An E9 Question

Hi Yall,

Having just bought and received a FIIO E9, I've a question for other owners of the E9:

Try:

When the power supply is plugged in (we're talking UK here, just for reference) but the E9 isn't plugged in to anything else (eg. USB), if you touch it and move your hand across any of the metal surfaces, do you get a really nasty tingling in your hands/fingers?

(Maybe a better way to describe it would be to say that one were stroking it ;))

Is it anyone else's E9 also, or is mine faulty?

Interesting thing - the moment that I plug the USB cable (for instance) into my PC, the tingling goes away.

(I'm no electrical engineer, but is maybe something grounding to the casing?)

If I can find out quickly, I'll know whether or not to return it as faulty before it electrocutes me (I'm sure not ;)).

All the best,

Peter

ps. Please don't hesitate to shout at me if this post should go somewhere else - I've read many threads on Head-Fi in my search for headphones/amps etc., but as I've always been seeking answers, I've never had any knowledge to share back (and hence, my first post! - it all looks "flat" when everything is arrived at through Google...).

Yes, it does actually, though only a little bit - when there's no signal and I change the volume, there is a (faily quiet) hiss as the knob is turned - I'd put it down to sensitive headphones and the normally dark soundstage, but I'd be very interested to hear if anyone has an E9 that doesn't do this?

Has anyone else at all ever touched their E9?

If so, could you possibly let me know if you get the same nasty tingling?

Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the reply (and to mukulymn too!).

You're right, the hiss on the volume control doesn't bother me at all - kind of relaxing, actually.

What I'm far more concerned about is the voltage running through the casing (at least, that's what I presume the tingling feeling is?).

Most worryingly (please, someone tell me if I'm suffering from terrible, ghastly, abominable ignorance!), the tingling disappears the moment any conductor (such as the USB cable) touches any of the exposed metal of the connections - presumably the current is then running through the connector and into whatever device I've got plugged in to the other end?

Hi all,

The problem persists despite numerous replacement power supplies from the very helpful Amazon reseller.

One major question I have though - maybe someone from Fiio could help me on this, if they're around:

Seems like a voltage leak to the casing BUT the voltage also leaks into the USB and, more importantly, the line-in/line-out/preamp-out connections.

Thus, the voltage leak is travelling straight down whatever high(-ish) quality interconnects I plug in, straight back to my equipment such as CD player (which then also have the voltage leak to their casings).

Surely that's going to negatively affect the quality of the sound?

Surely for a product dedicated to improving sound quality in any way, that's going to have a huge negative effect on performance of the device??

Indeed, I have a nasty feeling that the line-in to my E7 sounds MUCH clearer and more detailed than line-in to my E9 from the same source, using the same cable (though I hate to rely on potentially subjective criteria).

ps. I have this all plugged into a mains conditioner, so it's not that.

pps. Argh!?

Alas, I fear it may not be that simple!

I've indeed already tried plugging it in in two other locations (even in different towns) and yet the problem persists.

Further, I've plenty of other metal-chassied equipment (laptops, hi-fi separates, kitchen equipment etc. etc.) and not a single one of those have the same problem.

(Yet the moment I plug my E9 into one of them (the laptop/hi-fi separates, not the kitcfhen equipment ), the "tingling"/voltage is transferred to the metal surfaces of that device too - most unpleasant on the metal wristwrest of my laptop - means that I actually can't use the E9/E7 DAC combo as the tingling is too unpleasant as I type.)

Really annoying!!

Alas, no, the tingling remains even when it's switched on and in use.

It's currently good as nothing more than a charging cradle for my E7.

Hang on a sec: The (UK) power adaptor for my E9 has a plastic ground prong - doesn't that mean that it's not earthed at all?