[imeem]

to me, optical sounds louder than usb. 

 

[kucher12]

Hi,
 
Quick update:
 
Got the TosLink cable - and I agree with:

imeem /img/forum/go_quote.gif
  to me, optical sounds louder than usb. 

Indeed, it sounds slightly louder than USB. But, essentially it is impossible to listen to the max volume on VOX player anyway, optimal sound is around 50% out of 200% with maxed out AMP and max gain on E17, which is +12 dB.
 
I think I would prefer to use optical cable for the setup, but not because it's louder or can play higher bitrate, but just because I get to use one extra USB port, which is always handy as I have only 2 on the MacBook.
 
P.S Mo-Fi's by Blue are just gorgeous in combo with E17.
 
Cheers

 

[DDDamian]

  to me, optical sounds louder than usb. 

Strange, as with a digital signal that implies it's changing the digital bits or data as you would with digital volume control, scaling the values by the volume percentage. They should hit the DAC the same through either mechanism. Perhaps you do have a noisy USB and it's contributing to the noise floor. That would defy logic though that any noise in the digital signal appears only in the lower bits.

 

[happy hopping]

I am having so much fun with this E 17. It is such a fantastic product. Incredible versatility with this unit. I of course use it for when I'm on the go paired with my I pod via AUX With a premium copper litz cable, and for my bed room I use it with my JVC stereo as a line out paired with my Portable CD player. It's awesome. Quite a reasonable sound set up for sleep time. I just love it and I can understand why this DAC/AMP is rated #1 on this site.

 
for those who are using a portable CD player connecting to this unit, how much difference is there vs. listening to your portable CD player to your headphone w/o this DAC?  Is it easily noticeable or just barely?
 
because the best CD player that I've seen comes w/ 1 bit DAC, and the sales guy I spoke to today, said it will only make a 5 to 10% difference.  Because the 1 bit DAC is  poor, so no matter what headphone or what DAC you put in, it wouldn't make any difference

 

[nephilim32]

for those who are using a portable CD player connecting to this unit, how much difference is there vs. listening to your portable CD player to your headphone w/o this DAC?  Is it easily noticeable or just barely?

because the best CD player that I've seen comes w/ 1 bit DAC, and the sales guy I spoke to today, said it will only make a 5 to 10% difference.  Because the 1 bit DAC is  poor, so no matter what headphone or what DAC you put in, it wouldn't make any difference

Hi there. It's great that you've done a bit of background research on this matter, and the 1-bit DAC extra so to speak is very minor, but that all depends on your music sources! You see, I hate streaming and direct digital downloads of music files. Something horribly gets lost in translation and even the highest quality audio gear can't clean up a really heavy compression rate on some of those digital downloads. Cd quality ensures the best. No compression. No mess; however ALAC, WAV and FLAC of course are A-Ok with me, I love cd quality the most. Goes best with what I have. It's all about assurance.

 

[happy hopping]

hey, you're my kind of guy.   Do you have any  link on the latest models of Panasonic or Sony slim portable CD player?  I can't find it in the search engine.  I only use CD portable.
 
and did they improve anything beyond 1 bit DAC on portable Cd

 

[ClieOS]

   
for those who are using a portable CD player connecting to this unit, how much difference is there vs. listening to your portable CD player to your headphone w/o this DAC?  Is it easily noticeable or just barely?
 
because the best CD player that I've seen comes w/ 1 bit DAC, and the sales guy I spoke to today, said it will only make a 5 to 10% difference.  Because the 1 bit DAC is  poor, so no matter what headphone or what DAC you put in, it wouldn't make any difference

 
Yet another case of salesman doesn't know what he is talking about.
 
1 bit DAC just means it is bitstream DAC, or Sigma-Delta DAC as we usually refer it to be. That is basically the most common type of DAC in the market these day, found from the cheapest mp3 player to multi-thousands dollars high end gear, as well as in E17.
 
As far as portable CD player is concerned, you really won't find anything else but 1 bit DAC - and that doesn't mean it is automatically a bad thing.

 

[happy hopping]

very useful information, thanks for the tips.  See, I always thought after so many years, even an slightly used CD player, is better than mine.  But recently I post an unrelated post that there is no reason for me to buy a new CD (desktop) player as there is virtually no change

 

[nephilim32]

hey, you're my kind of guy.   Do you have any  link on the latest models of Panasonic or Sony slim portable CD player?  I can't find it in the search engine.  I only use CD portable.

and did they improve anything beyond 1 bit DAC on portable Cd

Well your mind kind of sonic brother as well
You know it's amazing how much data and resolution is held on a standard red book cd bit depth of 16. Also 44 or 48khz is really more than enough if you have high quality audio gear. The FIIO e 17 paired with my I pod containing 16/48k lossless is really wonderful for travel on the go listening. My portable CD player is a 12 year old Sony Walkman with anti skip protection. Lol. You can find any CD player that's portable for a minimal cost. Their have been no advancements on portable CD players. They are a dead media transport device. Anything from audiovox, jvc, penasonic and of course sony all offer the standard goods.
Remember, there is a good reason why CDs still exist and that you can still buy them.
Lots of data. Lots.

 

[hamidr]

Hello guyz,
I was thinking of buying a headphone amp/DAC to get a better and louder sound out of my sources like: PC, phone, portable cdp, etc....
My question is would the e17 still be a good buy while the newer e17k is available?
Im intrested in e17 because it has optical in and my old sony cdp has optical out...I also want to connect it to my tv optical out in case of hear it through my hifi amp and use the e17 as a dac only unit.
If e17k sound quality is much better I can live with the lack of optical input

My current hifi HP is senn hd558
Thanks

 

[vipervick]

AUX input still doesn't work. /cry
 
USB worked, but that doesn't help my iPod Classic.

 

[mindbomb]

So, do you have to worry about  burn in with the oled screen? is it okay to leave the display on for long periods?

 

[JamesBr]

  very useful information, thanks for the tips.  See, I always thought after so many years, even an slightly used CD player, is better than mine.  But recently I post an unrelated post that there is no reason for me to buy a new CD (desktop) player as there is virtually no change

+1

 

[nephilim32]

+1

+2.

 

[DDDamian]

  So, do you have to worry about  burn in with the oled screen? is it okay to leave the display on for long periods?

It can burn the image onto the screen yes. Better not to leave it on when not needed.