Bert, Bob and all
I went ahead and purchased the X1 from a great little niche outfit way down the other end on the North Island. Frustratingly, while the guy despatched it yesterday to fly up country overnight and it transited the local depot over 12 hours ago, the awaited truck hasn't appeared, so I guess it'll be Friday or Monday now (as courier packages ride the last leg with our trusty rural post vans). Mind you, that gives me time to get a decent 64GB microSD card to use in the X1.
I chose the X1 over the X3 for a couple of main reasons, other than cost (I'm on a budget). With one healed perforated eardrum and ~4,500Hz tinnitus in both ears, I'm guessing that I might not be able to tell the output of the two units apart.
Secondly, I have read over recent days that the X3 form factor is slightly larger than the X1, the UI less attractive/usable and the buttons - rockers? - have a 'looser' action.
"The scroll wheel does give it (the X1) a bit of a retro look. Fortunately, the buttons are placed in a somewhat meaningful orientation, unlike the slanted lopsided design in the X3."
"The player (the X3) received very positive reviews towards price/sound quality ratio, however it was criticized for inelegant interface and confusing placement of buttons."
"I really didn’t like the buttons (or layout) of the X3 but the X1 is great in terms of usability […] The X3 user interface isn’t the best, even after the updates. I don’t like the buttons and navigation structure and luckily for us Fiio didn’t use that in the X1."
The other plus (of both the X1 and X3 over other DAPs in this price range) is that they, as far as my research shows, play the widest range of lossy and lossless formats and these are APE / FLAC / ALAC / WMA / WAV / MP3 / AAC / OGG. For me this means that, should my ears be able to tell the difference between the MP3 and FLAC versions of the same file, I can slowly swap out the MP3s for the FLAC files over time.
On a final note, yesterday my youngest asked if I still had my Palm(s), so I sense there may be a bit of charging and playing over the next day or so :-)
With that token mention of a Palm to meet the requirements of the list admins, I shall sign off. It's 1800hrs on NYE here and with three out of four daughters away for the night, we're shaping up for a quiet evening with the fourth and a mate whose family are all away.