Intro

 

This review is a part of the Australian FIIO X7 tour where I had the opportunity to spend a week with this little beast. Thanks to FIIO and the tour organisers for trusting me with the kit and all the hard work behind the scenes.

 

I am a long time lurker who occasionally pops in to say hi in a few of the forums but stays up to date on all things headphone. I have been enjoying the talk and leadup to the this player. I have been interested in the idea of a good android based player but am a little sceptical of a DAP that does more than I really need but less than a phone and where that would fit into my life. So, does this great piece of kit stack up?

 

I will compare the unit in my review to my little DAP, the Sony NWZ- and for the comparisons I will use my ATH MSR7 and Aurisonics Rockets.

 

Packaging

 

The packaging reminds me of the apple approach, relatively minimal but reasonably premium. I have to say that I am getting a little bored with this approach, not to be too harsh but it is an apple thing, I think Fiio does have the opportunity to take it in a different direction, with companies like FLC, UE and Jays capturing my attention with an alternative approach with a lot of style

 

 

 

Build

 

The build is nice and solid with a bit of a chunky aesthetic, pleasant but nothing revolutionary. It has a confidence inspiring heft and I really enjoyed the feel of it in hand.

 

My main criticism of this category of DAPs is that the girth does do a little harm to the level of portability. It would be interesting to see something that takes it a different way, keeping it slim but maybe a larger footprint. So saying, it was smaller than the Cayin N6 and I got used to that in the end. The bottom line is that it is well within my level of expectation for this category of DAP so if you like the interface and sound, it is well nice enough to make you feel that you aren’t carrying something that doesn’t reflect the investment

 

Interface

 

The display is a nice and reasonably responsive screen. My first gripe though is that to start using the screen you need to press a button on the side. This is fine unless you have the DAP on the desk. I would appreciate having an option to wake up the screen on the front as per the Galaxy or Iphone lines.

 

Once you are in, the X7 has made a nice little player that sits on the homescreen. Personally after using the Hum Pervasion, I completely love the FIIO approach. I dig that you can still get behind it and into the system broader to start digging around in the android world, but I like to just be able to plug and play as well as having my music always at my fingertips. This seems like a much better approach.

 

The menus and navigation all seem pretty intuitive although I feel like there is definitely room for refinement. The scrolling and touch input all seemed to register fine for me.

 

All in all, I enjoyed the experience.

 

Sound

To evaluate sound, I have listened to each headphone volume matched by ear to compare the DAP’s. I know this isn’t the most technically sound methodology, but I am a relaxed imprecise guy, so if you are reading my review my hope is to give more of a story rather than the hard data  If you want that, there are reviewers that I could recommend for you

 

General impressions –

 

Vs my Sony A15 the X7 is clearly in the next league. In comparison the A15 just has a level of haze as opposed to the X7. I would say that it sounds the next level of refined. Areas of black space and separation between instruments in a way that the A15 just can’t match. Compared to to my memories of the Cayin N6 I would say that the X7 has similar level of detail and refinement but the N6 sounds a little etched by comparison, a little hyper detailed. I would say that the X7 has a little more of an organic feel, the X7 is a really satisfying listen.

 

The unit has plenty of power, never feeling like it was stretched, giving deep and full bass, detailed but still smooth mids and detailed shimmering highs. It doesn’t have the same warm feel as some of the other fiio units I have heard, but rather takes the organic, nice enveloping sound that usually characterises that sound and applies it to a nice flat sound.

 

Sorry if it doesn’t make sense, I am just trying to put words to my impressions

 

Conclusion

 

I enjoyed this experience. Thanks to all the Aussie crew for the opportunity to be involved in this tour.

 

I guess to boil it all down, I would say this.

 

It is at the top of the list of DAP’s I have spent time with. Is it the perfect portable? I don’t think so, but it definitely takes it closer than I have seen before.

FLC tour – The little known package with a big sound
 
Where to start on these little guys… Firstly, thanks to Forrest at FLC Technology and @DJScope for putting together this tour. It is always a privilege to be a part of a head-fi tour and this one was no exception.
 
Me and My Bias
 
I do acknowledge that I have a couple of inherent biases. Many talk about the obligation to the review and their inherent sound bias, I will own the second but the first I find myself not conforming to very well. I have noticed that I appear to have the opposite. I love my own gear due to the need not to spend more money and the research and investment that I have made. This means that I have found it easier in the past to not see quite the same value in the brief flings with review units. I work to counter that bias and will note it later in the review.
 
On the sound sig bias, I grew up as a bass head who swiftly turned into a treble head coming to head-fi and working through oldest to newest:
 
Hippo-VB->shure 425->UE900->ety er4s->dunu titan 1
 
Also along the way journeying in the world of over ear and on-ear:
 
AKG Q701, UE6000 (a real outlier) and now the Grado 325e’s
 
But to temper that treble tilt sound bias I thought I had better inform you of my latest passion, the Aurisonics Rockets. These have a receding treble but they are non-fatiguing and have such a beauty, delicacy and shimmer to the treble that I can forgive it (and turn it right up).
 
So all that to say, think as you will of me and my bias and take a moment to understand it before you read my thoughts on a product that you may invest your hard earned on J
 
Package
 
To me this package is sublime. Initially you are greeted with a relatively plain cardboard box which has a nice heft to it and not too much give. From there you lift, turn and twist to open out this origami masterpiece into segments revealing parts of the impressive kit in their glory. You get the tuning kit, lots of tips (the large dark silicone fit me better than any of my alternative tips), the iems themselves (nicely presented and packed), tweezers (which are practically useless) and a screw top case.
 
I think the case while a little bulkier and heavier than most is absolutely stunning. I love the finish and I love the sound it makes as you unscrew it. It has that slick metal on metal sound that has no grate or gravel to it, just the perfect glide…
 
The iems themselves have a beautiful soft blue translucent colour, a colour that is used seamlessly across all aspects from the cable to the plug. I think it is beautiful and almost has a glow from the inside (which it doesn’t, just my gushy language) and I personally really like the aesthetic of the plug. It is all vaguely reminiscent to me of my old UE900 package reinterpreted, even the cable reminds me of it, although not so positively.
 
The cable I found to be a little springy and scratchy. It didn’t hold a nice shape and wasn’t soft and supple which to me a great cable should be. It also managed to transmit more microphonics than I thought was possible for an over ear configuration… However I personally found the earguide area fine and the whole thing in the end disappeared when I turned on the music.
 
Listening - tuning
This thing is HARD to characterise with its multiple tuning options and so I thought I would just give an overall character based on my fav configuration, the red sub bass, the grey midbass and gold screw in nozzles with notes about a few of the other arrangements I had time to try.
 
I personally found that the overall soundstage and imaging were pretty consistent regardless of the tuning with key areas of the spectrum moving forward and back rather than the whole character changing. I thought that was a really nice touch!
 
Bass – The bass on these can be powerful! In the red/grey config they have a great punchiness to them without getting into the fuzzy zone. The fact that they retain a razor image makes me feel that they have a great balance even though they are capable of hitting hard. Adding in the high midbass filters changed the character a little toward the wooly side of things though never too much that it became a mess.
 
Mids – With the gold nozzle the mids came a fraction forward in the mix which is my preference. They seem to be solid, a nice middleground. I never found the mids to be super seductive but I also never found them to be too dry either. They were just there, crystal clear, detailed to the full and well imaged so that you could place each instrument in its space with a clarity between them.  
 
Treble – Lovely, just lovely. Nice, crisp and quite extended with nary a pain. I could listen to these all day without getting sick of it!
 
Sound stage – I found the sound stage to be quite well defined. It is a large room with good height and width. I found that the impactful bass gives a slightly smaller room feel than the rockets, although rockets seem more up front. To be honest, it lays the whole sound out with space and I could listen and mentally travel around the space because it is combined with that razor imaging
 
Imaging – razor, everything has a space and doesn’t reverb/clash. Need I say more?
 
Conclusion
 
Please don’t make me send these on…
 
They are great. They are a beautiful set of in ears that I would gladly purchase should I not fear the quality of my home life if I were to do so
 
For the price you get so much and have the opportunity to really listen to the detail of the music that you miss in other in ears.
 
My only minor complaint and minor indeed it is, would be that some more coloured sets can really feature a sound, like for example vocals whispered to your very soul tingling the spine or other such pronounced detail. These don’t do that, despite the tunability I found that everything was still there, in its balance just pronounced a bit more. Unflappable these are!
 
To me the major accomplishment of these is that you never feel like you have to analyse the music. The detail is there, the ability is there, but it still feels like music and in the end you can zoom in on detail or just sit there and enjoy the tunes.

 
Intro
 
I am a long time lurker who occasionally pops in to say hi in a few of the forums but stays up to date on all things headphone. I have been aware of the Cayin N6 for a while now and was always attracted to the round face and keen to get a listen to it. I was approached by H2Ofidelity to be a part of a Cayin Australian tour for which I am extremely grateful and the condition of the tour is to write this review which you are now reading. I hope you find it helpful J
I will compare the unit in my review to my little portable stack, the Sony NWZ-A15 with LO to a Topping NX-1 and for the comparisons I will use my Grado sr325e and Aurisonics Rockets (chalk, meet cheese).
 
Packaging
 
The packaging feels pretty premium and sumptuous. It leaves me feeling like I have bought a classy pen, a high quality watch or something else of significant value. It protects the unit very well, and although it doesn’t hold much onoging value, it makes me feel a little special.
 

 
 
Build
 
The build is solid, maybe a little chunky.

 
The carbon weave back and metal body are nicely finished in with the unique screen.
 

 
The only thing that seems a little off is the feel of the buttons on the front of the unit. The scroll wheel on the side is nice, but the front buttons feel a little light and cheap compared to the otherwise premium feel of the unit.
 
The unit does feel big. I was initially quite put off by this until I remembered my old Sony Walkman, then the nostalgia crept in and in comparison to that memory I began to feel fond of this brick as it took me back to a simpler time (no, not simpler in any way with tapes in retrospect). It is still reasonably pocketable but when you compare it to my Sony a15 it does seem pretty hefty (I really should have taken a side by side... *sigh* what an amateur). I guess the question is whether the heft will pay off in other areas. 
 
Interface
 
The display is set in a large circular glass section but is actually quite a small portion of that area. The initial menu is circular and navigable by both the front up and down buttons and the side scroll wheel. The left and right front buttons act as select and back buttons. This pattern isn’t indicated so took me a little time to figure out and I still find myself pressing the wrong thing and wondering why, to be honest a little quibble as after a reasonable amount of time solely using a single DAP I imagine it would become second nature.
Menus and sub menus are easy enough to go through and to summarise I would say that the whole interface package reaches the lofty heights of ‘reasonably inoffensive’. Comparing to something like the A15 which seems to gather a fair amount of praise for simplicity and navigability I found it sometimes frustrating, but I found everything I needed it responded to my inputs and nothing went drastically wrong.
 
Sound
To evaluate sound, I have listened to each headphone volume matched by ear to compare the DAP’s.
 
SR325e
 
Andy McKee – Art of Motion – Guitar seems to have more treble texture and detail, the shimmer of the note, the texture of the decay all seem to be a little more vivid. Almost crystalline, painting a visual picture, it is like the difference between seeing the surface of the water reflecting as opposed to then noticing that there is a slight oil slick on the water that refracts a slight rainbow just on the edge of your vision… both are real, one just has a little more hue…
 
Taytay – Welcome to New York – Slightly wider soundstage in the intro, more shimmer and shine on the treble which actually to my ear interrupts a little of the ability to just immerse in the song and enjoy her voice, it brings it out a little harsher than I would prefer, the a15/nx1 combo gives her voice a little more tone and smoothness. She actually sounds a little more distant in the mix which surprises me. I can definitely isolate sounds, instruments and samples easier but I am not sure that it is greatly adding to my enjoyment of the song. I can see why people prefer warmer sounding phones/sources for pop, it already has so much detail. A simpler source actually helps bring the whole thing together a little more. Listening to the song through, I can imagine getting used to the enjoyment of the detail this pushes out.
 
Agnes Obel – Aventine – Once again, that slightly more spaced sound stage brings everything into a little more focus. I am getting a little bit more of a digital feel from the n6 where it brings the cello into such sharp relief that I feel a little too much like I am holding a microphone right up to it rather than sitting in a room listening to it. Oddly, I think the n6 brings something beautiful out of her voice. Maybe it is that it is already so smooth that the intense detail brings a little more texture to it and you can hear more of the air in her voice that gives it a little bit more throatiness and clarity in the overall mix which is really pleasant as opposed to the a15/nx1 which settles on the warmth and smoothness of her voice and don’t bring you the same level of texture.
 
Snarky Puppy – Binky – DETAILS EVERYWHERE!!!! The snick of the high-hat, the percussion everywhere around me… nice punchy kick peddle, electric guitar pings in from the side, every instrument in their own space. The a15/nx1 has everything there but presents it all slightly closer as a rhythm section behind the melody there are fewer WOW, where did that come from moments or times where it forces you to marvel at a particular musician’s skill. One little side effect of that is that when it slips into the sweet bridge of the song, the melody isn’t front and centre which means that I lose a bit of that gut connected emotion with the song that I have found in the a15/nx1 combo.
 
ROCKETS
 
Radiohead – I Might be Wrong – Everything is just slightly cleaner across the board with a little more space, air and width. It is like there is a slightly woollier sound with the a15/nx1, maybe not woollier, just a little more intimate.
 
James Blake – Limit to your Love – Air, more air, just more space in the room. The gentle reverb of his voice floats out into limitless space. The a15 dies earlier, like the hall is big, but not as big. The click on the Cayin has a crisp edge to it that is dulled on the a15. At around 3.00mins the cymbals come in gently in the background. They shimmer into the effortless space with the cayin, on the a15 it is the same as the voice, they die down just that little bit earlier and the sense of space just doesn’t have the same expansiveness.
 
 
Conclusion
 
I could take either DAP but with the rockets but I would definitely give the edge to the Cayin as the rockets have a level of intimacy and warmth in the mids already so the cleaner edge allows you to pick out the detail just that little better and it all sounds so lovely. I would definitely recommend the Cayin with a warmer headphone. To me, there is no doubt that the Cayin is a higher quality sound, a wider image with a cleanness to the whole sound and presentation. You can really pick up a whole ‘nutha level of detail with it. With the brighter sr325e, I am not sure that I like it over my A15 as much and with the q701 I found the sound to be preferable on the A15 as it takes the edge off the sound.
 
I would say that it is analogous to the difference when you first watch a blue ray movie. It is almost hyper-real. I find myself hitting the Uncanny Valley effect where my mind starts to reject what it is seeing rather than getting lost in the story. I see into the details rather than being immersed into the movie, my mind becomes distinctly aware of the unreality. After a time that feeling dies down and I can accept the new normal. It is a similar feeling here. All very fun!
 
All in all, if I were looking to upgrade my DAP this would be a serious contender. It is a nice package and I really could see myself buying this in the future. 

Sennheiser URBANITE XL Review
 
The lead-up and my story
 
When these came up on tour thanks to Sennheiser and White Lotus I was busting out of my skin and I must take this moment to say a huge thanks to all involved for this opportunity. See, last year I bought the NAD Hp50’s out of the crowd of closed back mid-fi priced headphones as they had ‘the sound’ from all the reviews I read. I really really enjoyed them; however I always had no small lust for the momentums as they apparently had a good portion of the sound and didn’t make their owners look like Frankenstein as an added bonus.
 
Now I am the owner of a pair of Q701’s which are just about my perfect sig for the moment (unfair for this review I know) and have had my eyes on the Senn 650’s as a counterpoint with a nice relaxed sound sig. All that to say that Sennheiser has and continues to be the brand I skirt around on this journey but have secretly desired all along. The opportunity to sample their new product is almost too good to be true. I had a lot of expectation although I do realise where this product appears to be positioned in the market and thus began this journey.
 
The package
 

 
 
To me they have really nailed the box and packaging. The box is a heavy cardboard that feels premium and weighty then when the seal is broken and sliding the inner box through has just the right amount of suction to build anticipation of a quality product inside. I was greeted with the phones themselves settled in a precision cut foam inlay, the cable, the soft carry bag and a very small amount of paperwork. I do love the simplicity of the arrangement once again subtly stating the premium nature of the product. I am a sucker for minimalism.
 

 
 
It would have been nice to see the addition of some sort of hard case as folded these have a nice, though not too compact footprint, however that is minor and at least it does have a cloth bag (looking at you q701’s!!!). The ‘phones themselves are confidence inspiringly solid though so I can imagine they would be happy out and about just in their soft bag with few issues.
 

 
TL/DR – The experience makes me feel special, like it should be accompanied with a fine whisky and cigar (note: this author does not endorse these actions when reviewing)
 
The headphones
 
The headphones themselves sit in their dense foam inlay just begging to be handled. Pulling them out leaves you with a feeling of weight and solid construction I wish the NAD’s had at least a 10^th of. They feel premium all over.
 
The tri-tone headband has a nice stitched cloth outer layer bonded to a two coloured rubbery inner material meaning it should wash away all those young-un’s wax, mud, gel or other generally greasy hair product the hipsters use these days staying relatively pristine longer term. The colour scheme is subtle and really classy in my opinion.
 

 
 
The folding mechanism means it doesn’t become overly compact but it is wonderfully executed with a lovely thuddy click into place at full extension. This level of design makes me think of the research car makers put into the sound their doors make when they close.
 
The cups and sliders are really solid and beautifully finished. The whole thing just makes you want to admire and handle them. The pads are plush and pretty comfortable for longer stints and the openings are sufficient for my ears with only a minor amount of origami required to get my largish ears inside. Once in my ears have enough space inside  due to the pads sloping back under the outer opening. The clamping force is reasonable and enough to give me a good seal without getting a headache in the short to medium term.
 

 
 
TL/DR – Yup, I love the design. A lot.
 
The sound
 
Here is where the rubber hits the road.
 
You can read my ‘phones in my profile but suffice to say that I have come from being a bass head trying to feel the music in the car to a bit of a treble head over the last couple of years. I have been pretty happy with my iems so have been slowly enjoying the entry into closed and open overears with takstar pro80’s, NAD Hp50’s and AKG Q701’s as my experience in the arena. My experience isn’t too broad in the can world so feel free to dismiss whatever you don’t like (I won’t take it personally).
 
My source at the moment is a Sony NWZ-A15 out to a Topping NX1
 
First impressions
Nice, smooth sound on first listen. Nothing too offensive hear at all. Hanging out the washing to get a picture of the sound I would say that there was nothing missing from the sound but also nothing particularly engaging about the sound. So on we will progress to a bit more detail.
 
More detailed listening
For my detailed listen, I had a variety of genre’s (apologies for my abuse of the broad genre catagorisations) from mainstream (Brooke Fraser – Brutal Romantic, Lorde – Pure Heroine) rock/metal/alt (Alterbridge – all their collection, Dream Theatre – Black Clouds and Silver Linings, Muse – All their collection) to some elec (Rufus – Atlas, Justice – Audio, Video, Disco, Hillsong United – The White Album) on my regular rotation.
 
First I will start with a breakdown of the sound though it needs a brief preamble. If you want the technics of it all please read another review as I am only going to give the feel of the sound to me, trying to be a bit more touchy feely descriptive.
 
Bass – Not overwhelming or offensive to me. Relatively balanced within the spectrum and not rolling off too hard or being too loose. It did feel like it lacks a little bit of impact or slam to me which meant that the bass feels more like a part of the warmth of the whole sound rather than giving a real kick to the sound. Like there is more of the ring of the bass note rather than the impact but at the same time not feeling like the bass is slow (sorry if this feels like a contradiction).
 
Mids – WARM. The mids make me feel all cozy and comfortable. I could listen to it all day at whatever volume with no issue as there is no upper mid peakiness to me. The downside of this is that the warmth and inoffensiveness of it all means that nothing really stands out. Don’t get me wrong, there is good stage and separation to instruments and the like; it just all feels a little lukewarm to me in the end.
 
Highs – To me a little recessed behind the bass and mids which means that once again the non-fatiguing nature of the sound is reinforced. As I said I am a bit of a treble head these days but I did enjoy the presentation of the highs as it was all present and able to be picked out clearly in the mix just not emphasised.
 
Stage – I thought the stage was reasonable. It is no open back but it does have a nice round stage where you can put everything in its right place.
 
Separation – Good clear separation of instruments. No real muddiness or mush in here. Pretty solid again
 
Overall presentation – I can understand this sound. It sits there comfortably at any volume and can just be a part of your day without getting in your way. MY issue with that is that in doing that some of the sparkle is taken out of the sound. To me it feels like the sound has polished aspect and in doing so has lost a little of the reality of it all.
 
TL/DR – It reminds me of daytime soap operas and the fuzzy focus picture; everything appears glamorous but in doing so it loses a bit of connection with reality.
 
Conclusion
 
I feel like mainstream is where this set sits most comfortably. It takes any ‘edginess’ off the sound (I use edginess not in a treble sense, but to refer to any overly defined feature, whatever part of the sound spectrum) so it never grates which means that it loses some of its impact in other genres where a bit of ‘edginess’ can really bring out something special. It really is the sort of headphone that you put on and off throughout a day, letting the music wash over you without really listening to the music...
 
It is a great package, the box, the experience, beautiful headphones... just a bit missing when it comes to the sound to my ears.
 

First off, thanks heaps Brooko it is a privilege to be included in the tour! Thanks also to xtralglactic and boneofimba before and after me for showing me some gear and generally being top head-fiers!
 
My History
 
My only previous exposure to the Fiio range was the old E7 which didn’t blow my socks off as I found that it didn’t add anything special to my setup at the time which was a volume hacked Note 1 feeding my ety er4s’. Since then I have increased my line-up a little adding an Epiphany O2, a Topping NX1 and the Stoner Acoustics UD110 fed by my Note 3. I no longer have the ety’s but I now sport the lovely (IMHO) akg q701’s. I also have a set of havi B3 pro 1’s for travel, takstar pro80’s (which I really don’t use if anyone would like to borrow/buy) and a px200iii (destined for a senngrado build in the future).
 
For your reference I spent my time on the tour testing with the q701’s as they are the most testing of my equipment.
 
Fiio X1 physical impressions
 
She is a beautiful little box. Solid little box with well thought out industrial design…I really like the package. Minimal but very well presented. I did find the player a little chunky coming from using mobiles as my music transport for the last couple of years, but it does feel good in hand. The silicone case was a nice little addition but not having indication of button actions on it made it a little bit of a guessing game until I was used to the controls.
 
The buttons themselves and scroll wheel were all nicely implemented and positioned although I did find my attempts to be precise with the wheel a little frustrating, despite the mini clicks on the wheel the correlation between the click and the advancement on the list didn’t seem to match… a little thing, but when you are trying to get to a list item in a hurry made it a little frustrating.
 
Volume and navigation were not immediately intuitive but once I got used to the system were a logical enough system. I did find I never quite got used to the screen unlock on the side, I always wanted to just hit the middle button on the scroll wheel. I can understand the decision, but it made it a little more awkward when the unit was say, on the desk at work…
 
Fiio E11k physical impressions
 
Once again, Fiio have managed to make an impressive little device. I really dig their styling. On the other hand, as others have mentioned, the placement of the volume knob was a killer on this and actually led me to stop using it after a shorter time, replacing it with the NX1 in the stack, partly on battery life and partly on that baffling decision. A couple of positives on the decision though, a) it does make for a prettier design b) It is easier to change the volume in a stack sitting on your desk…but to be honest, it didn’t really work out for me… shame really, I thought I would enjoy the difference…
My Big Contribution to the Tour Impressions
 
Well, I was thinking… what can I really add to this tour? Many people with great experience will give you their thoughts which mine will often mirror, but I do have a bit more to offer…
 
This is my first non-phone player since the original iPod and since getting into the head-fi community, so my key question coming into this was, will I enjoy not having it all-in-one…
The answer is undoubtedly yes.
 
To be honest, it was not the sound quality or the UI (which I actually find a little cumbersome after the ease of the note 3 graphic interface) but actually the dedication to the music that I enjoyed. There is always another distraction when the phone is with you so the chance of really listening to the music diminishes. I found myself purely tethered to the music and that made me walk around doing little projects to music, or just sitting listening rather than getting distracted on head-fi (it’s a disease, I swear) or other mobile activities and that  was an absolute joy, I re-found a love…
 
So, I will be looking to pick up a player at some stage. Is it urgent and necessary? Not really, I still enjoy my phone and tbh don’t have the money now. However, I will be picking a player up at some stage and I really look forward to the day.
My Sound Impressions
 
Just to reiterate, I did my sound checking with the Q701’s to be as demanding as possible so this may mean that some of the distinctions I draw are a little exaggerated compared to listening through less picky phones… I recognise that but at the moment I don’t really want to listen to anything else in my collection so if you don’t like that, suck it up princess J
 
X1 – headphone out first – The major standout (in a negative way) was that the soundstage collapsed and it was left with a weaker centred image. That being said, there was plenty enough volume and the general sound was still pretty balanced. It was a listenable sound, but there was a bit of the magic missing from the q701 sound, almost a little stuffy.
Note: the sound was improved with the updated firmware and became far more listenable at a pinch but wasn’t a patch imho on the next iteration below.
Line out amped with either the NX1 or E11 – Ah, here is where the magic is! To be honest, I was shocked at the difference this made, the sound stage and definition to the sound came back in spades creating an open strong platform for music. It seemed to me to be really well balanced with no real colouration, just the music coming through strong with nothing missing.
 
E11k – I am not going to go too detailed into this suffice to say that in my opinion this little critter sits between my NX1 and O2. I find the NX1 gets a little strident in the top end and soft in the bass when pushed, only really noticeable when I sit down again with the O2 which fills out the sound just a little more and bass with a little cleaner impact and a smoothness to the highs. If you were to sit the E11k on a scale between the two I would say that it sits about a quarter of the way from the nx1 to the o2 (NX1<E11k<<<O2) on that experience description. Not sure if that makes sense but I hope it adds to your picture of it all 
 
Conclusion
 
Well, this has been a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed the little player and already miss it. It doesn’t have me rushing out the door to purchase it, but I will carefully be saving up my pennies and seriously considering it in the future. It does add something to the music experience coming from a mobile phone music listener to have a dedicated DAP, maybe not too much difference sound wise coming from the Note3 – ud110 – nx1/o2 and from an experience pov adds a whole lot.
 
Thanks for reading and I hope it helps