[SoundDreamer]

Quote:

sounddreamer - when you say combination headphone dac for 650's, what do you mean exactly? could you give me a couple examples?
 

 
I was really only thinking of a E17/E9 combination.
 
 

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 
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. 
 
 

I thought of that, but i felt the E17 wasn't exactly good for those purposes
 
GUYS..new scoop. E19 and Guitar headphone amp? \!!!!!
 


Quote:

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)

Hope you like it
 


Quote:

 


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.

The E17 comes with an Toslink to mini toslink adapter. Just that. google it for a picture. 
 
You can use the PS2 if you want. I don't see a fault. Of course i don't know if there is something that audiophiles don't like about it
 

i've been intruding too much on this thread yet again. I'll back off for some time again.
 

 

[daveisthemusic]

 
Quote:

 
I was really only thinking of a E17/E9 combination.
 
 

Ah, ok cheers. By the time I do own both the e17 & 650's, hopefully (probably) the e19 will be out!

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

 

Ah, ok cheers. By the time I do own both the e17 & 650's, hopefully (probably) the e19 will be out!

It's said to be end of this year. There is very little info on how many engineers or whatever FiiO has or how they do things. So I don't know if their guitar amp will hurt or delay the E19 and then their's also the fact that FiiO HAD plans for a PMP but cancelled it. Which means that that is still on the drawing board not including their recent expansion into cases and also them being a large LOD and audiophile cable maker. So at the earliest the E19 may be out at the end of this year.

 

[autoexec]

Another question guys, forgive me again if this one's asked before but this is really a long thread, and I'm reading every pages whenever I get free time.
So here it is. Whenever I boot the E17 to USB input, and connected to my Dell Inspiron laptop, I still can select 12db in the gain setting. But after booting it displays a message "LOCKED" for like half-second and then everything seems normal after that. Do you think mine have a software or firmware problem? I haven't updated yet my FW version is F00LA17EN.
 
My second question is, can this be charged to an AC outlet using usb adapter (i.e. capdase)? The reason I'm asking is because I charged it using the capdase adapter and after 4 hours it is still charging, but the red LED is weak... The red LED should be turned of when battery is full right? Assuming the E17 is turned off. I remember charging it the first time from my laptop and after 2+ hours the red LED turned off. Do you think the capdase is not good for the E17? I'm sure it doesn't give less power because when I use it to charge my J3 it just takes less than 2 hours and like 4 hours thru my laptop. Should the red LED be turned off when battery is full? Is the weak red LED normal if the battery is soon to be full? Anybody experience weak red LED? thanks!

 

[bowei006]

Whenever mine connects to an active input it says the same thing. I would say its intentional

Fiio has confirmed and its also common sense that it works. However fiio and common sense dictates to use a good usb adapter charger like a legit apple one.
Its hard to compare j3 charge to this. A slower charge is better for battery but a too small one isnt good either. When charging i get a solid red color. Try plugging into laptop. If ur weak red goes solid then i would refrain from using the cap... Whatever and get another alternative portable charger.

Ur first question was probably thought to have been intentional by most including me so its never been asked

Ur second one has been asked before - and ive answered 2 of them i think

I dont expecy most to fish this thread . I was here since the beginning so i have and boy.. Its long

 

[ClieOS]

Another question guys, forgive me again if this one's asked before but this is really a long thread, and I'm reading every pages whenever I get free time.
So here it is. Whenever I boot the E17 to USB input, and connected to my Dell Inspiron laptop, I still can select 12db in the gain setting. But after booting it displays a message "LOCKED" for like half-second and then everything seems normal after that. Do you think mine have a software or firmware problem? I haven't updated yet my FW version is F00LA17EN.

Normal, nothing to worry about.

My second question is, can this be charged to an AC outlet using usb adapter (i.e. capdase)? The reason I'm asking is because I charged it using the capdase adapter and after 4 hours it is still charging, but the red LED is weak... The red LED should be turned of when battery is full right? Assuming the E17 is turned off. I remember charging it the first time from my laptop and after 2+ hours the red LED turned off. Do you think the capdase is not good for the E17? I'm sure it doesn't give less power because when I use it to charge my J3 it just takes less than 2 hours and like 4 hours thru my laptop. Should the red LED be turned off when battery is full? Is the weak red LED normal if the battery is soon to be full? Anybody experience weak red LED? thanks!

Yes, you can charge E17 with an USB adapter. However, it dependa on the quality of the USB adapter.. You should get USB adapter with minimum 500mA output, 1A is even better..

 

[autoexec]

Thanks for the answer. However, it has strong red LED when I first plugged it in to the capdase, then after like 4 hours it became weak. I thought maybe it will become weak when it is soon to be full. It is also strong when I first charged it in my laptop but I didn't watched it going to full batt as I have left it like less than 3 hours. Have you noticed the transition from the charging state to the full batt state? I know my capdase is a good charger I can feel when a charger is cheap and doesn't give good current. I use it on my ipod touch/nano/J3/N2 and the charging time is really normal. Maybe the red LED will become weak before it is actually turned off? I disconnected it though because I'm kinda scared that it may mess up the battery if that isn't normal, I got scared that it's charging 4+ hours and the red LED is still not powered off though weak.. Thanks!


And also this, I only get 48K/16-bit when USB connected to my laptop as DAC. Is that normal? :| Thank you very much bro!

 

[autoexec]

Quote:

Normal, nothing to worry about.
Yes, you can charge E17 with an USB adapter. However, it dependa on the quality of the USB adapter.. You should get USB adapter with minimum 500mA output, 1A is even better..

Thanks for answering... But how about the thing you said that it is only up to 6db gain when in USB mode? Do you think mine has restriction problem?
Okay I will check that out, sucks I didn't bring the charger here in office. lol.

 

[ClieOS]

Thanks for answering... But how about the thing you said that it is only up to 6db gain when in USB mode? Do you think mine has restriction problem?
Okay I will check that out, sucks I didn't bring the charger here in office. lol.

No. it is supposed to limit 6dB gain, but there seems to be some glitch in the firmware that, in some situation, will allow the gain to stay at 12dB.

Never pay much attention of the strength of the LED light, so I can't say for sure. Most of the time, I think the red LED will just turn off when my E17 has reached a full charge.

 

[autoexec]

Quote:

Lower gain should be theoretically better, since more gain means worsen SNR.
 
Anyway, you are no supposed to be able to use 12dB gain on USB-in because it might be too much for the amp and could clip the signal. If you turn the amp on in USB mode, you will find the 12dB gain disabled. But I find a way to trick the system - If you select AUX-in and set the gain at 12dB, then switch to USB-in, the amp seems to 'forget' about the 12dB restriction.
 

 
I was thinking that it would be like maxing the vol. out of the J3 to use on the headphones when using 0 gain, (loud but lacks body and some details). When I use 6db gain, I feel I'm hearing things better, more "omph" in bass but never exaggerated though. And the hihats are more noticeable and more forwarded. I'm really confused if it's psychological but I believe I have good ears for I can hear the sound of a charging rechargeable AA battery, or even when my capdase is charging the J3. I don't know any person I know of that can hear those things so I think I have pretty good ears.. lol. I don't hear distortion or any sign of SQ loss in 6db setting though. But if you can tell me that it wouldn't be like maxing out the vol on J3 when in 0 gain in E17, that it would still bring the details and better soundstage, I'd be happy to use it and pay more attention to the 0 gain. My setting btw is J3->40, E17->6db gain 28-36 (depends on the song) using DT1350. And boy the sound is just fantastic!!! When I use 0 gain my volume goes up to 35-42 I think.

 

[blastomorpha]

Quote:

The E17 comes with an Toslink to mini toslink adapter. Just that. google it for a picture. 
 
You can use the PS2 if you want. I don't see a fault. Of course i don't know if there is something that audiophiles don't like about it
 

i've been intruding too much on this thread yet again. I'll back off for some time again.
 

I edited the post before your anser, but thanks anyway!
I'm a bit confused about the digital connection to the E17 (or any other device). I suddendly recollected that my main pc, which I originally built fo various media purposes indeed, has a digital output (toslink again). I opened Windows7 audio panel, selected the right SPDIF output (there is also an HDMI and a firewire, but this one isn't listed... ) and check the sampling rates; it goes up to 96khz. I made a quick test with the Extigy digital input and it works, but now I wonder about the 24bit/192khz story.
I'm a musician myself, even worse a guitarist, so placebo effects are a big deal. Now, if the control panel of my pc says that the max sampling rate is 96khz, at which frequency the E17 or whatever would work? I'm more into networking for work, but if it's true that the digital out should bypass my motherboard internal DAC, said the I'm playing actually 192khz signals from the pc (foobar2000+wasapi and so on), the E17 will work at 192khz, because there will be no encoding/decoding in my pc, right? The E17 will do that. The numbers in the control panel are only relative to the case that I'm using some kind of speaker, let's say, that have digital inputs I guess...

 

[ClieOS]

There is a chip (the SPDIF transcoder) inside you PC that needs to encode the digital signal (1001010101... etc) from your hard disk into SPDIF format before sending it out - if that chip only encodes signal up to 96kHz, then there is no way for E17 to receive any higher resolution, even if it is still a fully digital signal.

 

[weitn]

 
Quote:

Do you think the HD650s would benefit from being hooked up to an E9 also or does the E17 do well enough?

E17 alone do quite well with HD650. I don't have the E9, thus cannot comment on the the combination of E9+E17 with HD650. You should be able to find some posts about E9+17 in this forum. Unless adding the E9 resulted in significant improvement in SQ, I don't see any no point adding E9. Headfonia did say something about the pairing of E17 and E9. Read here.
 
http://www.headfonia.com/the-upgrade-fiio-e17-alpen/

 

[blastomorpha]

 
Quote:

There is a chip (the SPDIF transcoder) inside you PC that needs to encode the digital signal (1001010101... etc) from your hard disk into SPDIF format before sending it out - if that chip only encodes signal up to 96kHz, then there is no way for E17 to receive any higher resolution, even if it is still a fully digital signal.

Thanks, now it's much more cleaner.
In this situation then, is there any real advantage in using the E17 with the optical cable over the USB cable?
However, my moBo is an Asus Asus M4A785TD-V EVO and it can encode at 192khz when speakers output is used
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4A785TDV_EVO/#overview