Fiio E7 vs Fiio E17
Apr 11, 2012 at 2:51 AM Post #18 of 59
Okay, I just searched the thread that bowei006 chastened us to go look at...the one that supposedly answered this poster's question in such exhaustive detail on pages 50 through 100 that he was out of line to bring it up here.

I'm sorry to report that bowei006 was right: It took an hour to read through the pages. And the thread doesn't even come close to answering the poster's question. And from its title, why would we expect it to?  Is there a reason to pore through a 100+ page general thread looking for the answer to this simple question? I can only think of one: because some traffic cop misdirected you.

The "research" results are in: the thread police don't make the site more efficient. They waste your time.
 
Apr 15, 2012 at 6:02 AM Post #19 of 59
I think it's perfectly okay to create a thread asking a specific question if you've already done reasonable searching on the forum and/or you want a specific answer from somebody as pertains to your individual specific situation if it hasn't already been answered in the past.
 
As for the thread police, what they seem to not realise is that they assume A) people have the time to trawl page after page in search here and B) that people creating 'ask threads' haven't done any searching on the boards. And what we end up with is a 2 page thread like this one where a couple of people have their pennyworth about an off topic subject (myself included) without actually answering the OP's initial question or the point of the thread. Which only brings more people in to view the thread as there's a few replies and they think it might be an informative thread. Which in a search this thread would be a waste of time but for the headfonia link.
 
Apr 18, 2012 at 2:02 PM Post #21 of 59
So apart from the forum police threadjacking a valid question, what's the verdict between the two? I am interested as I bought E7 couple of weeks ago and now see that E17 is in stock at a lot of places and would like to know if it's worth the upgrade or not.
 
Apr 19, 2012 at 7:51 PM Post #24 of 59
I hate posting excuses, but now for the final reasons why this thread is here:
 
1. This is a forum, we can discuss different "casually" views on both  of the products.
2. Anyone who searches E7 vs E17, will directly find this thread on the search and Google.
3. E7, E17 are very popular products in the community, a thread like this is important.
 
 
I hope that idiotic posts that are not related to the thread title will not be posted.
 
Apr 19, 2012 at 9:51 PM Post #25 of 59
 
Quote:
cassadian said:
Just for your information there is a search function within threads rT
Click to expand...

 

rolleyes.gif

 
Apr 20, 2012 at 12:27 AM Post #26 of 59
So are we ever going to get to the meat and potatos of this thread?
 
 
Apr 20, 2012 at 9:27 AM Post #28 of 59
 
Quote:
radioking59 said:
Mike at Headfonia briefly covered it in his E17 review.
 
http://www.headfonia.com/the-upgrade-fiio-e17-alpen/
Click to expand...

 
i do believe that review covers it.
 
 
E17 VERSUS E7
Not even close. Aside from the improved features and specs, the E17 also blows the E9 out of the water. There is no comparison here. Tonally, the E7 sounds thin on the mids and lows, and the soundstage is not that impressive. If I can add something, also put congested mids into the list of the E7 features. The E17 on the other hand has a much bigger soundstage, and a more likeable tonality. Good full mids, good bass, spacious sound, all around musical.

 

my thing is,  we are comparing a 55.00-75.00 e7 second hand price respectively to a 140-180.00 fiio e17, there i would imagine is a sound different in the fiio e17 however comparing the fiio e7 to it there also is a big price difference too. and for the fiio e17 money there probably is a better amplifier in price and in better quality. afterall fiio is considered a entry level amplifiers, they dont really compete with ibasso,pico or the likes. just my opinion.

 
Apr 21, 2012 at 12:21 AM Post #29 of 59
If you guys want more details, I just got an E17 I picked up here in the FS section:
 
E7:
 
DAC was better than my onboard Realtek noticeably. The Bass Boost was a disappointment since only level 1 made any sense. The rest were just nonsense. Features wise, it has a sleep timer but that was it. Not feature rich, but it gets the job done for a cool 80 bucks. As a portable amp, the E7 was just a hair better than the E5 in my opinion. Not very good, but again at the time it was released, it was very versatile. It couldn't really power anything too demanding. Honestly, for the $80 or so, its a great device. The DAC works and improves quality noticeably, the amplifier will make your phones louder, the bass boost (lv 1) will add some oomph to bass light iems and cans like my RE-0. 
 
E17:
 
First off, it looks nicer and loses the scratch magnet front surface. The DAC uses the same chip I think (WM8740) but surprisingly it sounds better...much better. Where the E7 had a colder feel and sounded kinda thin, the E17 is a touch warm and sounds very nice is it worth ~2x the price? Probably not, but it is at least better. As a stand alone amplifier, the E17 is very good. It has multiple gain settings (0, 6 and 12 decibels) and the amp is more powerful. The Bass boost and treble boost are very very nice since you can change in 2dB steps up or down. In effect, this means the E17 can be used with something like the RE-0 which needs a little oomph for the bass, and it works equally well to boost treble to make something like the Monster Turbine Pro Gold a bit more lively. Besides this new eq ability and gain, there is the almighty sleep timer (which I will probably never use anyway).
 
Summary:
 
So again you'll ask is it worth the extra cost? For me yes! Its better as a DAC, better as an AMP and very very versatile. It'll do well with cans or iems, sensitive and hard-to drive, bass light and dark sounding. When the E7 was released it was the definition of versatility; we can now safely say that the E17 has dethroned it in that department. In the value department, the E7 is still better in my opinion. Of course the E10 offers the E17 sound for the cost of the E7 though you miss the portable amp. Now please do realize all Fiio products are pretty cheap so they probably don't compare with things like the Leckerton UHA-4 or HRT MS II+, but of course if you're considering Fiio you're on a budget and things like those roughly 1.5x the price or more of the E17.
 
If you want Value: E10 >> E7 > E17
 
If you want Sound: E17 = E10 >> E7
 
If you want Versatility: E17 > E7 > E10
 
I know this thread has had a ton of "Doi you idiots need to use t3h search bar and g00gle u nubsauce" type responses. Hopefully this and the headphonia review answer most of the questions you guys have.
 
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