Fiio E3 Headphone Amp

This is a nice example of a super minimalist (and cheap) product that does its job very well.My original reason for getting it was to allow me to drive two sets of headphones from a netbook while travelling. However I now find I'm using it for solo listening as well. My primary player is a Sony NWZ-S639F which I consider to have a very good output stage but there is a marginal improvement using the Fiio in terms of overall detail and texture and bass definition. The sound is a bit more relaxed - it's obviously not straining to drive my Sony V6 phones at lowish volumes. Subjectively the frequency response seems quite neutral; it certainly doesn't introduce any high frequency harshness which I am quite sensitive to.Using a 2G iPod Shuffle as the source the improvement is more obvious. This player seems to have an underpowered output with poor bass extension and mid-upper harshness. Big improvement when playing via the Fiio.Is it perfect? Certainly not. It's a bit plasticky and the "power on" LED is too close to the headphone output to be visible when a full size headphone jack is plugged in. And if you turn up the volume you can hear vocals and instruments distorting a bit during bass-heavy passages (probably a limitation of the power supply rather than the very good op-amp they are using) This is really not a problem at the volume levels I find comfortable for extended listening, and it's really remarkable how much of a punch they have been able to extract from a single AAA. With other headphones or if you want or need to deliver higher power, you would probably want to go to something with a beefier power supply.UPDATE FOR HACKERS ONLY: I decided to try running the E3 from a pair of rechargeable AA's because with a single AAA the voltage is very close to the 1.4V rated minimum for the chip they use (LM4917). I could have gone higher with a 3.6V lithium but this was quick and easy...... _*WOW*_ This thing really sings now. I think I will pop it out of its plastic housing and build it into a mint tin. It really is a different class of sound. I'm hearing stuff I didn't know was there and I can turn it up without it sounding 'loud'. Hard to describe but I'm really impressed. Think I'll buy some more of these.

Let me start off by saying this is well worth the $9 I played for it. It definently increases over all volume substantially, but that isn't why I bought it. I bought it because I purchased a set of cans, just budget pair, and realized the internal amps in my devices wouldn't be able to power them fully. Coming from a background in radio communications, I know a little about amplifiers. Basically an amp can be underpowered for a set of speakers yet still produce a listenable volume, but sound quality will suffer because there won't be enough power to hit the highs and lows, and overall the sound will be muddy and indistinct. That's because the signal sent to the speaker is a wave, not constant, and a sound of high amplitude will be clipped when the amp maxes out. That's what this little black box does, it amplifies the signal coming from your internal amp at a set gain, helping to prevent either amp from maxing out, so you can drive big cans, aka headfones. When it comes to headphones, generally the larger the driver, the better.Pros:Sound is crisper and more defined across entire rangeBass hits harder without becoming muddy or seeping into other rangesTiny, I didn't realize from the picture just how small it is, it is slightly larger than my thumbSupposedly 10hr battery life, this remains to be provenNeutral:Uses AAA batteries, this as advantages and disadvantagesDoes not come with headphone splitter in the pictureCons:No off switch, to turn off you must unplug the headphones.No pocket clip, though it is small enough to be just left hanging.Slight hiss, this is to be expected, anytime you introduce a new component or connection into a transmission line, you increase the riskof interference. Plus I'm using low impedince/high sensativety earbuds while waiting for my headphones. The amp may amplify the interference just enough for the ear buds to turn it into sound. Only noticable when no music is playing.I will edit my review once my headphones arrive. Plus, I plan to try to get this open to add switch and possibly solder the input audio cable directly to the board to cut down on interference.

The amplifier turns ON as the earphone is plugged. Also turns ON a light on the amplifier. The bettery is discharged by the light as it stays ON as long as the earphones are plugged in. Disapointed, I do not use it anymore.

Las pilas duran muy poco y no amplifica demasiado.Las pilas duran muy poco y no amplifica demasiado.Las pilas duran muy poco y no amplifica demasiado.

This has just arrived so this review is based on 2 days use.. Firstly the unit is smaller than I thought it would be, nice and convenient. As other reviews have stated the FiiO is not an amplifier in the broad sense of the word, what it does, and does well is provide gain to the original source. I purchased this to partner my Sandisk clip mp3 player, which is excellent, but let down by a limited volume range. This is where the FiiO comes into its own it gives the Sandisk what its missing. Not a big jump but enough to make the difference needed. No distortion evident and no degridation of quality, so well done FiiO and well done amazon for selling this little gem..UPDATE 06/05/12Following a good few months use the unit still performs well. I have partnered it with not only mp3 player but mobile phone and other audio sources and it boosts the signal in just the right way. The battery life is quite good, but always carry a spare AAA as there is little warning when the battery does deplete. probably the biggest advantage of the Fiio is when using larger, overhead type headphones; because the drivers are bigger they can require more power and the fiio effortlessly does this. I would like to take this opportunity to apologise to anyone who has had me boring them about how wonderful the fiio is, but it is... its a good one

iPod shuffle（第5世代）にヘッドホン（パイオニアのSE-M290）を接続するために購入。接続前はヘッドホンの奥でかろうじて音楽が鳴る感じでしたが、このアンプを接続すると、音が前面に出てくる感じになり、音量も余裕で取れるようになりました。サイズが小さく取り回しが楽なので、iPod以外にも、パソコンで音量を取りたい時や、DSなどの携帯ゲーム機で遊ぶときにも気軽に使っています。Fiioのアンプは他にもE11とE5を以前所有していましたが、この二つはどちらも内臓バッテリー充電式なので、充電が切れたらしばらく使えないという弱点があり、いまいち使いづらさを感じていました。その点、このE3は乾電池式なので、電池切れやバッテリー寿命を気にせずガンガン使えます。というわけで☆5つ。

I like this little gadget. My android phone (one of them) has a very weak sound in the headphones and hence I needed this little amp. Does job perfectly. The only thing is that if you leave the connection jacks in the sockets, or leave the battery in it, in a very short period of time the battery just dies. Other than that, this is a great product for the price.