Headphone Amp!

Diary Picture Headphones

I finally got myself a desktop headphone amp! Whoo!

I chose to get the FiiO E09K here (the big thing with the big dial), seeing as I previously got the FiiO E17. The E17 docks into the E09K, so you can still use the E17 as a DAC when you've hooked your computer up to it. Otherwise, you can run your regular RCA two channel audio plugs through it and amp up your console systems or something.

'Course, my main set of headphones are the ESW9's, which sound great without an amp, so maybe this was overkill. Before, I just had a FiiO E17 - one little black box that was both a DAC and an amp, and I mainly used it so I didn't have to listen to my computer's horrendous on-board sound. (Those were dark times, indeed.) Despite hearing that my headphones didn't really need an amp to sound good, I got a little curious about having a dedicated desktop amp, and so bought the E17's companion device.

First impressions, I think I'm getting a little more sound quality out of the E17/E09K combo than I am with the E17 alone (which actually serves as both a DAC and an amp at the same time). The difference seems to be a little subtle, but then again, I don't have a good way of swapping between the E17/E09K together and the E17 alone. I swear I'm hearing a little extra sparkle on the acoustic guitars.

I'm running my consoles through the amp as well, as it has a set of jacks for regular RCA audio in (and out, actually)... Sure beats my old setup in terms of convenience - I was running them through an RCA to 3.5 mm converter, which had definitely seen better days. Static would pop up on the line or one channel would go out if you touched it wrong. You literally had to play with the converter, rotating it, tapping it, and literally physically babying it so that it would work again. Now that I've got the E09K, I can just plug in the audio in the back and flip a switch anytime I want to switch from my computer to my consoles or vice versa. Still will miss the two-dollar converter though, it worked fine when I first got it and I've been using it for a while.