What was the biggest change after it was fully burned? And did it come gardually or suddenly?
After the first 200 hours, during which I find most pieces undergo 'growing pains' and sound quite strange and even bad at times, after that it's all about smoothness, detail, resolution, separation - the stuff that separates the great from the ordinary.
Maybe worth pointing out that most kit sounds better after it's been playing for a half hour or so and can sound a bit bland from cold.
As for what the FiiO e12a is doing, well I have never listened to one so I can't imagine but it does sound like it's trying to achieve a specific sound and may well be colouring everything that it played through it.
On the subject of tube amps, I am a bit scathing having heard a few and owned a good one and experienced tube-rolling first hand. In my opinion a good tube amp sounds just like a solid state amp, clean, clear, detailed, musical, but without the harshness and grain that can afflict solid state designs to varying degrees. Any valve amp that sounds syrupy or golden or euphonic or dark or romantic is simply a poor design or using poor tubes in my opinion (or the designer intended it to sound that way - it happens).
I'm sure someone will be along in a few microseconds to take issue with that statement but that is my experience and my opinion. I like solid state amps that are based on tube circuits and generally use FETs of one sort or another. Not a hard and fast rule but they tend to sound more musical to me - but there are exceptions although they are generally costly.
But that's enough rambling from me. I probably haven't helped at all here. Never mind. If you love the FiiO then keep enjoying it and forget the rest.
