Hi, I recently acquired my Fiio E7 and E9 for my new AKG Q701. I'm finding that I get the best sound (the fullest) when  use my Mac book pro's internal DAC through auxiliary into E9 rather than using the E7 docking on E9. The E7's sound is a tad sharper, but I feel this is simply because the sound is thinner than my Mac book pro's internal DAC exaggerating the high frequencies more. What I am finding is that It is best to have the E9 in in high gain then have the E7do as much of the work as possible but not to the point where it produces static. This E9 by itself definitely can reach slightly  lower sub frequencies doing it this way and overall has a slight bit more warmth where I find the E7 and E9 combo bright and harsh. 
 
I'm curious what other people experience are with the E7 and E9? It seems that the E7 is suppose to be better than most internal DAC's, but I am not finding this the case. 

I find the E9 fantastic with my MSII - its your DAC, not your amp. The E7 copped plenty of poor comparisons when Fiio released later models - beats me, but it was never on my shortlist. 

Yes I know its the DAC. I'm saying I'm shocked my internal DAC is better than the external DAC

Dont be - Apple has a rep, in general, for having better onboard audio than most of the Intel-based laptops. My old MBP sounded ok - sadly, a single can of Coke put all of that to rest. Dont drink and type.   

Sorry to hear about that accident!  
 
question: in you opinion what is the proper ratio between the out volume from CPU and amping volume?
 
My experiments seems to suggest bass energy goes up as I increase the amount of work done by the amp. Which one is technically more accurate, at least with respect the the E9? 

The E7 dac is not a serious solution for macbook users, probably it is if you have a mp3 player and want better SQ. 

I can confirm this as my experience as well. I've been a Mac user for years and got used to their headphone jacks and DACs. Not top quality, but very serviceable and enjoyable. However, when I recently got a Windows HP computer, supposedly with a "premium" audio platform, I was shocked with how rubbish it is.

estreeter said:

Dont be - Apple has a rep, in general, for having better onboard audio than most of the Intel-based laptops. My old MBP sounded ok - sadly, a single can of Coke put all of that to rest. Dont drink and type.   

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hodgjy said:

However, when I recently got a Windows HP computer, supposedly with a "premium" audio platform, I was shocked with how rubbish it is.

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Beats audio? 

Yep. It supposedly has "fully isolated" headphone jacks to remove internal noise. It is the noisiest jack I've ever heard. Complete rubbish. I bought the computer because it had all the hardware I desired and I tolerated the fact it came with Beats. I wasn't going to use those anyway.

fabio-fi said:

Beats audio? 

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