FiiO E9+E7 or Maverick D1?

I believe this is a burning question for all us budget audiophiles. Which is "better," the FiiO E9+E7 combo or the Maverick D1?

I've been eying the D1 for a while now as it seems perfect for listening off my laptop (curse you, headphone out buzz) and hooking up my PS3 to (via optical). It's input options are AWESOME. 

Then comes along the FiiO E9 and E7. The consensus is that it's, well...AWESOME. I am getting the impression that it is the most powerful and best sounding amp in its class. 

Now, I know that the E9+E7 combo doesn't offer all of the inputs that the D1 does, but I'm willing to live with that. That is, if the combo really does beat out the Maverick D1. 

After some research, I couldn't really find any cons for the E9+E7.

The D1, on the other hand, supposedly suffers from hiss, though, it isn't a serious case and I THINK that it only really occurs in the earlier models (?). I'm not sure on this.

Also, I've read inconsistent reports on the driving power of the D1. Too weak? Plentiful power? IDK.

After searching around for a while, it seems that no one has directly compared the two amps. I only found other posts requesting this very comparison. 

So is there anyone out there that has these two amps or at least has had listening experience with both that can chime in? I'm sure there are a number of people who are interested in this comparison.

Personally, I just want to know which has the greater overall SQ for what it does. Forget that the D1 has more options. 

Through Line In, who wins? Through USB, who wins? That's it. If the FiiO combo comes out on top by a good margin, I am willing to forgo the optical for my PS3 (not a MUST for me).

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a side note (kinda) ... I am debating whether if it's worth it for me to even invest in a desktop amp. Christmas money in my pocket has gotten me upgradeitis, however.   -__- 

I currently use Ultrasone Pro 2500 which are 40 ohm. Pretty easy to drive. They're paired up with a FiiO E5 and a Sony mp3 Walkman player as the primary source.

While I can hear the nice but subtle improvements the E5 makes, I have to say that my 2500s sound sexy regardless if there's an amp or not. Though, my 2500s rarely leave the socket of my E5.

I like my 2500s and I really want to see what a desktop amp can do for them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BournePerfect 

I can tell you that the E9 will do a MUCH better job driving headphones than the Maverick, that's for sure. The Maverick seemed pretty anemic driving my k702s and my DT 990/600s when I had them. The E-9 drove my DT 880/600s effortlessly when I briefly had that setup.

 

-Daniel

Great! Awesome info. However, in my case my Ultrasones aren't hard to drive. Though, I've heard that lotsa current will bring out qualities. The E9 might be overkill for my Ultrasones where as the Maverick would be sufficient. In any case, raw power is not my main concern.

Can you comment on the sound qualities of both? Any hiss issues on Maverick? Supposedly the headphone out on the Maverick is "meh"?

Quote:

Originally Posted by BournePerfect 

The headphone amp on the Maverick is indeed 'meh' IMO. I even preferred the dac portion of the uDac over the D1 as well. Keep in mind my Maverick was completely stock, and I never tried the tube pre-out stage. I never noticed any hiss, but never tried it with iems either. I only tried it with the D2000s, k702s, and DT 990/600s at the time I had it. It was my very first dac and amp when getting my feet wet in this hobby, and I didn't really know what to listen for at the time I bought it, so I don't think I can give a completely fair representation to it's subtleties.

 

I will tell you in  comparison that I was blown away by the little uDac incomparison when I received that, believe it or not. Most of this was attributed to the dac portion however. The 600 ohm Beyers sounded downright anemic out of the uDac (as they should), but the D1 didn't drive them much better-a little louder, yes-but they still sounded like crap, frankly. It wasn't until I later heard the Beyers on an Asgard and later the 880/600s on an E-9 when I felt like I was hearing them driven properly. Unfortunately I no longer had either Beyer when I had my modded m-stage though...I exclusively used that with my Akg's. I still prefer that combination HANDS-DOWN (fed by uDac) than any other combo I had tried up to that point.

 

-Daniel

Thanks, again, for the input. As I read your post I kept thinking, "Well with my easily driven Ultrasones I shouldn't run into any problems." Then I realized and and said to myself, "Wait, I'm going to inevitably 'upgrade' from my Ultrasones at some point. So why not get an amp now that would be able to drive cans such as some 600 ohm Beyers?"

Now that I have realized this, I am heavily leaning towards the E9+E7 combo. IF ONLY there was optical with the FiiO products...

Anybody know of a cheap DAC-only that has optical input?

While my PS3 won't be a primary source of any kind, I would still like to hear my blu-rays and games properly. Currently I hear the PS3's audio from, get this: my freaking computer monitor speakers! That's right...the little 1W pieces of crap crammed on the back side of my monitor. 

Well it's either that or I plug some headphones into the headphone out of the monitor, which is better, but that's not saying much now is it? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mad Lust Envy 

PS3 --- PS3 composite or component cables (white/red is all you need obviously) -- RCA female to 3.5mm male cable -- Fiio E9's Line In -- Headphones.

 

Voila. Works like an absolute charm. Your PS3 should have composite cables, I assume. You can find secondary audio through there (PS3 has an option of sending out 2 channel audio to every other source in addition than your main, which I assume is HDMi)

 

Absolutely no need for optical cables, unless you're anal about it staying digital UNTIL it reaches the E9. You only get or need 2 channels with your headphones anyways.

Very true. However, I guess I am anal to keep the signal digital. It's just that when I was searching around the forums, the consensus was that the DAC in the PS3 is not so good whereas audio through HDMI/toslink is good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by obazavil 

just get a mixamp, so u can get dolby headphone surround sound :P

 

ps3 -> mixamp (optical input) -> e9 -> headphones :P

 

movies/gaming from ps3 with DH is much much better :P

You know what? I saw the MixAmp come up on some discussions but never looked into it. I actually might get just the MixAmp. I don't really need the E9...yet. And I'm cool with spending $130 vs ~$200+. My Ultrasone Pro 2500s should be driven just fine by them.