Hi, I will start by saying the 5 star rating is based partly on price. The fiio E7 is very similar in function to the udac.
It adds, flexibility, by adding a battery for use as a portable amp for a dap. It also adds, 4 levels of bass 0-3
It's not so much of a big bloat or anything, it's actualy useful, but for the most part 0 -2 is useful, 3 being a bit much for most iems or portable cans. The gain is not as high as on the udac, so it won't play hard to drive cans quite as loud as the udac. But the added features, and the flexibility make it a much better value.
I prefer The fiio E7 in pretty much all aspects, it comes with a very nice pouch, sounds better, and really looks better than the udac. I still like the udac, but the fiio E7 just gives you more for the money. This amp is truly a step up from the little E5 by a fair bit. It is very hard to believe this unit can be purchased for well under 100 dollars.
The udac set a new standard at this price level, and the fiio E7 raised the bar. Battery life is very good, 60-80 hours.
Depending on the iems or cans being used, and how loud you listen. Comes with a silicone case for protecting it, and has teo headphone outs. everything that needs to be plugged in to the amp has openings in the sleeve. and the volume and menu buttons have round marks, making it east to use all functions.
The fit and finish belie it's price, I've seen and own amps costing much more that look pretty lousy next to it.
Do not hesitate because of the low price, you will be pleased. Just (as always) don't expect it to top similar items selling for 20 times as much. Keeping in mind, the 20 fold price, is no where near the improvement you might expect.
Shop for best price if you want to pay less.
An update......Some have called the Fiio E7 cold sounding with the bass level set to zero, that is simply not true. If the e7 is bass light to your ears with the bass set to zero, you are a basshead. I have tried almost every iem I own. My findings are that a particular iem I own that sounds cold on a near perfect flat 1200 dollar amp, sounds warmer, and more pleasant on the e7 with the bass level at zero. Further, I have a few iem's that don't play really well with the fiio. If you own these iem's......amazon is not where you would look for advice or reviews. I still believe the Fiio e7 is the most stunning audio bargain available at this time. No one amp is the end all for all solutions. Save for a rare few exceptions, I now use this amp more than any other. It's actually feeding music to my ears as I type this update. For thos with an Ipod classic, or Ipod touch, the supplied band, combined with an lod, is also a great portable set up. The silcone case is prefect. If anyone owns the ortofon EQ7.........this little amp is the perfect match for it!!! I am still going to buy more, and look forward to reviewing the upcoming fiio e9, just as soon as I get my hands on one. Thanks.....Wiley
Final words. If you were thinking of buying this amp for using it with a DAP only, it is not the first choice. The E5 will do fine. If you may use it on a laptop, netbook etc. We are right back to this being the most flexible amp for the money. The UDAC 2 is improved over the original (marginally) It still doesn't offer the flexibility of the fiio e7 though.
This amp should be used via LOd on a portabe player or as a USB?DAC to sund it's best. Does not work early as well any other way. It was meant for these options. End of story, at least my ears believe so. FiiO E7 USB DAC and Portable Headphone Amplifier (Black)
I don't have any other portable headphone amps to compare this to, but I do own a Nuforce Desktop amp, which runs more than 4x the price of the Fiio E7.
This little box ROCKS. Great build quality, it looks like a high end piece of audio equipment.
Includes a 3.5MM gold-plated cable, a rubber sleeve, a soft case, a black band for the amp and your MP3 player, and a miniUSB to USB cable. Everything you need is there.
Plugged it into my laptop right away to charge the batteries. The "Fiio" logo lights up when it's charging, nice touch.
The screen is a really nice touch. Pretty much all the portable amps in this size and price range do not have any screen. Of course, you don't need it, you plug your input, your `phones and adjust the volume. But the screen is very high quality, and really adds to the unit, in my opinion.
The digital volume control took a bit to get used to, if you move it up/down several steps, it doesn't just ramp the sound up/down instantly like a dial, but changes it slowly to the new setting. Volume changes are smooth and there's no noise.
Sound quality? Oh yeah. At the moment I'm using the analog-in connected to the Nuforce iPod adapter output. The sound is amazingly clear, and gets quite loud with no distortion. I'm just plain amazed at the sound from this tiny amp. I mean, sure, it's only driving 32ohm headphones, and the source material is basically CD quality, but wow.
Rip one of your favorite songs with Lossless quality, listen to it through the headphone jack on your player, then plug it in through the E7 and listen to it again. The difference is shocking. So far I've only been able to use it with my Grado "iGrado" headphones, but the difference is evident immediately. Can't wait to try this out with my SR60's, which is what I really intend to use this with. They're both 32ohm headphones, but the SR60's are quite a bit better.
They say this amp is useable up to 300ohm headphones, so I will have to try them with my Sennheiser HD650's. It will be interesting to see how this little unit drives the 650's. I'm sure the output will be a bit lower, but if the E7 sounds as good as my Icon HDP, I'll be shocked. Then I'll wonder why I didn't buy this first and save the $450...
As far as shipping, they sent it out the same day I placed my Amazon order, and sent me the tracking number. Not a complaint, more of an FYI, my package was sent "signature required" via USPS, so make sure you have someone to sign for it when it comes.
UPDATE: Tested the E7 with my Grado SR60's and Sennheiser HD650's.
The higher quality of the SR60's was heard immediately, compared to listening with the iGrado's. The little Grado's are nice, but the SR60's just sound "larger", I guess would be the way I'd explain it. Same impedance on both models same output levels.
Next I tried the 650's. As I expected, I had to crank the digital volume a bit to drive the 300ohm headphones, but not a whole lot. A comfortable volume setting for the Grado's was about 20-25, with the 650's, I was listening at about 30-35. Cranking it up over 45 really gets overly loud for my tastes, but the sound quality still is there.
I still prefer my Icon amp for the HD650's, it's definitely a better DAC and amp, and has the digital-in which I prefer for the laptop. But for the price, the E7 is really amazing. - Amplifier - Headphone Amp - Usb Dac - Amp'
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