[Donnnie]

I've been enjoying using the Fiio E17 for over a year now, and it serves many purposes throughout my listening day.  By day, I have it hooked via USB to my PC, then out to my home stereo via the L7 LOD.   By night, I use it to listen to music on my ipad with headphones connected to the Fiio E7 through a powered hub. 
 
SO, my question is would there be ANY advantage in terms of sound, if I added the Fiio E09 into the chain? I love the EQ controls of the E17 (which surprised me, because usually in many products thats a very gimmicky ad-on), so I hope I wouldnt have to sacrifice them.
 
Any insight is more than welcomed.

 

[cel4145]

See this review by ClieOS (a regular on Head-Fi responsible for reviewing many amps). Based on his review, seems like not going to help much unless you have high impedance headphones.

Probably best to wait until you can give up the EQ and go with something like the ODAC/O2. Definitely an SQ improvement there, at least to my ears. ClieOS also rates the O2 amp better than the E17s (ranking after the reviews). I think the ODAC is a bit better DAC than the E17 as well.

 

[MUSICCURE]

Like you, I had the E17 for about a year and hesitated whether to get a desktop amp. When the E09K price dropped to 89$ on amazon I pounced on that deal.

After about a month of use I couldn't be happier with the added power and resolution from the E17/E09K setup. My DT770 80's benefit the most. As a bonus, you can use the EQ function from the E17 while docked to the E09K by using the lo bypass switch on the E17.

If you see another price drop on the E09k I say go for it.