[Hifihedgehog]

I bought the FiiO E17 and I have been using it for about two weeks now and I have not warmed up to its sound. I do not deny the fact that it has plentiful impact and a juicy warmth to it, but I continually hear a veil to the sound that I do not care for in any way, as if it is clouded over and smeared. I can understand why, in a few cases, some users have said that they prefer their unamped headphone outputs (i.e. MacBook Pro, Apple iDevice, etc.) over the FiiO E17 because, in my opinion, the snap and cut of the sound is dull. I would like to hear the clarity I remember from my HiFimeDIY DAC and Objective 2 amp, and this will simply not do because I am preferring listening out of my iPhone or Dell Venue 8 Pro tablet over the FiiO. Heaven forbid I had gone ahead and got the FiiO E07K, which some people remark as being warmer than the FiiO E17, which is already too warm and veiled for my detail-loving tastes. It looks like I'll be selling this on eBay soon and setting my sights on plan A of building a ODAC/O2 combo as I had thought in the beginning.

 

[Solrighal]

Fiio went the other way with the E18. I read that up to th E18 they'd been using Wolfson DAC's which, as you say, are kinda warm. With the E18 they wanted to try something different and elected to go with Texas Instruments DAC's.

I use the E18 with my M-100's & Q701's and can certainly say the sound is not warm but I can't say whether this is attributable to the E18 or the Q's.

Not much help I'm afraid. I've been searching for someone who owns the Q701's combined with mobile DAC/amp's and has been on a 'journey', If you catch my drift. I've been looking at the JDS Labs C5D but would love to audition it before taking the leap.

 

[snowshoe]

To be fair, the E17 can't really compare to an o2-odac. It's just a different animal. It's great for carrying around, but it's not going to give you the same power and clarity of an odac. It is a shade warm, but If you turn off the effects and mess around with the bypass switch you can get a reasonably neutral sound out of it.

 

[Solrighal]

To be fair, the E17 can't really compare to an o2-odac. It's just a different animal. It's great for carrying around, but it's not going to give you the same power and clarity of an odac. It is a shade warm, but If you turn off the effects and mess around with the bypass switch you can get a reasonably neutral sound out of it.

Can you tell me what is the next level up from Fiio E17/E18 in the portable world? I'd really like to hear just what's possible with these Q701's. Maybe A JDS Labs C5D? Or something from iBasso maybe?

 

[noobandroid]

Can you tell me what is the next level up from Fiio E17/E18 in the portable world? I'd really like to hear just what's possible with these Q701's. Maybe A JDS Labs C5D? Or something from iBasso maybe?

i like what JDS has to offer more than iBasso

 

[Solrighal]

Thanks mate. What is it you prefer about the C5D? Is it it's power or sound quality over my E18? Or maybe both? I definitely prefer the styling over the iBasso range.

 

[snowshoe]

I'm looking at the moment. I've made a few changes to my home system at the expense of my portable gadgets. Next on my list is either a Centrance Dacport, Cambridge Audio dacmagic (the little portable one), or the HRT Microstreamer. Not all work with mobile phones though. One of the great things about the E17 is that it's incredibly versatile. JDS Labs looks good, I don't know about iBasso. It may be taboo to say, but one of the better guides out there is still NwAvGuy's blog.

 

[Za Warudo]

I just got the DACport LX. Haven't had much time with it but I'll have impressions eventually. It's not really a portable amp since it only takes USB input and I'm not sure if it take OTG USB.

 

[snowshoe]

The Dacport lx isn't an amp at all, it's a dac. The Dacport is an amp/dac. I guess it depends what you mean by portable. For me, portable means I can at least throw it in my bag and hook it up to my laptop when I sit down. Then there are grades of portability..

Sorry this came out a little more directly than I meant to be. I'm not a member of the definition brigade, I am writing from my phone.

 

[Za Warudo]

The Dacport lx isn't an amp at all, it's a dac. The Dacport is an amp/dac. I guess it depends what you mean by portable. For me, portable means I can at least throw it in my bag and hook it up to my laptop when I sit down. Then there are grades of portability..



Sorry this came out a little more directly than I meant to be. I'm not a member of the definition brigade, I am writing from my phone.

 


The LX has the same class A amp section as the regular. The only difference is it lacks the potentiometer which makes it sound cleaner than the regular version.

see:
http://www.head-fi.org/t/473473/review-more-to-come-centrance-dacport-24-96-usb-dac-amp/450#post_9667202

 

[Solrighal]

Just a quick update for anyone who's maybe thinking of buying a pair of these cans but is daunted by reading through this thread.

I'm slowly but surely picking my way through this long thread. I've found some say that the Q's benefit from burn-in and some who say it doesn't. In my experience it certainly does.

Since forever one of my test albums has been Marianne Faithfull's album Broken English. I think it's a pretty dark yet lush recording. Anyway, I played it on day one, maybe about 3 hours in and Marianne's voice got quite screechy on pretty much every track. I also thought the bass wasn't how I remembered it. It was present but miles away, quietly rumbling.

I've now got about 30 hours on these babies and I'm listening to Broken English again and it's transformed. The screeching has gone and the bass player is in the same room now. It's as though the soundstage (which to me seemed huge to start with) has compressed, bringing the highs down and the lows up. It's all still well separated but the band's all together now. It's also much easier to differentiate between the kick drum and bass guitar (on first listening that was a bit of a mess if I'm honest).

I think that for people like me who are maybe not used to this level of resolution the airy effect on first audition kinda blinds you to those problems. I'm only really aware there were problems the other day now that I'm hearing it done right this time. And yet it's still airy.

The last time I owned open-back headphones it was a pair of Sennheiser HD595's. Again, they had an airy presentation (all open headphones do I guess, to some extent) but they were flat. I ended up hating them and sold them on pretty quickly. I didn't have a dedicated headphone amp in those days and I think that didn't help but they went loud enough, they were just boring. The Q's are anything but boring.

I finally managed to braid the cable but now, although it's short, it's also heavy. I think I know a man who can fix that for me.

Next step is a new amp. Not particularly because I need the power but I think these cans might benefit from a smoother DAC. From what I've read the DAC in my E18 is made by Texas Instruments and was chosen as a step-change in the Fiio sound (previously known to be quite warm and laid-back due to the use of Wolfson chips). Fiio, it seems wanted to try something different. I knew this when I bought the E18 but it was bought to pair with V-Moda M-100's (which have quite a dark signature). Anyway, I'm thinking (and reading) that the JDS Labs C5D might be perfect for me.

 

[tomb]

  The K/Q701/2/12 family is still a world-class headphone, despite all of the $1000+ flagships out there right now.

 

[Bogatyr]

Had my latest pair of Q701s for little over a month now. Three main concerns arose over the period of time: quiet bass, bright treble, uncomfortable headband. Today I decided to do the all-familiar mods.
 
First off, hacked away the headband bumps with an Xacto knife.
 

 
Added additional foam to the center of the drivers to shave off extra treble.
 

 
Made a pinhole through the bass port.
 

 
Strapped on Beyerdynamic headband.
 

 
Been playing Call of Duty 4 for the past few hours while listening to electronic music.
 
Headband comfort issue is gone, treble seems slightly smoother, bass is definitely good 10% punchier.
 
I wish I didn't have to massacre the headband, but I'd say it was worth it.
 
In the end, this was a good way to spend an hour, I'm debating whether to make the pinholes bigger but I don't want to reach the point where low end becomes too loose and flabby.

 

[eimis]

Is this the headband you're using? http://www.ebay.com/itm/190702655747 I've been wondering whether it would fit Q701

 

[Soundsgoodtome]

Is this the headband you're using? http://www.ebay.com/itm/190702655747 I've been wondering whether it would fit Q701

Better deal in Amazon I think