[epithetless]

Interesting new pics. I wonder how you set up things like bass level and gain without any buttons dedicated to them...I'm guessing that's where the "menu" button comes into play, at which point the volume buttons double as selection toggles?

 

[jjsoviet]

E7 is looking great, even in its beta stages. Released in January for $80? Sweet.

 

[hurryup]

Fiio worries too much about aesthetics. The important thing is sound quality and whether or not it will eat competitors. Also, another thing, by releasing the E7 so late (January) they will have missed the holiday season.

 

[EraserXIV]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hurryup /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fiio worries too much about aesthetics. The important thing is sound quality and whether or not it will eat competitors. Also, another thing, by releasing the E7 so late (January) they will have missed the holiday season.

hey aesthetics is pretty important... ibasso, pico, nuforce, all their amps are pretty slick looking and i'm sure they put a lot of thought into the casing.

also, the reason it's delayed is not because of the aesthetics and casing, they are delayed because they changed up the internals and are waiting on the shipment of the new chips from Texas Instruments. and because of this delay, they took the advantage of redesigning the casing for the better.

if anything they should be commended for their proactive actions. instead of sitting around twidling their thumbs while they wait for the shipment to arrive, they're doing something productive that will make the final product better for all of us.

 

[bcpk]

In slightly related news, I ordered a FiiO L1 from eBay. Oddly, the only dealer in the whole world that seems to be selling L1s is based in Dublin. Free shipping, so very handy for me. He also has the L1 for €7 and €13, for reasons I don't understand.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcpk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Do FiiO intend to beat the NuForce Icon Mobile with this?

It is not their goal to beat anyone. In a sense FiiO is not even in the same market as many other portable amp makers here. I think it is fair to say many amp makers here have designed their product with a more audiophiles-oriented approach, which is understandable since audiophiles is traditionally the main user group of portable amp. However, FiiO is more dedicated to general-consumer-based market which is where the strength of the company lies. They are not trying to compete with other amp makers with a higher end product, but focus on bring the best-bang-of-bucks deals to the low end of the market toward the mass. Kind of like a gateway-drug for those who like to try out portable amp yet have a restriction of budget.

Quote:

Originally Posted by epithetless /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interesting new pics. I wonder how you set up things like bass level and gain without any buttons dedicated to them...I'm guessing that's where the "menu" button comes into play, at which point the volume buttons double as selection toggles?

Yes, via the menu. There are many features built into the E7 and it is not easy to have dedicated buttons on all of them, so a micro-processor is used to control them digitally (well, there is already a micro-process built-in at the first place, they just program it with more functions).

Quote:

Originally Posted by hurryup /img/forum/go_quote.gif Fiio worries too much about aesthetics. The important thing is sound quality and whether or not it will eat competitors. Also, another thing, by releasing the E7 so late (January) they will have missed the holiday season.

It is not about aesthetics at all, but delay on the chipset shipment from Texas Instrument (the PCM2706. FiiO already have the new Wolfson chip in place). FYI, the chipset was ordered about 4 months ago, but TI was not able to keep their shipping schedule as they were forced to shut down one of their main factory in U.S. early this year due to poor economy. Also, FiiO is making a very large number of E7 in the first batch, the kind of number where you can't source the chip quickly from any other place but the manufacturer (or suffer a severe price hike from 2nd or 3rd hand dealers). FiiO is actually more than ready to manufacture the E7 now, but what can you do if there is no chip you can solder to? Thus they are spending the extra time at hand to further improve the E7 design.

In case you are wondering why FiiO didn't start the E7 project early: The 4 months before the E7 project, they are doing the E1; The 4 months before the E1, they are doing the S5 and S9 portable speaker; The 4 months before that, they are trying to keep up the demand of E5.

 

[hurryup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif It is not about aesthetics at all, but delay on the chipset shipment from Texas Instrument (the PCM2706. FiiO already have the new Wolfson chip in place). FYI, the chipset was ordered about 4 months ago, but TI was not able to keep their shipping schedule as they were forced to shut down one of their main factory in U.S. early this year due to poor economy. Also, FiiO is making a very large number of E7 in the first batch, the kind of number where you can't source the chip quickly from any other place but the manufacturer (or suffer a severe price hike from 2nd or 3rd hand dealers). FiiO is actually more than ready to manufacture the E7 now, but what can you do if there is no chip you can solder to? Thus they are spending the extra time at hand to further improve the E7 design. In case you are wondering why FiiO didn't start the E7 project early: The 4 months before the E7 project, they are doing the E1; The 4 months before the E1, they are doing the S5 and S9 portable speaker; The 4 months before that, they are trying to keep up the demand of E5.

They will still have missed the holiday season. I've needed an amp a long time ago - the only reason why I did not buy one yet is my high hopes for the SQ of the E7. Speaking of which, the E7 uses the Wolfson chip - also used by revered Headamp Pico. Will the E7 then rival the Pico in SQ?

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hurryup /img/forum/go_quote.gif They will still have missed the holiday season. I've need an amp a long time ago - the only reason why I did not buy one yet is my high hopes for the SQ of the E7. Speaking of which, the E7 uses the Wolfson chip - also used by revered Headamp Pico. Will the E7 then rival the Pico in SQ?

No one can say for sure, but there is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay much more to a DAC than just the chip.

 

[Shoey Peachew]

Just to speculate, what are the chances of it sounding as good as the Pico? anyone care to take a guess?

 

[Kpalsm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shoey Peachew /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just to speculate, what are the chances of it sounding as good as the Pico? anyone care to take a guess?

Slim. Ha ha I made a funny.

Seriously though, you can't compare an $80 device to a $300+ device, they're not meant to do the same thing, nor are they meant for the same customer base. I haven't heard the Pico AMP/DAC (I've pre-ordered the Pico Slim) so I won't tell you how it sounds but it doesn't seem sensible to compare the two. That said, the most high-end portable amp I've listened to so far is the E5

 

[Joelby]

that E9 has bedside rig written all over it!

 

[nttg]

E1 arrived some days ago and my final impression is that the damn length of the cable is too long, I mean What, combining with apple earphone, its stretches 2 meters!

It so damn unconformable to have so much wire.

Is there any way to open up E1 and shorter the cable?

 

[Baines93]

I'm sure there is. Just gotta figure out how to open it. I'll let you know when mine FINALLY arrives from DX after sitting in HK for 2 weeks doing nothing. Damn it!

Get the case open... there must be a way. Then all you gotta do is desolder the wires that come from the LOD to the board, and after making note of what goes where, shorten the cable as much as you like, strip the wires back, and solder them back on. Don't keep the iron on there too long though, don't want to over heat anything on the board.

Matt

 

[Surfaced]

First, ClieOS, I have to thank you for keeping us so informed with these products. You must be very close to FiiO because I cannot find this information anywhere else.

I ordered the E5 last week as my first amp, just to test the waters, and it will arrive sometime in the next 7 days. I'm sort of reluctant to go right to the E7 after this, although it looks awesome. My setup circa next week will be:

FLAC > ASUS Xonar Essence STX > FiiO E5 > Denon AH-D2000

But the E9 has me very interested, and since there is no DAC in it, I'm thinking perhaps they can aim for around $120 or less, which would be right up my alley. However, I'm sort of confused about what the E9's function exactly is. Here is my proposed setup from what I understand the E9 can do:

FLAC > Essence STX > stereo RCA male/male interconnects > E9 > D2000

Would this setup work or am I confused about something?

 

[Scott_Tarlow]

I am pretty sure the E5 will make the sound from your sound card worse, since you have such a high end sound card.