Should I get FiiO E12A or E18?

[David1521]

With my galaxy s5 would I notice a difference with the dac playing spotify "extreme" quality music? I have ath 900x and ostry kc06a. I know I don't need a dac/amp or amp to drive them but I want one anyways.

[Toddwjp]

you would not notice any difference really. you'd also be at risk of easily breaking you earbuds

[David1521]

Well I need an amp fpr my earbuds cause the one on my phone causes a slight bit of static distortion.

[SamDeKyro]

I just picked up the Shure 535 and wondering the same thing. If I stream my music anyways, would the DAC on the e18 enhance the quality that much over the on board DACs of android phones and/or iPhones?

[Oktyabr]

No.  Both the current iPhone products and the Galaxies have excellent dac/amps in them...  dealing with something as relatively non-exotic as Spotify's "Extreme quality" (320kbs Ogg-Vorbis, a lossy format), is an easy task for either of these to do.  The Fiio's may make the music louder but won't improve the quality.  In fact some objective measurements show that the Fiios (at least the E17) actually roll off the treble before either the iPhone 5 or Galaxy S5, i.e. not as "flat" a response as the hardware already found in your phone.  This isn't to say Fiio and their competitors aren't making good products... they ARE, they just aren't as good, *quality wise* as that found in a $600 phone made by either of the two biggest phone manufacturers on the planet.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/iphone-vs-rivals-audio-tests/

[ShearMe]

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/02/iphone-vs-rivals-audio-tests/

 

That's fucking awesome.

[KaminKevCrew]

That's fucking awesome.

I feel like I detect sarcasm here... I appreciate that they *tried* to do a quality system of analysis here, but it is clearly very flawed... Oh well. Why on earth would you smooth the frequency response graphs? That's just a terrible thing to do...

[Oktyabr]

Think about it.  Audio is one leg of what has held Apple up for so long.  If they sucked at that iphones would be about as popular as blackberries or something.  Samsung, attempting to take the crown that Apple had fashioned for itself can't afford to be anything less than *better* audio wise, and they ARE, if not in hardware then software.  If Fiio can afford to sell a tiny amp like the E6 for the price of a good, large pizza, and *succeed at it*... if they can stuff a very good dac in a portable amp for less than US$100 and *succeed with it*... why would anyone expect the largest names in $600+ phones to somehow find that impossible?!?

"Gee... we can make a handheld device that fits in your pocket, can access all the cute cat videos the internet has to offer and can let you not only text or call pretty much anyone anywhere in the world but also give you directions how to get there (by walking, car, train, plane or bus) and even tell you what the weather is likely to be when you arrive...  but this quality audio thing is like HARD!"  

[creatip123]

First thing you'd wanna try is see if there's an option to get 'line out' audio from the S5. I don't have android, so I don't really know. Apple's line out via LOD is quite different compared to plugged straight off the headphone jack. The built-in amp gives a bit of an EQ in the lower frequencies, and as a result, it's muddied a bit. 

 

The newest ipod touch's (they changed the audio parts in the newest ver) built-in amp is a bit better tho. 

 

If there's a way to get 'line out' from S5, then you'd only need a simple Fiio E6 really.

[xtroria]

First thing you'd wanna try is see if there's an option to get 'line out' audio from the S5. I don't have android, so I don't really know. Apple's line out via LOD is quite different compared to plugged straight off the headphone jack. The built-in amp gives a bit of an EQ in the lower frequencies, and as a result, it's muddied a bit.

The newest ipod touch's (they changed the audio parts in the newest ver) built-in amp is a bit better tho.

If there's a way to get 'line out' from S5, then you'd only need a simple Fiio E6 really.

The day iphone has a dac out is the day DAPs die

[creatip123]

The day iphone has a dac out is the day DAPs die

 

Hmmm??

 

Idevices (iphone, ipod touch, ipad, even ipod video) can output 'line out', bypassing the built in amp. Just need an LOD (line out dock), something like this:

 

 

 

It can be taken a step further with an external dac, with camera connection kit: (damn, youtube muted the audio of my previous E10 + ipad video. I'll see if I can record another one)

[creatip123]

The day iphone has a dac out is the day DAPs die

 

Ok, recorded a new video about using ipad + dac: 

 

 

Occasionally tapped on the mic to show that it really was the mic that's recording the sounds

 

It even worked with the el cheapo $2 audio adapter (second half of the video). 

[KaminKevCrew]

IPhones have always been able to do line out through the 30 pin or lightning connector. The support for Android is much more spotty, but the galaxy line has been quite good about it with a USB otg cable. The gs5 is supposed to be able to do it, as, I suppose should the gs6. For the record, I have a gs5 and a fiio e07k. Other than loudness, you probably wouldn't notice a huge difference. However, having a portable stack does look cool as hell.