From my personal experience, the improvement is not as some people may have suggested as "night and day". It is a subtle improvement in the audio quailty. The mids sound fuller and the bass is more controlled.
From my personal experience, the improvement is not as some people may have suggested as "night and day". It is a subtle improvement in the audio quailty. The mids sound fuller and the bass is more controlled.
Just posted this in the JH10X3's appreciation thread, but felt the need to bring the relevant part about he E10 here.
"What I'm actually most impressed with though is using them at my desktop, as they play really well with my Fiio E10.
Recently I've taken to using it when I'm gaming on my computer at home, and I have to say that it is a pleasure to be able to hear every little detail designers put into the games I like. Today I was playing Battlefield 3 and was able to take out guys trying to sneak up behind me because I could hear them coming from a good distance off. I was also able the hear a cat meowing at me at Seine.
Red Orchestra 2 I'm able to tell the difference between Russian rag boots, and German Jack boots.
Also the soundstage through my Fiio seems HUGE. Accurate too.
Sitting down listening to music at my computer used to be a rather bland experience due to having only a pair of M-Audio AV-30's to listen out of. Now I can Plug in my 10X3's to my E10 and blast music for my niece to listen to out of my speakers, while being able to actually lose myself in the music through my 10X3's. It's audio bliss."
Well, just ordered an E10 today because my laptop's headphone out is loose or something and sounds very weird.
Can't wait until it comes, sucks having to listen to music on laptop speakers...

This is good news. Because of the 0.7 seconds I had written the E10 off my list. How can I be sure to get a new E10?
Thanks! Your info helped me a lot.
Thanks, very helpful review
I'm having this same problem. I've RMA'd the unit once already and same issue. Sounds good when I first plug it in, but if left plugged in (to the USB) for more than a few hours it becomes severely distorted. This is resolved by unplugging the USB and replugging.
Does anyone have a solution to this? I'm wondering if it is some kind of grounding issue since it seems to build up over time. Perhaps a properly placed resistor shunt could solve? Note: even my RMA'd unit has a silver jack though I haven't seen it get loose yet.

Mine will occasionally distort (and it's not subtle) when I initially plug it in, but as you said, replugging fixes it. But, in my case, because it doesn't happen so frequently and the fix is rather instantaneous, I don't mind it. I suppose the sound makes up for it the most. Btw, I've the bass on/off silk screen version (which I believe is the 2nd revision, with the 3rd one still on its way).
It think someone else mentioned it, but it would've been nice if the volume pot clicked on/off.
I'm having this same problem. I've RMA'd the unit once already and same issue. Sounds good when I first plug it in, but if left plugged in (to the USB) for more than a few hours it becomes severely distorted. This is resolved by unplugging the USB and replugging.
Does anyone have a solution to this? I'm wondering if it is some kind of grounding issue since it seems to build up over time. Perhaps a properly placed resistor shunt could solve? Note: even my RMA'd unit has a silver jack though I haven't seen it get loose yet.
Just to put my 2 cents. I emailed Fiio to ask if the new model (labeled Olympus) still have the 0.7ms delay issue. This is the answer:
Anyway I still will be buying one, as the E17 is pricey for me. Hope is not a big issue in practice (0.7ms seems to be not much of a delay).

Just to put my 2 cents. I emailed Fiio to ask if the new model (labeled Olympus) still have the 0.7ms delay issue. This is the answer:
Anyway I still will be buying one, as the E17 is pricey for me. Hope is not a big issue in practice (0.7ms seems to be not much of a delay).
Sorry, need to explain again.
1, The old E10 will cut off the beginning of each track, the delay time is about 0.7S ( noted it is not 0.7ms), and in the new batch , we succeed in control the delay time to about 0.1S, So, the delay time still there, but it is unnoticeable.
2, We need to reset the WM8740 each time when the digital music stream stop and appear again, because it may cause phase distortion if we don't do that. the TE7022 has a little bugs to pair with WM8740.
So, Don't worry about the delay time again, you can't find it.
Thank you feiao for your note, now almost everything is clear. Only one point, when you say "new batch" ¿you mean the one with the "Olympus" text in the box and the golden connectors? ¿or just having the golden connectors is enough for being a new batch with the improved delay (0.1s)?.
I just contacted the Spanish distributors, and the E10 they supply has golden connectors but not the "Olympus" label in the box. I'm rather confused about this.
Just got my E10 today. I have it connected between my computer and H&K Soundsticks III. The mids are heavily recessed almost to the point I can't hear the vocals in some songs. I've tried not EQing them and tried all of the EQs that I like and nothing really improves the mids enough to allow me to enjoy the music. Even when using headphones the mids are recessed, but not as bad as they are using my speakers.
On top of this I can't get any headphones to work unless I first disconnect the Soundsticks from the 3.5mm jack in the back. is this by design? If so it's a pretty bad design to make the user have to unplug their speakers every time they want to use their headphones.
Do I have a bad E10 or is there something wrong with my setup?
There is something wrong with YOU. 