Monoprice Desktop Amp / DAC Discussions | Drop

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Monoprice Desktop Amp / DAC

Jul 22, 2014

It actually isn't a clone of the E9 or the E09k, despite the same enclosure and input/output layout. If you don't believe me, check out these images of their respective teardowns
Fiio E09k taken apart by Head-fi user:

Monoprice Headphone Amp taken apart by Reddit user:

It's a clone in enclosure alone. The internals are completely different.

Jul 22, 2014

royalflush

128

Jul 22, 2014

RyneWeissThey are not “completely different”.
Different placements of largely similar capacitors don't mean anything. Most of the "extra" smaller caps you see on the Monoprice board are just placed on the other side of the Fiio board.
If you also look at the reverse side of the boards, then you can tell the real differences and similarities.
E09K: https://plus.google.com/photos/112726796222146066273/albums/5969080925972393713/5969080942318302978?pid=5969080942318302978&oid=112726796222146066273

Monoprice:

Looking at some of the components used:
The main difference is that only Monoprice has a USB DAC (presence of tenor TE7021L USB controller and TI PCM1793 dac). The headphone amp parts are essentially the same: both use tpa6120A2 and opa2134. The exact implementation may not be identical, but I don't have enough expertise to judge. A real expert can take a look and explain.

Jul 22, 2014