[SoundDreamer]

Quote:

Windows supports output formats above 24/96 but it requires proprietary drivers as the integrated drivers are only USB Audio Class 1 compliant.

Sorry for your misunderstanding. I was referring to the E17 used via usb only.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
I hope you plan on upgrading soon. Onboard audio chips are always terrible, even if some aren't as bad as most. Source quality is one thing you should really improve on. Is that something you might consider doing?

I take it you mean source as my hard drive and replacing with a "better" sounding SSD, pathway of digital file on hard drive out through USB or S/PDIF(anything in between) and replace it with a new audio sound card, or the digital files themselves.
 
Source could mean any of those 3 and are not just limited to so please elaborate on what you mean(this isn't a confrontational tone, many thing it is.) I'm mearly wondering what you mean 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

I take it you mean source as my hard drive and replacing with a "better" sounding SSD, pathway of digital file on hard drive out through USB or S/PDIF(anything in between) and replace it with a new audio sound card, or the digital files themselves.
 
Source could mean any of those 3 and are not just limited to so please elaborate on what you mean(this isn't a confrontational tone, many thing it is.) I'm mearly wondering what you mean 

 
I'm talking about getting rid of the crummy onboard audio chip and using a high quality DAC, internal or otherwise. But having higher quality files also helps, of course
 
About hard drive techs, I don't really think the price increase justifies the borderline nul advantages a SSD has, especially since a carefully built system will already have little shielding issues, and the regular operation of a mechanical drive doesn't really have an audible effect on audio, except if the motherboard has awful paths on its PCB.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
I'm talking about getting rid of the crummy onboard audio chip and using a high quality DAC, internal or otherwise. But having higher quality files also helps, of course
 
About hard drive techs, I don't really think the price increase justifies the borderline nul advantages a SSD has, especially since a carefully built system will already have little shielding issues, and the regular operation of a mechanical drive doesn't really have an audible effect on audio, except if the motherboard has awful paths on its PCB.

Well I have thought of that. But look at the thread we are in 

 I kinda just got one.
 
95% of all my song are CD ripped and in ALAC. I then have secondary encodings of all those songs in 256kbps VBR AAC for when my ipod runs out of space and I need to put them on instead of ALAC's. a few of my songs are above red book standards of 1411.2 kbps 44.1KHz 16bit.
 
The performance increase is astounding..but $300?...that would go into a GPU and CPU thank you very much. and the mobo above when i said "pathway of digital file on hard drive out through USB or S/PDIF" i meant the paths on the PCB and the efficency of the mobo, i forgot how to word it there.
 
 
 
I have read an article on a "world class" audiophile that says different hard drives and different types of them sound different with SSD's having that more homley warm sound(think wolfson) as opposed to HDD's. i for one say that i will never reach the point in my life where a storage medium will sound different to me.
 
 
 

 

[Roller]

Quote:

Well I have thought of that. But look at the thread we are in 

 I kinda just got one.
 
95% of all my song are CD ripped and in ALAC. I then have secondary encodings of all those songs in 256kbps VBR AAC for when my ipod runs out of space and I need to put them on instead of ALAC's. a few of my songs are above red book standards of 1411.2 kbps 44.1KHz 16bit.
 
The performance increase is astounding..but $300?...that would go into a GPU and CPU thank you very much. and the mobo above when i said "pathway of digital file on hard drive out through USB or S/PDIF" i meant the paths on the PCB and the efficency of the mobo, i forgot how to word it there.
 
I have read an article on a "world class" audiophile that says different hard drives and different types of them sound different with SSD's having that more homley warm sound(think wolfson) as opposed to HDD's. i for one say that i will never reach the point in my life where a storage medium will sound different to me.
 

 
You're right But if I were you, I'd skip even touching your onboard audio chip through S/PDIF and use USB. Anything over 24/96 is basically useless, despite the (very) rare recordings that sound (very) marginally different on 24/192. There has been a lot of discussion over the matter, and the conclusion by several high profile people in the audio world was that the ideal output format was between 24/48 and 24/96, so going beyond that would yield next to no improvements.
 
SSDs have their use, no doubt, but it's mainly situational. Make no mistakes, SSDs give a huge performance increase in system responsiveness as well as throughput, but that's still at the cost of long term reliability, which isn't acceptable for anything remotely near mission critical machines. Eventually when the NAND chips get smaller, right below the threshold where data integrity will begin to go down right out the window and the 1$/GB barrier is crossed comfortably, then I might consider getting a system drive.
 
The thing is, we need to be tolerant over different people's takes on improvements that tend to have little to no objective value. Sometimes both worlds need to come into place for a peaceful existence, but then again, my wallet also likes some peace of mind, which isn't the easiest of tasks when I'm around Head-Fi
Let me give you an example. While I have replaced a few cables on my system, they were nowhere near as expensive as some of the things we've seen here, and more importantly the aftermarket cables were purchased not to improve sound quality, but to reduce/fix sound issues that were present with the stock cables. Now, for me, that's a big difference between going all out to get cables costing hundreds or thousands of dollars to gain potentially dubious improvements in sound, and getting above cheap cables that were purchased for the sole purpose of eliminating issues.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
You're right But if I were you, I'd skip even touching your onboard audio chip through S/PDIF and use USB. Anything over 24/96 is basically useless, despite the (very) rare recordings that sound (very) marginally different on 24/192. There has been a lot of discussion over the matter, and the conclusion by several high profile people in the audio world was that the ideal output format was between 24/48 and 24/96, so going beyond that would yield next to no improvements.
 
SSDs have their use, no doubt, but it's mainly situational. Make no mistakes, SSDs give a huge performance increase in system responsiveness as well as throughput, but that's still at the cost of long term reliability, which isn't acceptable for anything remotely near mission critical machines. Eventually when the NAND chips get smaller, right below the threshold where data integrity will begin to go down right out the window and the 1$/GB barrier is crossed comfortably, then I might consider getting a system drive.
 
The thing is, we need to be tolerant over different people's takes on improvements that tend to have little to no objective value. Sometimes both worlds need to come into place for a peaceful existence, but then again, my wallet also likes some peace of mind, which isn't the easiest of tasks when I'm around Head-Fi
Let me give you an example. While I have replaced a few cables on my system, they were nowhere near as expensive as some of the things we've seen here, and more importantly the aftermarket cables were purchased not to improve sound quality, but to reduce/fix sound issues that were present with the stock cables. Now, for me, that's a big difference between going all out to get cables costing hundreds or thousands of dollars to gain potentially dubious improvements in sound, and getting above cheap cables that were purchased for the sole purpose of eliminating issues.

1: I know what you are saying and I understand that. Forgive me but I am a hypocrite. I dislike it when people say things that I already know but also enjoy immensly how they would even try to help out. no hard feelings plz. Many people misunderstand me due to my pet peeves and how i operate but i mean you no harm roller. it's always been a pleasure reading your informative posts. I just get irked when I read so many of those postsBut yeah. I know what you are saying about the Sampling Rates, I barely touch on that stuff.
 
2:long term reliability is a problem sadly let's just hope i can afford it by the time i get my next pc build going which is going to be from 2 years from now
 
3: i agree on that some cables i have used have technical problems such as EMI and what not. I have not recently read an ignornat post by somebody that has bought a cable and said how much better it sounded which is nice I will say that those super expensive silver and what not cables do offer a difference but not on the levels of......super change(althought i have yet to test myself, im speaking in a technical tone)
 
And again in case i didn't get through the first time. I enjoy your posts 

 and am not hostile.. i've been mistaken to be sometimes. let this super awesome emoticon show it 

 

[Thunder240]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClieOS /img/forum/go_quote.gif
...
For those who intend to use Alpen mostly as a desktop USB DAC and not a portable - I do recommend you to drain the battery occasional (once or twice per month) in order to prolong the battery life.
...

 
@ClieOS : Does this mean that the Alpen will function fine if used exclusively as a desktop DAC/amp, plugged into the wall at all times using a USB charger with proper specs? I noted some of your reviews of other FiiO products products which mentioned that the units could not be used during a charge due to circuit topology. If so, it sounds like FiiO fixed this issue with the E17, which is good news for me!

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
@ClieOS : Does this mean that the Alpen will function fine if used exclusively as a desktop DAC/amp, plugged into the wall at all times using a USB charger with proper specs? I noted some of your reviews of other FiiO products products which mentioned that the units could not be used during a charge due to circuit topology. If so, it sounds like FiiO fixed this issue with the E17, which is good news for me!

yes. the battery may have some advere effects due to that but a power cycle every month of draining and then powering is recommended.
 
Only the E11 does not allow you to charge and use at same time, no other products have this problem.
 
if you just want a desktop DAC and amp something like the Maverick D1 or a computer audio card like an STX or Titanium HD might be better. but of course those 3 are just what i know to be popular in this price range and is not a recommendation as it is a suggestion to take a look at time as i do not own those 3. those are just to point you in the right direction

 

[Thunder240]

Quote:

yes. the battery may have some advere effects due to that but a power cycle every month of draining and then powering is recommended.
 
Only the E11 does not allow you to charge and use at same time, no other products have this problem.
 
if you just want a desktop DAC and amp something like the Maverick D1 or a computer audio card like an STX or Titanium HD might be better. but of course those 3 are just what i know to be popular in this price range and is not a recommendation as it is a suggestion to take a look at time as i do not own those 3. those are just to point you in the right direction

 
Appreciate the info. Will follow up with PM so as not to threadjack this review!
 
 

 

[ClieOS]

@ClieOS : Does this mean that the Alpen will function fine if used exclusively as a desktop DAC/amp, plugged into the wall at all times using a USB charger with proper specs? I noted some of your reviews of other FiiO products products which mentioned that the units could not be used during a charge due to circuit topology. If so, it sounds like FiiO fixed this issue with the E17, which is good news for me!

As answered above, only E11 doesn't allow use when charging. It is not so much of a issue but an implementation to avoid grounding problem since E11 uses an unique 3 channel design. E17 (or any of the other FiiO) on the other hand doesn't have that design.

 

[Thunder240]

Understood, thanks. I decided to order the E17 from mp4nation, hopefully it will ship before too long!

 

[prsut]

Having E17 for about a week, here are some impressions :
 
1.
OPPO DVD -> Optical cable -> E17 -> Denon AHD2000 works OK.
Sound backgroud without any hiss (OPPO paused, volume at max. gain +6 on E17), sound character as same as OPPO -> Graham Slee NOVO - denons.
Test with Dire Straits Money For Nothing original CD
 
2.
OPPO DVD -> HDMI cable -> Samsung UE40D6530 TV -> digital Out -> E17 -> denons also works OK
Sound has lower volume and not so detailed, but still better than headphone output. 
Test with Dire Straits Money For Nothing original CD
 
3. Notebook Toshiba (running foobar and Ayreon Electric Castle in FLAC, EQ = off) -> USB cable -> E17 - Phonak Audeo PFE 112, also works very fine.
 
4. Cowon S9 at volume level 30, Normal settings (EQ = off) -> nuForce cable 20cm -> E17 -> Phonak Audeo PFE112 - works very good.
 
 
E17 treble settings  = 0 to +2 as both Denons and Phonaks are bit forward to upper frequencies.
E17 bass settings = max +4.
 
I'm not writing much on forums (because of my poor english . as you noticed for sure), but I'm so impressed with E17, that I simply cannot resist to write a bit here on forum.
Also I have Digizoid 2 ver.3, but E17 is much better (no hiss, better - not muddy  bass and no midrange loss).
 
Simply said, E17 is best little thing I bought last two years. I'm so impressed.
 
Thank you fiio...
 

 

[harrisonhawk]

Wow! This amp is causing quite a stir. Great review, I'm currently nursing a dropped E6 and have been eyeing up an E11 to replace it, but judging by posts here the E17 might be worth waiting for and spending a little more money on.
That said, I probably won't be using the DAC too much, I'm more after an amp for my portable setup (iPhone 4, HD-25 or reshelled SE530x4). What do people think? Is it worth spending that little bit extra on the E17, particularly with less hiss for the 530s, or saving some dosh and getting the E11?

 

[Necrontyr]

Personally I would say get the e17, some of the reviews i've seen consider it a superior amp to the e11, and you've yet to realize how awesome it will be as a dac, and so simple to use.... plug in the usb micro cable to your e17, other end to your pc/laptop and bam, new sound card with amazing sound with no fuss. 
 
I am actually in the same situation as yourself @harrisonhawk, i'll be using it primarily on my commute to and from work with my senn hd595's and grado's as the mood strikes me, but I do think i'll look forward to going home and gaming via the amp too, crank up the bass while playing COD or MW and its gonna feel like your there with the fiio and your senn hd-25's

 

[DiscoBurger]

Where are you guys buying these from? I'm having a hard time locating a dealer online, or even a time frame for when the second batch will ship. Also another questions...this forum is way too long and I am way too busy to search 150+ pages, do you think it is a better option to buy e7/e9 now used and cheap, or wait for the e17/e9? I am using d2000s and will be using either ultrasone pro 900s or dt880 250ohms...thanks!