I'll have my money ready by then!

I'm guessing there will be very little benefit(if any at all).
Won't speakers require vast amounts of current because they generally have very low impedance?

Any pre-order specail prices?

WM8501 is a good DAC, I've tried it myself.
However if you're thinking of hooking something up that might benefit from amping, the E7 will be a better choice. You can rely on the E7 as your volume control as well. Also, I think the E7 also uses a superior DAC(WM8740) IINM.

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Added on May 6, 2011, 2:29 pmOMG!!
Hmmmm. but might collide with my Atrio purchase though...have to think this through.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: May 6 2011, 02:29 PM

Well well, quite the jumpy one there.

E11 is a superior amp compared to the E7. The E7 is a DAC/amp combo while E11 is a pure amp. Fiio says the E11 will be(and seems to be) their best amp to date.

If something is called a portable amp, it's not necessary to bring it around with you. Maybe he needed something small that won't take up space on his desktop, and doesn't need to be fed with the wall outlet.
I plan on a Graham Slee Voyager or anything similar...and those are called portable amps.....I'd be nuts having them around.

The Hippo Box+ has no colouration(none that I can hear), except when you switch on bass boost. Weighty sub-bass there, and doesn't really touch anything else other than the low frequencies. With only gain on, I notice sound coming from a Fuze+, the WM8501 DAC and laptop, going through the amp has the exact same sound as if the amp isn't there(except the noticeable amplification of hiss and volume of course).

Not sure which of the two(E11 and Box+) is more neutral though.
I think for Hippo to compete with Fiio, they really need volume control on the Box+, its only drawback.

I assume that the pre-order price won't stay. What is the actual market price here in Malaysia?

That's actually not bad....not bad at all.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: May 24 2011, 06:06 PM

I don't know if it's actually accurate or not, but it is logical.
What I learn from Sansa Fuze is that, with the Sansa, volume control is done at the CPU stage rather than the amp stage. The data is added to the audio before going through the amp.
Probably this is what's happening with the Iphone EQ. The data is added to the audio, then goes through the DAC. The audio itself has been changed at the fundamental level. Amp or no amp the EQ isn't affected.

Please correct me if I'm wrong anyone.

This post has been edited by tunertoobe: May 29 2011, 01:40 PM

Weaker sound characteristics, like when a familiar song should have a tight bass, it seems blunted off a bit. Also you'll notice that you need some extra volume.

S-Master is a marketing gimmick. Supposedly amplifies the digital signal rather than the analog signal. I don't know if the benefit of that is tru(lesser distortion they say) but I don't see other people doing it, or marketing it that much. Although they do sound quite fun and full bodied.
I've tried Zen X-Fi2, and I don't know if it's the setting, but holy crap, they were very bloated with bass.

Mind you, every single portable player in existance has an amp in them. If not we'd be listening directly from the DAC. It's just that some uses one that is a bit better than others. People use amp with their portable sometimes if they want their rig to sound a certain way, or the portable can't drive the IEM/headphone efficiently(needing more volume on the DAP to the point of distortion, having weaker characteristics like "lazy" bass, recessed mids etc.)

I've had a Sansa, very good for its price. Warm, but sometimes it feels like the flat frequency response needs a bit of encouragement.

Those IEM look a lot like Vsonics....are they?