Fiio E9 *The Big Users Guide* ~ The 10 x headphone round-up ~ How does yours stack-up with the E9? <pictures inside>

[Questhate]

Quote:

Yeah, nice writeup Gwarmi. Imagine what FiiO could do if they went beyond the entry level and offered similar bang for buck in the higher end (like what Schiit are doing).
 
Btw, I'm envious of the components in your chain. You just need "better" cans.

Fiio Statement Amp????? 

 
 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
 It would be interesting to see what Fiio could come up with for $250USD ~ Watch out Matrix M-Stage!

 

[Aaron1006]

Good read! Would've been really useful about two weeks ago before I pulled the trigger on an E9, haha . Anyways it's great to hear that it pairs well with the HD650, looking to snag a pair as soon as my new debit card comes in the mail

 

[Digital-Pride]

Great thread idea!  The upcoming E15 which will easily be Fiio's most expensive product to date(approx. 290USD), should prove to be quite interesting.  Yes, the M-stage better watch its back indeed.

 

[markwilliamsweb]

Yeah I'm also looking forward to the E17. It should be interesting to see how it pairs with the E9 and what the difference SQ-wise is with the E7.
 
Good thread btw.

 

[Chris J]

Quote:

I totally agree, most people on here thought I was crackers for going source and amp plus interconnects first ~ but I wanted to push every
headphone in my line-up along the way, to see how far it could be pushed in terms of fidelity before any upgrades in ancillary gear showed
no improvement.
 
I guess that's what came out of the Fiio E9 review,
 
I'd take a HD650 plus the Burson 160 and Violectric V800 over a HD800 with an E9/E7 any day. The HD800 should really fly away with
the win but the gear will hold it back from even getting started.

Hey man,
 
I totally agree as well.
A good amp and a good source will compliment any top shelf headphone.
I find my cans only sound as good as the worst component in the chain.
Careful with the interconnect comments.............some head-Fi-ers will assassinate you for them

!
 
BTW, nice work, waiting for your upcoming K70x comments?
 

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

Great thread idea!  The upcoming E15 which will easily be Fiio's most expensive product to date(approx. 290USD), should prove to be quite interesting.  Yes, the M-stage better watch its back indeed.

Quote from the FiiO Rep: "E15 may support 192k/24bit USB decode and use different amp but not TPA6120A"
 
So that means the amp section will be different than the E9...should be interesting.

 

[VALIENTE]

Fiio E9 is one of the amp that a newbie or limited budget headfier must consider. For just around $100, you will give life to your headphones, be it low sensitive or high sensitive and or impedance. I have it with my Grado SR60- simply amazing. I have it with my K701-simply good sound! (My bottle neck with K701 is the source.) With Grado SR60, no problem at all-highly recommended!
 
Fiio E9- bang for your buck!

 

[Digital-Pride]

Quote:

Fiio E9 is one of the amp that a newbie or limited budget headfier must consider. For just around $100, you will give life to your headphones, be it low sensitive or high sensitive and or impedance. I have it with my Grado SR60- simply amazing. I have it with my K701-simply good sound! (My bottle neck with K701 is the source.) With Grado SR60, no problem at all-highly recommended!
 
Fiio E9- bang for your buck!

That my friend, is what Fiio's products are all about.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

Hey man,
 
I totally agree as well.
A good amp and a good source will compliment any top shelf headphone.
I find my cans only sound as good as the worst component in the chain.
Careful with the interconnect comments.............some head-Fi-ers will assassinate you for them

!
 
BTW, nice work, waiting for your upcoming K70x comments?
 

 
 
 Thanks Chris!
 
 Ahh tell me about it, waiting for the AKG delivery from the DHL skies above is like waiting for it to rain in the desert over in Australia.
 
 There's currently all sorts of supply issues - I'm heading down there today though, will bring the camera and I'll see if I can sneak
 an Ultrasone model in there or two - namely the 580, 780 and Pro 900. Should be good, the whole idea of this thread was to
 build a sort of 'impressions library' 

 
 

 

[kiteki]

 
Thanks for your review, nice to hear addicted to audio are so accommodating.
 
 
The Fiio E9 has 43 ohm output impedance on the 3.5mm jack, and 10 ohm output impedance on the 6.5mm jack, this will distort the FR on any headphone or IEM with low impedance, making them mid-centric when they're not, and so on.
 
 

 

[Gwarmi]

Quote:

 
Thanks for your review, nice to hear addicted to audio are so accommodating.
 
 
The Fiio E9 has 43 ohm output impedance on the 3.5mm jack, and 10 ohm output impedance on the 6.5mm jack, this will distort the FR on any headphone or IEM with low impedance, making them mid-centric when they're not, and so on.
 
 

Oh the 3.5mm jack did not like just about every headphone I turfed up ~ interesting point though on the low impedance headphones with a 10 ohm output,
my personal impressions were that the Shure 840 (44ohm) did not mind the 10ohm output impedance from the 6.5mm ~ it did not sound too forward to
my ears but with the LCD-2 (50ohms) - it was quite forward, and this is coming from a Grado owner which is a worry. The entire Violectric range from
V90 to V200 has 10ohm output impedance ~ yet to find a headphone that it skews rather badly.
 

 

[Gwarmi]

 
*Update 4th December 2011*
 
Added Ultrasone Pro 900 and Beyerdynamic DT 990 (600ohm) to the main review.
 
10 headphones and counting! 

 

[chicolom]

Quote:

 
1) The Fiio E9 will positively rip your head off with blaring volume using an HD800 on low gain after
    you pass the 2 o clock position.

 

I'd be curious to see someone's head getting ripped off by volume. 

 

[Draygonn]

Nice comparisons Gwarmi. I love FiiO. I've got a D3, E9, E6, and E5. The E9 doesn't do the HD800s justice but it pushes Fostex Orthos very well.