TheKonig
New Head-Fier
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2011
- Posts
- 2
- Likes
- 0
I was getting bored of how low the sound was on my in-ears, so I started looking for something to solve this, for a fairly cheap price. I searched the internet and got to know about this manufacturer who built earphone amplifiers. It seemed like a good idea to me so I bought the Fiio e5, for about 20 Euros and I’m going to review it for you.
Specs:
Output Power: 150 mW (16 ohms Loaded); 12 mW (300 ohms Loaded)
Signal to Noise Ratio: More than 95 dB (A Weight)
Distortion: Less than 0.009% (10 mW)
Frequency Response: 10 Hz - 100 kHz
Suitable Headphone Impedance: 16 ohms - 300 ohms
Weight: 30g
Power Supply:build-in 200mAh rechargerable battery
Dimensions: 44.2mm x 38 mm x 12.6 mm
Preamp Opamp: OPA2338UA
Poweramp Chip: TPA6130A
When you plug the amplifier in you can immediately notice differences, the sound is much louder and has a lot more Bass, especially if you turn the on the Bass boost switch.
I’m sure more expensive amps will perform better, but in terms of value for money the Fiio is very good. It gave a new life to my music collection, and made me love my music even more now that I had proper bass sound.
But, being a cheap device, not everything is good, on quieter parts of music’s you can hear a buzz, although that buzz isn’t noticeable when you’re listening to fast, loud rock songs.
The build quality could also be better, the plastic it’s made of is quite good and almost feels like metal to the touch but there are some big gaps between the parts, and, by only having a spring in one side, the clip feel quite flimsy.
The battery lasted 3-4 day, listening to music 2+ hours a day, but sometimes it won’t even last me for a day, because sometimes I forget to turn it off and it doesn’t turn off by itself, even if you remove the ear-phones. I consider this a major issue because, for several times, I wanted to listen to music on the bus and couldn’t because it was out of battery, and with that much noise it was impossible to hear music.
Accessories
The box contains two male-male 3.5mm cable, one longer and one shorter, a usb cable for charging and a Chinese/English manual.
If you are looking for an amp for under 20 Euros I definitely recommend this amp. I don’t think you’ll find something better for this price.
Score: 7/10
Specs:
Output Power: 150 mW (16 ohms Loaded); 12 mW (300 ohms Loaded)
Signal to Noise Ratio: More than 95 dB (A Weight)
Distortion: Less than 0.009% (10 mW)
Frequency Response: 10 Hz - 100 kHz
Suitable Headphone Impedance: 16 ohms - 300 ohms
Weight: 30g
Power Supply:build-in 200mAh rechargerable battery
Dimensions: 44.2mm x 38 mm x 12.6 mm
Preamp Opamp: OPA2338UA
Poweramp Chip: TPA6130A
When you plug the amplifier in you can immediately notice differences, the sound is much louder and has a lot more Bass, especially if you turn the on the Bass boost switch.
I’m sure more expensive amps will perform better, but in terms of value for money the Fiio is very good. It gave a new life to my music collection, and made me love my music even more now that I had proper bass sound.
But, being a cheap device, not everything is good, on quieter parts of music’s you can hear a buzz, although that buzz isn’t noticeable when you’re listening to fast, loud rock songs.
The build quality could also be better, the plastic it’s made of is quite good and almost feels like metal to the touch but there are some big gaps between the parts, and, by only having a spring in one side, the clip feel quite flimsy.
The battery lasted 3-4 day, listening to music 2+ hours a day, but sometimes it won’t even last me for a day, because sometimes I forget to turn it off and it doesn’t turn off by itself, even if you remove the ear-phones. I consider this a major issue because, for several times, I wanted to listen to music on the bus and couldn’t because it was out of battery, and with that much noise it was impossible to hear music.
Accessories
The box contains two male-male 3.5mm cable, one longer and one shorter, a usb cable for charging and a Chinese/English manual.
If you are looking for an amp for under 20 Euros I definitely recommend this amp. I don’t think you’ll find something better for this price.
Score: 7/10
