Fiio X3 III - MP3 Player

I've had this for a while now and enjoy using it. I have never had any problems playing music on it. It sounds brilliant. Just what I expect from Fiio. Tried a Sony but for some reason could not get it to recognise the SD card. Glad I sent it back. This is my 2nd Fiio and know that I can trust and rely upon the brand. Will maybe upgrade next year. Fiio again. Get one. You wont be disappointed.

First thing, player looks great, again for fiio a reimagining of the iPod, this time like the nano. The navigation wheel differs greatly from the 2nd gen. I prefer the more tactile mechanical wheel of the 2nd gen compared to the touch type employed here. Interface is practically the same as 2nd gen so nothing to note here, except the lag which is jarring, the player freezes when playing some files and the intro to songs, as noted elsewhere, is clipped by a second or two. In fact the intro fades in, even when skipping tunes, this is a major issue, but fiio released a firmware to address this.Short version of the review, I'm returning the player. Unfortunately I made my mind up and the day I was set to return the system the firmware was released so I can't review this aspect.The sound is excellent. First night tried Deftones join no yokan one hi Res lossless flac, this album is a true workout for any player, the X3 iii takes the album in its stride. No harshness and a slightly warm feel to it, more so than the 2nd gen.Next up I tried Norah Jones Come Away With Me, also hi res. The warmth is more pronounced, very much vinyl like, which is a good thing. Here the crash of the cymbals in the title track are smooth and Norah's voice is like silk. I did notice a little clipping in the vocals in the album opener, but I'll put this down to the source not the player. I don't remember this being so pronounced on the X3 mind.In a nutshell, I'm returning the player for a few things, the aforementioned cutting of tracks and laggy interface, these are addressed now but I didn't get to review this, as the system is packed and ready to send, and I ordered a replacement X3 2nd gen (long story, I lost my old one travelling).I'm going for the older system because it handles DSD 128, not a deal breaker, but preferable. Also I like the wheel on 2nd gen more than the new one, personal preference.Also I'm not a fan of the covers for the mk iii, minor gripe and the placement of the earphone jack, again personal preference.Sound wise, for the money, this player is great, but the 2nd gen pips it slightly, this may be down to burn in. It's unfortunate that fiio took a while to release the firmware, I bought my player only a few days ago, but wanted to give it a fair shake before returning, I initiated the return and ordered the 2nd gen a day before the update. I only saw the update this morning!It's close between the 2 players, call it familiarity to the 2nd gen on my part, but the higher quality DSD, more mature firmware status and the player interface are the reasons I'm going back to the future. Also the sound is a little too warm, both players have different DAC chips, 2nd gen I feel is a bit more natural sounding, but this is subjective.If you don't mind having lower frequency DSD, don't mind updating the system off the bat and prefer the look of this system, the mark iii is a great player. I'm going with the awesome 2nd gen tho.Also th mark iii has balance headphone input, I didn't get to try this out, but might be a deal breaker if u have balanced headphones, I reviewed this player with well burnt in Phillips Fidelio mark 2s which don't have the 2.5mm input.Forgot to add, this system can also be used as an external DAC which like the 2nd gen is a nice bonus.I'm giving 4 stars and not lower as I think fiio would have addressed the lag and intro issues( I'm going in blind for this!) And basing the score on sound.

Very impressed by the X3iii, I bought it to replace my 4th iPod Classic. I bought a FiiO EX1 pair of headphones to get the most of the product. Currently using a 128gb MicroSD along side it. I find the battery lasts me a day or 2 with normal use at work or gym. It does get warm while charging or putting lots of files on it, but not any warm levels to be worried about.I was surprised that it came with 2 free cases inside the box. That is very generous by FiiO and the cases do not feel cheap either. A leather or flexible plastic to choose between.I am not an audiophile in anyway, but I feel I accidentally became one. It is quite nice being able to use it as a DAC for my work laptop. It did take a little while to find the right driver to get it working but after that it was easy. Did an audio comparison vs my phone (normal headphones and mp3), phone (EX1 and flac) and the X3iii with the EX1 playing flac. The difference is amazing.Currently trying to find a way to get it to appear on my VW Scirocco's touch screen like my iPod used to do. No luck yet (Still yet to try the MDI to Micro-USB), but currently popping out the microSD into the SD adaptor my car has is doing the job for now.I do not agree with other reviews saying the software is "clunky", I have found it to be very reasonable after updating the firmware, any bugs I had out of the box were easily resolved with a firmware update.It is a shame FiiO does not have any software to manage music and playlists, I have been used to iTunes for 14 years but I am enjoying the step away from that terrible software. It is easy enough to manage the storage on the X3iii.

Like many other reviewers, this purchase came from lots of research following a dead iPod classic. I really like the Fiio, easy to use, perhaps not quiet as intuitive as the iPod but the benefits outweigh the negatives by miles. The sound is incredible, capacity is no issue, and now discovering high res audio is a whole new adventure! No hesitation in recommending, made the right (and a personally important) decision 😀

I am downgrading my review for this. Fiio have mentioned on their forums that there will be no further firmware updates for this device as it has been superseded by the new M9. The device still has many problems .The main being that it cuts a second off the beginning of each song during gapless playback. Fiio have said previously that it would be fixed in a firmware updated but looks like they have abandoned many frustrated customers. No more Fiio devices for me.My original review:I am by no means an audiophile. My 10 year old ipod classic died and I wanted a good replacement. After a lot of research I originally ordered the 2nd Gen but cancelled the order and paid the little extra for this new model.Wow!The difference between listening to this new setup over the ipod is simply mind blowing.The X3 looks amazing, feels amazing in the hand and sounds amazing.The build quality is excellent, it feels solid and a quality piece of kit.As stated earlier I am not an audiophile so will leave the detailed review of the highs,mids etc to the experts, but for me its simply amazing. I can pick out each instrument, the voice quality and bass are amazing.I am not generally one for writing reviews but so impressed with this this thought i had to.I paired it with new 1More Triple driver earphones. After much deliberation as to whether go for the Fiio Ex1ii or the new F5s I couldn't decide between them and on impulse ordered the 1More after so many good reviews.

El sonido es impactante, punto. No se compara ni de lejos con ningun smarthphone o tablet del precio que sea. Lo compare con un iphone y un sony premium. Después de usarlo ya no querras regresar a los reproductores normales.Claro que no ofrece todas las opciones de un smartphone. Tienes que pasar la musica desde una compu o directo a la tarjeta sd, la pantalla es muy pequeña y las reacciones no son inmediatas. No importa, lo que debe hacer, que es reproducir musica con excelente sonido lo hace perfectamente para este rango de precio.Lo prefiero a otros modelos de la marca porque tiene botones, por lo que puedo controlarlo sin tener que ver la pantalla para todo.Lo unico que le falta es poder reproducir musica de algun servicio de streaming, pero como de todas maneras no son archivos en hi res, no se pierde mucho. Si tiene Bluetooth pero no lo uso porque no se compara a conectarlo con cable.Recomiendo formatear la tarjeta sd en el x3, y luego expulsarla para pasarle musica directo a la sd desde la compu, ya que si la pasas mediante el x3 la velocidad es lenta puesto que es usb 2.0.Hasta ahora no tengo ninguna queja.

this is a wow machine

This is a fantastic little machine. My aim was to replace my old iPod 160G that pooped the bed. With prices soaring for old iPod classics, and a veritable unavailability of new high storage iPods I started looking for alternative DAP's and happened upon the Fiio. Granted there are better units out there and there are worse, but for $189 plus a 128 gig mini SD card...its beyond worth it. You're going to need Dapper if loading music from a Mac like I was, and I don't use playlists, I just use random which works more than fine. Dapper gets your whole library in there with all the genre info, album and artist info..all album artwork too. The user interface is totally easy to get used to and it laid out in a pretty intuitive way that anyone who used an iPod can understand in 5 minutes. But the real charm of this unit is in the sound. Compared to an iPod, even with 16bit, MP3"s (this player supports every file under the sun with obviously FLAC and ALAC being ideal) still sound INFINITELY better than an iPod...better "soundstage", bass response, dynamic range, stereo spread. Im very pleased with this purchase, for the money you cannot beat it

Auf der Suche nach einem Wiedergabegerät, welches meine Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H4 mit besserem Klang bespielt, als es ein Smartphone könnte, bin ich auf Fiio gestoßen. Da ich nicht mehrere Hundert Euro für ein Gerät einer mir zu dem Zeitpunkt unbekannten Firma ausgeben wollte, entschied ich mich für den in den Tests gefeierten X3 der 3. Generation. 189€ für einen mobilen Musikplayer, der besser klingt als alle Smartphones, ja auch solche die 1200€ und mehr kosten, schien mir ein faires Angebot zu sein. Bestellt, ausgepackt und sofort zufrieden gewesen. Der Detailreichtum und die Klarheit des Klangs sind für eine mobile Lösung wirklich richtig gut. Das Preis-Leistungsverhältnis ist einfach top.Was bekommt man also für den Preis?- hochwertiges Gehäuse aus Aluminium und Glas- Sound, welcher in dieser Preisklasse unschlagbar ist- Bluetooth 4.1- 10 Stunden Akkulaufzeit- Micro USB-Kabel- Line auf Chinch Adapter- eine Silikon- und eine Lederhülle- 3 Bildschirmschutzfolien- hochwertig anmutende OVP mit BedienungsanleitungAber:- das Gerät besitzt keinen internen Speicher, man benötigt eine Micro-SD-Karte- die Menüführung braucht ab und an ein wenig Bedenkzeit- die Übersetzung ist ausbaufähig- Einstellungen wie der Equalizer funktionieren nicht über BluetoothNatürlich mussten bei diesem Preis Abstriche gemacht werden, jedoch ändert das nichts an dem wirklich guten Preis-Leistungsverhältnis. Die Abstriche lassen die Klangqualität unberührt und könnten stören, aber wem der saubere Klang am wichtigsten ist, der ist mit diesem Gerät richtig beraten.

Le X3 III est intéressant dès le premier contact. On voit tout de suite que la construction est solide et de bon gout. L’interface pourra paraitre austère à certains geeks, mais elle est pratique et il faut seulement quelques minutes pour le prendre en main.Pour la qualité sonore, le X3 III est un pas en avant de plus dans la gamme Fiio. Il est neutre et raffiné et pourra être réglé à la convenance de chaque utilisateur grâce à un égaliseur. Dans l’interprétation, l'âme de la musique est présente et je n’ai pas ressenti cette froideur électronique comme chez certains DAP.Avant de continuer, quelques conseils sur la qualité d’un système audio. C’est le transducteur (qui est la partie électromécanique) et la qualité de l'enregistrement qui vont être les principaux déterminants de la qualité sonore. Alors inutile de mettre de l’argent dans ce X3 III si vous écoutez du MP3 à 128 kbit/s, la moindre des choses sera de lui fournir du 320 kbit/s et, bien mieux, des fichiers haute résolution. Selon moi, le choix du casque est la part principale qui va définir la qualité sonore finale et c'est là que l'on devrait dépenser la plus grande partie du budget. Toutefois, il y a parfois des petits miracles de rapport qualité-prix dans les casques, tel le Takstar HI2050 ou le Philips SHP9500, entre autres, qui valent en résultat sonore, quatre fois leurs prix, donc il faut chercher, écouter, et ne pas hésiter à se tourner vers l’occasion, un Hifiman HE400 ou un Sennheiser HD 650 se trouvent pour environ 250 euros et enterrent la plupart des casques coûtants le double.Mais, après cette parenthèse, je reviens au X3 III. Au chapitre des regrets, car la perfection n’est pas de ce monde, je déplore l’abandon de la prise de sortie séparée alors que le X3 II l’avait, il me semble, et aussi l’abandon de la bonne roue mécanique d’antan, au profit d’une sensitive qui est plus difficile de maîtriser. Autre point négatif la vitesse de transfert lente en direct USB il vaut mieux enlever la carte micro SD et la brancher sur un adaptateur pour transférer sa musique. Et comme je suis exigeant… un potentiomètre de volume m’aurait bien plu…Un petit mot sur la firme Fiio… Elle possède un net avantage sur les autres marques de DAP en ce qui concerne la gestion des firmware. Chez Fiio ils sont très actifs et tiennent compte des avis des utilisateurs pour apporter des modifications et des corrections. Par exemple le premier X1 a fait l’objet de 7 mises à jour dont la dernière alors que le nouveau modèle mark 2 était en vente depuis longtemps, cette dernière mise à jour a apporté, entre autres, une nouvelle interface de couleur superbe. Un message posté sur le site et la réponse vient dans les 48 heures, ça, ce n’est pas courant !Pour terminer, le Fiio X3 III est un choix facile, surtout à ce tarif. C’est probablement le meilleur rapport qualité-prix de la gamme Fiio.