I'm in California, I paid no additional fees or taxes. Just the $239 and the $22 shipping charge. 

So your actual "system" is to dump every file in the root of the directory, and now it's iBasso problem that this doesn't work for you?   Directories are your friend, embrace them.

I'm using a Sandisk and it's very smooth, not tight at all. 

I could be wrong, but I believe ALL E17's are Alpen.   Fiio gives most of their products a numerical identifier as well as a proper name. (EG: Montblanc - E12 or Andes - E07K)   I'm new to the experimenting with my E17 so I'm not much help on your other questions.