12
FiiO E3 & E5 Portable Headphone Amplifier Review
(12 Comments) »- The FiiO E3 is sold for an incredible $8.
- Small
- Long battery life
- Relatively good sound quality
- Uses a AAA battery
- Adds bass and warmth
- Hot sound signature
- Not that high a gain factor
- Plastic casing
- Cheap jacks
- Background noise
First of all this amp represents the cheapest way to boost the output of your portable media player. No other amp on the market comes even close to matching the price performance ratio of the FiiO E3, hell it should not even be possible to make something that sounds this good for only $8. The casing is relatively sturdy, but the real let down are the jacks, they look and feel very weak. The sound quality is really good considering the price of the unit, it is not the most versatile little amp, but it does a reasonable good job with raising the volume.
Value and Conclusion
- The FiiO E5 goes for around $20.
- Small
- Great battery life
- Aluminum housing
- Clip mechanism
- Volume control
- Bass boost feature
- Better quality jacks than the E3
- Quite detailed sounding
- Very good sound compared the cost
- Not the best sounding portable amplifier
- Background noise
The E5 builds upon the momentum of the E3 and it is definitely quite a step up from the E3 in all aspects. In my opinion the money is well spent because you get the choice between boosting the bass or opting for a more neutral sound, since this enables you to achieve good synergy with more headphones. The aluminum housing is really neat this unit feels so much more durable than its cheaper brother. Size wise this is even smaller than the E3 which is pretty incredible. Even though it is small it sounds better than the E3 all aspects considered.
Jan 4th, 2025 01:59 EST
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