[AgentXXL]

Quote:

Just got my E17 yesterday. Wow. I feel like all this time I haven't been listening to music correctly. The clarify and detail these give me compared to the very mediocre and down right bad sources ive used in the past is night and day. Yet, I know that im only scratching the surface.
 
Will I notice a different with a "very high" quality interconnect cable compared to the one provided with the E17?

It depends on how you are connecting your E17 to your source. If you're connecting to the E17 via optical or coaxial SPDIF cable or via USB, my opinion is that you won't notice any difference by using a 'high end' interconnect. Digital is digital - it either works or it doesn't.
 
Now if you're going analog, and I assume you are since the E17 only comes with digital adapters and analog cables, then the better quality interconnect MIGHT make a difference. Personally I can't tell the difference with my ears, but you might have better luck. That said, a good quality analog interconnect won't hurt at all, and likely will last longer than the one supplied by Fiio. I use an Apple iDevice as my source so I tend to use the Qables Silver Series performance LOD to connect to my E17. I've also used the Fiio L9 and L10 LODs, but both of them broke after a couple of months of use. My Qables LOD is still working well after 4 years and shows no sign of wear (I bought it for use with a different amp/DAC, but it now gets used exclusively with my E17).
 
My suggestion - concentrate more on the source feeding your E17 than the cables connecting them. Finding a good source that is portable that supports playback of many formats and one that has a digital output is still my holy grail... there are some decent media players out there, but so far nothing that does everything I want. Your preferences are likely different so you might have more options. Good luck!

 

[Mangudai]

Thanks for breaking that down Agent, appreciate it.
 
 
 
Just an update to my previous post, I'm still unable to turn the e17 on, regardless of whether or not its connected or disconnected via usb to my computer. Hold is off.
 

 

[AgentXXL]

Quote:

Thanks for breaking that down Agent, appreciate it.
 
 
 
Just an update to my previous post, I'm still unable to turn the e17 on, regardless of whether or not its connected or disconnected via usb to my computer. Hold is off.
 

A few of us E17 owners have seen this problem - it's usually solved by doing a 'hard reset' by inserting a thin paperclip or something similar into the reset hole on the top of the unit (in the middle, between the headphone and SPDIF input jacks). Just push lightly and you'll activate the reset switch and that usually resolves the power on issue. And double check that your LOCK/HOLD switch is disabled (no orange visible). A few of us have accidentally been stung by that 'bug' too.

 

[Mangudai]

Thanks again, the hard reset fixed it. Hopefully that's something they fix.

 

[takwing1hk]

I would like to share my experience in upgrading the analog interconnect cable.
 
Originally, I am using E17 with a Sony A866 player.
Under this combination "player+amp" combintation, I cannot notice any difference in the sound by upgrading the interconnect cable (I am suing Shure 535).  And actually, I tried a few in the audio shop but still the same.
 
 
Later, I had changed the player to Cowon Z2 (other remained unchanged)
Then one day, while shopping around the audio shop, I tried the cables again (which is basically the same set of cables that I tried before). Surprisingly, I did notice a big improvement in the sound.   And difference cables gave different sound signatures too (as the material of the cables are different).
 
So, my conclusion is that whether changing the interconnect cable will give you an improvement depends... and probably mostly depends on the player instead of the headphone.  (Buying the upgrade cable, I did tried it with my SHR940 and I did notice an improvement on the sound too)

 

[autoexec]

Hello H-F'ers, I asked this question two times already if I recall correctly but has always answered inaccurately (i.e. It should not behave like that/it's a bug). It is possible that it has answered correctly but I didn't watch this thread all the time so I must have missed it if so. So I'm gonna ask it again: My unit (I think it is one of the first batch because it has "E17" label on its back instead of "Alpen") is able to go +16db in USB mode. Okay, I know it may be a bug and should only allow to use +16db when set to AUX (idk if it is allowed for OPT/COX normally but I'm pretty sure it should be disabled for USB mode in normal units)? My question is is it safe to use it on USB mode? Or it's really a bug and might damage the internal components hence it is recommended to avoid using it when in USB mode? Thanks in advance!

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Hello H-F'ers, I asked this question two times already if I recall correctly but has always answered inaccurately (i.e. It should not behave like that/it's a bug). It is possible that it has answered correctly but I didn't watch this thread all the time so I must have missed it if so. So I'm gonna ask it again: My unit (I think it is one of the first batch because it has "E17" label on its back instead of "Alpen") is able to go +16db in USB mode. Okay, I know it may be a bug and should only allow to use +16db when set to AUX (idk if it is allowed for OPT/COX normally but I'm pretty sure it should be disabled for USB mode in normal units)? My question is is it safe to use it on USB mode? Or it's really a bug and might damage the internal components hence it is recommended to avoid using it when in USB mode? Thanks in advance!

 
Two parts answer:
 
1) Yes, it is a firmware bug and you are not supposed to be able to use 12dB in USB-in (I assume your "16dB" is a typo). It should have automatically switch to 6dB gain with USB-in. However, because FiiO didn't implement the firmware tight enough, you are able to fool the system and select the 12dB gain.
 
2) The reason FiiO doesn't want the user to use 12dB gain is because that is too high a gain for USB mode. It will just clip the amp section and result in distortion.

 

[stopworking]

Help, my E17 stopped working on my desktop.
It was working fine the day before but when I used it today no sound comes out other than some static pops when I have sound playing. The mixer shows that there is sound being played but I can't hear anything.

It still works on my laptop though. Any ideas?
Already tried a system restore, but it didn't help.
Have been using it for about a year now.

 

[naddm]

Quote:

Help, my E17 stopped working on my desktop.
It was working fine the day before but when I used it today no sound comes out other than some static pops when I have sound playing. The mixer shows that there is sound being played but I can't hear anything.

It still works on my laptop though. Any ideas?
Already tried a system restore, but it didn't help.
Have been using it for about a year now.

 
In control panel>Sound, is it set as default device?

 

[stopworking]

In control panel>Sound, is it set as default device?

Yes, but no sound comes out from it other than some static popping sound.
I didn't change anything and have been using it for a long time now.

 

[SpiderNhan]

Quote:

Yes, but no sound comes out from it other than some static popping sound.
I didn't change anything and have been using it for a long time now.

Not sure if this relates to your problem, but I was having issues using my E17+E09 combo with Winamp + WASAPI. My music would play fine for a while and then suddenly static would pop in and I'd have to restart Winamp to remove the static. I don't mean stop the song and hit play. I mean open task manager, exit out of the program, then restart. Sometimes, if I was watching YouTube or had another media player open, I'd have to close and restart all of them too.

I figured the problem was with Winamp and the WASAPI protocol I was running, so I deleted Winamp and started using foobar2000 with WASAPI. The static problem vanished and now I was able to enjoy my playlist without restarting my music player until I wanted to skip a track. foobar would stop outputting sound completely and I wasn't able to start the next track or ANY song in my library without a total reboot of the program.

I didn't know what else to do so I uninstalled foobar, WASAPI, and all of my E17 drivers and then re-installed them. Haven't had a problem since.

 

[Rich887]

good read

 

[Advil]

quick question: i got the L7 so I can get a line-level signal to my other amp and use my E17 as a DAC only. I switched the little "LO Bypass" to make it work and everything works fine but do I need to switch that back when I'm using this normally? I'm still getting a signal and it sounds fine so I think it's fine... I just don't get the point of putting it there if it still works?

 

[TrollDragon]

When my E17 is docked to my E09K I just want straight unmodified audio out of the E09K to my amp. I switch the LO on and that gives me this function. When I take the E17 with me the buttons still control the bass, treble and volume to the headphone jack. So I don't ever have to move the LO switch to off.

With the LO switch off and the E17 docked I have to increase the volume on the E17 to get a line out level on the E09K plus I personally don't want and EQ to my amp from the E17.

Make any sense?

 

[Advil]

Quote:

When my E17 is docked to my E09K I just want straight unmodified audio out of the E09K to my amp. I switch the LO on and that gives me this function. When I take the E17 with me the buttons still control the bass, treble and volume to the headphone jack. So I don't ever have to move the LO switch to off.

With the LO switch off and the E17 docked I have to increase the volume on the E17 to get a line out level on the E09K plus I personally don't want and EQ to my amp from the E17.

Make any sense?

Oh so the eq settings are disabled when it's switched on? I thought it meant I was getting unamped signal 100% (including disabling the eq) so it made no sense that the volume was still working.