[MickeyVee]

I've been running the E7/E9 continuously for the past two days and now have nearly 50 hours on it.  I have to say that the harshness has smoothed out.  The dynamics are there but I was hoping the extra juice would punch the bottom end of the Senn HD600's a little. Love the effortless, open, and airy sound.
 
I've been a little spoiled with the E7 driving the Senn HD25-1 II's. Punchy, dynamic, detailed and fun.  What I'm probably looking for is a cross between the two cans.  Add the punch of the HD25's to the HD600 airyness and better sound stage, warm it up just a touch and I think I'd have the perfect setup for me.
 
Been spending way too much time reading here.. I think that somewhere in my future is a pair of HD650's, a better DAC (maybe the Matrix Mini-i) and the Woo WA6.. just dreaming for now as I am enjoying the current setup.  I'm really liking the E7 & E9, especially the bang for the buck! (think I'll retire the uDac2)
 
 
 

 

[MickeyVee]

Quote:

For all of you have the E9, E7 and and Ipod Classic, do you prefer line out of the ipod into the E9 or through your computer to the E7 to E9? Thanks!

Definitely through the computer.. that way you take advantage of the E7 DAC.  For me, the difference is night and day. Tried the iPod U2 (4th Gen) LOD into the E7 and it's not nearly as satisfying (reduced soundstage, dynamics, also seems congested) compared to usiing my Mac as the source. This also may be headphone dependant.. my tests were with the Sennheiser HD25's.

 

[tdockweiler]

I got the E9 and a new (third pair!) K702 a few days ago. This is the first time I was actually kind of impressed with the K702 now. There's a lot more synergy with the K702 and E9 compared to my Asgard.
Because of this the K702 is better than I previously thought for gaming. Basically like a night and day difference. The E9 seems to improve the mids of the K702. I don't know if the E9 makes them more forward or if my Asgard made them sound recessed. I guess it doesn't matter. It could be variations between pairs.
 
Does anyone feel that the E9 adds extra bass to the HD-650? I 100% don't want this, unless it's very minor increases. I think perhaps one reason I didn't like my HD-650 as much as I could have is that maybe my Asgard added too much bass. 90% of the people out there might not have issues with this and prefer it. The HD-650 has enough bass enough as it is, so I don't want anything extra.
 
I checked around and did searches without much luck. Has anyone compared the sound of the K702 on the E9 between the 1/8" jack and the 1/4" jack? I found this quote from Headfonia to be interesting:
 
 
Quote from Headfonia:

 

Between the 1/8″ and the 1/4″ output jacks, there is a slight sound difference that’s probably caused by the 33 Ohms resistor. I feel that the 1/4″ jack, without the resistor, give a more open and clearer sound, and it’s the one I use the most. However,  if you feel that there is too much treble presence on the recording, using the 1/8″ jack is prefferable as it sounds less bright and generally warmer.
 

When I first plugged in the K702 to the smaller jack I definitely noticed a difference in sound. Definitely a tad less bright to me for sure and I think Mike was spot on. I kind of like the K702 out of the smaller jack for music. I imagine the differences are very minor.
 
Anyway, I'm thinking of trying the HD-650 again. Maybe I'll like them more with the E9 than the Asgard (which is still a great amp). I just want something that does not change them too much, especially by not increasing the bass. I love how neutral my HD-600 sounds, but I miss many things about the HD-650. I find the sound of the HD-650 more clear and revealing and better for female vocals. I do prefer the soundstage of the HD-600 though.
 

 

[Mad Lust Envy]

Tdock, if the Asgard has the same kind of balance as the Lyr, I can tell you with absolutely certainty that I believe the Schiit stuff is just a little recessed in the mids compared to the E9. I'm still trying to see if its the E9 that has some slight push in the mids, or if the Lyr lays it back.

All I know is that the D7000 sounds amazing through the E9, so much that I prefer it over the Lyr with every source I use. The D7000 is said to have a slight dip in mids. Out of the E9, I dare people to say that. The mids are quite intimate and up close, especially female vocals.

As far as bass, I think the E9's bass isn't altered in any way. If anything, the mids and highs have a slight push, while the bass is left neutral. It goes as low as the Lyr, but the punch isn't as prominent as on the Lyr. We are talking about like a less than 5% difference in bass punch.

Tdock, your assumptions are correct. The 3.5mm adds just a very slight twinge of warmth, which helps out the K701 and DT990. I stress slight. The mids on the K701 are super forward. I also find the mids on the 990s to be great. I guess I have to thank the E9 since it seems mid forward now.

 

[jronan2]

I was just thinking, is it even possible to use the e9 with a different dac other than the e7? I was just looking at the back of my e9 and realized it only has Line Out, not Line In. How would you be able to use another dac with the e9 without Line In?

 

[jronan2]

Forget the above question, realized rca to line out. I wonder if that affects the true potential of the dac using that configuration instead of conventional rca to rca. Any thoughts?
 

 

[Mochan]

Quote:

I've been running the E7/E9 continuously for the past two days and now have nearly 50 hours on it.  I have to say that the harshness has smoothed out.  The dynamics are there but I was hoping the extra juice would punch the bottom end of the Senn HD600's a little. Love the effortless, open, and airy sound.
 
I've been a little spoiled with the E7 driving the Senn HD25-1 II's. Punchy, dynamic, detailed and fun.  What I'm probably looking for is a cross between the two cans.  Add the punch of the HD25's to the HD600 airyness and better sound stage, warm it up just a touch and I think I'd have the perfect setup for me.
 
Been spending way too much time reading here.. I think that somewhere in my future is a pair of HD650's, a better DAC (maybe the Matrix Mini-i) and the Woo WA6.. just dreaming for now as I am enjoying the current setup.  I'm really liking the E7 & E9, especially the bang for the buck! (think I'll retire the uDac2)
 
 
 

 
The HD650 never had that bottom end punch no matter what I paired it up with. It's just not the kind of can that has that sort of sound. HD25 is a very punch Sennheisser, which is pretty rare, and its closed nature gives it an advantage in the low end when you want that kind of sound. 
 
Incidentally, I also retired my uDAC, it simply couldn't compete with the E7 and the E9. The E7 alone already sounded better to me but with the E9 you get to use the E7's DAC, the E9's amp, and the Line Out function in case you just want to use the E7 DAC with another amp. The E7 E9 combo is what, like $50 more expensive than a uDAC 2? It's really a no-brainer, I mean it is more expensive but it is so much better, less portable though.
 
 

 

[WaveRider69]

For you guys that have both and tried them separately, I see a lot of posts in this thread talking about the combo, but how would you describe the sound difference of using the e7/e9 combo vs using the e9 alone? 
 
I've recently got the E9 and I like it's power and clarity, but something is missing, so I'm wondering how much of a difference adding the e7 would make.
 
Also can the op-amps be rolled on the E9?
 
The main cans I'm using right now are AD700's and DT990's. 

 

[Mochan]

The Asgard does have recessed mids, and also doesn't have enough juice to really power the K702. The E9 on the other hand I have written a lot of praise for its liquid mids. They definitely make the K702 shine.
 
As for adding extra bass to the HD650, not at all. All it does is help define the bass of the HD650, but it doesn't add much, if any, at all. The E9 is not a bassy amp. The thing with the Asgard is that it is a rather muddy sounding amp, that's probably why you didn't like it too much with the HD650, which doesn't need any mud on its signature. I liked the Asgard best with bright and sharp headphones like Grado Prestige series stuff, it smoothed over and fixed the problems I had with those cans.
 
As for the E9's two jacks, they do sound different, slightly.  From my findings the smaller 3.5mm jack has a resistor in place that makes it sound weaker than the larger 6.3mm jack. Also I found the 3.5mm is slightly bassier than the larger jack. It's hard to really compare the two because you need to do some volume matching, as the sound of the smaller jack is a lot weaker. But this is just another nice thing about the E9, the dual headphone jacks with slightly different sigs just adds to its value so much more.
 
Quote:

I got the E9 and a new (third pair!) K702 a few days ago. This is the first time I was actually kind of impressed with the K702 now. There's a lot more synergy with the K702 and E9 compared to my Asgard.
Because of this the K702 is better than I previously thought for gaming. Basically like a night and day difference. The E9 seems to improve the mids of the K702. I don't know if the E9 makes them more forward or if my Asgard made them sound recessed. I guess it doesn't matter. It could be variations between pairs.
 
Does anyone feel that the E9 adds extra bass to the HD-650? I 100% don't want this, unless it's very minor increases. I think perhaps one reason I didn't like my HD-650 as much as I could have is that maybe my Asgard added too much bass. 90% of the people out there might not have issues with this and prefer it. The HD-650 has enough bass enough as it is, so I don't want anything extra.
 
I checked around and did searches without much luck. Has anyone compared the sound of the K702 on the E9 between the 1/8" jack and the 1/4" jack? I found this quote from Headfonia to be interesting:
 
 
When I first plugged in the K702 to the smaller jack I definitely noticed a difference in sound. Definitely a tad less bright to me for sure and I think Mike was spot on. I kind of like the K702 out of the smaller jack for music. I imagine the differences are very minor.
 
Anyway, I'm thinking of trying the HD-650 again. Maybe I'll like them more with the E9 than the Asgard (which is still a great amp). I just want something that does not change them too much, especially by not increasing the bass. I love how neutral my HD-600 sounds, but I miss many things about the HD-650. I find the sound of the HD-650 more clear and revealing and better for female vocals. I do prefer the soundstage of the HD-600 though.
 

 

 

[Mochan]

 
Quote:

For you guys that have both and tried them separately, I see a lot of posts in this thread talking about the combo, but how would you describe the sound difference of using the e7/e9 combo vs using the e9 alone? 
 
I've recently got the E9 and I like it's power and clarity, but something is missing, so I'm wondering how much of a difference adding the e7 would make.
 
Also can the op-amps be rolled on the E9?
 
The main cans I'm using right now are AD700's and DT990's. 

 
That's a loaded question. If you are using E7 with the E9 that means you are using a MAC or PC as source, if you are not using the E7 that means you are using something like an iPod as source or another DAC. In either case you cannot make comparisons at all because the resulting sound changes entirely depending on which DAC or DAP you use. 
 
What kind of setup are you using? How are you using the E9? What is feeding it sound, and how? Are you using an iPod with LOD? Are you using another DAC? Somehow I doubt the latter is the answer. Without knowing your setup it's hard to say what can be done, it's like John Mayer. "Something's missing and I don't know how to fix it."
 
As for OPAMP rolling, you probably could if you found parts for it and felt like taking the E9 apart, but to my knowledge it's not a plug and play affair as it is with other amps that are designed for rolling. The amp part of the E9 is likely soldered in. I really don't see much point in doing so especially considering how cheap the E9 is.
 
Quote:

Forget the above question, realized rca to line out. I wonder if that affects the true potential of the dac using that configuration instead of conventional rca to rca. Any thoughts?
 

Your question is a bit confusing but I'll make this clear:
 
The E9 can work with any DAC that has RCA/Mini output. It has line-in via 3.5 mini, the only drawback is no RCA line in so you cannot use your fancy cables for it. I have an Analysis One Oval cable which I can only use with the E9's line out. 
 
I have a friend who modded his E9 so that it has RCA line-in. Pretty easy to do if you can solder and have a drill. 
 
 
 
 

 

[jronan2]

Alright I'll tell you my situation. I am going to purchase a Schiit Lyr very soon and probably an HRT Music Streamer II+ for the mean time for my main desktop set up out my iMac. I want to move my fiio set up next to my bed and run it out of my laptop. I really want a set up next to my bed I enjoy music a lot better laying down, maybe I'm just weird. I am 99% sure I will purchase a Schiit dac when they come out with one late summer or so to pair with the Lyr. I want to then move the music streamer over to my nightstand rig (e9) to replace the e7. The e7 i would like to strictly use it with my ipod and at work. Since the MSII+ only has rca connection is that possible with the e9? (since it has no line in)

 

[Mochan]

Nothing weird about that, my FiiO is setup right next to my bed as well, in fact I'm typing this on my bed as we speak listening to Dishwalla out of the E9.
 
And again the E9 *DOES* have Line-In.  It's a 3.5mm mini-plug line in. Look at the back of your E9 closely, at the rear right beside the pre-amp out you will see a mini line-in. This will take input from any DAC that has RCA. You just need to buy an RCA to Mini cable (or make one yourself if you don't like the off-the-shelf varieties).
 
So you're covered, no worries.

 

[iitadakimas]

How's the E9 with the DT880 250ohm?
I have the E7 and I want to get the Beyer DT880 250ohm.
Is the E9 enough to power them?

 

[WaveRider69]

Quote:

What kind of setup are you using? How are you using the E9? What is feeding it sound, and how? Are you using an iPod with LOD? Are you using another DAC? Somehow I doubt the latter is the answer. Without knowing your setup it's hard to say what can be done, it's like John Mayer. "Something's missing and I don't know how to fix it."
 

I originally bought it thinking I could use the DAC from my Xonar Essence and the AMP from the E9.  But it doesn't hookup.  Until I get another cable.  But I plan to sell my essence anyway and have everything external.  So I'm running the hd line out from my mobo for now.  The E9 has way more power than my essence which is great, but used by itself of course it goes without saying, it doesn't sound as good.  So I'm thinking about either adding the E7, or trying something else.  If the e7/e9 combo would sound better than my essence I would be stoked.  I'm pretty sure I'm just going to try it anyway but I wanted to see some of you guys thoughts.
 

 

[jronan2]

No I know it has Mini Line In, using rca to mini cable. Basically my question is centered around using the mini line in: Does this make this particular combo inferior since it not a conventional rca to rca? I mean will you still get the same benefit out of the dac and the e9 compared to say if the E9 basically had Line In rca? I know i'm covered i just don't want to run a decent dac like MSII+ and not get the full potential out of it. I'd rather go another route.