Bite-sized Review: FiiO E02i ‘Rocky’ Smartphone Portable Amplifier

Last October 2012, FiiO officially launched their latest headphone amplifier, the E02i Rocky. We’ve been testing this out for more than a week now, and honestly, we are surprised with its exceptional quality amidst its size and price. If we are to spoil this bite-sized review, we can say that this can indeed ‘rock’ your smartphone.

For your reference, we used the following devices on this amplifier:

• iPhone 4s
• iPad 3 32gb Wifi + Cellular
• Galaxy Note 2
• Xperia S
• Lenovo G470
• Custom Built 64 Bit Desktop using motherboard stock audio card

This is not sorcery or magic; This is pure audio engineering.

The E02i’s look resembles the aluminium unibody of Macbook Pro. You would think that it’s Apple’s product at first glance. Of course, it isn’t Apple’s, but the quality and material that FiiO decided to use on this small device is excellent.

The main/central panel of E021 houses the center button and volume rockers, which are mainly used for controlling music and answering calls. The center button has that LED glow when the device is turned on. This, in our opinion, adds more elegance to the device and gives that Iron-Man-y feeling when its clipped on our shirt.

Since FiiO heavily optimized this accessory for Apple devices, the full features of the center control may only be used on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. These features include:

• Siri comes out if you press and hold it once.
• The current song will play or pause if you press it once.
• The next song will be played if you press it twice.
• The previous song will be played if you press it thrice.
• The song will seek forward if you press it twice and hold it for some time.
• The song will seek backward if you press it thrice and hold it for some time.
• The volume rockers works pretty well.

Unfortunately, when we tried this phone on the Galaxy Note 2 and other Android phones we, only 2 features worked: (1) Press the center button once to play/pause music; and (2) long press the center button to enable the voice search (via Google Now). This could have been a perfect amplifier for smartphone if it worked well across all platforms.

You can find 2 switches on the left side of the device – the bass boost and the On/Off switches. These 2 switches will literally change the way you listen to music. These are actually the ones that bring more oomph to your phone. We tried flipping the on/off switch from time to time to show the amp’s effect to our friends; it did not fail to amaze them.

The microphone, which is located above the device, delivers crisp and high definition output and low noise. It’s good, but not excellent.

FiiO may have been inspired by Apple’s design philosophy but what’s important in this bite-sized review is more than meets the eye. Clearly, FiiO did not use sorcery or magic to amplify your music to a better state; this is clearly the fruit of FiiO’s extensive R&D in audio engineering.

The amplified sound that E02i produces is solid but not clunky. Its bass boost switch literally added thump to the music I listen. (In this review, I listened to Skrillex and other dubstep songs to further tests its power.) I am not an exerpt in sound technology, but as a consumer, I am very satisfied with what this device can deliver.

Sure, you can buy more expensive headphones out there, but if you’re budget is tight, this amp plus a decently priced headphone is an economic and wise alternative.

Unboxing Photos:

FiiO E02i Rocky headphone amplifier for iPhone 3/4/4s/5 is NOW AVAILABLE at the following stores for only PhP1,490:
1. Egghead Audiohub
2. The Listening Room Philippines
3. Listen Up Philippines
4. PCHub

Specs:

Output Power: >70mW @ 32 ohms; 18m@ 300 ohms
Headphone impendence Range: 16 ohm~300 ohm
Freq Responce:20 hz~20KHz
Power supply: Li- ion rechargable
Size: 23.33mm x 57.3mm x 15.3mm (including the clip)
Length of the wire: 800mm (80cm)
Weight: 27 g

[stextbox id=”info”]The device used in this article is sponsored by XTC Corporation.[/stextbox]

[stextbox id=”info” caption=”About FiiO Electronics Technology CO., LTD.” collapsing=”true” collapsed=”false”]FiiO is a young brand, full of creative energy. Since our founding in 2007, FiiO has developed into a brand that has gained a significant measure of recognition in many countries and regions around the world. Within the headphone amplifier market, FiiO has quickly become the best known brand with the largest market share as well as the fastest growth. Our focus on high product quality, performance, and value has made FiiO a favorite among consumers.

Due to our accumulation of valuable technical expertise for the past years, FiiO now maintains a highly capable development team, organized under the four cornerstone design principles of “practical, convenient, creative, reliable”. We are committed to continuous innovation by performing product designs in-house, towards the goal of delivering more and better value-focused audio products.

FiiO has developed a global sales network covering North America, Europe, Asia and others, totaling over 60 distributors and resellers. Together, FiiO and our sales channel partners work efficiently to deliver high quality FiiO products and convenient support services to customers.

In order to meet fast growing market demand for our products, FiiO has recently moved to a new location with a four fold growth in production capacity. Our new facility is equipped with state of the art equipment for performing R&D, testing, QA, and production, further enhancing our production capacity and quality control.

Looking forward, FiiO will continue to regard the needs of our customers as the guide for company growth and direction. As we constantly strive to improve our capabilities and product quality standards, we aim to become a well known international brand in the near future.[/stextbox]

Giancarlo Viterbo

Website

Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.