[DiscoProJoe]

Please view the following topic thread with my updated thoughts:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/762281/fiio-e12a-vs-cayin-c5-comparisons-updated-thread
 
Happy amping!

 

[bzippy]

i agree with your call for a higher powered E12A (and the std E12 ain't it). i actually started a thread essentially calling for this and got literally 0 responses. maybe they'll just make one for each of us.
 
btw you referred to JDS Labs a few times when talking about the Cayin C5 above. Cayin makes the Cayin C5 and JDS Labs makes the JDS Labs C5. you might want to correct that .
 
anyway i agree with your assessment of the Cayin C5 bass boost (way too much), and i also prefer the E12A boost range. but since the E12A doesn't sound all that great with my HD600's i now use a E12 v1, which has a very subtle bass boost that is confined to the sub bass region. it's actually a little too subtle some of the time, which is why i'd love to see a 2nd gen version of the E12 that has a boost curve more like the E12A.

 

[DiscoProJoe]

 
btw you referred to JDS Labs a few times when talking about the Cayin C5 above. Cayin makes the Cayin C5 and JDS Labs makes the JDS Labs C5. you might want to correct that .
 

 
Oops, I didn't realize the JDS Labs C5 and the Cayin C5 are separate amps. I went back and corrected that. Thanks!

 

[DiscoProJoe]

Well guys, you're going to think I'm crazy, but I figured out an "EQ fix" for the bass boost switch on the C5, and made it sound better than the E12A!  So yesterday, I did the unthinkable: I actually went out and bought the C5, calibrated and implemented this "EQ fix" in a matter of three hours, and the C5 now has better sound quality than the E12A ever did!
 
I'll be posting a new thread on this in the next day or two, as well as updating my avatar photo and signature. I'll also upload my second set of 193 EQ presets to Dropbox (to use with the C5 bass boost switch), and will post a link to it on that topic thread.
 
Here's a little sneak preview of this magic EQ fix:
 
125 Hz:  -1.5 dB
250 Hz:  -1.5 dB
500 Hz:  -0.3 dB
 
And the noise doesn't seem to be a problem, either. At medium and high volumes, there's actually less noise than on the E12A, because with the C5's extra power and volume output, I don't need to turn up the volume on my Rockboxed iPod as much. Therefore, the resulting less noise coming from the iPod more than offsets the extra noise floor on the C5.
 
And while listening at low volumes, I can just flip the gain switch on the C5 to "low" to eliminate the extra noise floor on it.
 
Anyway, I can't wait to go out and have fun with my new Cayin C5! Stay tuned. 

 

 

[DiscoProJoe]

 
I'll be posting a new thread on this in the next day or two, as well as updating my avatar photo and signature. I'll also upload my second set of 193 EQ presets to Dropbox (to use with the C5 bass boost switch), and will post a link to it on that topic thread.
 

 
Here's the link to my new Head-Fi forum post where you can download this "second set" of 193 EQ presets to use with the C5:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/760401/rockbox-my-186-custom-eq-presets-you-can-download-and-easily-use#post_11481764
 
You may also notice my very-slightly-different avatar photo above and signature below, which shows my "updated" rig!
 
In the next few days, I'll start a new topic thread where I re-compare the E12A and C5 with updated thoughts. 

 

[harpsfuga]

C5 is good