[wynn]

It looks really small.
What about the sound quality

 

[Nocturnal310]

Sound quality is highly debatable.


i am yet to see someone actually talk more about it.

Does FiiO E3 required burn in?

 

[Kpalsm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nocturnal310 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does FiiO E3 required burn in?

See for me "burn in" has no meaning unless you're talking about something with moving parts. Headphones can be burned in. Car engines get broken in. Silicone chips and little capacitors and stuff well..I don't think so. Some others may disagree but I didn't notice anything myself. Now I did notice with my Vibes when I first bought them they sounded harsh and I wasn't impressed with the sound very much, but after a couple of months it mellowed out a lot and even though I find they lack a little in bass and are a bit bright (which is now evened out by the FiiO) it's much better, so I believe burne in to be a factor there (I didn't bother plugging them into my stereo and playing the radio through them or something to burn them in, I wanted to hear the difference [or find out if I could, as it was the first pair of headphones I tried to hear it on]).

I don't think anything without moving parts needs to be burned or broken in. Maybe your ears are adjusting to the sound rather than the amp being burned in

As for sound quality of the FiiO I have noticed a bit of hiss depending on the source. Last night I plugged it into my laptop just for fun and it hissed a lot (through my Vibes), when connected to my Sansa E250 hiss is minimal, through my Archos 504 it's somewhere in between. This is all with my Vibes. Other than a bit of hiss depending on your headphones I find it to be great; the FiiO is mainly a bass booster with a little bit of amplification. If you have a pair of headphones that are a bit lacking in bass and have a bit too much treble for your ears this is what to get, period. Heck for $10 delivered how can you go wrong, right?

 

[rkb2948]

Would one of these do anything for an A900 and headphone out on a laptop? I realize its pretty cheap but still...

 

[thatwunguy]

i like it with my denon ah-d1001k from my sansa clip or my macbook pro. Not that the denons lack bass, but the amp makes them punch more.

For me, i can hear no degradation of sound quality, but if there were any sq issues, they probably come from the very chead min-mini cable included with the fiio.

If you want a more active sound from low-medium impedence phones, i suggest the fiio.

 

[1Time]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rkb2948 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Would one of these do anything for an A900 and headphone out on a laptop? I realize its pretty cheap but still...

In short, yes. When I had the A900, I used it straight from a sound card from my PC, and I always thought it needed more bass and punch. If I had the A900 again and used it from a laptop, I definitely would want an amp to help it out. And the Fiio E3 would be my first choice for a budget portable amp, except for one thing. And that's buying batteries because it reportedly doesn't do so well with rechargeable batteries. For that reason, the upcoming Fiio E5 may be a better choice.

 

[Moontan13]

The Denon AH D1001 is the only h'phone my Fiio does not play nice with. IMO, it screws up the bass and overall balance. With all the others I own, (cheapies, all of them), it's definitely a benefit. Personally, I'd like to see better amps of this kind, ones designed to run off a headphone output.

 

[Liquidxt]

I just ordered one on ebay, I hope it helps a bit.

 

[Nocturnal310]

I am badly waiting for E5.

this is just great for having plugged in with the iPod

 

[googan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by thatwunguy /img/forum/go_quote.gif i like it with my denon ah-d1001k from my sansa clip or my macbook pro. Not that the denons lack bass, but the amp makes them punch more. For me, i can hear no degradation of sound quality, but if there were any sq issues, they probably come from the very chead min-mini cable included with the fiio. If you want a more active sound from low-medium impedence phones, i suggest the fiio.

I didn't notice degradation of SQ with my d1001 either until I recabled the headphones. The SQ degradation was clearly heard post-recable, and was remedied by a diy mini-to-mini. I can't tell if it improves the SQ but it doesn't degrade it now.


Quote:

The Denon AH D1001 is the only h'phone my Fiio does not play nice with. IMO, it screws up the bass and overall balance. With all the others I own, (cheapies, all of them), it's definitely a benefit. Personally, I'd like to see better amps of this kind, ones designed to run off a headphone output.

I agree with this for the most part. The unmodded d1001+fiio combo makes the sound too bassy as well as bass muddy. It amplifies the already somewhat bloated bass of the d1001 resulting in decreased clarity, especially in the mids.

I've found that the dynamics change when both cables are changed though (headphones and fiio). The headphone recable cleans up the bass, brings up the mids and extends the highs creating more balance overall, but with some music, the highs sound a little exaggerated to me. What the Fiio does for the modded d1001 here is tame the highs and make the bass punchier while retaining precision. This usually results in a more fun and more listenable presentation with a lot of the music I listen to (mostly harder genres of rock and hip hop). However, obviously the frequency curve is not as level as unamped since the bass becomes more pronounced.

 

[Moontan13]

One of the things that impressed me about the D1001 is the way it responds to the EQ profiles on my iPod 5.5. The other is the way it sounds when hooked up via LOD to a Kenwood integrated amp, (KA-3500), with my iPod as the source. To me that demonstrates what a good and relatively flat amp can do for the Denons. It also indirectly shows what the Fiio does, and why it's a good thing to have for many low end headphones.

 

[vapman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by younglee200 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I hate the sound of my fiio with my grado sr-60... The sound feels overwhelmed and therefore fatiguing . But they sounds really really good with the livewires. I also don't like the slight hiss / wish there would be an on / off button. This will be fixed with the upcoming of E5 though

Anybody else tried this with SR-60's?

 

[brandnewgame]

My experience is that it can fix the bass on some bass light IEMs, but I've never liked using it with cans.

 

[jigabachi]

Well, it's been 2 weeks+ since I got the FiiO E3 on a whim... and now it's 'retired'. Why? Couple of reasons:
1. Just got the iTouch 2G and the hp out is already punchier than my ancient iPod 2G. Don't need the FiiO to boom-out any of my in-ears now.

2. Can confirm what several others have said... FiiO just doesn't sound nice with the Denon D1001... robs them of clarity and the volume boost doesn't seem to be needed either.

Thus ends my first foray into portable amps.

 

[Kpalsm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jigabachi /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thus ends my first foray into portable amps.

Hopefully not your last

I wouldn't even call this "entry level" it's more like "hey, let's buy this thing and see if it actually does anything"

Any pair of headphones would benefit from a good amp, course the good ones aren't cheap