Closer Examination

Design wise the E3 is quite a bit different and cheaper than the E5. It has only one function since it is a fixed gain type amplifier, and it relies on a AAA battery instead of an integrated Li-ion type battery like the E5 has. The cabinet is made from plastic, but does not feel all that fragile. The terminals are alright, nothing particularly durable or exotic, but functional.


The battery compartment is covered by a small plastic door. The E3's power source is a regular AAA battery.


The E5 actually looks pretty cool. The design is a lot like that of the iPod Shuffle. On the bottom of the unit you have the input and the mini-USB plug that you use to charge it with. The mini-jack plugs are not that solid and the button arrangement does not feel that well made. In all fairness I find it amazing that they can even make a functional, and nice sounding device for only $22!

Performance

E3

Being the cheapest portable amplifier on the market I was not expecting that much from the FiiO E3. Despite its low price it does actually boost the signal enough to be worth it if you have a set of slightly demanding headphones. To start off with I hooked the E3 up to my portable media player which is a Cowon D2. I tried it with the following headphones with reasonably good results: Ultrasone HFI-680, Yuin G1, Yuin OK1, Jays c-Jays. All of the headphones benefit a bit from the power that the FiiO adds. Especially the G1 and OK1s seemed to improve with the rise in amplification, when going from being fed directly from the D2 to having a headphone amplifier in the loop. With the Ultrasones the most noticeable effect was that the bass got tightened a bit albeit a bit bigger. The E3 has a quite warm sound signature so you might want to consider how that synergizes with your portable rig. The FiiO amplifier adds quite a bit of background noise so you definitely do not want to use it with a set of sensitive in-ears. As long as you are using it to power a set of normal sized cans the noise should not bug you. The noise is not noticeable with my Grado SR-60s which are quite efficient.

The E3 is quite noisy so I will advice against using it with normal IEMs. If you on the other hand happen to have a set of RE0s or RE1s from Head-Direct you are in for quite a treat. The E3 adds a little warmth and opens up these particular in-ears a bit. That being said you can definitely get a better sound quality with those in-ears if you have the money to get one of the higher end portable headphone amplifiers. As a starter amp the E3 will give a decent improvement in the sound quality, and for $8 it is damn hard not to like it.

Compared to better headphone amplifiers the FiiO does not sound quite as detailed. Since it is so cheap and has quite a bit of muscle it is the perfect mate for a set of under powered and not too expensive headphones. For a budget portable setup you have got to look long and hard to find a worthy competitor. If you have the money you could spring for the Travagan's Colors which definitely has the edge when it comes to clarity and tonal balance, but it is also 7 times the price of the E3.

E5

The E5 is quite a bit better than the E3 as you would expect. The volume control features alone makes it a worthy upgrade compared to the E3. Furthermore with the E5 you get a chance to apply bass boost. With the bass boost on it sounds somewhat like the E3, however, with that feature off you get a more neutral sound. The E5 manages to pull out more details from the music and seems to control the bass better on some of the medium impedance and sensitivity headphones I have. The bass boost adds a good amount of bass and some midbass as well so if you are looking for a warm and cozy sounding amplifier you should definitely consider the E5, of course you can get headphone amplifiers with a warm tonality that sound better, but they all reside in a much high price tier.

The E5 is a little more detailed than the E3, but still nothing spectacular. With the bass boost off it pairs up nicely with the already bassy HFI-680s and makes them sound punchier and sharper compared to just being driven by the D2. Overall the tonality of the E5 is more neutral than the E3, with the bass boost off. The bass boost feature means that you can get it to sound good with a large variety of cans which is really neat. Take for example a set of Yuin OK1s which can sound a bit sterile, add the FiiO E5 with the bass boost on and you can instantly hear that the low end comes out to play and the mids warm up.

Design wise the E5 has the edge with its smaller aluminum housing. Add the fact that it has an integrated Li-ion battery that can be charged through a mini-USB cable and you have quite a nice package. The design is 99% like an old iPod Shuffle just without the controls on the front.

Durability

Durability wise the amps are alright when it comes to the case, the E3 is a remarkably sturdy construction even though it is very small, and the same thing goes for the E5. The part I worry about the most is the mini-jacks, they feel very cheap and the outer rim of them is made from plastic which gives way and allows the strain to be exerted inside the jack. This is not that ideal since the internals of the jacks are somewhat more sensitive than the outer part of it.