FiiO E17 "ALPEN" - First Impression + Final Thought - Page 235

So what is your opinion about headphones. Lately i feel like most headphones can be equalized to sound good. I started off my headfi journey thinking I was only gonna get the best unadulterated sound with very neutral phones.

Just hooked my iPad (version1) to the USB camera kit with a powered hub and it works great. Thanks for helping me get a digital out from my iPad. I thought it was hopeless.

any chance a future firmware update could enable support for 88.2kHz via USB?

Or maybe it's been already fixed? (sorry I can't really go through this thread's 235 pages)

 

this is the deal-breaker for me, I would really love to get the E17...

Edited by Nando1970 - 5/24/12 at 6:36am

Why such a sampling rate? Ill be that guy and say that most cant tell the difference from sampling to 96KHz as the Samping rate following Nyquists theory is already twice Nyquists theory.

As I said in an earlier post I love this solution. However after experimenting I found that if you don't own a Y cable it isn't necessary to buy or create one. I just connect the portable power source into one port on the USB hub and the FiiO cable in to another.

 

Ian

 

I don't have a USB male-to-male cable, so the one I used was the best portable solution for me. Anyone who doesn't need portability can just plug the iPad and E17 into a wall-powered hub.

That's what I did. With shared iTunes libraries, I can now get a digital out of all my lossless music anywhere in the house. Once again, thanks for suggesting this solution.

BTW anyone else driving their AKGs with the E17? Am I crazy to think that this little amp drives the K702 very nicely?
Edited by schuh - 5/25/12 at 3:37am

I have Q701s. Yes it does drive it nicely. Oldies and some classic that doesnt go up to the 96dB ceiling(of 16bit dynamic range) and are a lot lower have some trouble getting to rock hard volume(dont do that) but otherwise it has enough power for the Q701s

Hi Ian,

 

First let me reiterate my situation.  I've been using the E17 with my iPad via CCK and USB hub to play 96khz-24bit FLAC files using FLAC Player.  Up until the iOS was updated to 5.1, this set up worked perfectly.  After the iOS update to 5.1 I get what sounds like distortion (maybe it is this "ragged top end" you speak of) on any files that are above 48khz. They can be FLAC files on FLAC Player or AIFF files on the Apple music player - it doesn't matter.  I've worked with Dan Leehr (FLAC Player developer) to see if he could do anything to no avail.  I'm desparately seeking a solution!!  My "portable" Hi-Res DAP is rendered useless because of this.

 

So, a few questions to you...  First, are you listening to files that are higher than 48khz when you hear this "ragged top end"? Second, are you using a 2x USB A to 1x Mini B Cable like what Ike shows in his diagram?  If you are just using a powered USB Hub, what brand and model is it? What brand and model USB cables are you using?

 

Thanks!

Agreed.  Some older recordings don't have enough volume, at least with the gain at +6.  That's as high as I'll take the gain.  To me the +12 setting sounds too grainy.  Most of my recordings sound great though, plenty loud and clear enough.  The E17 is also pretty quiet at +6, no hiss.

Anyone us this amp/dac with JH16s? Any hiss? Overall improvement?

That is why I use replaygain. Approximately the same volume on all albums, and hence no need to change volume at each new album.

@rikkun
Would replaygain be software or hardware based? For you that is? The E17 has no such hardware for that so its software which adds my question of how efficent and good the "replygain" is. Of course this differs from which one you use.... Which one do you use and is the one you use for foobar?
Any audible loss of quality or addition of artifacts or distortion?

I'm interested in this, but I almost always use my iPad (either the Remote app or shared library) and I've gotten used to just changing the volume from the iPad.  I've tried gain levelers in the past and found that they degrade the music.