You got me at the staging. Can't wait to hear FW5. It might just be the on-the-go setup that I have been looking for.

These are surprisingly spacious sounding. I have been enjoying them so much it was difficult to move onto my other review items. Lol.

I'm sold. Was deciding between these and Orbits but soundstage sounds equally as vast and I think the fit will be better.

What clearly separates these from other TWS products is its integrated AK4332 DAC. Sound is amplified. Sounds like your wired IEMs connected to a nice sounding DAP.

Apparently, the tuning was done by the team that did Fiios flagship FH9 IEMs. It clearly shows.

I have the UTWS5 and the original FH5 and quite enjoy that combo. How does the FW5 sound in comparison the that combo if you have heard those 2 together?

If it had a bit beefier bass than my current setup I would be OK with that but hopefully not to much extra bass...

I am hoping they incorporate decent ambient into the FW5 down the road. The ambient on the UTWS5 is just OK in that it is to aggressive so I can't turn it in and enjoy music while it enabled because it interferes with the music.

You're talking about the old FH5 and not the FH5S right? FH5 I sold off a long time ago. I love the FH5S with the UTWS5 that is a magical combo. That is what the FW5 reminds me of. For $135 on sale right now. I am gonna guarantee you would enjoy these. As of now I don't think ambient mode is on the current firmware. I read Fiio might introduce it in a newer firmware with LDAC compatibility. Bass is well controlled on this set. Ends up sounding more balanced vs anything too brawny. Its big wide stage helps to even out the frequencies. These are just superb. The more I use them the better they sound.

Thanks I was referring to the original FH5 not the S model which was semi open. So if it is like the S model then it will be a bit more neutral than the FH5 I believe based on what I have read. If it has a good sound stage and lots of detail it should be a fun listen.

I am thinking it might be my music TWS versus my daily driver as I prefer the ANC/Ambient options. But if it sounds as good as my UTWS5/FH5 combo then it might be a good fit in my arsenal regardless of missing a few features as it will be less combersome.

The UTWS5 doesn't have LDAC and I still find it sounds better than a lot of LDAC products I own. So while I hope they do add that Codec I can live with APTx and AAC on my Samsung S20 phone.

How is it outside in wind? With no ANC I am hoping it will not suffer much from wind noise.

It does have a bit of wind noise so its not exactly silent when wind is blowing. The outside of the shells hangs outside your ears so it does make a bit of noise when wind is blowing. Its passive isolation is very similar to an all-resin IEM. Something like walking, working out and communing it is fine. For bike riding It's not the best to block out wind noise. However the shortcomings are easily made up with its sound quality.

I checked out the old graph for the FH5. Bass end of those was roughly 8dbs the FW5 is closer to 10dbs so its rumble will be greater. That extra 2dbs though is needed for outdoor use. Balances out the sound. To be honest if you haven't checked out any of the newer Fiio IEMs like the FD5, FD7, FH7S. FH5S, FH9. All their newer stuff is better vs their older offerings.

And the FW5 fits right along with some of their best but it happens to be wireless.

An extra 2 DB of bass would be nice. I actually am still a bit of a bass lover . OK, I will have to start sell a few TWS to raise some funds .

What were your shipping times if you don't mind me asking? AliXpress is telling me it will arrive on the 23rd of Jan, might buy the xpress shipping but a comment on the website made it sound like it came earlier than expected.

@SynaestheticA ordered on nov. 24th, delivering monday as the post is closed on sundays. Aliexpress standard shipping option ofcourse.

Nice review! Thanks.

I think you should mention:
- No wireless charging.
- Case is cheaply built. Looks cheap and a little big as well.
- No ambient/transparency mode.
- No EQ in the Fiio app.
- No multipoint connection.

Other than that I wholeheartedly agree with everything else.
They sound amazing. The buds look good as well.
I use Symbio Eartips by Mandarines. Fantastic fit and sound!

I edited my review for additional negatives. The cradle case is actually designed well. I have other TWS IEMs where if you have a large tip on the earpieces the case will not close 100%. Most cradles are made of plastic so thats not uncommon. The nice aspect of the cradle being a bit taller is that it compensates for a larger tip. It is annoying when you have to take off a tip just to dock it in a cradle is my point so I dont necessarily think that case is a cheap design. It just works. Which is the whole point of that cradle.

In reading the TWS forum @felix3650 mentioned using the Fiio music app which has a feature you can enable in the app called HWA which uses software to enable LHDC. I just gave it a whirl on my UTWS5 and was astounded on what I heard! The differences are subtle mostly but definitely better especially compared to the APTx my Samsung S20 uses by default. I posted some comments here, https://www.head-fi.org/threads/goi...soon-or-are-we-there-yet.861024/post-17303176.

@Dsnuts have you tried this app with the UTWS5 and the FW5? I was pleasantly surprised by how much it changed the detail retrieval.

For some reason my control app does not read the FW5. I tried reinstalling it but it does the same thing. I will ask Fiio if they plan on updating their Control app. I was not able to test it out using the FW5 for that reason.

This app is a music player versus the control app. I had to set it up to find my music and then go into the settings of the app to turn on the HWA setting. I althought initially it was the control app as well but they are different.

@Dsnuts it's Fiio's music player. "Fiio Music" it's called. Alternatively you can use Hiby Music. It too has the HWA option. This is for android. I don't know if ios is the same though.