Replacing a FiiO E7 battery - simple! (Photos)

I've had a FiiO E7 headphone amp for a few years and it's recently gained a new lease of life -- as an audio interface! However, the OEM battery got a bit long in the tooth, so I set about replacing it. It's much easier than you might think. Click through for photos and step-by-step instructions, plus a list of components to buy. (Warning: magnifying glass and hot glue gun are advantageous!)

I've had a FiiO E7 headphone amp for a few years and it's recently gained a new lease of life -- as an audio interface for my LG G3! Sadly, the has G3 shockingly bad audio quality from its onboard 3.5 mm output - riddled with noise, fuzz/hiss and audible aliasing and distortion. This is likely due to poor design from LG in an effort to power save, combined with a latent bug in Android relating to how it scales audio samples, the latter sounding like it's aliasing audio in a certain range of gain due to it internally resampling or something stupid like that. My old Galaxy S3 LTE running Cyanogenmod 10 (4.2.2) sounded amazing, I wish it hadn't died!

ANYWAY! Recent builds of Android (I'm running 5.1) include a provision for audio-via-USB, enabled by default on most devices, so hooking up a micro-to-mini USB cable between the phone and the E7 gives you blissfully great audio quality.

So, I dug mine out of a cupboard - with a flat battery, of course - and charged it up. Soon after, the battery got fat and decided to push the front of the screen out... Ok, time to replace the battery! Continue reading "Replacing a FiiO E7 battery - simple! (Photos)"

Drumfunk mixes

Over the past decade, I've occasionally put together mixes of tunes I particularly enjoy listening to, and stick them on the net. (Why not.)

A somewhat ad hoc series I called 'Gunpowder Funk' arose from a Drumfunk/choppage/darkbeat mix I did back in 2005. I ended up doing annually for the next three years, culminating in Gunpowder Funk Part 4.

I really like the track selection and the mixing on this (conceited? possibly! but I did all these mixes live, no pre-planning except picking the tracks I wanted to play and putting them in a pile by the decks), there's a lot of serendipitous moments and lovely track blends going on.

Tracklisting for Part 4 below. Click here to download the Gunpowder Funk Part 4 MP3.

01) Fracture & Neptune - Apollo (SUBTLE009)
02) Macc - A8V (BRK07)
03) Fracture & Neptune - Wrong Think (BB1224)
04) Fanu - I Play It Cooler (SUBTLE005)
05) Equinox - Do You Understand Me? (ZIQ134)
06) Fracture & Neptune - Untightled (BRK04)
07) Fanu - For Those Who Dream (LIGHTLESS001)
08) John Rolodex - Amenizm (Part 1) (PI007)
09) Alaska - Ancestral (AM001)
10) Equinox - Breakestral Ting (ZIQ134)
11) Seba & Paradox - Wakeup Call (featuring Robert Manos) (SECOPS006)
12) Fracture & Neptune - Too Doggone Funky (INP011)
13) Fracture & Neptune - Our Sound (SE4001)
14) Fracture & Neptune - Venture (featuring Martin Fieber) (MEDIC3)
15) Seba & Paradox - Time Starts Now (HZN022)
16) Breakage - Prophecy (SW002)
17) Paradox - Incubate (PM018)
18) Alaska - Atka (AM004)
19) Breakage - Panic Room (INP014)
20) dgoHn - Elle (SUBTLE008)
21) Kjell - Cloud Thirty (COL03)
22) Outrage & Aperture - Love Like Blood (featuring Kirsty Hawkshaw) (WA001)
23) Senses - Babylon (BB1218)
23) Dub-One - Volcon (XA010)

Other mixes (including Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3) are available online (their tracklistings are embedded in the ID3 comment tag, or available online if you search). (There's also a Bad Company mix (tracks from the Shot Down on Safari album, as the mix which came with the album was so bad), a Current Value mix and an all-classics mix if you're feeling adventurous.)

Photos: inside a 'vintage' BT street cabinet

Following on from the Virgin Media street cab article, I came across a PCP last week with the doors left unlocked (and wide open to the elements!) I phoned it in to Openreach and it's already fixed, but as I had my camera...

This is a 'vintage' BT street cabinet, so no FTTC VDSL equipment. Still hoping to grab some close-up snaps of one of those, though given the cost of equipment in them I doubt I'd find an open one which wasn't vandalised. Who knows...

Some photos for your nerdy enjoyment:

I ♥