[SGT A-hole]

Hey guys I'm new to the personal audio gig and wanted to ask a couple quick questions. I own a set of matte black m-100's and just ordered a Fiio E17 (non-alpen). I will primarily be using this set up with my SGS4 and my laptop, ASUS G75vw. I was wondering what the difference was between the E17 and E17 Alpen. Also if the E17 would provide a worthwhile difference to the M-100's.

Also, any tips for making this set-up perform at its peak would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 

[CAHorn]

I could be wrong, but I believe ALL E17's are Alpen.
 
Fiio gives most of their products a numerical identifier as well as a proper name. (EG: Montblanc - E12 or Andes - E07K)
 
I'm new to the experimenting with my E17 so I'm not much help on your other questions.

 

[Ravincia]

Hey guys I'm new to the personal audio gig and wanted to ask a couple quick questions. I own a set of matte black m-100's and just ordered a Fiio E17 (non-alpen). I will primarily be using this set up with my SGS4 and my laptop, ASUS G75vw. I was wondering what the difference was between the E17 and E17 Alpen. Also if the E17 would provide a worthwhile difference to the M-100's.

Also, any tips for making this set-up perform at its peak would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

 
Huh? The Fiio e17 is the alpen. "E17" is the model number, and "Alpen" is the name of that model. 

 

[SGT A-hole]

Thanks for the clarification. I ordered mine off amazon and the unit denoting 'alpen' was around 135 bucks and the one without (which I ordered) was only 109 bucks so I was a little thrown off.

 

[Ravincia]

  Thanks for the clarification. I ordered mine off amazon and the unit denoting 'alpen' was around 135 bucks and the one without (which I ordered) was only 109 bucks so I was a little thrown off.

 
All is well. Have fun with them! You might be interested to get the fiio e09k in the future. e17 + e09k make a great combo

 

[SGT A-hole]

I just may have to do that. Once I get out of Afghanistan and back to a decent internet connection I'll have to get busy getting some decent music files too.

 

[johangrb]

+1 on the E9k combo. It's definitely worth the extra 100.

 

[PurpleAngel]

  I just may have to do that. Once I get out of Afghanistan and back to a decent internet connection I'll have to get busy getting some decent music files too.

The E17 should enough for driving low impedance headphones.
Some people use the E17 to drive their 250-Ohm headphones
Cash that was going to be spent buying the E09K could be put towards better headphones.

 

[BrianGFlores]

Love my E17. Use the optical out on my Mac mini, and run my Sennheiser HD598's off these. Seriously considering adding the E90 to the mix.

 

[CantScareMe]

The E9 (and E09k therefore) is a very under rated amplifier. It holds it's own and is perfectly listenable (not much inferior at all) compared to other stuff I've got which is much more expensive. 
 
For a headphone for home listening (regardless of sensitivity) I would suggest giving it a go. It's better than the e17's internal amp for headphones that benefit from power.

 

[Ravincia]

  The E17 should enough for driving low impedance headphones.
Some people use the E17 to drive their 250-Ohm headphones
Cash that was going to be spent buying the E09K could be put towards better headphones.

 
Agreed, the E17 has enough juice to power some hard to drive cans. However, I still think the e09k combo with the e17 is still worth it. Its definitely an improvement for home use. The e09k is a dedicated amplifier by itself, and it performs better than the amp in the e17. You can hear a fuller bass, improved soundstage (although just slightly IMO) and less congested highs (compared to the e17, again IMO) with the e09k.

 

[SGT A-hole]

From what I have heard the M-100's are pretty easily driven. Would stacking on the additional amp make that much of a difference over the E17?

 

[Ravincia]

For me, my ATH-M50's (32ohms impedance, quite easy to drive) sounded much better on the e09k combo, than on solely the e17. But you'll probably have to hear it for yourself 

 

[PurpleAngel]

  From what I have heard the M-100's are pretty easily driven. Would stacking on the additional amp make that much of a difference over the E17?

The Soundmagic M100s?
With 32-Ohm headphones (Soundmagic M100) it's preferred to have a headphone amplifier with an output impedance of 3.2-Ohms or less, and the E09K has an output impedance of 10-Ohms.
The E17's output impedance is around 1-Ohm.
But in all fairness I should say I plug my 32-Ohm AKG K550s into my Essence STX which uses the same headphone amplifier chip (TI 6120) as the E09K and the Essence STX has the 10-Ohm impedance.
My AKG K550 do sound nice plugged into my STX.

 

[SGT A-hole]

I was referring to the Vmoda M-100