I'm a new X5 owner and am worried...

[volfro]

Hey folks.

I just got my X5 (30GB model) used on eBay. It was like new, though; the guy hadn't even gone through one full battery cycle, and came with original packaging and documentation. It looked like he had barely touched the thing.

The first thing I did when I got it was upgrade the firmware to the latest version (2.10b5 at the time), and then put some of my Bjork FLAC files on.

I was humming along while working on my car, when suddenly, the music just stopped. I looked at the screen and pressed the joystick to the right, and it proceeded to the next song, but skipped horribly.

So tonight I upgraded to beta 7 of the 2.10, and tried the same with my Bjork, and still with the pausing and severe skipping inexplicably at random points.

When this happens, I can feel the HDD spinning up and then I can actually hear it stopping suddenly.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong, or am I going to have to use my warantee? Or is it a problem with the firmware? Perhaps there was some damage during shipping?

Otherwise, I couldn't possibly be happier with it. I love this thing. As such, I'm worried about my investment; two weeks with it and it's broken? That won't do at all.

volfro

PS: I'm looking to replace the stock earbuds with Shure's e4c. Any recommendations otherwise?

[siempre fresco]

try ultimate ears, their products have a better build quality and look cooler imo, i have shures now and they're crapping out after 3 months of good use, im going to step up to a pair of super fi 5's, and some grado sr 80s down the road. if i was you id be running the 2.07e firmware, thats the most stable one out there, not a problem with this firmware in my neck uv the woods.

[Pete7874]

Sounds like the hard drive may be damaged. I'd try reformatting it. If that doesn't help, well...

[volfro]

I'll try the older firmware. Does anybody think it could be a hardware problem? I'm a little worried about the HDD spinning and then stopping with a click.

It ONLY does this while playing FLAC files, BTW.

Has anybody else had siempre fresco's experience with the e4c? From what I've read, they sound better than the super.fi 5. And I'm still open to other brands in the $150 range, if anybody has suggestions.

[Pete7874]

But has it been skipping on FLAC files since the day you got it?

[volfro]

I've only had it for about two weeks, and didn't try FLAC till about a week ago.

But yes, it did start choking on the FLAC files the first time I tried them.

I keep it on shuffle, generally, and I can usually get through a FLAC song okay, but if I stay within those directories for too long, it randomly sputters or stops entirely--doesn't freeze, mind you, it just chokes on the file. A press of the 'next' usually leads it to a non-FLAC file and it plays as normal.

I formatted the HDD, and now I'm putting all my music back onto it; it should be done in 20 minutes or so, and then I'll try the FLAC files again. If it doesn't work, I'll try the 1.07 firmware, and if THAT doesn't work, this thing is going back to Cowon.

I'll keep you updated.

(BTW, is there any repository for old firmware? I couldn't find 1.07 on the English iAudio site.)

[Pete7874]

2.07 was the original X5 firmware, not 1.07.

[volfro]

Well I've nothing to worry about, firmware-wise.

I formatted the drive and put all my stuff back onto it, and I've been listening to Bjork's Debut in glorious FLAC without a hitch. I'm up to the last track.

I feel it spin up still, and I can feel it stop as well, but neither is nearly as loud as before.

Hopefully, the loudness/skipping of before wasn't indicative of a failing drive. Either way, I'd like to eventually upgrade to a 40 or 60 gb, if Toshiba makes one that'll fit this thing, so I suppose I can expect to buy one anyway; if the HDD fails, I'll just have to buy it sooner than I'd expect.

Anyway, thank you for the tip! Formatting it worked a charm; I'll keep that in mind for future issues.

Still looking for opinions on the buds though. Anybody?

[tonysunshine]

Hey

I used to use the X5 with shure e4c's(foam tips). I found that the prounounced highs on the e4c's and the slight brightness of the X5 didnt work out so well. I had a big problem with piercing sibilance at lower bitrate music (192 KBPS MP3). I tried a variety of things to amend this problem. First, I switched tips to the Westone Comply tips, which added more low end to the spectrum and helped, but not entirely. Then I turned off all the added effects (BBE, MP enhance, 3d surround), using only mach3bass and EQ. But I found the EQ was still causing problems, so I went to flat. It really felt something to be desired because the E4 is so 'neutral' and I felt required an EQ to enjoy the music.

So anyway, if you didnt want to read my rant heres the bottom line:
I switched from the Shure e4 to the westone UM2 and have no problems at all now, except for my aching wallet :nutty:

BTW, all the other tips included with the Shures pronounced the treble even more, which is why I didnt bother with them.

[Konechiwa]

I'll try the older firmware. Does anybody think it could be a hardware problem? I'm a little worried about the HDD spinning and then stopping with a click.

It ONLY does this while playing FLAC files, BTW.

Has anybody else had siempre fresco's experience with the e4c? From what I've read, they sound better than the super.fi 5. And I'm still open to other brands in the $150 range, if anybody has suggestions.

from what i read on headfi, the shure's are infenitely better (sorry siempre). I have the E2's (going to E4's) and they've held up for 6 months (need to fix them though). They say the memory wire on the super.fi's degrades and gets sticky.

Only thing else i can recommend is Westones. UM1 to be exact. Their basically original shures (used to make E1/E2/E5 for them) The UM2 is basically an original E5.

[tzetze]

I only got my X5 recently and I have the same spinning/clicking sounds, obviously I'm no expert on the thing but I'm guessing it's perfectly normal. If you hear constant clicking like the drive's having a seizure - then I'd start to worry :)

[vinuneuro]

Mine does this too (1month old). I think the hdd power's down or something of that nature after it pulls up a song or after sometime.

[volfro]

Thanks for all the responses.

I think what was happening is I was mounting it in Linux, and using GNOME to un-mount, instead of using the command line. Gnome doesn't tell you when it's successfully unmounted--the icon just disappears from the desktop--so I was unplugging it prematurely and corrupting the filesystem. Didn't know it would take so long on USB 1.1!

Anyway--I'm having a new, more serious problem, check out my newest thread if you think you can help!

(Oh--I got the e4s and yes, they're a little bright, but I love 'em. I never had any of the Mach3 or BBE or surround or anything turned on--they're only under a little EQ right now, and it sounds great. I like highs, so.)

[holtie43]

Hey folks.

I just got my X5 (30GB model) used on eBay. It was like new, though; the guy hadn't even gone through one full battery cycle, and came with original packaging and documentation. It looked like he had barely touched the thing.

The first thing I did when I got it was upgrade the firmware to the latest version (2.10b5 at the time), and then put some of my Bjork FLAC files on.

I was humming along while working on my car, when suddenly, the music just stopped. I looked at the screen and pressed the joystick to the right, and it proceeded to the next song, but skipped horribly.

So tonight I upgraded to beta 7 of the 2.10, and tried the same with my Bjork, and still with the pausing and severe skipping inexplicably at random points.

When this happens, I can feel the HDD spinning up and then I can actually hear it stopping suddenly.

Is this normal? Am I doing something wrong, or am I going to have to use my warantee? Or is it a problem with the firmware? Perhaps there was some damage during shipping?

Otherwise, I couldn't possibly be happier with it. I love this thing. As such, I'm worried about my investment; two weeks with it and it's broken? That won't do at all.

volfro

PS: I'm looking to replace the stock earbuds with Shure's e4c. Any recommendations otherwise?


Im just curious, what is the name of the seller that you bought the item from?
because i recently purchsed through ebay an X5L 30gb but the seller sent me the wrong one, he sent me a plain X5, so i tested it out a bit and RMA'd it to get the proper one, the guy that i purchesed it from was a titainium powerseller called "safeseller" or something similar.
its possible, though unlikly that its the same one. when i had it though i could hear the hard drive stop suddenly on occasions, but i could play FLAC 5 perfectly fine. i recently recieved my new and correct player the X5L and it also makes the click sound as the hard drive stops.

[volfro]

No, his name was matth2win or something like that. Really nice guy, actually--didn't want to let go of his X5, but said he didn't have the time to play with it.

Yeah, I'm pretty positive the HDD is fine, although I might replace it with something with a higher capacity once the warantee's out.

Check out my other thread (http://iaudiophile.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5793) if you think you can help me with my latest troubles.

[LFC_SL]

try ultimate ears, their products have a better build quality and look cooler imo, i have shures now and they're crapping out after 3 months of good use, im going to step up to a pair of super fi 5's
Others say Shure have better build quality due to the use of thick cables

I must say the thin cord on my UE fi.5 Pro's is worrying me