[Cerebro]

VE custom cable - Junkosha Silver Litz, 60cm, 2.5mm, mmcx (2 pin available) £20 about 12 months ago.

I believe FiiO makes them but not sure if theres 2-Pin. Another option is custom order from tritonaudiocables , You might find them pricey but I've heard the Quality is Good.

Good to know there are some options. Although the ones from triton are indeed a bit pricey

 

[Ocelitgol]

what source are you guys using?
Phone? Flac? Tidal? Spotify or Deezer?

 

[NWLierly]

GPM (so AAC) - I ran a FLAC file through it the other day and was puzzled by the result - hardly extensive testing but it seemed to give it a little trouble. I am really tempted by the Plex Pass / Tidal Hifi bundle, but am rather invested in GPM

 

[WilliamLeonhart]

Been quite some time since I last felt this happy about a purchase decision. It truly is the stop gap between SQ and convenience. I have the cable cut short, so the ES stays nicely in my shirt pocket. It feels like nothing, and for sure the shorter cable cause less trouble than the original one.

 

[meringo]

ES100 -> 3M 14lbs wall velcro tape -> Periodic Ni Amp

@DanWiggins The ultimate portable DAC/AMP? Yes. The Answer is yes.

 

[redrol]

Maybe someone can help me with advice but I am actually very concerned about the thing where you aren't supposed to yank the audio jack while the ES100 is playing or you might damage the output channels.
I'd have bought one already if it weren't for this really odd decision.

 

[Pricklyears101]

Thanks for taking the time! Looking forward to the results.

Ok here are the results. And before i begin, this test is highly subjective, cuz i dont have golden ears and ymmv but i try to be as attentive as possible during the process.

Iphone 6 hp out vs iphone 6 dongle out vs iphone 6+es100 vs lg v20.

For some reason, i6 jack out seems a smidge better than dongle out but really insignificant. I6+es100, no loss in sq, no hollow typical bluetooth compressed sound. Even if it's aac, it's good enough, maybe even better than aptx i think. I threw in the v20 just for poops n giggles and of course, we all know how it's gonna go.

Takeaway...
The es100 is not gonna elevate ios users to lgv20 levels of sq. It will however, have very good eq to help out someone who has picky gear and is very anal about their preferred sound sig. Saying that, sq out of an iphone doesn't suck as i thought it would.
It may be of use for someone streaming 16/44 or higher music. I didn't try mqa, not a tidal guy.
I did try se vs bal out, and in this round, there isnt much of a discernible difference to matter. So there isnt much to miss out if you dont use bal out, unless you have hard to drive stuff.

But i think the main takeaway here, is to get rid of that dongle cuz i hated it immediately and it feels very fragile. No cable strain relief, you will definitely short the connection one day inserting the dongle to the phone, and there goes your day.

Hope this helps

 

[Pricklyears101]

Maybe someone can help me with advice but I am actually very concerned about the thing where you aren't supposed to yank the audio jack while the ES100 is playing or you might damage the output channels.
I'd have bought one already if it weren't for this really odd decision.

I wouldn't dare perform that test to give you a piece of mind, sorry mate. My advice is, just be careful, especially with an investment like this.
So far it hasn't happened to me yet and I'm gonna make sure it wont ever happen. Just to be safe

 

[Mouseman]

Maybe someone can help me with advice but I am actually very concerned about the thing where you aren't supposed to yank the audio jack while the ES100 is playing or you might damage the output channels.
I'd have bought one already if it weren't for this really odd decision.

The headphone jacks are pretty solid, so I wouldn't worry about accidentally pulling your cable out. I think it would require some effort to do so. So unless you're going to do a lot of hot swapping (and I'm not sure what the use case for that is), I wouldn't be worried. Just buy it, you'll be very happy.

I am also not going to test it out...I love my ES100 too much. I "misplaced" it last week, and almost had a panic attack hoping I hadn't lost it at the airport. Luckily, I found it.

 

[peter123]

ES100 -> 3M 14lbs wall velcro tape -> Periodic Ni Amp

@DanWiggins The ultimate portable DAC/AMP? Yes. The Answer is yes.

Hmm, looks like defeating the whole purpose of the ES100 (small and powerful enough for all IEM's and most headphones) to me but as usual YMMV.

 

[TooPoorForHiFi]

 

[meringo]

It's still a tiny little unit and clippable-- easily half the size of my R6 Pro and 1/4 the weight.... and able to power everything I own. Perfect for me, I suppose.

 

[rkw]

Hmm, looks like defeating the whole purpose of the ES100 (small and powerful enough for all IEM's and most headphones)

and double amping, not a good approach.

 

[meringo]

and double amping, not a good approach.

I don't see the problem? the amp(s) in the ES100 is feeding Nickel's 10 kOhm input impedance, so it's doing no current or power - just more voltage gain.

Sorry for upsetting the ES100 community. I won't post any modifications or alternative chains from now on. It's a great device on its own, for sure.

 

[monsieurfromag3]

I don't see the problem? the amp(s) in the ES100 is feeding Nickel's 10 kOhm input impedance, so it's doing no current or power - just more voltage gain.

Sorry for upsetting the ES100 community. I won't post any modifications or alternative chains from now on. It's a great device on its own, for sure.

Indeed the Ni was engineered to negate that issue. How does it sound? Compared to the ES100 alone?