I had been looking at USB DACs and Headphone AMPs with a budget up to AU$500 on and off for a few months and couldn't decide what to get.
There are so many out there and none of them had all the features I wanted until I stumbled across the FiiO E09K/E17 combo.
Within half an hour of reading a few reviews, particularly one detailed review at head-fi, I had picked up the kit from minidisc.com.au in Chatswood, Sydney that had them in stock at their office!
I know I could have picked up better individual components for that price range but the integrated features and overall feature set are pretty hard to beat for how I intend to use it and at 45 im not sure I would have heard the difference anyway.
How am I using it?
At work with a MS Surface Pro 2 and iPhone 5S dock with JRiver MC19 playing bitperfect via the USB DAC in the E17 (Also using Spotify 320k local/streamed);
plus using E17 on the go;
and on my Home PC and HTPC with FLAC and DSD streaming via JRiver Media Centre 19, or Spotify.
A mixture of tragic 80's Pop, 80's and revival Hair/Glam Metal, Classic Rock, Jazz, Soul/R&B and Dance. (a tiny bit of country)
A bit of everything with a penchant for soaring vocals, singing guitars, ballads and intimate Jazz singers.
I bought the combo E09K/E17 and an extra E09K dock to use at work as a desktop AMP and to charge the E17. ( I just love things that dock!)
Im using;
Klipsch Image Ones' in the office.
Klipsch X10i on the go and in the office when the Image Ones start to hurt ye old ears from the firm pressure; and
Original HD600s' at home
The Image Ones' sound great off either the E17 or E09K with 6db boost and no EQ. A bit punchy on the bass as they are known to be, but the E17 and E09K both do a good job of tightening the bass up a bit and have lots of detail in the highs without being harsh, midrange is nice and full but probably a little laid back which is perfect for in the office. Both Amps have nice control of complex bass pieces and don't raise a sweat with the Image Ones'.
The X10i don't really need the AMP but they too sound great with 6db boost and no EQ. Maybe a little tighter and punchier compared to direct from the iPhone 5s.
The HD600s' sound far better with either AMP compared to the logitech Z5500 amp for the desktop, which is running off optical on the Asus Rampage IV Black.
(Don't even think about driving the HD600 straight off the iPhone, they sound thin and horrible!)
The onboard SupremeFX Black on my Asus Rampage IV Black has no problems as far as quality goes driving the HD600 but volume is very low compared to the FiiO AMPs'.
Max volume on the Z5500 AMP is also no where near loud enough for my taste.
The E17 and E09K still both need the 6db gain and the HD600s' go far louder and are much tighter and fuller with either of the FiiOs'
At home Im using the E09K with E17 lo-passthrough with USB @ 96K/24bit which is plenty for most of my stuff. I switch the optical over from the Z5500 for the occassional 192K/24bit.
Most of my HD audio is 96K anyway apart from a few DVD-A converted to FLAC and few SACDs' streamed from DSD 384K Rips and the occasional HDtracks' downloads at 192/24.
With the HD600s' for some music I add 4db bass and -2db treble as they are a bit thin down low and just a touch too bright at times with the FiiOs',
but they are well controlled with excellent imaging and the FiiOs' AMPs have no problems handling the extra 4db boost even at ear smashing levels.
To sum-up, I'm extremely impressed by the build quality, sound quality and flexibility of the FiiO AMPS, with the cool integration with dock and the desktop AMP features I'm so glad I chose the integrated kit!
They work equally well for 3 different types of gear and 3 different use scenarios, you cant ask for much more than that!
$245 for E09K/E17 + $125 for extra E09K Desktop Amp ($370 total) from
www.minidisc.com.auFiiO E09KFiiO E17Going optical from my Asus Rampage IV Black to the E17 docked and the top end is definitely cleaner than using the E09K USB E17 DAC.
A good album for testing brittle top end is Mariah Carey Daydream, particularly One Sweet Day and I Am Free. Much smoother with optical via E17 than E09K USB.
The E17/E09K is perfect for the HD600. As using the E17 on its own doesn't have the power to drive them properly!
(E17 as Optical DAC @ 192/24 and E09K as Headphone Amp)