Marco Angelo D'Souza
Fiio has been making stellar players for years. The Fiio X5 hi-res digital audio player priced at Rs 25,999 is able to handle a variety of audio file formats besides MP3, including WAV, APE, AAC, WMA, ALAC and 24-bit/192KHz FLAC lossless files.
The body of Fiio X5 is of ostensibly aviation-quality aluminium that is CNC hewn and weighs 195gms. On the front of the device is a 400x360 IPS screen, an iPod-esque scroll wheel around a center button, and four buttons that control the interface.
The scroll wheel is responsive, but had a little too much play in the travel: it should have been firmer. Also, navigating the user interface is something that takes getting used to and isn’t very intuitive. Each of the buttons have two modes of use; a long press and a short press function. And the buttons having no labels further exacerbates the situation.
It’s the kind of device for which you need to read the manual--not something that regular users can easily figure out by just playing around with it.
Up top is a 3.5mm headphone socket, a line out, a coaxial digital out and the power button. Volume control buttons are on the left at the top, easy to access when held. At the bottom are two microSD card slots, each of which can take a 128GB card.
A micro USB connector (the kind of most Android phones use) doubles as a charging and computer interface port. It has silicone casing that does an excellent job of sheathing the device from bumps and nicks, while allowing complete access to the ports and buttons.
The device’s 3700mAH built-in battery is hefty enough to take it through about 12 hours of continuous playback.
We spent hours listening to a range of audio formats (MP3s at 160Kbps upwards to 24-bit/192Kbps FLAC lossless) and genres (retro, classical, jazz and classic rock). Undoubtedly, this device’s superior audio hardware renders audio with the utmost fidelity, and at power levels that are comfortably able to drive even full-sized studio headphones. We listened using Audio Technica ATH-M40X over-the-ear studio headphones, and the experience was sublime.
Fiio X5 is, unequivocally, a high-quality portable audio player. It has many things going for it: stellar music playback capability, top-of-the-line construction (there is the scroll wheel thing, but it’s thankfully minor), upto 256GB of storage, a long-play battery and the ability to be used as a dedicated DAC. If you want a no-holds-barred, high-definition music listening experience and are not willing to skimp on price, this should be your weapon of choice. Remember to pair it with a good set of headphones though.
