FiiO X7 Mark II Portable High Definition Audio and MP3 Player – 384 KHz/64 bit – Bluetooth 4.1 APTX – Touch Wheel for Navigation

Here's the 3rd edit I do to my review:Firstly, I have upgraded my rating to 5 stars from 4 and initially 2. The first time I ordered it I got the SD card stuck in the slot, since I didn't realise I had to use the tray. Fiio did tell me that I could order tweezers to remove it, but I gave up, instead and sent it back, furious that Fiio didn't provide substantial documentation and I had assumed it was the same as my X5II... Then I decided to try again, based on a YouTube review of it. Second time went much better. First thing is to head off to Fiio web site and look up the FAQ.. watch some YouTube clips too to get you familiarized. That done, I'd check for latest firmware (which mine came with thanks to excellent AVShop). This player resembles a bulky phone running Android, and uses an App to play your flac / mp3 / dsd files. The App is not pretty, but does the job. This machine sounds better than my X5 Gen 2, Quite convincingly it gives a more relaxed and natural sound. It's two notches higher in terms of sonic quality. It's a better, less fatiguing experience than my X5II. The sound-stage is certainly bigger, and I hear a fatter sound.. bass is smooth, not overdone, yet present. The treble is really excellent in transparency and body of sound. There's a rudimentary Equaliser that you can tweak, and some software (you have to pay for ?) that can tweak your reverb and tone. Not used that yet. I started with my Bose Quiet Comfort 25 headphones... a fair result, but my Sennheiser Momentum over ears are more punchy (they were unexpectedly harsh with my X5II... or was it the X5II itself to blame?) and complement the laid back sound of the Fiio. I gather headphones with balanced cables will likely take it up another level. I am a qualified Professional Violinist with sensitive ears, and my HiFi is reasonably high end (Arcam DAC and 2 amplifiers, Atlas, B&W) so it's great I found a portable player that satisfies me. I can't hear a difference in 24-bit 96k or 192k files compared to 16-bit Audio but I'm sure this is because 16-bit flacs are upsampled in the machine. DSD audio does sound good, especially the silence in between notes !Below is my original review... I was so lost and cross when this gadget arrived... you do need a degree in micro-surgery to fit the SD card into the tray (okay maybe just small fingers will do and good eyesight). Anyone over 50 get a youngster to fit it. Anyway, I'm past that hurdle.Here's my original review : Removed Micro SD from X5 and inserted into X7 II ; wrong ! it uses a tray now the card is stuck.Thanks Fiio, an English manual, or "Getting Started" would have been nice to warn me... no such luck.Sending it back. This cost me a lot of frustration and I never got started. Startup time horrible (from Cold which you'd rarely do)

On sound quality alone 5 stars, however software lets it down quite badly, the fiio music app is so frustrating after 4 days I was looking for an alternative, settled on neutron a bit pricey for an app but was the best I tried,battery life could be better but it's not a deal breaker,wi fi and Bluetooth work fine but I don't use these much, another minor niggle it takes a while to turn on and boot up, but after 3 months I've gotten used to it but it might bug others, it's also alot more sturdy than I was expecting helped by the 2 cases it comes with, a clear silicone one and a nice faux leather with red stitching it also comes with a coaxial adapter and a cable for charging and data transfer. It's fairly idiot proof to use it won't take long to get the hang of.I strongly suggest you read the thread on headfi it goes into a lot more details about it's sound and the pros and cons of the device.

Crashes often and requires restarting the device in order for it play music again, the 1 second crossfade trick does work for some of the time. Wifi/bluetooth causes distortion and blip noises in the playback, as does any wifi/mobile device near by (no shielding on the dac/amp?). Stopping and starting playback makes a loud pop noise. Battery doesn't last a full day. Disconnecting from the K5 dock causes it to shutdown even if you press the cancel button as per the message on the screen.All round an annoying over priced DAPEdit: after a few months of trying to use this DAP, in the hopes that an update would resolve the issues (no updates), all the music apps I've tried from the Play store, Spotify (offline storage doesn't work), Tidal, and Soundcloud, crash after approx 8-10 tracks even with the crossfade trick. Also there is no support and Amazon just shows "This item isn’t eligible for product support.". Nice waste of £600 + docking station etc

I feel I need to address the one star reviews,some of which seem to be based on the original x7 which is simply inappropriate. The x7 is a superb device but had many teething problems which required several firmware updates. If you stuck with it then it’s still one of the very best devices out there. The x7ii is even better and,so far,no firmware issues. Prior to buying I auditioned the Astell and Kern 70 Mark 2 ,the Onkyo and a top end Sony. All superb,I would be proud to own any of them. The Onkyo and Sony have far better UI and are so easy to use,the Astell and this the slightly better sound. The FiiO won for me as it’s so versatile. You can buy the Fiio dock,headphone amplifier,remote,connect to active speakers via optical as well as other means. You can even change the amp modes although the one supplied ticks most boxes.In effect a FiiO have devised a system that replaces your hi fi and is portable to boot. I love this device,the look,feel,quality of sound are all first rate. One recommendation,download something like Neutron as your music app. FiiO music is good,but so slow when adding or scanning music.

Superb Soundstage, superb clarity and channel seperation....best music player I have ever owned.....BUT the player hangs a lot....have to restart it almost every hour of listening even after system update....very very annoying....missed the return window otherwise would have swapped.

So I have had this DAP for around 7 months now I guess. I have always been happy with the sound quality but the software was at times very problematic for me. It did not necessarily store the albums in the right order, the pictures were often wrong and it very annoyingly it often cut out the first few seconds of a selected song.These problems seem to have gone away since the new update of the soft/firmware. Hopefully they will stay away!One star knocked off because the bluetooth is really patchy, but this is unlikely to effect most people who purchase this I guess.