[Choobies]

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Well just plugged the e7 into my work computer running windows XP and selected it in the device manager and its a no go, i think the dac portion of my e7 may be dead, because it will charge through the usb port but will not play music through it, and like i said in my above post i used the camera kit to download pics with the supplied Fiio usb cable and with another so it cant be either of those.  Luckily i purchased it through a authorized retailer(micca) so hopefully i can get a new one because this thing is amazing with the l3 connected to my ipad.

Hey gmoney80,
 
For your iPad, do you notice any differences between using the L3 LOD versus using the Camera Connection Kit?
 
I wasn't sure that both worked with the iPad, or if there were any differences.

 

[sunny25]

FiiO E7 Review from WHAT HIFI !!!!
 
 
http://www.whathifi.com/video/fiio-e7-review

 

[DaBomb77766]

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Thanks for the input.  I keep hearing about noise issues with the Macbook headphone out, and I don't hear it.  I can crank the volume all the way up and I hear nothing.  I also tried some straight up sine wave bass out of Logic (music software), and it sounds clean to me.  Does there have to be music playing to hear it?  When do you notice it most?
 
As for clarity, impact, soundstage, etc. I'll just have to wait until I have an amp so I can compare.  I think it's a safe assumption that this forum isn't populated with crazy people, so I should hear a decent difference in sound quality.  I'm certainly enjoying my D2000s right now, though.  SO much better than my old Sony mdr-v600s. 
 

Well, I have an old first-gen macbook, and I must say the headphone port is pretty good.  It's at least as good as a Fiio E1/E5 through an iPod.

 

[k bright]

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Well, I have an old first-gen macbook, and I must say the headphone port is pretty good.  It's at least as good as a Fiio E1/E5 through an iPod.

 
Interesting.  I have no experience with other sources to compare, but this sounds more in line with what I hear.  Mine is a white Macbook, version 5,2.
 
So given that line noise and whatnot seems not to be an issue for me, I'm curious if that means I really need a DAC.  Would it be better to focus on the amp?  Maybe when I get around to buying a portable amp (I move around the house too much for a desktop amp), something like that new E11 would be better?  I have no idea if my assessment here make sense.
 
My headphones are Denon D2000s, btw.   edit:  put that in my sig now
 

 

[DaBomb77766]

Quote:

 
Interesting.  I have no experience with other sources to compare, but this sounds more in line with what I hear.  Mine is a white Macbook, version 5,2.
 
So given that line noise and whatnot seems not to be an issue for me, I'm curious if that means I really need a DAC.  Would it be better to focus on the amp?  Maybe when I get around to buying a portable amp (I move around the house too much for a desktop amp), something like that new E11 would be better?  I have no idea if my assessment here make sense.
 
My headphones are Denon D2000s, btw.   edit:  put that in my sig now
 

Nah, you'd probably want a DAC, you don't really want to amp from the headphone port directly.  I'd say get an E7 for now, or any other DAC that fits your needs...I don't think an E11 would make the headphone port sound "better," though it might make it sound better if you use the line-out with the E7 with the E11.  A bit of a roundabout way to do it though, and not particularly portable, but more portable than a full desktop amp.
 
But then again, you might not really need an amp at all.  The D2000s are pretty sensitive for full-sized headphones.

 

[k bright]

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Nah, you'd probably want a DAC, you don't really want to amp from the headphone port directly.  I'd say get an E7 for now, or any other DAC that fits your needs...I don't think an E11 would make the headphone port sound "better," though it might make it sound better if you use the line-out with the E7 with the E11.  A bit of a roundabout way to do it though, and not particularly portable, but more portable than a full desktop amp.
 
But then again, you might not really need an amp at all.  The D2000s are pretty sensitive for full-sized headphones.

Yeah, I'm probably going to stick with what I've got for now.  It sounds good to my ears.  Seems like I might need something a bit higher class to significantly improve on what I've got now, and that just isn't gonna be in the works for a good long while.
 
Thanks for the information.

 

[VioletConqueror]

For me I broke my head-phone jack a little bit so that might be the source of the noise/quality issues but I remember seeing some other people posting about it to. Mine is also maybe 3 or 4 years old so maybe they fixed some of their issues. I'm super pleased with my setup, sometimes I catch myself daydreaming in class about being back in my room with my music lol. I think a DAC is one of those things where your fine without it until you hear one and then what you have just doesn't seem to cut it anymore, thats what happened to me. I went to a little mini-meet and hear someone's ibasso d4 and a really nice big setup (c-2?) either way after that I couldn't get the sound out of my head and had to go out and get the E7.

 

[kalston]

woaw, that was in-depth indeed. Looks like I made the right choice, it sounded fine with my Superlux HD668b. 

 

[FuzzyD]

Unless Fiio plans to offer a firmware upgrade option to change the keylock feature, I'm probably going to sell my E7 (and then not purchase the E9 which I was planning on for home use with the E7). I find it that annoying. I don't want the screen to say on all the time and I don't want to have to hold down the Menu button and unlock the device every time I want to change the volume. I use the E7 in the office and sometimes want to quickly adjust the volume. The double press for volume even when the screen is already unlocked is also a bit annoying.
 
Feiao, would it be so hard to just add a screen-sleep feature that isn't an actual button-lock feature?

 

[Joost]

I totally agree. Should be simple enough to fix, I would think.

 

[VioletConqueror]

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the firmware can't be upgraded without special equipment. Feiao what kind of chip are you using for your rom and microcontroller (computer engineering nerd here)? I doubt the code would be hard to change to make the screen turn of but getting that change onto the device can be touchy (and sometimes risky).

 

[JamesFiiO]

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I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the firmware can't be upgraded without special equipment. Feiao what kind of chip are you using for your rom and microcontroller (computer engineering nerd here)? I doubt the code would be hard to change to make the screen turn of but getting that change onto the device can be touchy (and sometimes risky).

Yes, it need a special kit to upgrade the firmware, the microcontroller is come from ST semicondutor.

 

[JamesFiiO]

we will discuss with our engineer to see if we should upgrade in the new version of E7. thank a lot to everyone here.
 
Anyway, there are not different in SQ between different version now, we had sold out so many E7 and it is a very mature design.

 

[kalston]

Don't tell me there'll be a new version soon when I just bought mine

 

[DaBomb77766]

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Don't tell me there'll be a new version soon when I just bought mine

If there is a "new" version probably the only difference would be a screen sleep feature...not worth upgrading to a new one for, but it would be nice for newcomers.