Joined in 2023 
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Neco V2: The Neco V2 is a bit less dynamic and isn’t quite as smooth as the X3 headphone output. 5/10 I’d actually rather sacrifice some screen size there for something physically raise up with button placements. Not at all a big grip, but could be if your hands are large.
The X3iii uses a 2.3″ 320x240px TFT screen on the front panel. It is a non-touch screen with navigation and control through the physical buttons and touch-scroll wheel below it. The type and resolution of the screen are the same as the last gen X3, however, it is slightly bigger than the 2.0″ version used on the 2nd gen unit. However, once you start using those additional features extensively you will find it will drop a bit more to under 10 hours. Screen brightness, the screen on, Bluetooth on and balanced output will reduce the life cycle by 1-2 hours. It was pretty much the same scenario on previous generations so I would not consider it a negative, particularly when you are running a dual DAC and a triple PCB board design underneath. Deep Sleep hours is about what I am getting. This is of course not exact, full brightness is used as well. If there is huge interest in getting an exact number, I may do a full day test. But for now, what is on paper is pretty accurate. FiiO recommends using a power bank on the go.Both 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. When I spoke to James, one of the Co-owners of FiiO on our visit to their HQ in Nov 2017 he made special mention of the X3 DAP legacy, calling it one of their key “growth” products. The scroll wheel was a great “invention” in the days when touch screens weren’t available yet in DAPs, nowadays however the most basic MP3-players have a touch screen already so I was a bit surprised to see the latest X3iii revision still using that touch screen. Sure it’s typical for the X1/X3 series as I said, but do DAP users still appreciate scroll wheels and non-touch screens in 2017? I personally have my doubts and I’m a bit disappointed but I do get why Fiio is still using it. Like I said it is typical of the X3(ii)-series and it probably cuts down the production cost a lot, but it also means the firmware and user interface aren’t the most modern.
I understand why Fiio did it. It looks cool in product photos/renderings. Yay! But form should follow function. Up/down functions work a lot better in a vertical layout. Ditto left/right functions work better in a horizontal layout. The non-standard diagonal control scheme requires memorisation- and cursing. I also love the concept of the in-vehicle mode where the BT signal powers down the X3iii when the car itself is turned off and when you turn on the engine (and the audio system) the X3iii powers up again. A very nice feature indeed. No AptX
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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. Automatic Organization is where the X3 takes the id3 (Artist, album, song title, name etc) tag of the song and uses that to auto sort your songs into the play all, artists, genres and albums folders. The X3 basically takes command and does things for you, and sorts stuff. For more info, please watch the video. FiiO has also upgraded a lot of aspects of the new X3 Gen 2 functionality. With the new chipset implementation, the X3 2nd Gen can now decode DSD natively unlike the older X5 which converted DSD to PCM output, and the X1 which does not do it at all. In general, balance between lows and highs is very good. No matter how big the bass, or how trilly the treble, lows and highs maintain great balance and detail at all safe listening levels. The FiiO X3 is the clear winner here, the Vocals in the Andes are about the same with the elevation but are much warmer and actually have a slight less detail and resolution. The warm coloration of the Andes is also even more so than the X3. The entire range of frequencies is also more separate on the X3, where the Andes is more compressed together. The X3 is not only a more neutral amp, but also a more transparent one.
Whilst it still has some core features like the scroll wheel system the X3 Mark III is being pitched by FiiO as a lighter, thinner and much better handling DAP than the previous generations. The X3 was primarily focused on decoding hi-res music, unlike other competitors.In 2013 we restarted the project with HibyMusic for the X3 as our main OS. The previous work completed allowed us to speed up the project with Hiby with a launch at the end of 2013. X3 was advanced at the time with hi-res capability. It was very portable, delivered good power and had a long battery life.” The X3 SG now does Native DSD and supports up to 192kHz/24bit. It also has dual oscillators to run 44.1kHz and 48kHz. Power wise the new SG X3 puts out ＞224 mW (16 Ω/THD+N＜1%). The first X3 >540mW. At 32Ω the old one did >270mW, the new one 200mW. At 300Ω the old one did >30mW and the new one >24mW. Purely looking at the numbers the original X3 has more power but numbers aren’t everything of course. The original X3 also was developed for a headphone impedance range of 16-300Ω while the SG is now best between 16 and 150Ω. All this naturally means the the X3 SG sounds quite different from the original one…Heavier hitting than previous generations of the X3 but also tighter sounding. It takes the fullness of the first gen X3 but pushes it a bit further forward than the 2nd generation. The 2nd Gen will sound a bit leaner in comparison and more neutral in positioning. The void bubble of sound coming at you is so well balanced and snug. I enjoy it very much subjectively. But, the stage doesn’t play well with the relaxed midrange appeal on a flat EQ. Meaning, if the mids were more bloomed and more forward, this X3II could have been one of the best intimacy lovers portable players I’ve heard in a while.
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. These use the FiiO X3’s line out so that the DAC remains the same while only the amp sections changes. The control wheel occupies almost the entire lower half of the front panel and, like the other two models, is coated with rubber, which prevents your finger from slipping. In the center of the control wheel is a large multi-purpose button, while the outer edge has four small round buttons. In the bottom of the front panel you find a discrete LED, which displays the status using different colors. However, it is not a volume control dial like the iPod and those used to the iPod may make that mistake. It is easy to see why and very natural to try coming from iPod but the wheel is strictly for navigation and selection and the volume buttons are to the side. The initial firmware had some issues, but the installed firmware, version 2.1, is very stable with added functionality, including asynchronous DAC functionality. The DAC function does require a special driver for the PC, but works natively on a MAC. Switching between DAC functionality and file access requires adjusting the settings, which takes several button presses to get to the correct menu item and change it unlike the AK120, but they are different classes of players.However, FiiO has been a bit clever and added USB OTG support via firmware to the new X3 Gen 2, meaning you can add extra memory via flash drives much like Ibasso and the DX series. Given the ever-falling price of memory cards once you hit your micro SD card size limit with the X3 Gen 2 an extra OTG small flash drive might just be a very useful alternative. The screen is bright enough for outside use, but its colour is poor. Everything is cast in blue. Again, most audiophiles probably won’t take issue with this. An audio player is for audio, right? Damned be anything else. On the right side of the bottom you’ll find the 2.5mm balanced headphone output. As you might have noticed all of Fiio’s latest and upcoming units will feature 2.5mm connectors, the IEMs included. James told us in May at High End in Munich already that Fiio was pulling the 2.5mm balanced card following Astell&Kern, and I applaud them for their decision. At the same time you have Sony and Sennheiser who are going the 4.4mm Pentaconn route and that for the consumer isn’t the ideal situation (think cables).
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