FiiO E17 vs E10+E11, need a DAC for Laptop and a portable Amp

Hi Guys,

So this is my situation: I need to be able to connect my laptop to my stereo, and I need a portable amp for my android phone.

For around the same price I could either get a dedicated DAC and a portable amp, e.g. the FiiO E10 and E11, OR I could get the new E17 which I could use for both.

Which would you recommend?

I guess the E17 has the advantage that I could add a E9 later on, which coud probably drive my Sennheiser HD580 better then any of the others.

I would mostly use the portable amp with my phone and my UE TF10's and the DAC mostly for line out to my stereo and maybe occasonally with my Sennheisers.

Another thing I'm not sure about is how I should connect my stereo to the dac. I was thinking of buying a 15m cardas extention cable off eBay, which I could also use without any additional DAC. Now that I was thinking about getting a DAC I thought maybe it would be better to buy a long USB extention (active) and have the dac close to my stereo as apposed to having it close to my computer. Are there any problems that might occur using active USB cables?

Also, if there are any other DAC's / headphone amps you'd prefer, please let me know! I might also be able to stretch my budget a little (preferrably not a lot over $200)

Thanks for your help!

Oh something else I forgot: I'd also like to use the DAC with my Logitech Squeezebox Touch if it's better than its internal dac. That's actually why I wanted to move the dac from my computer to the stereo.

And I might add that I already have a Mini^3 amp. But this thing is way too bulky for me carrying around with my phone.

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I think the E17 is supposed to be better than the E10 but inferior to the E11. The headphone amp is my higher prioity then the dac, but then again E17 would allow me to decode the SPDIF signals from my squeezebox, although I`m not sure if ther would be any benefit in sq.

What you mentioned about the usb cable: That`s the reason I would go for an active cable with a built-in signal repeater. The thing I don`t know though is if that would pose any problems e.g. with asynchronous usb (not sure if any of the fiio`s even have that?).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartawan 

Hi There,

 

Please forgive my english should there be any mistake(s) ;)

 

From what i read from the net, Fiio E17 has the capability of both E10 and E11, plus a bit enhancements to the sound and staging. But, given the situation described above, i think you should go for E10 and E11. I do believe that a single function amp (amp only or DAC only) are better than a combo.

 

As for connecting your computer to stereo sets, i think you should extend the audio cable, not the USB because it will make your data travel longer than they should and will cause poor signal. So i recommend the DAC close to computer side, not stereo side.

 

Cheers,

 

Hartawan

 

Thanks for the hint Stoney, I will take this into consieration. As I'll be using the amp mostly with my phone, it seems it might very well be worth waiting for the E17.