Cable for Fiio e12

danyulland

danyulland

danyulland

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17 Jun 2005
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Hi everyone, a little help please I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and am looking to purchase a Fiio e12 to make various headphones that I own come alive a little.

Does anybody know where I can find a micro usb to 3.5mm male connector for use with amp? I can find ones with female connectors but would be nice to go straight from phone to amp with just the one cable.... Surely these are available somewhere out there??
 
danyulland said:
Hi everyone, a little help please I own a Samsung Galaxy S3 and am looking to purchase a Fiio e12 to make various headphones that I own come alive a little.

Does anybody know where I can find a micro usb to 3.5mm male connector for use with amp? I can find ones with female connectors but would be nice to go straight from phone to amp with just the one cable.... Surely these are available somewhere out there??
Click to expand...


The E12 comes with 3.5 to 3.5 which is all you need.
 
Hello, thanks for the reply.

I was under the impression that the SGS3 is capable of audio out via Micro USB and that this is a better quality way of feeding the amp as it bypasses the internal headphone electronics in the phone?

Maybe I'm reading too much into it..
 
I've never used my S3 as a source so sadly can't help you there. To be honest I think you will be fine doing it the normal way but it could be worth a try if you can get a hold of the adapter.
 
The E12 is an amp only. If indeed the S3 does output audio via the micro USB, it will be digital. A USB to 3.5mm cable doesn't exist, as USB is digital and 3.5mm jacks will be used for analogue. You'll need a DAC/amp to convert the digital to analogue for the headphones. FiiO E07K should do the job, otherwise just go with what Ryan said and use the audio out on the S3 with a E12.
 
You need a Fiio E18 or Fiio E17 if your looking for a portable setup.

Otherwise any USB DAC/AMP for a home setup.

An O2 DAC/AMP from epiphany acoustics would be brilliant for a home setup.


Basically you have different types of outputs. headphone Jacks have already been amp'd by the crappy built in amps in phones. So this is the worst output you could use.

Ipods can do line out using a dock connector like the fiio L9 LOD but the newer ipods use a smaller dock, line out bypasses the amp and is a clean signal.

USB digital out though is the best signal possible as it bypasses both the AMP and the DAC inside the phone.

That also means you need to buy a DAC/AMP instead of just an AMP.

For instance I use a Topping NX1 (which is a portable AMP only) with a ipod touch and a fiio LOD (which bypasses the internal amp).
 
Thanks for the help I understand now... so it seems as though the 30pin ipods where a better way for portable music as they have a proper line out, still I suppose you're then stuck with the internal DAC. Im now debating on E07k vs E17 vs sticking with something like an E11 as I beleive the SGS3 uses a wolfson chip on the headphone output anyway...
 
Are you looking for a portable setup or a home rig?

Basically do you want the capability of carrying it around with you?

Also what headphones do you plan on using with said rig?

I need to know this before I can advise you on what I think is the best option for you. Also do you own any other items you want to use as a source? Ipod touch? Mp3 player? PC? Laptop?
 
Something fairly portable with a minimum amount of interconnects! Main music source is the Galaxy s3 using spotify which may change later this year but is likely still to be android based. Headphones consist of Sennheiser ie8/sennheiser 595/bose oe2/some old beyers maybe dt990. I mainly use the ie8.

I could use it with a PC every now and again but this isnt a priority.
 
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It has to be an E17 or E18 then.

The E17 also has coaxial and optical inputs so it can be used with other stuff but the E18 is purely USB.

You then need the correct USB cable (unsure if the fiio comes with one or not) and use the mini USB on your android phone. You also have to make sure that the Fiio E17 or E18 is compatible with your phone and your phone can output music using USB digital out.

It's a PITA system and in that regards older apples were a lot better.

But I'm sure all phones that are using new versions of android have USB digital out as standard on their devices. S3 is slightly old now so it may not, but it depends on what version of android your running basically (don't know which one exactly you need minimum).

Head fi is your best bet for answers, look in the portable rigs/setup section.
 
danyulland said:
Brilliant thanks for the advice. SGS3 seems to be ok on the latest android versions from doing a little research.
Click to expand...

Yeah so your phone can output USB digital out but it still may not be compatible with the E17.

I think that's why they brought the E18 out, the E17 was an "all rounder" whereas the E18 was designed purely for android phones. You will need to go and check if your phone is compatible with the E17 there's a list on head fi i'm sure of compatible phones.

E18 is also more expensive but it's newer and it should be compatible with any future phone you buy.

Basically if it was me and you never plan on using anything else apart from an android phone then E18 all the way.
 
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