[ClieOS]

  Is it no longer possible to charge your phone with the E5 using the current firmware? I thought this solution would be great to play 24-bit files on my iPhone 6+ in the car. But alas, it means if I'm using navigation or already low on battery I have no way to charge my iPhone.
 
I completely understand not using the E5 to charge your phone when it's running off battery operation, but if my E5 is charging, why in the hell can't I charge my iPhone with it? Sure, I can use BT to the E5, but that means my 24-bit music is now not an option on an iPhone. Pretty disappointing.

 
I thought the charging change only affects the micro USB port and not the USB Host port? As far as I can tell, plugging in my iPod nano to E5 and it still indicates it is being charged by E5 (*on latest firmware).

 

[trappedintime]

I thought the charging change only affects the micro USB port and not the USB Host port? As far as I can tell, plugging in my iPod nano to E5 and it still indicates it is being charged by E5 (*on latest firmware).

maybe it's an iOS9 issue, but it offers no charge to my iPhone running 9.1.

 

[darekpawel]

I do not know if this right thread - but I need a help...
 
How to open the housing of the Creative E5 ?
I do not see any screws.
 
This is because the micro-USB socket needs (probably) some re-soldering.
I've notice that it is little bit loose... And disconnecting during operation - music listening.
Probably was displaced mechanically when few days ago was strongly pressed by some accident...
 
I've looked over Internet but no suitable answer...
 
Nobody opened it so far?

 

[ClieOS]

  I do not know if this right thread - but I need a help...
 
How to open the housing of the Creative E5 ?
I do not see any screws.
 
This is because the micro-USB socket needs (probably) some re-soldering.
I've notice that it is little bit loose... And disconnecting during operation - music listening.
Probably was displaced mechanically when few days ago was strongly pressed by some accident...
 
I've looked over Internet but no suitable answer...
 
Nobody opened it so far?

 
Underneath the rubber pad you will find 4 screws (near the edge, so you don't have to remove the whole rubber pad, just peel back along the 4 corners until you find them). They have triangular head (otherwise known as those used on GameCube) but can be undone using a small flat head screw driver, around 1.8~2mm wide. Those are the only screws in the whole E5, once remove, the top and bottom covers can be removed easily - however, that's really where the difficult part begins, as the PCB has multiple wires running to the mic and Bluetooth antenna on the top covers, as well as the battery. That is where I stop messing around and decide it is not worth the trouble to take them apart to just have a peak.

 

[darekpawel]

Thx a lot...
 
Just opened, removed the screws (difficult - no proper tool, but used some equivalent)....
Then I've re-soldered the micro-USB.
 
To assembly again - it is not so easy; as you wrote - wires, cables and side switches plus the 3 LED's...
But when done carefully - possible to do without any damage.
 
 
Now I'll check if that helped...
Possibly that the micro-USB has also some contact point damaged - from the external/cable side... 

 

[VinegarBoy]

Whew, just got done with my E5 review: LINK.

@VinegarBoy
: I wish I could help, but I found both the E5's Bluetooth and USB connections very stable with my iPhone 5S. As far as the music player, my strategy is to browse via the iPhone's stock music app or streaming service and use Creative's app solely for changing the E5's settings. There's really no reason you need to use the music player built into Creative's app. I find sound quality to be an improvement over my iPhone 5S, but if pure SQ is what you're after there are better options out there like the Cayin C5DAC or Shanling H3, which are both more conventional dac/amps. Then there are the less conventional battery-free options like the Calyx PaT or Cozoy Aegis. I reviewed all of those, and they all sound better than the iPhone's stock sound. Depending on what you're after, I'm sure at least a couple of them would impress you more SQ-wise than the E5's stock sound. The E5's strength is its tweak-ability. I mean, there are like a million different settings in there you can tweak.

@nmatheis The potential "tweakability" of the E5 interests me greatly and assuming these issues I'm having are resolved, I'm ready to lock in my opinion that the E5 is the DAC I prefer. I've heard others refer to the E5 as the Swiss Army Knife of DACs.

The Customizable settings and the EQ allow me to dial in some preferences and in a sense, compensates for some of my hearing loss.

Plenty of potential for connectivity also opens future horizons.

The connection problems I'm having with my iPhone 6 are frustrating but Creative is working to resolve these problems for me. Unfortunately though, the BT connection being inhibited by Apple's lack of aptx support is not a Creative issue as I see it. I'm a bit disappointed by this.

I did a DIY strap from rubber bands and find issues having the two devices together. Static and a constant "heartbeat like" sound present when joined together, at least for me.

Regardless though I find the sound improvement, both from E5 DAC and the amp, to be good, and as I said above, customizable. Many instances though, the SB Central app will not give me access to the customizable features and the EQ.

BTW, I read your review and enjoyed it very much.

 

[nmatheis]

Thanks VinegarBoy!

Your BT issues surprise me. I had no issues connecting to my iPhone 5s via BT and despite the lack of apt-X support thought it sounded really good. I hope you get this solved quickly!

 

[VinegarBoy]

Thanks VinegarBoy!

Your BT issues surprise me. I had no issues connecting to my iPhone 5s via BT and despite the lack of apt-X support thought it sounded really good. I hope you get this solved quickly!

I'm surprised and befuddled. The most critical item for resolve IMHO is SB Central not allowing access to the EQ and the other suite of SQ manipulation tools. This occurs not just via BT but also during connect via the lightning cable.

 

[sabloke]

Stop using the wrong phones!
My Android LG G4 works perfectly with the E5 over BT and USB. aptX is surprisingly good actually.

 

[VinegarBoy]

Stop using the wrong phones!
My Android LG G4 works perfectly with the E5 over BT and USB. aptX is surprisingly good actually.

N

Android vs iOS is like a person's politics or their religion, I've found out. Rarely you find someone who supports both LOL.

 

[rampageleo]

does anyone know what is the frequency response ???

 

[ClieOS]

  does anyone know what is the frequency response ???

 
It will cover the whole human hearing range, if that's what you are concerning.
 

 

[USHI]

can anyone please check the line in frequency response of E5 for me? Im using Room EQ Wizard and it only give 200 to 8k range ( i checked with both mic and LOD cable )

 

[ClieOS]

can anyone please check the line in frequency response of E5 for me? Im using Room EQ Wizard and it only give 200 to 8k range ( i checked with both mic and LOD cable )

The FR measurement I did above covers both line-in (marked as 'amp' in the graph) and as USB DAC+amp (marked as 'USB DAC').

 

[USHI]

The FR measurement I did above covers both line-in (marked as 'amp' in the graph) and as USB DAC+amp (marked as 'USB DAC').

Just to be sure, what i meant is using LOD cable, plug 1 end into E5 heaphone out and other end into E5 line-in or using mic plug into E5 line-in to measure headphone plug into E5 headphone out. My E5 Frequency response roll off at 200hz on both ARTA and REW ( i got full range using E5 headphone out and Laptop line-in with both LOD and mic).
Sorry, English isnt my first language.