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Hello, I am currently looking at headphone amps + dacs for improving my music listening experience. I would only be using the device with my laptop and my Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO 80 ohm headphones. I listen to mp3's with a bitrate of 256 kBit/s if this is of any importance. I live in Germany, so my price limit in euros is about 80€. So I guess about 85$. This is defenitely the limit in fact I would prefer spending about 50€ instead. First of all, I would like to know if an amp + dac would improve my sound quality at all or if this is just a waste of money because I am very happy with my headphones but if there is a way for making them even better that would be awesome. I have been looking at the FiiO E10 which was also reviewed by Linus Tech Tips and it seemed very good for it's price. Sadly I can't really find it anywhere but only it's follow-up the E10K which is supposed to be even better (according to some reviews...). I have also come across the SMSL M2 but I don't know if this is any good. I hope some people can recommend what I am looking for! Thanks for the answers to my question! knorkerGünther

I am having a strange issue within the past two days. I have the Fiio E10 Dac/Amp and for some reason with audio level above 60%, in windows, there is an, ungodly, amount of static and distortion. It almost sounds like its being over amplified. This is the case no matter the application; through MusicBee, Google Play, youtube. Even tried Internet Explorer, instead of chrome, just to be safe on the music streaming. Yet, my onboard Realtek audio sounds peachy, no issues (just lack of power, to be expected). To see if it was Fiio E10 or windows I booted into Ubuntu 14 live usb and loaded it up and it worked fine. The only issues I found was that when it was plugged into my Rosewill RC-229U4 PCI-Express 2.0 x1 USB 3.0 Controller Card the spdif output for it sounded very low and underpowered (but not distorted); the analog output worked great. So I switched it to motherboard usb 3.0 slots, even the front i/o on my case, and that problem was resolved. I even unplugged the E10 and hooked it up to a laptop I had around and it sounded great. Going back to windows the problem didn't go away, high levels of distortion above 60% volume. At 60% windows volume I had to have the E10 on high gain between 6 and 7, for my He-400s to be sufficiently powered; while normally I have it at high gain of 4 for causal volume levels. I tried changing the audio format from 24bit 96k to 16bit 44.1k, nothing. Tried uninstall the drivers and reinstalling them, nothing. Tried disabling all of my audio devices (Sound Blaster z, Realtek onboard Audio, graphics card audio drivers), nothing. I used a latency program, dpclat, to check for latency issues. It is at a steady 1000us. I tried disabling all hardware monitoring programs (Processes Explorer and HWiNFO64) and audio devices and applications, latency didn't change. I notice it after I was playing Call of Duty: World At War and I was getting crashes during Zombies matches (extremely frustrating). I looked up crashes for World at War and discovered audio drivers and settings are the main cause. So I thought it was the Equalizer APO program I installed the other week (Worked flawlessly for what I wanted it for, adding low end without distortion up the mids and highs). I uninstalled it and noticed later that day that the audio was screwed up. I want to say this was the cause, yet can't get it resolved, no matter how many times I install and uninstall the program. Does anyone have suggestions? -Thank You. System Specs: Xeon E3 1230v3 Asus Z87 A Motherboard Nvidia GeForce 660 Ti Sound Blaster Z

Hi guys, I've been having an occasional buzz while adjusting volume on the E10. Works fine and only happens sometimes while adjusting the volume so it's not really something that constantly bothers me, at least not enough to consider it defective but just wanted to know if anyone's had similar issues with this or maybe another amp/dac?

My E10 just came in from Amazon, and I have already installed all the drivers and I can hear out of it. My question is should I plug my Sennheiser HD 558s into the headphone port or the line out port? The line out sounds a little bit different, I'm not sure which one I should use.

Ok, first system specs: Current Rig: Intel Xeon E3-1230V3 3.3GHZ ARCTIC Freezer 7 Pro Rev. 2, CPU Cooler Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard EVGA 660ti 3GB superclocked edition CORSAIR CXM series CX750M 750W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 Cooler Master CM Storm Spawn Red Wired USB Optical Gaming Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard Storage: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache OCZ Vertex 450 128GB Solid State Drive Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 1.5TB USB 2.0 WD Elements SE 1TB USB 3.0 portable hard Audio: Sound Blaster Z Sound Card Beyerdynamic DT-990-Pro-250 Professional Audio-Technica ATH-M50S Professional Studio Monitor Headphones Logitech X-540 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System Monitors: Hanns-G HL272HPB Black 27" 2ms HDMI Widescreen LED HANNspree By Hanns-G HF225DPB Black 21.5" Full HD [Perfect Pixel] New YAMAKASI DS270 IPS SE AH-IPS Low-Reflection 27" (soon to arrive) I have been doing a lot of research lately on a DAC solution, I can't really decide on anything, its an endless circle of research; so I need a push. I decided on trying a DAC solution after Teksyndicate's video (you know which one). I thought I was content with my Sound Blaster Z and dt-990s, until I started messing around with ASIO drivers (ASIO4ALL V2 better than official). The bass response was dramatically improved I loved the punchy bass, it really shakes the speakers; that's when I think I understood what people mean by bass doesn't sound as good. So maybe a DAC would open all new worlds in other areas, I thought. Also ASIO drivers are great but I can't have MusicBee running ASIO drivers unless I want to constantly be switching back in forth to allow my sound card to be used by all of windows. Its really annoying and I just want everything to be the same quality and work. Well I can't seem to figure what will be worth it. The only DAC/AMP that I can find decent reviews on is Fiio E10 and the AudioEngine D1, for my price range. I am not sure what sound advantages AudioEngine D1 has to justify 90$ more. I have heard that Fiio E10 would be plenty sufficient. Do they have different sounds like one better than the other for certain music? ASIO drives sound a little on the bright side with some music, I like a warmer sound however. I also have set EQ settings on the sound card drivers. I really don't like music without my EQ settings with emphasis on bass and balancing out the high pitches. I currently have its at: 31kHz @ +6db 62KHz @ +7db 125KHz @ +11db 250KHz @ +9db 500KHz @ +8db 1000KHz @ +6db 2000KHz @ +3db 4000KHz @ +4db 8000KHz @ +7db 16000KHz @ +5db Level @ +4db TL:DR ---> Fiio E10 Vs AudioEngine D1? AudioEngine D1 worth extra $$$? Better DAC/AMP alternatives for around 150$ max?

Hello everyone, I am considering buying a AMP+DEC for my Laptop (Asus G750), and I am not sure what to get. At this point I like FIIO E10 and i really want to buy it, but I saw the new FIIO E18 and I can use it with my phone too. So my point is what will be the best portable solution and will I compromise a lot with FIIO E18. If there is other options I can buy something in range of 150-170$ Thank you veryone

Hey guys and gals I've been lurking on the forums for a while now and I'm still struggling to find a solid solution to my question: What audio setup is best for gaming? Especially with regards to sound cards or separate amp/dac units. Specifically for positional audio through stereo headphones while keeping great sound detail. There are a lot of audiophile-oriented people that give great advice for their particular tastes but not a whole lot of gamers that can give me a straight answer (likely due to the subjective nature of audio). I'm aware there are plenty of "good enough" options but I'd really like a set up I can enjoy for a while before upgrading (perhaps an unrealistic request). My particular case is as follows: I recently ordered a pair of Beyerdynamic DT-990-Pro-250 headphones for my PC setup. They're in a good price range for me and I've heard great things (sans the pronounced treble which I may or may not enjoy; TBD) All I have ever run is onboard audio so I know I need an amp to drive these. I've been looking at the Fiio E10, but there is no positional audio for this setup as far as I know and, as I mentioned, I would really enjoy this feature. (Razer Surround?). My question is this: are sound cards and their associated drivers too much trouble? If so, what would you recommend for my particular needs? If not, then what sound card is going to give me great gaming performance without the nightmare driver scenarios I keep reading about. Something I can put on my motherboard would be nice as I have a myriad of cables dangling from my PC already, but if sound cards are really that much of a waste, I will gladly seek alternatives. I've considered the Fiio E10, Creative Z series (questionable?) , ASUS Xonar Cards, ASUS Phoebus (but I've heard TERRIBLE things) and O2/ODAC is a little expensive for me right now or perhaps I'm looking at the wrong units? Thanks for the help, cheers.

So I know this is't too big of a question but would there be a substantial difference in sound quality coming from AD700's? I know the bass will be slightly improved but will clarity or anything else be better? I already have a Fiio E10 to help cleanup.

I have been saving up for my first studio monitors for a while now and I have been torn between two different monitors for a while now, BEHRINGER TRUTH B2031A and JBL LSR308. Then recently Massdrop showed M-Audio M3-8's for as low as 239$ a piece. I will be playing them through my Fiio E10 from my computer and was wondering if it would be a better deal to just go with the M3-8's. I am to believe that the M3-8s would be better due to the three speaker design for more dedicated low and mids. In theory this would be the better option for sound separation, yet, I know that what ultimately comes down to is quality. From what I heard this is the first three speaker design by M-Audio which makes me think there is room for improvement. I was going to buy the M3-8's but am having seconds thoughts. I figured heading to the forums for some more experienced advice. So whats the best option? -Thanks EDIT: I forgot to mention that I am getting these speakers for casual use. I don't plan on using them for mixing or anything (I never have done anything of the sort). I mainly listen to Rock, Blues, Metal, Folk, Pop.