FiiO F9 PRO Full review

The FiiO F9 PRO. FiiO’s 1st real Approach to Audiophiles

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.

The F9 Pro uses

(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

Design

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 the Box

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

Sound impressions:

STAGE

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

MIDS

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.

BASS

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.

TREBLE

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

Conclusion

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.

Initial unboxing video

Buy at:

AMAZON

https://www.amazon.com/Headphones-Earphones-Detachable-Monitors-Compatible/dp/B077L3S4MQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1512140121&sr=8-2&keywords=FiiO+F9+PRO

FiiO provided this sample to me for free.

Thank you to FiiO and thank you for reading

http://www.fiio.net/fiio

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!

Unique Melody ME.1 Planar IEM REVIEW

**Waits for Unicorn IEM**
Unique Melody: Hold my Beer, I got this..

Like a Game of thrones, The Sony EX1000 has finally been put down

by the Unique Melody Me.1

The Unique Melody Me.1 is what is known as a “Planar” IEM

It is a technology developed and used for expensive headphones costing in the thousands of dollars. Recently the technology, forms of it, have been miniaturized and used in IEM or “In Ear Monitors”. This is a very good thing for music listeners obsessed with detail. The minutia that is barely audible and sometimes lost to harmonic distortion is now available to you, the O.C.D crowd (me) and people who expect the whole recording to be played back…ALL of it

Sound impressions

Finest, clearest most impressive sonic playback of any IEM I have ever heard at any price.

The black quiet background is unlike any BA,Hybrid or Dynamic driver I have ever tried. It is absolutely addicting.

A Benchmark.

The sound of the needle gliding along between tracks on a vinyl rip is like being there. Next to Mom’s record player again, young, loving music and not analyzing it.

The moments between “The Battle of Evermore” and “Stairway to Heaven”

Those kind of moments are why I love this hobby.

I decided before starting to write this to just say what i think without trying to be some balanced robot infonator passing facts and general thoughts on to you. Nah, fuck that, these fucking RULE!

Bass

It is very much like the Sony EX1000. No measured increase of note between 20Hz and 1Khz. It is very clear and the speed of planar is second to…nothing. Bass guitar is outstanding. The pluck and pull and resonance of bass strings on some thing like the Violent Femmes “Blister in the Sun” is pure joy.

Who is she? No idea? Mommy or Daddy sure know their freakin’ music though. Whole album sounds sick on the Unique Melody Me.1

EDIT:

The best pairing for this IEM is the FiiO Q1MkII with it’s hardware bass boost switch. Most any good amp with a good bass switch will bring out the thump in these in a way an EQ cannot. Most DD or BA can be EQ’d to a reasonable point but for thump these love a good hardware boost..to my ears anyway.

Mids

Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham are an awesome pair of Male and Female vocals. Christine Mcvie reaches a little higher and brings in what is the sole weakness of the Planar…all of them. From 1.5Khz to approx 4.5Khz there is a harmonic event. A dip. Just prior is often a hump. Vocals on planar IEM without EQ can come off as shouty or odd if no EQ work is done.

Bass can go up because…it’s planar,

mids will not become veiled.

1Khz is very sensitive with this IEM IMO and it is my dip.

I do that at 400-500Hz usually but here it is 1Khz then I slow rise peak between 4-6Khz

Pretty simple and the payoff is perfect mids that transition to treble well, anchored by tight and authorative bass if you want it to be

Treble

“Telephone Line”

Woooo!! WOOOOO!!!

every crispy little detail pulled out and layed there for you. NOTHING shaded, trimmed,dulled…nothing. I coulda used any track with some sparkle but I was listening to this, wanted to try the widget so BAM….there ya go.

Science, muf __kers!!

Product Specifications

Impedance: 23.1 Ω
Diaphragm Diameter: 18.5 mm
Magnet Type: Dual-Layer High Strength Neodymium

Shell: 3D Printed Medical Grade Acrylic with CNC Finish Connector Type: 2-Pin Protruding Connector
Cable: 6N Single Crystal Copper
Cable Termination: 3.5 mm Headphone Jack

You can change the cable..

But why??

Pimp C would blush….then wear it.

The cable is sick, the comfort is great (I use comply) the earhooks are soft and easy to adjust to your ear and the cable is sick….did I mention that?

Good

Un rivaled SQ

Speed of driver and it’s assurance of the TOTL quality

Very responsive to EQ

Comfortable for long listening

The cable is unicorn hair dipped in gold

Bad

EQ near 1.5-4.5 Khz would be advised

hardware bass boost really needed to push bass properly

Ugly

Your desk without these on them

I once watched Twister6 stumble over announcing one top of the line IEM after the other till he said he would stop making such grand statements and I thought..pffft, get a grip dude!

Now I am looking at my EX1000 considered by many old timers and myself to be the apex of dynamic in ear monitors. And I find myself rationalizing that they are in the Dynamic driver world but I am just splitting hairs over here. The Unique Melody Me.1 are the finest IEM on the market and they are not over $1000, they are not even near Unique Melody’s most expensive IEM yet here I am calling them the King.

Do I rec em?

They are in the header image of this site.

You can purchase the Unique melody Me.1 here (below)

UM Universal ME.1 Planar magnetic Drivers IEM

https://www.amazon.com/Unique-Melody/pages/12077511011

I wanted to try a 2 pin for the Audeze since it is kinda ghetto stock IMO.

I contacted him and he sent me the BT version after some back and forth.

I like the Blue Benz

You wanna try the white one?

Um actually.

Standard….Automatic?

Um…er……standard?
I admired the car salesman like vibe.

And hell, BT buds suck pretty much so picking my own 2 pin set and making them BT is pretty damn convenient. I got em for free so my White Benz feels pretty damn fine.

Does free make a difference in a positive review?

Probably does on some level but I got complaints so not enough to prevent sharing that so no….

Comes in a nice box.
Who cares?

Box people care…that’s who!!

Bluetooth 4.2

Smart-assistant support

aptX Codec

Microphone

Media-control

I thought the red would indicate (right) but it actually goes only on left of isine20

Red is left on all IEM tried and the notch on the rubber surrounding the termination might be better if it has no bend. Easier to wear down or make earhooks or he could on request though cable is short so there is limited cable to work with.

Everything was worn upside down or backwards so maybe this set was a mistake?

If I turn the logos facing inside they fit a bit better on the 64 Audio U12 but not great. i gotta think this is an odd set.

Red is left and logo turned in makes them fit better on some sets.

U12
LEAR Ae1D
Shozy hibiki

EDIT:

From PlusSound,

The red is right side with screws required to face outward, as provided in the instruction card. The only exception is with Audeze units which has the groove reversed, but red is still on the right. When customer specifies Audeze, we know not to include the cable bend. Otherwise, it would have it to make it more comfortable.

Pairing with all DAP’s with Bluetooth was very simple.

Keep holding button down until red and blue blink rapid and look for it on the DAP and pair.

Had no issues with any device

My man cave has Hawaiian beach towels on the ceiling

Stay gangster.

PRO

Take whatever the fu you like with you and suffer no audible loss in quality.

CON

Unit housing kinda big .If i wear the cable behind my head like some Sony sets it fits better on the U12 and Hibiki but then I have to reach behind my head to touch the controller which is right behind my ear

If you have a set where the plug is on top and not bottom this is something to consider

Thanks to the guy who sold me the white instead of Blue Benz.

It was free

#1stworldproblems
#nobodycareswhatyouwantHBB
#thisnewsiterokz

http://www.plussoundaudio.com/

AUDEZE iSine i20 (Review coming)

Specifications

Style	In-ear, universal fit
Transducer type	Planar magnetic, semi-open
Magnetic structure	Fluxor™
Magnet type	High-grade neodymium
Diaphragm type	Ultra-thin Uniforce™
Transducer size	30mm
Maximum power handling	3W
Maximum SPL	>120dB
Frequency response	10Hz – 50kHz
THD	<0.1% @ 100dB
Impedance	24 ohms
Cable type	non-microphonic
Dimension	31mm x 35mm
Weight	11g (per side)