Adverts from FiiO:
※ Dual AK4490EN DAC chips for the ultimate in decoding performance
※ XMOS USB Audio to ensure a rock-solid connection
※ Certified by 3 Major Bodies (Hi-Res Audio, MFi and aptX)
※ Interchangeable amp modules, fully compatible with FiiO’s lineup
※ Balanced and single-ended outputs all in the AM3A
※ Audiophile-grade components (OPA1642 + MSP432 + Panasonic film capacitors + NJW1195)
※ State-of-the-art ADC volume control
※ 3800 mAh battery for longer listening
The FiiO FH1 is a shot at the Beats babies. That is a good shot to take as they are a massive chunk of market.
(x1) Dynamic 10mm Titanium
(x1) Balanced armature drivers. the “Knowles”33518
Specification
Frequency Response: 20Hz – 40KHz
Impedance: 26Ω
Sensitivity: 106dB/mW
Maximum Input: 100mW
Plug Type: 3.5mm + 2.5 mm
Cord Length: 120cm
Single Earbud Weight: 3.65g
FiiO has made a plastic design with an MMCX connect and mesh covered nozzle with a lip for securing the eartips. The interior is lined with plastic to secure the driver and reduce resonance. The nozzle is fitted with a brass tube to control bass resonance and reflection
It feels like a peanut which is cool cuz it sits in your ear like hearing protection. Like all of the Fiio F9, F9 PRO and this FH1, they all fit very good. VERY good.
Foreplay/It’s been such a long Time
From F9 PRO
The FH1 has a slightly more intimate presentation but it is by no means restrictive.I just watched a vid describing this but damned if he mentioned a song…any song. The fuuu?
Using the song above the sense of space was still there but comparing with the F9 PRO it is not as wide..the sense of width anyway but that comes from treble peaks and i would take this over the F9 PRO
Gold Dust Woman
Male and Female vocal Fundamentals are stretched across the entire mid range.
Stevie Nicks and at times Lindsey Buckingham and others sound well balanced and well placed. The mids would be slightly forward or proper. There is no recess detected to my ears. The mid to early treble is one of the strong points of this set. Guitar also sounds very good both electric and acoustic.
If you know where the mids start and finish you will note the almost identical lines so clowns claiming the mids are of less quality than the F9 PRO are just full of shit.
You.. of the broken ears and crippled morals or.. are just too lazy to even mention the music you listened to, to arrive at conclusions with no reflections to point to in measurements c’mon… I have been noting that since Summer 2017 and you folks are kinda messed up. This is music gear. What in the good god fuck did you listen to for fucks sake?
Has HBB gone mad!! Seriously. Sweep the garbage sites away by ignoring them. Ignore this site if the truth makes you queasy and uneasy.
Dazed and Confused
Now this is where the real difference occurs. The bass is impactful and authoritative without EQ yet it does not bother the mids at all. This is easily my favorite “F” series IEM done by FiiO. Texture? Cmon man, 35Hz is 35Hz. It (the driver) moves with enough speed to play bass guitar solo’s with all 4 strings doing their thing and you hear it clearly. All music sounds great but, Reggae like Bob Marley – “Natural Mystic” sound dope. Nice punchy bass with Bob Marley and the Wailers coming in loud and clear
Shorty Wanna be a Thug
The treble of the FH1 is not as airy or rough as the F9’s. Both of those sets are not comfortable for me listening to whole albums or sides of albums. The FH1 gets all the detail of this track with a slightly less sense of space due to treble peak position. It is an easy compromise for me as i like detail but not so much it limits my listening marathons.
Did FiiO do what they set out to do?
I dunno?
What were they trying to do with the colors….hmmmm bass and colors…sounds like…yup!
About time. That is a big market and they should make lots of these and hopefully sell them all. I LOVE THE FIIO FH1!! They finally got it right if 80% of the market means anything and damn…son….it sure as fu does!
Buy it here:
The FiiO F9 PRO is a shot at Audiophiles who enjoy a detail filled listen with tuning that resembles the classic Sony EX1000 among others. Did they hit the mark? Lets check it out.
(x1) Dynamic 9.2mm PEK Polymer nanocomposite driver
(x2) Balanced armature drivers. the “Knowles” TWFK-30017-000
Impedance is 28 Ohm
Max input rated at 100mW
FiiO has made an all metal design with an MMCX connect and mesh covered nozzle with a lip for securing the eartips. The interior is lined with plastic to secure the driver and reduce resonance.
It feels like an aluminum peanut. It fits like a piece of hearing protection which is to say it fits really really good with the proper eartips which depend on your ear size.
Inside you find
As mentioned above:
Hard shell case
Soft carry case
(x1) 2.5mm balanced cable
(x1) 3.5mm single end (SE) cable
(12) sets of ear tips 6 bass enhancing sets and 6 balanced sound sets
Foreplay/It’s been such a long Time
The wide spacey intro “Foreplay” is the kind of stadium rock anthem the the F9 PRO shine on. The treble clarity and peaks create a great sense of space. There is no perceived restriction on the virtual playback stage. Live recordings or those with large presentations from Classic to live 70’s arena rock shine on these
Gold Dust Woman
Male and Female vocal Fundamentals are stretched across the entire mid range.
Stevie Nicks and at times Lindsey Buckingham and others sound well balanced and well placed. The mids would be slightly forward or proper. There is no recess detected to my ears. The mid to early treble is one of the strong points of this set. Guitar also sounds very good both electric and acoustic.
Dazed and Confused
The opening notes of John Paul Jones Bass guitar are clear and extend into the harmonic range nicely. The lower sub-bass seems to be somewhat lacking. These are not basshead in any form nor were they advertised as such
According to FiiOs own advert it is a relatively neutral bass tuning with no real increase or recess along it’s range. It sounds that way. Some folks may want to add roughly +3dB or more/less depending on tastes for a fuller sound in the lows with more impact. An EQ will work a hardware bass switch would be ideal for many.
Shorty Wanna be a Thug
There is a ton of studio deck mixing going on on this track and the better the treble the more you will hear. Everything comes through loud and clear. The F9 has a peak at 7-8Khz. The PRO has one at close to the same point according to their graph. it seems less harsh than the F9 to me? They could graph out identical but while it sounds like a bright IEM it does not grate on me like the F9 did initially. I got used to it or this is just a bit better in resolution, clarity and no worse than the F9 peak perhaps better. This could be my brain getting burnt in though so take that with 2 grains of Salt
Did FiiO do what they set out to do?
Well, if the graph they made was what they wanted then yes. It sounds very detailed with a large presentation and a tame bass region. No noted recess in mids. That is what they showed in their own graph and that is what they did, to these ears.
If you like the Sony EX1000 like I do ( I fracking love em’!!) then you would like these and they fit much much better than the Sony.
Buy at:
AMAZON
FiiO provided this sample to me for free.
Thank you to FiiO and thank you for reading
EDIT:
With the bass boost on the Q1mkII I fully rec these. They are great without but they are to my taste with so I rec. They sound fantastic now.
Happy Holidays!
World Wide Wednesday Vol1 11/22/2017
FiiO is about to release the new F9 Pro Hybrid IEM with Knowles BA tech
They are also organizing a tour on Head-Fi and application to join can be found here
(I will be in the mix so a look will be found right here.)
Shanling is also hosting it’s first tour in North America and it is sending 3 DAP’s at once to the reviewers chosen. information on that tour can be found here.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/shanling-hi-res-portable-players-review-tour.865739/
(They follow me on Twitter but do not reply to me …about anything, anywhere, ever.LOL, whateverz, it is news!)
Hiby has begun the process of delivering the first Hiby R6 DAP units outside of China/Asia and reviews and impressions should start coming in on that soon.
Info on the device below
https://www.hiby.com/cpcc/index_49.aspx
The long awaited FiiO Q5 amp/dac is slated for a December release for $349.99
Will edit and expand sources to include the gobs of stuff I come across. Somebody once laughed at Headphonia in a PM about their daily events. No, it’s smart. the traffic flows have patters and in between reviews you let the tide go too low or you use what they call “B-roll”. 20 year old tactics that work still. Gonna do Photobomb Friday’s if you folks tempt me!!
Shii, let’s get right to the point
There has been a lot of discussion about the sound of music players and due to laziness or stupidity or both, the terms often used to describe speakers , headphones or any audio transducers has been ascribed to Music players as well and let me tell you it is total bullshit.
There is no loose bass, recessed mids or rolled off treble with a music player which has at it’s heart a DAC which is a Digital to Analogue converter.
It converts digital data into analogue data.
That’s what it does.
Howeeeeeeever,
There is a thing happening. Cannot measure it. Cannot do anything but marvel at how some music players using the same exact DAC cam exhibit a tonality that is so different from another.
ESS9018K2M Used by OPUS #2 (x2) and Calyx-M (x1)
They sound nothing alike and it has nothing to do with dual DAC’s.
The X7MkII is using an ESS9028Pro (x1) and the Dx200 (x2)
They sound different. I prefer the single DAC implementation but can appreciate now (unlike a few months ago) that it is a fine device in it’s own right. NOT my type of sound but very well liked by some.
Excluding all the babble about “loose” and “recessed” lets put them on one plane and call it a neutrality line
Warm (implies some sort of perceived focus in bass and vocal range)
Mojo
Calyx-M
FiiO X5iii
Shozy Alien +
Neutral ( no emphasis perceived anywhere along frequency)
FiiO X7 *1st gen stock amp*
DX200 *stock amp*
OPUS#2
Cold (implies some sort of perceived focus in treble, perhaps forward mids)
OPUS#3
Aune m1S
If that is reasonable, and I think it is, I would place the FiiO X7mkII in the Neutral category with a slight lean towards treble. It seems to have no more weight to bass than the 1st X7 but the clarity seems…well…clearer. The minutia in some music is there and while DAP’s that are leaning north of neutral can be a bad match for long term listening the X7mkII is actually the opposite. It is more engaging and comfortable than the X5iii and warm music players are supposed to be good for longer term listening.
Maybe true? But the X7mkII is an exception to the rule which makes it…exceptional.
Navigation
I was unable to get past the tiny font on the Cayin i5.
Sometimes a simple little thing can make a device almost un useful if it does not mimic an ipod like ease of use experience with as few clicks and swipes as possible and a minimum of missed touches/clicks.
The FiiO X7mkII is a mature, easy to navigate Android based music player with no annoying habits. I have had it for 5 months and picking it up and using it is a thing done without thought of any kind.
I do not have to “put up with” anything annoying.
There are 3 basic themes.
Several ways to browse your music
The ESS9028PRO has 7 filter settings embedded in the DAC to make subtle adjustments to the sound
(hold down power and “up” on rocker switch at the same time for 1 second to do this)
Adding your music is as simple as plugging it into a PC or MAC and dragging the music files onto the devices storage. It is in fact less tedious than using itunes with an idevice.
Most common question I hear from folks not crippled by music gear collecting is:
“How do I add my damn music??”
Just plug it in bro.
It will ask to be storage device and you allow it then find it on your computer where your other drives are and open it and go.
Easy peasy.
Photo Bombing
This is a thing you can ask directly in a question as I believe the headphones/IEM have the final say in the sound so I would need to know what music and what other gear. I can do it. Have no problem declaring one over another but just in general terms? Nah, that’s a hype game parlor trick.
What do I listen to?
DSD when I can
Vinyl rips of classic albums
70’s Rock, Hip Hop, Reggae
I sometimes EQ Bass up for a more “live” feeling and i do it with every device that I can
The good
Sound Quality is pretty damn awesome
Very easy to use
You can change the amp at the bottom of the device and get more power without stacking
Battery life will get me through a regular day with no worries
Android allows you to use other music apps like on your phone and Neutron will work with this and not resample to 48Khz
The bad
The EQ is just O.K.
1/2 of screen is taken by control panel and other half for album art? It would be nice to auto hide that big panel
The leatherette case is very very hard to take off. Almost had a meltdown taking that back off
The Ugly
Man,
It sounds great, it is priced great compared to it’s rivals, the company updates the device to add things that people ask for.
This device was given to me for free.
Does that help make my review positive?
Legit question.
I dunno? I had it for months, I use other music players too. I enjoy being brutal and honest and sometimes burn bridges because of that. So I guess no. I definitely like it and have no problems telling you it is one of the finest devices you can buy to listen to music with and it will not cost you a shit ton of gold. Your good, this is a good purchase.
https://www.amazon.com/Mark-II-Hi-Res-Lossless-Player/dp/B0743H8SX1
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