[blinkstar]

I bought the E9 a while ago to use with my Beyer 8800s. I would get static from the line out occasionally if I moved my headphone cable just a tiny bit ... Never got around to returning it (which I should have) and ended up sticking it in my closet ...
 
Fast forward to today, when I decide to dig it out again to try it with my new Denon D2000s ... only to find out that the right channel is gone. The Fiio E9 will NOT produce sound out of the right channel. Tried different cables, double checked the (very simple) connections ... made no difference. Removing the Fiio E9 from the chain solves the problem ...
 
I am pissed. I bought the Fiio because I read a lot of glowing reviews ... Now I google my issue and find out that there are other consumers with the exact same problem ... and no one has found a solution.
 
My advice? DON'T buy the E9.
 
Yes I know a bunch of people will probably respond to this post by talking about how much they love their E9s, etc, but that won't help me one bit and it doesn't change the fact that I am not the only one with this issue ...

 

[Eric_C]

So you had static then a right channel that went dead, did you ever contact Fiio for customer support? How soon after purchase did these issues surface?

 

[jupitreas]

My E7 developed a similar issue and it was caused by the headphone socket being  not very well glued/attached to the chassis. At first, I tried to return it to the store that I bought it at but they claimed that the issue was caused by mechanical damage caused by myself. I then turned to Fiio themselves and sent them an email. They offered to replace the E7 for me without any problems whatsoever.
 
My advice- before you go bashing a product based on a single unit, you should at least try to get a replacement for your faulty amp from Fiio. From my experience, they are a rather reasonable company and should replace it for you without any problems. 

 

[blinkstar]

Thanks for responding, Eric_C.
 
The issue with static showed up after only a few days (forgot to mention that it would happen when I moved the volume pot too) but it wasn't consistent. I did not try to contact Fiio and basically just set the amp aside. Yes I should have just returned it right away and that was definitely my mistake. That was in January of last year. Today I decided to dig it out of the closet again and give it a try with my new cans and that was when I discovered the issue with the right channel. Reading this review on Amazon ...
 
"I liked this very much for about a eight weeks. One of the channels stopped functioning. Email to this Chinese company produced no response. There is no US venue for product repair. No US address. The vendor said the product was beyond the 30 day window and I had to go to the manufacturer. That's not very helpful. $110 down the drain."
 
... makes me think that trying to pursue the issue with the company wouldn't have helped anyway, but I guess I'll never know for sure.
 
EDIT: Thanks for responding, jupitreas. I'm sure my amp is out of warranty but just out of curiosity--how did you contact the company? As for bashing the Fiio based on a single unit, sounds like, judging from your experience alone, that this isn't just an issue with a single unit.

 

[Eric_C]

Yeah, it's unfortunate that the product died on you and that Amazon customer; in the Amazon case, I'm not sure if the vendor is in the wrong, but I'm going to assume you got your unit from a different vendor. So other than the fact that you both had the same product and the same problem, it's hard to ascertain how widespread this problem is--and with any manufactured products, some units are going to have problems no matter how good QC is.
 
Your theory that asking Fiio for help would have been useless doesn't gel with jupitreas's experience either.
 
Please be fair to the company. A defective unit shouldn't warrant slamming the product outright.

 

[blinkstar]

That's a reasonable argument, Eric_C. With Jupitreas, myself, and that guy from Amazon, I know of three Fiio amps with the same issue, and I read about others online, but I don't know what the total number of problem units is ... And while Jupitreas had a positive experience with getting a replacement, the Amazon guy did not, so that sort of cancels itself out.
 
Still, your post has inspired me to change the heading of my thread to make it a little less inflammatory.

 

[Nickel zhang]

fiio is quit good  amp, u got compare the price, only around 100$.....

 

[estreeter]

Luck of the draw - I've had my E9 for about 9 months and it hasn't missed a beat. Fiio, like HiFiMan, suffers from periodic issues with quality control - I would never buy another pair of RE0, but my RE262s have been fine - others havent been so lucky. 

 

[jupitreas]

@blinkstar
 
I contacted Fiio by the email address that they have on their website ie. market(at)fiio.com.cn
I think their response time was 3-5 days, but I don't remember for sure. Either way, it wasn't instantenous, but it was alright. They were very polite in their emails and I have no complaints at all to make about their support. They did not even ask for a proof of purchase from me (although I did have one and sent it to them anyway).
 
I have no experience with the E9 so I can't comment on that. I do know; however, that the E7 issue that I've experienced is caused by a design flaw in the headphone sockets of the E7. They are just not attached well enough and are rather delicate for a portable device. As far as I know, Fiio has solved this problem with the E17 and perhaps newer-batch E7s also have this problem solved. Either way, Fiio's products are not without their faults and shortcomings but in general, you still get more than what you paid for. 
 
 

 

[blinkstar]

I'll try emailing them and will post back with the results here .... This morning I tried wiggling the line in cable and I can get sound in both channels that way ... but it is the left channel only, repeated in both channels ...
 
Quote:

@blinkstar
 
I contacted Fiio by the email address that they have on their website ie. market(at)fiio.com.cn
I think their response time was 3-5 days, but I don't remember for sure. Either way, it wasn't instantenous, but it was alright. They were very polite in their emails and I have no complaints at all to make about their support. They did not even ask for a proof of purchase from me (although I did have one and sent it to them anyway).
 
I have no experience with the E9 so I can't comment on that. I do know; however, that the E7 issue that I've experienced is caused by a design flaw in the headphone sockets of the E7. They are just not attached well enough and are rather delicate for a portable device. As far as I know, Fiio has solved this problem with the E17 and perhaps newer-batch E7s also have this problem solved. Either way, Fiio's products are not without their faults and shortcomings but in general, you still get more than what you paid for. 
 
 

 

 

[telecaster]

Do the maths of the price, and the cost of material and how much they would pay someone qualified to do it and you'll know what it's made of.

 

[blinkstar]

Just emailed Fiio. Curious to see what they say.

 

[formula1]

I've had my E9 for almost a year and never experienced any issue.
It seems like your unit is faulty, guess its too late

 

[Deltaechoe]

Manufacturing defect, sometimes they can surface right away sometimes it takes awhile.  If Fiio helps out then you're golden, if not, then you're going to have to open it up and check the connections inside pretty carefully.  Btw, opening and checking connections is something that I would only encourage after you have done your research on the device and know a little bit about how to solder.

 

[Nickel zhang]

+1