[Elzizo]

One major difference after a day of listening I can say definitely, is that the ES100 does battery management much better. The Fiio BTR3 lasts about 6 hours. Please remember, I'm using 10 ohm IEMs. The ES100 lasts 10+ hours driving the same IEM. The hardware volume was set very low on the BTR3, so this for me is a major ding against the BTR3.

The lack of an app to control basic functionality, and the lack of an EQ are also starting to annoy me.

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

Just checked once again - EQ has a bug and in flat settings, it decreases volume... I don't hear any compression (I don't have test rig available now), but it's apparent volume change. I was wrong.
Filter selector still has a bug and after firmware, reinstall shows 2 options selected at the same time.

Also finally understood how this 2x voltage works - UI should be changed, it just increases maximum voltage if you set volume beyond -3dB to +2dB. Finally, I have enough SPL for HD650.
This is very unintuitive and really should be redesigned @wslee. For example, make an additional slider for overdriving (like another 12dB), but limit volume slider to what is actually possible with current output and settings selected. And while you are there - use only overdrive instead of EQ preamp, but make sure EQ settings change would never clip signal. User definable maximum volume also useful - one day I will burn SE846 by accident.

Switching between 2 ES100 on the same phone is annoying - it doesn't even show which device is which (only MAC).

On my LG V20, Bluetooth devices can be renamed local to the phone, so I have 2 ES100s, each with a different name - doesn't help when using the App though..

I agree on the volume limiter, similar to auto gain protection, attempt to boost volume and lower it before encountering any distortion.

 

[bavinck]

As instructions indicate for best sq to set device volume at max does this also mean not to use replay gain?

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

As instructions indicate for best sq to set device volume at max does this also mean not to use replay gain?

As long as the app doing the replay gain uses good math, this can actually help in some situations, normalizing before compression.

It's fine to use it or not.

 

[berzerk428]

As long as the app doing the replay gain uses good math, this can actually help in some situations, normalizing before compression.

It's fine to use it or not.

as somebody that has the ES100 and uses it with the V20, how close does the ES100 come to the V20?
Until recently my main source was a V20 too, but I broke it and am now deliberating if I should get a Note 9 + ES100 or a V30..

 

[MyPants]

ES100 just arrived and I'm surprised by the tiny box! Impressions with CA Comet and iSINE20 coming soon.

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

as somebody that has the ES100 and uses it with the V20, how close does the ES100 come to the V20?
Until recently my main source was a V20 too, but I broke it and am now deliberating if I should get a Note 9 + ES100 or a V30..

I only have a few sets of headphones these days, here is my brief take on each:

Beyerdynamic T1 (600 Ohm)
Pretty thin on both, slightly better but not very usable on the V20 directly. precise but a little glarey and no warmth, even with EQ, dynamics lost. Needs a real Amp basically.

Audio Technica MSR7 (35 Ohm)
Pretty good on both, maybe a slightly more accurate edge on the V20 output, but good enough to use on the ES100 more often in portable use, extra functionality from post eq, ambient mode and fewer wires. Great sound quality from the ES100 here, even with the single ended output.

Symphonio Dragon 2+ (32 Ohm balanced)
Actually better on the ES100 when used in balanced mode - perfect for it really, practically lives on the ES100 now, the balanced mode seems to bring these to life - they aren't accurate enough to reveal the DAC differences I believe, but very musical and detailed enough for outdoor listening (I like to hear my surrounds while I also listen to good quality music.) balanced definitely better than using the single ended adapter for these buds.

Focal Elear re-cabled with 2.5mm balanced silver plated copper(80 Ohm)
Almost useless on the ES100... I posted here recently about this, it's passable on the ES100, volume is sufficient, but the match between the V20 output and this combination is just streets ahead in all respects, this combo seems to have well balanced, nuanced detail way beyond what even my T1 with a desktop DAC and Amp can do. This is my main rig at home now, I hope my V20 has a long life - these cans will always be paired with an ESS DAC from now on, preferably the 9218 since I just love the balance of detail, sub-bass depth, instrument realism, spatial positioning and musicality. These cans are very sensitive to how they are amped and I just got lucky with the V20, blew me away as soon as I heard it and it's only gotten better with re-cable and burn in.

 

[berzerk428]

I only have a few sets of headphones these days, here is my brief take on each:

Beyerdynamic T1 (600 Ohm)
Pretty thin on both, slightly better but not very usable on the V20 directly. precise but a little glarey and no warmth, even with EQ, dynamics lost. Needs a real Amp basically.

Audio Technica MSR7 (35 Ohm)
Pretty good on both, maybe a slightly more accurate edge on the V20 output, but good enough to use on the ES100 more often in portable use, extra functionality from post eq, ambient mode and fewer wires. Great sound quality from the ES100 here, even with the single ended output.

Symphonio Dragon 2+ (32 Ohm balanced)
Actually better on the ES100 when used in balanced mode - perfect for it really, practically lives on the ES100 now, the balanced mode seems to bring these to life - they aren't accurate enough to reveal the DAC differences I believe, but very musical and detailed enough for outdoor listening (I like to hear my surrounds while I also listen to good quality music.) balanced definitely better than using the single ended adapter for these buds.

Focal Elear re-cabled with 2.5mm balanced silver plated copper(80 Ohm)
Almost useless on the ES100... I posted here recently about this, it's passable on the ES100, volume is sufficient, but the match between the V20 output and this combination is just streets ahead in all respects, this combo seems to have well balanced, nuanced detail way beyond what even my T1 with a desktop DAC and Amp can do. This is my main rig at home now, I hope my V20 has a long life - these cans will always be paired with an ESS DAC from now on, preferably the 9218 since I just love the balance of detail, sub-bass depth, instrument realism, spatial positioning and musicality. These cans are very sensitive to how they are amped and I just got lucky with the V20, blew me away as soon as I heard it and it's only gotten better with re-cable and burn in.

thank you for your impressions, I think I'll just get the Note 9 and pair my AGK N5005 (18 Ohm) to it via the ES100 for commuting whilst using my soon-to-arrive DX200 at work : )
would be surprised if I really noticed a big difference

 

[bidn]

thank you for your impressions, I think I'll just get the Note 9 and pair my AGK N5005 (18 Ohm) to it via the ES100 for commuting whilst using my soon-to-arrive DX200 at work : )
would be surprised if I really noticed a big difference

Hi berzerk428,

If you can afford it, make sure to get the version with the unmatched 512 GB base UFS storage!
I have been owning a Note 9 since about 10 days (pre-ordered and received on Aug. 24), never have I have been impressed by a phone this much, and never loved one this much, competition PCs vs smartphones is getting hot...
I love its super fast CPU, 4000 mAh battery, but most of all its big and super fast base storage of 512 GB (+ additional card or 400 or 512 GB... you can get 1 TB of storage in your phone...), ...
Now I can put on it not only many more directories of music album (mostly lossless, ordered by genre),
but even a lot of audiobooks and have the luxury of choosing out of much more choice,
all of this with me all the time wherever I may be...

(And with the S-pen like usual you don't have to type text, but just write normally and the handwriting is automatically OCRed, for as many languages as you set up,
I have no other choice as I have big fingers and can hardly succeed in typing on small screens like those of smartphones).

Note 9 [512 GB] + SD card [400 or 512 GB] + ES100 + IEM = most practical and most mobile solution for me ...

 

[J The Killer]

So ES100 would sound better than straight out of Note 9?

 

[niron]

Finally received the second ES100.

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

So ES100 would sound better than straight out of Note 9?

I suspect depending on your headphones, most portable headphones are going to sound better on the ES100 with a balanced cable than using the output straight from the Note 9, considering how brilliant that phone is at everything else, this would be a great match.

 

[bavinck]

As long as the app doing the replay gain uses good math, this can actually help in some situations, normalizing before compression.

It's fine to use it or not.

Specifically neutron, which I am sure does it right

 

[PiSkyHiFi]

Specifically neutron, which I am sure does it right

Definitely, I think Neutron gets just about everything right for an audiophile, the cross feed actually works very well too. I do love using the EQ on the ES100 though since it serves all phone audio and seems to be good enough for portable use, certainly better than trying to use a general eq filter app within Android.

 

[MyPants]

Doing a little testing with the ES100 and some 250ohm DT770s that I modded to balanced. In double-voltage mode it sounds surprisingly good. Tighter bass than I'd expect while at the same time exhibiting less of the shouty character I associate with the DT family.

I've also had a chance to run it with T20RPs and Pinnacle P1s, being generally pleased with both pairings. The T20s sound somewhere in the middle of their scalability range while the P1s really shined in a way that usually requires a lot more amp. So far I'm pleased and I'm really impressed with the depth of the app. Radsone included a ton of options with surprisingly thorough explanations for some of them.