Compared with the Hisoundaudio Nova 3, the X3 almost always sounds better with the headphone pairings I have tried. When pairing the X3 with various amps to power IEMs and CIEMs, only the higher priced amps outperformed the headphone out. Portable headphones performed similarly to IEMs, but desktop headphones improved more from being connected to amps.

I really enjoy the UI quite a lot. It has been a very long time since I actually felt comfortable navigating the menu of a non-touchscreen portable player such as this. What is there is very user-friendly and extremely well set-up. FiiO first tested this OS on the X1 Gen 2 last year and for me, it was hit and miss. I understand it was designed to mimic the features of the old UCOS setup, however, it was very slow and ponderous. The X3iii is a good deal faster though by modern standards and FiiO have expanded the OS to deliver a much more feature-rich experience than before. New Features The theme selection has also been upgraded on the X3iii with no less than 6 choices from the systems setting menu. You can also opt to increase or decrease the size of the font which for a screen this size might prove invaluable to some uses. Connectivity Bluetooth Performance Usually, clinical tonality equates to a harsh feel to everything. But, in this case, the X3II is showcasing a rare quality: a flat bass and midrange quantity of equal portions, but with a more gentle approach. 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.

You can still control the mode of output via the settings menu and a small icon will tell you which mode is currently selected in the top bar on the screen. Micro USB FiiO has also taken a serious approach to increasing the pure DAC potential of the X3 Gen 2 with the CS4398 chip which has superior low pass filtering and jitter control than the X3’s older WM8740DAC chip. I’d naturally expect the treble at this point to feel a stark contrast to the rest of the response of the product. But, I was pleasantly surprised to hear yet another softer approach on the treble end. Even with an elevated treble response in the custom EQ window. I don’t consider the player overly soft feeling, I do consider it relaxing. The FiiO X3 III inherits a lot of design cues from its predecessors: we find the same rectangular landscape screen with a wheel below it, surrounded by four buttons. It is very similar to the FiiO X5 II, though the wheel is now fully touch and is flush with the rest of the front.

On a flat EQ, the X3II performs very well in a tactile reference feel, but not with tonality. The experience feels flat but sounds quite sweet and soft sometimes in dynamic impact. That means that the vocal experience and bass feel more on the soft and relaxing side. the FiiO X3 III can go – if set – into standby mode after a chosen period of time ranging from 1 minute to 8 minutes; The exterior of the X3II is aluminum with a very dense feel to the entire unit. At 112g, the X3II feels very good in the hand and of high build quality. It doesn’t feel thin or hallow in the slightest. Then at the same time, some piano key strikes are felt with a very beautiful sweetness and tonality that is on the musical end of the spectrum. That same guitar will then invert to a more sweetened tonality when Mr. Lagrene hits a harmonic. High Pitched VocalsUnlike the X1, you can use the X3 Gen 2 as a DAC in much the same way as you could use the original X3 as a DAC via the USB and either a line signal out or a Coaxial line out depending on your setup or simply direct to the headphone out. Jog Wheel It also brings together the entire DAP range from FiiO into one very recognizable product line that for me is perhaps the closest looking device in terms of form factor to the old Apple iPod Classic. 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. Output power is reasonable though not outstanding and is more suited to powering IEMs and efficient headphones than anything more demanding. In unbalanced, you will get≥ 160 mW (32 Ω/THD+N＜1%) and balanced at a similar weighting will get you≥ 190 mW. This section will be split into software usability (UI) and physical usability. For the software usability section which will be first, there will be 2 section splits. The first section will give you an overview of how the X3 does things, and the second will be on a opinion basis of what I think/interpret the usability of it. Please note, that it will be very helpful if you watch my How-To-Use video above. This will allow you to follow along and get what I am saying better. It is a long video, but will fill you in on it.

I actually wish a lot more DAPs and sources would sound like that. I subjectively enjoy that type of sound field in my preferred music listening. I don’t like harshness. Those who enjoy a more simplified and enjoyably soft approach to it all will really feel at home with the X3II. Very few if any earphones out there should stump the X3’s amp section. It is most comfortable with earphones that average >8Ω under load, but is more than capable even below that. So what is totally new? Well for one the new BT option in the system settings is probably the biggest new menu option on the X1 2G. You can turn it on or off via the system menu and after a few seconds, you will see the Bluetooth icon appear in the notifications top bar. The recent split from HiBy meant that FiiO had to basically come up with their own replacement software for the X3 series DAPs without breaking that previously known pitch of power, battery life, and portability. Yet it also had to remain competitive for their usual 12-18 month product life-cycle which has been a feature of their media player roadmap over the last few years. Though it has balanced output, it should be noted that it actually outputs less power at 16 Ω when using balanced headphones. It outputs more power going up with impedance, as it outputs 190 mW vs 160 mW at 32 Ω. The difference is small, however, so the advantage of using the balanced connection theoretically only amounts to the higher crosstalk (69 dB single-ended vs 97 dB balanced).FiiO seems to be aiming for a better performance than before with demanding or sensitive earphones. It might mean a slightly decreased output gain for more demanding headphones but I personally think the net benefit of a more controlled and better IEM performance is where FiiO should be heading with this DAP. Functionality Codecs

FiiO X3 is a digital music player manufactured and marketed by FiiO Electronics Technology. The player utilizes a built-in Wolfson DAC, and is capable of reproducing music sampled at 192kHz with a sample size of 24-bits per channel, in addition to functioning as a USB audio interface. The X3 is a mid-level member of the FiiO X Series of portable music players. It supports major lossy music formats such as MP3, and lossless music formats such as FLAC. Mr.Panda, Mr.Panda, but what about loading times? Well currently there is still a slight delay when loading some songs, but for the most part, its reaction is fast enough for it not to be a problem for me. Replaying some songs manually can sometimes cut off the first second of the song, but of course, this should be fixed with firmware updates.The line-out performance of the X3iii when used as a USB-DAC is even better than the second gen with a proper 1.9Vrms rating as opposed to the much weaker 1.45Vrms in the 2nd gen. If you happen to have a more powerful analog amp then the X3iii is a useful and well equipped pure DAC.