FiiO Review Roundup: S3 Card-Reader Speaker, E5 Headphone Amp And P3 Portable Charger
Accessory kings Fiio have got a weighty body of gadgets under their belt.
Following the S9 Speaker review it’s time to take a look at other Fiio stable items.
Click below to see the write-ups.
FiiO E5 Headphone Amp – Nationite Edition
From my time with this little fella I’ve come to know it as one of those indispensable items that I can no longer do without.
It is a simple piece of kit that boosts the signal from the player to the headphones.
Sound
Whatever player you’re using, you’ll notice a difference with the E5 plugged in.
My initial concern was that it would colour the sound too much but from the off those fears were quashed.
As well as boosting the volume and all ranges, the most common complaint from headphones or IEMs is the lack of bass and the E5 takes care of that nicely, filling in the previous gaps with the meaty bass lines you were supposed to hear in the first place.
Usability
Despite it being powerful in boosting the sound there is a lot of user control on offer too, allowing you to make its effect as subtle or as full as you like.
This flexibility is easily accessed along the top of the E5 where lies a bass-boost switch, a power button and a volume control.
It’s light-weight and has a sturdy clip on the back for shirts, bag straps etc, keeping it out the way.
Battery
Another huge plus point for the E5 is the battery life and charging system.
It has 20 hours play time and is charged via USB. If it used bought-batteries of didn’t have the playback time it wouldn’t be as desirable a product but these are the icing on the cake.
Verdict
Whatever combination of players and headphones I use now, the e5 is always in the mix, joining the two together.
This is testament to the power of the player, its excellent battery life and the lift it is guaranteed to give to any type of music.
The Fiio E5 costs $20.40 and is available at MP4Nation.
FiiO S3 Card-Reader Speaker
This is a nifty little portable stereo speaker that has a great audio range for both input from media players and the added bonus of playing back music straight from SD/MMC/TF cards.
Build
The S3 is stylish, small and light – everything you need in a portable speaker.
Molded in strong plastic it has a nice durable feel to it and seems like it could last living the life of being thrown in backpacks and taken around.
It measures 156 x 65 x 26mm and weighs 155g.
Audio
As usual with FiiO, they’ve got a lot of power out of a small piece of kit.
The sound is clear, strong and full.
Whilst not being as bass-heavy and loud as the S9, it does offer much more portability over that speaker due to its much smaller build and lighter weight.
Playback through aux-in is full and bright and playback through SD card is particularly good too, revealing the powerful audio decoder chip inside.
Usability
Simplicity is at work here again, pop an SD card in the top and it begins playing music which can be easily navigated via the scroll buttons on top.
For auxiliary audio input there’s a simple standard aux-in jack on the side.
Going back to portability, the player is slim and lies flat due to the small stand being removable. Once you’re where you need to be just pop it in and it’s up.
Battery
For portable use the S3 uses 2 AA batteries and has a USB power slot for desk-use.
Verdict
Another thumbs-up for FiiO with the S3. The ratio of portability and quality sound on this perfect.
A light, slim speaker with a full,bright sound.
The Fiio S3 costs $23.80 and is available at MP4Nation.
FiiO P3 USB Charger
Calling this piece of kit a USB charger is somewhat selling it short.
In reality this little white box serves as a portable charger/power adapter for USB devices, a wall-charger for USB devices and a charger for rechargeable AA and AAA batteries.
Build
This is compact little device that’s suitably light.
The wall-charger part is kept out of the way and is revealed by flipping out in a cool way that resembles the action of a Swiss Army knife.
Usability
Again, simple and effective.
There’s a main power switch, a USB slot, the flip-down wall plug and a slide-off back panel in which to put the AA or AAA batteries (it fits both in the same slot due to spring-mounted connectors).
The ability to plug in and recharge the batteries that will later be powering your USB device on the go is the beauty of this adapter as it means that you’ll always have a constant source of back-up power.
Verdict
With a couple of rechargeable batteries in the back this is an excellent device that will always see you with the necessary juice in your devices.
A light, white indispensable box of power.
The Fiio P3 costs $16.58 and is available at MP4Nation.
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Categories: Accessories, Fiio, Nationite
