X5 Line Out Dock Cables

[KJAM]

Has anyone used one of the line out dock cables from either "Qables or "Audiolineout" with an X5?

They both seem to have created very high quality line out dock cables and I was wondering if these cables improve on the bass roll-off problems I have been hearing about.

Thanks!

KJ

[breakfastchef]

I doubt that a cable can change the characteristics of the X5.

[dwc]

To improve on bass-rolloff for line out, use the headphone out as your line out.
It works, and much cheaper than a new cable.

[stevenkelby]

I have the Audiolineout Jena Cryo dock, nice piece of work, but nothing can fix the weak, hollow, bassless signal coming out of the X5 dock port.

Get a Jena Cryo mini - mini and use the HP out, I will be getting one.

Only worthwhile if using a good external amp of course. I use a Xin Super Macro IV.

Want to buy a X5 cryo dock cheap?

[KJAM]

Thanks for the info! Strange though..because I was told directly by Ken at Audiolineout that his docking cable will greatly improve the sound quality of the X5 and will correct the bass roll-off problem. Hopefully he wasn't just trying to sell me a cable!

I guess I'll have to consider the Jena Cryo mini to mini cable now. I have a pair of E500 IEMs and have a Tomahawk amp on order with Ray Samuels. How do you think using the sound qaulity of the headphone out will be with the amp? I've heard that it's not a good idea to go with the headphone out into an amp because you are double amping the signal. Do you think the headphone out into an amp will still produce better sound quality than using the X5 line out?

KJ

[stevenkelby]

Originally Posted by KJAM

Thanks for the info! Strange though..because I was told directly by Ken at Audiolineout that his docking cable will greatly improve the sound quality of the X5 and will correct the bass roll-off problem. Hopefully he wasn't just trying to sell me a cable!

I guess I'll have to consider the Jena Cryo mini to mini cable now. I have a pair of E500 IEMs and have a Tomahawk amp on order with Ray Samuels. How do you think using the sound qaulity of the headphone out will be with the amp? I've heard that it's not a good idea to go with the headphone out into an amp because you are double amping the signal. Do you think the headphone out into an amp will still produce better sound quality than using the X5 line out?

KJ

Ken is a good guy and his cables are excellent. His docks do improve the sound quality a lot but the roll off is still there, and the quality is not as good as the HP out with the same cable in mini - mini form. That is definetly what you should get, 100% for sure!

I haven't told Ken my results yet because I haven't had time (yet I have time to write this) and it's not his fault so Im thinking about what to say.

The sound will be great with that amp (for $250, it's a good deal) through the HP out, much better than unamped and the X5 is already the best sounding HD MP3 player (in my, experienced, opinion)

The sound is noticeably better through a seperate source, DAC, then amp(like my PC, Foobar, Chaintech AV710 digi out, COEM modded Lite DAC, XIN Supermacro IV) but it's very good with just the HP out on the X5, then the Xin.

If you are going to amplify a signal, it's true that a line out is much preffered to a HP out as the sound has gone through the DAC, but not the amp, which adds distortion / color. The problem in this situation, is that the X5 does not have a line out. It has something else which sounds crap! I haven't followed the circuit path inside the X5 but it is not a true line out. Wherever the signal goes, it sounds worse when it comes out. The sound effects like eq, bbe etc afferct the sound, through the X5 line out. These are added after the DAC, and after the point where a true line out would exit the player.

Only difference between the LO and HP is that the volume is held at 40 on the LO until you turn it down to 0, and the there is something in there that removes bass and makes the sound crap.

E500's are great sounding, I own ER-4P's but prefer the E500. I'm sure you will love your set up. Get the Jenna mini - mini and use the HP out.

[midnite8791]

paying $175 for a mini-mini cable is fucking ridiculous, unless you are going to use silver cable which is slightly better conductor than copper there is no point. No matter how pretty you make it look, copper is copper

[pedalhead]

Originally Posted by stevenkelby

Ken is a good guy and his cables are excellent. His docks do improve the sound quality a lot but the roll off is still there, and the quality is not as good as the HP out with the same cable in mini - mini form. That is definetly what you should get, 100% for sure!

I haven't told Ken my results yet because I haven't had time (yet I have time to write this) and it's not his fault so Im thinking about what to say.

The sound will be great with that amp (for $250, it's a good deal) through the HP out, much better than unamped and the X5 is already the best sounding HD MP3 player (in my, experienced, opinion)

The sound is noticeably better through a seperate source, DAC, then amp(like my PC, Foobar, Chaintech AV710 digi out, COEM modded Lite DAC, XIN Supermacro IV) but it's very good with just the HP out on the X5, then the Xin.

If you are going to amplify a signal, it's true that a line out is much preffered to a HP out as the sound has gone through the DAC, but not the amp, which adds distortion / color. The problem in this situation, is that the X5 does not have a line out. It has something else which sounds crap! I haven't followed the circuit path inside the X5 but it is not a true line out. Wherever the signal goes, it sounds worse when it comes out. The sound effects like eq, bbe etc afferct the sound, through the X5 line out. These are added after the DAC, and after the point where a true line out would exit the player.

Only difference between the LO and HP is that the volume is held at 40 on the LO until you turn it down to 0, and the there is something in there that removes bass and makes the sound crap.

E500's are great sounding, I own ER-4P's but prefer the E500. I'm sure you will love your set up. Get the Jenna mini - mini and use the HP out.

I was very interested to find this thread as I just ordered an X5 dock cable from Ken a couple of days ago, and I have also ordered a Tomahawk amp from Ray, AND I also have a pair of E500s! Anyway, I thought I'd do a demo of the hp output and the lineout on my X5L, through a Naim headphone amp into my Headphile modded Alessandro MS2s, and I have to agree with what you've said here. The bass in particular is definitely rolled off by using the lineout compared to hp out. Very disappointing. I'm about to mail Ken & see if I should change my cable order to a 3.5mm --> 3.5mm instead. Thanks for the heads up.

[stevenkelby]

Lucky man! Hopefully Ken will let you swap them. He won't take my dock back, I will try to sell it.

[pedalhead]

Originally Posted by stevenkelby

Lucky man! Hopefully Ken will let you swap them. He won't take my dock back, I will try to sell it.

Apparently my cable already shipped, which is great with regards to fast service from Ken, but a shame I didn't get the chance to change the order. Ah well, I can see another cable being ordered at some point in the near future .

[KJAM]

It's really a shame that he wouldn't let you swap the cables out! Did Ken lead you to believe that his X5 dock cable would fix the bass roll-off problem and would sound better than the headphone out with his mini to mini cable?

Ken had me thoroughly convinced that the dock cable would fix the bass roll-off problem and would also will sound better than using the headphone out. I asked him direclty if I should get the dock cable or the mini to mini. Fortunately I did some research on my own and came to the conclusion (with the help of you guys) that he was wrong. So either he has no idea what he is talking about or he is just trying to sell cables by misleading his customers. I've heard so many good things about Ken and his products that I would have to believe that I am wrong about him.

Pedalhead...did you bring your testing results to his attention when you tried to switch cables? Because it sounds like somebody needs to bring him up to speed if you haven't already. It may just stop somebody else from ordering the wrong cable. Ken also needs to think twice about selling this cable entirely. Anybody spending this kind of money on a cable is only interested in getting the best possible sound quality out of their X5, and his dock cable is obviously not the solution.

[pedalhead]

Originally Posted by KJAM

It's really a shame that he wouldn't let you swap the cables out! Did Ken lead you to believe that his X5 dock cable would fix the bass roll-off problem and would sound better than the headphone out with his mini to mini cable?

Ken had me thoroughly convinced that the dock cable would fix the bass roll-off problem and would also will sound better than using the headphone out. I asked him direclty if I should get the dock cable or the mini to mini. Fortunately I did some research on my own and came to the conclusion (with the help of you guys) that he was wrong. So either he has no idea what he is talking about or he is just trying to sell cables by misleading his customers. I've heard so many good things about Ken and his products that I would have to believe that I am wrong about him.

Pedalhead...did you bring your testing results to his attention when you tried to switch cables? Because it sounds like somebody needs to bring him up to speed if you haven't already. It may just stop somebody else from ordering the wrong cable. Ken also needs to think twice about selling this cable entirely. Anybody spending this kind of money on a cable is only interested in getting the best possible sound quality out of their X5, and his dock cable is obviously not the solution.

Yeah, I got the impression that I wasn't the first person to mention this to Ken. He alluded to the fact that he would probably be discontinuing the X5 dock cable when his current stock is sold. I didn't get into a discussion with him about which cable he thought would be best, I just informed him of my test results which, again, he's obviously heard from others before. Shame really, as I went for the upgraded Cryo dock ($95), which I kinda feel is wasted now, but I can't blame Ken...he just took the order & mailed out what I asked for (quickly I might add). I wish I'd done better research first, because I usually do (like all HeadFi-ers I would imagine!).

Actually I'm pretty annoyed with Cowon for screwing with the line-out . I mean, the whole point of a line-out is to bypass processing/amplification in the device in favour of a superior offboard solution. Someone in the technical design dept really dropped the ball on that one.

[KJAM]

Originally Posted by pedalhead

Yeah, I got the impression that I wasn't the first person to mention this to Ken. He alluded to the fact that he would probably be discontinuing the X5 dock cable when his current stock is sold. I didn't get into a discussion with him about which cable he thought would be best, I just informed him of my test results which, again, he's obviously heard from others before. Shame really, as I went for the upgraded Cryo dock ($95), which I kinda feel is wasted now, but I can't blame Ken...he just took the order & mailed out what I asked for (quickly I might add). I wish I'd done better research first, because I usually do (like all HeadFi-ers I would imagine!).

Actually I'm pretty annoyed with Cowon for screwing with the line-out . I mean, the whole point of a line-out is to bypass processing/amplification in the device in favour of a superior offboard solution. Someone in the technical design dept really dropped the ball on that one.

Well I'm glad to hear that Ken is finally getting the message and potentially discontinuing the dock cable. Unfortunatley I have to say it...Ken should not be selling another dock cable from his current stock without letting his customers know that it's not the ideal cable for sound quality enhancemnt for the X5. If he contunues to do this, he is misrepresenting his customers.

I completely agree with you regarding Cowon's design glitch regarding the line out. When i bought the device a couple of years ago I never gave any thought to potentially owning a pair of E500s and running my signal through an amp. Now that I have the E500s and am awaiting the Tomahawk... the line out issues have really started to annoy me. I'm not ready to purchase a new DAP (I really like all other aspects of the X5) but at some point I probably will.

[midnite8791]

he has you all fooled for paying $100 for a copper cable

[stevenkelby]

Originally Posted by midnite8791

paying $175 for a mini-mini cable is fucking ridiculous, unless you are going to use silver cable which is slightly better conductor than copper there is no point. No matter how pretty you make it look, copper is copper

Originally Posted by midnite8791

he has you all fooled for paying $100 for a copper cable

Constructive comments! Thanks for the input!

Sorry guys, someone had to say it. Anyway...

From the Audiolineout X5 Dock page:

http://www.audiolineout.com/x5.html

Originally Posted by Audiolineout

Experience your Mp3 player to its limit of clarity and sonic punch with a AudioLineOut Hi-Fi device!

He has changed the site, it used to mention fixing the bass roll off etc.

At first I thought he was just innocently believing his cable was great, how could it not be? The other Jenna cables ARE great and worth the $$$ (relative to a $1000 set up). I thought he was unaware that the deficiency is in the X5 itself.

Now though, he obviously knows it sounds worse than the HP out and should not be selling them. I'm not going to do anything else about it now but someone probably should.