[crispswish]

Does Fiio E17K work as a desktop DAC/AMP without any problems connected through USB after its battery dies (no longer able to charge)? Or does it just go brick?

 

[andychen]

bump this, would like to know as well. Thanks.

 

[crispswish]

I asked awhile back, and this was their answer.


"fiio said: ↑

Dear crispswish,

Sorry for making mistake because I remembered wrongly before. Yes, a small part of the power must be provided by the battery. So it won't work as a DAC for PC without the battery.

Sorry again making mistake.

Best regards"

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fiio-e17k-alpen-2.747491/page-30#post-13146786


"Dear FiiO Rep,

I would just like to confirm your statement. So the E17K will be totally not usable until the dead battery is replaced with a new one?"

"Dear crispswish,

Yes, it will be not usable.

Best regards"

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/fiio-e17k-alpen-2.747491/page-31

 

[andychen]

Thanks. I think I will buy a DAC/AMP with USB or wall power. LiPo battery does not last very long and I do not have the skills to replace batteries in Fiio.

 

[Me x3]

In the past, I've used a trusty FiiO E07K (inferior to E17 which is inferior to E17K) for three years and then sold it, and the new owner kept enjoying it.
It's not like a phone that you use 24/7 so the battery normally last several years. After that, replacing the battery with a new one is not that hard (FiiO can provide some guidance)
Developing basic soldering skills can be very useful in my experience.

Anyway, there's the FiiO E10K which is a USB powered desktop USB DAC/Amp with similar performance and components to FiiO E17K.

 

[Christopher]

Sorry for dredging up such an old thread, but I thought I'd add some other info for people like me looking for details.

I'm currently replacing the battery in my E17K (running in an FK5111 "K5" dock). I opened up the E17K - two P2 pentalobe screws at the bottom to remove the back panel (get an iFixit toolkit, this bit comes as part of the set). I then cut out the original battery which had swollen to the point it was pushing the back of the case out. I recommend snipping the battery wires close to the battery body, leaving the rest of the wires for a future battery replacement and JST connector solder job.

On my old E7 amp, when I changed its battery for the same reason, it did not like running on USB with no attached battery, the firmware logic went crazy and the device didn't work properly. However, I can confirm that the E17K seems like it works completely normally when running from the dock's USB power supply with no internal battery. It's recognised by the PC over USB, shows up as an audio device, its screen powers on with the usual display and menu selections. I'm enjoying audio out of it right now as a test.

Whether this is recommended - if the board's charging circuit might be damaged with long-term use with no battery load - is another matter. I don't think I'd want to try, though if it's sensibly designed, it should detect open circuit and not try to charge. But I've got no idea if FiiO's engineers considered this possibility.

What I did notice is that on seating the E17K in the k5 dock, the LCD display powers on as usual, and shows the USB input - the battery indicator went almost immediately from 0% to a brief charging animation then to 100% almost straight after. It currently shows a fully charged battery indicator (with the blue and red two-tone Power LED).

If you go through the menu and turn USB CHG to "OFF" then the device immediately powers down, which is not unexpected. If you then try to go into the menu, it quits to the main screen almost immediately, until you cycle the whole device (power it off to the red LED, power on, then cycle through inputs until you get back to USB). This is a similar quirk to what I saw on the E07.

While I presume it's not recommended to run the E17K without a battery connected, it is technically possible, either through a K5 dock or directly with a micro USB cable.

 

[vampire666]

Sorry for dredging up such an old thread, but I thought I'd add some other info for people like me looking for details.

I'm currently replacing the battery in my E17K (running in an FK5111 "K5" dock). I opened up the E17K - two P2 pentalobe screws at the bottom to remove the back panel (get an iFixit toolkit, this bit comes as part of the set). I then cut out the original battery which had swollen to the point it was pushing the back of the case out. I recommend snipping the battery wires close to the battery body, leaving the rest of the wires for a future battery replacement and JST connector solder job.

On my old E7 amp, when I changed its battery for the same reason, it did not like running on USB with no attached battery, the firmware logic went crazy and the device didn't work properly. However, I can confirm that the E17K seems like it works completely normally when running from the dock's USB power supply with no internal battery. It's recognised by the PC over USB, shows up as an audio device, its screen powers on with the usual display and menu selections. I'm enjoying audio out of it right now as a test.

Whether this is recommended - if the board's charging circuit might be damaged with long-term use with no battery load - is another matter. I don't think I'd want to try, though if it's sensibly designed, it should detect open circuit and not try to charge. But I've got no idea if FiiO's engineers considered this possibility.

What I did notice is that on seating the E17K in the k5 dock, the LCD display powers on as usual, and shows the USB input - the battery indicator went almost immediately from 0% to a brief charging animation then to 100% almost straight after. It currently shows a fully charged battery indicator (with the blue and red two-tone Power LED).

If you go through the menu and turn USB CHG to "OFF" then the device immediately powers down, which is not unexpected. If you then try to go into the menu, it quits to the main screen almost immediately, until you cycle the whole device (power it off to the red LED, power on, then cycle through inputs until you get back to USB). This is a similar quirk to what I saw on the E07.

While I presume it's not recommended to run the E17K without a battery connected, it is technically possible, either through a K5 dock or directly with a micro USB cable.

Did you find a suitable battery for the E17K? What model battery is it? Would you be so kind to send me a PM with the link to buy one? Tx