FiiO E10 – comes in a nice shiny aluminum case

Testing with FLAC and MP3 @ 192-320KBps, on my trusty Audio Technica ATH-M-35. I had a friend test the E10, who is no audiophile but certainly knew the difference between 128Kbps and 192Kbps MP3 and could tell the difference between soundstaging depth with just some 5 minutes with and without the E10. My test routine involved plugging the M35 into the E10, then into the onboard audio 3.5mm headphone out, playing the same track or segment, and noting down which sounded better. Out of the box, I found the E10 to have affected the sound on these aspects:

Soundstage: I wouldn’t say wider, but definitely less congested. It doesn’t so much sound like a wall of sound on some noisy tracks. Breaking Benjamin’s ‘Fade Away’ and ‘I Will Not Bow’ @320Kbps MP3 didn’t sound quite as if they were blaring through wide-range drivers anymore, and actually sounded like there was a bit of depth to it; not AD700 width definitely, but noticeably more spacious, as compared to the onboards. One of my favourites by Hans Zimmer, the OST for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, sounded…like there was a bit more room for the instruments to play in. And a little more detail.

Bass: Definitely reduced bass compared to both the Realtek ALC chips, which was a surprise. I’m not sure if the bass was spilling over before, but now that I’ve listened to the E10, it sure seems like the bass was trimmed and kept under control but definitely not as bassy (heard/felt alike). Of course, the pure bassheads aren’t going to like this, but hang on, my M35s never sounded quite basshead-ish to me, even side-by-side with a Pro5Mk2 (which was supposed to be more ‘neutral’ than the M35s but I found them to be more bassy) they seemed relatively neutral to me, so it stands to reason that with a basshead set of ‘phones, you may be still getting a fair amount of bass.

Bass boost on E10: There’s this nifty switch on the E10 that activates the bass boost feature. Admittedly, the boost is noticeable, but barely just. Still not going to allow you to switch from ‘neutral’ to ‘basshead’ mode with a flick of a switch, but it does add a rather satisfying thump to anything you listen that’s got good amounts of bass. I probably lacked any serious bassy stuff for comparison, as I listened to CoD:MW2, Sander van Doorn’s remix of Intro (originally by The XX), a live recording of Armin van Buuren’s Zocalo @ 192Kbps for my bass fix.

Vocals: Vocals sounded clearer, quite a bit clearer, with the E10. I’m not sure if this is due to a raise in mid-frequencies, or if it was because the bass appeared cleaner (boost off), or both. Didn’t test it with vocal songs, but watching the same old movies (A-Team Extended 720p BDRip @ 8GB; The Rock DVDRip @ 4GB; How To Train Your Dragon 1080p BDRip @ 6.5GB) saw an increase in clarity that I previously did not notice, or barely just did.

High-frequencies: Didn’t have time to test, only had the E10 for a week or so.

Conclusion: For the amount I paid, it sure is a device that performs admirably. I have yet to test it with more demanding headphones, but so far, the DAC portion of the E10 appears to have improved the overall sound of both my desktop and my notebook. The fact that I no longer need to worry about digital volume controls is also a major plus in my book. Bass boost alone is not going to satisfy any bassheads, but hey, if you’ve got your bass-oriented gear and bassy tracks for your liking, I’m sure the E10 isn’t going to let you down.

Long post follows.

The major changes:

CPU

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 @ 2.8GHz -> Intel Core i5 2500k @ 3.3~4.2 stock voltage, air cooling; overclocks like a beast, without necessarily becoming too hot. Planning on adding a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo after the annoying CNY break (puts most price-competitive r[e]tailers on hold)

Impact: It’s a new CPU. More specifically, it’s an Core i5. The best Core i5 out there. Doesn’t get much better than this. Everything that’s CPU-related has pretty much been boosted like a turbocharger strapped onto a nitrous oxide canister…on an engine with wheels. Really. It’s that damned noticeable.

All kidding aside, it did boost CPU intensive tasks immensely. A quick video conversion (RMVB to M4V) of a 34-minute (480×360 resolution) RMVB file (with Handbrake 0.9.5) took about 4 minutes (didn’t time it head-to-toe but it was around that range), reading from and outputting to the same physical drive. The exact same setup with my C2D E7400 took more like 15 minutes, I can’t remember too accurately. The RAM probably helped/hindered respectively, but I’d say the new core did damned well, especially considering I left it to 3.3GHz (stock clocks) and didn’t yet install LucidLogix Virtu. I can only imagine what would happen if I used Intel’s QuickSync on the Z68 board to speed it up.

Motherboard

Abit I-45CV (S775) / Gigabyte G41M-ES2L (S775; partly faulty, DIMM slot 2 doesn’t work) -> Asus P8Z68-V LX (S1155)

Impact: apart from the future-proofing and new RAM compatibility? The audio chipset, I guess: a Realtek ALC 887. New audio chip with modern functions. Finally got the ability to have multiple discrete outputs. Oddly enough, I lost the ability to easily have a single input,  multiple output setup, which means I have to switch between output devices if I want a different arrangement of input/output (E.g. VLC [input] to headphones [headphone/amped output] AND speakers [line-out / unamped output]). I guess I’ll just have to learn the new system.

Oh, SATA 6Gbps and USB3.0 ports, two of each. Sadly the USB3 ports are at the rear, so until I find an expansion header for the front or some compatible, high-quality cables, I’m stuck with USB2. With the recent fiasco over HDD pricing due to the flooding in Thailand last October (2011), I held off considering purchasing a new drive to take advantage of the SATA6Gbps port. On that note, SSDs are dropping in price, but still quite costly. I’d go with a proper WD VelociRaptor instead. Those seem to not move much in either direction, price-wise.

RAM

Apacer DDR2 667 2GB x2 [4GB total] -> Kingston HyperX Genesis DDR3 1600 4GB x2 [8GB total]

Impact: things load quite noticeably faster now. Although it may be partly due to the fresh install of Windows I had to do*, I do believe the RAM upgrade helped the most (Hey, it’s value-RAM one generation ago to high-performance current-generation RAM, it damn well better!)

//

That’s about all the important features. I got an AeroCool VS-9 case, with a side window and a heck of a lot of meshing (top…bottom…front). No positive/negative pressure ventilation setup for me, just simple push/pull where air is needed: the CPU, GPU, and in-between the HDDs. I swear, the damn case is just one steel and aluminum frame with mesh covers more than an actual case, but it makes for a really good airflow-optimized case. (space for 3x 140mm fans in the front, 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom, in addition to the existing 120mm exhaust vent). Shame the cable management isn’t half as competent. I suppose my PSU’s thick cabling and sleeving compounded the issue.

//

Upcoming

I plan on dropping a brand-new GPU in there to go with the near-complete overhaul. Currently looking at the Sapphire HD 6850 Vapor-X/TOXIC, Sapphire HD 6870, and probably the Asus HD 6850 DirectCU, all up to a max budget of 650. No point going higher as it wouldn’t add future-proofing. Not on a 19″ 1366×768 max reso monitor anyway.

Having finished Deus Ex: Human Revolution at last, I found some nice thought-provoking concepts in the game that I think mirrors real world. In fact, a few such thoughts were portrayed in the 2009 film Surrogates. Issues regarding the boundary between human-technology integration, ethicality of actions done through a non-sentient being and so forth. DEHR allows you some form of choice in the way some things are accomplished, although unlike Dragon Age (1) and both Mass Effect games (All 3 from Bioware), you don’t really alter the course of the game that drastically. Instead, you get to choose, at the end of the game, what ending you want, regardless of your stance(s) throughout the game. Kind of pointless to do it this way, oh well.

I’ve thrown together transcripts of Adam Jensen’s monologues after each ending (presumably to justify his course of action), and my own thoughts on the matter (Pending). If you have not finished the game, spoilers ensue. If you proceed with reading after the pagebreak…well, you were warned.

‘Sarif ending’

David Sarif envisioned a future where humanity and technology undergo fusion to become one integrated existence. His agenda was simply that technology should merge with humanity to create an overall better human society.

Eliza: If you do this, the focus of hatred may shift to those responsible for unleashing biological warfare, leaving corporations free to experiment with human evolution.

Adam:

“Sarif was right about one thing, it’s in our nature to want to rise above our limits. Think about it. We were cold, so we harnessed fire. We were weak, so we invented tools. Every time we met an obstacle, we used creativity and ingenuity to overcome it. The cycle is inevitable…but will the outcome always be good? I guess that will depend on how we approach it.

These past few months, I was challenged many times, but more often than not, didn’t I try to keep morality in mind, knowing that my actions did not have to harm others? Time and time again, didn’t I resist the urge to abuse power and resources, simply to achieve my goals more swiftly? In the past we’ve had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few. But what if we never have to feel weak or morally conflicted again? What if the path Sarif wants us to take enables us to hold on to higher values with more stability? One thing is obvious: for the first time, we have a chance to steal fire from the gods.  To turn away from it now, to stop pursuing a future where technology and biology combine – leading to the promise of a Singularity – would be to deny the essence of who we are. No doubt the road to get there will be bumpy, hurting some people along the way. But won’t achieving the dream be worth it? We can become the gods we’ve always been striving to be. We might as well get good at it.”

Personal Thoughts

This is still my favoured ending, not because it appears to be the ‘easy way out’, far from it, but because it echoes most with my innermost thoughts and convictions. Technology should be embraced and if possible, integrated, into our lives. We’ve always done it over the years, without losing our ‘humanity’. What does happen in reality, is that we gain increased power, while thinking along outmoded lines of governing that power. The popular Spiderman quote “With great power comes great responsibility”, no truer words. But that should not be a reason to stifle technological advancements: we should not say “Let’s stop science in its tracks” simply because we have not adapted to control the newfound power of new discoveries. Rather, we should uncover as much as possible, and learn as much as possible about it, and undergo the process of learning, through trial-and-error if need be.

Scientific advancements cannot simply be un-discovered, or shoved into the back of a filing cabinet and forgotten. Not everyone will object to exploring a radical or controversial area of science, and what happens if they do so in secret? Who then will know enough about it to perform a check and balance counter? Instead, by exposing it to the world and introducing guidelines for it, we stand a better chance of learning how better to exercise responsibility for it.

This may sound much like Bill Taggart’s message, but what he basically is getting at, is to use regulations to ‘govern’ science. It’s just not actionable. Rather, one should adjust the standards of society according to advancements in science. Talking at a flat screen would have gotten you locked away for mental illness prior to the advent of televisions or computer displays, not any more. Same situation here.

‘Darrow ending’

Eliza:

“If you do this, the unadulterated truth in Darrow’s confession may well convince mankind to cast all science and technology aside, to ensure that future generations grow up free and whole.”

Adam:

“Albert Einstein said, “Technological progress is like an axe in the hands of a pathological criminal.” Took me a while, but I finally see his point. How often have we chased the dream of progress, only to see that dream perverted? More often than not, haven’t the machines we built to improve life shattered the lives of millions? And now we want to turn that dream on ourselves, to fundamentally improve who we are. Experience has shown me how dangerous that can be. How many times, in the call of duty, did I almost fall into the trap of taking shortcuts, abusing my abilities or resources at hand? I resisted — barely at times — because I valued human lives and considerations. But can I truly despise others who fall?

Technology offers us strength, strength enables dominance, and dominances paves the way for abuse. Darrow understood this. He knew that using technology to become something more than we are risks losing our ability to love, aspire, or to make moral choices – the very things that make us human. It also risks giving some men the power to make others what they choose – regardless of the cost to human dignity. The suffering Darrow inflicted is not the end of the world – it is merely the seed for change, and change never comes without pain.”

Personal Thoughts

This constitutes a ‘back to humanity-basics’ ending, if you will. It almost exactly mirrors the ending of the film Surrogates, where humanity’s over-reliance on mechanical clones, ‘surrogates’, leads to the final wave of ‘disabling’ or ‘destruction’ of the surrogates by the inventor, Cantor. Here, augmentations, for better or worse, developed from the basis of Darrow’s work, subverts the people implanted with them, and drives them into a state of mental instability, to the extent of becoming mindless, ‘zombie’-like people.

Both Darrow and Cantor (of Surrogates) sing the same tune: regretting the fact that their work is used for means other than that which they invented. In both cases, their work started out to help disabled individuals to lead normal lives (or as close to it as possible), but in both cases, it ended up benefiting the ones who needed it least. As surrogates, it became a crutch for people, who soon learned that they need never step foot beyond their homes, or indeed, even their bedrooms, as they could accomplish everything and then some with their surrogates. As augmented people, what was not humanly possible before suddenly became commonplace, limited only by finances and the envelope of cutting-edge science. In both settings, there is widespread adoption of the ‘radical technology’, and yet there are fierce dissenters.

In a sense, I guess it illustrates the world to which we are headed to. Of the many new technologies we see today, an equal number of concerns pop up related to each of these new advances. Where there is technological convergence, oversimplification and over-reliance become concerns; where there is enhanced efficiency, ethical, security or privacy aspects become the focal point of concern; where there is improved, integrated communications, there is the issue of loss of non-verbal message processing.

What I’m trying to get at is, like Adam said, change never comes without pain. But it doesn’t have to always be seen as ‘pain’. It should be seen as a live test of our supposed ability to adapt and survive, as our predecessors did through the generations. And if some of us fail…well, I for one wouldn’t support the use of technology as a crutch for the weakened.

‘Taggart ending’

Eliza:

“If you do this, firsthand experience with corporate negligence on such a grand scale may convince mankind to enact harsh restrictions on human enhancement research.”

Adam:

“Freedom…to those who don’t have it, it’s more valuable than gold. But where should it start and end?

We humans often think we have the right to expand, absorb, convert, or possess anything we need to reach our dreams. But time and time again, hasn’t this led to conflict with others who essentially believe the same thing? Looking back at the challenges I faced — at the way I often resolved them — I realize morality can become our saving grace. Most of the time, didn’t I try to keep my values in mind, knowing how my actions would affect others? More often than not, I resisted the urge to abuse power and resources simply to reach my goals more swiftly. I managed to hang on to my humanity — but the temptation to ignore it was always there. It’s that temptation that so worries Taggart. He’s not afraid of freedom. He’s afraid of the chaos that erupts when individuals have nothing but morality to constrain them. He wants us to regulate enhancement technologies, because he fears all that power without limits, without guiderails to keep us from abusing it.

Absolute freedom is no better than chaos. Society needs laws and regulations to protect it. So if the men and women behind Taggart need to work in shadows, pulling strings to enable us to head in a safe direction, will supporting them be all that bad? If they’re as wise as Taggart says, how bad will their leadership be? I just hope they stand by what they say.”

Personal Thoughts

Oddly enough, Taggart’s message makes sense here. Unregulated anything is simply counter to the interests of scientific and technological growth. Then again, who’s to say what extent of regulation is beneficial and when it becomes a hindrance rather than a boon? This one leaves a very interesting debate question for us all to ponder.

‘Self-destruct ending’

Eliza:

“If you do this, the world will be left with questions, and may never reach a consensus.”

Adam:

“Do I trust mankind to save itself? That’s what Eliza was asking. The truth is, I don’t know. After everything I’ve seen, all the fighting and the chaos around me, I know only what I want to believe: that somehow, human decency will triumph.

These past few months, I faced many life-threatening situations. I could have given up many times, but my need to know the truth, to uncover the secrets that others were hiding, and to survive, forced me to keep on going. Most of the time, I tried to keep my values in mind, knowing that my actions did not have to harm others. I held on to my humanity, resisting the urge to abuse power or resources in order to meet my goals. And in the end, I got the job done.

But does this mean I have the right to choose for everyone? No. Because it isn’t up to me. It isn’t up to Darrow, Sarif, or Taggart either. Ordinary men and women will have to decide together what course mankind should take. The kind of people who, time and time again, have picked and chosen the future in highly practical ways – slowing change when it’s negative, speeding it up when it’s good. Can they do it again? I don’t know. But I do know that I’m not about to let anyone in this station, myself included, stand in their way.”

Personal Thoughts:

This is my least preferred ending among all four possible. Why? Because it simply places the power to govern humanity’s progress in the hands of the masses. Democracy, in other words, holds the final say on what happens. I personally do not subscribe to the idea of democracy, in its current form even less so. Representative democracy is, IMO, little more than a major popularity contest, and rarely are candidates chosen for outright merit. Rather, whoever learns how best to trivialize an opponent’s achievements while simultaneously embellishing their own, wins.

In a counter to Adam’s monologue, do I trust humanity to make the right decisions for itself? No. Time and again we have almost always settled into an existence of ‘barely tolerable’ ends, from the advances of science to the radical measures intended to curb negative effects of anything upon everything. We always seem to want to compromise, or strive for a win-win. The former’s almost always a cop-out, and the latter is few and far between. I believe that sometimes, people need to realize that not every situation is going to be a win-win. Live with the possibility of being on the losing side of things, and let science pursue its course. If it has to be tempered by expensive lessons of crashing and burning, so be it. We would only survive wiser.

Bass: The bass seems to have evened out, not so in-your-face, but still very much felt and heard. It seems to have ‘moved back’ a little, almost like they traded an up-front spot for something more wide-sweeping. Positive change for me.

Mid-frequency: Not much noticeable change, maybe due to a lack of in-depth EQing.

Treble: Again, not much in the way of noticeable change, but the ‘sharp’ feeling seems to have lessened, to the benefit of clarity. Still undecided on the soundstage for this.

Comfort: I’m beginning to notice a slight tendency for the earcups to press on the rear of my earlobes. Not to the point of being uncomfortable, but it warrants occasional adjustment, especially if you’re prone to sweating. It gets a little warm in the ears after a while of extended listening (3+ hours continuous usage will definitely see this occur; over an hour of you’re in a warm area). The ATH-M50 stock earpads are definitely better in this sense. Clamping force is lessened (due to extended wearing), but doesn’t compromise in terms of isolation. I attribute this to the close fit of the earcups.

External noise/sound isolation: Without music through, they still leak a tiny bit of sound in, but otherwise unchanged from the first impressions.

Portability: They’re excellent in this respect. Folds up nicely, doesn’t feel like they’d break or loosen due to repeated transportation and folding.

Final comments: Very much satisfied with ‘em, price and all. Next in line, looking at a pair of Shure SRH440. Auditioned them a while ago, but since I lacked a serious pair of ‘phones to compare them to, I couldn’t tell if they were really good. I’ll be hauling the M35 to my next pre-purchase audition session, for a good side-by-side comparison with familiar tracks. Easier to tell ‘em apart this way.

• Changed my FTP password
• Changed my web host backend password
• Deleted the old blog installation and re-built it in the timeframe of…15 minutes (This is new, despite the same look)
• Dumped the database
• Imported only the raw text from the old blog (Some posts which contain images are now bereft of those images).

Hopefully this got rid of any potential malware. I had previously removed some nasty redirects (also not sure how those got there), maybe this is fallout from that.