What is fiio a1?
Review from: Headfonia
→→ Read the original article on Headfonia: >> Click here
Disclaimer: The unit goes for around $30USD on the web but Fiio sent us the Fiio A1 free of charge. Fiio also is a website advertiser.
The Mini A1 Amp
Fiio’s latest Fiio A1 mini amplifier continues the Fiio tradition of making small budget portable amplifiers. The Fiio E6 which Mike reviewed back in December 2011 is one of the Fiio A1’s predecessors. Just like with any Fiio unit, these budget mini amps are incredibly popular with those who have a small budget and with those taking their first steps in better portable audio. Mike called it “An amplifier for the masses” and just looking at the build quality and features, it probably was the most mainstream-ready portable headphone amplifier in the market. They’re small, well build and packed with convenient features like USB charging, EQ and bass boost. Fiio will always be connect to the bass boost function they always seem(ed) to implement, even if they lately have stepped a bit away from that direction. Most important, these mini amps are priced so low that nobody has a right to raise objections about the price/quality ratio. The question is though if these miniature amps still have a lot of value as smartphones and portable players now all have stronger outputs than several years ago.
The tiny Fiio A1 has a metal sandblasted aluminum alloyed chassis and for the price I honestly expected it to be a full plastic enclosure, so that was a nice surprise. First thing you notice when you hold the packaging is how tiny the new Fiio A1 is. It actually measure 42 x 40.7 x 9.4mm and weighs only 20gr which is pretty incredible. Luckily it has a clip to keep it “in place” because you wouldn’t notice dropping it.
The Fiio A1 has a digital volume control and it uses Alps Microswitches for sensitive and reliable operation. Next to that the main feature of the Fiio A1 is it’s EQ and it actually has four different EQ modes:
It’s quite funny to see that Fiio chose to implement a bass reduction, it certainly was something I didn’t expect in a $30USD mini amp as most people simply seem to buy these mini amps for the bass boost.
When the blue LED starts flashing red it is time to recharge the battery by micro USB. The LED will turn red when the unit is charging and one it is charged it will turn green. The battery inside the Fiio A1 is a Lipoly battery of 160mAh that lasts about 13hours (on 32Ohm), which is rather impressing. Then again, the A1 doesn’t have a lot of other features draining the battery. Fully charging the unit takes under 90 minutes. The unit comes pre-charged as well.
The Fiio A1 has a remarkably low output impedance of under 0.2Ohm which makes it complementary to high impedance sources and sources without volume control like the Stoner Acoustics AD100/UD120. The amplifier chip inside the Fiio A1 is the TPA6130A2 if I’m not mistaking, together with the 74HC4052PW＋OPA2322AID for the bass boost functions. See the table below for all of the Fiio A1’s specs.
The actual price for the Fiio A1 on Amazon.com is $27.99USD and €29.99 in Europe, making this Fiio’s cheapest unit. The next in line K1 amp/DAC which is $39USD and the A3 which is going for $59.99 in the States and €79! in Europe.
Packaging & accessories
I’m a fan of Fiio’s metal boxes where many of their units came delivered in, even the amplifier modules for the X7 come in a nice box but the A1 like the Fiio K1 comes in a simple plastic see-through packing with the amp on top and a small box with all the accessories below. For ± $30USD you do get quite the number of accessories:
For some reason I always seem to break the kind of clips the A1 uses, so I was happy to see they supplied two extra clips for the clumsy people like me.
Build Quality & Lay-out
As said, I didn’t expect Fiio to make an aluminum $30USD mini amp but like all the latest Fiio products, their build quality is really good. The only thing that is less “carry- or bag proof” is the transparent removable plastic clip with which you clip it to your shirt or pants. Plastic easily brakes when folded over its limit and Fiio seems to know that as they have added two extra clips in the box.
Apart from that the Fiio A1 seems like it can take a beating. The top of the unit is the most important place of the amp and from left to right it features the on/off switch with incorporated LED, volume up, volume down and the 3.5mm single ended gold plated headphone out. On the other side we logically find the gold plated 3.5mm line-in and the micro-USB port for charging. On the front there’s only the Fiio logo and on the back is the transparent clip. A very basic unit design wise.
One remark: I do think the buttons are really close next to each other. The – and + key are like 3mm apart and the + button is right next to the 3.5mm headphone out, that can be annoying when your headphone/earphone uses a big connector. Oh and the blue LED could have been brighter.
Power
Looking at the numbers and the size of the unit, it’s obvious that the A1 wasn’t developed to power big full sized headphones but IEMs. It of course also manages to power the easy to drive headphones like the Koss Portapro, HD25, Urban Vinyl Classics, Hifiman Edition S, etc.
Smartphones and portable players now all have stronger outputs compared to several years ago, so I see the Fiio A1 more as a unit to use as a very first amplifier combined with powerless phones or older portable players. That is unless you’re planning on using the A1’s EQ settings, which is what I think most of the users nowadays will use the Fiio A1 for.
Sound
It’s only normal that you for only $30USD don’t expect a lot from the A1. Yet when using it in normal position (no bass boost and 3.65dB gain), the sound is easy to like. Bass even without boost, has good body and the overall signature of the amp is on the warmer side. Bass isn’t the tightest though but overall the little A1 is quite balanced. Sound stage wise the A1 isn’t the strongest as width and especially depth aren’t that special. Compared to amplifiers 10 times its price (duh!) it’s lacking detail, separation and layering but for a $30 amp, it just delivers a fun and easy to listen to reasonably balanced amplified sound for weak sources and ear/headphones that just need that little bit more.
EQ
You immediately hear the elevated bass kick in on the first bass boost setting (+2.7dB). Besides changing the bass level, it doesn’t really impact the sound apart from the slightly more forward vocals. Bass body now is bigger and it still isn’t the tightest. It doesn’t really run over in to the mids yet but it’s close. If you need more bass than on the normal setting, the EQ1 setting most likely is the one you’re looking for as is most dynamic and “correct”. With bass heavy head/earphones such as the Urban Vinyl Classic, bass even on Bass 1 setting is too much already, but that’s personal preference.
On Bass 2, bass gets boosted by 5.2dB. You can immediately hear the bigger bass which also seems to reach lower. You will however also notice the mids being reduced a little, together with the lower treble, giving the A1 more of a v-curved sound that just doesn’t sound as clear and dynamic compared to the normal and Bass 1 setting.
Using Bass 3-setting reduces the bass with 5.2dB. I didn’t expect this from Fiio as Fiio in the old days always liked its bass. This setting clearly is for those using a very bass heavy headphone or earphone in the first place. Not only does bass gets reduced the body of the mids also decreases, giving the A1 a thinner and dryer sound signature. I’m not a fan of this setting.
Combos & Comparison
Ideally you would pair up the Fiio A1 more with budget IEMs and easy to drive bigger sized headphones. I don’t really see CIEM owners who have just spent between $500 and $3000USD use a $30 amplifier. I’m not the biggest fan of universal IEMs and earbuds and yet my collection seems to get bigger by the month. Here are some tests
A few weeks ago I looked at the original VE Monk which in the meantime has been replaced by the Monk+. M+, according to Lee from VE, is an improved version of the sublime Monk where you get a little less bass and more detailed and forward mids. In general the new + version sounds more balanced but on the A1 the bass in setting 1 already is pushing it while setting 2 completely loses control. The Monk just isn’t the most ideal earbud to pair with the A1. Its brother the 150Ohm Asura 2.0 is thinner sounding with a neutral tuning and I quite like how it sounds without EQ. However on the first bass setting, the A1 is giving the Asura more body down low and it makes more musical. On setting 2 the mids get a bit too recessed for my taste, the negative bass setting certainly isn’t an option on the Asura. The ZEN 2.0 from the same company has an impressive 320Ohm impedance and it on paper shouldn’t be a match for the Fiio A1. In reality I quite like how it sounds with the A1 on both neutral and EQ setting 1 but I’ve heard the ZEN sound a lot better, even straight from the L&P L3.
The A&D D2 from Lendmeurears is a new over ear IEM with good bass body to start off with and I only like it without EQ on the A1, it just doesn’t sound right with more or less bass. The original Trinity Delta has three different filters and still I don’t like its sound signature. Setting 1 on the A1 however smoothens it out a bit and the extra bass makes it more enjoyable. On setting 2 it actually sounds even better (with the silver filter in both cases) and it’s the first time I haven’t felt like unplugging the Delta within the first 3 minutes.
Switching to the full sized headphones, the 18Ohm Hifiman Edition S was developed to sound perfect straight out of your phone or portable player and while the volume has to go up a little the A1 manages to drive it perfectly. Except for the negative bass boost, I like all the settings with the Edition S with setting 1 being my favorite
The Urban Vinyl Classic at 84Ohm requires the volume to go up even more but the A1 still pulls it off. The Classic is a bass heavy to start from and it without EQ and on setting one sounds best, really bass heads will probably opt for setting 2 here. I doubt anyone will go for setting 3.
Compared to the Stoner Ruby the A1 is a league below. Ruby sound wider and deeper with better layering and detail. It also has an overall clearer presentation. For a miniature amp it performs very well but then again it costs three times the A1, if you can still find it. I’m sorry to say so, but compared to the other still available Fiio amps, the Fiio A1 logically is the least detailed and refined amplifier. The Fiio E17K and E10K are my favorites, but the Fiio E12A is also extremely good with IEMs and full sized headphones and then there of course still is the E11K. Fiio has so many great budget gear.
Conclusion
The A1 at $30USD is mostly about giving oompf to underpowered phones even though that happens less with the more powerful sources on the market. If you do need an amp and you’re on a low budget, the A1 can be that first amp that will show you what an amplifier can do to achieve good sound. Or you can get the A1 for the different EQ settings it has, especially when you’re looking to add bass to bass light ear or headphones.
For little money you get a well built and small amplifier with a couple of simple but effective EQ functions that mostly impact the bass. I’m not the right person for an amplifier in this range but we all remember that first budget amplifier we bought that started it all. (For me it was an iBasso T-something). I like the fact that Fiio is making budget stuff that offers good quality for money. If however you’re really looking to improve sound quality I’d look at some of Fiio’s other amps like the E12A, E17K and E11K which are quite good.
The silver A1 from FiiO is a portable headphone amplifier with volume control, hi-fidelity output, and four EQ modes providing maximum flexibility.
The FiiO A1 is the company’s latest version of their all-in-one entry-level portable amplifier. This is targeted to the casual or first-time user. It is priced at just $30.
Disclaimer: The FiiO K5 sent to us is a sample in exchange for our honest opinion. We thank FiiO for this opportunity.
To learn more about FiiO reviews on Headfonics you can click here.
The is the second time we reviewed an A1 from FiiO only this time they switched the “A1” tag from a budget class-D speaker amp they launched in 2011 and stuck it on the latest generation of the old E6 micro amp launched also in mid-2011.
The E6, in turn, was an upgrade on the previous E5 launched I believe in either 2008 or 2009. Still with me? FiiO made its name with little portable amps such as these costing nothing more than a few bucks and was generally accepted as the de-facto standard first portable amp you should try if your phone or DAP wasn’t squeezing enough juice for your cans or IEMs.
I saw quite a few of them in meets over the last 8 years and had one myself I think in 2010.
The A1 is the third generation of the original E5 portable micro amp and in terms of form factor, it feels like FiiO has gone a full circle in design. The A1 looks far more like the E5 with the E6 design consigned to the digital dustbin. Overall it is 4g heavier than the old E6 and 10g lighter than the old E5.
FiiO has also gone back to their roots in the materials used in this series with the A1 marking a return to a metal (aluminum) chassis much like the E5 and dumping the lighter but all plastic look and feel of the E6. I do like how they managed to stiffen things up considerably with the A1 build but managed to keep the weight just 4g more than the plastic E6.
The form factor is more in line with the old E5 with a return to a smoothed rounded chassis rather than the squared shape of the E6. Certainly physically it looks a more comfortable bedfellow to the old E5. It does retain the detachable transparent plastic clip of the old E6 though this time it is central and vertical rather than running at an angle from one of the corners.
The rear panel of the A1 remains largely unchanged down through the years with a single USB port for charging and analog input jack though the USB port has changed from a mini to microformat.
Instead of an all in one slider switch for power and volume as well as EQ from the old E6, FiiO has returned to dedicated independent buttons on the front panel of the A1 in a nod to the simpler format of the E5.
Personally I think this is a good move. Not only have they throw in some decent Alps micro switches for volume control but in my opinion, they have made the usability of the A1 a lot simpler and more intuitive than the E6. Both the input and output jacks are gold plated with the headphone jack on the front panel to the far left and the power button to the far right.
The power button does double up with some EQ options as is the legacy of this micro amp right back to the E5. The tweaks outside of the stock flat response focus entirely on the bass response and are denoted as Bass one, two and three.
This time it seems FiiO has dropped the whole lowering of the gain option to prevent clipping that was an option on the E6. You can access these options through the power button and you will know which EQ you have selected with the number of flashes a central blue LED light in the power button gives you every two seconds. Continuous is flat, one flash is Bass 1, 2 flashes is Bass 2 and 3 flashes is Bass 3.
The A1 uses a 160mAh li-poly battery. Charging time has also increased from the E6 by 3 hours from a rated 10 hours to 13 hours with a marginally shorter time to charge to full from 2 hours down to 1.5 hours on a 5v USB connection.
You can monitor your battery level through the single LED light at the center of the power/EQ button. When low the LED light will turn red and flash, red and continuous when charging and fully green when charged.
Pretty pleased to see a decent set of accessories for a $30 microamp, something which FiiO has always managed to do even with the E6 and E5. Inside you get 2 x 3.5mm IC cables; one short right angle jack IC and one long straight jack IC, which is great for stacking or desktop usage.
As well as that you also get a charging-only USB to micro USB cable, a spare transparent plastic clip and user guide. It is a shame FiiO opted to not include the micro IC connector from the slightly more expensive Q1 package which would have been superb given the dimensions of the A1.
Tonally the A1 is warm to neutral, clean sounding but with a tiny peak and a very slight touch of glare in the upper midrange and lower treble. Bass performance is reasonably neutral with a tiny bit of sub-bass roll-off but of course, can adjust this profile with the bass EQ if this is not to your preference.
Vocal control is average with a touch of sibilance but certainly more present than on my BB Passport and slightly more forward and engaging. Dynamics and staging are also much better than my BB Passports amp which was made to sound rather compressed in comparison.
Overall the A1 is reasonably balanced tonally, will not introduce any noticeable amount of coloration from the source but certainly will work wonders for some limp smartphone amps on slightly less efficient IEMs and headphones.
Tonally things do change though when you start adding in the Bass EQ options.
Probably the most likable bass EQ setting and brings a bit of added warmth and fullness to the mid-bass performance of the A1. For those using relatively flat or neutral headphones and IEMs, this would be the go-to option for adding a little bit of bass weight without it getting too pervasive and bleeding into the mid-range performance.
This retains the Bass EQ 1 bass response but at the same time drops the mid-range and treble response down by a few dB to further enhance the bass dominance. This EQ feels somewhat attenuated and more compressed with a drop in sparkle and dynamics than EQ1. Vocals and lower treble lose that glare but become a little recessed in comparison to EQ 1 and the stock or non EQ response.
Not sure why this one is called Bass EQ 3 because it really doesn’t affect the bass at all. Rather this is a repeat of the old EQ option of the E6 which allowed you to drop the entire signal by a few dB for sensitive IEMs with a view to giving you a little bit more micro-control on the volume steps. Otherwise, it’s pretty flat much like the non-EQ stock signature.
This is a relatively small amp but it is still more powerful than the average smartphone amp. Definitely, I got a little added juice, staging, and dynamics with higher impedance IEM’s such as the 30 ohms Noble 4C and Savant with the A1 plugged into the BB Passport.
Relative gain is around 3-4dB at the most so the benefits will be heard on average feature or smartphones than any specific DAP which these days are far more capable than when this little fellow first saw the light of day in 2008.
The A1 though will not work well for noise levels with quite a lot of IEMs regardless of impedance even at bass EQ 3 levels. IEM’s such as the Campfire Jupiter, Shure SE846 with very low impedance or high SNR ratings hissed audibly and continuously with the likes of the Westone W4 and Ultrasone Tio also suffering from hiss though on a slightly lower level.
Further hiss was detected on the RHA T10, Noble 4C, and Final Audio Heaven VIII. Even at a budget level, IEMs such as the Fidue A65 carried a bit of hiss. The one universal IEM I tried that successfully avoided any hiss was the Obravo ENIB-5A which is a planar type IEM and needs a heck of a lot of juice to get going.
My suggestion to you is to try before you buy if you want to pair with an IEM and do not like high noise levels.
Portable headphones were a different matter though. Budget headphones such as the Don Scorpio Dolphin with a 16 ohm and 116db SNR level suffered from very little hiss and sounded absolutely excellent with the A1.
The same also for the AKG K182, the UBSound Dreamer, and V-Moda XS; decent amplification, no noise, and a good level of dynamics. Bass EQ1 and 2 were also quite noticeable on all the portable headphones I tried with perhaps the Dolphin and AK182 having the most noticeable response with a heavier hitting bass performance.
If anything I felt the A1 was most at home with a smartphone and a portable low impedance headphone such as the ones suggested above and slightly less so with IEM’s unless noise levels are not a big issue.
I am not sure if that is how FiiO saw it play out given the predominance of IEM’s attached to smartphones but the A1 will struggle to stand out and sound better than most good DAPs. even its own $55 M3 DAP so smartphones are the target market.
The A1 is $30, tiny, well built, and packs an ok starter amp inside that will be an upgrade on any amp inside your smartphone in terms of gain control, staging, and dynamics in general. It has a reasonably balanced sound signature with a tiny bit of peaking in the lower treble but overall stays neutral with a hint of warmth.
Bass EQ1 is an excellent addition for bass light headphones with a nice full sound and increased low-end warmth and works pretty good on anything with a lean bass signature.
It does, however, carry higher than normal noise levels which makes it an awkward match for just about any IEM I threw at it with average to high levels of sensitivity and seems more suitable to portable headphones as a result.
Its amp, though stronger than smartphones, is not a huge step up these days and slightly higher priced DAPs such as the excellent M3 from FiiO which retails at $55 does sound more refined.
Modern-day DAPs have come a long way now since this range of portable amps first came out and its relevance seems slightly diminished as a result. That being said the A1 remains a relatively low-risk upgrade for first-time users wishing to dabble a little in this madness we call Audiophilia.
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The Mini A1 Amp
Fiio’s latest Fiio A1 mini amplifier continues the Fiio tradition of making small budget portable amplifiers. The Fiio E6 which Mike reviewed back in December 2011 is one of the Fiio A1’s predecessors. Just like with any Fiio unit, these budget mini amps are incredibly popular with those who have a small budget and with those taking their first steps in better portable audio. Mike called it “An amplifier for the masses” and just looking at the build quality and features, it probably was the most mainstream-ready portable headphone amplifier in the market. They’re small, well build and packed with convenient features like USB charging, EQ and bass boost. Fiio will always be connect to the bass boost function they always seem(ed) to implement, even if they lately have stepped a bit away from that direction. Most important, these mini amps are priced so low that nobody has a right to raise objections about the price/quality ratio. The question is though if these miniature amps still have a lot of value as smartphones and portable players now all have stronger outputs than several years ago.
The tiny Fiio A1 has a metal sandblasted aluminum alloyed chassis and for the price I honestly expected it to be a full plastic enclosure, so that was a nice surprise. First thing you notice when you hold the packaging is how tiny the new Fiio A1 is. It actually measure 42 x 40.7 x 9.4mm and weighs only 20gr which is pretty incredible. Luckily it has a clip to keep it “in place” because you wouldn’t notice dropping it.
The Fiio A1 has a digital volume control and it uses Alps Microswitches for sensitive and reliable operation. Next to that the main feature of the Fiio A1 is it’s EQ and it actually has four different EQ modes:
It’s quite funny to see that Fiio chose to implement a bass reduction, it certainly was something I didn’t expect in a $30USD mini amp as most people simply seem to buy these mini amps for the bass boost.
When the blue LED starts flashing red it is time to recharge the battery by micro USB. The LED will turn red when the unit is charging and one it is charged it will turn green. The battery inside the Fiio A1 is a Lipoly battery of 160mAh that lasts about 13hours (on 32Ohm), which is rather impressing. Then again, the A1 doesn’t have a lot of other features draining the battery. Fully charging the unit takes under 90 minutes. The unit comes pre-charged as well.
The Fiio A1 has a remarkably low output impedance of under 0.2Ohm which makes it complementary to high impedance sources and sources without volume control like the Stoner Acoustics AD100/UD120. The amplifier chip inside the Fiio A1 is the TPA6130A2 if I’m not mistaking, together with the 74HC4052PW＋OPA2322AID for the bass boost functions. See the table below for all of the Fiio A1’s specs.
The actual price for the Fiio A1 on Amazon.com is $27.99USD and €29.99 in Europe, making this Fiio’s cheapest unit. The next in line K1 amp/DAC which is $39USD and the A3 which is going for $59.99 in the States and €79! in Europe.
Packaging & accessories
I’m a fan of Fiio’s metal boxes where many of their units came delivered in, even the amplifier modules for the X7 come in a nice box but the A1 like the Fiio K1 comes in a simple plastic see-through packing with the amp on top and a small box with all the accessories below. For ± $30USD you do get quite the number of accessories:
For some reason I always seem to break the kind of clips the A1 uses, so I was happy to see they supplied two extra clips for the clumsy people like me.
Build Quality & Lay-out
As said, I didn’t expect Fiio to make an aluminum $30USD mini amp but like all the latest Fiio products, their build quality is really good. The only thing that is less “carry- or bag proof” is the transparent removable plastic clip with which you clip it to your shirt or pants. Plastic easily brakes when folded over its limit and Fiio seems to know that as they have added two extra clips in the box.
Apart from that the Fiio A1 seems like it can take a beating. The top of the unit is the most important place of the amp and from left to right it features the on/off switch with incorporated LED, volume up, volume down and the 3.5mm single ended gold plated headphone out. On the other side we logically find the gold plated 3.5mm line-in and the micro-USB port for charging. On the front there’s only the Fiio logo and on the back is the transparent clip. A very basic unit design wise.
One remark: I do think the buttons are really close next to each other. The – and + key are like 3mm apart and the + button is right next to the 3.5mm headphone out, that can be annoying when your headphone/earphone uses a big connector. Oh and the blue LED could have been brighter.
Power
Looking at the numbers and the size of the unit, it’s obvious that the A1 wasn’t developed to power big full sized headphones but IEMs. It of course also manages to power the easy to drive headphones like the Koss Portapro, HD25, Urban Vinyl Classics, Hifiman Edition S, etc.
Smartphones and portable players now all have stronger outputs compared to several years ago, so I see the Fiio A1 more as a unit to use as a very first amplifier combined with powerless phones or older portable players. That is unless you’re planning on using the A1’s EQ settings, which is what I think most of the users nowadays will use the Fiio A1 for.
Sound, on page two, after the click
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A FiiO is a small, portable music player. It’s about the size of an iPod Shuffle and it has no screen or buttons, you control everything from your phone. The FiiO X3 comes in three colours (black, white and red) with matching earbuds that are designed to fit comfortably inside your ears without falling out when you’re running around town. You can also use any other headphones if they have a 3-button remote/mic as Apple Ear Pods do — just make sure they don’t block the charging port on top!
A FiiO is a small, portable device that uses the same technology like an iPod. It has a hard drive inside it and can store thousands of songs on its own. You plug your headphones into the back of it to listen to music or watch videos. The difference between this and other devices like iPods is that you don’t have to buy any special software for them, they work with Windows Media Player right out of the box!
The main advantage of a FiiO is that it can be used with any device. It has no proprietary software or hardware, so you don’t have to worry about compatibility issues when using your computer, phone or tablet. You also get the same sound quality on all devices because there are no special drivers required for each one. This means you won’t need to buy multiple headphones if you want them for different devices – just use the ones that come with your FiiO!
Anyone who wants to listen to music. It’s a great way for people new to the hobby of listening to high-quality audio, or those looking for an upgrade from their stock earbuds, and it can be used with any device that has a 3.5mm headphone jack (iPod/iPhone/Android phone).
There are two types of FiiO
The FiiO portable music player is a portable music player which uses the same technology as an iPod. It consists of the FiiO X series, BTR1, FiiO BTR5, FiiO M series and more.
The second type of FiiO is FiiO earphones which includes the FiiO UTWS1, FiiO FH7, FiiO FA1, FiiO F9 and more.
The first thing you need to look out for is the impedance. If it’s too low, your headphones will not be able to drive them properly and they’ll sound bad.
You also want a high sensitivity rating so that you don’t have to crank up the volume on your source device (smartphone/tablet) for them to get loud enough.
There are a few alternatives to the FiiO e10. The most popular alternative is probably the FiiO E7, which has been around for quite some time now and offers similar functionality at a lower price point (around $50). It also comes with an amp/DAC built-in so you don’t need to buy one separately as you do with the e10. However it does not have Bluetooth or aptx support, nor can it be used as a DAC only device without using its internal amp. Another option would be something like this FiiO L3 portable amplifier that I reviewed here on Headfonia last year – although again there is no Bluetooth connectivity and if you want wireless streaming then your best bet will still likely be going down the route of buying another dongle such as this one from Amazon.
If however, all you care about is having good sound quality when listening through headphones then perhaps consider getting yourself either an external USB DAC + Amp combo unit such as my review of Audioquest Dragonfly Red, or even better yet just get yourself something like Schiit Modi 2 Uber ($99) which combines both into 1 tiny package!
A good FiiO is one that you can use to listen to music. It should be easy and convenient for you, so it’s a great idea if the device has an intuitive interface or comes with remote control. The sound quality of your headphones also matters – after all, this is what will determine whether or not they are worth buying in the first place!
