like the device on the original post, for say under $100, I might consider one again.
Yeah, you're in the same spot I am, basically. At work, I bring my laptop, so I have all my music with me, since everything I own is ripped to 256 kbps MP3, which is fine for my purposes. My issue is the car. What I don't understand is with all the advances in technology, why haven't those designing new cars come up with an audio system that enables you to store all your music directly into the car's computer system, and pull it up on whatever head unit is with the vehicle.
But for personal mobility, yeah, a device is needed for those of us that have large collections of music. Looking at the Apple iPhone 7 256 gb, that's REALLY expensive and frankly, not enough memory -- not if you are using it as a camera and a phone, and a work device. I need most of that storage for my music...
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I bought an X1 2nd Gen. After updating the library twice...there are still some albums that are being filed under "Unknown Artist" (Pink Floyd Ummagumma and PT's Coma Divine among others). Is there any way to change that or to enter the artist manually?
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Sometimes it's due to files being corrupt or bad transfered, or they have a IDTag 2.4 revision. Downgrade it to 2.3 (you can do this very easily with foobar) and it should work.
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Oh fuuuuuuuu
I'm kinda pissed. My wife couldn't figure out how to shuffle *ALL* the songs in random order, and was about ready to throw it in the garbage. I was convinced we just hadn't figured it out yet, but now I'm finding this thread and it doesn't sound like the X1 has that capability. Feeling totally frustrated and even a bit ripped off. Such a basic feature. WHY WOULD YOU NOT HAVE THIS??
https://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=40121
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Looks like a great device.
I have a 256gb iPhone so I just moved my entire library to my phone but if I ever need a dedicated player and when my iPod dies this may be a great replacement.
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Oh fuuuuuuuu
I'm kinda pissed. My wife couldn't figure out how to shuffle *ALL* the songs in random order, and was about ready to throw it in the garbage. I was convinced we just hadn't figured it out yet, but now I'm finding this thread and it doesn't sound like the X1 has that capability. Feeling totally frustrated and even a bit ripped off. Such a basic feature. WHY WOULD YOU NOT HAVE THIS??
https://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=40121
I just have to say that I solved this problem....but it's a bitch and I can see why so many people are having trouble with it.
When I put the device mode on shuffle, and then went to all songs, it *still* was not shuffling through the songs. But if I select shuffle from the quick menu while playing from the all songs file *THEN* it finally worked.
What a pain in the ass. But I'm glad it works.
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I may not have solved the problem.
When I hit "shuffle" at work, the FiiO freezes about every hour or so. I constantly have to turn it off and then turn it back on again and start from a different song.
Anyone else have this issue?
EDIT: BTW, I've already shut off the "idle" function, and there's no rhyme or reason to how long it lasts. Sometimes it will play two songs before it freezes, sometimes it will go for almost two hours. But I would say 45-60 min is the average before I have to reset it.
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Wow....I don't what to tell you but mine is working fine save for some minor hiccups. Nothing as bad as yours though.
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OK. I think I figured out what the problem is. This time, it happened when my screen was on so I was able to witness what was taking place. On some tracks, the name and information comes up, but the time reads has zero. That leads me to believe that something is wrong with the card. The files all work on my computer and on my iPod and they are all from the same source. So it makes sense to me that the FiiO is capable of reading files from iTunes. My next question to everyone would be, would it help to reformat the card and start all over again? Or could it have been just a glitch in the transfer?
The only frustrating thing right now is that I have almost 3000 songs on the card and I'm not sure exactly which ones or how many are a problem. But the shuffle works fine until it happens along a corrupt file. Then the whole thing freezes.
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Oh didn't snap you have the X1. I got the X5 (don't know which version at the moment).
Hope you can figure it out.
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Yeah that'd help, jammingdude. Format the card and transfer the files again, but in little bunches, so you can try and see if there are any corrupt files as you go. By the way, do you have any MP3s?
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Jammindude, just be glad you didn't have to re-rip all your cds onto your new laptop. Now that was fun.
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Yeah that'd help, jammingdude. Format the card and transfer the files again, but in little bunches, so you can try and see if there are any corrupt files as you go. By the way, do you have any MP3s?
Reformatting the card did help, and it runs fine now. Seriously...THANK YOU! WHEW... The crazy thing about all this is that RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of trying to put new files on the card, my laptop started to crash. (This is my wife's old laptop, and she was having issues with it...but had completely wiped and reloaded the system and then gave it to me, and it had been running normally ever since. But suddenly started having the same issue....freezing and shutting off).
I panicked because I hadn't yet transferred my iTunes files to my external. But I rebooted long enough to transfer that ENTIRE 180Gig folder over to my external before the laptop crashed again. So I dodged another bullet there.
I do have a few MP3's, but I had started to rip everything in WMA and only got up to the C's before my daughter gave me an iPod and I finally decided to "take the plunge" and go all in on iTunes. The only MP3's I have are some boots, and a few 320-MP3's directly from the artist. (Steven Wilson, Odd Logic...etc).
Jammindude, just be glad you didn't have to re-rip all your cds onto your new laptop. Now that was fun.
And as you can see above, I very nearly lost those as well. That would have been a nightmare!!
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Glad you got the problem solved. Hope you enjoy the player. I do, but I mainly leave it in Pure Music Mode.
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So, now if I wanted a cheapie mp3 player that had Bluetooth capability for use solely in my car, what would you recommend? Bluetooth is the primary requirement, also an SD card slot would be nice.
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Finally looked up what I got. X5iii not the 2nd gen like I thought.
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Finally looked up what I got. X5iii not the 2nd gen like I thought.
Question you might not be able to answer (if anyone can, please chime in). Do you have a car stereo that is touch screen, or at least displays iPod artwork? If so, does the artwork, artist, song title, appear on the screen when you hook up this device?
I am terrified of investing in new tech, hooking it up in the car (which is what I use my iPod for), and finding out only the text displays. I love having the artwork displayed for the record I am listening to...
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Keep your eyes on the road! :P
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Finally looked up what I got. X5iii not the 2nd gen like I thought.
Question you might not be able to answer (if anyone can, please chime in). Do you have a car stereo that is touch screen, or at least displays iPod artwork? If so, does the artwork, artist, song title, appear on the screen when you hook up this device?
I am terrified of investing in new tech, hooking it up in the car (which is what I use my iPod for), and finding out only the text displays. I love having the artwork displayed for the record I am listening to...
Apple car play is so nice for this.