[General Accessories] vectron:
Dual-mode operation.

I already mentioned that FiiO found a way to overcome Sample Rate Conversion (SRC) enforced by Android OS. As a result, their Music app utilizes its own driver to communicate with ESS9018 DAC without SRC handicap. But you still have to deal with a burden of Android OS system running in the background and all the corresponding processes and apps, some of which are not easy to disable manually. This will contribute to excessive battery drain and taking away CPU resources, especially when dealing with decoding of hi-res lossless audio formats.

To mitigate this problem, FiiO came up with a dual mode operation where you can boot up X7 into a regular Android Mode with everything loaded at the startup or a Pure Music mode where FiiO Music app is loaded as a default Launcher and you can't exit into a regular Android interface. This Pure Music mode is highly optimized to load only specific drivers/processes required to run their native music app and nothing else besides it. This dual boot switch could be accessed from notification bar or in a setting menu, just keep in mind after making a selection - you will need to reboot X7. Also, if you want to upgrade firmware, you need to boot up into Android Mode. In summary, Pure Music mode turns X7 into a touch screen DAP running one specific FiiO Music app without access to internet, streaming, or anything else associated with it, though you can still enable BT for wireless listening.

Android mode is you typical full mode where you can install and run different apps and widgets. But, there is a limitation to that as well. X7 doesn't support Google Play store and as a result you will have to side load apps (apk files) except for those which do require Google Play for registration. To make things a little easier, FiiO included a folder with "whitelisted" apps to download directly to X7. The list is limited, so you better off Googling for some of your favorite apk install files. One thing to keep in mind, the performance of X7 is optimized in Pure Music mode with their native Music app. In Android mode this optimization is out of the window. It's convenient to run your streaming apps, like Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, etc., but battery drain is rather noticeable. One thing for sure, I wouldn't recommend putting FiiO Music audio widget on the screen because it drains battery like crazy.

I think implementation of Pure Music mode was a great idea, though FiiO music app is still work in progress. In Android mode – you’re faced with a typical Android "smartphone" performance where battery drain will be a quick reminder that you are no longer dealing with a dedicated DAP. But now you can run streaming services or load another audio player app. Luckily, you can gain back the performance by switching to Pure Music mode where I was able to keep X7 in idle for 2 days and 3 hours.

With Spotify / HibyMusic

FiiO Music app.

I'm sure by now you realized the importance of FiiO Music player app - it's your gateway to an optimized X7 performance and to get the best of ESS9018 DAC. Yes, you can boot up in Android mode and use any of your favorite music app and I guarantee it will sound great with your 320kbps mp3 or FLACs, but for a true audio purist who demands the best - FiiO native Music player app is the way to go.

Unlike a number of other people, I don't have a huge library of hi-res music with numerous albums collected over the years. I'm still a certified EDM-head who listens to a lot of separate tracks. Also, I have a collection of carefully selected tracks from various genres I use to analyze performance of audio equipment I review. That is a reason I usually don't lose my sleep over improperly tagged files which is a must for those who rely on a proper sorting of the songs/albums. As a result of my listening habit, I have a lot of loose songs and often organize them by partitioning into folders. Thus, I usually focus on the usability of the app in terms of a general song/folder navigation and playback.

With all that in mind, my personal opinion about FiiO Music app is actually not that bad, though it's not as intuitive and requires some learning curve. Upon start up you have the first screen with a last played track in the upper 1/3rd of the partitioned screen - you can flicker to skip the song or use hardware transport control to hit play button to start playback. Underneath, you have a selection to access Favorite playlist, Folders, or DLNA streaming. Right below it you can access either Recently Played or Most Played songs. Clicking on artwork of the track thumbnail at the top will bring up the main Playback screen.

Going into Folders link brings up another screen with Local Music list where you have more choices to scroll through All the songs, sort by Artist, sort by Album, sort by Genre, and access Local folders. While making a selection through these choices, you have a narrow playback bar at the bottom with a thumbnail artwork of the currently playing song, scrolling name, and Play/Pause and Skip buttons. Clicking on that playback bar opens up the main Playback screen as well. I found going through All the songs and Folders to be more useful for my style of song browsing. But it gets a little confusing now between the first start up screen and this second navigation screen, where in my opinion they have to be combined - list of Favorite songs should be part of the sorting choices. Also, in the Folder view, I don't want to see every single Android OS folder, but would prefer to select and to display only the folder where I store my music locally and on micro-SD card.

The main Playback screen is where things start to shape up to my liking! In top half of the screen you have area to view artwork of the song or a default image if artwork is not available. Tapping it once shows embedded lyrics (if available, and a new setup icon where you can scroll or change the font size), tapping second time brings up info about the song. This part of the screen also has in the upper left corner an icon to bring you back to the first original screen of the app (why?) and in the upper right corner a search icon. In the middle you have a playback progress bar with a scrolling song name and at the left edge of it index number of a song and a total number of songs in the current playback folder. Swiping screen left-to-right brings out a list of all the songs in the currently playing folder, and swiping playback progress bar will fast forward through the song.

Lower part of the screen has Playback and other Control buttons. In the middle you have Play/Pause with a current playback time above it. To the left of it you have icon to access Graphic EQ, turn BT on/off, change playback loop mode, and Skip back. To the right of it you have Heart icon to tag song as Favorite, an icon to access more option to provide a detailed info about the song or to delete the song, icon to add the song to your Playlist, and Skip forward button. By holding a finger along the right edge of the screen brings up a volume slider menu to adjust the volume. In EQ screen, you have access to 10-band equalizer, actually with a very nice graphic representation in the upper part of the screen. Lower part of the screen has access to 5 band sliders with +/- 12dB adjustment, but there is no frequency label to indicate which band you are adjusting - this has to be fixed because it gets confusing when you flip to the next 5-bands and don't know which band you are adjusting. You can see the graphical representation of the adjustment, but you doing it blindly because sliders don't have a frequency indicator. Sliding finger up brings up 8 EQ presents (genre related) and 1 custom preset. All 8 pre-defined presets could be adjusted further. Also, on the main playback screen there is no indicator of EQ selection, something I would like to see being implemented in future updates.

In my opinion, FiiO Music app has a lot of potentials and considering it's still a work in progress - I will continue to look forward to more updates. Flexibility of Android interface opens up a door to shape this music app to perfection where sky is the limit. Yes, it is still work in progress, but I have a hope that progress will pick up soon, the way how I have seen it with sound tuning improvement.

Sound Analysis.

Often people get a dedicated DAP because they are not happy with audio performance of their smartphones, and then they realize they miss streaming capability and touch control of their phone and decide to look for usb DAC stack. With X7 you have a chance for a dedicated DAP with touch controls and streaming capability and different amp modules – all integrated in one compact design. FiiO is known for their budget oriented products where their DAPs usually considered having mid-fi performance. X7 is a big step up, nearly doubling the price of their previous X5ii flagship with high expectations to determine if FiiO was able to finally cross the threshold of summit-fi performance.

When I received X7 with its initial beta FW release, I was a little bit disappointed. Not necessary because it sounded so bad, but rather because I set my expectations very high. I didn't feel that sound was on a level of summit-fi performance. I quickly attributed that to a beta firmware and a default IEM module, assuming that fw is still work in progress and amp module will be updated with different versions. Following that, a few more fw updates were released and I started to notice an improvement. But not until the last FW 1.1 update I realized that FiiO means serious business and finally started to unlock a true potential of the ESS9018 DAC paired up with their IEM amp module.

Based on the latest FW 1.1, I'm hearing X7 to have a neutral and slightly warmish signature with a very clear and detailed sound. It doesn't necessary strike you with analytical micro-detailing, but it definitely leans more toward a more revealing sound signature. The layering and separation is pretty good (improvement over the initial fw release), sound never gets congested, but the transparency is not at the highest reference level and I actually hear a little thickness in a sound, thus my reference to a slightly warmish signature contributed by a fuller body of lower mids and some noticeable impact of lower end. Soundstage width/depth/height is slightly above the average where sound has a more intimate feeling, yet placement of instruments is still very convincing.

Based on what I hear across different headphones, I find X7 to have an excellent impact and speed at the lower end and a decent extension. Bass is well controlled and that is one of the reasons why I hear such a high level of clarity and details because bass is confined without spilling into mids. Lower mids give some nice thickness to a body of the sound, but they are not too thick. Upper mids are full of details, but not too analytical, treble is clear and has a nice definition without contributing to sibilance.

Describing a DAP by itself is not always helpful, thus I prefer to include a relative comparison to some of my other DAPs to give an idea how it stacks up against the competition.

X7 vs PAW Gold - LPG is more neutral, soundstage wider/deeper, I hear more transparency in the sound, while layering and separation is similar.

X7 vs L5Pro - similar neutral-warmish sig, L5P soundstage is a little wider, other than that sound is very similar in layering/separation, even matching the dynamics. But overall L5P sound is tighter and a little faster.

X7 vs AK120ii – AK has a very similar neutral-warmish sig, soundstage is a little wider, bass has a touch more impact, but everything else is very close in performance.

X7 vs QA360 - 360 is slightly brighter (leaner lower mids), soundstage is wider/deeper, mid-bass has slightly more impact; overall sound of 360 is a little smoother.

X7 vs LP5 Gold – similar sound signature, LP5G has a little wider/deeper soundstage, more transparency and faster speed, and slightly better layering and separation, but the gap is not that wide.

X7 vs N6 - N6 is a little brighter (neutral-bright), soundstage is a little wider, very similar dynamic sound and separation/layering. The bigger difference is that N6 sounds a little leaner in comparison. X7 has more body and sounds more musical.

X7 vs X5ii - X7 has a fuller sound with more body, also more natural tonality. Soundstage is rather similar. X7 sound is a little more dynamic, and has a slightly better separation/layering of a sound.

To test the DAC output of X7, I connected LO to different external amps.

w/E12A - a great pair up where the sound is very close to HO of X7, but w/E12A you get a little more transparency. Makes me wish FiiO would have used MUSE02 amp in their IEM module.

w/VE Runabout - excellent pair up, improves dynamics, improves width/depth, sound becomes more transparent, layering/separation is also improved.

w/HA-2 - nice pair up, improves soundstage depth, also makes sound a little bit warmer (adds more body to lower mids).

w/C5 - nice pair up, improves soundstage width/depth, also makes sound a little bit warmer.

For those who are wondering if they should get X7 or external USB DAC to pair up with their smartphone, I tested N4 with HA-2 to find:

X7 vs Note 4 w/HA-2 - X7 sound has a little more transparency and sounds a little tighter, otherwise a very similar performance.

Pair up with different headphones.

Though you have option to select high/low gain, I found the sound in high gain to have more energy and to be more dynamic. Thus all my headphone testing was done with X7 set in high gain, and I also indicated a volume level for each. Not every pair up turned out as I expected.

ES60 (35/120) - some hissing, nice clean detailed sound, good low end expansion, good transparency.

ZEN (83/120) - high gain is the way to go with these 320 ohm earbuds, though X7 doesn't drive them to a full potential, especially when it comes to bass which lost a little bit of weight/body and sound is a little mellow (not as fast or tight).

Savant (49/120) - very clear detailed smooth sound, modest sub-bass quantity (sub-bass rumble is there), excellent soundstage expansion, nice transparency.

W60 (45/120) - smooth warm detailed sound, a bit more on a laidback side, missing a little bit of speed.

UM Pro 50 (42/120) - deep bass impact, nice smooth detailed sound, good dynamics, missing a bit of sparkle at the top.

DN2kJ (52/120) – not the best pair up with these 8 ohm IEMs; bass missing some sub-bass texture and upper mids/treble a bit too revealing/harsh.

MSR7 (56/120) - excellent pair up, clear detailed sound, good soundstage expansion, nice transparency and great retrieval of details.

PM-3 (70/120) – excellent pair up, drives them with authority! nice punchy bass, good soundstage depth, clear detailed sound.

EL-8C (80/120) - doesn't drive it to full potential, bass is not as tight and missing sub-bass texture and treble has a little bit of metallic sheen, sound is a bit thin.

R70x (95/120) - excellent pair up with these open back 470 ohm cans, clear detailed sound, excellent transparency, but pushing it closer to X7 max driving limit.

Conclusion.

It’s hard to evaluate X7 as a finished product because I didn’t get a chance to test different amp modules and the firmware is still work in progress, but so far it shows a lot of potential. As a matter of fact I was very impressed with the progress of sound improvement from the day I received X7 to the latest FW1.1 update. At $650 it still represents a great value considering high performance desktop quality DAC, wireless connection with access to streaming services, modular amp design, and touch screen interface. More work needs to be done to finish their Music app and probably to optimize DAC performance with new amp modules, as well as a desperate need for a good case. But if you take into consideration this is their first Android-based release, I think it turned out pretty good! Just like with a classic X5 and their mechanical wheel introduced and later improved throughout X1/X3ii/X5ii releases, FiiO is breaking their own new grounds with X7 release which I’m sure will get only better moving forward toward their ultimate goal of setting the World on FiiO-R!