{"id":127394,"date":"2021-04-01T05:45:48","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T04:45:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techweekmag.com\/?p=127394"},"modified":"2024-04-08T16:48:19","modified_gmt":"2024-04-08T16:48:19","slug":"fiio-x1ii-review-excellent-budget-player-with-good-sound-and-great-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/hi-fi\/fiio-x1ii-review-excellent-budget-player-with-good-sound-and-great-design\/","title":{"rendered":"FiiO X1II : Excellent budget player with good sound and great design"},"content":{"rendered":"

FiiO players are familiar to audiophiles, and we have tested them more than once (M9 and M11 models). Older models are good for everyone, but they have one feature: they are quite expensive. If you are not sure that you have perfect hearing, pay $400. for the playback device, of course, it’s a pity. For this case, there are more budget models, the difference in the sound of which (compared to Hi-Res) most of us will not feel.
\nFiiO X1II is one of those.<\/p>\n

This is the\u00a0second generation of the\u00a0base player from FiiO, which has appeared not so long ago.\u00a0Updating models is, in principle, a common thing for manufacturers.\u00a0Although there is a nuance here: it is necessary to take into account all the comments of the previous generation, work on them, but at the same time maintain the price attractiveness.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taking into account the wishes …<\/h2>\n

FiiO X1 was upgraded according to this principle.\u00a0If its size has hardly changed compared to the first generation, the difference in design is clearly visible.\u00a0First of all, the player has become more comfortable in the hand – its side edges are now rounded.\u00a0On the front panel, which is completely covered with glass, there are five buttons – one calls up the menu, the second returns to the previous screen, two more are responsible for switching tracks.\u00a0The central one, as before, serves to select an item and confirm an action.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

The second generation FiiO X1\u00a0got rid of the mechanical ring around the center key – it became touch-sensitive.\u00a0Is it good or bad?\u00a0We are sure there will be apologists for pure “mechanics”, but the trend towards touch controls cannot be ignored.\u00a0After all, such a panel is usually more reliable than complex mechanics.<\/p>\n

In practice, we liked working with the touch ring, although from habit it is easy to miss when choosing the desired item or track.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

All connectors are now concentrated on the bottom panel: 3.5 mm audio output, microUSB for charging and a memory card slot.\u00a0The volume rocker and the on \/ off button of the device remained on the left side.\u00a0To protect the device from scratches, the manufacturer adds a transparent silicone case to the kit.\u00a0This solution is much more aesthetically pleasing than the previous rubber cover “with straps”.\u00a0By the way, the body is completely metal, which is also nice considering the low cost of the player.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Another important innovation is the emergence of the Bluetooth module.\u00a0There was a time when manufacturers of high-quality audio equipment assumed the use of exclusively wired headphones.\u00a0But the difference in the sound of wired and wireless “ears” gradually became minimal, so wireless communication actively penetrates into audiophile gadgets.<\/p>\n

From an iron point of view, the changes are not so noticeable.\u00a0Instead of the PCM5241 DAC, the more advanced PCM5242 is used here, the amplifier is implemented on the basis of the ISL28291 chip.\u00a0The maximum audio resolution in WAV and Aiff formats is 192 kHz \/ 32 bit (for ALAC \/ FLAC – 24 bit).\u00a0The range of reproducible frequencies is more than sufficient – 5 Hz – 60 kHz.\u00a0All major audio formats are supported, of course – except perhaps AptX.<\/p>\n

Customize to taste<\/h2>\n

We tested the player with FiiO FH1 hybrid headphones – also, I must say, relatively inexpensive, but of high quality.\u00a0When listening to audio, you should start by adjusting the 7-band equalizer.\u00a0As usual, it has several presets, as well as the ability to manually adjust the frequencies.\u00a0With the “correct” position of the sliders, the music starts to sound completely different.<\/p>\n

As we expected, lossless tracks sound neutral, without obvious kinks.\u00a0The instrumental parts in classical concerts are well discernible, the vocals are quite expressive and stand out quite well from the accompaniment.<\/p>\n

Of course, with the plugs, we lacked bass, so we connected the wireless Marshall Major 3 – at the same time we also checked the Bluetooth.\u00a0Then everything became normal with the bass, at the same time they recorded the fact that there were practically no delays in playback.\u00a0They rarely happen when switching tracks, but not so noticeable as to be annoying.\u00a0And, of course, for those who are used to listening to music on smartphones, the screen may seem small, and the touch selection wheel may seem too sensitive.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h3>\n

FiiO has got an excellent budget player in the FiiO X1II, with good sound and nice design. The lack of its own memory and support for AptX could be attributed to the shortcomings, but for devices of this price category this is more of a feature. As for the touch wheel – here, as they say, the taste and color … Someone will like it, someone will ask to return the mechanics. The unambiguous advantages include good sound with the ability to fine tune, a durable metal case with a silicone case included and a large margin of autonomy (about 12 hours).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FiiO players are familiar to audiophiles, and we have tested them more than once (M9 and M11 models). Older models are good for everyone, but they have one feature: they are quite expensive. If you are not sure that you have perfect hearing, pay $400. for the playback device, of course, it’s a pity. For […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":127399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[642],"tags":[778],"class_list":{"0":"post-127394","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hi-fi","8":"tag-reviews"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=127394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/127394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/127399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=127394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=127394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stereoindex.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=127394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}