E7 vs E11 vs E17 - Which is the best purchase? - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

Okay!
The Asus D1 cost in Sweden Like 85-90$.
And a Fiio E9i costs $245.
The headphones I will use (Or what I think I Will buy is the Sony MDR-XB1000, because its looks like a nice pair, and love how the MDR-XB700 are on the head)
But they have not over 40-Ohm? or I'm wrong?

I believe the Sony MDR-XB1000 are 24-Ohms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

Ye, so a Sound card like Asus D1 Or so + a amp like the fiio 10/11/17 is good?
You know Any other amp in the same price like the fiio e17 Or e10 that's better?

As you can not use the E10 & E17 DAC with the iPhone.

and the E10 & E17 offer no surround sound for movies and gaming

And E11 is cheaper then the E10 & E17

For under $20 you should be able to get two spare batteries (BL-5B) for the E11 and a simple battery charger.

something better then the Fiios, do not know.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

Witch two did you compair? E17 and ??

The e10 and the e17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

Ohh that with surrond had i never heard... Then the e17 and E10. But have the E11 surround?
I was think surround was more from the Soundcard and the Headphones?
Then i think it Will be the E11 then. Or is the 115$ extra wort to put on a fiio e9i?

Sound card for DAC and surround sound, E11 for amplification.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

Okey.
But can find Any ting about surrond... Like the E11 would have it and not the E10?
Wear can i read it?
Okey Will buy (what i think) a asus DX.
But how is à asus DX+fiio e11 vs asus zonar STX/Phoebus?

Asus DX verses STX,

The STX has a better DAC, 7.1 surround sound (vs 5.1), built in headphone amp. rated up to 600-Ohm.

Headphone amp. works both back panel and case front panel jack

coaxial & optical S/PDIF digital output.

1/4" back plate headphone jack.

Xonar DX I believe has a slightly cleaner audio signal then the STX

Fiio E11 good for driving low Ohm headphones, portable.

Phoebus, "gaming" version of the Essence STX

Full analog 7.1 speaker support.

I believe the Phoebus also has a slightly cleaner sound then the STX

Have not seen enough in depth reviews on the Phoebus to judge it well.

good decision. You don't need a portable amp no

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paprikan 

But can find Any ting about surrond... Like the E11 would have it and not the E10?
 

lol

Quote:

Originally Posted by PurpleAngel 

The Xonar DS(X)  come with DTS, Xonar DX/D1 come with Dolby.

 

The Xonar DX/D1 are good sound cards and come with Dolby, good for movies and some games, but have with poor headphone amplification.

Used one sell for $55.

So any external add-on headphone amplifier with the DX/D1 makes a great combo.

Fiio E9 is a nice liitle solid state headphone amplifier for a fair price.

but has an impedance of 10-Ohm, which is not really a problem for headphones that are 80-Ohms or higher.

50-Ohm headphones and up still seems to work good.

I'm guessing at around 40-ohm or lower something like the Fiio E11, which has a low impedance (like all Fiio portables) would be a better choice.

I would like to clarify something here for anybody that may read this thread in the future. If the Fiio E9 has an output impedance of 10-Ohm than it would not be recommended for headphones with impedance of less than 80 ohms. Greater than 80 ohms would be ok (assuming it has enough voltage output to drive whatever sensitivity headphones you use). 

What you are getting at is "damping factor", and the typical rule is that you should not use headphones that have a resistance of less than 8 times the output impedance of the amp. Breaking this "rule" could lead to "flabby" bass, because the driver is not dampened properly and could continue to move when it shouldn't.

I'd go with the Xonar DG. The environmental effects on the card make music so much better (or at least can, depending on the genre). Dolby headphone is also nice. The headphone amp on the DG is enough to make the bass on my AD700's - a headphone that many say have "no bass" - muffle my ears. The bass is quite fairly stronger with the headphone amp built in the DG. I've read a pretty fair amount of reviews too about the Fiio EXX series and the Xonar series and heard one person say that the Fiio series (E7 to be exact) has a slightly restricted soundstage when compared to the DG. So if soundstage is a big attribute that you enjoy in headphones, get the DG. If you've coming from onboard, the DG will be so much better. I've used the X-fi Titanium (an $80 card) and I can honestly say that even the DG is a notable amount better (at LEAST) than the Titanium and for a fraction of the price. I'm not sure about the E11. I'd like to know if there is differences in clarity, soundstage, details in the E11 vs. the amp in the DG.