[Autoholic]

I've had my E17 for several months, and I finally purchased an E09K yesterday. My initial impression is that it makes my headphones sound more cohesive, full, and dynamic. The thing is, I found myself using the E17 more often with my smartphone (Sony Xperia Z3) than with my laptop because of the convenience, even with my high impedance HD650 and deceptively power hungry HE-400.

So I tried to set up the E17+E09K combo with my phone. I docked the E17 in lo-bypass mode to the E09K, and attempted to use it with my smartphone with the USB OTG cable. The phone acts like nothing is plugged in, and proceeds to use it's own speakers. In my ignorance and excitement, I assumed that it would work because the E09K runs off DC power, and the phone would be 'streaming' to the E17 DAC, which in turn would be amped by the E09K. I was way off base, I know this now.

So what now?

The obvious answer would be to plug a 3.5mm to RCA cable from my smartphone's headphone jack to the AUX IN the E09K. Would I be using the E17's DAC this way? Or would I be double amping?

Another option before I bought the E09K was to track down a Fiio L7 Line Out Dock to utilize the DAC portion of my E17 and let an O2 or something similarly priced do the amping. I can still return the E09K. If I did this, could I then use my smartphone via USB OTG through the L7?

Or is there another way? Thanks in advance!

 

[PurpleAngel]

I've had my E17 for several months, and I finally purchased an E09K yesterday. My initial impression is that it makes my headphones sound more cohesive, full, and dynamic. The thing is, I found myself using the E17 more often with my smartphone (Sony Xperia Z3) than with my laptop because of the convenience, even with my high impedance HD650 and deceptively power hungry HE-400.
So I tried to set up the E17+E09K combo with my phone. I docked the E17 in lo-bypass mode to the E09K, and attempted to use it with my smartphone with the USB OTG cable. The phone acts like nothing is plugged in, and proceeds to use it's own speakers. In my ignorance and excitement, I assumed that it would work because the E09K runs off DC power, and the phone would be 'streaming' to the E17 DAC, which in turn would be amped by the E09K. I was way off base, I know this now.
So what now?
The obvious answer would be to plug a 3.5mm to RCA cable from my smartphone's headphone jack to the AUX IN the E09K. Would I be using the E17's DAC this way? Or would I be double amping?
Another option before I bought the E09K was to track down a Fiio L7 Line Out Dock to utilize the DAC portion of my E17 and let an O2 or something similarly priced do the amping. I can still return the E09K. If I did this, could I then use my smartphone via USB OTG through the L7?
Or is there another way? Thanks in advance!

 
Guess your smart phone (Sony Xperia Z3) is not designed to be able to talk to the E17's WM8740 DAC chip.
So no matter what fancy (digital signal) connections you come up with, the Xperia Z3 will not work with the E17 (using digital)
I believe the FiiO E18 is designed to work with android phones.
Connecting the smartphone's headphone output jack to the line-output (AUX) should work (analog connection), technically it's doubling amplifying, but it still should work fairly well.
 
How about selling off the E17 and E09K and buy the FiiO X3 Gen II?

 

[Autoholic]

Guess your smart phone (Sony Xperia Z3) is not designed to be able to talk to the E17's WM8740 DAC chip.
So no matter what fancy (digital signal) connections you come up with, the Xperia Z3 will not work with the E17 (using digital)
I believe the FiiO E18 is designed to work with android phones.
Connecting the smartphone's headphone output jack to the line-output (AUX) should work (analog connection), technically it's doubling amplifying, but it still should work fairly well.

How about selling off the E17 and E09K and buy the FiiO X3 Gen II?

Thanks for the post.

See, that's the thing...the Z3 does work with the E17 alone (I use it daily), just not when I add the E09K to the mix. Should it work, given that I'm still using the E17 DAC?

I had an E18 briefly a year ago, but returned it because, to me, it sounded too warm and congested compared to my iPhone 4S. I was less experienced in this hobby back then though. Looking at the specs, it doesn't appear to be a huge upgrade over my E17 (and isn't nearly as beefy as the E09K), and it lacks the connections, the hardware EQ, nice screen, etc. The E17 is a swiss army knife.

Selling off my E17 and E09K for an X3 II would be a step down, no? The X3 II puts out less power than even the E17 alone, and significantly less than an E09K. In my case, it wouldn't be more convenient either; I tend to browse the web, play games, etc. on my phone while listening to music, so I'd still have two devices on me (phone and X3). Plus, along with my own files, I also use Spotify.

If there's no way to get this setup to work, or the E17+L7+O2 setup that I proposed won't work either, I'll probably just return the E09K and go back to listening like I have been for the last few months -- Xperia Z3 --> USB OTG --> E17 --> Headphones. Which sucks because, before hearing the E17+E09K combo, I was very skeptical on how much amps can improve headphones. I'm just not prepared to sit on my laptop all the time to listen to music.

Maybe my view will change within the two weeks I have to return the E09K.

 

[cel4145]

First, you should ask in the E17 thread if the line out on the E17 functions when using USB audio: http://www.head-fi.org/t/587912/fiio-e17-alpen-first-impression-final-thought. Could be it draws too much power, which is why it's working with your E09K (it must be using the line out with the E09K).

I would not trade in for the X3. It doesn't have the power of a desktop amp. In fact, into 32 ohms, it's power rating is about the same as the E17. So not going to do your HE-400s justice (not sure about the HD650s).

 

[Autoholic]

First, you should ask in the E17 thread if the line out on the E17 functions when using USB audio: http://www.head-fi.org/t/587912/fiio-e17-alpen-first-impression-final-thought. Could be it draws too much power, which is why it's working with your E09K (it must be using the line out with the E09K).

I would not trade in for the X3. It doesn't have the power of a desktop amp. In fact, into 32 ohms, it's power rating is about the same as the E17. So not going to do your HE-400s justice (not sure about the HD650s).

I will post in that thread now. Thanks!

 

[PurpleAngel]

See, that's the thing...the Z3 does work with the E17 alone (I use it daily)

Oops, my brain missed that part.

 

[Autoholic]

Good news...it's working!

Xperia Z3 --> USB OTG --> E09K with E17 docked in 'Lo-Bypass' mode.

This is what I did before, but it wasn't working. So what happened here? Why is it suddenly working now? Well, I turned on the E17/E09K before plugging it into my phone. That's literally the only thing I did different, and it's working.

Thanks again for the help guys.