[StanD]

  Fiio e5, e7, e11, FiiO RC-SE1 cable. They were all totally unusable to me. I listened to them for a second and knew I had to return them because they were crap. I owned the headphone cables for a month and they were also terrible and I'm glad if I could be rid of them. I'll go into detail since you insist.
 
 
 
Bought Fiio headphone cable to replace stock shure cable because one of my over the ear parts cracked and would look stupid if I wore it.
 
Got Fiio cable. Earbuds cut out after connecting them. Instead of thinking "wow, this is a piece of crap" I will give them the benefit of the doubt.
 
Damn, these fiio cables are quite stiff and awkward.
 
Hmm, I'm wondering why my dac is cutting out. My damn dac keeps cutting out randomly and I have no idea why.
 
I contact the dac company (HRT Microstreamer). "it's not a problem with our dac, have you checked to see if it might be a problem with the plug on your headphones?''
 
I had no idea. I thought for certain I had a defective HRT Microstreamer. I look and see.
 
Fiio connect jack is designed in a dumb way. That is what is causing the dac to cut out.
 
Buy replacement shure cable instead. No problems.
 
 
 
 
Basically, fiio is cheap pseudo audiophile crap. It is made to seem very convoluted and complicated but it is total crap. I pitty people who are satisfied with fiio products. I don't have anything against them. I am not trying to tarnish their reputation or cause a vendetta or anything but all the Fiio products I ever used were unbearable and I urge people to look elsewhere for much better quality.

I won't speak for the cables but the E5 and E11 are not up to the quality of their other products. The E5 is a very cheap plasticky product, so don't expect much. The E12 Amp is in another league altogether and blows away the E5 and E11. The E18 is far better than the E7. It appears that you looked at their cheapest electronic products and painted their best products with a broad brush.

 

[sonictransducer]

I agree. I think the e18 has great sound quality for the price point. A clear, detailed sound with a wide soundstage.

 

[DJScope]

  Fiio e5, e7, e11, FiiO RC-SE1 cable. They were all totally unusable to me. I listened to them for a second and knew I had to return them because they were crap. I owned the headphone cables for a month and they were also terrible and I'm glad if I could be rid of them. I'll go into detail since you insist.
 
.....
 
 
Basically, fiio is cheap pseudo audiophile crap. It is made to seem very convoluted and complicated but it is total crap. I pitty people who are satisfied with fiio products. I don't have anything against them. I am not trying to tarnish their reputation or cause a vendetta or anything but all the Fiio products I ever used were unbearable and I urge people to look elsewhere for much better quality.

 
I have to agree that the E11 is a pretty bad amp. It doesn't seem to give the headphones more power but just makes them louder. Also does feel quite cheap in build quality.
I guess with Fiio products like every other company I guess, you get what you pay for. You want to get the cheap stuff, you get the cheap stuff. Their top of the range products is where it's at.
 
Instead of wasting $60 on the E11 you can get a Topping NX1 for $40 which is actually much better.

 

[StanD]

   
I have to agree that the E11 is a pretty bad amp. It doesn't seem to give the headphones more power but just makes them louder. Also does feel quite cheap in build quality.
I guess with Fiio products like every other company I guess, you get what you pay for. You want to get the cheap stuff, you get the cheap stuff. Their top of the range products is where it's at.
 
Instead of wasting $60 on the E11 you can get a Topping NX1 for $40 which is actually much better.

The NX1 doesn't seem to have much power at 32 Ohms. The FiiO E12 has 850 mW at 32 Ohms, the NX1, see below.
 
Output Power: 100Mw @ 32Ω load
http://www.sainsonic.com/topping-nx1-portable-rechargeable-earphone-amplifier-with-3-5mm-usb.html

 

[James1776]

   
 
They are shoddy though and don't sound very good. They have really good marketing. I will give them that.

Sort of opinions, those....

 

[DJScope]

The NX1 doesn't seem to have much power at 32 Ohms. The FiiO E12 has 850 mW at 32 Ohms, the NX1, see below.

[COLOR=2F2F2F]Output Power: 100Mw @ 32Ω load[/COLOR]
http://www.sainsonic.com/topping-nx1-portable-rechargeable-earphone-amplifier-with-3-5mm-usb.html

You can't compare a 880mW $140 amp to a 100mW $40 amp. Its not a fair comparison.
Thought you can compare the E11 and the NX1. I have the NX1 on hand and was doing A-B tests between them and the NX1 is much more clear, crisp and punchy. The E11 sounds bloated with crunchy top end. Listening to female vocal with the E11 sounds like they have a soar throat.

 

[StanD]

You can't compare a 880mW $140 amp to a 100mW $40 amp. Its not a fair comparison.
Thought you can compare the E11 and the NX1. I have the NX1 on hand and was doing A-B tests between them and the NX1 is much more clear, crisp and punchy. The E11 sounds bloated with crunchy top end. Listening to female vocal with the E11 sounds like they have a soar throat.

My point is that 100mW at 32 Ohms isn't much power for many headphones and that the E12 has plenty. By the time you reach 300 Ohms the power levels must be much lower. It does look nice.
As far as prices of audio kit goes the E12 ($130) isn't expensive and it's built very well.

 

[DJScope]

  My point is that 100mW at 32 Ohms isn't much power for many headphones and that the E12 has plenty. By the time you reach 300 Ohms the power levels must be much lower. It does look nice.
As far as prices of audio kit goes the E12 ($130) isn't expensive and it's built very well.

 
I know exactly what you mean. These specs on paper look terrible. But it actually isn't bad. I was driving the HD650 from the NX1, E11, C&C BH and the AHA 120. Of course the AHA 120 is noticeably better, but the NX1 actually sounds very good with the HD650, E11 not so much. For an amp that only has a 100mW output it surprisingly can power hard to drive cans with authority. I mean really well for the price. Much better than the E11 and somewhat closer to the C&C BH. 
 
Anyway regardless of what amp is good or not. This is going waaaaayyyyyyy of topic. This is a thread for Android compatible DACs.

 

[AvroArrow]

Another data point for DanBa to add to his list.
 
Dell Venue 7 (3730) with stock Android 4.2.2 & 4.4.2 ROM & kernel
  Fiio E17: does NOT work with PowerAmp or Google Music player. 
Fiio E07K: does NOT work with PowerAmp or Google Music player.
UAPP WORKS with both Fiio E17 & E07K.
 
My E07K is at work so I'll update this post once I test that out.  Dell apparently released 4.4.2 but had issues bricking some tablets so they pulled the update.  I'll update this post again when I get that installed.  The microSD slot supports microSDXC 64GB cards (using Adata class 10 UHS-I card in mine) so I suspect it should also support 128GB cards.  The only caveat is that it will only recognize FAT32 cards and USB drives, it does NOT support exFAT or NTFS formatted cards or USB Drives. 
 
EDIT: Just got the 4.4.2 update installed today and tested and only UAPP works with both versions of Android on both DACs.

 

[NZtechfreak]

Another data point for DanBa to add to his list.

Dell Venue 7 (3730) with stock Android 4.2.2 ROM & kernel
 
Fiio E17: does NOT work with PowerAmp or Google Music player. 
UAPP WORKS with Fiio E17.

My E07K is at work so I'll update this post once I test that out.  Dell apparently released 4.4.2 but had issues bricking some tablets so they pulled the update.  I'll update this post again when I get that installed.  The microSD slot supports microSDXC 64GB cards (using Adata class 10 UHS-I card in mine) so I suspect it should also support 128GB cards.  The only caveat is that it will only recognize FAT32 cards and USB drives, it does NOT support exFAT or NTFS formatted cards or USB Drives. 

It will take Fat32 formatted 128gb microSD cards, basically everything with a card slot will.

 

[VeXun]

What amp should I get for my HTC One m8 I mostly drive iems like hf5 hifiman re400 tdk ba200 etc. Budget is under 150 what would be the best amp / dac?

 

[NZtechfreak]

What amp should I get for my HTC One m8 I mostly drive iems like hf5 hifiman re400 tdk ba200 etc. Budget is under 150 what would be the best amp / dac?

If local playback via UAPP is acceptable then I'd go the Dragonfly 1.2 - the form factor is too perfect. If ability to use it with Spotify etc is valuable to you I'd look to others for recommendations.

 

[neopac]

What amp should I get for my HTC One m8 I mostly drive iems like hf5 hifiman re400 tdk ba200 etc. Budget is under 150 what would be the best amp / dac?

why do you think you need an amp? HTC One sounds nice at it is .
 
Got the M7 and went the "what can i do to max out everything" route, bought a dragonfly 1.2 and UAPP. Did a critical listening with my most-heard-album-atm Oblivion OST Flac via dragonfly/UAPP and then compared it to the same Album on Spotify Premium straight out of the jack -> didn´t recognize any audible quality benefits from the dragonfly-UAPP combo to the android app of spotify ( 4.4.2 CM11 with system headphone eq) using Sennheiser IE80 iems and Ultrasone Pro900---(Ok, the dragonfly got a bigger soundstage on some tracks)
 
I hear the phone amp clipping, going very (much to) loud with (easy to drive) full size cans like to Ultrasone Pro900, that´s where an external amp starts to make sense -> driving power hungry full size cans. Would not hassle with addtional equipment, if you only use iems.
 
don´t know how the M8 is setup regarding built-in EQ ... the stock M7 was pretty bad, because of its pre-installed Beats-EQ-setting. CM11 solved that for me, very nice sounding cellphone in the end.
 
cheers

 

[theBigStick]

Does anyone know if there is a way to get the CLAS -r to work with android?

 

[UprightMan]

Am looking to make the switch to Spotify Premium for home AND travel.  Need help with DAP choice and if any thoughts on DAC/APP please feel free to share
 
Travel Headphones: Sennhesier Amperiors
Home Headphones: HifiMan HE-400
 
Dac/Amp - planning to buy JDSLabs C5D (which I think/hope will cover home and away?)
 
DAP Requirements
 
   - Spotify Premium (with ability to play offline HQ)
   - at least 64 Gb (EDIT - SD Card ok!)
   - connection to DAC with one simple cord (likely JDS C5D)
   - Bluetooth a plus
   - Size - prefer same size as the JDSLabs C5D, will consider up to 5'' display (want to get it in my front pocket!)
   - I don't need a phone or plan to use for anything else (obviously no problem if phone though)
   - prefer non Apple products!!!
 
Thanks
 
Leaning towards a Samsung Galaxy S III mini GT-I8190 as can get new for ~£100. Any thoughts much appreciated.