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FiiO e17 vs. iMac Soundcard

post #1 of 7
3/30/12 at 9:31am
Thread Starter 

Hello peeps,

 

This is my first time using this forums so excuse me for my audiophile noobishness lol.

 

For my birthday, my friends and family bought me Beats By Dre Pro edition. Yes yes, I know the absolute hate profile on them. However, I listen to bass(y) dubstep, club and funky house with a mix of RnB. The headphones work fantastically. I love having that bass drop after a certain point in a song. Gives me a spine tingle :)!

 

Now, to the the topic in regard here.

 

These headphones sound amazing through an iMac. I checked the sound card - Cirrus Logic CS4209a. I go to university just so I can plug these babies in to an iMac. The bass response, the highs and lows are epic! How loud they go is immense! Then I plug it back into my Samsung Galaxy S2 or my home computer and all of that dies! It makes me very sad :(.

 

Anyway, I heard about these portable amplifiers and was thinking would they do the same thing? Yet, even better possibly? I don't want to shell out near £100 for an amplifier that won't give me something like the iMac's soundcard.

 

Can someone that probably has a iMac and FiiO E17 describe the difference and which one is better? Or is there anyone that can sway me to believe the E17 or any of the "E" series within FiiO are amazing?

 

Thank you,

 

Zukky.

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post #2 of 7
3/30/12 at 9:38am

Im sure the FiiO E17 will blow the Imac on board sound card out of the water, Im sure the e7 will best it even though its nothing spectacular.

Beats are hated by the audiophile community yes but the pros arent as crap as the uber overpriced lower models, that said I think you should sell you pair and get a Denon AH-D2000 :P just kidding.

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post #3 of 7
3/30/12 at 9:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zukky View Post
This is my first time using this forums so excuse me for my audiophile noobishness lol.

For my birthday, my friends and family bought me Beats By Dre Pro edition. Yes yes, I know the absolute hate profile on them. However, I listen to bass(y) dubstep, club and funky house with a mix of RnB. The headphones work fantastically. I love having that bass drop after a certain point in a song. Gives me a spine tingle :)!

Now, to the the topic in regard here.

These headphones sound amazing through an iMac. I checked the sound card - Cirrus Logic CS4209a. I go to university just so I can plug these babies in to an iMac. The bass response, the highs and lows are epic! How loud they go is immense! Then I plug it back into my Samsung Galaxy S2 or my home computer and all of that dies! It makes me very sad :(.

Anyway, I heard about these portable amplifiers and was thinking would they do the same thing? Yet, even better possibly? I don't want to shell out near £100 for an amplifier that won't give me something like the iMac's soundcard.

Can someone that probably has a iMac and FiiO E17 describe the difference and which one is better? Or is there anyone that can sway me to believe the E17 or any of the "E" series within FiiO are amazing?


Fiio E11.

 

 

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post #4 of 7
3/30/12 at 11:39am

If the Fiio E17 is anything like the Fiio E10, then it won't improve over iMac.


I have a MacBook Pro 2011 and an iMac 2008, and the Fiio E10 lacks behind both by a fair margin as far as DAC is concerned. High frequency in E10 is more rolled off, bass has less extension and impact, soundstage is narrower, and midrange loses clarity and texture as well. It's a major step backward with some of my dubstep songs.

 

As far as amp goes, if the Fiio E17 is anything like the E11, then I think it'll work better... as an amp for the iMac.

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post #5 of 7
3/30/12 at 12:04pm

You may want to find a new transport. Have an iPad? You can use a CCK to use the E7 as an external DAC + Amp

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post #6 of 7
6/28/12 at 3:13am
Well guys, should I get the fiio e17 or not???
I also have the iMac and senn hd 25-1 II...i am very pleased with what this headphones can do but will i get more quality over the imac soundcard with the fiio e 17???

thank you.
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post #7 of 7
6/30/12 at 3:57pm

Well, till now no one test it, it seams...I also found an general answer right here, posted by bowei006 :

 

" ...Apple computers currently use Cirrus Logic DAC's that are implemented well with a nice warm amplifier. It is the best mass produced DAC and amplifer combo out on the market that is easily recognized. I made it specifc as sure, there will be a computer that is from ASUS model afjfjasdlfjsafjfj series number ajfjsfjklj part number afjsdfdjlajfdf sold for a limited time in a specific store that may do better but really......... they are the only company that consistently makes a computer with a good DAC and amplifier that has decent parts that comes STANDARD with the computer and entire series.. Prove me wrong...no really. I would like to know who else has a consistent series that has this.

 

They aren't the best and aren't superior to the E17 (I did testing for a week) and are actually..easily differentiated in my opinion(Mac's are overly warm with a higher THD and a bit more noise) "

 

http://www.head-fi.org/t/616253/fiio-e17-does-not-seem-to-make-a-difference-to-audio-experience#post_8496287

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