In my last review I spoke about a local business by the name of Headphone Bar, I was intrigued by their products and decided to return to purchase a Headphone amplifier.
After sitting down to try a few of the models I decided to go with the Fiio E11, it is a portable inline amplifier with 3 adjustable EQ settings.
These are the earphones/headphones i'll be testing today it with:
Shure E2C
Apple Ear Pods
Apple In ear
Beats by Dre Solo HD
The music I'll be using to test:
Avril Lavigne - Sk8ter Boi
The Weeknd - Rolling Stone
College - A Real Hero
Schumann - No.2 Aufschwung
Jay-Z - Dirt off your Shoulders
Tycho - Coastal Brake
The Fiio E11 box contains the E11 amp, a 3 inch 3.5mm to 3.5mm interconnect, short usb mini cable, and two silicone bands.
The amp is made mainly of plastic and has a removable lithium ion battery, It is a BL-58 model. The battery lasts about 10-12 hours and takes 3 hours to charge.
There are 2 bass boost settings, 2 gain settings and a (low power/high power) battery saving function. A feature I particularly enjoy is that the volume is controlled by a good ol fashion knob, it gives you that tactile feel and precise control and it also powers the amp on and off.
The switch placements were well thought out as they are placed in a manner that no accidental switching can occur while in your bag or pockets. The light weight construction and size make it very portable, the two silicone bands are used to attach your amp to your audio device.
Sound impressions:
When using my Apple in ear and Ear pods this is where you find to the most dramatic change, everything is enhanced. Bass is booming mids become in existence and the high end is crisp. You start hearing things that you didn't originally hear in the song.
When using the Shure EC2 and Beats by Dre Solo HD's the sound is fuller and rich, it envelops you with sound. Normally with my EC2's I don't heavy bass response but with the bass setting on 1 it is quite booming with bass, on the Solo's the headphones shake on my head the bass is so heavy.
Here are some setting combinations for various audio preferences.
1) Full Rich Sound - High Power / Low Gain / 2 EQ
2) Clear Mids and Highs and low Bass - Low Power / High gain / 1 EQ
3) Max Power - High Power / High gain / 2 EQ
I purchased the E11 for $64.99 + taxes and it is worth every dollar, it is very portable easy to use and has a great battery life. The sound it produces is unreal and it can make almost any pair of headphones sounds incredible.
Special thanks to Travis at Headphone Bar for his assistance in my purchase.
Oh and I almost forgot about my techie readers, here are the specs:
Specs:
Power Source (Adapter)：DC 5V, 500mA ●Frequency Response：10~100KHz
●Signal to Noise Ratio：≥98dB ●Crosstalk：60dB
●Gain：≥12dB(High); ≥6dB(Low) ●Total Harmonic Distortion：
●Maximum Output Power：Voltage=H 300mW(16Ω) Voltage=L 120mW(16Ω)
●Battery charge time：200M ●Battery play hours: >10H
●Recommended Headphone Impedance：16~300Ω ●Input Impedance：>5KΩ
●Size：92.5x 54.2x 13.4mm ●Weight：65g (battery included)
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