[micksaddress]

hi guys, i have a question,
 
if i wanted to buy the E17, whats the cheapest DAP i could pair with it, that would allow me to use the DAC in the E17?
 
Cheers,
Mick

 

[bowei006]

hi guys, i have a question,

if i wanted to buy the E17, whats the cheapest DAP i could pair with it, that would allow me to use the DAC in the E17?

Cheers,
Mick

Your computer would be the cheapest "digital audio player" availble that allows you to use the E17s DAC.

For a pmp its harder as the device needs to support digital out through USB, Optical or coaxil. For USB out the device needs OTG support and needs to supply at least 150mA to the E17 without a restriction to work. For Coaxil and optical if its a pmp that supports an output of that then that would work to. The comes the trouble with spdif of how you will carry a device that has this weird semi long cut down to size coaxil or optical cable awkwardly sticking out and tied together. For USB you need to either find a way of getting over 150mA of power through USB (if it can output digital and software supports it and is active) then you have to do crazy experiments with powered battery USB hubs or even a USB "de limiter".

Ive heard of powered USB working and others with other DACs have had moderate success with the adapters that claim to allow more power out of the port.

 

[micksaddress]

Thanks, I thught i might have its own rechargeable batter for power? I have a pair of sennheiser ie80s that sound great, but my source at the moment is a Galaxy Nexus phone using poweramp playing 320kps mp3 or flac.
 
I am interesting to seeing what the difference would be with a higher quality source, and rather than invest big money in something like the colorfly c4 pro or a sony z1060 i was thinking of buying the e17, and a lower priced dap that would acheive the same or better quality
 
Cheers,
Mick

 

[pask]

Hi, I have one question about E17; there are some difference to old fiio e7 with low impedence (32 - 60 ohm) headphones? 
I'm sorry for my very basically english but I'm studying it.

 

[bowei006]

@micks
You can try but a most DAPs are $300+. Hyogen has mentioned the cowon D3 may be what you are looking for.

How one hears and responds to sound is different. Knowing what to hear for and if the difference is worth it changes for everyone.

@pask
The E7 and E17 have different amplifiers. Both are rated to drive impendances of what you posted and both generally have no problems with those. It may or may not be worth it to you as headphones in that impendance range "generally" arent hard to drive. Like I said above its up to you to see if it is worth it.
Keep working on your studies in English Pask you''ll get there someday! As long as you dont give up. And thanks for the effort! Many dont like to post as they dont think their English is good enough. But hey! Post and we will figure it out English is not my first langauge either. It is my third fluent one!

 

[beaver316]

Quote:

Thanks, I thught i might have its own rechargeable batter for power? I have a pair of sennheiser ie80s that sound great, but my source at the moment is a Galaxy Nexus phone using poweramp playing 320kps mp3 or flac.
 
I am interesting to seeing what the difference would be with a higher quality source, and rather than invest big money in something like the colorfly c4 pro or a sony z1060 i was thinking of buying the e17, and a lower priced dap that would acheive the same or better quality
 
Cheers,
Mick

 
Hi micksaddress
 
I am pretty much in the same situation as you. I also have a pair of sennheiser ie80s and was looking for a good DAP to pair my E17 with, but i learned that it's pretty much impossible to use the dac from the e17 with a dap, unless you use that expensive imod or the hp thingy with the ipod (i forgot the name). So currently im just using the e17 on my laptop which obviously makes use of both the dac and amp, and let me tell you, this bad boy paired with the sennheiser ie80 sounds phenomenal with my flac files.
 
But i thought of the next best alternative. Why not find a dap with an already awesome dac, and then pair the e17 with that to make use of it's amp? One such dap is the iPod classic 5.5 gen. It has a Wolfson dac much like the E17. Connect it to the E17 using an LOD and you get the best of both worlds, awesome dac from iPod and amp from E17. What makes the ipod 5.5 even more attractive is the fact that you can Rockbox it. 
 
I have an Android phone myself, so im actually waiting for developers (or Google themselves) to implement USB audio into Android, that way i'll be able to connect my Desire hd to my E17 and use both dac and amp from the E17. It doesn't seem too far off.

 

[bowei006]

@micks
Some android phones with OTG support and cyanogen can output a digital signal. Its still iffy and your phone may be supported so check it out.
Sorry for double post. Hard for me to go back atm.

 

[AstralStorm]

I'm extra annoyed. This is the second product where FiiO build quality happened.
Specifically, damaged jacks. So now I have two amps that I cannot use.
Also, do not ever use SMD mini USB - these also break, like the one in my FiiO E7.
 
Those SMD connectors are really flimsy.
 
Seriously, they should really replace the jacks with something that costs $0.05 more apiece but can actually withstand use and doesn't eject minijacks.
 

 
I'm not buying anything from FiiO again until they fix their jacks and ports.

 

[hyogen]

Quote:

Quote:

Thanks, I thught i might have its own rechargeable batter for power? I have a pair of sennheiser ie80s that sound great, but my source at the moment is a Galaxy Nexus phone using poweramp playing 320kps mp3 or flac.
 
I am interesting to seeing what the difference would be with a higher quality source, and rather than invest big money in something like the colorfly c4 pro or a sony z1060 i was thinking of buying the e17, and a lower priced dap that would acheive the same or better quality
 
Cheers,
Mick

 
Hi micksaddress
 
I am pretty much in the same situation as you. I also have a pair of sennheiser ie80s and was looking for a good DAP to pair my E17 with, but i learned that it's pretty much impossible to use the dac from the e17 with a dap, unless you use that expensive imod or the hp thingy with the ipod (i forgot the name). So currently im just using the e17 on my laptop which obviously makes use of both the dac and amp, and let me tell you, this bad boy paired with the sennheiser ie80 sounds phenomenal with my flac files.
 
But i thought of the next best alternative. Why not find a dap with an already awesome dac, and then pair the e17 with that to make use of it's amp? One such dap is the iPod classic 5.5 gen. It has a Wolfson dac much like the E17. Connect it to the E17 using an LOD and you get the best of both worlds, awesome dac from iPod and amp from E17. What makes the ipod 5.5 even more attractive is the fact that you can Rockbox it. 
 
I have an Android phone myself, so im actually waiting for developers (or Google themselves) to implement USB audio into Android, that way i'll be able to connect my Desire hd to my E17 and use both dac and amp from the E17. It doesn't seem too far off.

my galaxy s in my sig can do USB audio (on stock rom).  but only via the USB desk dock (included). 
 
Also, about to possibly list my new Cowon D3 already--just cuz.  Let me know if you're interested -_-  I have tried iPod 5.5 (rockboxed) and I prefer the cowon sound.  FYI, all these mentioned devices including galaxy S phone, Cowon, and iPod 5.5 have the Wolfson DAC, as well as the E17. 

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

I'm extra annoyed. This is the second product where FiiO build quality happened.
Specifically, damaged jacks. So now I have two amps that I cannot use.
Also, do not ever use SMD mini USB - these also break, like the one in my FiiO E7.
 
Those SMD connectors are really flimsy.
 
Seriously, they should really replace the jacks with something that costs $0.05 more apiece but can actually withstand use and doesn't eject minijacks.
 

 
I'm not buying anything from FiiO again until they fix their jacks and ports.

 
We already change the mini USB to different type of SMD mini usb which have 2 pins soldered on the PCB. about the headphone socket, We already change to some better kinds of socket, but it can not make sure all will be OK because we sold out so many E7/E17.

 

[Mama70]

Quote:

Your computer would be the cheapest "digital audio player" availble that allows you to use the E17s DAC.
For a pmp its harder as the device needs to support digital out through USB, Optical or coaxil. For USB out the device needs OTG support and needs to supply at least 150mA to the E17 without a restriction to work. For Coaxil and optical if its a pmp that supports an output of that then that would work to. The comes the trouble with spdif of how you will carry a device that has this weird semi long cut down to size coaxil or optical cable awkwardly sticking out and tied together. For USB you need to either find a way of getting over 150mA of power through USB (if it can output digital and software supports it and is active) then you have to do crazy experiments with powered battery USB hubs or even a USB "de limiter".
Ive heard of powered USB working and others with other DACs have had moderate success with the adapters that claim to allow more power out of the port.

I've tried Fiio E17 with Nokia E7. Did not work. Nokia give's an error 'Device draws too much power'. Usb charging is off.
Nokia E7 user manual states 
"If you connect a hard drive that requires
more than 200 mA of power, use an
external power source for the hard drive."
 
I used Windows Device Manager to check how much it reports Fiio to use power, and it was 500mA ( max allowed) even when USB charging was off. Don't know how reliable that measurement is.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

I've tried Fiio E17 with Nokia E7. Did not work. Nokia give's an error 'Device draws too much power'. Usb charging is off.
Nokia E7 user manual states 
"If you connect a hard drive that requires
more than 200 mA of power, use an
external power source for the hard drive."
 
I used Windows Device Manager to check how much it reports Fiio to use power, and it was 500mA ( max allowed) even when USB charging was off. Don't know how reliable that measurement is.

There have been users reporting that using a powered USB hub fixes this.
 
Device Manager? I think you are looking at total as 500mA is a very common max power per port number for USB.

 

[AstralStorm]

Quote:

 
We already change the mini USB to different type of SMD mini usb which have 2 pins soldered on the PCB. about the headphone socket, We already change to some better kinds of socket, but it can not make sure all will be OK because we sold out so many E7/E17.

That's great to hear. Hopefully the new ones will not have the issues.

 

[bowei006]

Quote:

That's great to hear. Hopefully the new ones will not have the issues.

"The new ones will not have the issues" is an overstatement. There is nothing wrong with the E17 as a whole. IT's just that specific models due to the parts and technology used may not hold up well. There is always a percent of bad units or units that can break. With so many E17's sold the percentage although the same looks bigger.
 
Like CLIEO's example. If FiiO had a 5% rate of defect in their units. When they only shipped 100 per month. That would at most be 5 people with problems THEORETICALLY. Let's say they now make 1000 units per month. The rate of defect of 5% has not changed. That would make it 50 units with a defective solder or problem at most per month THEORECTICALLY. The rate is the same but because of more expansion and more units it seems like there is more "problems". FiiO has said that they are investing to lessen the rate BY EVEN MORE so that problems will really be small.
 
Yes, those with problems should seek warranty with their dealer (IF AUTHORIZED DEALER) or with FiiO themselves. But the E17 does not have any huge problems. IT has some software mishaps every now and then but those aren't huge. Mine has no solder problems.

 

[beaver316]

Still no breakthough with my problem. I mentioned before how i got crackling and static noise when using the Fiio E17 with youtube or any other website, but none when using foobar2000 or any other audio/video player software.
 
I got around to installing all Windows updates, so im on Wind7 SP1 now with all updates installed. Still experience the problem. As far as i can tell, i have all the latest drivers installed on my pc (provided by Sony). I really am stumped. I tried it on my brother's PC running windows 7 too and it works fine.
 
I think i might have to purchase an external powered usb hub, maybe the problem is my usb port.