fiio e-10k

[GSTARR]

is the fiio e-10k something I should consider buying? Or is there something close to the same price that will deliver more

[Himommies]

A sound card

[GSTARR]

3 minutes ago, Himommies said:

A sound card

I thought the general consensus was that sound cards < dac's?

[Himommies]

Thats like saying A is bigger then red

[GSTARR]

Just now, Himommies said:

Thats like saying A is bigger then red

Hardly.

 

[DrM]

26 minutes ago, Himommies said:

A sound card

 

21 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Thats like saying A is bigger then red

thats not even close. a sound card is a dac, just in a different location. sound cards just have a bit more emi since its in the case while dacs solve that by moving the pcb to outside the case. generally dacs are superior, but thats assuming both are of equal quality.

 

@GSTARR why are you considering a dac/amp? are your headphones not getting loud enough or are you getting audio artifacts? otherwise, there is no real point. onboard audio can handle it pretty well these days

[GSTARR]

2 hours ago, DrM said:

 

thats not even close. a sound card is a dac, just in a different location. sound cards just have a bit more emi since its in the case while dacs solve that by moving the pcb to outside the case. generally dacs are superior, but thats assuming both are of equal quality.

 

@GSTARR why are you considering a dac/amp? are your headphones not getting loud enough or are you getting audio artifacts? otherwise, there is no real point. onboard audio can handle it pretty well these days

if you think onboard is good enough than that's fine w/ me

Linus's review of the HD 598's he said that the wide sound range of the headset needed a dac to help amplify it or something like that, he basically said that a dac would help bring it closer to full utilization.

And I thought a dac was expensive, and at 75$ I could afford it. However I do have an x99 deluxe, which supposedly has greater-than-usual sound quality

[FloRolf]

6 hours ago, GSTARR said:

if you think onboard is good enough than that's fine w/ me

Linus's review of the HD 598's he said that the wide sound range of the headset needed a dac to help amplify it or something like that, he basically said that a dac would help bring it closer to full utilization.

And I thought a dac was expensive, and at 75$ I could afford it. However I do have an x99 deluxe, which supposedly has greater-than-usual sound quality

If you get a DAC you'd ultimately have to get an amp as well. (which the e10k combines) but it's not necessary. 

Just get the phones first and try them out. 

If you feel like there are static noises coming from the onboard dac then you should get an external one. 

[Dackzy]

7 hours ago, GSTARR said:

if you think onboard is good enough than that's fine w/ me

Linus's review of the HD 598's he said that the wide sound range of the headset needed a dac to help amplify it or something like that, he basically said that a dac would help bring it closer to full utilization.

And I thought a dac was expensive, and at 75$ I could afford it. However I do have an x99 deluxe, which supposedly has greater-than-usual sound quality

Linus says a lot of things. He is rarely right about audio.

The E10k is really just onboard moved out of a PC. Always try with onboard first, before even thinking about a DAC and amp.

[GSTARR]

7 hours ago, Dackzy said:

Linus says a lot of things. He is rarely right about audio.

The E10k is really just onboard moved out of a PC. Always try with onboard first, before even thinking about a DAC and amp.

That doesn't seem smart because what am I supposed to compare it to? I've only ever heard onboard. Comparing my onboard to my old onboard, it's obviously going to sound amazing, but if I've never experienced something -a dac- how am I suppose to know whether it's worth it? I'm assuming it's a no from what everyone has said but I don't like the way you explained it, I'm not sure that's a good method

[Volbet]

8 minutes ago, GSTARR said:

That doesn't seem smart because what am I supposed to compare it to? I've only ever heard onboard. Comparing my onboard to my old onboard, it's obviously going to sound amazing, but if I've never experienced something -a dac- how am I suppose to know whether it's worth it? I'm assuming it's a no from what everyone has said but I don't like the way you explained it, I'm not sure that's a good method

Well, what do you want explained? 

 

The answer is generally no, since most modern onboard solutions are capable of doing fantastic converting digital files to an analog signal and amplifying that signal. 

 

I also think you're also under a misconception about whay a DAC actually is.

The chip that powers your onboard sound does act as a DAC, since it's converting your MP3s into an analog wave. 

An external solution, like the FIIO E10K, will just move the circuitry outside your computer. 

[GSTARR]

2 minutes ago, Volbet said:

Well, what do you want explained? 

 

The answer is generally no, since most modern onboard solutions are capable of doing fantastic converting digital files to an analog signal and amplifying that signal. 

 

I also think you're also under a misconception about whay a DAC actually is.

The chip that powers your onboard sound does act as a DAC, since it's converting your MP3s into an analog wave. 

An external solution like the FIIO E10K will just move the circuitry outside your computer. 

Whether you think the fiio was worth it. The general answer was no, which I addressed in that comment. I was mainly responding to his last statement about how I should approach audio, which you can plainly see in the comment. I'm not under any misconception thank you, I didn't ever try to explain what a dac was nor am I interested in the internal workings.

[Dackzy]

16 minutes ago, GSTARR said:

That doesn't seem smart because what am I supposed to compare it to? I've only ever heard onboard. Comparing my onboard to my old onboard, it's obviously going to sound amazing, but if I've never experienced something -a dac- how am I suppose to know whether it's worth it? I'm assuming it's a no from what everyone has said but I don't like the way you explained it, I'm not sure that's a good method

If you think your onboard sounds fine and they get plenty loud then use your onboard. Your onboard DAC is fairly good and above average, so the E10k would at best be a side step. TBH you are not really going to get any audio quality improvements by going with a DAC and amp, your headphones will limet you and your ears will limet you, at best you are going to see a very little improvement and that improvement would have been bigger by using the money from the DAC and amp on better headphones.

[Volbet]

1 hour ago, GSTARR said:

Whether you think the fiio was worth it. The general answer was no, which I addressed in that comment. I was mainly responding to his last statement about how I should approach audio, which you can plainly see in the comment. I'm not under any misconception thank you, I didn't ever try to explain what a dac was nor am I interested in the internal workings.

OK, if that's how we're going to go about it. 

 

I will ask you to not talk to me in that fastidious manner. 

You can tell me I'm wrong and that I shouldn't get involved in your business, but don't talk down to me. 

I'm talking to you in a polite and leveled way and I don't think it's too much to ask that you do the same thing. 

 

The reason why I was under the apparent misconception that you were under a misconception is this:

1 hour ago, GSTARR said:

but if I've never experienced something -a dac- how am I suppose to know whether it's worth it? 

I understood that as if you've never had any experience with a DAC, which is blantantly incorrect unless you just stepped out from 1974. 

If I'm wrong in that assessment then I'm sorry that I tried explaining it to you.

 

All of that said, if you really want personal experience with an external sound solution, then no one is going to stop you from buying the E10K or equivalent solution.

People that recommend you to stay with your onboard is mearly trying to save you the money, but in the end it's your money to spend. 

[c4103]

DAC = Digital to Analog converter

 

As other people here have said, anything that takes digital audio in your computer and converts it to an analog signal that you can put directly into speakers or headphones counts as a DAC.  Your built in sound has a DAC as part of its circuitry.  It's what you call the chip that accomplishes this task.  Devices like the E10K are colloquially called a DAC / Amp because its entire purpose is to take digital sound coming from USB, convert it to an analog signal and then amplify that for your headphones.  So where as a sound card (or even built in audio on your motherboard) contains a DAC, it contains a lot more than that as well, usually in that a lot of them have a surround controller as well as mic and line input circuitry.

 

Now that that's out of the way, whether or not the E10K will be worth it for you depends on a number of factors.  First of all, what headphones are you using?  Second of all when you use your built in sound, are you connecting via the front panel connector or the rear connector?  Using the front panel connector introduces more noise to your signal, as you are basically running an active signal cable through the inside of your computer and they are not usually particularly well shielded depending on your case.  Some motherboards come with better audio than others.  Some Gigabyte boards come with a swappable op-amp (operational amplifier) chip that you can change out to use bigger headphones.  Some people (including Linus) might disagree with me but I strongly believe that putting any headphones into something like the E10K will yield you better results than most motherboard audio.  Plus, the E10K is portable and can be plugged in with USB to almost anything including Android / iOS with an OTG cable I believe.  I'm not sure about that with the E10K actually, but I know my E18 supports it and doubles as a battery bank.  It's a super handy device in general.

[GSTARR]

1 hour ago, Volbet said:

OK, if that's how we're going to go about it. 

You can tell me I'm wrong and that I shouldn't get involved in your business, but don't talk down to me. 

I'm talking to you in a polite and leveled way and I don't think it's too much to ask that you do the same thing. 

 

1 hour ago, Volbet said:

I also think you're also under a misconception about wha[t] a DAC actually is.

I didn't really tell you not to get in my business so you're not in the wrong for that.

I don't like you getting in my business and drawing wrong conclusions and then questioning what I know, combined with the fact that the knowledge you're questioning isn't even what I was discussing.

[Volbet]

20 minutes ago, GSTARR said:

I didn't really tell you not to get in my business so you're not in the wrong for that.

I don't like you getting in my business and drawing wrong conclusions and then questioning what I know, combined with the fact that the knowledge you're questioning isn't even what I was discussing.

I didn't question what you do and don't know based on any discussion you were having with anyone. 

As I explained, I questioned that based on the wording you used. 

 

I also asked for a clarification so that I could actually understand what you were asking. 

You start your thread by asking whether or not the E10K is worth the purchase, but you also don't seem to take no for an answer. 

And that really confuse me. 

[KaminKevCrew]

1 hour ago, GSTARR said:

 

I didn't really tell you not to get in my business so you're not in the wrong for that.

I don't like you getting in my business and drawing wrong conclusions and then questioning what I know, combined with the fact that the knowledge you're questioning isn't even what I was discussing.

He's just trying to help...

 

Anyway, basically, it goes like this: Try the headphones with your onboard sound. If they are too quiet, then get an amp, or an amp/DAC, depending on your preference. If there's noise in the signal (like, if you're gaming and you hear noise that shouldn't be there, or if you're just sitting there with no audio playing, and there's a bunch of white noise), then get a DAC and an amp. If you don't have either of those issues, then you should really just stay with your onboard sound. If you WANT to spend the money, or you like having a physical volume knob, or you want the ease of having something on top of your desk to plug/unplug various headphones to/from, then get an amp, or an amp/dac.

 

In the end, it's your money, and you can what you will with it. BUT be aware that if your onboard is up to snuff, then you might be seriously disappointed that you just spent $76 on one of those for no difference in audio quality what so ever, especially since you could then have either saved $76, or spent $76 (a not inconsequential amount of money) on even BETTER headphones. 

 

You decide what you want to do, but I think that's about as comprehensive an answer as you're likely to get.

 

[GSTARR]

4 hours ago, Volbet said:

You start your thread by asking whether or not the E10K is worth the purchase, but you also don't seem to take no for an answer. 

And that really confuse me. 

 Because nobody was saying no specifically. Everybody was comparing it to onboard saying it was just as good. In the comment I stated that

 

7 hours ago, GSTARR said:

I'm assuming it's a no from what everyone has said

Nobody was saying no. They were just implying the fact by saying that onboard was close.

[KaminKevCrew]

2 minutes ago, GSTARR said:

 Because nobody was saying no specifically. Everybody was comparing it to onboard saying it was just as good. In the comment I stated that

 

Nobody was saying no. They were just implying the fact by saying that onboard was close.

To be fair, it was a pretty easy inference to make.