[TheDreamthinker]

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Please take your time on this so you can truly release a product that will take business away from all the other places that are overcharging us.  At $60 it's an obvious no brainer and perhaps it'll force the competition to come to their senses.  Everyone else out there and their momma are basically raping us on portable amps.  Fiio is where it's at guys, can't wait to pair this with my fuze =)

yeah, imo 400$ for a portable amp is mad.
For that price u get a decent tube amp....

 

[JoetheArachnid]

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it kinda looks like a tiny iphone 4. just sayin.

Are you saying that this is bad?
 
For me, the more solid-looking matte design sits with me a lot better than the glossy aesthetic of the E7 (and the iPhone too)

 

[Poetik]

Quote:

Quote:

Please take your time on this so you can truly release a product that will take business away from all the other places that are overcharging us.  At $60 it's an obvious no brainer and perhaps it'll force the competition to come to their senses.  Everyone else out there and their momma are basically raping us on portable amps.  Fiio is where it's at guys, can't wait to pair this with my fuze =)

yeah, imo 400$ for a portable amp is mad.
For that price u get a decent tube amp....

That wasn't to say that the other companies don't offer great products but $300+ for a portable amp is just too much (my opinion).  Hell, personally even $100+ for one is a bit too much for me.  I barely ever use my iem's so it makes no sense to spend that much on an amp but I'll still buy this one even with my lack of usage.
 
It's about time for a great sounding affordable portable amp to come out.  The price makes it more than accessible to those who are getting into the hobby and for those who've been in it for awhile.  This will revolutionize the whole portable amp market and I know a lot of companies are probably sweating bullets with the release date ticking down on the e11. 

 

[PhiQuanTu]

Fiio is made is China, so is the Ibasso. The difference in quality might not be argueable. But what happens to the $200++ difference? IMO they're just too greedy.....They should look at mass production instead of high price but can't sell so many.
Thanks to Fiio for offering us another alternative to drive our headphones. Please keep us posted on the progress of the E11.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Fiio is made is China, so is the Ibasso. The difference in quality might not be argueable. But what happens to the $200++ difference? IMO they're just too greedy.....They should look at mass production instead of high price but can't sell so many.
Thanks to Fiio for offering us another alternative to drive our headphones. Please keep us posted on the progress of the E11.

You need to understand how different companies operates on different level / type of market. Take T3 for an example - it is small and not many chips inside, but it does sound a lot better than the other ultra-portable amp. This is because iBasso took the time to develop and refine the amp, not because iBasso put magical chip that cost a lot of money. I am not saying FiiO didn't take the time to develop their amp, but FiiO is less concern about spending a lot of time to get the last 10% right but more concern about bring the right product with the right price to the mass, so they are not going to spend an extra few months on fine tuning everything to fit the audiophiles' need. Instead, they want to keep it simple and satisfiable without incurring extra cost. On contrast, iBasso is likely to go opposite and just to meet the more demanding niche audiophile market. Doing so, iBasso will increase its R&D cost,  limit the price and quantity of sale since the targeted market is smaller, thus the final price must reflect the hidden cost. Just because Volkswagen and BMW are both German made does not mean BMW is ripping people off.

 

[Coupe]

This is the one thing that really angers me.  People assume that just because someone charges more for a similar product, they are getting "ripped off".
 
How about you do some research before making derogatory and blanket statements?

 

[Randius]

Quote:

Fiio is made is China, so is the Ibasso. The difference in quality might not be argueable. But what happens to the $200++ difference? IMO they're just too greedy.....They should look at mass production instead of high price but can't sell so many.
Thanks to Fiio for offering us another alternative to drive our headphones. Please keep us posted on the progress of the E11.

How about you trying to do R&D and manufacture the likes of PB2 and selling at E7 pricing? Let's see how long can your business sustain? They are targeting different markets and the quality and features prove so. And going by your rationale, when X3 is released, does that make Hifiman, maker of HM-801and HM-602, even "greedier" than iBasso since they are also both made in China and the price difference even greater?

 

[BlackbeardBen]

feiao, it would be pretty cool if you had a plastic clip to hold the X3 and the E11 together - something that both would snap into, maybe like the hard plastic armor you see for laptops and phones.
 
It would be a much more elegant way to pair a DAP and amp (assuming the E11 has enough advantages over the X3 alone) - I can see them coming as a combo that way, and selling quite well for it.

 

[JamesFiiO]

You can use silicon band to hold x3 with E11, or even E17!  the possible combo is as below
 
X3+E11 for portable use, with better amp
X3+E9 for desktop use, with better amp for headphone/big cans
X3+E17 for portable/desktop, with better DAC
E17+E9 for desktop use, with better DAC
 
And there will be more combo in the future! We hope eacn cent you spend on our products will be have it's value in the future!
 
I guess with such combo, it can cover different request for almost everyone, from small power output for IEM to huge power output for big cans, from 48k/16t to 192k/24b DAC! and people can
find the suitable solution depend on budget!
 

 

[kingpage]

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I guess with such combo, it can cover different request for almost everyone, from small power output for IEM to huge power output for big cans, from 48k/16t to 192k/24b DAC! and people can
find the suitable solution depend on budget!
 

Are you saying E17 is 192k/24bit, rather than 96k/24b which was stated before?
 

 

[JamesFiiO]

for USB input, E17 can support at least 96k/24k, for optical/coaxial input, it can support 192k/24b

 

[BlackbeardBen]

 
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You can use silicon band to hold x3 with E11, or even E17!

 
 
Yes, I know you can use a silicon band - but I can do that with any appropriately sized portable amp and DAP.  What I'm suggesting is a way to essentially integrate them with each other more like the E7/E9 work together.  I don't mean having a dedicated port or any design changes to either product; just a dedicated hard plastic clip (a case, if you will - perhaps rubber coated or something) that both snap into. 
 
Sort of like the plastic frame of a battery holder.  Like this 8 AA battery holder, only with the X3 snapping in on one side and the E11 (or E17) on the other.  You'd still need the separate line level (or coaxial) patch cord between them, of course.

 

[ClieOS]

Special part requires a different plastic mold to be made for the plastic injector, which is a huge sum of money as mold can go up to a few thousand each, which defeat the purpose of keep things cheap and affordable.

 

[BlackbeardBen]

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Special part requires a different plastic mold to be made for the plastic injector, which is a huge sum of money as mold can go up to a few thousand each, which defeat the purpose of keep things cheap and affordable.

Yes, as an engineer myself I'm aware of the high cost of tooling for injection molding.  But to have such a product would create something that no other manufacturer has done yet.  Of course, I'm not a manufacturer myself and I haven't done the marketing research Fiio has - but given the popularity of portable amps (the market is supporting quite a few of them), I would think that a better integrated product would be very appealing as there's nothing of the sort right now.
 
Then again, I know that Fiio is a rather small operation - I imagine the decision to make your designs mostly out of aluminum (I haven't seen any in person as of yet) has everything to do with lower initial tooling costs (and the prestige which metal has among the audio enthusiasts buying your products).
 
My point is that it doesn't necessarily have to be an injection molded plastic piece - a fabric case designed to hold both (with access to the controls) would do just as well, as would a pleather or leather case, or any other suitable material.

 

[JamesMcProgger]

E17? ... i think i missed something somewhere ....