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Not sure if there's a 3.5 line input on the back (not at home atm). I forgot to mention it's the FiiO9K.. (I ordered the original E9, but they messed up the order, so I can still send it back). Without the E7 in place, there's no sound coming via the E9 at all. I thought you needed the E7 for it to work properly. If I turn on the E9 with the E7 together the only thing I can do is turn up the volume a bit on the e9. There's also a slight static noice when there's no music playing through the headphones.
Fiio E09K model, cool
The E09K can work as a simple headphone amplifier without the E7 (or E17) hooked up (docked) to the E09K.
Just run an analog (wave) signal to the AUX IN (RCA) on the back of the E09K and plug the headphone into the headphone jack.
Need to make sure on the front of the E09K the switch is set to AUX IN (not DOCK IN).
I'm guess this setup works wither the E7 is docked or not, as long as you have the front switch set to "AUX IN"
To connect your motherboard's analog audio out to the E09K, need to use a stereo mini-jack (male) to RCA (red/white) cable
Docking an E7 (or E17) to the E09K add the ability for the E09K to work with a digital (zeros & ones) audio signal (USB port input).
The digital signal goes from the E09K's USB input thru the E7 and the E7's DAC (Digital to Analog Converter) changes the signal to analog,
the signal is sent out of the E7 and back to the E09K, the signal then goes thru the E09K's headphone amplifier and then to the E09K's headphone jack.
you need to have the switch on the front of the E09K set to DOCK IN for the E09K to use the E7's DAC
The E7 on it's own comes with it's own USB (digital) and analog input and has a headphone that is not as powerful as the E09K.
E7 head amp. is rated up to 300-Ohm, the E09K's head amp. is rated up to 600-Ohm.
The AKG K601 is a 120-Ohm headphone, so will work with the E7 head amp. and the E09K's head amp.
Your motherboard comes with a low cost DAC, which feeds an analog signal to the motherboards analog outputs (Green, orange, black)
Using USB bypass the motherboard's DAC, allowing the use of the E7 DAC (a better DAC).
I believe there is a Fiio employee on Head-fi going under the username "feiao", try sending feiao a private message, might be able to offer more help.