Reviews by Hifianddrumming

Hifianddrumming

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: Great Pricepoint, reasonable DAC/AMP
Cons: Sounds a little closed in, only 16/48
Well, after almost a month with my E7, I figured It was time to give it a good review. This was my first DAC/AMP (paired with the E9) so I don't have much to compare it to, except an auditioned schiit asgard.
 
 Build Quality and Appearance (8/10)-
 
 Appearance isn't an area that generally matters that much to me, but the anodized aluminum ( did I get that right?) finish was a VERY nice touch the OLED screen was bright, but not necessarily good in sunlight.
 
 The build quality overall is very nice as well. All of the screws are very secure, no rattling there. The buttons are tight and seem nice to the push, very sturdy. the glass on the screen has proven to be very nice, no scratching, or the one time I accidentally dropped it, breaking. However, the headphone out connections look and feel a little loose at times, something I wasn't too happy with. The signal doesn't ever seem to drop though, nor do I hear any crackling/fuzziness, so the issue doesn't seem to be a major issue.
 
 I didn't know where to put this, but the user friendlyness is definitely lacking. Although the button layouts are pretty simple, the actual interface can be a challenge to navigate.
 
 The E7 came in a nice box, with a silicone case. There was also a carrying pouch for it, a usb-mini cable, a 3.5 to 3.5 cable, and a silicone band to attach it to your DAP. Couple of nice touches, but pretty standard. The box had a picture of E7 on it, with "USB DAC/ headphone amp" written on it.
 
 Sound (8/10)
 
 The sound comparisons were done with the onboard sound card of an iMac -  Grado sr-125is, and also iPod - Sr125is. I then tried both those with the Fiio E7.
 
 First of all, with the iMac-
 
 As you could probably guess here, the results were substantial, considering the fact that in this situation it is acting as a DAC and an amp. The E7 basically did it's job. It cleaned up some rough edges, improved some perceived soundstage, cleared up the overall sound, and, well, amplified. The E7 made the mids really shine on my Grados, an already strong point. I couldn't stop listening to anything with an acoustic guitar in it. The sometimes piercing treble was tamed a little bit, but also a little it fuller if that makes sense, not quite as sharp and spiky, but a little bit richer. I also noticed an increase in detail, for example, hearing the guitarists fingers sliding down the strings, or the slow decay of the vibrations. The part I loved about this amp/DAC so much was it's ability to bring out the bass more, an area admittedly lacking in the lower end Grado models. It didn't really add anything to it, just brought it forward a little bit. In my opinion, improving the sound signature greatly.
 
 From the iPod-
 
 Paired with the iPod, the E7 only acts as an amp. I did however, notice along the same lines as with the iMac. The sound was cleaner, clearer and larger. It added some depth and detail to my MTPCs.  It doesn't necessarily add much to the sound (a good amp shouldn't really) but kind of makes things more noticeable and makes it a little more spacious.
 
 There is a couple negatives. if there is flaw in your recording, or in the sound signature of your headphones, it WILL bring it out. If you have an overly bassy pair of headphones, it will make them even bassier. If you have piercing treble, they might become even more piercing. This is only a negative if you have flawed recordings or seriously flawed headphones, In some ways, this is a good thing because if you have mids that you love, it will bring them out even more, etc.
 
 The bass boost works well. there is no audible distortion really when using the bass boost, but I don't prefer to colour my music too much. I guess if you had severely lacking headphones it could come in handy, but I'm not really a basshead so I didn't pay much attention to that. i will tell you that it definitely works without distortion or serious loss of detail.
 
 It can only play 16/ 44.1  . That's not massive I guess, but annoying for someone who has a fair collection of 24/96. Buyers beware,if you want 24/96 search elsewhere
 
 Conclusion (8/10)
 
 For the very reasonable price, you get neutral amp/dac, that sufficiently drives headphones up to about 250 ohms. There's some cons but for the price/value, it's a great piece of equipment.
Blue Boat
Blue Boat
Didn't notice any dramatic differences when hooked up to my Clip+. Dno why you heard such massive differences when hooked up to your Ipod. It did make the sound from my laptop better, reduced hissing, made things a tiny wee bit clearer, which can be a bad thing since it revealed some flaws. Could be placebo, could be the amp. Idno. Doesn't matter. But I ended up selling these. Regarding the review: strong use of audiophile lingo. Not a bad read, but not entirely accurate either (imho). Imo, the differences are not worth the $90 price tag if you are going to use it with a portable player. But with a PC/laptop/notebook with a really bad onboard audio, definitely worth it. Just a side note: Might anger some, but I think the Sansa media players amps are better than the E7's. The only part that makes it worth the buy is the DAC.
JHex2
JHex2
did you use the headphone out on the ipod or an lod?
Hifianddrumming
Hifianddrumming
Blue boat- This was my first "audiophile" amp and DAC. I only bought it to be used as a DAC. I have no idea why I noticed such a difference, I don't as much any more, but I actually wrote this review back in September as a thread, and head-fi was bugging me to write a review for it, so it was kind of just copy-paste. I was in that honey-moon phase when you're absolutely in love with what you got. I have to say though, it is a superb start to computer audio when paired with the E9.
JHex2- I was using the fiio E9 LOD

Hifianddrumming

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: Sound quality, Surprisingly good build quality, works unamped and shines even brighter with.
Cons: Minor comfort and sound leakage
 These babies can sing. That's all I can say. I had never tried a pair of Grados before these and I'm pretty shocked (in a good way.)
 
 The box leaves some to be desired, a pizza-box style box, with an image of a pair of Grado woodies on it. It has a GRADO headphones name in vintage-ish blue/purple/orange, and a quotation reading "truly the world's finest." Nothing too special, but boxes aren't what headphones are all about :wink:
 
 Opening the box I was greeted by my sexy new cans in a piece of foam cut out to fit the headphones. They definitely looked nice. Vinyl headband, retro but solid looking plastic build, and an incredibly thick cable. They looked a little flimsy, but after feeling them my worries abated a little bit. It smelled kind of weird though, don't know why.
 
 The sound out of the box was good. Not quite to the level of astounding, but better than anything I had heard before. The highs were great. I can't say sparkly, because they weren't they were just natural. It sounded a tad shrill at first, which eventually mellowed out.
 
 The bass is what the prestige series generally get picked on for. I have to agree, there is not much in the way of quantity of bass. There's a nice little thump but definitely not much in the way of quantity. Quality, on the other hand, is alot better. the bass that is present is nice, textured and not over emphasized.
 
 The mids are where these really shine. Again, I won't call these smooth mids or anything, just natural. Guitars sound perfectly life-like. My favorite song (Map of Your Head, by Muse) is acoustic guitar orientated, and never in my life have I ever heard it sound this good.
 
 The soundstage is.... well, almost non-existent. Not necessarily in a bad way, because the imaging itself kind of makes up for it, but it definitely sounds fairly left/right orientated.
 
 Clarityis good on these, especially after quarter modding. Detail retrieval is substantial for what I thought was a more "fun" orientated pair of headphones, and the sound seems very effortless, never really getting congested, and always maintaining good seperation
 
 You don't need an amp with these, but I do notice a slight improvement, which is nice.
 
  I've had minor comfort issues, and of course these leak sound like most grados .
 
 In summary, these are great entry level headphones :)
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Hifianddrumming

500+ Head-Fier
Pros: good sound, great soundstage for an IEM, Good customizable experience, Great warranty.
Cons: sound could be better for the price, as well as one of the cases.
I saved up for these headphones for a longtime and finally got them on the 15th of June.
 
 They were my first pair of truly high quality IEMs, and besides my Sennheiser hd280s, my first real delve into Head-fi land.
 
 Sound seemed AMAZING at the time, but as I listen more, and I heard the UE triple-fi 10s, in my opinion they are a little over-priced at 400. Only get them if you can get a for maybe 350, around there. The detail and soundstage on these is blow-your-mind for an IEM
 
 The tip selection is nice, it would be hard not to find a comfortable tip.
 
 Kind of in a rush right now... Will elaborate later :)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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