[JamesMcProgger]

Quote:

Can't wait for May to get here - any word about a definite release date? 

I can. (no money for toys right now)

 

[MorbidToaster]

I HAVE the money, I just don't want to spend it. Saving money is ridiculously hard without tons of new stuff coming out.
 
It's just impossible with this coming up...And I JUST bought a J3. lol
 
Quote:

I can. (no money for toys right now)

 

 

[Ishcabible]

I just PM'd feiao asking for it so I can update the OP. Hopefully he has something a bit more specific.

 

[jammerlee711]

updates please...

 

[aLm0sT]

Any prices yet?

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

updates please...

Nothing new other than that there's a working sample now.

 

[jammerlee711]

hey, it's not bad...at least they are making progress....can they be really release on may?

 

[sFrog]

Will the X3 be as good as the e11, or will it be better? I`ve got a S9 and I guess it would be cheaper for me to add a E11 for the ue rm... 
 
10-12 hours of music playback is a little too short for me, du to the fact some flights do take a little bit more time. 
 
What the X3 should have is a zero ohm output for multi-ba drive custom in-ears... and the output (hopefully the E11 also) shouldn't generate any annoying hiss with low impedance devices. 
 
... wondering when the products will be available in Germany. By the way if the X3 is better then the E11 I would like to pay some extra for longer battery endurance. I need more, much more.. FiiO please keep the travelers in mind... 
 
thanks

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Just use a portable battery charger, the ones that are essentially batteries that transfer charge to a mobile device. For all everyone says about Cowon, my S9 only gets about 14hours, with screen brightness set to 3, BBE and Stereo Enhance OFF with only a custom EQ-curve running, and playing mostly FLAC. If the X3 gets at least 12hours on FLAC but unlike the S9 can drive full-sized cans, that's good enough. (ie, they might get a little more playtime driving IEMs with a good seal; I'd imagine we're all mroe likely to use a custom IEM than an HD600 on a plane)

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Will the X3 be as good as the e11, or will it be better? I`ve got a S9 and I guess it would be cheaper for me to add a E11 for the ue rm... 
 
10-12 hours of music playback is a little too short for me, du to the fact some flights do take a little bit more time. 
 
What the X3 should have is a zero ohm output for multi-ba drive custom in-ears... and the output (hopefully the E11 also) shouldn't generate any annoying hiss with low impedance devices. 
 
... wondering when the products will be available in Germany. By the way if the X3 is better then the E11 I would like to pay some extra for longer battery endurance. I need more, much more.. FiiO please keep the travelers in mind... 
 
thanks

 
You might want to spend some time reading the older pages as a lot of detail has been covered - X3 won't have E11 amp section, but E7's.
 
 

 

[JoetheArachnid]

Quote:

Will the X3 be as good as the e11, or will it be better? I`ve got a S9 and I guess it would be cheaper for me to add a E11 for the ue rm... 
 
10-12 hours of music playback is a little too short for me, du to the fact some flights do take a little bit more time. 
 
What the X3 should have is a zero ohm output for multi-ba drive custom in-ears... and the output (hopefully the E11 also) shouldn't generate any annoying hiss with low impedance devices. 
 
... wondering when the products will be available in Germany. By the way if the X3 is better then the E11 I would like to pay some extra for longer battery endurance. I need more, much more.. FiiO please keep the travelers in mind... 
 
thanks

The X3 is using the same amp and internal DAC as the E7, except the DAC will be slightly better because there's no USB chipset to run through. The E11 is touted to be a much better amp that that in the E7, so for amping duty I'd say that the E7 is the way to go.
 
I also want to know where this silly notion about output impedances and BA IEMs comes from. I've seen it around a few times and I can't think of any reasons at all why it should be correct. Output impedance is there to protect headphones and earphones from excess power - the only time it should ever be zero is if you're driving something incredibly hard to drive (like orthodynamics or speakers), or if you have very little power to work with (such as with an iPod). This article is an incredibly good explanation of why output impedance is needed, especially on something low-impedance and fragile like balanced armatures.

 

[sFrog]

Thank you for the information. Then it'll be the E11 to go for. My reflection might be wrong (good link..), the output impedance still influences the fr. 
 
Just take a TF10 and make some RMAA test with some gear. You will see and hear, the TF10 will sound completly different. 
 
 

 

[BlackbeardBen]

Quote:

The X3 is using the same amp and internal DAC as the E7, except the DAC will be slightly better because there's no USB chipset to run through. The E11 is touted to be a much better amp that that in the E7, so for amping duty I'd say that the E7 is the way to go.
 
I also want to know where this silly notion about output impedances and BA IEMs comes from. I've seen it around a few times and I can't think of any reasons at all why it should be correct. Output impedance is there to protect headphones and earphones from excess power - the only time it should ever be zero is if you're driving something incredibly hard to drive (like orthodynamics or speakers), or if you have very little power to work with (such as with an iPod). This article is an incredibly good explanation of why output impedance is needed, especially on something low-impedance and fragile like balanced armatures.

 
That article, while sound technically, does an excellent job of glossing over a few extremely important considerations:
 
1. Few headphone amplifiers are anywhere near capable of putting out the high currents that the fear-mongering in that article postulates as headphone-ruining when using low impedance headphones.
 
2. How does turning down the volume not solve the too-high-power problem?  High output impedance may, of course, help solve channel imbalance problems - which is a benefit allowing manufacturers to use cheaper volume pots.  Same goes for the reason for the 120 ohm output to begin with - many receivers and integrated amps just have a voltage divider to use the speaker amp output for headphones, so the output impedance is already significantly higher than 0-1 ohms.  Setting 120 ohms as the "standard" made it easy for mass-market manufacturers to match a target with a degree of consistency and little/no added expense.  It's about consistency among the cheapest products available.
 
3. The giant assumption that most headphones are designed with 120 ohm output impedance drive as optimal...  Well, theoretically, sure, that's what the IEC standard says should be the case.  In practice, hardly...  (Same goes for dedicated headphone amps...)
 
The IEMs and other low-impedance, high efficiency headphones that are mentioned as "needing" high output impedance to prevent them from receiving too much power... Well, once we get past that straw-man argument by actually using the volume control, we might actually come to the realization that the vast majority of headphones - that being cheapo freebie ones (Sony on-ears with Walkmans, iBuds, etc.), and nearly any other headphones (IEMs included, the high-impedance Etymotics being an exception; and even that is a case where they're essentially using the impedance difference as an equalizer) designed with primary portable use in mind - during design are known to be used almost exclusively with amplifiers with relatively low impedances (your Walkman, iPod, Clip, Zune, whatever).  You can't honestly tell me that any of those are "designed" with 120 ohm amplifiers in mind - so the whole "Most headphones are designed with 120 ohm amplifiers in mind, and high output impedances like that protect high-efficiency, low impedance headphones, so 120 ohm output is clearly better" argument just doesn't hold.  It's either one argument or the other, not both.
 
But it doesn't really matter, because the "most headphones are designed for 120 ohm amplifiers" statement isn't even true beyond a few exceptions today (Beyerdynamic being the most notable in that they do explicitly design for 120 ohm output - but tell me, what other manufacturer does?), nor is the "protection of low impedance headphones" very important either (although, again, I will admit that the other practicality reasons - channel imbalance and reducing the difference in final volume - are at least understandable for reducing costs and ease-of-use).

In other words, I'm calling shenanigans on a straw-man argument.  It should be near-zero ideally.  Unless you're using Beyers (or other headphones explicitly designed for 120 ohm output impedance), intentionally equalizing the headphones based on their impedance curve, trying to use the absolute cheapest components possible in a receiver, or you want to foolproof the amplifier for intelligence-challenged consumers.

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

The X3 is using the same amp and internal DAC as the E7, except the DAC will be slightly better because there's no USB chipset to run through. The E11 is touted to be a much better amp that that in the E7, so for amping duty I'd say that the E7 is the way to go.
 
I also want to know where this silly notion about output impedances and BA IEMs comes from. 

So you are saying under no circumstances does high outpt impedance have a negative impact on a multi-BA Xover?
 

 

[JoetheArachnid]

Because only being able to use a tiny bit of the volume pot's movement is kind of pointless. I've got 0.5W into 32ohms coming out of my amp - without the output resistors it's putting out 2.5W at full throttle. Here zero output impedance isn't really a workable option when you can blow up your voice coils up by going beyond 9 o'clock on the volume knob.
 
I'm not saying that a 120ohm output impedance is optimal in all cases - I'm just saying that I'm tired of people touting output impedance as a force for evil that will somehow eat your balanced armatures. It's ridiculous and is far more scaremongering than anything that article states.
FWIW, I've read impressions on other forums of differences heard between different output impedances - generally it was agreed that 120ohms sounded best for the K701, HD 6X0 and HD 800. YMMV.