X7 Users' Guide

Foreword

Thank you for purchasing FiiO's X7, our 384kHz / 64bit / DSD high resolution lossless music player. To let you better utilize the X7 to enjoy high-quality music, we have prepared this complete user manual and collected and answered some frequently asked questions by users. We hope this manual will help you get to know the X7 and unleash its full potential.

A. Introduction

The X7 is a high fidelity, high resolution digital audio player, supporting various music formats such as DSD, DXD, WAV, WMA, APE, FLAC, AAC, AIFF, ALAC, Ogg Vorbis, MP2, MP3 etc. at up to 384kHz / 64bit, also sporting such professional features as native DSD decoding, CUE sheets, gapless playback, playing automatically through folders, and graphic equalizers.

Based on Android, the X7 allows the user to use his own choice of any Android music player app, and also comes with its native player app FiiO Music, which has been customized in response to research on users' usage habits for a quick and smooth music listening experience.

The following sections are an illustrated guide to using the X7.

B. Buttons and ports introduced

1. Pictorial guide to buttons and ports

Note: Ports on different expansion modules may differ. The X7 is shown here with the standard headphone amplifier module AM1 attached at the bottom.

Diagram showing the FiiO X7 device from multiple angles with labels pointing to various components:

• Top: 3.5mm line / coaxial output
• Left Side: Volume+ button, Volume- button, Power / Lock button, Micro SD card slot, T5 screw (expansion module fastener)
• Front/Screen: Touchscreen displaying music playback interface (song title, artist, progress bar, playback controls), Light sensor
• Right Side: Previous track button, Next track button, Play / Pause button, T5 screw (expansion module fastener)
• Bottom: 3.5mm headphone port, Micro USB port (11-pin, compatible with FiiO docks)
• Bottom Front: Indicator light

2. Buttons and ports explained

1. Touchscreen (16.7 million colors, 480x800 pixels): Displays the user interface and other information; for operating the unit via screen touches and/or in conjunction with buttons on the unit;
2. Light sensor: senses light levels of the environment and adjusts screen brightness automatically (when screen brightness is set to “Auto”);
3. Indicator light: Indicates player's operating status (lighting effect may be customized)
4. Volume + / -: Press briefly to change volume by one step; hold to change volume continuously to maximum volume / mute.
5. Power / Lock: While X7 is powered off, hold for 2s to turn on; while powered on, hold to display power off / reboot menu; press briefly while powered on to turn screen on / off;
6. Previous / next track: Press to skip to the previous or next track;
7. Play / Pause: Press while playing to pause music, press while paused to continue playback;
8. 3.5mm line / S/PDIF coaxial output: Shared line / coaxial output port. Switch between the two outputs in X7 settings -> Sound Settings -> Multifunctional Output.
9. 3.5mm headphone port: Connect your headphones here. CTIA-spec headsets with in-line remote control supported with the following remote control operation (single button remotes and main button of multi-button remotes supported): Play / Pause: press main button once briefly to toggle between play and pause; Next track: double-click main button quickly; Previous track: triple-click main button quickly;
10. Micro USB port (11-pin): for charging, data transfer, USB DAC function and connection to FiiO docks;
11. Micro SD card slot: supporting micro SD cards of up to 128GB capacity (higher capacities to be supported via firmware updates);
12. T5 screws: for removably securing expansion modules.

Note: Power, volume + and - buttons may be switched around with play, next and previous track buttons in settings -> button mapping.

C. Pure Music / Android Mode switch

1. Switching from Android to Pure Music mode

While in Android mode, pull down the status menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and tap on the "Android Mode” icon; the player will prompt you on whether to reboot in Pure Music mode. Press OK to reboot the X7 in Pure Music mode, allowing uninterrupted music enjoyment with the built in FiiO Music app.

2. Switching from Pure Music to Android mode

While in Pure Music mode, pull down the status menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and tap on the “Pure Music Mode” icon; the player will prompt you on whether to reboot in Android mode. Press OK to reboot the X7 in Android mode, allowing a rich music experience with 3rd party Android app compatibility.

D. Wireless connectivity

The supportability of Bluetooth and WiFi on X7 enables users to expand the X7's function by wireless connection.

1. Bluetooth

To use the X7 with new Bluetooth devices (e.g. Bluetooth earphones, speakers, remote controls), the X7 must first be paired with the device as follows:

1. Pull down the status menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and hold your finger on the Bluetooth icon to open the Bluetooth settings menu;
2. If Bluetooth on the X7 is off, turn it on by flicking the switch on the upper right to the “ON” position on the right;
3. Turn on your Bluetooth device's pairing broadcast function (refer to your device's user manual for details);
4. Tap “SEARCH FOR DEVICES” at the bottom of the screen to have the X7 search for and display nearby Bluetooth devices;
5. Tap the name of your Bluetooth device to pair with it. Successfully paired devices will appear under the “PAIRED DEVICES” list:

Screenshots show the Bluetooth settings interface. The first shows "AVAILABLE DEVICES" with "Smart Wireless Headset" listed. The second shows "PAIRED DEVICES" with "Smart Wireless Headset" connected.

Notes: A. If you're looking for the X7 with another Bluetooth device (e.g. sending files from another device to the X7 via Bluetooth), tap “FiiO X7: Only visible to paired devices” to change it to “Visible to all nearby Bluetooth devices” to turn on the X7's own pairing broadcast function; B. The X7 will pair with the device it last paired with by preference.

2. WiFi

The X7 may connect to the Internet or other network resources to obtain music resources or (in Android mode) perform other Android functions; it may also stream music to WiFi audio devices.

To connect the X7 to WiFi devices / hotspots:

1. Pull down the status menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and hold your finger on the Wi-Fi icon to enter the Wi-Fi settings menu;
2. Slide the WiFi switch to the right (ON) and the X7 will automatically search for and display available WiFi connections:

Screenshot shows a list of available WiFi networks: "FiiO_xiaodu", "QA_test", "FiiO-QT", "FiiO".

3) Tap the name of the WiFi network you wish to connect to and enter the password if prompted, and the X7 will connect to the network:

Note: when its WiFi is on, the X7 will connect to the WiFi network it last connected to by preference.

E. Firmware updates

Improper operation during firmware updates may cause the unit to malfunction! Please read the following instructions for firmware updates carefully before proceeding.

To check the current firmware version:

From the Android homescreen (in Android mode), tap Settings -> About X7 (bottom of menu). The "Build number" indicates the firmware version of the X7.

Preparations / Precautions before firmware update:

• Make sure the X7 is adequately charged (preferably fully charged) for the update process to prevent power failure during the update.
• Make sure the X7 contains over 1GB of free space in its “NAND FLASH” (see Settings -> Storage). If necessary, use the file browser to delete unnecessary files to free up space before attempting the update.

1. Over-the-air automatic updates

1. Turn on the X7's WiFi and connect to the internet with a suitable hotspot (see section D.2).
2. The X7 would check for over-the-updates and prompt for updating automatically if a newer firmware version is found:

Screenshot shows a "System Update" prompt: "Find a OTA upgrade package! do you want to update?, size:213MB" with "No" and "Yes" buttons.

3. Tap “Yes” and the X7 will download the update and install it automatically when download is complete.

Note: a) You may tap the home button to dismiss the download screen and continue using the X7; b) Please connect to a high speed network to save download time; c) The package download may be stopped and resumed; d) Do not attempt to operate the X7 when the update proper is ongoing. e) The X7 will reboot twice, once in update mode, then back into Android mode. The update process is complete when the Android lockscreen appears.

Screenshot shows a "System Update" progress bar: "Remaining Time: 2min", "39%", "773KB/S" with "Cancel Download" and "Pause" buttons.

2. Manual updates

1. Turn on the X7 in Android mode (refer to Section C).
2. Copy the update zip file provided by FiiO to the internal storage or the SD card inserted into the X7. (it is recommended to copy to the root directory of either; firmware updates will not affect the files or music contained in the X7.)
   • Do not rename or extract the zip file.

   To copy files to the X7:

   • Connect the X7 to the computer via the provided USB cable.
   • The “USB connected” screen should pop up automatically. Tap “Turn on USB storage" near the bottom.
   • If the “USB connected” screen does not appear automatically, pull down the notifications panel from the upper left of the touchscreen and tap on “USB connected” to bring it up.
   • The internal storage and SD card drive of the X7 will appear as two USB drives on the connected computer.
   • Copy files (e.g. the update zip) to either drive via drag and drop.
   • Safely eject the two drives from the computer (e.g. right-click each drive and choose “Eject”).

Screenshot shows a "System Update" prompt: "Congratulation upgrade succeed! Do you want to delete the file? If not, the system may propose this update again." with "No" and "Yes" buttons.

3. Ensure that the X7 is adequately charged, preferably fully charged, and disconnect the USB cable.
4. Go to the Android homescreen, tap “Technical support”->Firmware Update. In the file browser, find the downloaded zip file in internal_sd or external_sd and tap on it. The system will prompt you to confirm whether to update the X7 with the selected zip file:

4) After the update is complete, please delete the update package as prompted.

5. Tap “OK” to start the update. Do not attempt to operate the X7 while the update is ongoing.
6. The X7 will reboot twice, once in update mode, then back into Android mode. The update process is complete when the Android lockscreen appears.

3. Notes and Precautions

1. Make sure the X7 is adequately charged (preferably fully charged) for the update process to prevent power failure during the update.
2. If update fails, check that you selected the correct update zip file;

F. Pictorial guide to operating the X7

1. Android Mode

The Android interface of the X7 is similar to that of other Android device, for an intuitive operating experience.

1) Status bar

The status bar at the top of the screen displays various info on the current status of the X7:

Diagram showing the status bar with numbered icons and a legend:

• 1--Volume icon
• 2--Current volume
• 3--Expansion module currently connected
• 4--Connected to computer via USB
• 5--FiiO Music running
• 6--Bluetooth on
• 7--S/PDIF connected
• 8--Headphones connected
• 9--WiFi connected
• 10--Battery level
• 11--Battery icon (charging)
• 12--Time

2) Notifications panel

The notifications panel displays various system notifications. Pull down from the left of the top status bar to show the notifications panel. Pull up from the bottom of the panel or tap the back or home buttons to dismiss the panel.

3) Status menu

The status menu shows all status settings icons for the X7 in one full page rather than as a scrolling list on top of the notifications panel. To show the status menu, pull down from the right of the top status bar. Pull up from the bottom of the menu or tap the back or home buttons to dismiss the panel.

The following status settings icons are shown:

• Current operation mode (Android / Pure Music mode): tap this to switch to the other operation mode;
• Brightness: tap to show brightness adjustment slider;
• Settings: tap to show full settings menu (useful in Pure Music mode);
• WiFi: tap to turn WiFi on / off; hold to show WiFi settings menu;
• Screen rotation: tap to switch between auto-rotation and locked orientation of the screen display;
• Battery: shows current battery level. Tap to show full battery info;
• Audio settings: tap to enter audio settings menu;
• Bluetooth: tap to turn Bluetooth on / off; hold to show Bluetooth settings menu.

Screenshots show the status menu with icons for Android Mode, Brightness, Settings, Wi-Fi, Rotation Locked, Battery (47%), Audio Settings, Bluetooth OFF, Storage.

4) FiiO Marketplace

With the X7 connected to the internet via WiFi (see section D.2), Tap “FiiO Marketplace” on the Android homescreen to show a list of officially recommended apps for which compatibility with the FiiO X7 has been rigorously tested.

Slide up and down to view the full list of apps.

Screenshot shows the FiiO Marketplace interface with app icons like JOOX, KKBOX, MOOV, Neutron, Poweramp, Rockbox, Spotify, SwiftKey, TIDAL.

5) Technical support

Tap "technical support” on the Android homescreen to enter the technical support menu, with the following options:

• Firmware update: tap to manually select an update zip package for updating the X7's firmware (see section E.2).
• FAQ: tap to view a compilation of frequently asked questions on the X7 and their answers.
• Quick start guide: tap to view the quick start guide for the X7.
• FiiO's official website: Tap to go to FiiO's official website (internet connection required), to receive the latest news and info on our products (including the X7);
• FiiO Forum: Tap to enter FiiO's official forums (internet connection required), to interact with other music lovers online;
• Head-Fi: Tap to go to FiiO's forum on Head-Fi, world's largest online portable HiFi community.

Screenshot shows the Technical Support menu with icons for Firmware Update, FAQ, Quick start guide, FiiO's official website, FiiO Forum, FiiO on Head-Fi, and Contact Us.

6) Settings

The X7 runs FiiO's Android-based OS, which has been deeply customized for optimal audio performance from Android. Thus, some of the settings options differ from usual Android settings and will be explained below:

• To enter Settings, tap the cog icon (on the lower right of the homescreen by default). You may also enter the app drawer and tap the cog icon there labelled “Settings).

a) Sound Settings—In-line remote

Response to in-line remotes on connected headsets may be enabled or disabled by your choice.

Screenshot shows the "Sound Settings" menu with "In-line remote" option checked.

b) Sound settings — Lowpass filter mode

The lowpass (antialiasing) filter for reconstructing the analog waveform at the end of the DAC may be set to a gentle slope or a steep slope. It is recommended to set the slope to be gentle if the Nyquist frequency of the file format is low enough to be possibly audible, and steep if it is not. Besides this, the gentle slope rolls off the higher audible frequencies slightly compared to the steep slope.

*This function will implement via future upgrade.

Screenshot shows the "Lowpass filter mode" selection with "Gradual" and "Steep" options, where "Steep" is selected.

c) Sound settings—Multifunctional Output

The 3.5mm output port at the top of the X7 may output analog line signal or coaxial digital S/PDIF signals. This menu item lets you choose between the two.

Screenshot shows "Multifunctional Output" with "Spdif" and "Lo" options, where "Spdif" is selected.

d) Sound settings—Line out settings

Allows setting various parameters of the X7 line output, including:

• Fixed output level / Adjustable volume: Either one of these may be enabled at any one time. When Fixed output level is enabled, adjusting volume on the X7 does not affect the line output level. When Adjustable volume is enabled, you may adjust the line output level with the volume buttons in much the same way as with the headphone output port, but bypassing the headphone amplifier circuit in both cases.
• In the case of fixed output level, the level may be set to 0dB, -3dB or +3dB relative to a 2V reference voltage.
• EQ enabled: allows you to choose whether to enable equalizer adjustments on the line output.

*This function will implement via future upgrade.

e) Sound settings—Gain

Sets the gain level of the headphone output to be either High (high volume) or Low (low volume).

Screenshot shows "Gain" selection with "High" and "Low" options, where "High" is selected.

f) Sound settings—Channel balance

Sets the volume balance between the left and right channels. From being biased leftmost (L10) through centred (0) to rightmost (R10), there are 21 settings available.

g) Display—Pulsar light

This menu item lets you customize the lighting of the pulsar light (blue horizontal light below the touchscreen and FiiO logo).

The brightness of the light can be adjusted in 256 steps. The light can be set to light steadily (Lit), pulse slowly on and off (Pulsing), or not light (Off). Different setting can be made when the X7 is Charging, and when it is Working (powered on).

Screenshot shows "Pulsar light" settings with options for Brightness, Charging (Pulsing), and Working (Lit).

h) Powertimer—Sleep

"Sleep" can be used to turn off the X7 after a set time, regardless of activity. This may be useful for e.g. bedside listening.

The sleep timer may be set to any number of minutes between 0 (OFF; no timer) and 120.

Screenshot shows the "Sleep" timer with options OFF, 10min, 30min, 60min, 90min, 120min, with 0 selected.

i) Powertimer—Idle poweroff

Idle poweroff is a setting for turning off the X7 after a set period of detected inactivity (no button presses or screen touches).

The Idle poweroff timer may be set to any number of minutes between 0 (OFF; no timer) and 50.

Screenshot shows "Idle poweroff" timer with options OFF, 10min, 20min, 30min, 40min, 50min, with 30 selected.

j) Button mapping

The functions of the left side and right side set of physical buttons may be switched around depending on your preference.

*This function will implement via future upgrade.

k) Lockscreen mode

Sets the buttons that respond to presses while the screen is off (the buttons whose icons are lit blue on the selected row will respond to presses, while those greyed out (if any) will not).

*This function will implement via future upgrade.

Screenshot shows "Lockscreen mode" with "Mode1" and "Mode2" options, each showing button layouts.

2. FiiO Music

The X7 includes the FiiO Music app, a music player application that has been highly customized to make full use of the audio hardware of the X7 and tailored to the usage needs of advanced music enthusiasts.

On first launch of FiiO Music, a pictorial guide to the app will appear. Below is a reproduction of the pictorial guide along with further guiding description.

• The pictorial guide can be recalled at any time by tapping Settings (cog icon on upper left of app homepage)->Help (near bottom of menu).
• On first launch of FiiO Music, you will be prompted to scan for music on your X7. Tap “scan all” to scan all locations on the X7 automatically, or “scan selected folder(s)” to manually select locations to be scanned.

1) App homepage

On launching the FiiO Music app, the following homepage appears (shown with guide annotations here). The following functions can be performed on the homepage:

Screenshots show the FiiO Music app homepage with annotations: "Slide to change tracks", "Click to enter My Settings", "Click here to search songs", "Song of find songs stored locally".

Random track: Tap the album art window at the top to play a random song from your collection (media library scan must be completed first); slide your finger left over the window to switch to the next track, or right for the previous track;

Shortcut to Now Playing: tap on the round music note button to the upper right to jump to the Now Playing screen (for which operation is detailed further below);

Settings: tap the cog icon to the upper left to show various app settings options;

Search: tap on the magnifying glass icon at the upper right corner to quickly search for a song in your X7;

Play playlists: Tap the list icon on the left to browse playlists, including Favorites playlist and other user-defined playlists (does not include M3U file-based playlists, which can be found via file browsing);

Local music: Tap the folder icon in the middle to enter the main music browsing menu for all songs stored locally on the X7, including on the inserted micro SD card;

DLNA: Tap the DLNA symbol on the right to connect to a DLNA-enabled network and browse music on your network.

Recently played: Lists your recently played songs according to the time when played;

Most played: Lists your most popular songs according to playback frequency.

Note: playlists, local music, DLNA, recently played and most played can be selected / unselected for display and their display effects customized in Settings->UI Personalization within the app.

2) Local music

The "Local music” screen displays the songs stored in your X7 in 5 different listings. From left to right, they are:

• Songs: shows all songs in one list according to the chosen order. (Tap the blue circle in the lower right to choose between sorting by number of tracks in the folder and alphabetical order)
• Artists: displays all artists that performed in at least one track stored in your X7 according to the chosen order. (Tap the blue circle in the lower right to choose between sorting by number of tracks performed by the artist and name of the artist) Tap on an artist to view a listing of all songs performed by the artist; or tap the first icon to the right of the artist name to view a list of albums by the artist instead; tap on an album to view the tracks within that album. Tap on the name of a song/track to play that track.
• Albums: displays all albums stored in your X7 according to the chosen order. (Tap the blue circle in the lower right to choose between sorting by number of tracks in the album and album name) Tap an album to view the tracks within that album. Tap a track to play.
• Genre: displays the names of all genres represented by at least one song on your X7, according to the chosen order. (Tap the blue circle in the lower right to choose between sorting by number of tracks of that genre and genre name) Tap the name of a genre to view all songs of that genre;
• Folder view: performs as a folder browser showing all directories on your X7’s internal storage and inserted micro SD card, but only showing playable music files.

Sliding your finger right over a list item reveals four options. From left to right they are:

• Add to favorites: add the song or the songs contained in the list item to the Favorites playlist.
• Add to playlist: add the song or the songs contained in the list item to a playlist of your choosing.
• Play over Bluetooth: play the song or the songs contained in the list item over Bluetooth.
• Track Info (only shown when a particular song / track is selected): shows various info on the selected track, including ID3 tag info, song length, bitrate, etc.

Screenshot shows a list of songs with options revealed by sliding right: Add to favorites, Add to playlist, Play over Bluetooth, Track Info. It also shows sliding left to reveal a delete icon.

Sliding your finger left over a list item reveals an option to delete the item. (or format a drive, if “internal storage” or “SD card” is selected in folder view...) Tap on the red button and you will be prompted to confirm the delete action.

a) Alphabet scrolling

When the list is ordered by alphabet (tap the blue circle to the lower right and select the “A->Z” option), you can slide your finger over the alphabet list to the right of the screen and quickly jump to the part of the list that starts with the selected letter.

b) The blue circle at the lower right

Tap the blue circle at the lower right and you'll be given various options:

Choose sorting order of the list: e.g. sort by number of tracks in list item, alphabetical order;

Batch operation: Tap the pencil icon and checkboxes will appear to the right of the list. Tap the checkboxes to select the list items you want, then tap the batch operation desired at the bottom. From left to right they are: play, add to favorites, add to playlist, (cancel operation), and delete.

3) Now playing

The Now Playing screen has buttons to tap on as well as places you can activate with neat gesture actions, as detailed below:

Screenshot shows the Now Playing screen with numbered buttons and gesture instructions.

a) Buttons explained

Referring to the numbering of the buttons above, the buttons in this screen are as follows:

1. Home: return to App homepage (see section F.2.1);
2. Search: Tap to show a fullscreen search pane for all songs on the X7. Searching of track title, album name and artist name are supported. Recent searches are saved;
3. Equalizer: tap to open the equalizer control panel;
4. Play via Bluetooth: button to toggle between playing the present track through Bluetooth or wired headphones. Opens Bluetooth pairing screen if no Bluetooth audio devices are connected (see section D.1);
5. Play / Pause: Plays / pauses the present track, whichever is applicable;
6. Add to Favorites: Tap to add the present track to the Favorites playlist;
7. More functions: Tap to view track info or delete the present track;
8. Play mode: Tap to choose between Play All once, Loop Single, Shuffle and Loop All;
9. Previous track
10. Next track
11. Add to playlist: adds the present song to a playlist of your choosing.

b) Gesture operations

Screenshots illustrate gesture controls: "Slide left and right to change tracks", "Click to show info", "Slide to fast forward / rewind", "Slide up/down to adjust volume", "Slide in from left edge to see playlist".

Slide left and right on the album cover to change tracks;

Click on the middle of the album cover to switch between displaying the album cover, lyrics, ID3 info and VU meter;

For tracks with syned lyrics you may scroll up and down the lyrics to jump to the corresponding part of the track. Tap on the gear icon at the lower right of the lyrics display to show additional options such as font size.

Slide to fast forward / rewind: tap anywhere on the progress bar below the album cover area to jump to the corresponding part of the track now playing;

View playlist: slide in from left edge to view the current list of songs queued for play; tap any song on the list to jump to that song;

Tap outside of the playlist on the left to close the list;

Adjust volume: slide up / down on the right edge of the album cover area to adjust the volume.

No operation for 2s or click “Back” button, it can hide the volume adjustment window.

4) Equalizer

FiiO Music incorporates a graphic equalizer. One may choose between the given genre presets directly, or adjust the ten frequency bands from 31 to 16000Hz independently from -6 to +6 dB, thus satisfying your personalized listening needs and adapting to your listening equipment.

Screenshot shows the equalizer interface with frequency bands and adjustment sliders.

Slide the lever on the upper right to the right to activate the equalizer.

Choose preset EQ: Swipe up from the bottom of the screen (above the homescreen button) to show the full list of EQ presets. The corresponding genres are:

• Pop (User Defined)
• Dance
• Vocal
• Rock
• Blues
• Classical
• Metal
• Jazz

(each of these genre presets may be customized as shown below)

Customize EQ: to customize an EQ setting:

1. Turn on the equalizer;
2. Choose the genre preset to be adjusted (e.g. “User Defined");
3. Drag a vertical slider to adjust its corresponding frequency up and down. The EQ curve above changes to reflect your adjustments. Swipe left or right over the sliders to move between the low and high frequency sliders;

Press the Back button to the lower right to exit and save changes;

Reset EQ: Tap the reset button at the upper left corner to reset the present EQ preset to its genre default.

If a factory reset is performed on the X7, all EQ settings will be reset to defaults.

3. Pure Music Mode

The operation of the X7 in Pure Music mode is similar to in Android mode, with the exception that the X7 will be in FiiO Music all the time. In this mode, all background Android processes will be disabled to allow for a smoother music experience.

To switch to Android mode, pull down the status menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and tap on the "Pure Music Mode” icon; the player will prompt you on whether to reboot in Android mode. Press OK to reboot the X7 in Android mode.

G. FAQ

1. Charging

How large is the X7's battery? How long will it last?

A: The X7 utilizes a 3500mAh rechargeable Li-poly battery, for roughly 9 hours of play time in normal use. You may refer to http://fiio.net/en/products/45/parameters, “Battery Life Test Conditions”, for the conditions under which the battery life of the X7 was tested.

How may the X7 be charged?

A: The X7 utilizes a micro USB port for charging and is compatible with all USB power sources:

1. Using USB AC power adapter (output voltage DC5V; output current of 2A or above recommended)
2. Connecting to computer USB port (however charging will take longer because of low current limit of computer USB ports)
3. Using mobile USB power banks (output voltage DC5V; output current of 1A or above recommended)

How long does it take to fully charge the X7?

A: Using a recommended DC5V 2A power adapter, the X7 charges from empty to full in above 4 hours.

Can be X7 be used while charging?

A: The X7 utilizes a high-quality power management circuit to ensure its reliability.

• The X7 may be used while charging without performance degradation or damage to the person or the X7.
• The temperature of the X7 will rise somewhat when charging and playing; this is normal.
• Charging time of the X7 from empty to full will be lengthened as a result of part of the charging current being diverted to power the X7.

Does the X7 display accurate battery levels?

A: Yes, the X7 includes a coulomb meter for its battery and gives accurate battery readouts.

What to do if the X7 gets hot while charging and playing at the same time?

A: As noted above the X7 can be charged and used at the same time without harm. Nevertheless you may choose to turn off the X7 for charging.

2. Transferring songs

What operating systems does the X7 support?

A: The X7 supports windows XP and x86 and x64 versions of Windows 7, 8 and 10, as well as Apple's Mac OS. Linux is supported in general, however full compatibility with all the varieties of Linux is not guaranteed.

What USB ports is the X7 compatible with?

A: The X7 is a USB 2.0 device and is compatible with all USB ports backwards compatible with USB2.0, including USB3.0 and USB-C, the latter via suitable adapter cables.

What are the transfer rates of the X7?

Transfer rate depends on the data format and the micro SD card used. Using a Sandisk Class 10 SD card, the following results were obtained using the ATTO Disk Benchmark:

• Internal memory: writes 13MB/s, reads 39MB/s (approx.)
• Micro SD card: writes 7.5MB/s, reads 38.5MB/s (approx.)

Micro SD card used: Sandisk Class 10

Testing app: ATTO Disk Benchmark

The X7 is connected to my computer. Now how to transfer songs from the computer to the X7?

A: Simply drag and drop folders of music from your computer to the X7, which appears as a regular removable USB drive. If you prefer to use a music library management program on your computer, you may use any management program that supports library management of connected regular removable USB drives.

Is driver installation required for transferring songs?

A: No.

3. Firmware updates

How to tell whether the X7 has the latest firmware?

A: See section E.1. The X7 will automatically look for the latest firmware online whenever it is connected to the internet via WiFi.

Other than that, you may also manually check the firmware version on your X7 (Android Settings -> About X7 -> Build number) against the firmware versions listed at http://www.fiio.net/en/supports/37.

You may also pay attention to general FiiO news at www.fiio.net or community news at http://www.head-fi.org/f/180/fiio or www.fiio.me.

Would the X7 be bricked if update fails? What to do if the X7 is bricked?

A: Please ensure that the X7 is well charged, preferably fully charged, before updating. The X7 should not brick during update even if it fails. Nevertheless, if your X7 is bricked, please contact us at support@fiio.net and we will help you with it.

4. Storage

Does the X7 contain internal storage? Is removable storage supported?

A: The X7 comes with 32GB of internal storage and presently supports micro SD cards of up to 128GB. Higher capacities will be supported in the future via firmware updates.

Is the X7 picky about cards?

A: From our testing, the X7 supports all major SD card brands. To prevent slow card speeds causing dropouts when listening to music of high bitrates (such as 384kHz/24bit APEs and DSD128), cards of Class 10 or above are recommended.

5. Playing music

Why can my APE files not be played by the X7?

A: APE comes in 5 compression rates, Fast, Normal, High, Extra High, and Insane. The X7 may play up to Fast, Normal, and High compression APEs of up to 384kHz/24bit, and Extra High and Insane APEs of up to 192kHz/24bit. Please check whether the track you are attempting to play is supported by the X7.

Does the X7 support CUE sheets?

A: The X7 supports external cue sheets for identifying and playing a cueʼd music file as separate tracks.

Why is my cue sheet not supported?

A: Embedded cue sheets are not supported. Also please make sure that the .cue file is named the same as the music file that it cues.

Q: Why does X7 not show the cue file in the micro SD card when browsing files?

A: Since it has been already been used by the X7 to split the cue’d file into multiple tracks (which are shown).

Q: How to listen to all the music folders on the X7 one by one without switching folders manually?

A: Play settings->Play through folders may be set to On to set the X7 to skip automatically from the last song in one folder to the first song in the next folder when playing from a folder listing.

Why do the songs I've copied into the X7 not appear in any listing (except Folder view) in FiiO Music?

A: Please go to FiiO Music Settings->Scan for songs to index your songs into the listings.

How to connect the X7 Line Out to other equipment? What to connect it to?

A: First, make sure that the Multifunctional Output (Section F.1.6.c) is set to Line Out. Then connect the LINE/COAX OUT port on top of the X7 to the line in / aux in port of your equipment via an appropriate interconnect. The Line Out is a standard high level line output and is for connecting to line inputs such as that on headphone amplifiers, AV receivers, loudspeaker preamps, powered speakers, etc. The default line output level is high (2V) and can damage headphones. In any case, headphones are not meant to be connected to a line output and will perform poorly.

The X7 does not get detected by my computer for file transfers?

A: The X7 may be connected to the computer as a standard USB storage device or as a DAC (for outputting audio being played by the computer). Disconnect the X7's USB connection, pull down the settings menu from the upper right of the touchscreen and check that the USB connection is set to “storage” rather than “DAC”; then plug the X7 back in. You will be prompted to “Turn on USB storage”. (the prompt can also be brought up manually by pulling down the notifications panel from the upper left of the touchscreen and tapping the "USB connected" notification.)

6. Connecting with other audio equipment

How to connect the X7's S/PDIF / coaxial digital output to other equipment? What to connect it to?

A: First, make sure that the Multifunctional Output (Section F.1.6.c) is set to Coaxial digital out. Then connect the LINE/COAX OUT port on top of the X7 to the provided S/PDIF adapter cable. (It's the short cable with a 3.5mm jack on one end and a single RCA port on the other.) Then connect the other end of the adapter cable to your equipment's coaxial S/PDIF input with an appropriate RCA coaxial cable.

Note: Because of the shared pinout of the X7's line / coaxial output port, it is not compatible with direct 3.5mm coaxial cables except those specially designed for the X3II / X5II / X7 with an appropriately wired 3.5mm TRRS jack. See this post for details: http://fiio.me/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=40478&page=1&extra=#pid107286

Q: Why does my HT receiver never play the first ten seconds of music from my X7?

A: If the HT receiver is not explicitly set to receive audio from the coaxial port, it takes approximately ten seconds to detect that audio is not coming in through the HDMI port and switch to the coaxial port. In this case, please set the HT receiver's audio input to Coaxial.

7. Other operations

How to get longer battery life for the X7?

A: a) Go to X7's system settings -> Powertimer -> Idle poweroff to set the Idle poweroff interval; if the X7 is not playing and does not receive any user input for the set interval, the X7 will power off automatically to save battery.

Turning down the backlight brightness and turning off the pulsar light can also save battery.

Set the display to sleep after a certain interval of activity (system Settings->Display->Sleep), and lock the screen before putting the X7 in your pocket, so that the touchscreen does not continue accepting input in your pocket and keep your X7 active.

Why is the X7 a bit sluggish in responding at times?

a) High bitrate lossless tracks, particularly 384k/24bit APEs or DSD files, take more hardware resources to decode, possibly causing slowdowns in the player UI. You may convert such APEs to FLACs or uncompressed WAVs using programs such as foobar2000 on the computer first to make it easier on the player. The sound quality will be the same.

b) Playing high bitrate files or DSD files from slow micro SD card may cause stuttering. Class 10 or above genuine micro SD cards are recommended.

c) As far as Android devices go, the X7 is a device with modest processing resources. Although the OS has been deeply customized for uninterrupted audio performance, this can be compromised if too many unrelated apps are installed and run in the background. You may try uninstalling any unnecessary apps; alternatively, try using Pure Music mode (Section C.1) to play music stored on the X7 or DLNA networks and switch to Android only when other operations are desired.

Why does the X7 get a little hot in operation?

A: The X7 utilizes an SoC with high clock speed, a separate DAC, and (also separately) a high power headphone amplifier and independent analog volume control in the amplification stage, thus dissipating way more power than consumer DAPs typically performing computation, DAC and amplification all on the SoC. Apart from outputting more power to your headphones, a lot of this power is also dissipated as heat, thus causing the X7 to heat up slightly in operation; but this does not endanger the X7 or the listener in any way.

Why can't I go to the homescreen by pressing the home button?

A: Please check the X7 operation mode you are currently in by pulling down the settings menu from the upper right of the touchscreen. If you're in Pure Music mode, tap on its icon to reboot in Android mode to view the Android homescreen.

Why can a click be heard inside the X7 when I insert / remove headphones and when powering on and off?

The X7's headphone output goes through a relay to the headphone output. The relay disengages briefly when the X7 is turning on and off and when headphones are connected / disconnected from the X7, thus isolating headphones from potentially dangerous transient pops when the amplifier section is powered on and off. The relay is a mechanical connection that makes a small clicking sound when engaging / disengaging. Please don't worry as this is normal.

Why can't I see the settings menu when I swipe down from the top of the touchscreen?

A: The notifications bar shade for the X7 is split left and right. Pull down from the left to show system notifications in detail or pull down from the right to show all quick settings in one fullscreen menu.

Does the X7 coaxial digital output support DoP? At what rate?

A: DoP output will be supported in future updates at up to DSD64 (2.8MHz/1bit).

Why can my X7 not receive OTA updates / why is the OTA update so slow?

A:

1. Your X7 has not been updated to FW1.5 or above. OTA update function became available starting from FW1.5. Please go to http://www.fiio.net/en/supports/37 and download the latest firmware directly and install manually (see section E.2).
2. The update download may be slow owing to network constraints, at the FiiO server's end, in the intermediary network, at your Internet ISP, your WiFi router, or owing to poor WiFi reception by the X7 (move closer to the router / hotspot). In any case, you may press the Home button to dismiss the update download progress bar and continue using the X7 normally while the update downloads. You may even switch the X7 off and on and the update download will continue.