[rawrster]

I find the E10 is better than my netbook which is an EeePC 1005HA. It is quite respectable for $80 shipped or so. It not going to challenge things costing 3-4x or more its price but at $80 it is attractive and I'd take it over the uDAC that I had around 2 years or so ago. I'm not sure how they compare as dacs since I don't use just the dac function since it makes no sense for me to use a full size amp with something I plan to use for transportable.

 

[donunus]

way better than my laptops headphone jack and no problem here.

 

[xxhaxx]

Quote:

This could be a problem of dirty jack as it is stored or unused for too long. Before sending it back, try this: Find yourself a 3.5mm plug that you don't use any more (say an old headphone), plug it into E10, twist around a little and unplug it. Do in again and again for 3 minutes or so and see if anything improves.
 
p/s: This same principle also works if you even have static on amp with analog pot. If the volume pot on your amp becomes noisy or imbalanced when turned, especially if it hasn't been used for a while, you can turn the pot all the way up and down (headphone unplugged of course) and repeat it for a few minutes to clean out the pot.

 
Static fixed :] Thanks
 
 

 

[LimeANite]

Quote:

wow....I have to say I'm more than a little concerned that the e10 "impressions" thread has turned into the e10 "problems / issues" thread!!
 
I hadn't visited in a few days and now notice the e10 is now available on Amazon.  I was fully ready to purchase until I wandered back to this thread to find mostly complaints about the volume knob and headphone jack.
 
Can anyone sincerely report that the e10 has improved their laptop + headphone listening experience?   I could care less about just making the sound "louder"; I'm looking for something that will deliver the music....well, more musically.
 
At the very least, ordering from Amazon would allow me to return the e10 no questions asked without any additional expense should I experience anything as described. 

No real problems for me.  My jack is a tad loose, but it doesn't seem to have an effect on the sound at all.
 
And the E10 has definitely improved the sound on both of my laptops.  I have a (fairly) high end laptop at home, and an older, more middle-of-the-road laptop that lives in my office.  My home computer sees less of an improvement, but it's still noticeable, especially with decent headphones.  With my office laptop, it's a night and day difference.  The headphone jack on that laptop has a terrible problem with static, which the E10 cleared up almost completely (it's only noticeable with no music playing and the volume turned up well above comfortable levels).
 

 

[oddsratio]

Checking back in after a couple days:
 
The change wasn't earth-shattering, as others have said. I did cut out the annoying hiss that was present on my onboard headphone jack, so there's that. I didn't hear too much of a difference between the amp and the onboard audio in terms of normal SQ other than additional clarity, but I didn't have huge expectations. I have an '08 aluminum macbook, to give more info on my setup.
 
On the amp side: I still get the pops between tracks and the buzz when the pot is up too high. Checked on two other computers and all my ports.
 
As I posted before, I have some interference issues with Netflix, where the sound clips for about 20 seconds at a time. Sometimes the end of my songs on itunes cut off at the last 5 seconds or so before changing tracks, making the pop more apparent. (Yes, I've done the usual checks of end-time/start time).
 
It's not an issue with the DAC, but with the amp, so I'm not sure if it's a this-e10-is-a-lemon problem or if there's an impedance conflict between my headphones (I've got Grado 80s and 220s [borrowed] and sennheiser iems, all with ~32ohms) that I have to resolve.
 
 
As far as the DAC-Only output: It was clean, attenuated, with none of the buzzing or sound issues that were present on the amp line. But the OS volume has to be at least 75% otherwise it would sound dim. Line out on the DAC side definitely needs an amp. With the proper levels, I am impressed, as the DAC's the clearest I've heard my music.
 
So there's the rub. Love the DAC, not happy with the amp for now. Not sure if I should just stick with a d5 (the chips are similar enough, right?) and use a different amp, like a cmoy, if it's the e10, or just some software settings I have to fix.

 

[ClieOS]

The way you describe it seems strange to me. I would have expect a codec issue between the PC and the DAC to cause cut out like that but it doesn't seem to be the problem here. I'll suggest you get in touch with the seller and send it back for replacement, just in case.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Quote:

Checking back in after a couple days:
 
The change wasn't earth-shattering, as others have said. I did cut out the annoying hiss that was present on my onboard headphone jack, so there's that. I didn't hear too much of a difference between the amp and the onboard audio in terms of normal SQ other than additional clarity, but I didn't have huge expectations. I have an '08 aluminum macbook, to give more info on my setup.
 
On the amp side: I still get the pops between tracks and the buzz when the pot is up too high. Checked on two other computers and all my ports.
 
As I posted before, I have some interference issues with Netflix, where the sound clips for about 20 seconds at a time. Sometimes the end of my songs on itunes cut off at the last 5 seconds or so before changing tracks, making the pop more apparent. (Yes, I've done the usual checks of end-time/start time).
 
It's not an issue with the DAC, but with the amp, so I'm not sure if it's a this-e10-is-a-lemon problem or if there's an impedance conflict between my headphones (I've got Grado 80s and 220s [borrowed] and sennheiser iems, all with ~32ohms) that I have to resolve.
 
 
As far as the DAC-Only output: It was clean, attenuated, with none of the buzzing or sound issues that were present on the amp line. But the OS volume has to be at least 75% otherwise it would sound dim. Line out on the DAC side definitely needs an amp. With the proper levels, I am impressed, as the DAC's the clearest I've heard my music.
 
So there's the rub. Love the DAC, not happy with the amp for now. Not sure if I should just stick with a d5 (the chips are similar enough, right?) and use a different amp, like a cmoy, if it's the e10, or just some software settings I have to fix.

1, Please set the system volume and the volume of the media player program to the max ( make sure ), it can help you get the full resolution from the digital output. for any USB DAC, the best way is to adjust the volume after the output of the DAC chip, otherwise you may get a 96k/10bit sound resolution through your PC/MAC.
 
2, E10 is powered by the USB , so sometime the power supply may decide the sound quality of E10 because it came with too many noise. 
 
3, D5 is a consumer level products , the SQ is not the most important thing in there , it is a feature products.
 
Any feedback , advice, suggestion is welcome, that will help us improve our working, not only in quality control, but also service, design and others. thanks every one!

 

[Blueiz]

Absolutely NO problems with mine.... love it!!

 

[kite7]

Quote:

 Find yourself a 3.5mm plug that you don't use any more (say an old headphone), plug it into E10, twist around a little and unplug it. Do in again and again for 3 minutes or so and see if anything improves.

I just tried this; I took a few earbuds plugged them each and twist it around remove and plug repeat about 20 times total. Now my 1/4 to 1/8 adapter for my SR325 works fine with the E10; I can twist the plug around and it won't lose connection. This is a good tip
 

 

[obazavil]

Quote:

I find the E10 picky with certain earphones' plugs. Some 1/8 work fine and some will have the channel cutting off if I move it and I need to twist the plug around until I find a right spot.

i'm having the exact same problem with both edition 8 plug and lcd2... so i think is a really big problem with E10.
 
I'm still considering if i will return it, or keep it.
 
Seems a batch problem...

 

[xxhaxx]

Quote:

i'm having the exact same problem with both edition 8 plug and lcd2... so i think is a really big problem with E10.
 
I'm still considering if i will return it, or keep it.
 
Seems a batch problem...
 

Try out ClieOS solultion. Worked for me and kite7
 


Quote:

This could be a problem of dirty jack as it is stored or unused for too long. Before sending it back, try this: Find yourself a 3.5mm plug that you don't use any more (say an old headphone), plug it into E10, twist around a little and unplug it. Do in again and again for 3 minutes or so and see if anything improves.
 
p/s: This same principle also works if you even have static on amp with analog pot. If the volume pot on your amp becomes noisy or imbalanced when turned, especially if it hasn't been used for a while, you can turn the pot all the way up and down (headphone unplugged of course) and repeat it for a few minutes to clean out the pot.

 

 

[twelvebears]

Well I haven't noticed any issues with my E10 headphone socket, in fact it seems a nice positive fit.
 
It's rapidly becoming one of my favourite gadgets at the moment.  Small, cute, well made and gives an instant SQ boost to any laptop or PC.  It's SOOO good in fact that I'm probably going to buy a couple more and have one attached to each of the Macs that we use around the house, as all get headphone usage on a regular basis.
 
I know I could get a desktop solution for the two iMacs but tbh, the E10 is more than good enough and is so fuss-free.
 
The only issue I did have was when playing high-res 24bit files via Audirvana, which kept giving 'choppy' playback.  All I had to do to fix it was to uncheck the 'Use max I/O buffer size' option in Audirvana and all is well.
 
While resolving this issue, I did revert to using iTunes in the course of testing out the problem and was really shocked at how flat and lifeless iTunes made the same tracks sound!
 
Two tracks which particularly showed the differences, which are now far more noticable with the E10, were from 24bit versions of Talk Talk's 'Colour of Spring' (happiness is Easy) and Talking Heads 'Speaking in Tongues' (Burning Down the House).  Both these tracks have some great recorded acoustics via the E10 and Audirvana, but iTunes made both sound totally 2D.

 

[Ultrainferno]

my E10 usb-cable died after one week. Lucky for me it's just the cable

 

[obazavil]

Short short review:
 
I used 3 configurations:
 
foobar(WASAPI + ALAC) -> E10 -> Ultrasone Edition 8
foobar(WASAPI + ALAC) -> E10 -> Schiit Lyr -> LCD-2 rev 2.
foobar(WASAPI + ALAC) -> E10 (high gain) -> LCD-2 rev 2.
 
The sound is very clear, LOTS of details, very balanced.
Instruments separations is good, imaging is good, no noise, great details, amazing bass with bass boost off.
 
I don't have another DAC to compare against (sold my E7), but LCD-2 from E10 directly sounds pretty good, and as DAC alone is pretty amazing.
 
100% recommended...
 
The only complain I have is this 3.5 not-perfect-plug that even with the recommendation from above is still giving me problems.
I will try more this "fix". But I would rather wait for a 2nd batch to see if that is fixed.
 
Is pretty annoying. But SQ alone, is very very good for the price.
 
 
 

 

[oddsratio]

Thank you fiio for addressing this in the forum. It is an [impression] thread, but many of these quirks are part of our initial impressions of the dac. I've sent mine back to Micca and ordered a replacement through Amazon, as I don't have to pay shipping with their return policy if this does turn out to be a batch issue (which I kind of doubt, but I'm hoping for the best). Worst thing is that I wait a couple months for these things to be sorted out. As long as Amazon has them in stock, I'm okay with that. I'll post how the replacement sounds after some burn-in.