FiiO E5 amp (E3 upgraded)

[Aedion]

Originally Posted by nsx_23

I'm still waiting for mine to ship from DX

I would like to hear the differences between the prototype I received and the final version myself.

i hope yours is being shipped right now. i just checked their site and the E5 is on backorder again, until the 26th.

[newskin]

Well, tested with the atrios a couple of hours during the morning, here are my impressions. Flat mode adds a little bit of clarity and separation to the overall sound, takes voices a little foward wich means it adds a bit of the midrange sometimes the atrios miss. The bass boost is a complete no-go with the atrios, it only adds more bass to the already bassy M5, it tightens the bass less than the E3 in my opinion.

In cloclussion overall sound quallity is really on par with the E3 but with all the added extras that justify buying it, at least for me.

I also must say that hissing is not a problem with atrios but it clearly hisses less than E3. Also some minutes of testing with soundmagic PL20 and KSC75 makes me fell that less expensive phones will benefit much more from this little amp as the improvement on them seems greater to me.

PD: I assume that now a LOD along the E5 should be the way to go for greater SQ, am i right?

[breakankles]

Thanks newskin. I just picked mine up from the post office this morning and it's charging as we speak. It had been sitting at the post office since Saturday.

I forgot to bring my RE2s to work with me so I only have my M5s right now. I'll give it a try soon.

[swanlee]

Originally Posted by newskin

Well, tested with the atrios a couple of hours during the morning, here are my impressions. Flat mode adds a little bit of clarity and separation to the overall sound, takes voices a little foward wich means it adds a bit of the midrange sometimes the atrios miss. The bass boost is a complete no-go with the atrios, it only adds more bass to the already bassy M5, it tightens the bass less than the E3 in my opinion.

In cloclussion overall sound quallity is really on par with the E3 but with all the added extras that justify buying it, at least for me.

I also must say that hissing is not a problem with atrios but it clearly hisses less than E3. Also some minutes of testing with soundmagic PL20 and KSC75 makes me fell that less expensive phones will benefit much more from this little amp as the improvement on them seems greater to me.

PD: I assume that now a LOD along the E5 should be the way to go for greater SQ, am i right?

I have Atrio's as well and I enjoy what the E3 does with them as far as the bass boost goes. Sad to hear the E5 with bass boost somehow does not sound as good as the E3 with the Atrio's.

I'll be doing my own tests later today with a zune and the Atrio's with the E5.

[mcspectre]

Just got mine from the mailman this morning (From DealXtreme), and put them to the test right away!

I didn't detect ANY hissing with the Atrio M5. I would agree that the bass boost with these phones is a little overkill (Especially since mine aren't totally burnt-in yet so bass is CRAZY!) so i enjoyed them a bit more with the flat setting, but not too much of an improvement over just sticking them into my iPod. But MAN the bass on these IEMs is A-MAZING!

I then tried them with my Senn PX-100s and it totally kicks them up a notch. Everything sounds more seperated, the bass is booming, i pickup a bit more detail with them this way. The amp is DEFINITELY worth it with the PX100s makes the whole phones shake, lol.

I also tried them with my Creative EP-6something, gives them a little more bass and clarity but i should have tried it 1st with these phones cuz going from Atrio to PX100 to these made them sound crazy whimpy.

For the 20 or so bucks they cost, i'm very happy. You can't expect a huge boost in quality but it really fine tunes my phones i found. And man this thing is tiny! Wires seem very cheap though...but cant complain!

[AZ Greg]

Nice impressions mcspectre! My impressions pretty much match yours exactly as the two pairs of headphones I have tested the E5 with are the PX100s and the EP-640s.

I must say, I'm extremely impressed. I've never used a portable amp so I don't exactly know what I'm looking for, but to me, everything does sound better. Also, it works exactly as I had hoped for the reason I bought it. I mostly use my headphones to watch videos from my PC. The front headphone jack obviously is using some sorta crappy amp and I get a lot of interference when I use that jack. On the other hand, the line-out on the back of my PC sounds much better but the volume is nowhere near adequate. The E5 allows for higher volume out of the line-out than I ever got out of my front headphone jack. Plus I get the added bonus of less interference and all the benefits that come with the E5!

One other thing I really like so far involves the EP-640s. I prefer their comfort and isolation to my PX100s, but I always hated how voices sounded at normal volume levels. I don't know the audiophile term but voices always sounded harsh or shrill. I'd almost get the same feeling listening to voices with the EP-640 as if someone were taking nails to a chalkboard. Well, with the E5, that problem is solved even at unbearably high volumes! Makes the EP-640s much more listenable!

Haven't really spent that much time with this yet, but so far so good! Also, just wanted to give a big thanks to MP4 Nation! First order from them and I couldn't be happier. Everything went smoothly and arrived fairly fast! Thumbs up! Will be back later with some more impressions.

[swanlee]

I got mine at lunch at work so I have been playing with it at my desk. I do not have my Zune or Atrio's at work so I had to use my PC and some crappy earphones.

Quick thing I noticed was no hiss even with the volume maxed, unfortunately with such a crap setup that is about all I can report until I get home with my portable setup.

It is tiny and well built, feels much better built than the E3, has a little weight to it and feels very solid.

[newskin]

Originally Posted by swanlee

I have Atrio's as well and I enjoy what the E3 does with them as far as the bass boost goes. Sad to hear the E5 with bass boost somehow does not sound as good as the E3 with the Atrio's.

I'll be doing my own tests later today with a zune and the Atrio's with the E5.

E3 tightens the bass an thats something the E5 does not do, or not so well, the difference is marginal but exists at least for me. I also enjoy the E3 with the atrios by the way :P

Tomorrow i'll pair the amp with the KSC75, i have the feeling that the combination can be a real winner.

[ClieOS]

I don't feel like E3 (nor E5 in bass mode) improves my Atrio's bass at all. First, Atrio already has more than enough bass, adding more is just overkilling IMO. Second, E3 gives Atrio a lot more mid-bass (body, warmness) but it takes away some detail, making it sounds a bit muddy and sloppy in the end.

I am using an Atrio M5 rev2 btw.

[Mikerman]

I love shipments from Hong Kong: received a separate DX order in 6 days, but the MP4 Nation E5 order, shipped at the same time (but as registered mail), still hasn't arrived (U.S. west coast; 12 days now). What's the saying? "Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

[BIGHMW]

Originally Posted by AZ Greg

Haven't really spent that much time with this yet, but so far so good! Also, just wanted to give a big thanks to MP4 Nation! First order from them and I couldn't be happier. Everything went smoothly and arrived fairly fast! Thumbs up! Will be back later with some more impressions.

My hats off to MP4 Nation too, I was one of the first to order the E5 (and 2 of them for that matter) from them, and received them in my mail (registered) just yesterday, of course there is a dealer on eBay in the NYC area who is selling them there as well, I also got 2 from him (one last week and another one in the mail right now as I write this).

They (the E5's) made my somewhat (while unamped) shrilly-sounding, bass-thin Sony MDR-NC60 Noise Canceling Headphones sound a lot fuller, that of course along with the EQ of my Sony NW-HD5 or any of my other MiniDisc and Hi-MD Walkmen.

It also took that somewhat weak 5 mW output on them and made it more tolerable, more spacious, and best of all, a bit louder, and at least, unlike my E3, they won't overload while using my onboard EQ on my DAP's, I noticed the clipping on my E3 whenever a too-bassy audio got processed through it. No such troubles woth the E5, it indeed delivers improved SQ, just like they promised. makes you just wanns crank up some 80's L.A. hair metal (ah, my bad old days in L.A.) and do a little bit of THIS: OH YEAH, JUST BANG YOUR HEAD!!!

A toast to the good folks over at Fiio and also MP4 Nation for a great product, and a just as great job of delivery of it as well:

[srvctec]

Got my E5 and PL-30 from mp4nation today at the post office. It was my first order them and it went fine and order was shipped out in a timely fashion. Would probably order from them again.

Dang the E5 is small! It's my first headphone amp and I'm looking forward to trying it out- it's charging now.

REALLY impressed with the PL-30 headset. It sounds much better than the Sony MDR-EX51LP I was using. The fit is far better than the Sony set. I mainly listen to bass heavy hard rock/heavy metal and this headset seems like it fits the bill pretty well in that respect.

[boomy3555]

I bought my E-3 from Dealextreme and it took them about 4 days to process the order. Then, shipping after that was about 6 days.

I bought my E-5 w/pl-30 on Dec. 5th and just received my shipping notice today. so we'll see how long it takes for shipping. Considering I'm getting free shipping from Hong Kong, I suppose I can throw in a little patience.

[japc]

Not only from hong kong. I do a lot of buys from ebay.co.uk and already got packages sent on the same day by the same person, from the same exact place, arriving with one week diference. Recently got a package with a month delay, I was already thinking it was lost :|

[boomy3555]

The "Hong Kong Post" tracking number can be entered into the USPS tracking system, so that is convenient but I still find my packages arriving before the tracking even shows it leaving Hong Kong.