[eclein]

My main system is sweet sounding right now so I've been devoting time to this part of the hobby, mostly portables. Last year when I became unable to walk part of my ongoing rehab is to walk the best I can to save as much mobility as possible.

I also found a company called Fiio that makes all kinds of portable amps, DACs and more- all affordable, all great sound and quality. They just came out with the E17 Portable DAC/Amp that handles USB(24/96), COAX & Toslink (24/192).



The first run sold out so fast I missed it and now they are backordered and for my birthday later this month I bought a used one I saw pop up over at head-fi. The unit arrived 2 days ago, all the pieces in place, COAX to mini and Toslink to mini adapters included along with a nice velvet like bag. These things can be an Amp only a DAC only or both working together from a 10 hour rechargeable battery. Oh....did I mention that new they run $134.00....yep 1-3-4 and after listening to it with IEMs, Fullsize cans and even using the DAC in my main system I would have been willing to pay a lot more for the wonderful sound I'm hearing.

 Every review I've read has been glowing and the wording they use is much better then mine so look around at head-fi threads, Headphonia's website and other folks on the web who write those things so well if your so inclined. I need more time with it but so far I can't find anything at all to even remotely mention as an issue. I love it, won't ever sell it and plan on enjoying warm liquid music in my ears while I walk myself into better health. MP4nation.com has them for pre-order but I haven't seen them elsewhere for sale yet. They are changing the name to E17 Alpen which is why I wanted one from the original first run before they change the printing, I lucked into #132 of the first run and plan on enjoying the heck out of this little unit. Good stuff here from Fiio I highly recommend.

[hibuckhobby]

Hey Ed...that's great!  I'm having the same positive experience with Headroom.
I picked up a used Headroom supreme (probably 10 years old) and I love it.  Was looking at the Fiio stuff and wondering about the E17...glad to see you snagged one.
Bob

[ajzepp]

Fiio is one of the best surprises I've ever had in audio. I can't believe how much I like my little E11 portable amp, so I can imagine that the E17 is just as impressive if not more so. I get fantastic sound out of my IEMs and headphones with plenty of headroom. I even bought my lady friend a little E5 to play around with...this company is just very cool

Enjoy the E17 Birthday Boy! 

[eclein]

Thanks Guys!!

[ryno]

I've had the E17 for a couple weeks now. I'm not as high end as most of you guys, but it is working wonderfully for me. I use it as an external sound card in the computer room, USB into a pair of emotive powered speakers. Portable /travel as an amp with an iPod and Vmoda M-80's. And in the future, USB with an iPad. The tone controls are great, enough power for my senn 600's if I want to bring open phones for travel. A definite multi tasker for me.
Ryno

[ajzepp]

I've had the E17 for a couple weeks now. I'm not as high end as most of you guys, but it is working wonderfully for me. I use it as an external sound card in the computer room, USB into a pair of emotive powered speakers. Portable /travel as an amp with an iPod and Vmoda M-80's. And in the future, USB with an iPad. The tone controls are great, enough power for my senn 600's if I want to bring open phones for travel. A definite multi tasker for me.
Ryno

Very nice     This Fiio stuff is fanastic. That's why this whole headphone thing has been so much fun for me over the past couple of months...it's so much less expensive to buy a lot of these little gadgets, and the amount of use you can get out of them is just ridiculous. Nothing will ever replace my big Maggies, but I've been spending more time playing with the portable stuff lately and it's been great.

How do you like those V-Modas, Ryno? I heard they're built like a tank and sound fantastic

[ryno]

Closed and portable is tough, I tried a bunch at RMAF this year. The beyer dt1350 were beautiful, but had a hollow, cave-like sound I couldn't like, especially for the price. The fostex T7 sounded great, but were a little big and felt cheap. The Vmoda's have a high build quality and sound balanced to me. They have a little bit of the midrange hollowness compared to open phones, but new egg had a good price a few weeks ago so I'm giving them a try.
I've got maggies as well, but not big one's.
ryno

[ajzepp]

Cool, I was reading an article about the guy who started V-Moda and it was a great read...I like the approach they take, especially the focus on build quality. Have you thought about IEMs at all? Which Maggies do you have? MMGs?

[ryno]

I've had MG12's for almost 10 years.

[ajzepp]

I've had MG12's for almost 10 years.

Excellent...one of the lesser known, yet best value options in the Maggie line. 

[ecramer]

Review of the Fiio E17 Portable DAC/Amp at head-fi

This is looking real good

[etcarroll]

Nice tip Ed, in the new job I live on the plane, and was just looking at Ray Samuels 'Tomahawk' portable amp for my IEMs, but it's a bit pricier than the E17.

Those V-Moda Crossfade M-80s look interesting, and seem to be made for road warriors.

[ecramer]

Nice tip Ed, in the new job I live on the plane, and was just looking at Ray Samuels 'Tomahawk' portable amp for my IEMs, but it's a bit pricier than the E17.

Those V-Moda Crossfade M-80s look interesting, and seem to be made for road warriors.

You can't go wrong with Ray Samuels 'Tomahawk'  If you are going to be playing flac in the hotel room and looking for the best sound quality it probably edges the fiio out on the plane i'm going with fiio and spend the extra money on cd's and a couple of cocktails.

[eclein]

Gene a lot of guys love those V-moda.........might be a great find.....I am liking my E17 ,ore and more...I'll be using it with some JBL's I got in a Amazon deal for $29 and it should be awesome....Laptop->E17->JBL Duets (old sweet version)...LOL

[ecramer]

v-moda-crossfade-m-80-headphones-survive-military-stress-test