FiiO Santos
Sponsor: FiiO
Since 2011, the year that FiiO's first-gen E10 was released, it has been 10 years. Today, the brand new E10K-TC came with a strong XMOS+Type C combo.
Hello everyone. I am Santos from FiiO.
Today, I would like to talk about FiiO's latest portable DAC and headphone amplifier, the E10K Type C version.
The origin of the E10 series
Let's rewind the clock back to 2011 when FiiO released a DAC/Amp between desktop and portable uses, the E10. The compact 79mm×49.1mm×21mm body was so appropriate for outdoor and portable situations yet took up no extra space on desktop uses. No charging is required. Just connect it to a USB and it will start to work. At the time of the iPhone 4, we mainly relied on heavy notebooks. A little less weight was a great relief for us at that time. Certainly, the E10 was capable of handling most usage scenarios thanks to its robust internal decoding and amplifying abilities.
A legendary model, the E10K
In 2014, since the E10 was highly praised at home and abroad with its convenient design and ultra-high internal quality, FiiO released a brand-new iteration product, the E10K. The main upgrade of the E10K was the internal DAC chip. It has been upgraded to PCM 5102, while the amp scheme was changed to LMH6643 to optimize the sound quality while ensuring the driven capacity. This has stayed for seven years. In the past seven years, the E10K has repeatedly gone through challenges in the digital era. However, it kept attracting attention with great sales by precise positioning and excellent process design. If a product is not practical and functional enough, how can it stay on the market for seven years? In other words, the E10 has gone ahead of the trend. That's why it can still stand in today, is worth an upgrade iteration, and serves users along the way.
Why would we say it is advancing?
I believe that those who come from that time may remember how the early stage of the Internet was like at that time. It was a brutal and sightless market where manufacturers tried to compete against each other with their newly-developed products. It was at this time when the E10 joined the market with ultimate practicability. It effectively met the needs of higher audio quality. Today in 2021, the Mobile Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives. Different manufacturers are trying to explore this field, such as the birth of TNT, the application of smart screens, the concept of the "Internet of Everything". They are different in approach but equally satisfactory in result. When we review back from the E10 to E10K, and to today's leading character, the E10K Type C version, we can clearly get to know why it is advanced.
BACK TO PRODUCT
Back to the E10K TC, why do we still have to upgrade this product in 2021? The key point to this question is that with the audio specifications being improved, we need to follow up with the popular Type C connector.
First, let's take a look at the appearance of the E10K-TC. It has a totally different design from its sibling in the FiiO family, the K3. The K3 was designed with more rounded corners, while the E10 series has always been straight and tough. The brushed panel and the all-black body complement each other. Plus, the high consistency of various connectors, power/volume knob and trigger switch give us an impression of great portability and reliability.
Where are the spotlights as a functional product? And where are its improvements?
The main features of the E10K-TC are XMOS XUF208, two gain levels, Type C connector and headphone/coaxial/line outputs.
The BASS&GAIN switches, 3.5mm/coaxial/line-out ports are our old friends, so we are going to focus more on the XMOS XUF208 and Type C connector.
1) First of all, the XMOS upgrade is the most important part in the upgrade process of the internal architecture. The previous USB controller was TE5022, which supports up to 96kHz/24bit sampling rate for both the headphone output and coaxial output. But for the E10K-TC, it uses the flagship XMOS XUF208 which supports up to 384kHz/32bit sampling rate. And the coaxial output can reach 192kHz/24bit. I believe this grade is enough for most HiFi users in portable and desktop situations.
2) In terms of the external upgrade, we can get it just as its name implies, that is the Type C connector. You may already be very familiar with the Type C connector. So I would like to skip this part. When we are using it, we can feel the convenience in just a united connector without being annoyed by too many specifications.
3) In addition, the USB Audio class has been upgraded from 1.0 to 2.0. The purpose of the USB Audio upgrade is for higher sampling rate support. If you need it, you can go to the FiiO official website to download the driver.
Conclusion
Finally, let's make a brief conclusion. From the above discussions, we would be clearer about its functions and usage scenarios. Just connect the device to directly use it.
From the start, the E10 series was born for the future. At the same time, it is a user-based, convenient, and reliable audio partner. Nowadays, new technologies and trends, such as the XMOS solution and Type C connector are going to dig out more potential of it in the future. From 2011 to 2021, for the E10 line siblings, we poured all of our devotion. We believe they will be everlasting.
Okay, that's all for the FiiO E10K-TC. If you have any questions or suggestions, you are welcomed to leave me a message. I'm Santos from FiiO. See you next time. Bye~
Hello everyone. I am Santos from FiiO.
Today, I would like to talk about FiiO's latest portable DAC and headphone amplifier, the E10K Type C version.
The origin of the E10 series
Let's rewind the clock back to 2011 when FiiO released a DAC/Amp between desktop and portable uses, the E10. The compact 79mm×49.1mm×21mm body was so appropriate for outdoor and portable situations yet took up no extra space on desktop uses. No charging is required. Just connect it to a USB and it will start to work. At the time of the iPhone 4, we mainly relied on heavy notebooks. A little less weight was a great relief for us at that time. Certainly, the E10 was capable of handling most usage scenarios thanks to its robust internal decoding and amplifying abilities.
A legendary model, the E10K
In 2014, since the E10 was highly praised at home and abroad with its convenient design and ultra-high internal quality, FiiO released a brand-new iteration product, the E10K. The main upgrade of the E10K was the internal DAC chip. It has been upgraded to PCM 5102, while the amp scheme was changed to LMH6643 to optimize the sound quality while ensuring the driven capacity. This has stayed for seven years. In the past seven years, the E10K has repeatedly gone through challenges in the digital era. However, it kept attracting attention with great sales by precise positioning and excellent process design. If a product is not practical and functional enough, how can it stay on the market for seven years? In other words, the E10 has gone ahead of the trend. That's why it can still stand in today, is worth an upgrade iteration, and serves users along the way.
Why would we say it is advancing?
I believe that those who come from that time may remember how the early stage of the Internet was like at that time. It was a brutal and sightless market where manufacturers tried to compete against each other with their newly-developed products. It was at this time when the E10 joined the market with ultimate practicability. It effectively met the needs of higher audio quality. Today in 2021, the Mobile Internet has become an indispensable part of our lives. Different manufacturers are trying to explore this field, such as the birth of TNT, the application of smart screens, the concept of the "Internet of Everything". They are different in approach but equally satisfactory in result. When we review back from the E10 to E10K, and to today's leading character, the E10K Type C version, we can clearly get to know why it is advanced.
BACK TO PRODUCT
Back to the E10K TC, why do we still have to upgrade this product in 2021? The key point to this question is that with the audio specifications being improved, we need to follow up with the popular Type C connector.
First, let's take a look at the appearance of the E10K-TC. It has a totally different design from its sibling in the FiiO family, the K3. The K3 was designed with more rounded corners, while the E10 series has always been straight and tough. The brushed panel and the all-black body complement each other. Plus, the high consistency of various connectors, power/volume knob and trigger switch give us an impression of great portability and reliability.
Where are the spotlights as a functional product? And where are its improvements?
The main features of the E10K-TC are XMOS XUF208, two gain levels, Type C connector and headphone/coaxial/line outputs.
The BASS&GAIN switches, 3.5mm/coaxial/line-out ports are our old friends, so we are going to focus more on the XMOS XUF208 and Type C connector.
1) First of all, the XMOS upgrade is the most important part in the upgrade process of the internal architecture. The previous USB controller was TE5022, which supports up to 96kHz/24bit sampling rate for both the headphone output and coaxial output. But for the E10K-TC, it uses the flagship XMOS XUF208 which supports up to 384kHz/32bit sampling rate. And the coaxial output can reach 192kHz/24bit. I believe this grade is enough for most HiFi users in portable and desktop situations.
2) In terms of the external upgrade, we can get it just as its name implies, that is the Type C connector. You may already be very familiar with the Type C connector. So I would like to skip this part. When we are using it, we can feel the convenience in just a united connector without being annoyed by too many specifications.
3) In addition, the USB Audio class has been upgraded from 1.0 to 2.0. The purpose of the USB Audio upgrade is for higher sampling rate support. If you need it, you can go to the FiiO official website to download the driver.
Conclusion
Finally, let's make a brief conclusion. From the above discussions, we would be clearer about its functions and usage scenarios. Just connect the device to directly use it.
From the start, the E10 series was born for the future. At the same time, it is a user-based, convenient, and reliable audio partner. Nowadays, new technologies and trends, such as the XMOS solution and Type C connector are going to dig out more potential of it in the future. From 2011 to 2021, for the E10 line siblings, we poured all of our devotion. We believe they will be everlasting.
Okay, that's all for the FiiO E10K-TC. If you have any questions or suggestions, you are welcomed to leave me a message. I'm Santos from FiiO. See you next time. Bye~
