[Cirkustanz]

My desktop motherboard has pretty bad audio.  The back port is not too bad, but my speakers are usually plugged into that.  My front port on my case has all kinds ofnoise (no surprise) and sounds horrible.
 
The little headphone port that is included with the inline remote of my speakers is worn out, and I don't want to fix it.
 
Which leads me to looking for some kind of desktop headphone solution!  
 
I'm newer to desktop audio, and I really don't intend on spending much.  Even for phones (the most important part if you ask me) I am kinda a budget guy.  The most expensive pair of headphones I'll probably ever buy would be a set of BeyerDynamic DT770 or DT990.  (I'm aware that one is open and the other is sealed...I am just wrestling with the fact that I generally prefer open, but sometimes sealed comes in handy, and I'm already happy with my Sennheiser 598's so a good sealed phone could come in handy)  I would also need to find someone that would be able to mod them anyway, since I would go crazy without a removable cable...so that purchase would not be for a while.
 
ANYWAYS  The E7 by FIIO would be beneficial of course because it is portable, but if my primary reason for wanting to purchase it is to use on the desktop, the format of the E9 seems more up my alley.  It even has a better volume knob.  But I'm confused on how they differ?  The E7 docks into the E9, but what is the point of that?  Unless I'm really missing something, the E9 is a usb dac/amp and so is the E7!
 
I wouldn't necessarily mind using a portable based device on the desktop, but if I bought an E9, would I ever have a use for an E7, other than portability?
 
I'd be open to recommendations for desktop dac/amps, definitely in the "budget" price range but I do like how the FIIO stuff looks so I think this might be a good place for me to start.
 
Cheers!

 

[billybob_jcv]

The E09K Is only a DAC if the E7K or E17 is in the dock. Otherwise it is only an amp.

 

[Cirkustanz]

Well that sucks!  I assumed it was a DAC since it has a USB in.
 
I watched a couple youtube videos and I would have zero interest in using the E9 with an E7 attached, when I was at home.
 
Guess I'll have to look at another product.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

 
ANYWAYS  The E7 by FIIO would be beneficial of course because it is portable, but if my primary reason for wanting to purchase it is to use on the desktop, the format of the E9 seems more up my alley.  It even has a better volume knob.  But I'm confused on how they differ?  The E7 docks into the E9, but what is the point of that?  Unless I'm really missing something, the E9 is a usb dac/amp and so is the E7!
 
I wouldn't necessarily mind using a portable based device on the desktop, but if I bought an E9, would I ever have a use for an E7, other than portability?

 

The E9 is not a DAC-HPamp, it's just a headphone amp. It has a USB port but that routs the digital signal from the computer into the docked E7. If there is no E7 docked into it, no sound comes out of the E9.

 

One of the reasons why the E9 came out is because of its higher output. As to why it has a dock that can interface with the E7, as opposed to the usual 3.5mm to RCA cable (which you can't use since the line out on the E7 is on its dock connector), is that at the time it was developed the X3 was probably already an idea within Fiio. The original X3 concept also used a dock connector and you can conveniently dock it into the E9 as originally intended. Later on that dock was scrapped in favor of using a 3.5mm coaxial output on top.  While the dock will make the X3 useful for desktop set-ups the top-mounted output on the production X3 helps when strapping it onto a portable DAC-HPamp.
 

 
I'd be open to recommendations for desktop dac/amps, definitely in the "budget" price range but I do like how the FIIO stuff looks so I think this might be a good place for me to start.

 
You can get the Ibasso D-Zero MkII - it's Android and iOS compatible so you can use it more conveniently as a portable, and whatever higher output the E9 has likely has a lot of distortion anyway. The original D-Zero can get my HD600 loud enough to cause hearing damage without the sound having too much distortion, and the MkII has a better amp circuit. 
 
However that's only for 2ch audio - USB DACs bypass the DSP chip, even on the motherboard. If your motherboard doesn't even have virtual surround, you might as well just get an external soundcard instead of a plain USB DAC since such a device would have a DSP chip. That can give you virtual surround for games.

 

[Shaffer]

FWIW, I have an E7. It's like a sonic eraser. Poor performance. To make things even better, its right channel died yesterday. Total junk, IMO.

 

[billybob_jcv]

The Monoprice headphone amp appears to be the Fiio E09K with a built-in DAC and no docking port:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=120&cp_id=12008&cs_id=1200801&p_id=11567&seq=1&format=2

 

[Cirkustanz]

The Monoprice headphone amp appears to be the Fiio E09K with a built-in DAC and no docking port:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=120&cp_id=12008&cs_id=1200801&p_id=11567&seq=1&format=2

 
That is very interesting...going to have to look into this!