FiiO E3 Portable Headphone Amplifier
Under the cut, I want to talk a little bit about a small, but very good headphone amplifier.
So, for a start, a little background: being a student, and not having a lot of money, I saved up for a long time on the player and on headphones, and there was no limit to my joy, when I finally bought the cherished Cowon D2 + and Koss Porta Pro (and not simple, but anniversary!). There was no limit to unpacking and listening. It turned out that these headphones do not drag on this player: neither the bass nor the detailed high frequencies. Overall unpleasant. For a while I was like, like, and sold them by buying the Fischer Equilibrium. I do not want to throw a stone in a phisher garden, they are beautiful, but it was Koss who wanted it.
And after a while, I suddenly find out that there are such things as portable amplifiers. Searching and reading for a long time, I stopped at the products of the Chinese company FiiO .
Not really trusting our mail, and indeed, not eager to wait a few weeks, I looked to see whether they could be bought from us in St. Petersburg. It turned out that no (I do not exclude that I was looking badly). But there was still a person who carries these same E3s from abroad, and the very next day I was the owner of a small white box with a device.
The kit is small - a device, wire 3.5-3.5 15cm and waste paper. The battery was disdained, but the batteries are not a shortage.
')
So what is this little box?
This is a miniature parallelepiped with two entrances above and below. Both at 3.5mm. The output with a headphone icon is equipped with a red diode that comes on after plugging in the headphones. Side door for AAA battery.
No buttons, no switches - turned off by pulling the headphones.
The case is plastic, glossy. Scratched on the first day, but given the constant life in your pocket - there is not much difference.
The inside is the National Semiconductor LM4917 amplifier. Honestly, this does not tell me anything, but if someone understands, maybe it plays a role.
Well, now about the main thing.
Since there was no opportunity to immediately try the Porta Pro with an amplifier, I stuck my Equilibrium there. Friends, it was tin. The sound was very noticeably distorted, became very noisy and artifact. I was already suspicious, but I was lucky that my girlfriend was walking with Porta Pro, so I borrowed them for a day.
And it was a real holiday! The sound was almost like from my Asus Xonar - crisp, juicy, with great bass (from the track “Glacial Supremacy” I had goose bumps - it was so cool). It is felt that the low frequencies are slightly amplified (by 5-6 dB), and I, as their fan, are only too happy about it.
As for the amplification of sound, it is almost absent. Those. If I used to listen at 30/50 volume points, now it’s 25/50. It is worth making a reservation here that I mostly listen to trailer music and a bit of rock, as with other genres, I can't say.
However, there are places (even though there are few of them and a crane) when small artifacts begin to appear at such a volume. And the louder and closer to the maximum, the stronger they become. However, this can be attributed to the quality of mp3 audio. With flac, I did not find such problems.
The battery of the player seems to have decided not to be discharged at all - I don’t remember when I last put it on charge. But the amp itself sits pretty quickly - in 10-12 hours.
Another drawback is the fact that the box itself, despite its miniature size, is rather strongly interfering in your pocket, so I tore off the clip from some kind of headset and glued it to the case. Now I wear amp on the belt and the wires are not confused.
In order to stop disputes in advance regarding E3 and E5, I will say that they sound almost identical in sound, basically they differ in appearance: the E5 has its own battery, another body and clip.
Although in fairness it should be said that the E5 copes better with high volume. Another thing is that a little
what ears will survive after the full volume of D2, and even a little more amplified.
Now about the price: as I said, I bought in a hurry and impudently, so I gave 500re. Those who can wait can order an amp on the Diacstream for only $ 6.49
You can of course be able to build for a long time that it’s easier to solder your own, but this device is worth its micro-money. Frankly, I did not even expect such a sound from such a baby.
Thank you all for your attention!
So, for a start, a little background: being a student, and not having a lot of money, I saved up for a long time on the player and on headphones, and there was no limit to my joy, when I finally bought the cherished Cowon D2 + and Koss Porta Pro (and not simple, but anniversary!). There was no limit to unpacking and listening. It turned out that these headphones do not drag on this player: neither the bass nor the detailed high frequencies. Overall unpleasant. For a while I was like, like, and sold them by buying the Fischer Equilibrium. I do not want to throw a stone in a phisher garden, they are beautiful, but it was Koss who wanted it.
And after a while, I suddenly find out that there are such things as portable amplifiers. Searching and reading for a long time, I stopped at the products of the Chinese company FiiO .
Not really trusting our mail, and indeed, not eager to wait a few weeks, I looked to see whether they could be bought from us in St. Petersburg. It turned out that no (I do not exclude that I was looking badly). But there was still a person who carries these same E3s from abroad, and the very next day I was the owner of a small white box with a device.
Specifications
- Headphone impedance: 16 ohms - 300 ohms
- Output power: 120 mW (16 ohms); 70 mW (32 ohms); 12 mW (300 Ohm)
- Distortion: <0.05% (10 mW)
- Signal / Noise Ratio: ≥ 90 dB (weighted)
- Frequency range: 10 Hz - 40 kHz.
- Power supply: 1 AAA battery
- Dimensions: 55 mm (D) Ă— 23 mm (W) Ă— 14.5 mm (H)
- Weight: 11g (without battery)
- Body Material: Plastic
- Color: Black or White
Appearance and inside
The kit is small - a device, wire 3.5-3.5 15cm and waste paper. The battery was disdained, but the batteries are not a shortage.
')
So what is this little box?
This is a miniature parallelepiped with two entrances above and below. Both at 3.5mm. The output with a headphone icon is equipped with a red diode that comes on after plugging in the headphones. Side door for AAA battery.
No buttons, no switches - turned off by pulling the headphones.
The case is plastic, glossy. Scratched on the first day, but given the constant life in your pocket - there is not much difference.
The inside is the National Semiconductor LM4917 amplifier. Honestly, this does not tell me anything, but if someone understands, maybe it plays a role.
Sound
Well, now about the main thing.
Since there was no opportunity to immediately try the Porta Pro with an amplifier, I stuck my Equilibrium there. Friends, it was tin. The sound was very noticeably distorted, became very noisy and artifact. I was already suspicious, but I was lucky that my girlfriend was walking with Porta Pro, so I borrowed them for a day.
And it was a real holiday! The sound was almost like from my Asus Xonar - crisp, juicy, with great bass (from the track “Glacial Supremacy” I had goose bumps - it was so cool). It is felt that the low frequencies are slightly amplified (by 5-6 dB), and I, as their fan, are only too happy about it.
As for the amplification of sound, it is almost absent. Those. If I used to listen at 30/50 volume points, now it’s 25/50. It is worth making a reservation here that I mostly listen to trailer music and a bit of rock, as with other genres, I can't say.
However, there are places (even though there are few of them and a crane) when small artifacts begin to appear at such a volume. And the louder and closer to the maximum, the stronger they become. However, this can be attributed to the quality of mp3 audio. With flac, I did not find such problems.
The battery of the player seems to have decided not to be discharged at all - I don’t remember when I last put it on charge. But the amp itself sits pretty quickly - in 10-12 hours.
Another drawback is the fact that the box itself, despite its miniature size, is rather strongly interfering in your pocket, so I tore off the clip from some kind of headset and glued it to the case. Now I wear amp on the belt and the wires are not confused.
In order to stop disputes in advance regarding E3 and E5, I will say that they sound almost identical in sound, basically they differ in appearance: the E5 has its own battery, another body and clip.
Although in fairness it should be said that the E5 copes better with high volume. Another thing is that a little
what ears will survive after the full volume of D2, and even a little more amplified.
Now about the price: as I said, I bought in a hurry and impudently, so I gave 500re. Those who can wait can order an amp on the Diacstream for only $ 6.49
You can of course be able to build for a long time that it’s easier to solder your own, but this device is worth its micro-money. Frankly, I did not even expect such a sound from such a baby.
Thank you all for your attention!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/109816/
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