Lan647
1000+ Head-Fier
Great! Will be waiting for your impressions.
The fiio E7/E9 isn't bright it's more likely the headphones are bright, i find the fiio combo very smooth and a bit soft sounding i completly agree there is no punch or livelyness and it can sound a bit dull, hopefully in the E17 the E7 replacement fiio will use a difference dac chip that won't sound so dull or soft.
Hi all!
I received the E9 yesterday and thus just got a few hours with it.
My first impression with E9+E7 is that the sound is very transparent (no colorization of the sound), but unfortunately also very bright. At least for my preferences, thus this setting was not really for my ears.
Though for topic question: "Fiio E9, enough for the HD 800's?", I would say that E9 has enough power to drive the HD800 without any problem. The volume knob has not even been turn over the middle point before the sound starts to get too loud for my ears.
Prior to E9, I really did have problem to feed my HD800 enough with power, but now the this issue seems to be solved. I suspected that the DAC (E7) was the main issue to get the sound the way I wanted it, so I started to experiment it with an alternative DAC.
I now use my Soundblaster Audigy 4 Pro as a "DAC" and use the E9 as a standalone amp. For now I'm very satisfied with this setting. The sound is much more "livelier", and has the "punch" I needed.
To get it clear, I would say that I'm not a "bass head". But the E9+E7 combination is just too bright for me, there is no "fun" in listening with that system. The E9 as an amp is not bad at all taken its price into the consideration, but I would not recommend it with the use of E7.
The fiio E7/E9 isn't bright it's more likely the headphones are bright, i find the fiio combo very smooth and a bit soft sounding i completly agree there is no punch or livelyness and it can sound a bit dull, hopefully in the E17 the E7 replacement fiio will use a difference dac chip that won't sound so dull or soft.
That's because that while a very nice little starter amp/source, the E7/E9 is simply not up to the task to PROPERLY drive the HD800s. Sorry, while the volume can go quite loud, that isn't an indication of how good an amp is at driving a particluar set of headphones....let alone the HD800s.
These cans deserve/need some really good amping and sources to reach their potential. Good example, with my iBasso D4 and MAD Ear+HD tube amp OR Concerto (total cost = $950ish), the HD800s sound quite good, but on my Cary Xciter DAC and WA2 (with a small fortune in upgraded tubes), the HD800s continue to give me more...more everything. Again, these are not the HD555s, you are at the summit of our hobby for headphones and you need to look upstream down the road.
He did say changing the DAC makes a positive difference, so the E9 itself should do fine for driving the HD 800 - at least from what I've read...
If we set aside those monetary terms, what other facts is there?
Please re-read my post....I have heard the E9 and there is no way I would consider this as acceptable with the HD800s. Trust me, the HD800s sound SO MUCH better than the folks at FiiO would otherwise have you believe.
There's positive over a PC sound card and then there is "summit level" audio, and the HD800s deserve "summit level" DAC/AMP/source material.
Not much...
See this thread : http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/521988/amp-a-b-comparisons/270#post_7327672