Introduction

FiiO is the name of a new breed of cheap headphone amplifiers made in China. Head-Direct is the official US retailer and they carry the entire FiiO line up. The first headphone booster amp from FiiO was called the E3. The E3 costs a mere $7.99 and enables you to run quite demanding headphones from a normal DAP. Up until recently the E3 was the only FiiO headphone amplifier available, but that has changed with the arrival of the E5. The E5 features a much more sophisticated design, and has a volume control which means you can use it with a line-out from your DAP. Besides the volume control the E5 also has a bass boost function.

Package

Both the E3 and the E5 ship in a very small and flat package. Back when the E3 was released I was kind of surprised that you could actually make a portable headphone amplifier that retails around $8. The E3 is a very basic design, it has a fixed gain ratio and is powered by one AAA battery that is not included in the package. The E5 on the other hand has an integrated Li-ion battery which can be charged by hooking up the amplifier to a mini-USB cable. The E5 also features a volume control which means it can be used with a LOD from an iPod. Not that long ago we reviewed the Travagan's Colors booster amplifier which basically does the same thing as the E3, but it costs 7 times as much.


The only two things you get with the E3 is a mini to mini interconnect and a manual. In order to get the unit to work you need to install a AAA battery.


The E5 comes with a far more sophisticated bundle. You get two mini to mini interconnects one with a right angled plug and one straight. Besides that you also get a USB to mini-USB cable so that you can recharge the E5.


The E3 is tiny. It is about 1.5 x the volume of an AAA battery.


The new FiiO E5 is even small and has both volume control and a bass boost feature! Another noteworthy improvement over the E3 design is that fact that the casing is now made from metal. The case design of the E5 reminds me a lot of the iPod Shuffle.


The Travagan's Colors booster amp is a bit bigger than its FiiO equivalent. The E5 wins hands down when it comes to size and features. Build quality wise the E5 is also the best of the three with a good margin.