[Kdavis71]

I have a pair of ATH-M50WH headphones. I recently ordered the Fiio E17 off amazon and it should be here by Dec. 24th at the latest. I am using it with Foobar2000 + FLAC library. My source is my Sony Vaio laptop which I believe has a crappy sound card because it gets very staticy whenever I am browsing the web or scrolling on pages. How will the Fiio E17 affect my sound?
 
Also I am curious as to how if at all it will affect the sound of movies. Everyone mainly talks about the Fiio E17 for music (which I will be listening to a lot of) but how should it compare to my onboard soundcard in terms of audio quality for movies.

 

[AgentXXL]

  I have a pair of ATH-M50WH headphones. I recently ordered the Fiio E17 off amazon and it should be here by Dec. 24th at the latest. I am using it with Foobar2000 + FLAC library. My source is my Sony Vaio laptop which I believe has a crappy sound card because it gets very staticy whenever I am browsing the web or scrolling on pages. How will the Fiio E17 affect my sound?
 
Also I am curious as to how if at all it will affect the sound of movies. Everyone mainly talks about the Fiio E17 for music (which I will be listening to a lot of) but how should it compare to my onboard soundcard in terms of audio quality for movies.

 
If you're Vaio headphone output is produces a lot of static-like noise no matter what it's connected to, you can expect the same from the E17.
 
As for the movies question, I found the E17 to definitely improve my 2 channel listening, and that includes movies which have been downconverted to a 2 channel output on my MacBook Pro. The increase in power that the E17 provides will provide the same improvements for whatever 2 channel source you feed it. Just remember - it's only a 2 channel device whether used with the line-in or as a USB DAC. If you want multichannel type presentation from your movies, you'll need something like a Dolby Headphone encoder (i.e. something like the hard to find JVC SU-DH1) or perhaps a software solution like Out Of Your Head:
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/689299/out-of-your-head-new-virtual-surround-simulator
 
Dale

 

[Kdavis71]

Thanks AgentXXL, I'll be mainly using the USB Dac feature so I won't have to use the headphone output so seems I should be fine in that regard.
 
Glad to hear movie audio will improve. I expected surround sound wouldn't work well, I have software for it (Razer Surround Sound) but there doesn't seem to be much you can do in terms of surround sound when you only have 2 channels to work with. I'll probably eventually get a 5.1 channel speaker set up.
 
Speaking of the Razer Surround software, they are offering it for free up until 2014 when it will go back to $20 for anyone interested.

 

[teohouse88]

The following picture shows my configuration with iPhone 5 iOs 7.0.3 ( iPhone --------> lightning to camera -------> E17 -------> Headphone)  :

 
When I play the music in my iPhone, the sounds come out from the speakers of the phone and not in the headphones.
 
 
 
Where did I make a mistake in my configuration?

 

[AgentXXL]

  The following picture shows my configuration with iPhone 5 iOs 7.0.3 ( iPhone --------> lightning to camera -------> E17 -------> Headphone)  :

 
When I play the music in my iPhone, the sounds come out from the speakers of the phone and not in the headphones.
 
 
 
Where did I make a mistake in my configuration?

 
As indicated in the other thread, a passive USB hub is mandatory inbetween the CCK and E17. Also make sure to turn USB charging off on the E17 and not drive the volume levels of the iPhone or the E17 over 3/4 each.
 
Dale

 

[kalbee]

  i think my headphone jack/amplifier on the E17 is defective. After many months of experience, i notice that my fiio e17 is very susceptible to interference from smartphones, home phones, and monitors.
 
When they are near them, they make a weird noise that is not a tick or a click. However, when i move the e17 away from them (like 10 inchs or more), the chance of it happening decreases alot. The funny thing is that it only happens when i'm using the headphone jack and not when using line out.
 
any1 have insights on this issue? I might consider putting it in a anti-static bag to see if it will fixes this. 

It is susceptible. Far from the worse I've seen on portable amps though.
I generally don't get too much of it unless from my phone, specially when the signals go from none to low (like when getting out of the metro/subway station).
 
I've never tried with Line Out though...

 

[TrollDragon]

That is why I use a DAP (Colorfly C3) as smartphones are just too noisy with all the RF gear they have in them.

A static bag would not help, it's made to protect components from static charge not RF shielding.

 

[SilverDragon88]

So I apologize if this is a bit of a n00b question but this is my first USB DAC so I want to make sure I got this right...
 
I ordered a new e17 and a set of ATH-M50s on the recommendation of a friend who has a e7 paired with the same headphones.  I have a Fiio E10 and wanted something portable that I couldn't pair with my macbook and phone.  The e17 arrived first and I couldn't wait to test them out so I hooked up my old MDR-5706s to them and hooked the USB into my Retina MacBook Pro.  No matter what I have it set to, the sound is very distorted unless I drop the volume on the MacBook to 30% and up the volume on the e17 to 60!   I tried adjusting the bitrate between 48/16 and 96/24 and its the same effect.  Is this normal for the e17 or is there something wrong with it?  Ive tried using it on both my MacBook Retina and my desktop with the same results using different USB cables.  Line in seems fine but thats not the point of a DAC.
 
Any help or info greatly appreciated.  Again, I apologize if this is a n00b question.

 

[ClieOS]

A few things to check: (1) Disable all the EQ on your Mac and E17. (2) Set the gain on E17 to zero. (3) reset the E17 via the reset hole. (4) make sure the E17 is fully charged.

 

[SpiderNhan]

So I apologize if this is a bit of a n00b question but this is my first USB DAC so I want to make sure I got this right...

I ordered a new e17 and a set of ATH-M50s on the recommendation of a friend who has a e7 paired with the same headphones.  I have a Fiio E10 and wanted something portable that I couldn't pair with my macbook and phone.  The e17 arrived first and I couldn't wait to test them out so I hooked up my old MDR-5706s to them and hooked the USB into my Retina MacBook Pro.  No matter what I have it set to, the sound is very distorted unless I drop the volume on the MacBook to 30% and up the volume on the e17 to 60!   I tried adjusting the bitrate between 48/16 and 96/24 and its the same effect.  Is this normal for the e17 or is there something wrong with it?  Ive tried using it on both my MacBook Retina and my desktop with the same results using different USB cables.  Line in seems fine but thats not the point of a DAC.

Any help or info greatly appreciated.  Again, I apologize if this is a n00b question.

On my PC I noticed that having USB Charge turned on would give me static. I only charge my E17 when in not listening to it.

 

[SilverDragon88]

On my PC I noticed that having USB Charge turned on would give me static. I only charge my E17 when in not listening to it.

Thank you SpiderNhan and ClieOS.  Disabling USB charge appears to have done the trick.  This DAC is a lot better than any Ive owned before.  Looking forward to when the ATH-M50s get here

 

[JoeDoe]

For not having a clue about head-fi, dad did pretty good this Xmas!

 

[ashenkin]

Anyone know if the E17 is up to driving 64 ohms?

 

[Ashade]

Anyone know if the E17 is up to driving 64 ohms?

Without a single problem volume-wise. Different is if it will drive it properly. What headphones are we talking about?

 

[ashenkin]

Without a single problem volume-wise. Different is if it will drive it properly. What headphones are we talking about?

Thanks for the reply.  I'm not so worried about volume as I am having a good frequency response across the whole range.  My guess is that amps not designed for driving lower-impedance headphones will roll off on the bassy end.  The headphones in this case are Sennheiser HD580 Pro's, though I'm curious about how low a 'phones impedance can go and still be driven well by the E17 in general.