[gohanssjn]

Welp, I cannot get this to work on my laptop (Dell Latitude XT).  Something about it just sends garbage to the E17.  It's like sound with an overlay of static and sometimes extra sounds (ane a few times it made the sound being sent a higher pitch).  Reinstalling an old Windows 7 backup that was just an OS install did nothing to help
 
Quote:

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.
 

I have 0 buzzing when silent.
 
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

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.
 

i heard a hiss only with EQ on. when i turned EQ off...it was gone. the treble upped the hiss a lot more than bass
 
 

 

[FiveThreeEcho]

I have tried my FiiO E17 with my Desktop PC, iPhone4S and Sansa Clip+ with no hissing or buzzing at all.  The only time I have actually heard a bit of hissing when no music was playing was while I was flying.  There are 5 different radios and other sensors working in the aircraft, but it may not be related.  Other than this short hissing experience, my E17 has been silent.
 
FiveThreeEcho

 

[Orangetree]

Wow, I was making dinner on the other side of my apartment when I heard something that sounded like a fireplace crackling at my desk. I ran over to hear my headphones popping and hissing while plugged into the E9. I unplugged everything and undocked the E17. I've put everything back in and it seems to be fine.
 
I don't hear any hissing or static when it's working normally, but what could have caused this? It also has a tendency to make sound suddenly "robotic" sounding (like a mechanical flange) until I undock it and dock it again.

 

[bowei006]

My results as are follow. ipod touch 2G-->L9 LOD-->E17-->HFI 580
 
I played and paused the song. current level is 6dB gain with some EQ on. i qucikly raised volume from (20) and past 30...ahh there it was. that buzzing. it was a tempo'ed cha cha cha cha cha cha cha of flowing electricity...and then when i reached 35(with the cha cha cha cha) still going quietly..it died off again to near silent with minimal hiss. now at 40. this hiss is getting louder again. and then that cha cha cha cha cha appears again. dies back down at 45. then do it again. reach 60. the cha cha cha comes and goes fast this time. leaving me with a slight hiss. now i decrease....and no problems at all. no cha cha cha cha. the hiss just slowly fades from what it waas at 60 volume to close to nothing nearing 40.
tries this at 12dB gain. same phenomenom as top one. it seems the E17 ...fixes the signal or something fast and then tries to refix it again. or something
 
Starting again. started and paused music.no EQ. starting at 20 with 6dB gain. sound comes at around 40. gets almost pretty loud nearing 60. and then. it cuts. the hissing stops and im left with a very very quiet cha cha cha cha cha. 5 seconds later. it's gone. now i am at 60. no EQ. with 6dB gain. no sound... aat all. quiet
 
tried with 12dB. started and stopped music. this time. the hiss started at 30. got louder and louder until 50. then it cut. small cha cha cha cha cha came...then stopped. now at 60.....it's not quiet.  a very very very small hissing sound...other than that..nothing.
 
 
So yeah...it seems like..the E17...after a certain point. kinda rechecks and eliminates. and then rechecks and eliminates. this happens twice from 20 to 60 all 4 times i tested. i just held the + button down..something most won't do at that volume unless you have high impendance headphones..so you do. you will hear that in the back for a tiny bit...and then...some hiss. but then again. i can not conclude this for the high impendance headphone users as i was not (i can't) play music at that sound level.
 
 
So....conclusion: it's silent. the E17 has hiss on my easy driven HFI 580's past 30 on both (it's even more prone and big with EQ on) but it constantly eliminates it past a certain point for you within seconds

 

[tim3320070]

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
 
 

Sorry, this is totally misleading. $100 or $1000 headphones can be very revealing to source. You can't categorize headphones like this. $200 headphones can sound better to an individual than $1000 ones.
To Orangetree- I would think the main difference between the E17 and your soundcard is background hiss. The E17 should be a lot quieter (in quiet parts) than any soundcard. This makes music more involving and 3 dimensional given an adequate headphone (which the PS500 is). I hope this is not the case for the E17.
 
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Sorry, this is totally misleading. $100 or $1000 headphones can be very revealing to source. You can't categorize headphones like this. $200 headphones can sound better to an individual than $1000 ones.
To Orangetree- I would think the main difference between the E17 and your soundcard is background hiss. The E17 should be a lot quieter (in quiet parts) than any soundcard. This makes music more involving and 3 dimensional given an adequate headphone (which the PS500 is). I hope this is not the case for the E17.
 
 

oh sorry. i was really just going off price and other stuff. but this is a general system really. it's one of those. this is gnerally how it goes. not always or anything. but generally.
 

 

[mister2d]

Lots of static and garbled audio using the E17 through USB. This is my first attempt using it over USB. Initially I was using optical. This is using a MacBook Pro.
 
Well... this is a kill joy. After my good experience with the E17 two days ago (exclusively over optical) I thought I was set. Looks like this is going back to sender.
 
Shame. I am 1 for 3 on FiiO products. E7 (stopped playing audio out the left channel), E17 (static/garbled audio), but the E11 is rock solid.
 
Seems to be a quality issue with DAC products here since using the E17 over LOD is fine (same as the E7).
 
Grrrrr...

 

[gohanssjn]

Quote:

Lots of static and garbled audio using the E17 through USB. This is my first attempt using it over USB. Initially I was using optical. This is using a MacBook Pro.
 
Well... this is a kill joy. After my good experience with the E17 two days ago (exclusively over optical) I thought I was set. Looks like this is going back to sender.
 
Shame. I am 1 for 3 on FiiO products. E7 (stopped playing audio out the left channel), E17 (static/garbled audio), but the E11 is rock solid.
 
Seems to be a quality issue with DAC products here since using the E17 over LOD is fine (same as the E7).
 
Grrrrr...

Sounds like the same thing my Dell laptop does, even though my Desktop does fine with the DAC.  I think it might be a hardware conflict of some sort, as no amount of reinstalling helped my laptop and the E17 get along.  Maybe we should PM the FiiO rep here and see if he has any insight?
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Lots of static and garbled audio using the E17 through USB. This is my first attempt using it over USB. Initially I was using optical. This is using a MacBook Pro.
 
Well... this is a kill joy. After my good experience with the E17 two days ago (exclusively over optical) I thought I was set. Looks like this is going back to sender.
 
Shame. I am 1 for 3 on FiiO products. E7 (stopped playing audio out the left channel), E17 (static/garbled audio), but the E11 is rock solid.
 
Seems to be a quality issue with DAC products here since using the E17 over LOD is fine (same as the E7).
 
Grrrrr...

so audio is just messy over USB? have you tried it with another computer?
 
 

 

[mister2d]

Quote:

so audio is just messy over USB? have you tried it with another computer?
 
 

Yes, just USB. LOD is fine as well as optical (so far).

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

Yes, just USB. LOD is fine as well as optical (so far).

was that yes also to trying it out with another laptop? because that is important as well.
 
oh one question. what color is the inside of your S/PDIF jack. anyone can answer this. mine is pure black. i thought it'd be pink?
 

 

[gohanssjn]

Quote:

was that yes also to trying it out with another laptop? because that is important as well.
 
oh one question. what color is the inside of your S/PDIF jack. anyone can answer this. mine is pure black. i thought it'd be pink?
 

All black here as well.


Quote:

Yes, just USB. LOD is fine as well as optical (so far).

So, any chance you can tell up what specs you have on your laptop?  Mine is a Core 2 Duo processor with a Dell motherboard.  But maybe we have the same chipset or something....
 

 

[gohanssjn]

Also, I just added the rubber feet to mine and now there is no movement when it is strapped to my iPod Touch, so that's nice

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Sounds like the same thing my Dell laptop does, even though my Desktop does fine with the DAC.  I think it might be a hardware conflict of some sort, as no amount of reinstalling helped my laptop and the E17 get along.  Maybe we should PM the FiiO rep here and see if he has any insight?
 

Did everyone disable the internal soundcard and make the E17 the default device, then reboot- you have to reboot after this?