[Nebijau]

Hello people. I am thinking about buying this thing, Im lover of good quality music, since my work allows me to listen music all day, and i would like to get your advice. is this thing realy worth buying if i will listen my music through moto g and RHA 750I earbuds, or are those earbuds too cheap to realy be played with FIO e18, in other words, will i not overpay for e18 and see no difference becouse of my earbuds? cheers

 

[JoshuaA]

you have to do anything besides select E18 from the sound menu on a mac? i can't find anything in the setup that'll change output at all... 

If it's being output via USB like my Mac Mini, I believe it's digitally neutral. I don't see anywhere else it can be manipulated unless it is EQ'd by the player we're using or a volume app like Boom. Maybe someone else can chime in.
By the way, I use Clementine player (flac/alac/320). What do you use?

 

[Peridot]

If it's being output via USB like my Mac Mini, I believe it's digitally neutral. I don't see anywhere else it can be manipulated unless it is EQ'd by the player we're using or a volume app like Boom. Maybe someone else can chime in.
By the way, I use Clementine player (flac/alac/320). What do you use?

 
 
I know there are no system settings to be adjusted on OS X, it seems to be all down to the software.
 
I have my music in ALAC format in iTunes. I use Amarra on top and it makes a small but noticeable improvement in output quality. I'm not entirely sure what it does differently though - I need to investigate further.

 

[Peridot]

  Hello people. I am thinking about buying this thing, Im lover of good quality music, since my work allows me to listen music all day, and i would like to get your advice. is this thing realy worth buying if i will listen my music through moto g and RHA 750I earbuds, or are those earbuds too cheap to realy be played with FIO e18, in other words, will i not overpay for e18 and see no difference becouse of my earbuds? cheers

 
I'm not personally familiar with the RHAs but I'd be surprised if you didn't notice a difference using the E18. At it's price, and considering its versatility, I think it's a cracking piece of kit. It's very quickly become one of my favourite audio related gadgets.

 

[Nebijau]

Yep, it should be differet, but is it woth the price, when I pay 90pounds for earbuds, 170p for phone, and now would spend 120 on AMP. I personaly never used things like this before, so its interestng, will it be just a little improvement for that much money, or its worth what I  pay for  

 

[Solrighal]

Yep, it should be differet, but is it woth the price, when I pay 90pounds for earbuds, 170p for phone, and now would spend 120 on AMP. I personaly never used things like this before, so its interestng, will it be just a little improvement for that much money, or its worth what I  pay for  

Would you be connecting the phone and E18 via OTG USB? If so I would expect you'll get a very noticeable change. Remember, the E18 is not just an amp. The DAC section is just as important and just as good.

 

[Nebijau]

Would you be connecting the phone and E18 via OTG USB? If so I would expect you'll get a very noticeable change. Remember, the E18 is not just an amp. The DAC section is just as important and just as good.

Yes, it will be connected via OTG. hmmm. What should sound better in your opinion, phone + no amp/dac + earbuds for, lets say, 250$, or phone + amp/dac + earbuds for 150$? I already ordered E18 from amazon, should get it next week, becouse i see advantage that if I keep upgrading my headphones in future, I will need some kind of booste anyways.

 

[Solrighal]

Honestly, I don't know what would sound better. I personally would never spend $250 on IEM's but that's me. I have a Galaxy Note 3 connected to Fiio E18 via OTG USB using V-Moda M-100. The phone can push the M's very loud but they don't sound nearly as good as when I use the E18.

 

[nevermas]

Just received my E18 back from Fiio CS, works perfectly now on my HTC One 4.4.2
 
Turns out it was a very simple error, the USB OTG cables were broken and they were replaced. 

 

[Peridot]

  Yep, it should be differet, but is it woth the price, when I pay 90pounds for earbuds, 170p for phone, and now would spend 120 on AMP. I personaly never used things like this before, so its interestng, will it be just a little improvement for that much money, or its worth what I  pay for  

 
That's an interesting question. Given that many of the common Android phones, coupled with good headphones, give decent audio performance anyway, the improvement from additional hardware will be marginal. It's the same will all audio equipment - as you move up the scale you have to spend increasing amounts of money for ever more marginal improvements. How much these are 'worth' is a purely subjective and personal measure. To most people they are worth nothing - the majority who just use the earphones provided with their music player and rip their music to 128k MP3s. Those people have a much easier life unencumbered by the pursuit of excellence
 
To me the improvement provided by the E18 is definitely worth the cost and inconvenience of using it - hopefully you will feel the same about yours.

 

[shaolin95]

   
That's an interesting question. Given that many of the common Android phones, coupled with good headphones, give decent audio performance anyway, the improvement from additional hardware will be marginal. It's the same will all audio equipment - as you move up the scale you have to spend increasing amounts of money for ever more marginal improvements. How much these are 'worth' is a purely subjective and personal measure. To most people they are worth nothing - the majority who just use the earphones provided with their music player and rip their music to 128k MP3s. Those people have a much easier life unencumbered by the pursuit of excellence
 
To me the improvement provided by the E18 is definitely worth the cost and inconvenience of using it - hopefully you will feel the same about yours.

Indeed. I did a test with my GF yesterday since  she likes some Skullcandies IEM vs the stock lame ones she got with her phone.
Did it with the E18 as dac/amp and sony MDR-X10, Sens Momentum and the V-Moda M-100. Well, she was like I cant hear the difference...I mean, they are pretty different in sound signature specially the Sony ones. Yet, she likes her IEM as they have more bass...so I guess that is why beats are popular lol

 

[knights]

Found this... Is it safe to roll opamp as long as it has the same specs with the built-in one? Any recommended opamp? Is it also safe to change the batt to a bigger capacity (same physical size)?

 

[ClieOS]

 
Found this... Is it safe to roll opamp as long as it has the same specs with the built-in one? Any recommended opamp? Is it also safe to change the batt to a bigger capacity (same physical size)?

 
Don't just swap them out as some of them are no even opamp.
 
The only opamp that are swappable are OPA1642 and LMH6642. OPA1642 is a very highly rated opamp, so rolling it doesn't make a lot of sense. LMH6642 are used as buffer, which you definitely want to be careful when rolling since you are much more likely going to downgrade them with less powerful opamp than actually improving them. Personally, I just don't see why anyone wants to roll the opamp in E18 except those who want to make a quick bucks by claiming they have put in some "far better" opamps.
 
As for battery - it is a good idea except that finding a Li-ion battery that is bigger in capacity while still fit inside is not going to be easy, if it is possible at all. There is also the issue of reliability since many OEM Li-ion battery claim to have bigger capacity when they are not.

 

[darren700]

Just ordered mine, cant wait for it to get here!

 

[knights]

   
Don't just swap them out as some of them are no even opamp.
 
The only opamp that are swappable are OPA1642 and LMH6642. OPA1642 is a very highly rated opamp, so rolling it doesn't make a lot of sense. LMH6642 are used as buffer, which you definitely want to be careful when rolling since you are much more likely going to downgrade them with less powerful opamp than actually improving them. Personally, I just don't see why anyone wants to roll the opamp in E18 except those who want to make a quick bucks by claiming they have put in some "far better" opamps.
 
As for battery - it is a good idea except that finding a Li-ion battery that is bigger in capacity while still fit inside is not going to be easy, if it is possible at all. There is also the issue of reliability since many OEM Li-ion battery claim to have bigger capacity when they are not.

Thanks for the response ClieOS... im just asking the possibilities