[smibe]

I recently received a FiiO E7 in the post a few days ago. 
 
I was very excited to try it out straight away, and despite the sound being generally very good, I've been having some strange problems cropping up that I was wondering if anyone else had some experience with or advice about. 
 
I first used the FiiO as an external DAC on my Toshiba laptop. I noticed that the volume control seemed quite loud, maybe that is normal, but I could definitely hear a digital pop I guess you could call it as I increased and decreased the volume. There was also quite a strong buzzing noise when I adjusted the bass boost function. I mean the volume is decreased when you adjust the bass boost feature, but there was still a very audible buzz when this occurs. I thought fine, maybe that is normal. Not a big deal. I wondered if it could be the fact that the FiiO was charging from my usb port when I was using it, so I disabled that, but it still kept making the same sounds.
 
Then it got worse.
 
I disconnected my E7 from the computer, and used the included male to male headphone jack to hook my ipod mini into the FiiO E7.
It sounded awful. The sound was randomly decreasing on either channel of my headphones, in what could be described as waves of distortion that lowered the volume of the music, I thought it might be the connection being lose, which would be strange considering the cord was brand new, but adjusting the cord seemed to have no affect on the intermittent distortion. For example, I've had cables that are at fault before, and often you will lose audio from the left or right channel completely, and adjusting the cable will bring the audio back, but moving the cable seemed to have no affect on the problem, didn't make it worse or better. And it didn't "sound" like a connection problem. Also while this was happening the E7 and my Ipod were stationary the entire time, and of course movement tends to make/reveal connection problems.
 
By now I was a bit worried, so I switched the FiiO off. Turned it back on, and used it with the FiiO L3 LOD from my Ipod mini. And there was no problem. Everything sounded a bit smoother. Less digital sounding volume controls, buzz on the bass boost function has decreased considerably, and I was very happy.
 
Unfortunately though, I have a feeling that whatever is at fault here hasn't gone away.
 
I was listening to my E7 just this morning using my Ultrasone DJ1 Pros, the only decent pair of cans I own. And I was listening to a song that I know has quite a bit of strong distortion in the right channel, in the higher frequencies, that's just there from the guitar in the recording. The Ultrasones reveal this very readily, and it's taken me a while to be get used to the fact that I can now hear the bad as well as the good detail in recordings. 
 
Anyway, I was listening to this song and straight away I noticed the distortion was much louder, and this was at a very quiet volume, I was at 9 on the E7, and it goes up to 60. And it was on both channels of my headphones now, which is very odd as before the distortion only came through on the right channel. I initially though it was my headphones at fault, that I had damaged the drivers or something. So I ignored it, until the distorting became worse, I started hearing this high frequency distortion in other songs as well, where I had never previously heard it before. To the point where I thought this is ridiculous, surely my headphones aren't this damaged.
 
So I unplugged the amp, and listened to the recording from my headphone out jack on my laptop. Straight away there was no longer any issue. Everything sounded just as I had remembered hearing it before. I was relieved that my headphones were ok. But then I thought, maybe the DAC in the E7 is just revealing more of the flaws in the recordings than my admittedly average-to-awful onboard sound. So I switched off the DAC, turned it back on, and wouldn't you know it, the songs sounded similar to the headphone jack on my laptop, with none of the distortion in the higher frequencies anymore.
 
So, I guess my question is, for you posters out there that are a lot more knowledgeable than I, what do you think the problem could be? Considering that it is so intermittent. I guess it is pretty obvious that the amplifier is faulty, and that I should send it back, my only concern is that it is a fault that may be hard to identify as at times the amplifier seems to work fine. I don't want to send it back only for the seller to claim there is no fault, and then charge for maintenance.
 
All advice or comments welcome, thank you.

 

[Moonboy242]

I have a set of Ultrasone Proline 650's. Great cans... love em, and yep... they reveal flaws and artifacts in recordings that I never used to hear. I also have an E7 that I use with them on an iPod Touch 4g.
 
I have never had any of the problems you are describing with either one.
 
Having said that, you did a test run with the same cans and a different amp. No problems. I would venture to say that you might have a defective E7 that you should return. Double check the vendor return policy and find out what you need to do... They may or may not test it, and will most likely send you a different unit. I wouldn't be too concerned regarding intermittent problems as you are requesting a replacement and not a refund.
 
Give it a shot.

 

[Bigbuddha]

I too am having troubles with my E7.
 
Seems to work great whilst being used as a DAC and AMP from my laptop and home computer.
 
But as soon as I plug it into my IPOD touch using either the headphone cable or L3 LOD the sound is terribly distorted.  I think it maybe my Ipod though (it's first gen) as I noticed a very high level of hiss when I plug my IEMs directly into the ipod over the last couple of weeks.
 
Perhaps I'll send it back to the vendor for a replacement.
 
 

 

[smibe]

Thanks for the advice Moonboy, I think I will contact the seller about returning the E7. 
 
The problem that you mention Bigbuddha is different to what I am experiencing in that the distortion went away after resetting the amplifier. It is not as constant as yours. But we may have the same fault, a bad connection inside the amplifier perhaps (taking a huge guess on that one, am no expert on electronics), and my problem is just less pronounced than yours.
 
It's good to know that other people are experiencing similar problems though, as it validates what I am hearing.
 
Will be interested in any other people's experience?
 
Or any educated guesses as to what may be at fault.
 
Thanks again for your time.

 

[GrassEater]

Just got mine as well and so far haven't noticed a problem with it. Tested the bass boost, turning on/off several times, re-plugging, and using the USB and the 3.5 mm. No unusual distortions or anything like that.

I guess it is pretty obvious that the amplifier is faulty, and that I should send it back, my only concern is that it is a fault that may be hard to identify as at times the amplifier seems to work fine. I don't want to send it back only for the seller to claim there is no fault, and then charge for maintenance.

I suppose it's down to communication with the seller, how lenient they are, and how much you can convince them you weren't dreaming. Still won't guarantee how they'll act once they receive your item, but not much you can do at that point; so make sure you're comfortable (that they won't charge you indiscriminately) before sending it in.

You can also try contacting FiiO directly (maybe through the Head-Fi rep). They'll likely tell you to sort it out with the seller first, but you may get some sort of confirmation regarding the problem that you can quote if the seller is that stubborn.

 

[ExpatinJapan]

also try turning up the volume on your source -ipod etc to 85%-90%, then plug in the E7.  
This is often the cause of distortion with portable amps.
 

 

[JamesFiiO]

If you use E7 as DAC in your PC, take care not to adjust the volume in your PC to max, because sometime the output will exceed, especially when you use EQ, or BBE, or other sound effect in your media player (foobar or others)

 

[JamesFiiO]

If you have any problem, please try different source and cable first to check out the reason. if you find you still can not solve the problem, please contact our sales agents to get replacement or repair. 
 
or send mail to service@fiio.com.cn to get tech support.

 

[smibe]

I have contacted the seller and am waiting to hear back from them. 
 
Thanks everyone for your advice.
 
Since yesterday there hasn't been anymore issues. But I guess it's better to be safe and get it checked out, as it definitely has played up occasionally.
 
By the way, I don't have any any sound adjustments on my laptop, I make sure I disable all enhancements before I use the the E7 as a DAC.
 
 

 

[JCred]

The E7 seems to be very sensitive to hot inputs. I've found that any distortion can be remedied by slightly reducing the source's output. In other words, it doesn't create distortion as much as it amplifies it. When the input is clean, the sound from the E7 is quite impressive.