[hutchjnr]

Hey everyone,
 
I am a newb, so please take it easy!
 
I have been racking my brain lately on what amp to get? Just when i think I have narrowed it down, something new pops up or a different thread appears, that I start trolling though for hours (my gf is loving this as you could imagine)!
 
I just purchased some BD 770's from a fellow head-fier, (thanks Sotiris) and looking for a portable amp. All the music will be played through my iPhone 4 (possible also another iPod or iPhone 3)...
 
So as the title says, which one would you pick out of these two, the Fiio or the iFuzen?
FYI - The iFuzen is only $80 atm in Australia.
 
Thanks for taking the time to read...
 

 

[hutchjnr]

surely someone out there knows a bit about them both and has an opinion...

 

[Cassadian]

E11 is a good choice, but you can't use it while charging.  However it's on for 65 dollars with an extra battery and accessories from Micca on Amazon.

 

[hutchjnr]

Thanks for your reply.
 
I wouldn't be using it while charging anyway as I will be using it while predominantly traveling.
 
Any feedback in terms of comparison to the iFuzen? Is one better than the other in terms of specs or user experience?
 
 

 

[hutchjnr]

Can no one offer anymore info on the iFuzen here?
 
Come on guys... I thought there were some knowledgeable and smart cookies here?
 
 

 

[hutchjnr]

bump...

 

[MoonYeol]

I just got the iFuzen, haven't gotten a chance to use it with any decent headphones but even with my crappy Bose IE(v3) there is a good deal of improvement. What kind of headphones are you going to use your iPhone with? Personally I like having the extra juice readily available for my iPhone if I need it. Depending on if you want to listen to music, play games, watch video or browse some you can choose to turn the amp on and off. Don't know if there are more than 1 version of the HP-1 (not #). I found that you can trick the amp to work without charging the phone, don't know if this is a new feature or some kind of "glitch".
 
If I recall it correctly, average_joe wrote a review on the iFuzen, the sound quality seems to be good. But then again, depending on what you expect from an amp, it may or may not suffice. For portability I would strongly recommend the iFuzen.

 

[hutchjnr]

Thanks for the reply Moon.
 
I have got Beyerdynamic DT 770 (250).
 
How much extra battery life does it give you, with and without using the amp?
What do you mean when you say you can "trick" it into working without charging?
 
So overall sounds like it's a pretty good bang for buck... The only down side being if/when I get a new phone, it can't be used anymore!

 

[MoonYeol]

At 80$ it's quite the bang for your bucks. The battery is pretty much the same as the iPhone battery. I had my phone at ~50% and charged it to 100. The iFuzen showed 2/4. I dont know how much battery the amp drains. Should be depending on your headphones and volume. But I used a few different budget IEMs for 2-3 hours and that didnt drain enough for it to go below 4/4. The feeling I have is that you can either listen to music until your iPhone dies or you can double the battery life time. I'm calling it "tricking" because they released the new iFuzen HP-1# (sharp) under the premise that HP-1 couldnt use the amp without charging the battery. At least on my phone and with my iFuzen that is possible. Just power on the charging, power on amp and then power down the charging. The amp is still on. But once again, that may just be my piece being weird. I can't comment on the performance vs E11. I can just refer to the specs. It should be fine driving 600Ohm cans. So your BDs shouldn't be any problem. I can however recommend the E5/6 as a cheap toy. Substantially better than using the HPO on iPhone and you will need a LOD with E11 if you plan on buying one. An E5 can be dirt cheap and it's a neat little device. Feels like if someone went through your apartment/room/house and just cleaned it. That's the feeling I get compared to the iPhone amp.

There might be spelling errors. I blame that on my native language, the time of day and my iPhone.