yepimonfire
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Dec 6, 2010
- Posts
- 586
- Likes
- 28
Just got an E17 in the mail today. First few seconds of using it i noticed the sound coming out of this thing was polished to a mirror finish. Quite honestly, the last time i heard audio this well rendered was coming out of a Marantz SR7400 (which had a burr-brown DAC in it). Fairly certain it is the DAC itself contributing to this sound clarity, since plugging it into my other devices via the AUX in doesn't have the same effect. As an amp, it works very well, it does what it's supposed to do, it's quiet, and the transient response is significantly better than many of the headphone outputs on my devices (laptop, android etc.), everything just sounded snappy and faster coming out of it. Comparing it to the output of my other devices, they sound muddy. I'm assuming this is due to the Fiio having a much lower output impedance, as i am using low impedance headphones.
Might as well comment on everything else while i'm at it.
Build Quality:
The look and feel of it seems very solid, and the headphone jack is one of the tightest fitting i've seen, the only other jack that had this good of a fit is the one on my ipod. USB connector fits solidly, and so does the AUX in. the case on this thing feels very sturdy, and while i can't speak from first hand experience, i doubt that dropping this thing onto a hard surface would phase it in the least.
Features:
Perhaps the coolest thing about this device is there is LITERALLY nothing i couldn't connect this too. It has a SPDIF input that accepts both optical input and coax input (the device comes with a connector for each). It also has a decent treble/bass EQ that can be cranked to the max without muddying or distorting the sound. I would have liked to have seen the bass EQ be centered a bit lower however, it sounds like it is centered somewhere around 100hz. Either way, i don't use EQ's, so it doesn't bother me. The device also comes with a dock at the bottom (connector not included) which allows it to be connected to an E9/E9K, as well as a connector (sold seperately) for line out (could be useful for connecting it to a receiver, or active studio monitors, or even a larger desktop amp). The gain feature is really useful, especially when connecting it to my low output android, cranking it up to 12dB allows me to get a more than adequate amount of volume out of it.
That's all i have for now. Going to add an update once my ety's get back from etymotic, as that will give me a much better idea of the amps performance, they have proved to be more difficult to drive vs my nearly flat impedance AD900's. Thus far they have sounded pretty rough out of everything but my ipod.
Might as well comment on everything else while i'm at it.
Build Quality:
The look and feel of it seems very solid, and the headphone jack is one of the tightest fitting i've seen, the only other jack that had this good of a fit is the one on my ipod. USB connector fits solidly, and so does the AUX in. the case on this thing feels very sturdy, and while i can't speak from first hand experience, i doubt that dropping this thing onto a hard surface would phase it in the least.
Features:
Perhaps the coolest thing about this device is there is LITERALLY nothing i couldn't connect this too. It has a SPDIF input that accepts both optical input and coax input (the device comes with a connector for each). It also has a decent treble/bass EQ that can be cranked to the max without muddying or distorting the sound. I would have liked to have seen the bass EQ be centered a bit lower however, it sounds like it is centered somewhere around 100hz. Either way, i don't use EQ's, so it doesn't bother me. The device also comes with a dock at the bottom (connector not included) which allows it to be connected to an E9/E9K, as well as a connector (sold seperately) for line out (could be useful for connecting it to a receiver, or active studio monitors, or even a larger desktop amp). The gain feature is really useful, especially when connecting it to my low output android, cranking it up to 12dB allows me to get a more than adequate amount of volume out of it.
That's all i have for now. Going to add an update once my ety's get back from etymotic, as that will give me a much better idea of the amps performance, they have proved to be more difficult to drive vs my nearly flat impedance AD900's. Thus far they have sounded pretty rough out of everything but my ipod.
