Price around Rs7700
I purchased it at Proaudiohome.com, the retail store of Pristine Note. This was my second purchase and impressed by their customer support yet again.
Detailed Specs
? Output Power:
>250mW (16? Loaded );
>36mW (300? Loaded)
? Headphone Impedance
Range: 16 ? ~ 300 ?
? SNR:
?109dB?A weight?[AMP];
?104dB?A weight?[DAC]
? Distortion:
<0.001%(AMP);
<0.007%(DAC)
? Support sampling rate(Max):
96K/24bit [USB] ;
192K/24bit [SPDIF]
? Frequency response:
10Hz~100KHz[AMP];
10Hz~20KHz[DAC]
? Battery capacity, charging
time and using time:
1500Mah/3.5H/15H
? Size: 96mm x 55mm x 15.2mm
? Weight: 112g
Looks and build
It's been praised worldwide for the solid construction and it does feel like a Hi-Fi gadget and not another cheaper Chinese product. LED display is bright and minimalism and so is the firmware. NO bells and whistles here, just direct control of input, volume, bass, treble & L/R balance. There is also an option to stop the USB charging, which is recommended to enhance the lifespan of battery.
Features
? same dac as E7 (WM8740) but better receiver Tenor TE7022 leads to better quality audio output. Even the Amp section is pretty good.
? 24bit/192Khz on S/PDIF(COX & optical) & 24bit/96Khz on USB
? around 15H battery life
? Digital inputs for Optical, Co-axial and USB
? Analogue (AUX) input for portable media players, cellphone,etc
? Line-out available, if you just want to use it as a dac.
Sound
Overall sound quality is impressive and it does sound warm with plenty of details and a good soundstage.
Bass adjustments are a bliss especially for headphones like Sennheiser HD 5XX series. My Sennheiser HD 555( moded into 595) sounds great with E17, otherwise lacks lower end presence. On headphones, higher boost(12db) with lower volume will give an even more warmer sound than lower boost with higher volume, so you can somewhat adjust the 'sound signature'.
It also has three modes of amplification boost, 0db, 6db and 12db, which can be selected according to the needs. Along with that a volume of 0 to 60 can be selected. Simply put, it is loud enough for easy to drive headphones. I don't have any 300ohm headphone, so cannot comment on that. On my Soundmagic e10 earphones, 0db with volume around 30 is good enough.
As far as usage as portable Amp is concerned, it pairs up with anything with ease. I have just tried it with Sansa clip+ and it essentially enhances the dynamic range and soundstage along with bass(or treble) boost/reduction if required. It also worked with my Nokia phone but I don't plan to use it as a source.
I have not heard too many DACs but it sounds better than Fiio E7. When compared to the soundcard of laptops, it is definitely an upgrade. In a quieter environment, you can appreciate the difference in quality even more.
I have tested it on different genres of music, and it's more or less versatile in reproduction of music. I have tried it on Rock, Trance, Hip-hop and even bollywood tracks and it adds energy to everything that you throw at it. More expensive DAC/AMP setup may sound better but at this price point(under 10k) it is pretty much the best thing you can get.
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). But wanted to know if someone here had tried out and what all you did other than that. Also its reassuring to know from you that the improvement is actually there. Have you listened to the hd595?