FIIL Key Bluetooth 5.3 13mm driver IPX4 Semi-In-Ear TWS

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Model: FIIL Key
Price: MSRP Approx $55
Website: FIIL
Review Reference: RC074

Manufacturer Specification:

• Brand: FIIL
• Model: Key
• Driver: 13mm tailor-made titanium-coated diaphragm
• Chipset: Airoha AB1562U
• Mic: Dual-Mic ENC
• ANC: No
• Codecs: AAC, SBC
• App Support: Yes, but limited
• Volume Control: Yes, but only if you change controls in the app
• Gaming Mode: Yes, 3 levels
• Earbud Weight: 3.64g
• Earbud Dimensions: 32mm stem length, 18mm depth
• Gross Case & Buds Weight: 40.71g
• Case Dimensions: 53mm (width) x 22mm (height) x 53mm (depth)
• Case Charge Capacity: 430mAh
• Quick Charge: 2C Fast charging, no warp charge (50 mins earbuds, 90 mins case)
• Wireless Charging: No
• Single Use Playtime: Up to 5 hours
• Playtime with Charge Case: Up to 24 hours
• Bluetooth Range: 10m advertised
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 5.3
• Bluetooth Protocols: HFP 1.7/ A2DP 1.3/ AVRCP 1.5
• Water Resistance: IPX4

Includes:

1 x Pair Wireless Earbuds
1 x USB Type-C Charge Case
1 x USB Type-C Charge Cable
1 x Quick Guide (Chinese only)

Real Life Experience





Welcome to the @regancipher review of FIIL's newest semi-in-ear release, the FIIL KEY. FIIL have had four stabs at this market, with the CC, CC2, Nano and now hot on the heels of the Nano, the KEY. Quite why they felt the need to release another model so quickly after the Nano hit the stores, I'm not really sure, especially with many of the features mirroring the aforementioned upgrade to the CC2, but there are a few subtle differences that are worth noting as we assess whether FIIL can finally topple Soundpeats in the battle for budget semi-in-ear supremacy.

Unboxing - 9/10





Whilst the unboxing does feel like you're either about to play the Chinese version of Dobble or apply some matte paste to your quiff, this innovation is exactly what the earbud market needs as we tread water waiting for Snapdragon Sound and LE audio to take off, especially at the lower end of the market where excess plastic and paper dominate.

The top of the tin just shows a bunch of symbols and the FIIL logo - I'm a LOST fan as you can probably tell by my logo, so this appeals to my creative nature for sure. With the case you get a small, drawstring bag (the drawstrings didn't work - hopefully not a sign of things to come!) and opening from the top you are treated to a (it was going so well) plastic insert which holds the compact and rather snazzy looking charge case.



Underneath, you have your Dobble-style card with a bunch of basic instructions in Chinese only on the back, and on the front, the control schema. It's not for the faint hearted, especially if you don't speak or read Chinese, with very little detail. 12The only other point of note is you get a USB-C charge cable - there's only so many things I can fit in the pics, and I'm pretty sure you know what they look like.

The Case - 8.5/10



If there is a reason to buy the KEY, it is almost without question the most convenient, borderline therapeutic charge case of any semi-in-earbud on the market, apart from perhaps the 1More Comfobuds 2. The 5cm square frame sports a tiny profile, and the buds simply slot in the cockpit with a satisfying strong magnetic pull. The lip makes for easy single-handed operation, and the hinge is suitably sturdy. The metallic-looking (although plastic) disc on the top contrasts well against the black lid of a predominantly gun-metal grey design, and the only real disappointment is the solitary LED light at the front, which appears to have little bearing on the level of battery life - only remaining on for an indeterminate amount of time whilst the buds charge in the case.



The weight of the case - 40g - puts it in the lowest 10%, but it's not as light as the larger SoundPEATS Air3 Pro case - a whole 10% heavier - though the cases' flat proportions make it absolutely idea for popping in your pocket whilst out cycling or walking - you will barely notice them. A really clever job by FIIL.



The case is charged with USB-C, located at the rear. It can be popped on your desk and the buds conveniently paired using hall-switch mode - a nice change from the cigarette-box style designs (with flimsy hinges that snap shut on you) that are commonplace in the market today.

In terms of battery life, the case offers approximately 4 additional charges. With a beefy 430maH capacity, the Key use the Low Power Semi LP6261 synchronous boost converter power management chip. This makes for more efficient charging and suits the smaller design. LPS are market-leaders in this component set, used by Edifier in their Lollipop Pro, Redmi in their Buds3 Lite and Buds 4, UGREEN in their T3, Haylou in their X1 Pro and Black Shark in their Joybuds Pro. There's no red/amber/green lighting scheme denoting the remaining charge - as above, it's just a single white LED. This is definitely a design decision - FIIL are known for their 'bauhaus' approach to earbud designs, and the simplicity of a single light is a conscious decision, because the Sinh Micro SS809 microcontroller built-into the case is perfectly capable of supporting LED patterns and colours - it's the same controller UGREEN used on their triple LED HiTune T3 case, and HTC on their identikit E-MO1 release. It is capable of delivering firmware updates though - something which will hopefully bring English translation to the voice prompts (but don't hold your breath!)

Battery Life - 7/10

Seems to be the defacto these days, but 5 hours and 24 with the case is right in that Goldilocks Zone for TWS, offering enough to get through the day, and benefitting from fast charging whilst the buds are in the case. This is a step down from their more expensive, multipoint 'CC Nano' on paper - which boasted 5.5 hours playback with an additional 4.5 charges (totaling 30 hours)

Interestingly, whilst calls and low latency modes can often erode the headline figure on TWS, I still frequently got between 4 and 5 hours (the lowest was 4 hours 12 minutes for the gaming tests), so nothing to be unhappy about on that front.

FIIL talk about 'C2 charging', and changing the narrative here is a little obscure and I'm not altogether sure necessary. The buds will charge fully after 50 minutes - that's good, but not outrageously impressive. The case takes 90 minutes - that's the better side of business as usual. They don't have any warp charge feature - so don't let the 'C2 fast charging' confuse you - the reality is it's a bit better than normal, nothing more, nothing less.

Despite the case profile (ideal for wireless charging), Qi is not supported.

Some comparisons:

Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro - 6.5 hours / 27 hours
1More Comfobuds 2 - 6 hours / 24 hours
QCY T20 - 5.5 hours / 20 hours
FIIL CC2 - 5 hours / 27 hours
SoundPeats TrueAir2+ - 5 hours / 25 hours
Haylou Moripods - 5 hours / 25 hours
Tronsmart Battle - 5 hours / 25 hours
FIIL KEY - 5 hours / 24 hours
Soundpeats Air3 Deluxe - 5 hours / 22 hours
SoundPeats Air3 - 5 hours / 17.5 hours
QCY T12 - 4 hours / 20 hours
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4 hours / 20 hours

Ergonomics and Build Quality - 7/10



Working from the outside in, it is clear FIIL's differentiator here is moving away from the bulkiness of the awkward-wearing CC2 to a more slimline, female-friendly profile that will wear well for those with smaller ears. The stem is short - 32mm - with battery connectors located on the inside, allowing the buds to slot in the case as they do. The connectors are held in with a rubber seal to support the IPX4 water resistance rating. There are two gaps in the upper part of the bud, one is a tuning hole, the other a pressure release chamber. Both are protected by a fine dustproof net.

Between the two battery connectors, you have an L and R corresponding to which bud is which, and a strong magnet which pings the buds into the case when you slot them in.



The outside of the stem still retains that 'Bauhaus' minimalist look of the CC2, without the angular edges. At the top of the stem you see a tiny opening for the ambient Rayking MEMS microphone, and next to that is the touch control area, which is responsive and large enough to make contact more often than not. At the bottom, another mic sits below the FIIL logo, and is likewise protected by a dustproof net.



A comparison to other semi-in-earbuds on the market is always useful to see what the vendor had in mind in terms of design. We can see here that the Key have followed Soundcore (first image from the left) and Soundpeats (third image from the left) with the modern approach of a shorter stem and rounded edges.

Unlike the Soundcore Life Note 3S and Soundpeats Air3, however, the Key has a shallower, less-rounded neck, and this makes them ideal for those with smaller ears, but less useful for those with a longer antitragus.



Because the shallow neck is designed for smaller ears, if your antitragus is elongated and thus thinner and a bit flimsier at the top (it happens to all of us of a certain age!!) this can result in the Key feeling a little loose after a bit of brisk walking. I certainly wouldn't recommend them for exercise, unless your ears look a bit more like the above image.



The lightweight profile balances the shorter stem, but it could be argued that a bit more weight in the head would have resulted in a slightly more secure, stable fit.

Comparisons to other semi-in-ear options:

Tronsmart Battle - 3.27g
Tronsmart Onyx Ace - 3.47g
FIIL KEY - 3.64g
SoundPeats TrueAir2 - 3.85g
SoundPeats Air3 - 3.96g
SoundPeats Air3 Deluxe - 4.0g
FIIL CC2 - 4.08g
QCY T12 - 4.17g
Haylou Moripods - 4.21g
1More Comfobuds 2 - 4.26g
TaoTronics SoundLiberty 80 - 4.47g




Even so, the Key just about passed the shake test, and look far nicer than the industrial, angular CC2, which failed the shake test quite resoundingly, but tilt your neck either way towards your shoulder, and that's when the instability sets in. FIIL also recommend you wear the buds almost vertical, which is a little counter-intuitive but it does help.

The key use the Airoha AB1562U SoC and 12.8mm drivers, with a titanium plated diaphragm at the front. The Airoha chip is used almost exclusively by FIIL, and this iteration from the Taiwanese SoC manufacturer supports LE, Bluetooth 5.3, voice assistant and even active noise cancellation (not used by FIIL here due to the form factor). It also offers multiband programmable EQ (taken advantage of by FIIL in their app), but tops out at 192KHz, 24-bit audio. Unfortunately, embedded flash seems to be a gift and a curse - it facilitates more features (such as voice prompts) but also detracts from latency.

Audio - 7.5/10 (for the price paid), 7/10 (raw score)

Audio on the Key is, like with most semi-in-ear releases, very dependent on the fit. Like the 1More Comfobuds 2, the real life impressions belie the graphs, because the fit is so loose, that the overwhelming lower frequency response you see above doesn't really materialize unless you press them right inside your ear, constantly.

Instead, the immediate impression is a very bright, echoey sound with a slightly extended treble response, which sees cymbals, clashes and swooshes very prominent in tracks such as '7 seconds' by Neneh Cherry and Youssou N'Dour.

Mids take a backseat, with bass and wah-wah guitars on tracks by Seal and Simply Red are less prominent than other buds in this bracket. Even Brian May's guitar solo in Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' is incidental to clashes, and Freddie Mercury's vocal also sits back a little, and it's a similar story with 'I'm in Love' by Kevin Gates, where high-hats take centre stage to the point of fatigue without adjustment. Subbass is also lighter than some recent releases, but comes through sharp and fast on simplistic productions like 'Bad Ass B1tches' by Wiz Khalifa - a sign that it hasn't been forgotten altogether, merely a casualty of the form factor.

Fortunately the FIIL app has some excellent presets. Soft, Home and Metal all produced far better results, and I highly recommend going through those presets because unlike most TWS apps that just bomb the hell out of a certain frequency range depending on the genre, FIIL make mild adjustments that work well and actually map to the music style. If you like hiphop though, 'soft' seems to work better than 'R&B'.

Despite the bright sound, the soundstage lacks any real breadth and there is at times a cold, metallic feel to the timbre. Voices on audiobooks sounds a little echoey. There is little notable difference between IOS and Android - unfortunately, sound is not a strong point on the Key.

Call Quality - Indoors - 7/10, Outdoors – 7/10

Despite dual ENC mics trumpeted in FIIL's marketing material, I found the noise reduction to be a bit disappointing. That doesn't mean you can't make a call with the Key - but the focus is on making your voice clear, rather than the other sounds nullified.

Indoors, without any ambient sound, your voice comes through very clear and prominent. No arguments there. Like with the CC2, it is a little over-compressed, sounding at times a tad unnatural (although certainly improved due to the echo cancellation module within the tensilica processsor) but every word is easily distinguishable. However, introduce some simulated background noise, and there is little in the way of isolation of your voice - you just sound louder than the various noises around you, all of which are evident.

It is the same story outdoors - again, you come through fairly clear even with wind and traffic, but the noise is still there.

It's possible to take and make calls for sure, but increase that noise around you too much and you may find the Key struggle. I did a brief test at a carnival over the weekend, and the Key naturally struggled (as most earbuds sub $50 would!)

Features

FIIL promote app support in the marketing material, but with the product targeting the Chinese market, the FIIL+ Global app does not yet support the model, so you're going to have to rely on Kiwironic's excellent translation over on XDA. You can download the apk of v3.4.5 here - github.



The app doesn't give you a whole lot to play with. The first screen has your usual battery life parameters clearly outlined with images of the case and buds.

The second of the three tabs gives you the option to change the EQ settings, with 12 excellent presets in there that really augment the sound. It also allows for playback control, although it is in such an odd place you're probably better off using widgets these days.

The third tab allows you to activate full controls. This is a gift and a curse. Whilst with basic controls, you're quite limited (you can play and pause, and that's about it), the full controls are very counter-intuitive. Single tapping the left bud to increase volume and triple tapping to reduce volume is madness. When you single tap the right bud, that progresses to the next track, and triple tapping takes you back a track. The button sequence for voice assistant or ignoring calls - no idea, can't read Chinse - I would assume it's holding the bud for 1.5s. If you hold for 4s this initiates 'Bluetooth Device Switching' - a 'quick switch' between two devices feature, just the same as with the FIIL CC Pro. It's a workaround for not having multipoint, essentially. It is a little inconsistent (you have to wait for three beeps) but it does do the job, although if you're hoping to catch a call coming through on your phone, it may ring off as it takes a good 7-8s to fully materialise. Nevertheless, a nice little workaround (if you can get it working). Bear in mind all of your voice prompts are, like the CC Pro and T1 Pro, in Chinese.

Low latency mode gives you three options - video, gaming and music modes. Even gaming still delivered quite considerable latency on PubG- as previously mentioned, the embedded flash will likely bear the responsibility for this. YouTube and other videos, such as Protake recordings from my mic tests, were very close to lipsync.

Connectivity is rock solid. My source devices only support Bluetooth 5.1 and 5.2 respectively, but I had no dropouts over a week of testing, compared with Qualcomm-based devices periodically giving me single bud cuts.

Codec support is limited to a reduced-bitpool SBC and the usual trimmed-down AAC, cutting out the legacy MPEG2 elements. No AptX-Adaptive, unlike many of it's competitors such as the SoundPEATS Air3 Deluxe and Tronsmart Onyx Ace Pro.

Final Comments

FIIL advertise the Key with the slogan 'The Key is in the Music' but I reckon 'The Key, The Secret' would probably be more apt! They've been out a little while now, but with little in the way of promotion, and only 18 sold (including mine) on the official FIIL AliExpress store - this is possibly due wanting to put a little space between the release of them and the recently launched CC Nano, but they have some obvious differences - the Nano support multipoint, have longer battery life and are more expensive. The Key are aimed at the price-conscious market, and their smaller profile will definitely suit those with smaller ears (and budgets).

The case is a big plus with the Key - it feels great, and their overall portability is excellent. Sound is a bit bright out of the box, and is a bit behind the competition, but can be improved a little with EQ - hopefully global FIIL+ app support will follow soon.

Unfortunately for FIIL, this end of the semi-in-ear market is dominated by SoundPEATS, and outside of China I can't see the Key changing that. They are a worthy option to consider, especially under $40, but don't expect anything groundbreaking.

Price Weighted Score: 77%
Raw Score: 75%

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.

FIIL was established to provide an audio solution to the creative base that has a passion for the arts but is tired of the status quo. We challenged ourselves to design and engineer seamless products that not only sound impressive but are comfortable and innovative with a modern design. 'We are FIIL, THE ART OF AUDIO.' is their slogan.

You may recognise FIIL buds as looking remarkably similar to Earfun releases. FIIL is one of the key OEM suppliers to Earfun in Europe.