skyline315
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FiiO E17 "ALPEN" - First Impression + Final Thought
- Thread starter ClieOS
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RodSmith
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I've switched to a D7 (which iBasso say is shipping tomorrow!) because it has 24/192 over usb (only intend to use it with a laptop) and I got sick of waiting.
SoundDreamer
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Souji
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Micca Store tweeted this earlier today!
"FiiO E17 - Second batch on their way, will continue with additional tweet updates daily. Second batch will have same bundled items as first."
"FiiO E17 - Second batch on their way, will continue with additional tweet updates daily. Second batch will have same bundled items as first."
Quote:
You've never owned a headphone amp before, right? The "feature" was a must-have and a lot of hifi blogs advertised it as this extremely important, must-have end-all. The fact is, the difference in how you transmit over USB is very, very minimal.
lshalamb
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Hate to disappoint you but I have opened a ticket yesterday on mp4nation and the response from CSR was that they truly delay 2nd batch untill early March. he also inquired if I want to cancel my order... I'm not sure about iBasso D7 for my HD600s but ... yea.. dont know
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That's disappointing. It's worth noting, however, FiiO said the second batch wil be delayed until early March, too, but that there were two shipments in the first batch.
SoundDreamer
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Nice try. Spinning will get you nowhere. USB is one of the worst methods for transporting audio.
AstralStorm
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Huh, this DAC and amp are quite superb. According to cursory measurements (can't take the graphs due to silly NDA) these are truly E7 improved.
Esp. jitter and THD+N are better, everything is as linear as it should be, for all 16 Ohm, 32 Ohm, 80 Ohm and 300 Ohm loads.
SNR is as advertised, unlike certain other "24-bit" DACs.
Gain slightly worses THD+N, but it's still below 0.01% everywhere. Oh, and unlike E7, I couldn't get it to clip with my test gear.
Crosschannel bleed is more than 20 dB better too at highest end, which does improve imaging.
Not to mention usability is far higher due to 1) switchable input sources 2) better sockets 3) hold latch. Perhaps the only thing that's worth improving is putting an even larger Li-Ion cell inside - shouldn't be too heavy or too large with, say, 2500 mAh. There could also be input detection in the input switch, so that it'd skip over silent inputs, unless everything was silent. (might be hard to implement for AUX though)
Shell seems somewhat sturdier than E7 too. bezels, smaller glass area and rubber feet help.
The DAC/USB part is far better latency-wise than E7; I can get away with a 512 s/s buffer as opposed to 2048 s/s at 44100 Hz.
As for subjective impressions, this does drive RE272 better than E7 or the Aureon at 0 gain, slightly better than the Presonus FP10. Results in tighter and slightly stronger subbass and improved high end extension by about 0.5kHz, nice detail. No tonal changes (as I said, it's linear, also low output impedance)
RE272 is driven well with my -24 dB eq at 42, w/o eq at 22.
Esp. jitter and THD+N are better, everything is as linear as it should be, for all 16 Ohm, 32 Ohm, 80 Ohm and 300 Ohm loads.
SNR is as advertised, unlike certain other "24-bit" DACs.
Gain slightly worses THD+N, but it's still below 0.01% everywhere. Oh, and unlike E7, I couldn't get it to clip with my test gear.
Crosschannel bleed is more than 20 dB better too at highest end, which does improve imaging.
Not to mention usability is far higher due to 1) switchable input sources 2) better sockets 3) hold latch. Perhaps the only thing that's worth improving is putting an even larger Li-Ion cell inside - shouldn't be too heavy or too large with, say, 2500 mAh. There could also be input detection in the input switch, so that it'd skip over silent inputs, unless everything was silent. (might be hard to implement for AUX though)
Shell seems somewhat sturdier than E7 too. bezels, smaller glass area and rubber feet help.
The DAC/USB part is far better latency-wise than E7; I can get away with a 512 s/s buffer as opposed to 2048 s/s at 44100 Hz.
As for subjective impressions, this does drive RE272 better than E7 or the Aureon at 0 gain, slightly better than the Presonus FP10. Results in tighter and slightly stronger subbass and improved high end extension by about 0.5kHz, nice detail. No tonal changes (as I said, it's linear, also low output impedance)
RE272 is driven well with my -24 dB eq at 42, w/o eq at 22.
uku383
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Hey, has anyone compared the E17 with the Leckerton UHA-4?
I'm in the market for my first portable amp/dac, and these both seem to be good units.
Thanks in advance!
I'm in the market for my first portable amp/dac, and these both seem to be good units.
Thanks in advance!
steveb
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I just noticed a 3% 'Foreign Transaction Fee' on my Citi Card after dealing with MP4Nation since they're based overseas. Just a heads up to anyone thinking of using a credit card. Another reason to wait and buy from a domestic seller I suppose. Oh well, too late now. Citibank would probably charge me another fee if I cancel. Savages.
lshalamb
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Try reaching out to Citibank and telling them you canceled your order and you want your money back for the transaction. You can also argue you had no idea the transaction goes overseas.
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I cancelled my order with MP4Nation upon the delay being made official. Bought the set up in my signature (HRT MSII, A ampedup77 Cmoy RA1 clone)
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