[daveisthemusic]

Hi guys, this is my first post here. 

 I noticed the part about sampling rate mentioned in the review and I'm just gutted that my laptop doesn't have SPDIF to use with the E17 for 192khz support. I know there will always be a debate about 96 vs (the unnecessary for many) 192 sampling rates but as a lifelong musician I have this wonderful sensation when listening in 192khz of almost being able to see the performers fingers moving on the instruments. Even for 16/44.1 recordings, listening in 192khz feels much more measured in pace, with more oomph to each note, and I just feel incredibly connected and 'locked in' to the music. 96 for me feels a lot faster, almost as if the pace of the music is squashed and flowing through me instead of that sensation of feeling as if I can analyze or 'see' the performance as I listen.
 
Right now I'm listening to just my laptop's headphone output with the hd25's. I was reading a lot of this thread yesterday and understanding the importance of getting a DAC for the increase in SQ when listening with a laptop - and that it would also prepare me nicely for when I can afford the hd650's. However, although the SQ may be significantly better... I'm worried I'm goiing to prefer the almost visual feedback I get from listening to music at 192khz. So I'm just stumped as to whether it's better or not in my case to jump on board for this obviously great product as my blasted laptop doesn't have an optical-out port.
 
 
Before I anger anyone I will reiterate that it's not a difference in sound quality that I'm noticing, simply as a musician I do believe my ears to be sensitive to the "feel" and pace of music, and very simply, rather than noticing massive differences in SQ I am noticing improvements in my response and enjoyment of the music at 192khz. (Very new to hifi SQ here, with my HD25's being my first ever purchase so far). 
 
 
Quote:

 
Bit Depth and Sampling Rate
Limited by its USB receiver, Alpen only works up to 24bits / 96kHz in USB mode. For the optical and coax input, you will get the full 24bits / 192kHz via SPDIF. For commercial CD and iTune music, resolution shouldn’t be much of any concern since they are all in the good old 16bits / 44.1kHz format.  While it always seems to be better to get higher bit depth and sampling rate, any properly mastered album should show very little difference between 16/44.1 and 24/192 (note: ‘properly mastered’ is the key words here). The issue that most 24/192 music tend to sound better has more to do with either better mastering or hardware based difference (filtering and such). The knowledge of bit depth and sampling rate go way beyond the scope of this review and I am of no master on the subject to really discuss them. The key is not to be too obsessed about them. There are benefit for higher bit depth and sampling rate, but they are not miracle cure and don’t make music better by themselves.  For most practical purpose, 24/96 is already well beyond what you need.

 

 

[bowei006]

I won't troll you or say 96 this or that. Hey ignorance is bliss. I would rather have and love placebo than not. It just makes life a bit more brighter I will just say that to know for sure, an ABX of course will need to be done with an DAC that allows up to 192KHz sampling first and a connection that does it with one instance of the track in 192KHz and the other in 44.1KHz..and then let the foobar ABX start and that's all I will say. I would also ask for others to be kind and not grill the guy. This isn't the "sound science" section where we do grill him
 
Well if you read through this thread you will know that there are probably some problems with enough power for HD650 with E17. It seems that's a needy headphone.
 
With a laptop that is a bummer sadly. You can only use USB and even then USB is limited to 6dB gain unless you turn on god mode(see joke on last page on how to turn on god mode) so if you want more volume with your computer, you will be limited. Well not really but FiiO disabled it so it won't clip for a reason.
 
Did you have a question?
 
The E17 has been and still is hard to get a hold on. A few more weeks

 

[SoundDreamer]

Quote:

Did you have a question?

 
He didn't have a question in as much as he had an answer. With the few 192 kHz recordings I have, I agree with him that there's something about the sound of the music over 96 kHz. I have tons of 24 bit 96 kHz recordings and can live with that. As far as using his future headphones (HD650) with the E17 alone, only he can be the judge of it's sound quality. If I were about to upgrade to that headphone, I'd either do a combination headphone dac or go with something else altogether.
 
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
He didn't have a question in as much as he had an answer. With the few 192 kHz recordings I have, I agree with him that there's something about the sound of the music over 96 kHz. I have tons of 24 bit 96 kHz recordings and can live with that. As far as using his future headphones (HD650) with the E17 alone, only he can be the judge of it's sound quality. If I were about to upgrade to that headphone, I'd either do a combination headphone dac or go with something else altogether.
 
 

I also feel like there is something there, but I have yet to test so I am calling it placebo right now and won't become the laughing stock of head-fi so I usually dont do those questions on Sampling Rate. I did do one on 320kbps vs Lossless and passed with flying colors by being able to tell them apart. Sampling rate?....that will be much harder.

 

[daveisthemusic]

 
Thanks for the informative replies guys and of course, I don't even have the product to be able to test my enjoyment E17 + 96khz versus the laptop on 192...! so admittedly, I think perhaps I let my initial disappointment at the discovery get the better of me.
 
I really don't mean to derail the thread - it was more an observation than a question I guess. Most of my E17 questions were answered in that youtube vid i found that you did bowei,,! (nice work with that!)
 
I suppose I posted because I've been reading most of this thread and getting myself hyped, then on changing to 96khz in windows control panel I found that I really wasn't enjoying my music as much. It could just be a placebo (cheerful thoughts on that), but for example, on 96khz I find that my mind can start to wander a little with things that I listen to a lot, whereas with 192khz I'm more mesmerised, it just feels more visceral to me.
 
Anyway, thanks for indulging little old me and let's get back on topic!

 

[daveisthemusic]

sounddreamer - when you say combination headphone dac for 650's, what do you mean exactly? could you give me a couple examples?
 
 
I've seen in this thread people saying e17 should be sufficient to drive the 650's as a basic starter (review post states anything BEYOND 300 ohms will be a problem) and I'm just on the very bottom rung of a very tall ladder at the moment.
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
Thanks for the informative replies guys and of course, I don't even have the product to be able to test my enjoyment E17 + 96khz versus the laptop on 192...! so admittedly, I think perhaps I let my initial disappointment at the discovery get the better of me.
 
I really don't mean to derail the thread - it was more an observation than a question I guess. Most of my E17 questions were answered in that youtube vid i found that you did bowei,,! (nice work with that!)
 
I suppose I posted because I've been reading most of this thread and getting myself hyped, then on changing to 96khz in windows control panel I found that I really wasn't enjoying my music as much. It could just be a placebo (cheerful thoughts on that), but for example, on 96khz I find that my mind can start to wander a little with things that I listen to a lot, whereas with 192khz I'm more mesmerised, it just feels more visceral to me.
 
Anyway, thanks for indulging little old me and let's get back on topic!

Thanks, which video of mine did you find was best? The unboxing? mini review/impressions? or the Complete how to use guide?(i give you lulz if you watched that complete guide..i did so ...fricking much in that one) I type and can get my thoughts past a lot better in words than in video. So... I may seem newbish at times in those video's. I am also young so many older audiophile's that are starting out may go 

. The only one's that take me seriously and are head-fi'ers are the one's that actually check out my head-fi account i like to in my E17 video's
 
Auxiliary 96KHz and 192KHz is differnt from getting it out of S/PDIF :/ 
 
Visceral? Well. Just because your settings are on 192KHz doesn't mean the song jut becomes it. If your songs are 44.1KHz, there won't be a difference. Your DAC should be downsampling that. but hey, im not an expert in the sampling rate game. My expertise are elsewhere.
 
Back on topic? The topic really is just help anybody that happens by this thread and has questions. And.. I ..don't think you had one..
 
 

 

[daveisthemusic]

 
Ok. If at 44.1khz there's no difference at all then that's a relief to hear, because I'm listening to the same piano track right now and swapping between 96 and 192 and honestly, there really is. It must be a problem with my laptop's soundcard, perhaps it's supposed to drive the headphones better at 192khz, perhaps it's just broken. Which makes me think it would be an even better idea than originally thought to get an E17, whack on "god mode" as you kindly suggested, and bypass it altogether.
 
Your mini review/impressions came up when i searched fiio e17 on youtube, I'll go check out the complete guide now. And if I were you I wouldn't give a hoot to what others think, you're taking the time to make and upload these videos to inform people like me, you obviously care about this stuff and that's the only thing that matters.
 
Also, I have a question for you: Can you please stop saying that I didn't have a question...? 

 

Quote:

Thanks, which video of mine did you find was best? The unboxing? mini review/impressions? or the Complete how to use guide?(i give you lulz if you watched that complete guide..i did so ...fricking much in that one) I type and can get my thoughts past a lot better in words than in video. So... I may seem newbish at times in those video's. I am also young so many older audiophile's that are starting out may go 

. The only one's that take me seriously and are head-fi'ers are the one's that actually check out my head-fi account i like to in my E17 video's
 
Auxiliary 96KHz and 192KHz is differnt from getting it out of S/PDIF :/ 
 
Visceral? Well. Just because your settings are on 192KHz doesn't mean the song jut becomes it. If your songs are 44.1KHz, there won't be a difference. Your DAC should be downsampling that. but hey, im not an expert in the sampling rate game. My expertise are elsewhere.
 
Back on topic? The topic really is just help anybody that happens by this thread and has questions. And.. I ..don't think you had one..
 
 

 
 

 

[bowei006]

Thanks and sorry.

I do too many threads a people a day that I keep forgetting so i add things into my posts to serve as mental reminders.

 

[daveisthemusic]

Haha no worries - enjoyed the vid, very thorough and much better in hd too. Good job, subscribed ya!

 

[nightgost]

Is it possible to connect a MIC or GUITAR through spdif in or aux in?
 
the amp will work as gain/pre-amp leading through headphone out?
 
can i get the signal in the computer?
 
Thanks, i have an pre order on mp4nations taking forever

 from 02/06/2012
 

 

[bowei006]

No. This is for stereo audio out.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

Is it possible to connect a MIC or GUITAR through spdif in or aux in?
 
the amp will work as gain/pre-amp leading through headphone out?
 
can i get the signal in the computer?
 
Thanks, i have an pre order on mp4nations taking forever

 from 02/06/2012
 

 
you can use E17 to boost any analog signal which input to the aux in, but E17 will not be the best amp for MIC and Guitar .  BTW, we will release our first guitar headphone amp after 4 months. 
 
 

 

[tyranuus]

Bah had to reregister to post this as my old account appears to have gone walkies!!
 
Anyways, hopefully I shall be joining the party come early April!
I've been on the lookout for a more desktop based DAC to replace my Total Bithead, as I now tend to be more stationary than out and about, and the Total Bithead isn't really aimed at dealing with my speakers. Originally I was looking at the Zero DAC, but this seems to review as better, and only cost me about another £30 for the pairing as a I got a good deal 
 
I've ordered the E17 with the E9 Dock (which I might upgrade to the E19 when it arrives if it turns out to be worthwhile) as it seems to offer me the best of both worlds; I can connect the lineout from the E9 to my speakers, and use the E19 solo when I'm out and about, leaving it in the dock the rest of the time as a soundcard for my PC.
 
Hopefully it'll be a nice step up, especially as my faithful bithead is 'only' 16/48 capable, my headphones aren't too hard to drive, but at least I know I'll be getting the best from them (Currently have Senn HD280Pros, Goldring DR150s and some Senn IE7s IEMs)

 

[blastomorpha]

 
Quote:

Hi everyone.
With a budget of max 200€ I'm looking for a simple solution to be able to listen to all my audio sources with my AKG K240 MKII (55Ohm).
I have all my cds ripped in flac format and I'd like play them with my Samsung N510 netbook (or even my old Asus eeePC 900) with foobar/WinAMp with the right plugins from an USB drive. I also have an iPad1 with Capriccio installed to play flac. With these devices I'd like to play mp3s also.
I also have an old Sanyo Plus Q25 turntable (waiting for a new needle) for my little vinyl collection with a classic L/R output.
Lately I've made some experiments with my Playstation2 digital/optical output into a Creative Extigy USB Soundblaster for cd playback; I have to say that I like the console more than my old crappy portable for cd playback.
I created a thread about this and a user suggested my the combination on Fiio D3+D5+E11+L cable for the iPad, but I discovered the E17 that looks like having everything I need all in one; another option could be the TubeMagic D1 by Maverick Audio, but it seems beyond my budget.
Can anyone make a comparison? In few words, I need something like USB(dac)/turntable/optical/iPad --> DAC/AMP --> K240.
I listen to almost every genre of music, from post-bop to swedish death metal

Sorry for the bump guys, but my post was the last of the previous page, which sometimes no one reads... and I'd like to make a final decision soon
Let me add this after reading the last posts about the 24bits/192khz support. As i said, I'm now using my PS2 as cd player by its digital out into the Extigy, the connectors are toslink so I'd need an adapter for the E17, right? Are these included in the package, if it makes any sense about using a PS2 as cd player with the E17 or anything else...
 
EDIT: adaptors are included I see.