It’s hard to come up with an original start for a Fiio review, since I’ve written so many times about their products. In the world of high-quality portable sound at affordable prices, they confidently hold the palm, regularly updating their model range and expanding it. Their most powerful amplifier E12 for more than a year is deservedly one of the best in terms of price / quality ratio of portable solutions. Recently, the company introduced a new modification of this E12A amplifier, designed for use with sensitive in-ear headphones.
It should be understood that the E12A does not replace the previous model. This is not an upgrade, as, for example, E11K, but a new product that complements the existing line. The fact is that the Fiio E12 was very powerful. Its 860 milliwats per channel at 32Ω load is very cool if you want to listen to, say, 250-ohm headphones from Beyerdynamic or something from the initial isodynamic HiFiMan models. If we are talking about sensitive IEM, then this power reserve is not only unnecessary, but even harmful. Firstly, it leads to the appearance of audible noise (although with the E12 everything is very good with this). Secondly, the excess power corny complicates the use of the amplifier, moving the volume control quite a bit, you either still can not hear, because the sound is low, or you can not hear anything, because it is deaf from the volume.
Then the question may arise: why, then, need an amplifier, if the headphones and so sensitive, and they do not need a lot of power to play loudly? The fact is that in addition to volume (which is usually enough with any source), there are many other aspects of good sound: speed, micro and macro dynamics, and a number of others. It is they who suffer most often if you connect very good headphones to a poor-quality source such as a smartphone (even the best smartphones are often very compromising in terms of sound quality). The E12A is designed for these cases.
In Fiio decided to make a new model on the same "chassis", lowering the gain and improving the sound quality. To implement the latter, they took into account the experience of their previous Fiio E12DIY product, a limited-edition amplifier that provided for a change of operational amplifiers and buffers in it. According to users of popular audioforums, the maximum effect was achieved when using the OU MUSES02 from the Japanese company New Japan Radio Co Ltd, which specializes in creating high-end op-amp and LME49600 from Texas Instruments, which have long been partners with Fiio. This bundle of microcircuits allowed reducing the distortion to less than 0.0003% and bringing the signal-to-noise ratio to 115 dB.
To achieve a channel balance, the circuit was redesigned using resistors of increased accuracy. Also, the function of the crossfade was removed, which did not justify the hopes placed on it.
Specifications
- Recommended load impedance: 16Ω - 150Ω
- Frequency range: 20 Hz - 20 KHz
- Output power: > 420 mW @ 16Ω
- Total harmonic distortion: <0.003 ％
- Signal to noise ratio: > 115 dB
- Channel separation: > 85 dB
- Channel unbalance: <0.5 dB
- Output Impedance: <0.3Ω
- Peak output voltage: 10.3 V
- Maximum output current: 113.3 mA
- Gain: > 12 dB (high),> -1 dB (low)
- Battery: 1500 mA / h
- Charging time: <3 h (depends on the charger)
- Operating time on one charge: > 20 h
- Dimensions: 124 mm × 65.5 mm × 14.5 mm
- Weight: 166 g
Package and Delivery
Packaging design is standard for the latest products of older Fiio. Black and red box, inside is a box of black cardboard. In it, fixed rubber frame, is the amplifier itself. Under it is a box with accessories in which you will find everything you need to use the device.
To E12 Fiio put: microUSB-cable for charging, a short cable with angled TRS-plugs for connecting to the source (Fiio L8), two pairs of rubber rings for attaching the amplifier to other equipment, 6 self-adhesive silicone legs, neoprene bag with velcro and different pieces of paper . In general, the package is very, very good.
For the latest models of its players, Fiio releases a set for use with an amplifier (more precisely, it has already been released for the X5, promises for the X1), it includes a plastic frame and a better connecting cable. The X5 kit is very convenient, and it is these little things that allow you to build something like an ecosystem, prompting you to use exactly the Fiio technique.
Design and management
The appearance of the E12A is almost the same as the E12DIY and the classic E12. The same strict aluminum parallelepiped shape, the same volume control combined with a switch. The main difference is color. The usual E12 is completely black, the E12DIY is silver (and quite a rarity is golden), the new E12A is made in an intermediate, dark gray color, named in the company titan gray.
The controls are arranged similarly to the E12DIY, which is great, since there is no strangeness of their location, which distinguishes the E11K. Everything is logical here: at the top end there is a volume control with a switch, input and output jacks and a gain switch. On the right side near the top edge is a charging jack and a bass boost switch. On the front panel in the upper right corner there are two LEDs, one shows the switch on, the second blinks when charging (the faster the blink, the faster the charge is). The fact that all controls are concentrated nearby, greatly simplifies the use of the device.
Build quality is excellent, the amplifier looks impressive. You can slightly find fault with the chamfer mismatch on the case and removable panels, but this is actually almost imperceptible.
The volume control is very good, it rotates smoothly, there is no noise during rotation.
The decrease in power had a very positive effect on the player’s lifetime. The operating time from one charge was 21 hours and 7 minutes, which is more than good.
Sound
To listen to the amplifier, I used the following equipment:
- MacBook Pro Retina Late 2013 as a source
- Audirvana Pro as a player
- Yulong DA8, connected via USB as a DAC
- Fiio X5
- Lossless Records
The following headphones were used to listen to the Fiio E12A:
The sound of the amplifier is fairly neutral, with a slight bias in brightness. The sound is very detailed, with good texture and energetic presentation. Despite the reduced power compared to the E12, the reserve for this indicator is still considerable for the E12A, and it even effortlessly copes with the majority of loose overhead headphones. In this case, the amplifier is pleased with the absence of noise; this is exactly what a technique should be oriented to use primarily with the IEM.
Bass at E12A elastic and collected. The amplifier controls it well and adds stress to it in cases where the player cannot cope. Armature headphones with good emitters on the woofer with E12A delight punch and whipping, and even loose hybrids are collected and behave more decently with the players, who are not fully able to control them. The bass booster in the E12A, as in all the latest Fiio models, is quite ingratiating. He adds only about 5 decibels in the range up to 500 Hz, thanks to him the music sometimes gets the missing physicality, but the bass does not dominate the other frequencies.
The mids to most players do well enough without that, but the E12A adds liveliness to them by improving the micro dynamics, which in turn also transforms into a wider scene with a better separation of instruments.
High frequencies are quite good, they are long and detailed. Very rarely you want to reduce them (literally in 3 cases out of more than 200 listened tracks), because of the arising sibilants, but this manifested itself only on Rock-It R50, which brighten themselves. In other cases, the E12A adds a good sound to the airiness and nuances in the HF region.
A little about a bunch of specifically E12A with Fiio X5. When using high-quality hybrids and reinforcement headphones X5 does not reveal them completely. He lacks microdetails, especially in the LF. This is clearly seen on more neutral hybrid headphones. With the use of the E12A, the low-frequency range is immediately “collected”, becoming more defined and neat. This immediately changes the perception of the headphones, making the sound not so oppressive. In general, the "sandwich" from Fiio X5 and connected via a linear output of the E12A is able to compete with many expensive players on an equal footing.
conclusions
Having a choice is always good. In this case, Fiio gives us a choice of amplifier, depending on the type of headphones you prefer, you can take a more suitable version of the E12. The reduced power of the E12A together with an increased signal-to-noise ratio makes it a very good choice for high-end IEMs.
The article is based on materials .
Comments
Post a Comment