Well I bought the E6 on a whim and it just arrived today. I'm impressed. It's definitely better than the E7 with an iPhone LOD and Triple Fi's. The soundstage feels a lot more natural - it's definitely easier to picture the instrument placement in your head while also feeling a little more spacious. The bass is a lot more tight and defined (I use EQ2 to counteract the Triple Fi's drop in bass, and Level 2 on the E7). The E6 also wins in the treble department, where it's clearer and more detailed. I really can't find a single downside to it vs the E7, except for maybe that it loses a bit of warmth (if that's your thing) and that it doesn't have a DAC.
It's really an amazing value for $20, you can't go wrong with it. It won't replace an RSA Protector or Pico Slim or anything like that if you're serious about your portable rig, but if you're just looking for a quick upgrade for your gym music or something it's great.
It's really an amazing value for $20, you can't go wrong with it. It won't replace an RSA Protector or Pico Slim or anything like that if you're serious about your portable rig, but if you're just looking for a quick upgrade for your gym music or something it's great.
First, they do sound significantly better after burn-in as the sound really opens up. When I first got mine I preferred even listening to my A2's which had been used for about a year. So you might want to wait a bit so how the sound changes for you after burn-in.
Second I believe that these scale a lot with the source which is being used. With the Musiland Monitor 02 which is generally considered a decent entry level usb dac, the sound was fairly clean and musical sounding. But after switching to a Yulong D100, the sound improved in at least a few areas. Bass extended lower, the sound was cleaner ie. easier to hear separation of different sounds, and the detail and texture of sounds was better. My description might not be the best but given that I was easily able to differentiate between the two sources fairly easily using the A5's, I think they have potential but are limited by the source. This would be especially true if using integrated audio rather than a pci DAC card or external DAC.
Also as a side note I've auditioned the M-Audio BX5a but did prefer the sound signature of the A5 for music and overall really.