[loki993]

So My laptop has always given me issues with the headphone jack. Ill plug in the headphones and 90 percent of the time when I unplug them it still thinks they're plugged in and I get no sound from the speakers, eventually it will come back but most of the time I want to use the speakers so I have to load a different driver to get it back. so the jack is definitely jacked up. More rare, and this is a driver issue and not hardware, Ill plug the headphones in it will recognize them but continue to play sound out of the speakers. Either way its annoying and I just need to stop using the headphone jack. So why not upgrade to something that actually sounds better. I was looking at those 6 dollar USB things but I'm sure they will just annoy me. Plus Ill be building a new computer, desktop, soon and having something nice would be ok too. 
 
Plus right now the E10 is really cheap, its 54 dollars in a lot of places on Amazon, so its a steal.
 
So here is the question, the Fiio E10, I know it will be an upgrade for the laptop especially for music. The thing is what about gaming? I use headphones exclusively for gaming, but I have always used onboard sound. I'm sure it has to be though. 
 
Also will it be able to take the place of a PCI sound card when I do get the new computer together. 
 
How is the DAC on its own? I'm sure ill get some good use out of it for a while but I eventually what to either buy or build a decent tube amp down the road. Will the E10 be good when used ad a DAC only?
 
Headphones I'm using right now are DT770 Pro80s for my music, basshead, and AT AD700s for gaming. 
 
 
And has anyone bought one recently are you getting the new versions or the old? I'm think they're so cheap right now because they're blowing out the old ones for the new ones, but it would be great to get to lower price and a new version, which Ive seen happen looking around the Internet, but its not consistent. Whats the difference and is that something that I should even be concerned with?

 

[squallkiercosa]

That's what I did to improve sound quality. Keep in mind sound won't come out from your laptop's speakers. (Fiio bypass the onboard soundcard to connect to a Line out, or headphone jack) but you can always unplug the DAC to listen directly from your laptop. Fiio will be your best option

 

[loki993]

Yeah I dont care about the sound not coming out of the speakers. I just want it to do it when I want it to lol. I don't have any issues unplugging the DAC. 
 
I'm a little worried about the lack of "Surround Sound" but I was under the impression that it didn't make any difference anyway. Of course that could be because even if the headphones are 2 channel the computer is still processing the 5.1 and I will lose that. I'm just worried that I will lose the positional audio I get in games. But again like I said I run everything in headphone mode anyway and it doesn't seem to make any difference. PurpleAngel brings up the surround sound issues though when people usually ask about this DAC though so I figured id bring it up just to know what I was getting into. 
 
Also I may be willing to give up a little more clarity in my games to have better sound for music and less hassle. Plus even if it doesn't have surround sound I'm sure the 6 dollar jobbies don't either and this has to be miles better them they are audio wise. 

 

[squallkiercosa]

Fiio doesn't have drivers for gaming/EQ unfortunately. Maybe Mad Lust envy can help you with that.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-updated-1-1-13-yuin-g1a-added
 
Send him a PM to see if he can help you 

 

[loki993]

I know everything should still work, I just will lose surround sound and like I said I think its debatable whether or not ill miss it. At least that's my understanding. I also rarely EQ anything, I listen to my headphone flat because I like to hear them naturally. Usually when I try to EQ stuff it either sounds worse or distorts. That could just be because of bad sound card/drivers though too, probably. 
 
I can try to ask him about it. There was something in the gaming thread that thread links to that tells you how to make your sound drivers output do USB but my laptop has crap IDT drivers and I don't think they work the same way. 

 

[loki993]

Well doesn't matter either way, I just pulled the trigger on the E10 from Adorama. 52 dollars with free shipping is too good to pass up, not the 45 it was but still a great deal for an 80 dollar DAC/amp.
 
Now the only thing left is getting it to work for what I need it to work for. My biggest fear really was whether or not it could replace a PCI sound card and is the DAC good enough to stand on its own if/when I decide to get a standalone amp. 
 
 
Plus I figure at that price even if I end up not liking it I should have no problem getting my money back out of it. 
 
All else fails I can always use it at work when I listen to music here, though I use IEMs at work and I don't know if they would benefit from amping all that much. I bet the DAC would help at least though. 

 

[rockposer]

Can you use the E10 with Windows 8 Pro 64bit?

 

[loki993]

Quote:

Can you use the E10 with Windows 8 Pro 64bit?

 
I honestly dont know but I dont see why not, its just USB and doesnt use any special drivers. Are there issues with some of these running on windows 8? 

 

[loki993]

I'm still wondering though the other questions I had
 
Will this be able to take the place of a internal PCI video card or should I still be looking at getting a Xonar DX or something like that for the new computer. I was hoping this would take care of that part. 
 
How is the DAC alone in the E10 because eventually Id like to get a more powerful solid state and probably a tube amp to use. 
 
How much will I miss the "surround sound" in games?

 

[squallkiercosa]

Quote:

Can you use the E10 with Windows 8 Pro 64bit?

Yes. I am using it right now. 

 

[rockposer]

Quote:

Yes. I am using it right now. 

Many thanks for the info. I know there 'shouldn't' be any issues but thought I'd ask before splashing the cash

 

[POKeefe]

Let me know how this turns out. I'm in the same boat as you, except it's my desktop sound card. I really don't feel my AD700's are loud enough nor sound as clear as when I used to have an XtremeMusic XFi. I only use stereo and no surround sound, so the FiiO's appeal to me as long as the positional sound is good. I have a MiniITX system, so internal cards aren't an option. 

 

[loki993]

I will. Problem is its been sitting in Ohio for the past 3 days, apparently UPS is really slow at sorting mail. 
 
Anyway that's kinda odd though AD700s should be really easy to drive. Even my phone could drive them to a decent level if I wanted to do that and my laptop can make them loud enough to be uncomfortable.
 
Either way when I get it ill give it a try and post up my thoughts. Cant wait though Ive never had an amp on my DT770s and I really think it should clean them up a bit because they do get a bit muddy at times, not that it bothers me but cleaner is usually better. Ill try the AD700s too though and see how they are. 

 

[loki993]

I got it finally, never ever never do the free super saver shipping you cheap person, and tried it out for a little bit last night. 
 
First off with the DT770 pro 80 this was somewhat expected. Basically everything I Had been hoping for. It really cleaned up and tightened up the bass and brought the highs out more, the mids are still recessed but everything on a whole is much cleaner. I have more separation, clarity and I even think I got a decent sound stage boost too. Overall they seem to really like the amp. 
 
On to the Ad700s, this was unexpected. I honestly wasn't expecting all the much difference out of them as Ive always heard that amping them didn't do a whole lot. Well maybe the DAC in my laptop is just that bad, even though Ive listened to them on multiple machines and they have never sounded so good. The treble in these also came out, not that they needed it, to the point now where it can even be a bit uncomfortable if you wanted it to be. The bottom end came out a little too, though they still don't really have any bass impact. The bass boost helps a bit, but it can only do so much. Its just the way these phone are. The amp made them sound pretty good, definitely an improvement. They were also definitely louder so yes PoKeefe if you having issues with them not being loud enough fro you this will help.
 
Also not entirely unexpected but just a tiny bit disappointing, but I took it to work today to try out with my monoprice 8320s and it didn't do a thing to them. I though I may get a little just because of the DAC but nope nothing. Not unexpected though. 
 
 
For gaming I really didn't notice all that much difference from the laptop sound to the amp so I suppose that's a good thing. I didn't play for very long though, so I suppose the difference could be even better then I realize. Interestingly enough and unexpectedly it does seem that the onboard sound drivers do work through USB/Spidif but its not surround so I don't get that either way. Still interesting, maybe ill try to find some updated drivers but I think I recall trying that once before and I came up with nothing. 
 
I only got to test a little last night and I didn't do any A/Bing, though I probably didn't need to as the differences were pretty noticeable. Basically everything was fuller and cleaner. So Ill listen some more and post up after hearing them for a bit longer.