Getting the most out of the FiiO E17

Quote:

Originally Posted by seag33k 

I just purchased the FiiO E17 and want to get the most out of my setup.  What have others done to get the best performance from this DAC/AMP?  I've run mine for a few hours so it is charged.  I've also maxed out the sample rate on my PC.  I am also breaking in a new pair of COPs as well.

I'm assuming your connecting the E17 to the S/PDIF (optical or coaxial) on the PC?

Interesting question. It's pretty much just plug and play. Adjust the bass and treble EQ to the places you want them and just enjoy. Also, think of the gain setting as 3 large steps in the volume control. If you aren't getting enough out of the low gain, then switch to the medium gain, if still not enough volume, use the highest gain. The medium gain should be enough for most lower impedance headphones, low gain would be for IEM's, and high gain would be used for higher impedance headphones like the HD650 or such. Other than that, just plug it in and enjoy.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by seag33k 

Unfortunately my PC (laptop) doesn't have a digital or optical out, so I am stuck with using the USB connection.

There is nothing wrong with USB. Just because it can't do the higher data rates that optical or coaxial can do, does not mean it will sound worse. If your music is 16/44.1, like 99.9% of music is, then it really doesn't matter. 

Try hooking your E17 to a dvd/blu-ray player, or PS3 or something else with optical and play the same song over it and your laptop over USB and tell me you can hear a difference. You will not be able to.

Depends on your files. 320kbps MP3 can sound great, so can 256kbps AAC. Most can't tell the difference between high bit rate MP3/AAC files and the original. There basically is no audible difference with current encoders. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by seag33k 

Looks like I might need to rip my CD's again.  They are only at 192kbps in MP3 format.  What rippers do most people use?  I used iTunes back when I ripped them originally.

 

This may be in a thread already, but does anyone download their music from Amazon or Apple vs. CD? 

 

Thanks!

I now buy all my music from iTunes, which is non-drm 256kbps AAC. I also rip my music from cd's into iTunes at 256kbps. I do have a couple albums from Amazon MP3 as well which sound just as good.

Also, I use MOG as well, which is all 320kbps MP3. 

Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is the best program for ripping CD's, hands down.

I, uh.. I disagree :) That's why I said what I said. EAC is a requirement among the most elite and picky torrent communities for reasons. They only accept EAC rips. There is nothing inherently wrong with dBPoweramp.. and I actually use their programs for my music conversion, but for strictly ripping, EAC can't be beat. It's the benchmark for all other ripping programs.

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrislangley4253 

I, uh.. I disagree :) That's why I said what I said. EAC is a requirement among the most elite and picky torrent communities for reasons. They only accept EAC rips. There is nothing inherently wrong with dBPoweramp.. and I actually use their programs for my music conversion, but for strictly ripping, EAC can't be beat. It's the benchmark for all other ripping programs.

That might be right for discs that don't pass accurip - but (big BUT, IIRC) it's so much slower than dbPoweramp that it's PROBABLY overkill when you have a disc that lines up with accurip.  Unless you have oodles of time to sit around watching those little red boxes blip away...

Quote:

Originally Posted by seag33k 

Looks like I might need to rip my CD's again.  They are only at 192kbps in MP3 format.  What rippers do most people use?  I used iTunes back when I ripped them originally.

 

This may be in a thread already, but does anyone download their music from Amazon or Apple vs. CD? 

 

Thanks!

Before you go through all that work, you might want to actually see if you can hear a difference.  Chewy4 did a test over at this thread - suck it and see, as they say, and see if it's worth all that work.  For portables, I've gone all the way down to 96k AAC files after testing and gives me a much larger library to play with.

Is their a guide that explains why one software is better than another.  I thought all lossless formats were uhh... well... lossless?  Just curious.  I have used several programs trying to listen for differences but can not really tell. Thanks for your help.