[HiCZoK]

I've experimented a little bit and actually I think e10k sounds best at 16bit 44khz... I was using 24bit 96khz windows settings all this time just because it was the highest setting. But most of my 320 mp3's and flacs are in 44khz (and 16bit I guess). Winamp was set to "allow 24 bit" and "allow surround sound" so I also disabled those two. yes -replay gain is disabled.
 
The images represent my current settings. Dolby and dts are disabled ebcause e10k don't support that format so I unchecked it.
 
is that right? Or is it wiser to use 24/96 ? Thanks for the input


 
This way it should be also using less cpu.
Btw. Is there any advantage in using usb3 ?

 

[Arvan]

Revieved my unit yesterday. The idéa was to replace my HRT headstreamer. I wanted something with line-out and volume control and input/outputs in the right way. aka at the back and at the front. HRT headstremer has everything on one side kinda like the original O2 has. It´s so damn hard to use and looks like garbage on your desk. Why i bought it in the first place i don´t know but it sounds rather good and was at the time the only real option for me. 
 
E10k is way better. It has an impressive ammount of power for a usb only device. With high gain it powers 150-250 ohm headphones like a champ and does not sound underpowered. I guess with 300+ you will start to suffer. But here the line out comes in. 
 
It handles iems great as well. On low gain there is no noise that i can hear and it drives my loved TDK ie800 which are 10 ohms like a champ. 
 
Is it the best dac/amp in the world? No, but it sure is good enough for alot of people out there. And just look at the price.. It´s money well spend for most people with "normal" headphones. I don´t have anything with extreme impedance but from 10-250 i think it does most headphones good.
 
I think you come to a certain point in this hobby where products get good enough. Where upgrades becomes less and less noticable to the ear ( on paper yes ) but what you can actually hear. This is the first dac/amp combo many people will buy and for many it will be the last. It´s just good enough. When aproaching highend stuff where headphones cost 1000 USD+ well.. i don´t know. I am a strong believer in placebo effect and just because something is more expensive it does not really have to be better. Get this, spend money on different cans is my philosophy for what it´s worth
 
It´s better than the pro-ject headbox usb, Arcam R-pac, Headstreamer and the Asus Xonar U7. And it´s cheaper and more versitile then all of them (exept the U7 ) but the U7 has so many other problems it´s not really a competitor. It´s cheap and works great. Everybody coming in to this hobby/interest/life of headphone audio should pick this one up since it´s just so damn worth the money. 
 
This is a first impressions ramble and it might change during the time of use. But i doubt it really. I did not think it would be as good as it is therefore my enthusiasm.
 
Let´s just end this ramble with a photo.
 

 

[Paku]

I recently got the FiiO E10K for my PC and I have a few questions as I'd like to know exactly how it works. I'm just using the headphone out and my PC is running Windows 10 with the built-in drivers, so in my playback devices I get a "SPDIF Interface" on a "FiiO USB DAC-E10".
 
1) The E10K does not support bitstreaming or decoding of any DD/DTS tracks correct? And it does not have the ability to send 5.1 (or higher) over the USB, only stereo?
 
2) Then how do applications treat this SPDIF interface? Is it detected automatically as a stereo or 5.1 connection?
 
3) There seems to me to be somewhere where the audio is being downmixed, e.g. if I send out 5.1 from MPC-HC the output on the headphone jack is still downmixed stereo, so where does this downmixing happen? Is it in the drivers? The OS? Is there any way to "get at" this downmixing and control things like how much surround or LFE to use or remap where channels go etc.?
 
4) Is there any way to disable the SPDIF interface and somehow treat it as kind of a stereo sound card or is that already the way it works? I'm not entirely sure if it's the case but some applications like PowerDVD seem to have their own ideas about how to send stuff over SPDIF and it's not working exactly as I thought it would.
 
Basically this all comes down to that I want to make completely sure that for all types of content and all applications (movies, games, music) I am always getting uncompressed, properly downmixed, 24-bit, 48 or 96kHz stereo audio, and at no point is the audio first downconverted to lossy Dolby Digital/DTS (I read something about Windows 10 having native support for DD, not sure if there's any risk of that interfering), dropping surround or LFE channels, or anything like that, and right now I feel like I'm not quite sure what is happening with the output.

 

[ClieOS]

  I recently got the FiiO E10K for my PC and I have a few questions as I'd like to know exactly how it works. I'm just using the headphone out and my PC is running Windows 10 with the built-in drivers, so in my playback devices I get a "SPDIF Interface" on a "FiiO USB DAC-E10".
 
1) The E10K does not support bitstreaming or decoding of any DD/DTS tracks correct? And it does not have the ability to send 5.1 (or higher) over the USB, only stereo?
 
2) Then how do applications treat this SPDIF interface? Is it detected automatically as a stereo or 5.1 connection?
 
3) There seems to me to be somewhere where the audio is being downmixed, e.g. if I send out 5.1 from MPC-HC the output on the headphone jack is still downmixed stereo, so where does this downmixing happen? Is it in the drivers? The OS? Is there any way to "get at" this downmixing and control things like how much surround or LFE to use or remap where channels go etc.?
 
4) Is there any way to disable the SPDIF interface and somehow treat it as kind of a stereo sound card or is that already the way it works? I'm not entirely sure if it's the case but some applications like PowerDVD seem to have their own ideas about how to send stuff over SPDIF and it's not working exactly as I thought it would.
 
Basically this all comes down to that I want to make completely sure that for all types of content and all applications (movies, games, music) I am always getting uncompressed, properly downmixed, 24-bit, 48 or 96kHz stereo audio, and at no point is the audio first downconverted to lossy Dolby Digital/DTS (I read something about Windows 10 having native support for DD, not sure if there's any risk of that interfering), dropping surround or LFE channels, or anything like that, and right now I feel like I'm not quite sure what is happening with the output.

 
1) Yes, no DSD support. No, stereo only.
 
2) As said, stereo only and Windows should automatically output left/right and ignore the rest.
 
3) As far as I know, there is no down-mixing by default and the rest of the channels are just ignored - unless maybe MPC-HC is the one that down-mix it or you have the audio enhancement setting (*virtual surround) enable in Windows' audio property.
 
4) SPDIF is a hardware feature from the USB receiver chip E10K is using, so you can't disable it without disable the while E10K.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

I've experimented a little bit and actually I think e10k sounds best at 16bit 44khz... I was using 24bit 96khz windows settings all this time just because it was the highest setting. But most of my 320 mp3's and flacs are in 44khz (and 16bit I guess). Winamp was set to "allow 24 bit" and "allow surround sound" so I also disabled those two. yes -replay gain is disabled.

The images represent my current settings. Dolby and dts are disabled ebcause e10k don't support that format so I unchecked it.

is that right? Or is it wiser to use 24/96 ? Thanks for the input





This way it should be also using less cpu.
Btw. Is there any advantage in using usb3 ?

Hello HiCZoK,

I don't think there's any problem with either using 44.1kHz or 96kHz, unless you're running Windows 7, in which case you would want to make sure that the following hotfix is installed: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2653312

This ensures that any resampling that may need to occur, happens without any audible loss to audio performance.

 

[Joe Bloggs]

1) Yes, no DSD support. No, stereo only.

2) As said, stereo only and Windows should automatically output left/right and ignore the rest.

3) As far as I know, there is no down-mixing by default and the rest of the channels are just ignored - unless maybe MPC-HC is the one that down-mix it or you have the audio enhancement setting (*virtual surround) enable in Windows' audio property.

4) SPDIF is a hardware feature from the USB receiver chip E10K is using, so you can't disable it without disable the while E10K.

To add to (4), the SPDIF support just means you can connect another DAC to the E10K via the coaxial digital point on its back and the E10K would forward the digital audio it receives to the other DAC using the SPDIF standard. This doesn't impact the E10K's function as a USB sound card in any way.

For another tip on how to get the best out of the E10K read my reply to HiCZoK above.

 

[HiCZoK]

Hello HiCZoK,

I don't think there's any problem with either using 44.1kHz or 96kHz, unless you're running Windows 7, in which case you would want to make sure that the following hotfix is installed: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2653312

This ensures that any resampling that may need to occur, happens without any audible loss to audio performance.

Thanks for an answer.
I knew about an update but totally forgot to install it.
Thanks for heads up !

 

[Paku]

   
1) Yes, no DSD support. No, stereo only.
 
2) As said, stereo only and Windows should automatically output left/right and ignore the rest.
 
3) As far as I know, there is no down-mixing by default and the rest of the channels are just ignored - unless maybe MPC-HC is the one that down-mix it or you have the audio enhancement setting (*virtual surround) enable in Windows' audio property.
 
4) SPDIF is a hardware feature from the USB receiver chip E10K is using, so you can't disable it without disable the while E10K.

Thanks, now things are a bit clearer on how this little box works, so hopefully all applications will be able to use it more or less just like a stereo sound card. I'm still thinking the system is somehow downmixing as setting either MPC-HC or JRiver to output 5.1 still nets me downmixed audio and not dropped channels, but perhaps I'm missing something.
 

To add to (4), the SPDIF support just means you can connect another DAC to the E10K via the coaxial digital point on its back and the E10K would forward the digital audio it receives to the other DAC using the SPDIF standard. This doesn't impact the E10K's function as a USB sound card in any way.

For another tip on how to get the best out of the E10K read my reply to HiCZoK above.

I see, and this SPDIF passthrough ability is also limited to stereo?

 

[Hammy]

  Thanks, now things are a bit clearer on how this little box works, so hopefully all applications will be able to use it more or less just like a stereo sound card. I'm still thinking the system is somehow downmixing as setting either MPC-HC or JRiver to output 5.1 still nets me downmixed audio and not dropped channels, but perhaps I'm missing something.
 
I see, and this SPDIF passthrough ability is also limited to stereo?

 
I have always wondered about this as well.  I don't have any software solutions set to mix the audio and I output via WASAPI and still don't get dropped channels on 5.1 sources.  I assume it's because we disable 'Encoded formats' in the device properties but have no explanation as to how or where the mixing occurs.
 
Sneaky windows, sneaky.

 

[wijnands]

  Thanks, now things are a bit clearer on how this little box works, so hopefully all applications will be able to use it more or less just like a stereo sound card. I'm still thinking the system is somehow downmixing as setting either MPC-HC or JRiver to output 5.1 still nets me downmixed audio and not dropped channels, but perhaps I'm missing something.
 
I see, and this SPDIF passthrough ability is also limited to stereo?

You're either missing something or way overthinking it.  The E10k is a stereo device.  If I play a 5.1 DSD file in foobar2000 I get stereo on my headphones.

What are you looking to do with this Paku?

 

[Paku]

 
You're either missing something or way overthinking it.  The E10k is a stereo device.  If I play a 5.1 DSD file in foobar2000 I get stereo on my headphones.

What are you looking to do with this Paku?

Nothing in particular, I was just looking to understand where exactly this downmixing occurred (it's not in the player as far as I can see.)

 

[mechanix]

I was using my E10k as a DAC using the line out and listening to my HD 650s through Schiit Vali. This little hero is so good that I ended up selling Vali and plugging my HD 650s directly to the E10k. This baby is that good. The reason behind selling Vali was being a bad match for my cans (I found them too bassy with HD 650s) but I will not be looking for a new amp for some time. E10k drives them just fine. Thanks Fiio, for coming up with such a product for such little price.

 

[Blinkwing]

I just got one of these because my new PC's motherboard volume+clarity wasn't that great. I'm quite impressed with how well they power my cans! It's a lovely little product that I've just fallen in love with.

 

[HiCZoK]

I have a question. Since E10k is stereo only and that option can't even be seen anywhere in windows, how to check if I am not missing any sounds in movies or games ?
I have my hm5 normally plugged in front of e10k and windows set to 24bit 48khz. Unchecked dolby stuff too.
 
For movies I am using media player classic with madvr and most bluray files say only 5.1 under audio track (when clicked with right mouse). I understand the video file is just encoded with that one and only video track (like high quality movie trailer and my digital blurays)
 
Do I have to worry myself about setting windamp or video player like mphc, to anything other than windows default ? I guess it's all outputting to stereo as this is what my system is set to ?

 

[wijnands]

You can't really check it without comparing with a 5.1 system. Windows does do a very decent downmixing job.