[Jonnoh]

just received my E7 and Ultrasone HFI-580's yesterday.  The pair is great and a good starter pack before I step up in the next couple months.  That said, I cant seem to find any solid info on hooking up my BX5a's to the E7 other than I shouldn't do it through the headphone jack.  Why?  I understand it sends power through the headphone jack and its going into active speakers, but whats it really going to do?  Anything actually noticeable?  Ive had the BX5a's hooked up to my laptops headphone port for months and its ok, granted its not the same power. 
 
So whats the deal?  I bought the E7 for a cheap DAC I could use at home and strictly for portable use once I upgrade to a better home DAC.  I had hoped to use this for the BX5a's and my Ultrasones.  If I really do need to hook up the monitors to the line out on the E7 then I'm not going to be able to keep it docked in an E9 when I want to switch to the monitors if I were to decide to go with the E9. 
 
I plan on purchasing some AKG 701's which is why I'm on the fence with either a cheaper E9, or just get a littledot mkiii or something similar.  I don't actually have an E9 as I held off until I'm absolutely sure, but if I cant have a maintenance free setup when switching from monitors to headphones then I probably wouldn't go with the E9. 
 
I dont know how well put together all of that info was but I hope it can help someone in helping me get the info I need. 
 
Jon

 

[kite7]

I'm using the E7 with my BX5a right now. I'm using the headphone output and it's darn loud with the volume on the E7 set to 10 and maximum on the monitors. It is somewhat trouble free switching from headphones to monitors when the E7 is docked on the E9. When the headphones are plugged into the E9, the preamp output is muted and when you unplug the headphones , the preamp signal will work. Basically, unplugging and plugging in headphones to any of the headphone ports will function as a switch to mute or unmute the outputs. I personally prefer a physical switch rather than unplugging my headphones every time which I want to switch to monitors, I'm only saying this because I've used a Audinst MX1 which has a switch. I doubt a line out adapter is necessary for the E7, my BX5a sounds great from the headphone output. I can't tell a difference compared to the line out of the E9 when the E7 is docked.