I was actually quite impressed with the E5 as well, though just demo conditions at RMAF. pretty solid product and competitive price point. sell this under a more audiophiley brand name with some wood accent panels and they can probably mark it up pretty high =P

Awesome review Ev, well done!

Enjoyable read, Everett.

Nice review. Cheers!

Hi Ev, thanks for your review.
 
Most reviews of this seem to focus on the sound through headphones, but as I understand the line-out could be used as input to a set of powered speakers (like Audioengine A5+), can you speak to the quality of the sound through the line-out? Would there be much improvement over onboard motherboard audio, and how would it compare to something built for the task like the audioengine d1?
 
Also, this reviewer:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR4Oq3Dw3gY
 
seemed to find a significant difference in the audio quality on the USB and optical inputs to the E5. I'd like to use the E5 with USB from my computer, and optical from a chromecast audio, will this not give me the quality needed from the USB?
 
Thanks!

Thanks guys! Did'ya like the pink caption text? Writing this and testing is fun for me, glad you guys liked it too!

kerzane,
Hmm, I'd say the line out is very clean and the E5's DAC should sound crisper, more detailed, and different sounds should have better separation than with your motherboard audio. Plus the E5 has nice tools for you to tailor your sound, and you can have it connected to a bunch of sources at once. 4 different ways to connect, though I only tried a few of them at once.

The USB connection concern is very specific... Honestly I thought the USB connection directly to my iPhone sounded great, but I didn't spend much time with computer-to-USB other than just checking it worked. The difference is pretty small if there at all, but you get to choose whatever connection works for you. Honestly, not all computer USB ports are equal, and the reviewer may have connected his E5 to a noisy USB port – I wouldn't use the front USB ports on my desktop computer, just the motherboard ones on the back. The reviewer in the video does seem pretty thorough... I would say he did a good review, but I wouldn't make as large claims about the differences of things (using the E5 with a bright headphone will become only minusculy brighter, unless you have Crystalizer or an EQ turned on).

Thanks for that.
 
Sounds like the E5 is a complete no-brainer then over something like the D1, for me the E5 is only about 10% more expensive. Sounds like a remarkable little piece of kit.
 
Cheers!