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Originally Posted by Drag0n /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I see the 3move is on your list...................its also one of the amps i want and one of the best buys out there. Great amp!!!
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Yeah I've heard great things about it, so when I decide to get a serious (portable) amp it will be a big contender.
And now, my thoughts after a day of use at school with my AI-M6's.
To begin, I followed the same method I used with my other two phones, starting with a short album, "Organic Hallucinosis" by Decapitated, the first track without the E-5, and then adding the amp in, and from there I listened to full length albums. Throughout the day I listened to (in no specific order) "Lateralus" by Tool, "Obscura" by Gorguts, "The Ruiner" by Made Out of Babies, "What We All Come To Need" by Pelican, and "Year Zero" by Nine Inch Nails.
With the AI-M6, the hiss was more noticable than with either of the other headphones I had used, but it was easily covered up by the music once I started playing something. Once again, I noticed the increase in clarity, which is always welcome. The thing that seemed to improve most significantly was the bass. Without the E-5 the bass on the AI-M6 seemed somewhat sloppy, lacking any serious amount of control. The E-5 really cleaned up the sound and made the bass a lot snappier, almost as tight as my MS-1's without the E-5. I was pretty impressed by the improvement.
I tried briefly turning on the bass boost, although the result wasn't very pretty (which I wasn't surprised about), and I left the bass boost off for the rest of the day. All of the bass clarity that the amp provided was gone and what was left was a boomy, muddy, mess. It doesn't really bother me though, I'm no basshead, and the AI-M6 already has an ample amount of quality bass.
So, for the rest of the day I happily listened, "Lateralus" sounded especially good with the cleaner bass. Nothing else too exciting popped out at me.
So about halfway through "What We All Come To Need", the E-5 died, so I ended up listening to the rest of the album and all of "Year Zero" without the amp. It definitely helped me get some perspective on the improvement. The transition back to just using my iPod was actually a lot less striking than adding the E-5 in was. I was, however, pleasantly surprised to see my iPod still fully charged, which I had not noticed before. It appears that the E-5 actually bypasses the iPod's power and runs the iPod on it's own power. This is nice, so that I only have to worry about one device dying, and I will have to charge my iPod a lot less often.
A few things I noticed after switching back were the muddiness of the sound compared to with the amp, and at quieter volumes the sound seemed veiled. I also realized after the amp died that the E-5 seemed to take the edge off of the sound at louder volumes, whereas with the iPod alone when I turned it up to get better sound, it could sound harsh. The iPod alone did seem to have a more forward sound at higher volumes, but I prefer the controlled tone of the E-5.
When I got home, I began charging the E-5 and decided to try and play through my computer. The result wasn't very good. At first there was a low frequency buzzing noise, which I figured out was because the device was charging through the computer and running off of the computer soundboard, creating some feedback, so I unplugged the charger for a moment just to listen. The hiss was very loud, because both the hiss from my computer and the E-5 were coming through the signal. As far as actual sound quality, it wasn't bad, a bit of distortion though. Overall I wouldn't use the E-5 with my computer, it is definitely intended for portable devices only.
I haven't commented very much on the actual physical device or it's accessories yet, so I'll take a minute to comment on that now.
First of all, the three cords:
The USB charging cord is fine. Nothing special really. It serves its purpose. It is pretty short though, which means that you're limited to where you can put it while it's charging. It is a standard cable, which means if I need to it will be very easy to replace.
The short connection cord is...very short. It isn't very good for home use, because wherever your device is, the E-5 is pretty much attached at the hip, making it inconvenient if you actually want to hold your player in your hand while you are using the E-5. However it is perfect for portable use because one end is an L-shaped plug, and it is just the perfect length for you to clip the E-5 to your pocket and stick your mp3 player in your pocket, and just use the E-5 to switch bass boost on and off and change the volume.
The long cord is better for home use. It allow quite a bit more freedom of motion without getting in the way. Not really good for portable use though. I guess it would work, but you'd have a lot of extra cord to keep track of.
The device itself is nice. It has a blue LED light that comes on when it is running, and a red light when it is charging. It would be nice if there was another light indicating when the battery is running low, because it really doesn't give any warning when it dies. I don't want to make any judgments about battery life yet, because even though it did die on me, I don't know how much charge it had when I got it, and I didn't actually charge it before I first used it. The clip, though is very nice, as it allows the E-5 to be easily accessible to turn on/off, change volume, and switch to bass boost.
As far as the switches go, they are a little small, so for big hands they would probably be a hassle. One thing I did notice is that with headphones plugged in the volume down button is backed right up again the headphone plug, so I had a little bit of difficulty hitting the volume down button. Otherwise, though, I had no issues.
I did find myself forgetting that the E-5 was on and leaving it running while nothing was playing, but usually I realized after a little while and turned it off. I wish that there was some sort of "sleep mode" that goes on after like 2 minutes without anything playing to preserve power. Oh well, it's not a huge problem.
Overall, for such a small device, this thing really is a beast. I have no regrets about this purchase.
That's about it, unless I think of something else. I hope that this has been helpful for anyone considering the E-5. It was pretty interesting for me to pick out all the little things I heard and write about them.
I know that this probably all sounds like a rave review, perhaps overstating small differences, but this is my first amp, and this is my impression of it. Forgive me if I'm a little to excited.
Please feel free to comment, ask questions, anything. I'll do my best to answer.
Really long post...oops