Portable music players

[Al ears]

Is it just me or have Fiio just raised the bar with their latest offering the Fiio X5 Mark 3?

Sods law I have recently purchased their mark 2 version....... ;-)

I may be tempted to sell it now. It would appear if the specs are as they say and sound as good or better than the mark 2 then a lot of other manufacturers have a lot to worry about.

P.S.: I am in no way affiliated with Fiio....

 

[Vladimir]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

 

[Al ears]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

That's what I thought. Overpriced Pioneer and Onkyo had better look out as well.

With the current quality and flexibility of these small devices I am seriously considering retiring my CP player. DAC quality has now surpassed my Oppo 105 so it may be utilised for blu-ray duties only.

 

[Vladimir]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

That's what I thought. Overpriced Pioneer and Onkyo had better look out as well.

With the current quality and flexibility of these small devices I am seriously considering retiring my CP player. DAC quality has now surpassed my Oppo 105 so it may be utilised for blu-ray duties only.

I find them a tad impractical for main duty hifi. Maybe if you plug it in and don't mess with it too much, use it as Spotify streamer and controll it from your phone. Such a small device being handled many times daily with tiny fragile onboard soldered connectors, flopping heavy cables, wouldn't last me very long.

 

[Al ears]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

That's what I thought. Overpriced Pioneer and Onkyo had better look out as well.

With the current quality and flexibility of these small devices I am seriously considering retiring my CP player. DAC quality has now surpassed my Oppo 105 so it may be utilised for blu-ray duties only.

I find them a tad impractical for main duty hifi. Maybe if you plug it in and don't mess with it too much, use it as Spotify streamer and controll it from your phone. Such a small device being handled many times daily with tiny fragile onboard soldered connectors, flopping heavy cables, wouldn't last me very long.

Perhaps but you might be pleasantly surprised the build quality of most is very good and built to handle portability. I regularly connect mine to main hifi with a thick digital out coax, no problems yet.... touch wood.

Having said that once connected I usually play whole albums rather than flicking between streams.

 

[insider9]

Looks very impressive. I'd say that with bigger screen perhaps a tad bigger battery would've been welcome. Your mk2 might have a slight edge I that regard.

Apart from that looks improved in just about every single way.

 

[MajorFubar]

Looks very impressive. I'd say that with bigger screen perhaps a tad bigger battery would've been welcome. Your mk2 might have a slight edge I that regard.

Apart from that looks improved in just about every single way.

That was called a Logictech Squeezbox Touch, and five or six years ago it was the heart of many a hifi enthusiast's streaming solution. When it was discontinued in 2012 it left a hole in the market which has never completely been filled.

 

[Vladimir]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

That's what I thought. Overpriced Pioneer and Onkyo had better look out as well.

With the current quality and flexibility of these small devices I am seriously considering retiring my CP player. DAC quality has now surpassed my Oppo 105 so it may be utilised for blu-ray duties only.

I find them a tad impractical for main duty hifi. Maybe if you plug it in and don't mess with it too much, use it as Spotify streamer and controll it from your phone. Such a small device being handled many times daily with tiny fragile onboard soldered connectors, flopping heavy cables, wouldn't last me very long.

Perhaps but you might be pleasantly surprised the build quality of most is very good and built to handle portability. I regularly connect mine to main hifi with a thick digital out coax, no problems yet.... touch wood.

Having said that once connected I usually play whole albums rather than flicking between streams.

Indeed. Perhaps I should limit the comment to myself. I am death to all USB-C connectors. *pardon*

 

[Al ears]

Looks very nice, A&K beware.

Maybe wait few months for the prices to drop.

That's what I thought. Overpriced Pioneer and Onkyo had better look out as well.

With the current quality and flexibility of these small devices I am seriously considering retiring my CP player. DAC quality has now surpassed my Oppo 105 so it may be utilised for blu-ray duties only.

I find them a tad impractical for main duty hifi. Maybe if you plug it in and don't mess with it too much, use it as Spotify streamer and controll it from your phone. Such a small device being handled many times daily with tiny fragile onboard soldered connectors, flopping heavy cables, wouldn't last me very long.

Perhaps but you might be pleasantly surprised the build quality of most is very good and built to handle portability. I regularly connect mine to main hifi with a thick digital out coax, no problems yet.... touch wood.

Having said that once connected I usually play whole albums rather than flicking between streams.

Indeed. Perhaps I should limit the comment to myself. I am death to all USB-C connectors. *pardon*

Haha! Know what you mean. I find employing the right-angled variety useful.

 

[Womaz]

Last week I purchased my first serious DAP the AK300. I had a Sony NWA15 before and to be honest i was not expecting there to be a great deal of difference. I was mainly buying as I wanted to treat myself to something with a touch screen and a bigger screen too.

The difference in sound quality has astounded me to be honest. Its in a different league to the Sony and I thought surely with a DAP the differences could not be that big.

I have also subsribed to Tidal as the AK300 has this on it and I am addicted. So this is 9 days in and I have listened to my main rig just once.

It has also made me go for an upgrade on my headphones. I was thinking last night we have never had it so good really. All this music in good quality avaialble and sound like we could only have dreamed of say 10 years ago. Headphones and portable gear is now incredibly good I think

 

[Al ears]

Last week I purchased my first serious DAP the AK300. I had a Sony NWA15 before and to be honest i was not expecting there to be a great deal of difference. I was mainly buying as I wanted to treat myself to something with a touch screen and a bigger screen too.

The difference in sound quality has astounded me to be honest. Its in a different league to the Sony and I thought surely with a DAP the differences could not be that big.

I have also subsribed to Tidal as the AK300 has this on it and I am addicted. So this is 9 days in and I have listened to my main rig just once.

It has also made me go for an upgrade on my headphones. I was thinking last night we have never had it so good really. All this music in good quality avaialble and sound like we could only have dreamed of say 10 years ago. Headphones and portable gear is now incredibly good I think

It's certainly progressed these last five years. I started off with a device that looked like it came out of the ark but, working away as I do, was determined to get the best audio I could in a portable package. Yes I have upgraded my headphones to keep up, you need to as DAP's are shooting ahead of most of the other hifi components.

Right now I might give the mark3 a miss, good though it would appear to be, as I am after sound quality more than anything else. So still saving for that Questyle QP1R

 

[Womaz]

The QPR1 is supposed to be the pne to go for in that price range. I did consider it but one of the reasons I wanted to move frmo my Sony NW15A was the screen size etc. The QP1R was just a little too small for me.

I did a lot of reading and I was torn between the two of them. Apparently the QP1R is the better of the two, but in my case it was not just about that.

The QP1R looks so classy, too. Stick it on the credit card and report back*biggrin*

 

[chebby]

Looks very impressive. I'd say that with bigger screen perhaps a tad bigger battery would've been welcome. Your mk2 might have a slight edge I that regard.

Apart from that looks improved in just about every single way.

That was called a Logictech Squeezbox Touch, and five or six years ago it was the heart of many a hifi enthusiast's streaming solution. When it was discontinued in 2012 it left a hole in the market which has never completely been filled.

I've read of some excellent Raspberry Pi based solutions that people have used to replace their Squeezeboxes.

 

[Vladimir]

I've read of some excellent Raspberry Pi based solutions that people have used to replace their Squeezeboxes.

Pi devices are a viable option they are very much DIY and are a world away from the SBT. It's almost as if Logitech had no idea what they created. A quick scan though eBay's completed listings shows NOS SBTs fetch more money now than they cost when current. Even used ones are feching upto £200. Whoever snapped one up yesterday without box for a BIN of £50 must think his Christmases have all arrived an once.

100% truth.

I find it inconvenient compared to my active setup, playing spotify on my HTPC via smartphone or work PC. But back in those days SBT was a wow factor.

 

[MajorFubar]

I've read of some excellent Raspberry Pi based solutions that people have used to replace their Squeezeboxes.

Pi devices are a viable option they are very much DIY and are a world away from the SBT unfortunately. It's almost as if Logitech had no idea what they created. A quick scan though eBay's completed listings shows NOS SBTs fetch more money now than they cost when current. Even used ones are feching upto £200. Whoever snapped one up yesterday without box for a BIN of £50 must think his Christmases have all arrived an once.

 

[Al ears]

I've read of some excellent Raspberry Pi based solutions that people have used to replace their Squeezeboxes.

Pi devices are a viable option they are very much DIY and are a world away from the SBT. It's almost as if Logitech had no idea what they created. A quick scan though eBay's completed listings shows NOS SBTs fetch more money now than they cost when current. Even used ones are feching upto £200. Whoever snapped one up yesterday without box for a BIN of £50 must think his Christmases have all arrived an once.

100% truth.

I find it inconvenient compared to my active setup, playing spotify on my HTPC via smartphone or work PC. But back in those days SBT was a wow factor.

It is somewhat refreshing to see that Pioneer are having to respond with their cheaper XPD30R...... price war coming up ?

 

[Vladimir]

I've read of some excellent Raspberry Pi based solutions that people have used to replace their Squeezeboxes.

Pi devices are a viable option they are very much DIY and are a world away from the SBT. It's almost as if Logitech had no idea what they created. A quick scan though eBay's completed listings shows NOS SBTs fetch more money now than they cost when current. Even used ones are feching upto £200. Whoever snapped one up yesterday without box for a BIN of £50 must think his Christmases have all arrived an once.

100% truth.

I find it inconvenient compared to my active setup, playing spotify on my HTPC via smartphone or work PC. But back in those days SBT was a wow factor.

It is somewhat refreshing to see that Pioneer are having to respond with their cheaper XPD30R...... price war coming up ?

Honestly 115db SNR DACs are beyond my hearing or nerd ego. But the bigger screen and significantly more powerfull amp in the Fiio come as a huge plus in my book. Screen, battery, power, seamless interface operation.

 

[Vladimir]

That's it. I'm never buying anything Pioneer, ever.

 

[Al ears]

That's it. I'm never buying anything Pioneer, ever.

If their devices are optimised for that then nora my....... ;-)

 

[tonky]

They might have used London Grammar in their ads

tonky

 

[Vladimir]

They might have used London Grammar in their ads

tonky

*Presses pause button on Simon Preston's JSB Toccata and Fugue in D minor.

*Searches "London Grammar" on Google.

*Unplugs internet router.