Fiio vs. iPod

Cool. Definitely curious to hear your opinion on it.

As much as Fiio gets flak for their UI in their older devices, I didn't find it a huge curve from the iPod. I knew it wouldn't be Apple levels of intuitive (and even Apple is slipping there these days), but it's not too bad for all that. The only weird aspects are things like gapless playback that aren't set to default out of the box. Minor quibbles.

About the only things I wish it could incorporate are play count logging and the ability to sort artists and albums in a more intuitive fashion. Particularly between two cards, it'd be nice if I could use the category browse feature and get things sorted in a way that made sense to me. That said, my directory structure is already pretty stringent, so having the option to browse in that way suits me just fine.

 

Glad to have found this thread. I recently bought a new MacBook Pro that I need to break out of the box and on an absolute whim, I picked up a Fiio 3X this morning for $137 at Fry's. Add to that a 128 GB Samsung card for another $37 and I felt as if it would be worth a shot to develop a long-term replacement for my current iPod 160.

That said, I have read/skimmed this entire thread and have a couple/few questions. My apologies if I missed the answers previously.

1) Part of the appeal of the Fiio is the ability to switch cards. Currently, I'm running separate iTunes libraries to accomplish this with a vintage 60GB version housing my classical/jazz/new age/holiday collections. Am I correct in presuming that I can accomplish the same thing (and more) by simply managing libraries on various SD cards? If so, does anyone have any advice in doing so or is it pretty basic?

2) Depending on which library I use to manage music (at least a couple have been mentioned), is it as simple as dragging folders from the current iTunes libraries into the new programs?

3) Output/playback. How is this accomplished? I assume the Fiio doesn't dock like an iPod which would render those all-in-one speaker/dock thingamajigs useless. Regular jack for headphones? Bluetooth? Car connectivity?

Any advice in furthering this conversation is most appreciated. I haven't even opened the darned thing yet, preferring to research a bit more before doing so...and still need to open up the new computer. I figure it might be a good time to start fresh on all fronts.

Thanks again everyone, and particularly to Runicen for your contributions.

 

I'm not sure if this is workable for you but I just manage the folders on the sd cards and don't use syncing software; but then it is just artist and album folders that I use. It works fine for me, just copy and paste. I usually use a card reader which is faster than connecting the player.

 

It sure sounds workable for me, thanks for the tip!

 

Not to get you to spend more money but the X5ii has two card slots and now that the X5iii is out it seems to be getting cheaper. Only saying that in case you missed it and can return the X3. So far I only have to manage 2 cards A-J, K-Z.

 

Two cards at once is certainly an attractive option but correct me if I'm wrong, switching things up is as easy(?) as swapping a card???

 

So tempted to pick this up with two 256gb sdcards. But not much of my collection is Flac or WAV and I really enjoy playlists.

Someome mentioned the cost coming down ... where?

 

Yep. You just load/manage the cards separately. Heck put all your jazz/rock on one and classical/pop on the other, it doesn't care. If you use Folder view, or rely on the folder structure if you will (no genre or song search possible for example) ... you load your cards, turn it on, and treat it like a hard drive (in the X5ii case you switch between the two drives)... then just drill into an album, hit the first song, bing bam boom audio heaven.

If you want more search options in Caregory View (the Genre, Song searches I mentioned) you just update your Media Library as you make card changes.

I would point out that the X5ii and I assume the X3 relies on the file name for the song name you see displayed on the player... your tags don't drive that. Everything you read on the internet will tell you that the tag names for songs will show up correctly in the Now Playing mode, but I doubt you will ever use that mode. No biggie, if your file names are not up to snuff or their view on the player is bothering you, there are plenty of solutions where with one click you can rename your file names from your tags; so just ask.

To summarize I think you will like the FiiO coming from the ipod so the trick is ask here if you are stumped.

 

Although I'm late to the discussion I will add the following since it seems appropriate to the question: For Walkman players, Sony has a small program called Content Transfer that acts as a go between between iTunes and their Walkman players. You start Content Transfer and it will open a window on your desktop, then you connect your Walkman. When you drag and drop iTunes items (such as songs and playlists) into the Content Transfer window, it will load them on your Walkman.

 

Because you're operating on Mac, my exact method won't work for you, but I use MusicBee to sync to my cards. Unless this has since been patched, the only way iTunes used to log play counts on iPods was if the tracks were included in a synced playlist. So, that being the case, each iPod I owned had its own single playlist which was the only object I told iTunes to sync to it - as a result filling the device.

I kept this method for my Fiio and have two sets of two MicroSD cards for it - one set for new music and one set for sort of a "greatest hits" set I use for a shuffled listen in the car. Each card has its own playlist in MusicBee and, on inserting the card into my USB 3.0 card reader, MusicBee registers each card as a device. The volume label on each card is "remembered" by the program, which means it maintains my sync settings, including the playlist designated for each card.

So, while MusicBee is not a mac-compatible program, any program that can sync to an external device should allow you to use this process.

As to your question about dragging folders, I'm assuming you mean from file windows rather than from iTunes itself. If that's the case, you should be fine. I don't believe you'll be able to use iTunes itself for it as it only syncs to iOS devices.

The playback side of the Fiio is pretty simple. It has a line out jack that you can use with a standard "AUX" input on most car stereos and any "all in one" docks that include that kind of input (be VERY sure never to plug your headphones into that one). There isn't any wireless capability on the X3 (though the new X1 and new X5 do have Bluetooth if memory serves).

I think that covers the bases. I'll definitely second the recommendation to use a card reader rather than the internal file transfer on the device. For whatever reason, it's mind-numbingly slow.

Yep. I even insist on compulsively updating the library every time I swap the cards in my X5 and two 200gb cards take under 5 minutes to update, so you can swap them, set the thing to update and then grab your coat and keys while it finishes up.

$239.00 with free shipping

FiiO X5 II Portable High Resolution Music Player 192K/24B 2nd Generation Black | eBay

There is a setting on the X3 and X5 (can't speak to the others) to display "Title" rather than "File Name" on the now playing screen. Not sure if that's what you were referring to though.

 

Recognizing I only have X5ii experience, yes I agree with that setting, but it is only available in the Now Playing Screen (which I don't find is a very useful screen). If you rely on Category View or Folder View you are left with relying on filename. It is also worth pointing out, which I didn't earlier, your file names better have track numbers starting the file name or your album won't sort in Category View or Folder View. Likewise if you don't already combine multiple disc albums into one, you will have to adjust your file numbering format to account for this. The overall point I wanted to make is, after making some file name adjustments, everything is quite workable for me in Category View or Folder View, so if anyone runs into these issues don't panic there are fixes.

 

Just got an X1 Gen2 and am quite happy with it so far. I bought this mainly for listening in the car since I have ripped most of my cds into flac. Adding songs into a playlist needs some getting used to but isn't really so bad once you get the hang of it.

 

Fiio here with two X1 mkI's and a X3 mk 1 and a good number of microsd cards with 16 and 24 bit flac content. Simple to use daps, not quite start of art interfaces but pretty intuitive with excellent quality at the respective price points. Delighted with mine.

 

Oh, I should probably mention this, having fought with it to help a friend with their Fiio...

If transferring playlists to a Fiio device, make sure the playlists use "relative" file paths. In MusicBee, there's a specific setting for this in sync settings that I'd neglected to check. Needless to say, without it selected, the playlists are useless.

 

I want to thank everyone who responded to my questions. I ended up returning the X3 today as my 30 day window to do so was up. There was a simple reason for doing so. I want an X5iii. Seems nothing docks anymore, it's all BT. As such, I'm sold on how much really cool stuff I can do with a Fiio but will save some pennies in order to pick up the newest model which has BT capability at a later date.

 

Have you tried the Bluetooth with your 2nd gen X1?

 

Has anyone tried the new EX1 2nd gen headphones with their Fiio X player?
EX1 2nd Gen Titanium Diaphragm In-Ear Monitors: Amazon.ca: Electronics

 

I started using my old 64GB 4th Generation Ipod Touch again. The home button broke years ago and I've had to rely on a floating home icon on the screen. My new Toyota Rav4 wouldn't play my FiiO X3 Gen2 player but an Ipod can connect to the audio system and it displays the cover art and track information. I forgot how much I like the Ipod. The bigger screen with the album art displayed is nice. And easily making playlists. I can't tell any difference between the Ipod and FiioX player with headphones.

 

I've gone back to using my iPod Touch 6G 128gb. I just like that it's thinner and as stated above, the larger screen. I'm not listening with a high-end setup so good enough for me. Just wish it had more storage space.

 

Some help is needed for me to make a decision. I'm new to this forum but I noticed that this is probably the most well researched thread in the iPod Classic vs Fiio Arena. I'm hung up on whether I should get the iPod Classic on the Ebay for around $350 with 256GB internal SSD and 3000 MAH battery or go for something like the Fiio X3 II or X5II and accept shorter battery life with better sound quality. The reason I am still leaning towards the iPod Classic is the fact a 3000 MAH battery can run the unit passed 100 hours and the X3 II can only go for around 10 hours. Is the sounds quality really worth that much more on the Fiios and is the sound quality on the iPod Classic adequate and acceptable enough?

I've got an iPhone 7 Plus with 256Gb and I'm burned out of using it for music. I did miss my old classic iPod which is why I'm revisiting this topic. I did read clear through this thread and I'm new to the forum. Any help is appreciated!?

Nate

 

Welcome to the forum. I can't help with which sq is better but it might help to let everyone know what headphones you use. The only other thing to add is that the X5II takes two micro sd cards, so for me that is 400GB; that and given you can switch out cards on the road, you are pretty much set storage wise. That is more important to me than anything much beyond 10 hours in battery life but then even on the longest flights I doubt I'd listen to music for 10 hours. The x5ii are now down to about $240 now if that matters. I find it is a solid little player and matches real well with my etymotic ER4 XRs.

 

A lot depends on how your files are ripped, like are they MP3 or lossless like FLAC or ALAC since it is an Ipod. The big advantage to the Fiio models besides storage is their ability to play pretty much any format be it DSD MP3 FLAC at almost any bit rate etc. Both sound good but if all your music is already ripped to an Apple friendly format the Ipod would make more sense.

 

Good point on the file type, I should have asked what was being used as maybe with lossy files one wouldn’t need as much storage; but if one is chasing the best sound quality, the quicker one gets to lossless files the better for the long run, and the two sd card slots make working with lossless files much easier to live with out on the road.

 

I own the Fiio x3 2nd gen...X5 2nd and 3rd gen models...vey pleased and happy with the sound and UI. I also like the idea of being able to swap the micro sd cards with far more storage than my iPod Classic...and the cards are quite affordable.
BTW my favourite model of the three is the X5 2nd gen....swapping cards on the X5 3rd gen is cumbersome.

 

I have a Fiio X1. I don't have many complaints, besides that playlists are a huge chore sometimes and it can glitch on a rare occasion. I'm not really a playlist person, so that never bothered me. 128gb is a good amount of space!