FIIL CC2 Bluetooth 5.2 AAC Semi-in-ear TWS
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FIIL has made a name for itself in the True Wireless and Wireless earphone/earbud/headphone space. They have a large collection of Bluetooth audio devices and most of them seem rather interesting in their respective price brackets.
The FIIL CC2 is an update to the original FIIL CC that was positioned as an Apple Airpods alternative. The half in-ear design and similarly open acoustic structure makes the CC2 rather different from the in-ear designs out there. The competition is strong in the True Wireless space, so let’s see how well the FIIL CC2 holds up.
This review was originally published at Audioreviews.
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES
FIIL CC2 has a fairly compact packaging that covers the essentials. You get the earbuds themselves housed inside the carrying/charging case and a charging cable. Given the earbud style design, there is no need for silicone eartips, though I wish they had one of those silicone wings that helps better fit the earbuds.The charging case, however, is fantastic. It’s a CNC-milled aluminium shell that houses an ABS plastic chamber (the chamber contains charging circuitry etc.). I love the design of the carrying case and it definitely stands out among the crowd.
4/5
BUILD QUALITY
The earbuds themselves are made out of plastic that has a metal-like finish in the stem and matte black driver housings. Each stem houses the battery and required wireless modules. At the bottom of each earpiece you will find two gold contact-points for charging and a mic. At the top, you get the status LED. At the side there is a dot that acts as a touch-input. Tapping it twice/thrice performs several operations (customizable in the app).
The earbuds are quite lightweight, though nothing feels flimsy or cheap. Solid build quality, overall, even if nothing extraordinary.
4/5
COMFORT, ISOLATION, AND FIT
The FIIL CC2 earbuds have an Apple Airpods “inspired” shape (also called half in-ears), though there are differences in curvature of the driver housing. For me it was fairly comfortable but after a while the hard plastic shell became distracting. The fit wasn’t the most secure for me as well, though my friends had a much better time and they could even go on a run with these in their ears.
So I guess the fit will vary but should be fine for most people (unless you have non-earbud friendly ears like mine). Isolation is almost non-existent, however, so don’t expect these to drown out traffic/commute noises.
3/5
SOURCE, CONNECTIVITY, AND BATTERY LIFE
I used my Pixel 6 and Sony NW-A55 for most of the critical listening. I also tried with an iPhone SE and my laptop. The FIIL CC2 worked fine with all of them. Battery life was very good for my use since I didn’t listen to them longer than an hour. Simply sliding the earbuds back in the case recharges them and with just a few minutes of charging I could go on for another hour or so.The problem with the battery life is mostly down to the continuous playback time: it’s about 3 hours or so if you use them without putting them back in the charger. The charging case holds charge for ~18 hours which is very good and I needed to charge the case once a week. It’s only if you are using the earbuds consistently for more than 3 hours shall you run into problems with battery life.
As for connectivity: Bluetooth connection was fairly stable. I didn’t notice any lag or random dropouts from any of my devices (ranging from BT 4.0 to BT 5.2) You can also install the FIIL App and customize the presets/change EQ modes/assign gestures. Finally, a small note about call quality: the FIIL CC2 mic records sound better than the much more expensive Apple Airpods Max. I had no problem talking with others even in moderately noisy environment and calls sounded loud and clear.
4.5/5
DRIVER SETUP
The FIIL CC2 uses a 13.1mm single-dynamic driver with a Titanium-plated dome and PET surround. The acoustic structure itself is open and thus expands the soundstage beyond your head, at the expense of noise leakage and isolation.
TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES
The general sound signature of the FIIL CC2 can be described as warm with a lower-treble tilt.The most noticeable aspect of the sound is the sub-bass roll-off. You only hear sub-bass frequencies well from above 40Hz. The rumble factor is missing in action, though the moderately bumped up mid-bass does add some punch to the bass. Either way, the bass is not very textured is mostly tuned to give a sense of rhythm rather than cater to the bass afficionados.
Being very particular about bass myself, I was a bit disappointed but at least FIIL played within the limitation of the driver and acoustic structure rather than being overzealous with bass boost and add distortion.
Thanks to the mid-bass boost (which is fairly moderate and mostly thickens the lower-mids rather than cloud them) the vocals come through well even in some bass heavy mixes. However, there is some strange mid-range coloration going on. To my ears, the mid frequencies start to rise from 500Hz and then suddenly go down around 800Hz. Then it starts rising again from 1000Hz and peaks at 3.2KHz or so (to my ears).
So there is adequate pinna gain but the strange peaks between 500-1000Hz can make male vocals sound strangely colored and nasal at times. Female vocals were mostly fine and didn’t sound shouty to my ears. String instruments were decently portrayed though I think they could do with a bit more clarity (mostly due to the lower-mid tuning I guess).
As for the highs, the FIIL CC2 opt for a sizeable lower-treble peak at ~5.8KHz and then another mid-treble peak ~7KHz, after which the treble rolls off rather quickly post-10KHz. The 5-6KHz peak is definitely noticeable and brings cymbal hits forward and makes certain acoustic instruments sound metallic. It also makes some percussion instruments sound compressed. Overall, this treble peak isn’t too problematic (e.g. doesn’t introduce sibilance) but should definitely be EQ’ed down in the FIIL app IMO.
Lastly, the staging is rather open and definitely a neat trick of the FIIL CC2 due to its open acoustic design. Imaging is also better than average for the price range. Separation was good, but the overall resolution was rather average. Also note that the FIIL CC2 lacks in dynamics due to the sub-bass roll-off and lack of upper-treble.
Bass: 3/5
Mids: 4/5
Highs: 3/5
Soundstage/Imaging: 4.5/5
Speed/Dynamics: 3/5
SELECT COMPARISONS
vs Apple Airpods
The Apple Airpods are nearly 3x as much expensive and doesn’t come with as neat a carrying case as the FIIL CC2. However, if you’re an Apple user it will integrate seamlessly with all your Apple devices. For someone like me who only use an iPhone sporadically – this is not a selling point. So I’ll focus on comfort and sound aspect mostly.The FIIL CC2 was more comfortable for me than the Airpods, though both lacked isolation. The FIIL CC2 app is also something the Airpods lack (and CC2 is more customizable as a result) but then again if you are getting Apple products you do not do a lot of customization either way. As for sound, the Airpods are noticeably worse than the FIIL CC2.
The bass is looser and distorts easily on the Airpods in bass heavy sections. In the mids, the FIIL CC2 resolves slightly better than the Airpods with better separation. The treble is rolled-off on both but the CC2 has the lower-treble peaks that gives a sense of enhanced clarity and presence of high notes. Staging is deeper on the CC2 though both has an out-of-your-head staging, just that the Airpods feel more congested due to the bass tuning. Imaging is more precise on the CC2 as well.
Overall, I find the FIIL CC2 to have noticeably better sound quality than the most popoular True-Wireless earbud on the planet.
CONCLUDING REMARKS
The FIIL CC2 is designed really well and has crossed off most of the checklist: good battery life, decent comfort, good call quality, above-average sound quality. The one area where it falls short is isolation but that’s an intended design decision.However, based on sound quality alone, the FIIL CC2 will fall short of other wired earphones in the price range. Then again, that applies to even the most expensive wireless headphone out there.
So considering the limitations and the current state of the competition I can recommend the FIIL CC2 for someone who is looking at an Airpods alternative. It sounds better than the Airpods and while it lacks the seamless software integration of the Apple product, the companion app along with the large price gap makes the FIIL CC2 a good option.
How I review: (See Previous Reviews)
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Model: FIIL CC2
Price: MSRP - Approx. $49.99
Vendor Link: FIIL
Review Reference: RC025
Manufacturer Specifications:
Includes:
1 x Pair wireless earbuds
1 x Charge case (USB-C)
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the regancipher review of the FIIL CC2. Their older brother, the FIIL CC, were a market-leading semi-in-ear stem-based earbud, released in early 2020. I kinda knew this was coming because you can almost map FIIL's releases on the new generation of Airoha chips - after the AB1536 came the AB1562M, and inevitably this would follow into FIIL's releases, as they are pretty much exclusive with the Airoha SoC's. The new chip brings Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, dual LDS radio frequency for increased stability, noise suppression, echo cancellation, voice assistant support, and in their newer iterations, ANC. Since ANC makes little sense on this model, it has been released without it.
The marketing material focused very much on the German design - mostly, earbuds of this type are rounded and with soft edges. Not FIIL. The CC was rectangular, blocky and a striking gun metal colour. Where they really excelled was, in the same way as the Galaxy Buds Live, using their form factor to their advantage. With decent drivers and a focus towards a more delicately tuned sound signature, FIIL were one of the first to break away from 'consumer' sound, elevating the mids and as a result providing a more detailed sound signature than their competition, the likes of the Soundpeats Truebuds and QCY T7. In fact, FIIL really pushed the market onto better things - only the battery life prevented them from being superstars in the semi in-ear field, and that's one of the areas they've improved on with the CC2.
The mic quality was not bad, albeit somewhat robotic at times, so it would be intriguing to see how FIIL reacted and whether they would improve upon these limitations.
The Unboxing - 8/10
The presentation of the buds is very much aligned to FIIL's previous releases, the T1XS and T1 Pro. The packaging has a premium fiil to it
It looks almost identical to the original CC, just with slightly different colours.
The key features are, as always, explained graphically and in text. The CC2's headline features are Bluetooth 5.2, a huge increase in battery life of over 14 hours, with single use moving from 3 to 5 hours, and the charge case now offering an additional 27 hours charge as opposed to 12.
Unboxing is always consistent these days with FIIL, but like with the T1 Pro, it appears these are focused on the Chinese market. The quick guide is in both English and Chinese, but the manual is solely in Chinese. Still, you can work out more or less what to do.
FIIL also promote the FIIL + app, although they needn't bother - it still isn't working as it should outside of China with all models. Whilst the CC2 is now supported in the global version, in case you're here reading as an owner of the T1 Pro, you can find a deprecated version of the app which gives you some support, which I host here:
https://tinyurl.com/fiilapks
This at least allows you to change the control scheme - which you will need - more on that later.
The Case - 7.5/10
With its gun-metallic finish, the CC2 case certainly looks and feels the part. The edges are slightly sharp to touch, giving the impression of high quality. Compared with the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 and SoundPeats TrueAir2, you can see that it is certainly girthier, with a depth of 19mm. That said, it is only 5cm tall and 44g, making it ideally portable.
At 44g it is deceptively lightweight considering the material, although marginally heavier than the original CC, likely due to the increased battery life. The magnets are nice and tight, but unfortunately, I have on several occasions managed to get the earbuds stuck the wrong way in the case, and it takes a bit of force to remove them. The open design is also not handbag or pocket friendly - it can accumulate a fair bit of unwanted material in the bottom, so be sure to give it a blow from time to time, otherwise you could end up blocking the charge connectors and leaving for the day with no battery.
When the buds are charging in the case, the tops light up. When the buds and case are charging, you get an extra light. This minimalist approach is rather bauhaus and not especially helpful knowing how much charge you have, but seems to be becoming increasingly in vogue again, with Taotronics doing the same with the TT-BH80.
The battery is charged through the base, with USB type C charge cable, and it takes around 120 minutes for a full charge of both the buds and the case. It does support quick charge, giving you around 1 hour of juice from a 15 minute blast.
Ergonomics - 6/10, Build Quality - 8/10
The CC2 is exactly 4 cm in length, making it above average in length when compared with most stem-based earbuds out there. As you can see above, the element which sits in your ear is larger than most, and this balances out with the length, making for a reasonably secure fit - they pass the shake test (just), but a 90-degree tilt of the head will almost certainly result in a dropped bud, and the unwieldy design looks a little awkward and can be toppled by gravity with a little excessive movement.
The area that enters your ear contours a shade steeper than, for example, the SoundPEATS TrueAir2, and again, this will impact upon how comfortable and secure you find the ergonomics. For me, it works OK, as it brings the sound a little closer to me ear canals and seems to aid in restricting background noise better than most of this ilk.
There are small pressure vents on the top and on the inner side of the buds too. This is a nice touch. There is also a built-in LDS dipole antenna, which, along with the Bluetooth 5.2 chip, are designed to improve stability and reduce interference. I didn't suffer too much interference before with earbuds, but the CC2 have been immaculate so far regardless.
Each bud weighs just over 4g - not the lightest, but also not especially heavy, although the weight displacement can result in them falling out if you tip your head too far sideways. For normal use they are fine, but I wouldn't recommend exercising with them.
Now one attribute that cannot be overstated enough is the design. Whilst it will polarise opinion - Scarbir seemed to like it, my kids think they're ugly - they do allow for very easy adjustment without initiating the touch controls though - like the Haylou Moripods, you can simply pinch the top and bottom between your thumb and forefinger and adjust as you see fit.
This is one of the main problems with most semi-in-ear buds, and many in-ear too. With my buds live, I turn the feature off altogether, and with the TrueAir2, it's the only blot on the copybook of a superb set of earbuds. So FIIL have got it bang on - use your thumb and index finger, and adjustment is trouble free. Marvellous.
Importantly the battery connectors are on the base, which, whilst it avoids contact with your skin - great for those with allergies - does mean you will have to keep an eye on the case for any obstructions preventing charge.
Audio Quality - 8/10 (for the price), 7/10 (raw score)
At around £45, the CC2 are double the price of the SoundPeats TrueAir 2 and half the price of the Galaxy Buds Live (if you're lucky).
First observation is that they go extremely loud. Encouragingly, this is also without too much distortion, which is a sure sign the drivers match the chipset capabilities and deliver despite the constraints.
I tested these straight after the TaoTronics 80, and it was very clear that FIIL have gone for a similar raw, energetic profile to their other releases. Bass is elevated somewhat and the trebles less rolled off compared with the more neutral sounding Taotronics release. Lower frequency response is concentrated on a more gentle elevation in the mid-range with little focus on the subbass - this is almost certainly down to the constraints of the form factor. It helps give a quite satisfying thump to kick drums (relatively-speaking - bass is always a challenge with semi-in-ear) without distortion but rock tracks can leave the sound wanting a little - like with many semi-in-ear offerings, FIIL have opted to minimise bloat and avoid drastic changes in sound signature with adjustment to the fit.
Higher frequencies are boosted somewhat, and this can help bring out vocals, strings and synths, opening the soundstage up a little. On the flip side there is a little sibilance - this only becomes severe on screetchy vocals, but you may need to edge the treble down in the EQ.
The buds use a 13.1mm large moving coil unit, equipped with a titanium plated three layer composite diaphragm. This ensures they respond nicely to EQ, and if the app becomes too onerous, wavelet is your friend
Call Quality - Indoors - 7/10, Outdoors - 7/10
One of the products headline features is the environmental noise cancellation, and strangely enough, I did observe them to perform better outdoors than indoors. FIIL advertise dual-ENC mic arrays and ten times greater compression, and whilst this is great when a car is whizzing past, it can be a little too much when you're moving around in your chair and suddenly your voice is lifted.
Indoors, whilst your voice is clear enough, it doesn't sound especially natural. Your voice is loud though, almost distorting, and this is extremely useful outdoors where it compresses much of the background noise reasonably well. As with most Airoha-based chip TWS, it also applies a fair amount of compression to your voice, which can sound lost at times, as demonstrated here in my test of 28 different tws models:
Calling is easily achievable with the FIIL CC2, but your voice will sound a bit robotic - very much like the original CC it is clear but a tad overprocessed.
Under the loupe, you can see mesh around the voice mic designed to filter out some of the harshness, and the same with the ambient mic, situated at the top of the buds and signified by a small rectangular cutout.
Connectivity, Controls & Other Features - 7/10
The LDS dipole antenna is designed to increase stability in the connection, and it was noticeable compared to the CC, and to subsequent earbud releases, that not only is the connection rock solid, but small things like adjusting the buds doesn't seem to impact upon them at all. The Airoha chip facilitates this, and combined with the future-proofing of Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, it makes for a reliable set of buds for the present and the future.
Another feature of the chip is reduced latency, but FIIL have taken it even further. Like the FIIL T1 Pro, they achieve gaming-mode level latency by playing around with codecs. Adjusting the bitpool in SBC and removing elements of the AAC implementation, FIIL have managed to retain sound quality and reduce latency spectacularly, with the supported AAC bitrate comparable to aptX.
This shows when watching videos and gaming, and there is an additional gaming mode in the app to reduce latency further. It is wise to remember to switch this off, and only use it when you need it, as it reduces battery and hinders sound quality slightly.
Controls, once adjusted through the app, are straightforward and easy to use thanks to the cuboid design. Notice that volume control isn't possible in simple mode. This is a big problem, because windows doesn't appear to respond to any changes in volume through the OS - you are piped through sound at maximum volume EDIT, this has since been fixed via firmware update.
Once you switch to the more complex mode, signified by a slide button and a 'joypad' icon, it allows you to triple tap in order to reduce and increase the volume, and this makes life much easier, as the rectangular shape makes touch control a joy to use, with little latency in actions.
Now onto the app. It's been an absolute crap show of a journey.... but it finally seems to be resolving itself.
Better late than never, in the global 4.0.3 release, the CC2 were supported, and the main screen, like with all supported buds, details the remaining level of charge in both the buds and the case.
The second screen allows you to select one of the EQ presets. When you tap 'more' you're presented with a number of different options, as well as the ability to customise fully with a ten band equaliser.
Finally, you have the option to initiate full controls - which as I mentioned at the start of this section are inexplicably are disabled by default - firmware updates and advanced settings... which in reality is a factory default...and that's about it currently.
The Chinese app offers little in the way of extra support, so like with the T1 Pro, don't expect English voice prompts any time soon.
There is no ANC as you would expect for this form factor, no wireless charging either, but 5.2 support, great latency, good controls, quick charge and app support, and trust me as bad as it is it ain't the worst, allow the CC2 to score well in this area.
Battery Life - 7/10
Whilst the CC2 advertise 5 hours of playtime, after a few weeks of use I had 28% battery remaining after just over 2 and a half hours use, so I would expect around 3-4 hours to be the norm if you're using them predominantly for calls. Airoha based buds tend to drop battery faster when used for calls, so this is to be expected.
This is still perfectly respectable by semi in ear standards, especially as the case gives 5 full charges and it does support quick charge, so you can get an hours worth of playtime from 5 minutes worth of charge. A big improvement on the CC and about right for this form factor.
Final Comments
In a crowded market, FIIL have taken an already decent product and polished it further, improving the battery life both from single and case charge, but also offering quick charge and great connectivity, and as all-rounders they perform well, providing solid sound quality, good call quality, excellent build quality and low latency.
The multiple low latency modes will suit casual gamers, and the excellent connectivity makes them ideal for the daily commute.
Now supporting Bluetooth 5.2, you get an element of future-proofing from the buds, and I think this is important in 2021 as Mobile Phone SoC development is already moving in this direction - Snapdragon 888, Kirin 9000 and others all already support this new standard.
The lack of full support for FIIL's range through the Global app is frustrating. To have three different apps to use four sets of FIIL buds is ridiculous, and this haphazard approach towards software is really holding them back as an upper mid range vendor at a lower mid range price.
Regardless, when assessed in isolation it's another impressive release from the prolific FIIL.
Price Weighted Score: 85%
Raw Score: 83%
2022 Score: 70%
2022 Comments:
The CC2 were a decent release at the time, but the trend has been for shorter, more stable semi-in earbuds, moving away from the awkward, angular design of the CC2, and this has been reflected even with FIIL's releases, with the Nano and Key taking over from this now superseded model.
There are simply much better options out there - the Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS offers far better performance across the board at a cheaper price.
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FIIL Review Inventory:
CC Pro
CC2
T1 Pro
T1 XS
About FIIL:
FIIL were founded by Chinese rock-star Wang Feng in 2015, aiming to emulate the successes of Dr Dre in the US, and is heavily involved in R&D and tuning. Bringing in Leon Wu as CTO from Plantronics was part of this journey, and the $30m+ ploughed in by VC seems to have pushed them in the right direction so far. After their Diva Pro succeeded on Kickstarter and received rave reviews across the board, they became the top selling mid-range headphone manufacturer in China within 2 years of their foundation and have won various design awards - IF Dot and CES, to name but two.
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YouTube: regancipher
Model: FIIL CC2
Price: MSRP - Approx. $49.99
Vendor Link: FIIL
Review Reference: RC025
Manufacturer Specifications:
- Brand: FIIL
- Model: CC2
- Bluetooth version: Bluetooth 5.2
- Chipset: Airoha AB1562M
- Transmission distance: >10 meters
- Bluetooth audio decoding: ACC, SBC
- Mic: Yes, 4 mic array with ENC Noise Reduction: 20dB+
- Single battery life: >5 hours
- Extra battery life of the charging box: >27 hours
- Battery capacity: earplugs (~30mah), charging box (500mah, 3.7V)
- Charging time: Earbuds about 50 minutes, charging box 2 hours (wired)
- Fast Charge: Yes - 15min for 1 hour
- Weight: 4g
- Driver size: 13.1mm customized titanium diaphragm
- Speaker frequency response: 15Hz~22kHz (BT)
- Speaker sensitivity: 123 dB SPL@1mW
- Speaker distortion: <0.5% @110dBSPL, 1KHz
Includes:
1 x Pair wireless earbuds
1 x Charge case (USB-C)
1 x Type-C USB charging cable
1 x User manual, quick guide, warranty card
Real Life Experience
Welcome to the regancipher review of the FIIL CC2. Their older brother, the FIIL CC, were a market-leading semi-in-ear stem-based earbud, released in early 2020. I kinda knew this was coming because you can almost map FIIL's releases on the new generation of Airoha chips - after the AB1536 came the AB1562M, and inevitably this would follow into FIIL's releases, as they are pretty much exclusive with the Airoha SoC's. The new chip brings Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, dual LDS radio frequency for increased stability, noise suppression, echo cancellation, voice assistant support, and in their newer iterations, ANC. Since ANC makes little sense on this model, it has been released without it.
The marketing material focused very much on the German design - mostly, earbuds of this type are rounded and with soft edges. Not FIIL. The CC was rectangular, blocky and a striking gun metal colour. Where they really excelled was, in the same way as the Galaxy Buds Live, using their form factor to their advantage. With decent drivers and a focus towards a more delicately tuned sound signature, FIIL were one of the first to break away from 'consumer' sound, elevating the mids and as a result providing a more detailed sound signature than their competition, the likes of the Soundpeats Truebuds and QCY T7. In fact, FIIL really pushed the market onto better things - only the battery life prevented them from being superstars in the semi in-ear field, and that's one of the areas they've improved on with the CC2.
The mic quality was not bad, albeit somewhat robotic at times, so it would be intriguing to see how FIIL reacted and whether they would improve upon these limitations.
The Unboxing - 8/10
The presentation of the buds is very much aligned to FIIL's previous releases, the T1XS and T1 Pro. The packaging has a premium fiil to it
It looks almost identical to the original CC, just with slightly different colours.The key features are, as always, explained graphically and in text. The CC2's headline features are Bluetooth 5.2, a huge increase in battery life of over 14 hours, with single use moving from 3 to 5 hours, and the charge case now offering an additional 27 hours charge as opposed to 12.
Unboxing is always consistent these days with FIIL, but like with the T1 Pro, it appears these are focused on the Chinese market. The quick guide is in both English and Chinese, but the manual is solely in Chinese. Still, you can work out more or less what to do.
FIIL also promote the FIIL + app, although they needn't bother - it still isn't working as it should outside of China with all models. Whilst the CC2 is now supported in the global version, in case you're here reading as an owner of the T1 Pro, you can find a deprecated version of the app which gives you some support, which I host here:
https://tinyurl.com/fiilapks
This at least allows you to change the control scheme - which you will need - more on that later.
The Case - 7.5/10
With its gun-metallic finish, the CC2 case certainly looks and feels the part. The edges are slightly sharp to touch, giving the impression of high quality. Compared with the TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 and SoundPeats TrueAir2, you can see that it is certainly girthier, with a depth of 19mm. That said, it is only 5cm tall and 44g, making it ideally portable.
At 44g it is deceptively lightweight considering the material, although marginally heavier than the original CC, likely due to the increased battery life. The magnets are nice and tight, but unfortunately, I have on several occasions managed to get the earbuds stuck the wrong way in the case, and it takes a bit of force to remove them. The open design is also not handbag or pocket friendly - it can accumulate a fair bit of unwanted material in the bottom, so be sure to give it a blow from time to time, otherwise you could end up blocking the charge connectors and leaving for the day with no battery.
When the buds are charging in the case, the tops light up. When the buds and case are charging, you get an extra light. This minimalist approach is rather bauhaus and not especially helpful knowing how much charge you have, but seems to be becoming increasingly in vogue again, with Taotronics doing the same with the TT-BH80.
The battery is charged through the base, with USB type C charge cable, and it takes around 120 minutes for a full charge of both the buds and the case. It does support quick charge, giving you around 1 hour of juice from a 15 minute blast.
Ergonomics - 6/10, Build Quality - 8/10
The CC2 is exactly 4 cm in length, making it above average in length when compared with most stem-based earbuds out there. As you can see above, the element which sits in your ear is larger than most, and this balances out with the length, making for a reasonably secure fit - they pass the shake test (just), but a 90-degree tilt of the head will almost certainly result in a dropped bud, and the unwieldy design looks a little awkward and can be toppled by gravity with a little excessive movement.
The area that enters your ear contours a shade steeper than, for example, the SoundPEATS TrueAir2, and again, this will impact upon how comfortable and secure you find the ergonomics. For me, it works OK, as it brings the sound a little closer to me ear canals and seems to aid in restricting background noise better than most of this ilk.
There are small pressure vents on the top and on the inner side of the buds too. This is a nice touch. There is also a built-in LDS dipole antenna, which, along with the Bluetooth 5.2 chip, are designed to improve stability and reduce interference. I didn't suffer too much interference before with earbuds, but the CC2 have been immaculate so far regardless.
Each bud weighs just over 4g - not the lightest, but also not especially heavy, although the weight displacement can result in them falling out if you tip your head too far sideways. For normal use they are fine, but I wouldn't recommend exercising with them.
Now one attribute that cannot be overstated enough is the design. Whilst it will polarise opinion - Scarbir seemed to like it, my kids think they're ugly - they do allow for very easy adjustment without initiating the touch controls though - like the Haylou Moripods, you can simply pinch the top and bottom between your thumb and forefinger and adjust as you see fit.
This is one of the main problems with most semi-in-ear buds, and many in-ear too. With my buds live, I turn the feature off altogether, and with the TrueAir2, it's the only blot on the copybook of a superb set of earbuds. So FIIL have got it bang on - use your thumb and index finger, and adjustment is trouble free. Marvellous.
Importantly the battery connectors are on the base, which, whilst it avoids contact with your skin - great for those with allergies - does mean you will have to keep an eye on the case for any obstructions preventing charge.
Audio Quality - 8/10 (for the price), 7/10 (raw score)
At around £45, the CC2 are double the price of the SoundPeats TrueAir 2 and half the price of the Galaxy Buds Live (if you're lucky).
First observation is that they go extremely loud. Encouragingly, this is also without too much distortion, which is a sure sign the drivers match the chipset capabilities and deliver despite the constraints.
I tested these straight after the TaoTronics 80, and it was very clear that FIIL have gone for a similar raw, energetic profile to their other releases. Bass is elevated somewhat and the trebles less rolled off compared with the more neutral sounding Taotronics release. Lower frequency response is concentrated on a more gentle elevation in the mid-range with little focus on the subbass - this is almost certainly down to the constraints of the form factor. It helps give a quite satisfying thump to kick drums (relatively-speaking - bass is always a challenge with semi-in-ear) without distortion but rock tracks can leave the sound wanting a little - like with many semi-in-ear offerings, FIIL have opted to minimise bloat and avoid drastic changes in sound signature with adjustment to the fit.
Higher frequencies are boosted somewhat, and this can help bring out vocals, strings and synths, opening the soundstage up a little. On the flip side there is a little sibilance - this only becomes severe on screetchy vocals, but you may need to edge the treble down in the EQ.
The buds use a 13.1mm large moving coil unit, equipped with a titanium plated three layer composite diaphragm. This ensures they respond nicely to EQ, and if the app becomes too onerous, wavelet is your friend
Call Quality - Indoors - 7/10, Outdoors - 7/10
One of the products headline features is the environmental noise cancellation, and strangely enough, I did observe them to perform better outdoors than indoors. FIIL advertise dual-ENC mic arrays and ten times greater compression, and whilst this is great when a car is whizzing past, it can be a little too much when you're moving around in your chair and suddenly your voice is lifted.
Indoors, whilst your voice is clear enough, it doesn't sound especially natural. Your voice is loud though, almost distorting, and this is extremely useful outdoors where it compresses much of the background noise reasonably well. As with most Airoha-based chip TWS, it also applies a fair amount of compression to your voice, which can sound lost at times, as demonstrated here in my test of 28 different tws models:
Calling is easily achievable with the FIIL CC2, but your voice will sound a bit robotic - very much like the original CC it is clear but a tad overprocessed.
Under the loupe, you can see mesh around the voice mic designed to filter out some of the harshness, and the same with the ambient mic, situated at the top of the buds and signified by a small rectangular cutout.
Connectivity, Controls & Other Features - 7/10
The LDS dipole antenna is designed to increase stability in the connection, and it was noticeable compared to the CC, and to subsequent earbud releases, that not only is the connection rock solid, but small things like adjusting the buds doesn't seem to impact upon them at all. The Airoha chip facilitates this, and combined with the future-proofing of Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, it makes for a reliable set of buds for the present and the future.
Another feature of the chip is reduced latency, but FIIL have taken it even further. Like the FIIL T1 Pro, they achieve gaming-mode level latency by playing around with codecs. Adjusting the bitpool in SBC and removing elements of the AAC implementation, FIIL have managed to retain sound quality and reduce latency spectacularly, with the supported AAC bitrate comparable to aptX.
This shows when watching videos and gaming, and there is an additional gaming mode in the app to reduce latency further. It is wise to remember to switch this off, and only use it when you need it, as it reduces battery and hinders sound quality slightly.
Controls, once adjusted through the app, are straightforward and easy to use thanks to the cuboid design. Notice that volume control isn't possible in simple mode. This is a big problem, because windows doesn't appear to respond to any changes in volume through the OS - you are piped through sound at maximum volume EDIT, this has since been fixed via firmware update.
Once you switch to the more complex mode, signified by a slide button and a 'joypad' icon, it allows you to triple tap in order to reduce and increase the volume, and this makes life much easier, as the rectangular shape makes touch control a joy to use, with little latency in actions.
Now onto the app. It's been an absolute crap show of a journey.... but it finally seems to be resolving itself.
Better late than never, in the global 4.0.3 release, the CC2 were supported, and the main screen, like with all supported buds, details the remaining level of charge in both the buds and the case.
The second screen allows you to select one of the EQ presets. When you tap 'more' you're presented with a number of different options, as well as the ability to customise fully with a ten band equaliser.
Finally, you have the option to initiate full controls - which as I mentioned at the start of this section are inexplicably are disabled by default - firmware updates and advanced settings... which in reality is a factory default...and that's about it currently.
The Chinese app offers little in the way of extra support, so like with the T1 Pro, don't expect English voice prompts any time soon.
There is no ANC as you would expect for this form factor, no wireless charging either, but 5.2 support, great latency, good controls, quick charge and app support, and trust me as bad as it is it ain't the worst, allow the CC2 to score well in this area.
Battery Life - 7/10
Whilst the CC2 advertise 5 hours of playtime, after a few weeks of use I had 28% battery remaining after just over 2 and a half hours use, so I would expect around 3-4 hours to be the norm if you're using them predominantly for calls. Airoha based buds tend to drop battery faster when used for calls, so this is to be expected.
This is still perfectly respectable by semi in ear standards, especially as the case gives 5 full charges and it does support quick charge, so you can get an hours worth of playtime from 5 minutes worth of charge. A big improvement on the CC and about right for this form factor.
Final Comments
In a crowded market, FIIL have taken an already decent product and polished it further, improving the battery life both from single and case charge, but also offering quick charge and great connectivity, and as all-rounders they perform well, providing solid sound quality, good call quality, excellent build quality and low latency.
The multiple low latency modes will suit casual gamers, and the excellent connectivity makes them ideal for the daily commute.
Now supporting Bluetooth 5.2, you get an element of future-proofing from the buds, and I think this is important in 2021 as Mobile Phone SoC development is already moving in this direction - Snapdragon 888, Kirin 9000 and others all already support this new standard.
The lack of full support for FIIL's range through the Global app is frustrating. To have three different apps to use four sets of FIIL buds is ridiculous, and this haphazard approach towards software is really holding them back as an upper mid range vendor at a lower mid range price.
Regardless, when assessed in isolation it's another impressive release from the prolific FIIL.
Price Weighted Score: 85%
Raw Score: 83%
2022 Score: 70%
2022 Comments:
The CC2 were a decent release at the time, but the trend has been for shorter, more stable semi-in earbuds, moving away from the awkward, angular design of the CC2, and this has been reflected even with FIIL's releases, with the Nano and Key taking over from this now superseded model.
There are simply much better options out there - the Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe HS offers far better performance across the board at a cheaper price.
instagram: regancipher
FIIL Review Inventory:
CC Pro
CC2
T1 Pro
T1 XS
About FIIL:
FIIL were founded by Chinese rock-star Wang Feng in 2015, aiming to emulate the successes of Dr Dre in the US, and is heavily involved in R&D and tuning. Bringing in Leon Wu as CTO from Plantronics was part of this journey, and the $30m+ ploughed in by VC seems to have pushed them in the right direction so far. After their Diva Pro succeeded on Kickstarter and received rave reviews across the board, they became the top selling mid-range headphone manufacturer in China within 2 years of their foundation and have won various design awards - IF Dot and CES, to name but two.
I find them super clear and I'm willing to trade the noise leakage for the more expansive feel that I get with an open design.
For comparison, my current buds include Jabra 65t, Soundpeats H1, and these bad boys. In the past I've used Shure and Etymotic (both fantastic, but eventually died). Of course, those are very different to these. Just offering to give you some hint of my experience with earbuds/IEMs.
Short version: I love these buds and in the US they can be found under $40. That's an absolute steal for what you get.