Introduction

Before I begin, I’d like to thank the folks at Fiio for providing me with an E9 review sample.

Fiio has been in the business of making headphone amplifiers for a few years now and they have gathered quite a following in the audiophile community for the value their products offer to the consumer for the price. In fact, the Fiio E5 amp, an extremely small and portable amplifier is a favorite among users looking for an inexpensive option to power medium to high impedance portable headphones and IEMs above and beyond the capabilities of portable players. Fiio first stepped into the market for higher end amplifiers with their E7 DAC/Amp and once again, garnered a lot of praise.

Now, Fiio has made another bold step into the world of hi-fi with their newly released E9 desktop amplifier. Fiio has always been about offering buyers a great value for the money they’ve spent and this design philosophy hasn’t changed. I’ve been using my E9 review unit on a daily basis since I received it a few weeks back and I can say without reservation that we’ve got another winner on our hands.

Read on for further impressions of the Fiio E9 desktop amplifier.

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Introduction

Tube amplifiers have long been a fixture of high end audio setups. Many audiophiles prefer them over “solid state” amplifiers for their distinct “tube like” sound. However, in keeping with their hi-fi reputation, tube amplifiers are typically very expensive. Enter the Bravo Audio V2, an improved version of the original hybrid tube amplifier offered by Bravo Audio, featuring better build quality by way of improved components and manufacturing. Utilizing a single 12AU7 tube, this hybrid amplifier promises that sweet tube sound that so many audiophiles love in a compact and inexpensive package. So, does the Bravo Audio V2 deliver on this promise or does it fall flat? Read on to find out.

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Introduction

In my transformation from audio curious to audiophile, I’ve been educating myself on a number of different headphone amps. Being on a budget, however, I have to be realistic in how much I spend on a headphone amp, portable or otherwise. The first amp I owned was a Fiio E5 that I had for a short time but had to send back because of a broken volume switch. From there I moved up to the JDS Labs Bass Boost CMoy v2.02 and it has since become my primary headphone amp.

But something about the Fiio E3 has always intrigued me. It was small, light and extremely cheap. So, on a whim, I ordered one off of eBay for about 6 bucks. I didn’t have very high expectations of its sound quality in relation to my other amps due to its extremely low price but I was willing to give it a fair shake.

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Headphone amps are pretty much standard equipment in the setups of audiophiles everywhere. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of research on headphone amps and come across a number of different amps in all shapes and sizes but the one type of amp that piqued my interest was the “CMoy” amp. This type of amp, designed years ago by Chu Moy is an unconventional but powerful amp design that can be made by anyone with the right parts and a soldering iron. Well, I don’t consider myself one of the handiest of guys with a soldering iron at the moment so, instead of taking a chance and trying to build one myself, I decided to buy one that had been pre-made from a company called JDS Labs. After a few hours of listening, I’m impressed.

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