[chicolom]

(^ please "sign" the petition if interested ^)
 
 
Dear FiiO,
 
 
As you know, popularity in audiophile headphones has grown a lot in recent years.  New products are coming out all the time (including those by FiiO) to fill new roles for this growing headphone community.  However, there is still one large area of headphone usage that has been lacking high quality audio products to meet the needs of its users.  I'm referring to the gaming market.
 
Let me explain.  All the owners of audiophile headphones enjoy being able to pair their headphones with high quality amps and DACs when listening to music.  There is no shortage of high quality products available on the market at all price points to meet their needs.  It should be noted that a significant portion of these people also enjoy using their audiophile headphones for gaming (and watching movies).  If you want proof this, just look to Mad Lust Envy's Headphones + Gaming Guide/Thread - which is one of the largest threads on Head-Fi with well over One Million Views.
 
Unlike the music-listening community though, when it comes to gaming there is a painful lack for comparable high quality products for people to pair with their audiophile headphones.  In fact, the only real options for people are devices made by companies such as Turtle Beach, Astro Gaming, and Tritton.  Most of these devices are not "audiophile grade" and feature disappointing DAC sections, amplifier sections, and poor SNR ratios, etc.  A lack of options on the market means gamers are essentially forced to choose between whichever device disappoints the least ("Which device has less hiss?")  New people join threads like Mad Lust Envy's every day asking for recommendations on such a device, and we have no choice but to recommend the aforementioned devices, because they are the ONLY options available.
 
Right now in the headphone community there is a gaping hole in the market for an audiophile company to come in and introduce an audiophile grade device (DAC/amp with virtual surround sound) which gamers can pair with their audiophile headphones when gaming.  Based of FiiO's proven track record of making high quality and affordable audiophile products, they seem poised as an ideal company to introduce such a device - and there is a market for such a device (see that aforementioned 1300 page thread with ~1,180,000 views and counting). 
 
 
If such a device were properly developed, implemented the right features, and was up to FiiO's usual audiophile standards, it would easily wipe out the current weak competition and become the #1 recommendation among people who game with headphones.
 
 
Thank you for your time FiiO,
Chicolom
 
 
 
Here are some features the device would need:
 

1. + Optical/toslink input
2. + Support for Dolby Digital 5.1 decoding
3. + Support for Virtual Surround Sound encoding (such as Dolby Headphone, GenAudio Astoundsound, etc.)
4. + Audiophile grade DAC section WITH a line-out
5. + Headset and chat support
6. ...

 
Here are some additional features requests for the device:
 

1. + Multiple digital inputs
2. + HDMI input
3. + Digital Equalizer
4. + Support for DTS decoding
5. + Digital output of processed signal
6. ...

 

[1llest]

An Astro Mixamp alternative? Im in!

 

[AxelCloris]

I'm hopping on board this train. I'd also appreciate a quality built in amp. Even if they reuse the amp portion of the E12, I'd still love it. My E12 is super impressive.

 

[Evshrug]

I'd be super happy with something that conceptually is just an E17 with Dolby Headphone (or some other form of virtual surround), but any extra magic FiiO could come up with would just be extra great!

I fully expect this thread to take on a life of it's own... Well introduced Chico!

 

[DADDYDC650]

How about multiple Optical/toslink inputs? PC + PS4 + Xbox One FTW! AMP should be powerful enough to drive headphones with ease such as the DT 990, MA900, Philips X1 and Q701. Almost forgot, we need a bass boost function! 2-3 levels of bass would be grand. A built in EQ?

 

[SaLX]

INB4... oh well. FiiO this could may well be a winner. Please think on it; it would strengthen and diversify your line of excellent products, and console gamers (we are legion) would love it.

 

[Fegefeuer]

An E17 with Dolby Headphone or an E17 like device with Dolby Headphone AND even DTS Input (that would be perfect, guys)? 
 
I'm very in and I'll preorder or pay upfront as well. 

 

[DJINFERNO806]

I can't believe we didn't do this sooner. In b4 Astro and Turtlebeach get crushed...

Additionally I think as a better open alternative to Dolby headphones, GenAudio and their astoundsound DSP for virtual surround would be a fit. And they are open to implementing their technology on any consumer device with a simple DSP chip. I've heard some demos and I have to say it sounds Bette than Dolby and sbx.

I know AMD will be using this in their Trueaudio DSP chip however on an external device it will be so flexible. It would carry both 3D coordinate hrtf and traditional pre mixed 5.1 hrtf.

Anyway just another option.

I'm gonna post a link to this on OCN to get more views and posts hopefully.

 

[chicolom]

Additionally I think as a better open alternative to Dolby headphones, GenAudio and their astoundsound DSP for virtual surround would be a fit. And they are open to implementing their technology on any consumer device with a simple DSP chip. I've heard some demos and I have to say it sounds Bette than Dolby and sbx.

I know AMD will be using this in their Trueaudio DSP chip however on an external device it will be so flexible. It would carry both 3D coordinate hrtf and traditional pre mixed 5.1 hrtf.

Anyway just another option.

 
Good point. 
 
I'm all for more DSP options, and from what I heard of astoundsound it sounds good.  I know GenAudio is looking for consumer electronic devices to partner/pair there tech with.  I thought of listing SBX Pro as a potential option for the DSP, but I figured Creative wouldn't want another hardware company competing with them by using their tech on other hardware, but I don't know.
 
Anyways, genaudio isn't a hardware company - it's a middleware/software company (similar to Dolby), so that is promising.

 

[Zack117]

If FiiO ever releases such a device, I'd instantly buy it as long as it's not more expensive than 300€... to hell with it. If the DAC is at least as good as the E17 I'm going to replace it anyway. But please, please do not forget integrated chat functionality over USB.

 

[SouDesu]

This would be glorious!
Fund it now! ...please.

 

[Fegefeuer]

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

The real strength of Genaudio lies in allowing the developer to render binaural audio with coordinates in the 3D space IF he develops with it. Right now WWISE is probably the only middleware solution to have that plugin included and allow devs to cater to binaural audio. Fortunately it's a very widely used middleware solution (think of Dishonored, Metal Gear Rising etc...) We need FMOD and Miles to include that plugin as well and then we could be in for a superb ride. Thief 4 will be the first game! (only 6 weeks to go)
 
It's DSP seems to be no slouch either so I'd welcome a Astoundsound DSP too. Remember that an external dsp can only work with the speaker mix the game delivers. Of course I am not too stupid to realize that this is what we actually want from FiiO's device but don't confuse this with the above.

 
What are your price expectations? For me it would be between an E17 and a X3. Would be willing to pay a bit more as well but I don't think the general target should be a 300 bucks device.

 

[martin vegas]

Count me in..it would be good if it worked with headsets over usb aswell, so you could use a pc headset with your console!

 

[AxelCloris]

 
What are your price expectations? For me it would be between an E17 and a X3. Would be willing to pay a bit more as well but I don't think the general target should be a 300 bucks device.

 
Since they'd have to license the technology in most cases, I imagine that it would be more expensive than the E17, but not by any great lengths. If it's a desktop version then they'd save money on the battery components. If they go mobile like the E17 then it'd probably be a bit more than the desktop version or have some trade-off, like a lower grade opamp or whatnot. If I had to take a wild stab, considering the price of other devices on the market, I'd guess somewhere around $180 or less.

 

[chicolom]

 

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

The real strength of Genaudio lies in allowing the developer to render binaural audio with coordinates in the 3D space IF he develops with it. Right now WWISE is probably the only middleware solution to have that plugin included and allow devs to cater to binaural audio. Fortunately it's a very widely used middleware solution (think of Dishonored, Metal Gear Rising etc...) We need FMOD and Miles to include that plugin as well and then we could be in for a superb ride. Thief 4 will be the first game! (only 6 weeks to go)
 
It's DSP seems to be no slouch either so I'd welcome a Astoundsound DSP too. Remember that an external dsp can only work with the speaker mix the game delivers. Of course I am not too stupid to realize that this is what we actually want from FiiO's device but don't confuse this with the above.

 
What are your price expectations? For me it would be between an E17 and a X3. Would be willing to pay a bit more as well but I don't think the general target should be a 300 bucks device.

 
 
That sounds reasonable.
 
 
I thought about it and it would almost make sense to offer two different tiers of a device:
 
One device being the basic version, with had all the basic core functionality needed to beat the competition and came at an affordable price that made it an easy recommendation to give.
 
The other device would be the more deluxe/premium "Plus" version for the enthusiasts, which did everything the basic version did but added in some of the additional features, like more input/output options, more support for different formats, more customization to the sound , maybe came in more of a "desktop" chassis, etc.  So stuff that wasn't crucial for the basic device (and which would raise the price defeating the point of it becoming the go-to-recommendation), but which would be appreciated by the headphone/gaming enthusiasts.
 
 
With two SKUs, you wouldn't need to compromise the price and affordability OR the performance and features by trying to force everything into one device.
 
 

  Count me in..it would be good if it worked with headsets over usb aswell, so you could use a pc headset with your console!

 
To work with USB headsets, do you mean a USB input that would function as sort of a converter adapter that basically performed the opposite function as one of these things?