Xduoo X2S DAP and IEM hiss concerns, battery life

[carpman]

Yes, that's my suspicion. I might play around with some smaller cards and different directory structures.
I've put the question to Xduoo - so we'll see what they say.

Interesting, thanks - appreciate the info and quick reply.

EDIT -- one of the weird things is that there doesn't seem any pattern (location, filesize, filename length). Sometimes it selects quick and other times takes ages.

C.

 

[Chr1]

No worries. Definitely no problem using 128GB cards. Reckon the directory structure with folders containing large amount of files is the likely the issue personally.

 

[carpman]

I've (or foobar2000 has) restructured the X2S directory structure to :
genre \ a (first letter of artist, a - z) \ filename

So now the largest directory has gone from 1,100 to 150. I'll see if that solves the issue.

If not I'll do :
genre \ a (first letter of artist, a - z) \ artist \ filename

... and that will break it up into much smaller chunks. If it's still an issue, then maybe the card. But it looks solid - no complaints or strange issues (with copying, reading, disk / speed checking) from either PC or now the X2S (since it's settled down, i.e. since the Xduoo did the formatting itself).

If it turns out this was the issue, I'll inform Xduoo since this is something that should be trivial to sort out in firmware. All it has to do is create its own index (and it can do that however it likes).

Cheers,

C.

 

[Chr1]

Hopefully that will sort the search time issue. One thing that might be worth mentioning if you are in touch with Xduoo support re firmware : There appears to be a bug where one of the settings relating to which buttons remain active after screen off doesn't work. Been a while since I checked but perhaps you could let me know your experience and update them too, if this is the case. Have to say that aside from this I rate the wee thing highly. Very good sound quality, battery life and pretty bullet proof from what I can make out.
(Don't ask: Various types of unintended maltreatment!)

 

[carpman]

I'll keep testing, but the folder restructuring seems to have sorted it out. Everything is much snappier now and there's almost no delay. So there are two issues to report to Xduoo (tested with latest firmware 1.51):

ISSUE #1: 1000+ files (maybe less) in a folder caused the player to seek for up to a minute to locate the next song in Shuffle mode.
Xduoo need to sort out some kind of (better) internal indexing so users can have large numbers of files in a single folder if they so choose (or Xduoo should tell the user that there is a limit).

ISSUE #2: The Lock Screen settings are forgotten after powering off and restore to default: "All Key" (all keys are locked). :
Lock Screen Settings > Choose "Only Volume" or "Only Play" > Power off > Restart and option reverts to "All Key".

I'll definitely pass this onto to Xduoo when they reply to my initial enquiry (with a link to this post).

Thanks for all your help.

Aside from the firmware fixes above, I'm all set and enjoying the X2S (my initial impressions: light, tough and a little fussy).

Agree with you on the robustness -- it's going to be ideal for treks and (though others in other settings/forums had reported it was fussy regarding power sources) the XDuoo has no issues with my power banks. Will be interesting to see how it fares in the cold (most batteries don't do too well in sub zero conditions -- though we've skipped winter so far in the UK).

Cheers,
C.

 

[carpman]

@Chr1 FYI, Xduoo got in touch via email, so I informed them of the 2 issues. Hopefully, they'll fix them both.

The best place to look for details on this is Audio Science Review. I updated the post as another forum member wanted me to remind Xduoo of another issue that could be fixed in firmware:

See this post (in the same thread), I've copied the relevant section below:

Xduoo X2S DAP and IEM hiss concerns, battery life

Yes, that's my suspicion. I might play around with some smaller cards and different directory structures. I've put the question to Xduoo - so we'll see what they say. Interesting, thanks - appreciate the info and quick reply. EDIT -- one of the weird things is that there doesn't seem any...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I'm pretty happy with the player now I'm getting used to its various quirks.

One issue I had was that the power button is quite easily depressed (especially when tightly packed in a backpack). I think one of these will do the trick to block it:

C.

 

[carpman]

On an unrelated note. I'm not sure whether this is the right place to ask this, but here goes (I had a good read around on ASR, but perhaps I'm too dumb to really understand this) ....

The Xduoo X2S for some sensitive low impedence IEMs has a hiss issue. For me, even though my stuff isn't super sensitive, on the Tanchjim One and 7hz Zero 2 I can make out some very minor background noise, but only between tracks and it's really not an issue. But I was interested in the effect of impedance adapters and whether they'd actually work to increase the player volume and thus increase the SNR and lower the hiss.

I also watched this Youtube video on Impedence Adapters on AudioTechTalk. I got a couple of these JCALLY adapters just to see the effect (18 ohm and 36 ohm). The impression from the Andy guy on the video is that anything around 25 ohms is highly unlikely to have an effect on the FR. That was not my experience.

I put the 18 ohm adapter between the X2S (which a reviewer measured at 0.5 ohms):

This, added to its very low output impedance (my measurements show a value around 0.5 ohms makes it very suitable for IEMS, earbuds

... and my Tanchjim One IEM. The audible effect on music was approximately that is sounded like someone had done a Mid-Side DSP thing and pulled down the volume of the mid channel recessing the vocals and other central material and then applied a slight roll-off to the highs and a noticeable bass boost (of perhaps, just a harder pull down of the higher frequencies that sounded like a bass boost. So it was boomier with recessed vocals and mid channel mid frequency content.

At least that's what it sounded like.

So what I don't understand about the frequency alterations, when I look at the impedance graph on the Tanchjim One review, it's just flat. How much is to do with the source (X2S impedance, 0.5 ohms) and how much is to do with the recipient (the IEM, in this case 21 ohms measured by Amir, with a stated spec sensitivity of 126dB/Vrms) + 18 Ohms additional resistance via the adapter between the player and the IEM.

I've watched quite a few videos and read quite a bit on ASR and elsewhere, but I'm clearly not getting what is doing what and under what conditions does this effect frequency.

This is not currently a practical issue for me, as I'm happy with the player (the minor hiss between tracks at a volume of 13/30) and both my budget IEMs, but I was surprised about the effect on the musical content. To such a degree I didn't even focus on the hiss between tracks.

Anyone who can explain this to a dumb-ass, I'd really appreciate it.

Cheers,

C.

 

[carpman]

I've asked the above question in a more appropriate place, so if you have answers please go there:

Impedance adapters and frequency response on not overly sensitive IEMs

I posted this on a thread related specifically to the Xduoo X2S, but this is a rather tangential question and felt it should be in its own thread. So, I'll link from that thread to this one to stop anyone answering in the wrong place. I wanted to see the effect of a relatively low resistance...

www.audiosciencereview.com

Thanks,
C.