Bowers & Wilkins P7 headphones with the Fiio E12 amp

[theflyingwasp]

Hi all

im a bit of a novice when it comes to headphones I bought the P7s about a month ago ,I am very happy with them after much net searching and review reading I bought the Fiio E12 amplifier to go with them.

the P7s sounded great before but they sound even better now - or do they?

with the quality of my headphones will the Fiio be enhancing the sound through my iPod ,iPhone iPad etc

Or is it just me trying to convince myself they sound better now?

i haven't bought the Fiio line-in cable yet.

 

[Al ears]

Not tried it. I have P7's and am pretty sure the E12 certainly isn't going to make the sound worse.

You need to get some high res files to do the P7's justice at the very least ALAC as the E12 is only going to amplifier whatever you feed it.

You van't make a silk purse from a sow's ear .... as they say.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Excuse me for being a bit thick here ,am I basically getting the same quality of sound with the amp only louder and clearer is the amp smoothing out the song trying to get the maximum amount of detail possible or are my ears just playing tricks on me?

 

[dalethorn]

Excuse me for being a bit thick here ,am I basically getting the same quality of sound with the amp only louder and clearer is the amp smoothing out the song trying to get the maximum amount of detail possible or are my ears just playing tricks on me?

If the E12 is comnected to the i-device through the LOD (using the FiiO LOD cable), you'll get much improved sound - better soundstage, treble and bass quality and extension etc. Going from the i-device headphone jack is not as good as from the LOD.

The best test to hear how much better is to play something for awhile using the E12, then switch the headphone to the headphone jack of the i-device. You should hear the soundstage almost collapse and the overall experience go from lively to dull.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Excuse me for being a bit thick here ,am I basically getting the same quality of sound with the amp only louder and clearer is the amp smoothing out the song trying to get the maximum amount of detail possible or are my ears just playing tricks on me?

If the E12 is comnected to the i-device through the LOD (using the FiiO LOD cable), you'll get much improved sound - better soundstage, treble and bass quality and extension etc. Going from the i-device headphone jack is not as good as from the LOD. The best test to hear how much better is to play something for awhile using the E12, then switch the headphone to the headphone jack of the i-device. You should hear the soundstage almost collapse and the overall experience go from lively to dull.

thank you .im also quite scared to turn the volume of the amp to high I feel I may be distorting the sound my iPod is roughly at three quarters of the full volume buts it just below half way on the amp.if people are cranking these amps up to the max it can't be good for the ears!

should I turn the db gain on?

and lastly what's the next step up from the p7s sound quality wise?

 

[dalethorn]

thank you .im also quite scared to turn the volume of the amp to high I feel I may be distorting the sound my iPod is roughly at three quarters of the full volume buts it just below half way on the amp.if people are cranking these amps up to the max it can't be good for the ears! should I turn the db gain on? and lastly what's the next step up from the p7s sound quality wise?

You need the LOD cable to bypass the iPod volume control. Next step up depends on your portability requirement.

 

[Ryanr1987]

The P7 is quite efficent and you will probably get most of it with even the cheap E5. I would of thought the E12 would be over kill for these. The E12 is a very powerful amp for the price and is the most powerful that Fiio puts out.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Thanks for the reply dalethorn

to be honest I was hoping you would reply after reading your excellent review on the P7s .

as I said before I was very happy with the p7s .they are my first pair of headphones ever so I was going into this with no clue then I went for the fiio e12 I was just a little worried I spent over £100 that wasn't necessary - or in your honest opinion have I? Since I'm using the p7s for only i- products? It can still be returned with the fiio l9 cable

 

[dalethorn]

Thanks for the reply dalethorn. to be honest I was hoping you would reply after reading your excellent review on the P7s . as I said before I was very happy with the p7s .they are my first pair of headphones ever so I was going into this with no clue then I went for the fiio e12 I was just a little worried I spent over £100 that wasn't necessary - or in your honest opinion have I? Since I'm using the p7s for only i- products? It can still be returned with the fiio l9 cable

The P7 is one headphone I never have to make excuses for, whether it's a weak bass, piercing treble, blah sound - all that stuff. The worst I could say about the E12 is that the sound is slightly darker than the E17 or E07k, so the combination of P7 and E12 should be ideal in making the treble of the P7 more perfect, reducing the instances where less-than-ideal music tracks might have treble irritations. The bass control and power of the E12 is well suited to the P7, which might sound slightly boomy on some music tracks with amps that have less power.

The only reasonable alternative to P7 and E12 might be a good DAC-plus-headphone-amp like the Astell Kern AK10 (same as Beyerdynamic A200p). There you would get more detail, especially in the upper treble with those instrumental harmonics. But with that detail comes a possible downside, and that's the recordings that have those rough treble parts.

 

[lxd55]

Hi Flyingwasp, Dale

I too opted for the E12 with my P7's.

Have to say am not disappointed, goes really well with my old iphone4 that I just use as a music player with Alac rips.

Preferred the e12 over the other fiio's since I don't need the dac functions (I use na7704 headphone function to listen to music in the house rather than pc sourced music or off iPhone), plus felt the e12 price was great value. I use it with lod cable to iPhone.

Looking forward to trip to states shortly to test out the battery performance. Up until know have only had to charge it a few times since it seems have long battery life.

We're not talking quantum leaps on the sound, but as dale points out easier to notice the subtle differences once u listen to the e12 for a while then switch to ipod/phone.

Best

Lxd

 

[theflyingwasp]

Hey lxd55

are you constantly fiddling with your iPod ( I have the 5th gen ipod and iPhone 5s)and E12 volumes .each to their own when it comes to volume but have you found a happy medium? The E12 is a powerful amp the headphones were shaking when I cranked up the amp obviously that was to high but I'm just below the half way mark now.what about yourself?

 

[lxd55]

Hi Flyingwasp

volume setting is similar to yours, just shy of half way - this seems to be fine for me on normal listening. If I want to really blast a rock track out then I will up it a bit. I like the fact it has plenty of power on tap, versus direct from idevice which has to have the volume higher to match the same level as e12.

only real volume level irritation is swapping between Spotify and iTunes.

 

[john1000000boy]

Just found this thread...

I am looking into this setup.

Are you both still enjoying?

The amazon basket is sitting at £466 for the Mont Blanc,P7 and adapters and cables.

This will be hooked up to an iPad Air.

any new points to make?

Is it worth buying the flio straight off or waiting for the P7 to arrive first.

Thanks

john

 

[dalethorn]

Just found this thread... I am looking into this setup. Are you both still enjoying? The amazon basket is sitting at £466 for the Mont Blanc, P7 and adapters and cables. This will be hooked up to an iPad Air. any new points to make? Is it worth buying the flio straight off or waiting for the P7 to arrive first. Thanks - john

The E12 amp will improve the sound of any headphone when the amp is connected to the iPad's LOD port, so the sooner you have it the better the sound...

 

[john1000000boy]

Thanks dale.

Had a read through your headphone reviews on other forums. They are in depth and certainly give the low down on the p7s.

Thinking about getting the Mont Blanc and taking it to store to try out a few models.

John

 

[john1000000boy]

Update.

Just ordered fiio Mont Blanc and 30 pin output to headphone cable.

Also ordered the 30 pin to lightening adapter as well. Hope it works. Seems to be mixed reviews.

John

 

[dalethorn]

Update. Just ordered fiio Mont Blanc and 30 pin output to headphone cable. Also ordered the 30 pin to lightening adapter as well. Hope it works. Seems to be mixed reviews. John

Glad you're getting it. As headphone amps go (sans DAC) the E12 punches way above its cost. As much controversy as there is about headphones, there's 10 times more about amps. One thing I did work on for a couple of days was comparing the DACs internal to the iPod Touch (latest) and iPhone5, to the DAC that's in that little Apple Lightning to 30-pin adapter. I gave it my best, turned up the volume, played screechy violins - whatever I could find with lots of detail good or bad, but there was no difference I could hear. I have the older and newer iPod Touch, the iPhone 5 and 5s, iPod Nanos latest and previous, and 2 Fiio cables plus 2 Apple adapters (one is just the Lightning to 30-pin small plug and the other mounts those on an 8 inch cable). So at worst adding the adapter to the Lightning port with the Fiio cable won't reduce the sound quality, but just as important is to bypass the Apple device volume control. Extra volume controls in the signal path are a nuisance at least ... or worse.

 

[dalethorn]

Add'l note for WhatHiFi: I use my iPad Mini on more than 100 websites regularly, and WhatHiFi is the *only* site where approximately every 10th post the typing slows to a maximum of one character every 2 seconds. I can type ahead 15 characters, then sit and watch them entered from WhatHiFi over the next 30 seconds. I've given up on bringing that to anyone's attention, as it just consumes more time.

 

[john1000000boy]

Looking forward to it being delivered. Looks like I could get to john Lewis on Saturday all going to plan. So will definitely take iPad and fiio with me.

Maybe even make up a new playlist with some choice tracks.

Not bought any hifi for a long time.

John

 

[bigboss]

Add'l note for WhatHiFi: I use my iPad Mini on more than 100 websites regularly, and WhatHiFi is the *only* site where approximately every 10th post the typing slows to a maximum of one character every 2 seconds. I can type ahead 15 characters, then sit and watch them entered from WhatHiFi over the next 30 seconds. I've given up on bringing that to anyone's attention, as it just consumes more time.

When it happens on my iPad, I double-click the home button and flick Safari away. Basically this clears the temporary files and reopening Safari cures the problem.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Hi there

ive had the p7s and amp for 2 months now and enjoyed many hours of listening .comfortable on the ears after 2 hours and the amp was a good investment as all I use is I-products for the sound and all the music I listen to is ALAC and like i said in my original post this was my first pair of headphones and I had never even heard of a headphone amplifier.

unlike those using headphones and amps for years I really have nothing to compare my headphone and amp setup to .they sound excellent to me and with the many good reviews I'm happy with my choice .my only slight problem if you can call it that is I wish I could hear a cheapy pair of headphones and a pair that is a step up in sound quality just for some sort of reference .

i shelled out almost £500 for my current set up BUT these new oppo headphones and amp are getting very good reviews .the oppo set up would be £1699 including amp I'm giving these some serious thought but am I really going to get a massive jump in sound quality and are these headphone/amp meant to be plugged into receiver or high end hifi set ups opposed to iPods etc

 

[bigboss]

i shelled out almost £500 for my current set up BUT these new oppo headphones and amp are getting very good reviews .the oppo set up would be £1699 including amp I'm giving these some serious thought but am I really going to get a massive jump in sound quality and are these headphone/amp meant to be plugged into receiver or high end hifi set ups opposed to iPods etc

Oppo PM-2 is being launched shortly for £699 (even cheaper if you're planning to travel to the US in the near future) offering the same performance as the PM-1 with the only difference being the materials used (The PM-2 will use lower grade metallic components, and swap out the lambskin coating along the pads for synthetic leather.)

This is what Oppo say:

"In addition to the OPPO PM-1, we will also release an OPPO PM-2 model which will be a more affordable version of the premium OPPO PM-1. The OPPO PM-2 will have very similar performance while reducing costs to the customer. It utilizes the same planar magnetic driver, the same acoustic design principles and tuning techniques, the same tight tolerances for quality control, and its lower price is achieved without sacrificing acoustic performance.

The OPPO PM-2 is estimated to be available Summer 2014 at a suggested retail price of $699.

Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc."

 

[john1000000boy]

Hi there

ive had the p7s and amp for 2 months now and enjoyed many hours of listening .comfortable on the ears after 2 hours and the amp was a good investment as all I use is I-products for the sound and all the music I listen to is ALAC and like i said in my original post this was my first pair of headphones and I had never even heard of a headphone amplifier.

unlike those using headphones and amps for years I really have nothing to compare my headphone and amp setup to .they sound excellent to me and with the many good reviews I'm happy with my choice .my only slight problem if you can call it that is I wish I could hear a cheapy pair of headphones and a pair that is a step up in sound quality just for some sort of reference .

i shelled out almost £500 for my current set up BUT these new oppo headphones and amp are getting very good reviews .the oppo set up would be £1699 including amp I'm giving these some serious thought but am I really going to get a massive jump in sound quality and are these headphone/amp meant to be plugged into receiver or high end hifi set ups opposed to iPods etc

Have you tried the fiio with your in ears? Will certainly be trying mine with mine and maybe even the dres?

john

 

[dalethorn]

Add'l note for WhatHiFi: I use my iPad Mini on more than 100 websites regularly, and WhatHiFi is the *only* site where approximately every 10th post the typing slows to a maximum of one character every 2 seconds. I can type ahead 15 characters, then sit and watch them entered from WhatHiFi over the next 30 seconds. I've given up on bringing that to anyone's attention, as it just consumes more time.

When it happens on my iPad, I double-click the home button and flick Safari away. Basically this clears the temporary files and reopening Safari cures the problem.

Thanks for that tip. Just yesterday I learned how to get around photos getting cut off on display.

 

[theflyingwasp]

Hi there

ive had the p7s and amp for 2 months now and enjoyed many hours of listening .comfortable on the ears after 2 hours and the amp was a good investment as all I use is I-products for the sound and all the music I listen to is ALAC and like i said in my original post this was my first pair of headphones and I had never even heard of a headphone amplifier.

unlike those using headphones and amps for years I really have nothing to compare my headphone and amp setup to .they sound excellent to me and with the many good reviews I'm happy with my choice .my only slight problem if you can call it that is I wish I could hear a cheapy pair of headphones and a pair that is a step up in sound quality just for some sort of reference .

i shelled out almost £500 for my current set up BUT these new oppo headphones and amp are getting very good reviews .the oppo set up would be £1699 including amp I'm giving these some serious thought but am I really going to get a massive jump in sound quality and are these headphone/amp meant to be plugged into receiver or high end hifi set ups opposed to iPods etc

Have you tried the fiio with your in ears? Will certainly be trying mine with mine and maybe even the dres?

john

never gave a thought to trying the amp with my in ears .the amp was mainly for the p7s.i will give it a go next time I'm out.