1. Hot-spot Q&A about X5 3rd gen
As X5 3rd gen was finnally available globally, many customers had been asking questions about it. In case you wanna know about something about the X5 3rd gen too, we hereby share some of those frequently asked questions with you. This thread would be updated from time to time. Tell us what you would like to know and we might add it here!
Q1. About some disturbance about the X5III's Micro SD card holder tray.
A: To make the X5III look more integrated and stylish, we use the design of hidden Micro SD card holder tray. This was an advice of our user and we carefully evaluated it.Considering this design has been used on cellphone for a while, customers should be quite familiar with how it works. We decided to use it.
There's no need to worry about it. Of course, we would love to see the feedback from youto decide if we need to adjust it on our new products.
How to insert and remove your Micro SD card: http://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=41930
Q2. Why do we use RK3188?
A: Simply speaking, we don't have other choices if we need to manufacture android-based players. It's the result not only to FiiO's players, but also to others Chinese players. The two choices we have now are either RK series chips from Rockchips or chips fromIngenic.
If we want to use chips of Qualcomm, MTK or Samsung, the problem we need to consider is not only the initial fee or development fee. The most important thing is whether we could get support from these suppliers since they wouldn't offer relevant technical support to music player market. Without support from these suppliers, we couldn't solve the subsequent problems even though we barely make it. Because addition of many functions and bugs solving needs optimizing of theunderlying architecture from these suppliers and couldn't be solved by usalone.
Besides, South Korean players normally use the SoC of Telechip whose performance is also far behind chips of Qualcomm/MTK/Samsung. It's for the same reasons why these companies don't use SoC of Samsung. As far as music player speaking, the sales of Japanese, South Korean, American and Chinese market adding up, is not as large as any cellphone model of any brand on the market.
Q3. Why X5III adopts 1G RAM instead of 2G or higher?
A: Based on the sales and feedback of X7, customers would mostly use our player for music playback.Therefore, 1G RAM is already enough. Instead, using 2G RAM would lead to increase of cost and retail price.
Q4. Slow response of FiiO Market.
A: We're already working on this problem. Please be patient.
Q5. Weak WiFi Signal Intensity
A: According to our test result, the signal intensity of X5III and cellphones are almost the same. It's recommended to download the WiFi analyzer from FiiO Market to test the signal intensity of X5III.
Meanwhile, you can install this app on your cellphone to compare the result with X5III's. Or you can send us the test result, cellphone model, router model and the distance between your X5III and the router so that we can analyze the problem.
Q6. Why third-party input can't be used under Pure Music Mode?
A: Under Pure Music Mode, X5III would kill all those party service except for system and FiiO Music.Therefore, all third party apps could not be used under Pure Music.
Q7. Does X5III support USB Audio?
A: USB Audio function of X5III currently is only compatible with some devices. We're still improving this function.
Q8.How to send us the crash log files?
A: Set your X5III to Storage mode and connect it computer via micro USB cable, find the "crash" folder in internal storage (internal_sd\FiiOMusic\crash),and send us the whole folder.
(You may have the folder compressed/zipped then upload it to dropbox and share us with a download link, or send it directly via email to support@fiio.net)
Q9. How to turn on X5III's In-Vehicle mode?
A: In-Vehicle mode function hasn't been realized on X5III yet. It will be realized via future firmware update.
Q10. Why there's no Coaxial output option when X5III working as a DAC?
A: X5III doesn't support Coaxial output when working as an external DAC, because the USB DAC function and Coaxial ouput are using different audio routings.
Q11. How to solve the latency problem that occurs when using a third-party input method?
A: On the X5III, all the prompt tones will be disabled. Some input method app will try to make prompt tone for each key press. So it will collide with the X5's audio channels and cause the system to act slow. In this case, you can try to open the input method app and then turn off the prompt tone option in its settings.
Q12. Why X5III would get hot when playing music?
A: The X5III is a high resolution music player. And many chips will work at the same time when it's playing music, which will consume a lot of power and also release heat.But you don't need to worry about any safety issues with the heating, because there's temperature protecting circuit inside the player.
Q13. Why the noise floor from the Balanced port is a little higher than that from the 3.5mm Single-ended port?
A: In order to obtain better sound quality, we did not use the DAC integrated digital amp (which is widely used on smart phones) on the X5. Instead, we have adopted the traditional analog circuit amplification design that is low integrated, complex on the wiring but can provide several times higher amplification. Because of this design, the WiFi could easily cause interference to the analog circuit through space radiation, power transmission or other forms, when it's working. Moreover, the balanced out is a four-way output, which means the noise floor will of course be a little higher from the Balanced port compared to the headphone port when the WiFi is on.
But in general, this noise will be masked when music is playing. So it's suggested that you try to turn off the WiFi if you hear the noise during music playing, then check if the noise is still noticeable.
We have also tested the products from other brands and got similar results. And compared with other products of the same price, the noise floor from the the X5's Balanced port is relatively a low one.
How should we judge whether the noise you hear is normal or abnormal? Here is a reference:
If the noise can be heard easily when using a full-size headphone or a low-sensitivity earphone that is not the in-ear type, you can contact our support team or your seller and send the player back for testing.
Q14. Why does X5III firmware update fails?
A: So far X5III could only support firmware update of SD cards in FAT32 or NTFS format. Please copy the downloaded firmware to internal storage or Micro SD 1 (FAT 32 or NTFS), click"Technical support-Firmware update-local upgrade" and click the firmware to upgrade.
Note: X5III also supports OTA online upgrade. Please make sure that WiFi is connected, then click "Technical support-Firmware update-Online Update", check and download the firmwareand upgrade.
Q15. Why the very first few seconds of songs are omitted?
A: According to our analysis, it has something to do with Viper Effect. Please try to turn off the Viper Effect and try. We're in communication with Audio Labs about this.
Q16. About ViPER Effect
To let you be more familiar with ViPER Effect, we would like to make some explanations here.
1. How does ViPER Effect work? Will it have any influence on the sound quality?
A: ViPER is one kind of sound effect, which is the well-known EQ. "Music, endless fun" has always been our faith and we hope to bring more fun to you with our products. So you could adjust the sound effects as you like. If you don't like it, it's OK to just turn it off.
2. Why we have to pay for ViPER Effect?
A: ViPER Effect is the product of Audio Labs. To let you have more fun on our product, we decide to introduce the ViPER Effect and gets you seven free effects. However, the rest effects are for paying users. Audio Labs is the product provider and beneficiary, FiiO is just offer a platform for you to try out different things.
3. Why do we have to connect to internet to activate ViPER Effect?
A: Some effects are for paying users only, therefore they have to connect to internet to classify whether you're paying users or not. (You could disconnect to internet after the that); However, we're communicating with Audio Labs now. Basically we wouldn't have to connect to internet to activate ViPER Effect in the future.
4. I Bought ViPER Effect on X7, could I use it on X5III?
A:We're sorry that ViPER Effect could only support the device which has been paid for. Any new device will have to repay for it. But it would be no problem when you upgrade the firmware. You could rest assured.
5. What if you have exchanged the X5III after purchasing the ViPER Effect on the previous device？
A:We have communicated with Audio Labs about this problem, You need to provide the serial number of your current device, payment invoice and time of purchase to us and we would communicate with Audio Labs to help.
Q17. Why the USB transfer speed is different for the card slot 1 and card slot 2 on the X5 3rd gen?
A: Since the number of the general communication pins on the RK3188 is limited, the X5 can only load two communication modules. One of them is already taken by the WiFi/Bluetooth, so only one pin is left for the card slot, which is also why there's only one card slot on the X7 or other similar products.
However, in order to keep the dual card slot design of the X5 series, our engineers have managed to expand the card slot interface by adding a new chip. And because of this new chip, the card slot 2 can get higher USB transfer speed than the other one. But it also comes with some small issues such as increasing the power consumption or some software bugs associated with it (most of the software bugs have already been fixed with the latest firmware update).
Q18. Why the physical buttons of X5III could not function perfectly on some third-party APPs?
A: The button of X5III(X7) is strictly based on Android definition. However, third-party APP would make its own definition while using system buttons. So the button definition of system itself and third-party APP might be conflicted. We couldn't change the button definition of third party APP. Therefore, the play/pause or previous/next track button might not able to work perfectly when using third-party APP (These APPs might work fine on cellphones cause most of the cellphones only have volume button for adjustment and no next/previous track button).
Q19. Why the output power from the Balanced port is a little lower than the Single-ended port on the X5 3rd gen?
A: Back when we made the first product with balanced output, the X7 AM3 module, we found that if we follow the normal standard to design it, the output power from the balanced port should be twice (theoretically 4 times) higher than that of the single-ended port. And on the basis of keeping a good drive ability on the single-ended port, if we follow this standard, the output power from balanced port would go up to a very high level (e.g. if the single-ended output has 200mW power, the balanced output would go up to 400mW). Such a high level of output power would cause significant heating and power consumption, and so degrade the user experience. Or if we make the balanced output 200mW, the single-ended would drop to 100mW, which is of course two low. So after a careful consideration, we decided to keep the output power of the balanced port and single-ended port at a similar level.
And strictly speaking, the balanced headphone output should be based on the BTL circuit, which used to be common for multimedia speakers and car amplifiers because the BTL circuit can provide much higher power than the single-ended output with the same supply voltage. However, on the portable players, you don't necessarily need the balanced design to get high output power.
The biggest advantage of using balanced output on the portal player is actually that the BTL circuit does not have any ground lead, so it can solve the problem of low channel separation of single-ended output cased by the fact that the left and right channel are sharing the same ground lead.
And for the single-ended output, the left and right channels are getting different DAC output and filter signals. The specific architecture used on most other products of similar kinds is basically the same.
Q20. About updating the media library (scanningfor songs)
1. Why it will sometimes say "0 song(s)updated" after updating the media lib?
A: FiiO Music has adopted the incremental updatemethod, which means it will only scan for the new songs that are added afterthe last update. So if there're no new songs, it will say "0 song(s)updated" after the scanning.
The incremental update is the key to the"Recently added" playlist, and can also decrease the time spent on mediaupdate.
2. Why the total number of tracks displayed inthe music library does not match the number of my songs?
A: Currently, for a CUEtrack, the player will count it as only one track (the X5 2nd genwill count the tracks based on the CUE sheet). But if you find that there'resongs missing from the library. Please find the recent "logForScanProblem"log file under the directory "internal_sd/FiiOMusic/crash" and send itto us for analyzing.
Q21. About the slight crackle that occurs occasionally during playback
It is one of the HiFi audio players' core features to support different types of music formats and sampling rates. And each time when the DAC chip change the sampling rates, it will need to reset itself, which can cause a slight crackle in the sound. This problem cannot be totally prevented, unless converting all the songs to the same format and sampling rates before playing them (just like what the Apple iTunes will do). But doing this will make the HiFi player lose its biggest advantage.
Q22. About the slight impulsive noise that occurs occasionally during power on/off
We've always been using a mechanical relay as protection circuit for powering on and off. The relay can mechanically shut down the connection to prevent the impulsive noise caused by power on/off.
Butthere is a few disadvantages for it. Firstly, the relay will make a click sound when it's working and can make the user mistakenly think there's a problem with the player. Secondly, the relay actually could not completely prevent the impulsive noise caused by power on/off, as itself could make noise when its contactor closes. And thirdly, the big size of the relay will occupy space, which is previous on the player.
Because of these issues of the mechanical relay, we have decided to use an electronic switch on the x5III, which is small in size and will not make any mechanical sound, but it might not be effective as the mechanical relay. It's suggested to take off the headphone before power on/off, although the impulsive noise is actually very slight, and sometimes it might not be heard at all.
Q23. Why would the volume drop when the EQ is enabled?
The volume will be decreased by 6dB when EQ is enabled, so to prevent the possible distortion that might be caused by the equalizer adjustment.
Q24. How to use FiiO Music app build in the X5III?
Here is the instruction of using the FiiO Music app: click here.
