TELOS ACOUSTICS FUJISAN: A Great Sounding Scalable IEM
SPECS:
http://www.headphone.com/products/telos-acoustics-fujisan-premium-in-ear-headphone
Driver Type Dynamic
Plug Type 3.5mm
Cord Length 1.3m
Frequency Response 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Impedance 16 Ohms
Sensitivity 100 dB / mW @ 1kHz
WHERE TO BUY / COST:
http://www.headphone.com/products/telos-acoustics-fujisan-premium-in-ear-headphone
$299 new
OVERVIEW
Around the holidays I travel back to Bozeman, Montana to visit family and friends. During a recent trip I managed to catch up with headphone.com’s Jamey Warren and he showed me the Telos Acoustics Fujisan that he was involved with during its Kickstarter campaign. He kindly sent me home with a pair for review. The goals of the Fujisan are to deliver an “audiophile-grade in-ear with athletic stability and a naturally comfortable design.”
AESTHETICS
Already impressed by the packaging, abundance of eartips, and simple design, I look deeper into the aesthetics of the Fufisan. The jack plug is machined aluminum as is the mic housing. The shirt clip has extra-long alligator jaws making it more practical than short jawed clips that I see. The eartips are comfortable although it would be great to see different densities in the silicone from color to color. Different densities could help alleviate some of the discomfort I felt wearing the Fujisan for long periods. The housing nozzle is shorter than I prefer and as such may cause some discomfort during long listening sessions because it rests harshly against the ear. The Klipsch Image S4i has a longer housing nozzle and is smaller in diameter making the risk of discomfort minimal. Overall the Fujisan is very comfortable and can be adjusted if discomfort develops.
I did notice that the left/right channel markings are hard to locate because the print is small and black ink on a black background, but having orange tips made labeling the right channel super easy. The driver housing and body is oval-shaped and forms a direct path to the ear canal. Many other IEMs deliver audio by taking a bounce after the driver and then entering the ear canal. The housing bodies stem down attaching the cable to the earpiece and strain relieving the solder joints.
The Y-split on the cable is microphonic, but the cable clip alleviates this during movement. At 1.3m the cable is perfectly lengthened for both portable and home listening. The jack plug easily slips passed my iPod and phone case allowing perfect insertion into the audio jack. Many IEMs have issues with this because the jack plugs interfere with cases. The cable itself feels well insulated and locations where I would expect weaknesses have been strain relieved.
ACOUSTICS
I first tested the Fujisan unamped because most IEMs in this price point and of this design are developed with portable listening in mind. I did amp them with my HeadRoom BUDA and describe the differences between portable and desktop listening.
Unamped: Having a sensitivity above 100dB/mW makes this IEM very easy to drive. Every portable device I had in the room drives the Fujisan to extremely loud levels. If you take a look at the frequency response spec you notice that this IEM claims a response of 20 Hz – 20 kHz. Why manufacturers provide this type of range baffles me because it does not tell where the peaks are, how rolled off the bass and treble are, and where and dips in the frequency response occur. Luckily inside the cover of the box resides the target frequency response.
I found this target to be on par with what I hear. You can see the slight mid-bass emphasis, smooth midrange, and gently rolled off treble. Having the driver so close to the eardrum pretty much makes brightness a killer. The treble is very present, but avoids becoming piercing and fatiguing. Listening to Chet Baker’s Thank Heaven for Little Girls is smooth, detailed, and only exhibits a slight lack of metallic nature to the cymbals. This is where the scalability of the Fujisan comes in. At medium to low volumes it sounds good, but at higher volumes it comes alive bringing the bass and treble more in line with each other. Due to the up-front midrange vocals, strings, and guitar are not buried behind the bass and even Chris Jones’ Long After You’re Gone sounds fun with nothing appearing out of place.
Amped: Most IEMs do not scale well with desktop amping because they are designed for portable use. The Fujisan is no exception. Some IEMs do have super low impedances which can cause issues with amps that have output impedance above 10 Ohms, but the Fujisan avoids this issue by having an impedance of 16 Ohms. I found the sound signature to even out more amped and sound more analytical compared to unamped listening.
The microphone is also excellent. Tested against the competent Klipsch Image S4i the Fujisan comes is clearer, has less noise, as well as renders voices coming in with more clarity. There is no cable cinch for the Fujisan which would make exercise and chat more comfortable and free the cable up from microphonics, but the mic performs very well without it.
CONCLUSION
Thank goodness the Telos Acoustics Fujisan is here because it sounds awesome, has well thought out design features, and it feels like a $300 IEM. One should consider that at this price point there is competition including the Etymotic Research ER4P-T and Westone W20 both of which sound great. The benefits the Fufisan has over these is that the build quality is higher and the sound quality more even and less bright than the ER4P-T. It has a smoother sound signature making it easy to listen to for hours. I find it more comfortable as well.
LINKS
Telos Acoustics
Measurements
COMPARISONS
The Brainwavz M1 is my base reference IEM for reviews because it is affordable, sounds excellent for the price, and is built well. The Fujisan bests it in every way by being sturdier, more even sounding from bass to treble, less tinny in the midrange, and more comfortable.
SPECS:
http://www.headphone.com/products/telos-acoustics-fujisan-premium-in-ear-headphone
Driver Type Dynamic
Plug Type 3.5mm
Cord Length 1.3m
Frequency Response 20 Hz – 20 kHz
Impedance 16 Ohms
Sensitivity 100 dB / mW @ 1kHz
WHERE TO BUY / COST:
http://www.headphone.com/products/telos-acoustics-fujisan-premium-in-ear-headphone
$299 new
OVERVIEW
Around the holidays I travel back to Bozeman, Montana to visit family and friends. During a recent trip I managed to catch up with headphone.com’s Jamey Warren and he showed me the Telos Acoustics Fujisan that he was involved with during its Kickstarter campaign. He kindly sent me home with a pair for review. The goals of the Fujisan are to deliver an “audiophile-grade in-ear with athletic stability and a naturally comfortable design.”
AESTHETICS
Already impressed by the packaging, abundance of eartips, and simple design, I look deeper into the aesthetics of the Fufisan. The jack plug is machined aluminum as is the mic housing. The shirt clip has extra-long alligator jaws making it more practical than short jawed clips that I see. The eartips are comfortable although it would be great to see different densities in the silicone from color to color. Different densities could help alleviate some of the discomfort I felt wearing the Fujisan for long periods. The housing nozzle is shorter than I prefer and as such may cause some discomfort during long listening sessions because it rests harshly against the ear. The Klipsch Image S4i has a longer housing nozzle and is smaller in diameter making the risk of discomfort minimal. Overall the Fujisan is very comfortable and can be adjusted if discomfort develops.
I did notice that the left/right channel markings are hard to locate because the print is small and black ink on a black background, but having orange tips made labeling the right channel super easy. The driver housing and body is oval-shaped and forms a direct path to the ear canal. Many other IEMs deliver audio by taking a bounce after the driver and then entering the ear canal. The housing bodies stem down attaching the cable to the earpiece and strain relieving the solder joints.
The Y-split on the cable is microphonic, but the cable clip alleviates this during movement. At 1.3m the cable is perfectly lengthened for both portable and home listening. The jack plug easily slips passed my iPod and phone case allowing perfect insertion into the audio jack. Many IEMs have issues with this because the jack plugs interfere with cases. The cable itself feels well insulated and locations where I would expect weaknesses have been strain relieved.
ACOUSTICS
I first tested the Fujisan unamped because most IEMs in this price point and of this design are developed with portable listening in mind. I did amp them with my HeadRoom BUDA and describe the differences between portable and desktop listening.
Unamped: Having a sensitivity above 100dB/mW makes this IEM very easy to drive. Every portable device I had in the room drives the Fujisan to extremely loud levels. If you take a look at the frequency response spec you notice that this IEM claims a response of 20 Hz – 20 kHz. Why manufacturers provide this type of range baffles me because it does not tell where the peaks are, how rolled off the bass and treble are, and where and dips in the frequency response occur. Luckily inside the cover of the box resides the target frequency response.
I found this target to be on par with what I hear. You can see the slight mid-bass emphasis, smooth midrange, and gently rolled off treble. Having the driver so close to the eardrum pretty much makes brightness a killer. The treble is very present, but avoids becoming piercing and fatiguing. Listening to Chet Baker’s Thank Heaven for Little Girls is smooth, detailed, and only exhibits a slight lack of metallic nature to the cymbals. This is where the scalability of the Fujisan comes in. At medium to low volumes it sounds good, but at higher volumes it comes alive bringing the bass and treble more in line with each other. Due to the up-front midrange vocals, strings, and guitar are not buried behind the bass and even Chris Jones’ Long After You’re Gone sounds fun with nothing appearing out of place.
Amped: Most IEMs do not scale well with desktop amping because they are designed for portable use. The Fujisan is no exception. Some IEMs do have super low impedances which can cause issues with amps that have output impedance above 10 Ohms, but the Fujisan avoids this issue by having an impedance of 16 Ohms. I found the sound signature to even out more amped and sound more analytical compared to unamped listening.
The microphone is also excellent. Tested against the competent Klipsch Image S4i the Fujisan comes is clearer, has less noise, as well as renders voices coming in with more clarity. There is no cable cinch for the Fujisan which would make exercise and chat more comfortable and free the cable up from microphonics, but the mic performs very well without it.
CONCLUSION
Thank goodness the Telos Acoustics Fujisan is here because it sounds awesome, has well thought out design features, and it feels like a $300 IEM. One should consider that at this price point there is competition including the Etymotic Research ER4P-T and Westone W20 both of which sound great. The benefits the Fufisan has over these is that the build quality is higher and the sound quality more even and less bright than the ER4P-T. It has a smoother sound signature making it easy to listen to for hours. I find it more comfortable as well.
LINKS
Telos Acoustics
Measurements
COMPARISONS
The Brainwavz M1 is my base reference IEM for reviews because it is affordable, sounds excellent for the price, and is built well. The Fujisan bests it in every way by being sturdier, more even sounding from bass to treble, less tinny in the midrange, and more comfortable.
Added a brief mic review