I agree with you about the sound compared to Qudelix to a certain extent. For me, it depends on the earphones I'm connecting to it. I'm listening to it right now after my Qudelix's battery got low; so I'm recharging it now. Swapped in the ES100 and I'm noticing a fuller bass, smoother mids and highs; using my KZ ZAX ( which I was using with the Qudelix prior to its battery getting low ). There's definitely something special about those dual AK dac chips used in the ES100. My humble advice is that if someone owns multiple iems, that they get both the ES100 and the Qudelix and compare both dac/amps with all the earphones in their collections. After 3 years of owning the ES100, I can still wholeheartedly rec it for its SQ. Yeah, I totally admit that I prefer the easier firmware updates on the Qudelix app (sad that Radsone hasn't done so...honestly, it's the only major flaw for me with the ES100). But with some iems, the ES100 definitely works better, imho
I recently purchased an ES100 to replace my Fiio BTR1. The main goals were portability and range since I use it in the gym with Final Audio E2000's. Sound quality was less critical. I was, however, curious if it could stand up to a wired DAC/Amp setup since that is often cumbersome. I'm not an experienced audiophile so don't take this as an expert comparison. I just wanted to see if I could tell a difference.
For the comparison I used a Chord Mojo. I know this isn't a fair comparison but I wanted a good reference. On the EarStudio jitter correction, DCT, EQ, and cross-feed settings were turned off. I also forced LDAC. JH13V2's (FreqPhase at 3/5th's) and a FLAC audio source were used in both cases. I was shocked to find a very noticeable difference in sound. The Chord Mojo was significantly more detailed, brighter, and more neutral with better separation. On the ES100 the bass was way more prominent and more bloated. The mid's were repressed and in general detail was lost or washed out. I'm sure a large part of the difference could be attributed to the fact that, even with LDAC, audio is still being compressed. If I'm sitting down for extended periods I would grab the Chord Mojo every time.
Now the sound from the ES100 is still very good and portability can't be matched. It's perfect for the gym or when moving about. The range was marginally better than the BTR1 but sound is a big improvement.
@eldarko Have you tried the DAC filters? The short delay ones will clean things up a little (just don't expect miracles)!
Thanks for the comparison with Mojo, very useful data point for me. Despite its shortcomings I probably use the es100 as much as all my other sources combined, just for the incredibly unobtrusive profile, and the bass boost is very useful for balancing some of my shoutier sets.
Looks like I had Sharp Delay checked NOT Short Delay / Sharp Roll Off. I'll see if that makes a difference.
Don't get me wrong I really enjoy the ES100 and it's perfect for the intended purpose. The Mojo is highly regarded for SQ and just seemed like an interesting reference. There was probably a small part of me trying to justify the money invested in the Mojo. A blind test would've eliminated any bias but I was convinced after flipping them multiple times.
Has anyone had problems with charging this? I have a V2 and I've had nothing but issues recently with it charging. It will sit on the charger and not charge. It will be stuck at 30 percent. If it goes past that it may go to 50 percent but it has trouble going beyond that, and it may even DROP below that while still on the charger according to the app. The Charger Mode is on NORMAL and the Power Mode is on NORMAL. I don't understand why it doesn't charge. Also when it is disconnected from the phone, it seems to be not charging as well.
I have it on the USB charger in the car too, and it doesn't seem to charge at all in the car.
I did a reset on the unit, it seemed to charge until 99%, then stopped, and then it had problems charging again once it got back down to about 30 percent.
Been listening to my HiFiMan Deva via balanced from the ES100 and it’s blowing my mind it’s so good. And so portable that I don’t want to plug back in to the desktop rig. Coming up on 3 years with the ES100 and not a single problem. Still original firmware. Happy tunes.
Has anyone had problems with charging this? I have a V2 and I've had nothing but issues recently with it charging. It will sit on the charger and not charge. It will be stuck at 30 percent. If it goes past that it may go to 50 percent but it has trouble going beyond that, and it may even DROP below that while still on the charger according to the app. The Charger Mode is on NORMAL and the Power Mode is on NORMAL. I don't understand why it doesn't charge. Also when it is disconnected from the phone, it seems to be not charging as well.
I have it on the USB charger in the car too, and it doesn't seem to charge at all in the car.
I did a reset on the unit, it seemed to charge until 99%, then stopped, and then it had problems charging again once it got back down to about 30 percent.
You could try draining the battery to zero and see if that wakes it up, mine has always been a bit twitchy when it comes to displaying how much power it has left (it says it has less than it actually has, but touch wood it doesn't have the issue of not charging at all). Before I drained it the power indicator would drop from 100% to about 80% as soon as I started it up from full charge (I have it set to shut down when disconnected from the power source), now it drops to about 88% on start-up.
I concur. If you want a small metallic coloured sophisticated balanced (and now also unbalanced) USB 24 bit 192 kHz DAC which doesn't need a (separate) amp with an app to manage it, then the E1DA PowerDAC V2.1 is an excellent choice. It's $80.99 on Linsoul and $73.99 on AliExpress. I love my PowerDAC V2 ($59.00 when in stock at Linsoul) and have it mounted in my headphone stand.
Sorry if I am asking some obvious questions…. Basic goal is to use an ES100 in an automobile to provide Bluetooth capability in a a car that does not support Bluetooth.
My son wants to use an ES100 in his car so he can easily connect his phone to the car stereo via Bluetooth (his car is old and does not natively support Bluetooth). Ideally he would have the ES100 permanently hidden away in his center console, with a power cord always connected. He would like to know if it is possible to configure the ES100 to automatically turn on when power is applied when the car is turned on, and to automatically turn off when power is shut off when the car is turned off.
He is hearing a lot of noise when he applies power from the car to the ES100, so he was wonderIng if others have encountered this and if so are there any power filtering solutions that can be used in a car.
Been a while since I used mine but there is a "car mode". You need to click the battery meter in the app to bring up the menu (see circled part in screenshot). The option says "Auto power off when charger disconnected" and mentions the use case where you are using the aux input in your car. Hope this helps.
He is hearing a lot of noise when he applies power from the car to the ES100, so he was wonderIng if others have encountered this and if so are there any power filtering solutions that can be used in a car.
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