Overview of the external amplifier / DAC FiiO E10 OLYMPUS

FiiO E17, that media combine I reviewed in one of the previous reviews completely satisfied my needs for high-quality sound, moreover, some of its characteristics were even unnecessary for me, such as a rechargeable battery. Based on this review, in the portable segment, I decided to give preference to a separate player (which I still choose) instead of a bundle of phone + FiiO E17. The latter was sold, and in its place came a stationary DAC and headphone amplifier FiiO E10 OLYMPUS, which I will discuss in this review.

FiiO E10 features:

Output power: 150 mW (32 ohm)
Supported headphone impedance: 16 ohm - 300 ohm
Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 kHz
Output frequency and width: 96 kHz / 24 bits (Maximum)
Power: Only through USB port
Dimensions: 79 x 49 x 21 mm
Weight: 82 g

Packing and packaging

FiiO E10 comes in a small box made of aluminum.

Inside which we find the device itself, located on a velvet pedestal.

Taking the amplifier and the pedestal itself out of the box, we find the remaining equipment: a USB cable, an instruction manual and eight rubber feet, which are glued to the bottom surface of the device, thereby protecting it from scratches and giving it stability.

As you can see the equipment is minimal, but it is enough for normal operation of the device.

Appearance and controls

The body of the gadget consists entirely of black anodized aluminum, and its dimensions are comparable to a matchbox. From above, with a simple screen printing, the name of the company and the model of the device are applied. By the way, all the inscriptions in this device are screen printed, but after six months of operation there is not the slightest hint of erasing them.

On the front side there is a volume control ring, a device operation indicator, a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack and a bass boost mode switch.

On the back - USB-in, linear and S-PDIF output.

Bottom - two-way (low / high) gain switch.

Great design! Black aluminum case, compact size and good build quality, what else is needed for complete happiness?
')

Interiors, element base

The device is disassembled by unscrewing the four screws on the back of the device.

Remove the cover and pull out the board, after removing the volume control wheel. Fully disassembled machine:

The device is based on the WM8740 DAC in conjunction with the TE7022 (USB audio streaming controller) and a pair of operational amplifiers AD8397 + AD8692.

The top side of the board (do not pay attention to the huge LED - this is a modification, which I will discuss later):

High quality solder flux washed away, but not perfect. In general, everything is fine inside.

Sound

Now, after acquiring the FiiO E10, as well as Creative Aurvana Live! I finally finished the experiments with sound at the workplace (the place where I teach lessons, write reviews and fix techniques), at least for the next few years.

What am I, unfortunately (or fortunately?) Not an audiophile, I can say about the sound of the FiiO E10? - At a minimum, I can say that it is better than most sound cards built into computers or laptops. The music has become more detailed and rich, and the sound is cleaner. Now there is no incomprehensible porridge, you can hear the distinct sounds of any instrument.

In terms of sound - only delight, because for such money the best option, as for me, can not be found.

Operation and modifications

Positive aspects

Due to the compactness of the device, it occupies an absolute minimum of working space. I made it even more cunning and placed the device in a vertical position outside the table, which gives me convenient access to the volume control and makes the gadget completely invisible.

Due to the presence of an additional line-out, in addition to headphones, you can connect active external acoustics bypassing the volume control. A very useful feature, because it’s not a royal business to manually switch external acoustics to headphones, and the built-in volume control when using an external active speaker doesn’t need us.

Separately, I want to note that the device does not require the installation of any drivers, just connect it to the computer and use it, tested on the operating systems Ubuntu 12.10, Windows 7/8 and MAC OS X 10.8.2.

Negative aspects

The only drawback of the FiiO E10 in terms of operation is the poor shielding of the analog part. Those. if my phone is within half a meter to the amplifier, I hear quite unpleasant tips and it is annoying.

Modifications

Of the many modifications presented on the forums, I produced only one - it was the replacement of the LED, because in the stock version the blue one was installed again, “outgrown” and the LED that illuminates a good half of the ceiling. But as usual, there was no LED of the required size, and instead of a 3 mm one had to stick a 5 mm one.
As for the color, I didn’t even think about it - a warm lamp color, I mean orange.
Before:

After:

Speaking of other modifications, it is mainly the replacement of electrolytes for better output, as well as their shunting with polypropylene capacitors in order to increase the number of bass and surround sound. To view this modification, please click here.

Some craftsmen are perverted even more and make hardware Crossfeed , the essence of which is mixing the signal of the right channel into the left and vice versa for more natural sounding of music when listening in headphones.

But I assure you that without these modifications the amplifier sounds excellent, of course, considering its cost.

About Creative Aurvana Live!

Photos from the official website of the manufacturer.
As promised, a little about the headphones. Creative Aurvana Live! - This is an OEM model produced by the Japanese company Foster and they are sold respectively under different brands. One of them - it's Denon, to be more precise model AH-D1000 / 1001 worth 220-230 dollars. In the case of the latter, you overpay exclusively for the brand, or, for matte cups, which are so lacking in CAL! - Modding is around the corner, yeah.

I picked up the headphones for the genres I listened to, mostly alternative rock and some heavy metal. CAL! these parameters fit just fine, natural sound combined with good energetic and deep bass will give you the opportunity to hear your favorite songs in a new way.

In conclusion, I would say that in terms of price / quality ratio, and their cost is 70 dollars, the headphones simply have no analogues in this price category and I am 100% satisfied with the purchase.

Cost of

At the moment, FiiO products are well represented both in the Ukrainian and Russian markets, so I will not leave any links, I can only say that the average price for this device is around 70-90 dollars.

Results

The FiiO E10 is a combined D / A headphone amplifier that successfully combines stylish design with minimal dimensions and good sound quality. Given the price, I recommend this device to all those who are not satisfied with the quality of the sound card built into your computer or laptop.

Liked

+ Good sound quality
+ Body materials, design
+ Analog potentiometer
+ Compact
+ Work without drivers in most modern OS
+ Price

Did not like

- The fragility of the switch gain
- Mobile phone leads