FiiO, the $8.50 Headphone Amp

Accessories

By: Andreas Ødegård on July 12, 2008 6:34 PM

When I came across the FiiO headphone amp a few days ago I immediately dismissed it as crap and posted a topic on it on Head-Fi presenting it as the cheapest headphone amp out there. Someone then mentioned that there was an entire thread dedicated to the thing and that feedback is pretty darn good.

According to the Head-Fi thread the FiiO amp is far from crap and offer very good sound quality. The size adds to the usability as it seems to be about twice as big as the AAA battery it runs on. Headphone amps are normally a bit bulky for most people and few other ampsthe FiiO's size. It all sounds (too) good and for $8.50 shipped worldwide it might turn out to be the best thing since sliced bread. I myself have ordered one just to see if there is any truth to the Head-Fi fuzz. I still think it's too good to be true, but I guess I'll know in a couple of weeks.

Comments

RedSky on July 13, 2008 4:06 AM

I too have been reading about this, decided to finally order one tonight. Really a bit surprised there haven't been more ultra-portable amps coming out around this size. The only other comparable one I can think of is the Xin SuperMicro IV, when you would think there'd be a big market to be filled for people who want portable amps that they can actually fit in their pocket ...

Matt Baines on July 13, 2008 6:47 AM

Nice, i saw one, didnt realise it was this cheap! Might order one, at the current exchange rate that is like £4.25. -- Also, RedSky, Micro's are hard to get. Xin will take your money and take over a year to build it and ship it to you, no joke. -- I may have to get one of these and pair it with my d2, and also see how much better it is over my USB only DAC's little internal amp, maybe pairing the FiiO with it out of its clean hp/o or rca out, shame it doesnt take optical! -- I was after a Go-Vibe petite to replace my usb only powered amp/dac combo, to pair with my d2 and use with my laptop (if it sounds better than the u control.

Matt

Matt Baines on July 13, 2008 6:53 AM

Ahh, just looked at the head-fi thread. No volume control :( -- sucks because with the sensetive Livewires, i only use a volume of 7 max on the bus, worried about hearing, dont know whats safe. In bed i use 1 or 2, but 2 sounds better, but amped with no volume control i will have to use the d2 volume, and maybe it will be too high in bed?

Matt Baines on July 13, 2008 7:23 AM

Hiss sounds bad, and if its bad with some earphones it will be terrible with my sensetive livewires, which is the reason why i have a d2!

Not for me. Dealextreme is good though guys.

kadajawi on July 13, 2008 12:56 PM

I'll give it a try... I mean... 5 €? Why not?

What do you use as USB DAC? How expensive and is it any good? I'm looking for something to replace my laptops onboard soundcard. My PC has a nice Audiotrak, but that won't work for the laptop...

Eric on July 14, 2008 1:33 AM

i really am looking forward to hearing your opinions on this.

xan K on July 14, 2008 12:10 PM

what is livewires?

RedSky on July 15, 2008 5:27 AM

They're a brand of custom made IEM (in ear monitor) earphones. Here's a link to their site: http://www.livewiresforyou.com/

@Matt Baines

Heh, yeah I've been reading about it on head-fi. Still waiting for an amp from him, ordered it back in March although I've heard there are plenty that have been waiting far longer.

Matt Baines (normally Baines93 on everything) on July 15, 2008 1:02 PM

Yeah, you got it RedSky. Yeah, i dont follow it, but i see in some people sigs much longer waits... Shame, because i was loaned an amp made by him and it was a real quality product, abeit expensive, and i could hear a huge difference, but that was before the d2 and usb dac/soundcard.

The dac is a Behringer U Control UCA-202, it has optical out, rca out, headphone out and rca in. Great product and clean sounding. No hiss with very sensetive and easy to drive phones. I got it for ~£27 but i think it can be had cheaper in the us, but the company wanted huge sums to ship it, so i got it from a head-fi'er who didnt need it or want to sell it but was interested in helping me out.

Matt

Matt Baines (normally Baines93 on everything) on July 16, 2008 5:52 AM

In my last comment i meant to say "and i couldn't hear a huge difference"

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