FiiO E17 Alpen

As I mentioned in my review of HRT’s HeadStreamer, for the first time in my life, travel is a significant factor for me, so I’ve been reviewing portable components to take along with me. The HeadStreamer was a simple, American-made DAC/amp combo that delivered high performance for the price by focusing on the basics.  The E17 Alpen seems to be the antithesis of the HeadStreamer.   While it is also clearly a budget component, the Chinese FiiO has definitely taken a different approach.

I’ll write a comparison posting of the HeadStreamer and the Alpen soon.  So, let’s dive in to the specifics of FiiO’s latest.  The Alpen is delivered in a small cardboard box with a variety of accessories.

The E17 comes with a small instruction booklet (clearly written by someone that doesn’t speak English as their first language), a toslink adapter, RCA/1/8″ plug SPDIF adapter, two FiiO rubber bands to secure the E17 to another portable device, six stick-on feet, a USB cable, an adapter cable with 1/8″ plugs on each end and a thick, velvet storage pouch.

For $140, the build quality of the E17 is very good.  It comes equipped with an excellent OLED display and the power button is multi-colored to easily indicate if the device is off, operating (blue) or just charging via the USB cable (red).  While the assembly tolerances of the E17 are very good, you can see where FiiO cut corners where the back cover fits into the front of the device.  In addition, the bottom plate of the device, that houses the USB, HDMI and analog input, is a rather cheap piece of black plastic instead of metal.  However, these comments are very minor. The E17 is  a very well constructed product.

While of higher quality than the HeadStreamer’s case, I found the velvet pouch supplied with the E17 very cheap.  I replaced it with an inexpensive CaseLogic digital camera case.  This was of much higher quality in appearance and also provided more padding than the velvet pouch.

In the photo above, the E17 is using the optical input located on the top of the unit on the left-hand side and driving my Beyer DT1350 headphones on the right.  Instead of providing a detailed list of every feature on the E17, check out the instructions that ship with the unit and the on-line documentation.

I encountered zero problems operating the E17.  Although the extra features make it more complex to configure than the HeadStreamer,  I found the device simple to operate and very simple to use once I configured it initially.  In practice, the only features I changed were the input to switch between USB and SPDIF and the the gain on the Alpen (controlled the two largest buttons on the front panel).  If you just want to listen to music,  the E17 is trivial to use:  simply turn it on or off and adjust the volume.

I also can’t comment on battery usage.  I only operated the E17 using the USB and optical outputs from my Apple MacBook and iMac, so the battery was always being charged.  The  OLED display indicates if the battery is being charged (see the yellow bar at the top of the display in the image above).

With the basics aside, let’s talk about how the E17 sounds.   In a word: excellent.  I found the E17 to have a warm, slightly laid back character.  The sound seemed like there was a faint “haziness” to it, but this is a minor detail. To my ears, the E17 doesn’t have a tube-like warmness, but it does sound very organic and much warmer than the HeadStreamer.  Like the HeadStreamer, the E17 can’t compete with my Woo Audio  / Wyred4Sound reference system, but I wouldn’t expect that it could compete at that level.   I did find the E17 to be a significant step up from the headphone jack of both my MacBook and my iMac.  While this is a very subjective comment,  I found myself consistently taking the time to plugin the E17 while I was on the road because it made the music more enjoyable and more engaging.

When comparing the SPDIF and USB inputs, I could not reliably tell which input sounded better.  However, SPDIF input had a much higher gain than the USB input.   Although I did not subject the E17 or myself to any A/B testing, I was surprised that I could distinguish between SPDIF cables.  Although the E17 doesn’t come with a TOSLINK cable, they are inexpensively available from Amazon.com, as are additional adapters to use the optical output hidden away in the Mac’s headphone jack.  I tried two inexpensive cables and I believe one sounded better than the other.  However, I must say that I question if I could distinguish between the two cables in any type of formal listening test.

If you purchase an E17 with the intent to use the SPDIF input, Amazon sells a variety of inexpensive cables that have impressive metal housings and beefy coverings.  If you intend to travel with your E17, I suggest avoiding these cables and using something similar to the cable featured in the image of the Alpen; it will occupy much less room. For the record,  the smaller cable in the photo is the one that sounded better to me. Your mileage may vary of course and you may find that much more expensive cables offer a commensurately higher level of performance.  If you believe that TOSLINK cables can significantly affect the sound of the E17, I would be very interested in hearing from you.

In summary,  for $140 the E17 Alpen from FiiO offers a very high level of value.  Although it won’t compete with more expensive home systems,  its warm, mellow character makes it easy to listen to.  It’s packed with useful features that you might not use every day, but they are unobtrusive and don’t negatively impact use of the product.  Frankly, I enjoyed listening to the E17 while on the road.  It paired very well with my DT-1350s and makes for an excellent travel system.

Features:  5.00  / 5.00

Build Quality: 4.00 / 5.00 

User Experience: 4.5 / 5.00

Sound Quality: 4.25 / 5.00

Overall Value:  4.5 / 5.0

In my next review of portable headphone amplifiers / DACs, I’ll compare and contrast the HeadStreamer and the E17.  Last, but not least, I’ll review my Beyer DT1350s.  Stay tuned…