[tme110]

That does suck.  I've only had fairly cheap computers and I've never seen that before.  What type of connection is your other spdif?
 
But the e17 shows you the signal format it's decoding?  That's a very cool feature.  I wonder if it just pulls the info from the signal metadata or if it's the actually determined from the signal itself?  I also wonder if it could be saying it is receiving a signal at one level but actually down converting and decoding it at a lower level.  (I've seen DAC's play files at whatever level it wants without giving an indication that it downconverting.

 

[Woosh]

Hi guys
 
sorry I'm quite new to all this technical stuff about 96khz and 192khz, can someone explain whether the E17 will be a good choice for a DAC+AMP combo for my Macbook Pro (2011)? I'm mainly playing music through iTunes mostly 320kbps stuff. 
 
Thanks

 

[dorino]

Quote:

Hi guys
 
sorry I'm quite new to all this technical stuff about 96khz and 192khz, can someone explain whether the E17 will be a good choice for a DAC+AMP combo for my Macbook Pro (2011)? I'm mainly playing music through iTunes mostly 320kbps stuff. 
 
Thanks

It depends on your headphone, but as long as it's not an extremely-difficult-to-drive headphone, you should be completely satisfied with the E17.
 

 

[weitn]

Quote:

Mine took about 3 hours, but the USB ports on my motherboard charge at a 3x rate of normal ones (they give 450mA instead of 150mA).  They also charge items hooked up when the desktop is off  Handy feature.
 
But I'd give it at least 6 hours if you have other things hooked up via USB while charging.  The amount of available power is sometimes split among ports at the hub's base (even an internal hub).
 

I own a La Crosse Technology BC1000 battery charger. It is considered one of the best charger around. It has selectable charging current of 200, 500, 700, 1000, 1500 and 1800 mA. According to the manual at page 11, "In general, 200 mA is a recommended charging current if rapid charging is not necessary. It is definitely safe and optimum to the life of the rechargeable batteries.". Charging at lower mA will prolonge the battery life in term of cycle life and battery capacity. Below is the link to the battery charge manual. Just thought that everyone should know.
 
http://www.lacrossetechnology.com/bc1000/manual.pdf
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

That does suck.  I've only had fairly cheap computers and I've never seen that before.  What type of connection is your other spdif?
 
But the e17 shows you the signal format it's decoding?  That's a very cool feature.  I wonder if it just pulls the info from the signal metadata or if it's the actually determined from the signal itself?  I also wonder if it could be saying it is receiving a signal at one level but actually down converting and decoding it at a lower level.  (I've seen DAC's play files at whatever level it wants without giving an indication that it downconverting.

other SPDIF? oh no. i only have one of them...the first you see was a "digital out" section only. it had an SPDIF option so i clicked it. that was the wrong one and din't produce any sound. only the second worked. and yeah. it "Actively" changes ont he e17 to show you what signal the comptuer selected very cool. i think it's just what he computer gives it. i have 192KHz and 96KHz songs and setting the computer to 48KHz and playing those songs the E17 doesn't change..even to 96KHz....
 
i don't think the E17 will down convert.. if it did....you will see some uproar from the reviewers.


Quote:

Hi guys
 
sorry I'm quite new to all this technical stuff about 96khz and 192khz, can someone explain whether the E17 will be a good choice for a DAC+AMP combo for my Macbook Pro (2011)? I'm mainly playing music through iTunes mostly 320kbps stuff. 
 
Thanks

The question mainly is what type of music you listen to(this is not as relevant in this range and for fiio products), what your budget is, and if you want a portable AND desktop setup or just portable or just desktop. if you want portable and desktop. as you can see from this review and impressions. this is...more or elss the best combined under $200 for the features. We have some nuforce convertees in here i don't have a nuforce icon HD or the nuforce udac or something in tht range. but...clieos and mike at headfonia liked the E17 at this range.
 
320kbps...im a bit wary of really. there are a lot of songs online taken from bad sources and just upconverted or re encodeded into 320kbps MP3. not all of them. some. if you have original CD's. i recommend you rip into ALAC(with itnes or EAC....itunes is easiest and despite most head fi'ers liking EAC better for error correct, it's advanced...and realy. if somethign went wrong. you would know)
we here mainly use CD ripped but 320kbps is still good.
 
wat headphones you have?

 

[Orangetree]

I got my E17 yesterday and have been testing it for a little bit with a pair of Grado PS500s and 3 other devices: my motherboard's audio (Realtek ALC889), an iPod 5th gen, and a Thinkpad (Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD). For sources, I've been using 24bit/96k classical tracks and a variety of lossless ripped CDs on Foobar2000. I'm also testing with and without being docked in the E9
 
Grados don't really need much amping, but I'm straining to hear any difference at all in sound quality. It's wonderfully built, and perhaps my method may be wrong, but I really don't know what I've spent my money on.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I got my E17 yesterday and have been testing it for a little bit with a pair of Grado PS500s and 3 other devices: my motherboard's audio (Realtek ALC889), an iPod 5th gen, and a Thinkpad (Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD). For sources, I've been using 24bit/96k classical tracks and a variety of lossless ripped CDs on Foobar2000. I'm also testing with and without being docked in the E9
 
Grados don't really need much amping, but I'm straining to hear any difference at all in sound quality. It's wonderfully built, and perhaps my method may be wrong, but I really don't know what I've spent my money on.

spend another week with it. then un plug and use regularly. you already have E9? ..hmm. if you liked the E9 then the E17 is basically your portable E9 (kinda) 
The E17 is more for use with Tier C and B headphones. the general amping rule usually follows in these teirs. your headphones should be a bit more than double the cost of teh unit. (MSRP used) urs are high tier B and low Tier A from what i see or know(the little that i do) about those Grado's... and then we also have Tier S (summit fi) lolz so Tier A isn't the highest BTW. the amp and dac unit really generally reverses at the Tier B headphone section where those units start tending to get pretty expensive and sometiems even cost more than the cans themselves...and then in tier A and past. i see most units costing much more than the cans themselves.
 
TierC examples:
HFI580
Sennheiser 558
Beyerdynaic DT770
Shure SRH840
 
TierB:
Denon AHD2000
Sennheiser HD 650 (i don't think the E17 does full capabilities with these though)
Shure SRH940
Ultrasone PRo 900
 
 

 

[Woosh]

Quote:

The question mainly is what type of music you listen to(this is not as relevant in this range and for fiio products), what your budget is, and if you want a portable AND desktop setup or just portable or just desktop. if you want portable and desktop. as you can see from this review and impressions. this is...more or elss the best combined under $200 for the features. We have some nuforce convertees in here i don't have a nuforce icon HD or the nuforce udac or something in tht range. but...clieos and mike at headfonia liked the E17 at this range.
 
320kbps...im a bit wary of really. there are a lot of songs online taken from bad sources and just upconverted or re encodeded into 320kbps MP3. not all of them. some. if you have original CD's. i recommend you rip into ALAC(with itnes or EAC....itunes is easiest and despite most head fi'ers liking EAC better for error correct, it's advanced...and realy. if somethign went wrong. you would know)
we here mainly use CD ripped but 320kbps is still good.
 
wat headphones you have?
 
 
 

I'm purely looking for a AMP/DAC for my Macbook Pro, I use it at home and I travel with it. My collection on iTunes is not perfect but its acceptable for me considering the gear I have. I'm currently traveling with my HD448 but I'm considering getting an upgrade very soon (maybe HD598 or M50). 

 

[tme110]

Im guessing the e17 does down convert, the e7 does and most other less expensive models do.  Otherwise, if it had a signal it didn't know what to do with (for whatever reason) you'd get nothing out.  I actually prefer the nothing out option (which is what AGD DAC's tend to do) but it's also nice when it always just plays something.  My HRT also downcovnverts files to something it can play. (this keeps people from complaining that their DAC isn't playing anything - most people have no idea what rate their music is actually playing at)

 

[tme110]

I'm sure it will work for you and at that price you really can't go wrong anyway. If you dont need the 24/192 type stuff then you can ignore it since most people wont be using it anyway - it's just nice to have in case it ever comes up.
Quote:

I'm purely looking for a AMP/DAC for my Macbook Pro, I use it at home and I travel with it. My collection on iTunes is not perfect but its acceptable for me considering the gear I have. I'm currently traveling with my HD448 but I'm considering getting an upgrade very soon (maybe HD598 or M50). 

 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I'm purely looking for a AMP/DAC for my Macbook Pro, I use it at home and I travel with it. My collection on iTunes is not perfect but its acceptable for me considering the gear I have. I'm currently traveling with my HD448 but I'm considering getting an upgrade very soon (maybe HD598 or M50). 

when u say travel and home i'm going to think you mean you want to have something you can easily bring around. if so then likme tme110 said...this is fine. for at home use the MAverick tube magic D1 (don't have it, jsut know it's popular) is a popular option. but like he said again and cleios. nothing else really has these features at the price. if you like bass i would recommend the HFI 580 or if you like sennheiser signature then the 598 is also a good choice(don't have the 598)
 


Quote:

Im guessing the e17 does down convert, the e7 does and most other less expensive models do.  Otherwise, if it had a signal it didn't know what to do with (for whatever reason) you'd get nothing out.  I actually prefer the nothing out option (which is what AGD DAC's tend to do) but it's also nice when it always just plays something.  My HRT also downcovnverts files to something it can play. (this keeps people from complaining that their DAC isn't playing anything - most people have no idea what rate their music is actually playing at)

ouch. forgot about that. yeah. my 44.1KHz/16 bit tracks play. even while it's in 24/96 mode >_< so yeah i get what you mean now! jeez! wow. haha yeah this makes it a lot easier for people. upsampling is something fiio would definatley put on their page if it had that function.
 

 

[Orangetree]

Thanks for the info. I do realize that the E17 is probably better suited for different headphones than the Grados. I appreciate its portability and the option to boost the sound on my laptop further if I want that (business laptops don't get very loud).
 
I guess my intent with the FiiO was to get an entry level device that might make the sound more consistent across the various sources I use my headphones with. Maybe it was naive to also assume it would make a change in sound quality. I'm sure with the PS500 I will probably need something beyond my budget to hear any improvement on their already great sound.
 
Quote:

spend another week with it. then un plug and use regularly. you already have E9? ..hmm. if you liked the E9 then the E17 is basically your portable E9 (kinda) 
The E17 is more for use with Tier C and B headphones. the general amping rule usually follows in these teirs. your headphones should be a bit more than double the cost of teh unit. (MSRP used) urs are high tier B and low Tier A from what i see or know(the little that i do) about those Grado's... and then we also have Tier S (summit fi) lolz so Tier A isn't the highest BTW. the amp and dac unit really generally reverses at the Tier B headphone section where those units start tending to get pretty expensive and sometiems even cost more than the cans themselves...and then in tier A and past. i see most units costing much more than the cans themselves.
 
TierC examples:
HFI580
Sennheiser 558
Beyerdynaic DT770
Shure SRH840
 
TierB:
Denon AHD2000
Sennheiser HD 650 (i don't think the E17 does full capabilities with these though)
Shure SRH940
Ultrasone PRo 900
 
 

 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Thanks for the info. I do realize that the E17 is probably better suited for different headphones than the Grados. I appreciate its portability and the option to boost the sound on my laptop further if I want that (business laptops don't get very loud).
 
I guess my intent with the FiiO was to get an entry level device that might make the sound more consistent across the various sources I use my headphones with. Maybe it was naive to also assume it would make a change in sound quality. I'm sure with the PS500 I will probably need something beyond my budget to hear any improvement on their already great sound.
 


 

the E17 suits the first purpose very well. even better ./.....is it has a DAC built in for it. easily used with USB
 
The E17 isn't ....entry level so to say. the fiio E5 is "entry level" and really. this is the reason why i use the word tiers. there isn't enough words in "levels" to spread. i can only think of entry level, advanced level, max level. and many words that mean the same as those 3.
 
 

 

[stroboscopic]

Quote:

I own a La Crosse Technology BC1000 battery charger. It is considered one of the best charger around. It has selectable charging current of 200, 500, 700, 1000, 1500 and 1800 mA. According to the manual at page 11, "In general, 200 mA is a recommended charging current if rapid charging is not necessary. It is definitely safe and optimum to the life of the rechargeable batteries.". Charging at lower mA will prolonge the battery life in term of cycle life and battery capacity. Below is the link to the battery charge manual. Just thought that everyone should know.

 
That's irrelevant since the La Crosse charger is for NiMH batteries. Li-ion batteries (like the ones on the E17/Alpen) have a totally different chemistry.
 
 
Quote:

The charge rate of a typical consumer Li-ion battery is between 0.5 and 1C in Stage 1, and the charge time is about three hours.

 
From: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_lithium_ion_batteries (my bold)

 

[aquacos]

hi there,
I see that there some units of the e17 around here. did anybody notice a silent buzzing sound of the device if no music is playing and what I have described here? 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/587912/fiio-e17-alpen-first-impression-final-thought/690
 
I send my e17 back and hopefully soon I get a unit without that problerm. this silent buzzing was most audible with my shure se535 but also audible with my t70p. may be it was a rare case of a faulty unit.  
 
greetings, s.