FiiO E17 and High Resolution Music Files

[Paco62]

I have been auditioning my E17 over the last few days and was attempting some side by side comparison of the USB input at 96/24 vs. the optical input at 192/24.  I was using 192/24 source tracks purchased from HDtracks.  At least for my desktop, an HP Pavilion Elite (fairly old, stock, big-box store model), the convenience of the USB definitely outweighs any potential, miniscule difference in sound quality.  My optical connect is in the back of the computer and it's a bit awkward to go back there and plug in the cable every time I want to use headphones; I travel with my E17, so it wouldn't stay docked or at the desk. 
 
Anyway, I noticed on some tracks with the 192/24 that I was getting a very noticeable hiss that wasn't apparent when I switched to  96/24.  Wasn't sure if anyone else experienced that or was familiar with what it might be?  The E17 is not near a monitor or cell phone, and like I said, it is only there when I play the file at 192/24.
 
All that said, it's pretty sweet to be able to support either of those resolutions and it really adds to the head-fi experience, especially with HDTracks Binaural+ tracks (check out one of their samplers for the low down). 

 

[dbranger94]

My E17 isn't usable at all at 192/24 optical, even with my MBP.  It crackles and pops and makes listening to anything impossible.  The signal has to be absolutely perfect with no latency for the E17 to work properly at that bitrate.  Which is most likely the case for a lot of the cheaper DACs.  I cant tell much difference between 96 and 192 for most music anyway.  It's not nearly as noticeable as the difference between CD and SACD, for instance...

 

[Paco62]

Thanks for the feedback.  For me it was a consistent background hiss, sort of like a cheap, vinyl picture disk might sound.  I only found it on a couple of my tracks, but didn't go through a whole bunch of them.  I agree on the minimal, if at all noticeable, sound difference and am happy with the convenience and sound of 96/24.  Bummer that it doesn't seem to function all that well at the highest advertised bitrate, though.