FiiO Mont Blanc/E12 portable headphone amp, 880mW, slim design, full metal case. Bass boost and Cross feed!
Feb 7, 2013 at 8:38 PM Post #1,068 of 3,739
Impressions:
 
With the LOD, instruments are more seperated with more space for the vocals. With direct headphone out with my 2G, the entire sound spectrum was a bit scrunched up. The highs with LOD are noticeably clearer and smoother. There is some gritty unsmoothness with the headphone out while the LOD makes it quite smooth
 
Both sound good. Really. The LOD just improves on things. 
 
Better seperation, and better at smoothing out things.
 
Keep in mind I am not doing just iPod Touch 2G vs E12 but LOD vs headphone out which is what I think you are asking.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 8:39 PM Post #1,069 of 3,739
Just got my E12 in the mail. Whoever said their unit smelled like gasoline or fuel was right :/ Only started listening to it for a few minutes now, so I'll post more impressions later. Regarding size, at least, I'd consider it too big for me to carry around with me. Especially since I have the much smaller and roughly on par C&C BH. I really love the build quality of the Mont Blanc, though, very sleek and sexy; just a tad long for my portability tastes.

I love how sturdy the E12 feels. Very nice volume knob, a bit too stiff to turn with one finger, but at least it won't accidentally slip like the BH's knob has been for me (ow...) Listening through an AD900X, btw.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 8:42 PM Post #1,070 of 3,739
Quote:
Just got my E12 in the mail. Whoever said their unit smelled like gasoline or fuel was right :/ Only started listening to it for a few minutes now, so I'll post more impressions later. Regarding size, at least, I'd consider it too big for me to carry around with me. Especially since I have the much smaller and roughly on par C&C BH. I really love the build quality of the Mont Blanc, though, very sleek and sexy; just a tad long for my portability tastes.

I love how sturdy the E12 feels. Very nice volume knob, a bit too stiff to turn with one finger, but at least it won't accidentally slip like the BH's knob has been for me (ow...) Listening through an AD900X, btw.

Maybe there was some fuel based material in the container next to theirs
 
What website/distro company did you buy it off of?
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 8:45 PM Post #1,071 of 3,739
I bought it off of Micca, shipped out from Virginia. They're the only place to buy the E12 from anyway, though, right? Ordered on Saturday and just got it today. It's not a big deal, it's only really (really) noticeable if you smell the cloth bag.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 8:49 PM Post #1,073 of 3,739
Quote:
I bought it off of Micca, shipped out from Virginia. They're the only place to buy the E12 from anyway, though, right? Ordered on Saturday and just got it today. It's not a big deal, it's only really (really) noticeable if you smell the cloth bag.

Mine smells like highly processed cloth/leather which does have a bit of a fuel smell by default
 
Mine was shipped directly form FiiO. So something may have came into contact with it mid route. 
 
Hope it comes out.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:11 PM Post #1,074 of 3,739
Quote:
Just tested with outgoing phone call with duration of 3 min with soft music on and no music. Using Heir Audio 4ai and E12

Nothing detected.

I had to leave the house. Ill do the rest later.

My iphone was places on top of and taken off the pmp combo unit. I was not playing music with 4s but had it right on top of e12 while lifting it away.

 
Quote:
ATT U.S East Coast
 
Music playing with low to no volume with amp on while turning up to a higher volume.
 
Tested with calling outgoing only 
 
Tested downloading with 2.4GHz Wireless N and 4G 
 
Calling outgoing had no noise
 
Downloading over 2.4GHz N had noise and crackle. 4G had none.

 
beerchug.gif

Thank you for the tests!
 
Seems like the E12 fared quite well except with the Wi-fi test. All good information for prospective purchasers, thanks again.
 
 
Graham
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:28 PM Post #1,076 of 3,739
That happened with my E11 when my phone was on WiFi it would have some cracking but I haven't noticed any with the C&C BH though I haven't used it with my phone much at all.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:30 PM Post #1,077 of 3,739
Quote:
That happened with my E11 when my phone was on WiFi it would have some cracking but I haven't noticed any with the C&C BH though I haven't used it with my phone much at all.

 
Weird, I've had the exact opposite experience with my BH and E12. No crackling from my E12 while in close proximity to my phone, but as soon as I plugged the BH in, I got really annoyed by the crackling really fast.
 
Feb 7, 2013 at 9:48 PM Post #1,078 of 3,739
Quote:
Impressions:
 
With the LOD, instruments are more seperated with more space for the vocals. With direct headphone out with my 2G, the entire sound spectrum was a bit scrunched up. The highs with LOD are noticeably clearer and smoother. There is some gritty unsmoothness with the headphone out while the LOD makes it quite smooth
 
Both sound good. Really. The LOD just improves on things. 
 
Better seperation, and better at smoothing out things.
 
Keep in mind I am not doing just iPod Touch 2G vs E12 but LOD vs headphone out which is what I think you are asking.


Thank you for confirming my concerns.  I have Vamp hooked up to my Iphone 4, so I can't access my LOD, but I can use the headphone out on Vamp which should be decent considering it bypasses the on-board Iphone in favor of its superior DAC and amp.  Vamp sounds great, but is only 150mw/channel so sometimes there's just not enough juice which is why I want to add the E12.
 
Feb 8, 2013 at 12:21 AM Post #1,080 of 3,739
Quote:
I've noticed that my E12 gives a slight noise when I turn up or down the volume.
 
It's not very noticeable in certain busy songs, but it's definitely noticeable in quiet songs.
 
Does this happen to anyone else?

This may be due to what headphones.
 
I just tried it on my harder to drive headphones and nope. No noise.
 
This probably means you are using headphones that are easy to drive or are just low impedence. 
 

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