Appearance Adjustments on Future Batches of F9 and F9 SE
Oct 13, 2017 at 6:41 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12

FiiO

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It's been more than two months since the F9 had been released to the market, during which it's always been in short supply owing to the strong market needs. We are trying to speed up the production while still pay great attention to the quality control. Sorry for those who still can't get one successfully!



Meanwhile, we've been receiving some market feedbacks from our customers as well as sales agents. If you are familiar with us, then you would know that FiiO's always open to good suggestions. Based on the feedbacks, we decided to make some appearance adjustments on future batches F9 and F9 SE as follows:



1. The MMCX connector is too tight which made it difficult to separate the earbuds from the MMCX connector.



Though the MMCX connector is already pretty mature in the earphone industry, yet it's FiiO's first time utilizing the detachable MMCX connector on FiiO earphone F5. For lack of experience, we've learned our lesson from it: the majority feedbacks were the connector was too loose so that the cable would easily come off from the earbuds.



When comes to the F9—the second earphone of FiiO that utilizes detachable MMCX connector, our engineer's very cautious on this aspect. But unfortunately, it went too far, which made it too tight this time.



Based on the experience on F5 and first batch of F9, we decided to add spiral lines to end of the cable connecting to the MMCX connector so as to increase friction and make it easier to exchange the cables. For future batches, we will also control the tightness of MMCX connector and enhance our quality control over it.

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2. What's the function of the little spacer?



The initial purpose that we design such spacer is to increase the friction when rotating the MMCX connector as well as lowering the risk of poor contact after long time of use. Later we found that this kind of concern can be removed if we can control the consistency of MMCX connector. Also, customers don't need to have unnecessary worry about what if they lost the little spacer. So we will remove this little spacer in future batches.

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3. There's not enough space left for installing big-size plugs, and I cannot use my own replacement cable on it.



This is owing to the fact that we didn't give too much thought to plugs with big housing, while most of the DIY cables are using big housing. Therefore, we decided to adjust the angle between the shell and the connector so as to make it be compatible with more DIY cables and MMCX cables of other brands, while not affecting the appearance and wearing.

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4. Different joint sizes on left and right sides.



Owing to the complicated CNC processing technology and multiple procedures, the special design makes the defect ratio even much higher. Based on the problem of different joint sizes on left and right sides, we came out with a solution of adding a strip of decorative seam at the joint, which can ensure the consistency as well as improve the yield ratio and production progress.

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FiiO's still new to the earphone industry, but we are improving step by step, so we are confident that we can do better and bring better products to the market. Thank you all for the kind support to us all the time.
 
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Oct 13, 2017 at 6:56 AM Post #2 of 12
FiiO - personally if the MMCX connector remains tight, and therefore difficult to remove, thats OK with me. I'd prefer that than to have it loosen over time.

Your other ideas are good ones :)
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 7:16 AM Post #3 of 12
Waits for the endless debate about whether V2 sounds different from V1, you know it will happen! :wink:
But great to see the manufacturer take positive notes from feedback and improve the product on an ongoing basis.
Agree with Brooko, MMCX connections are way better slightly tight than loose, as they always loosen over time.
I'm probably going to get a set of the new ones, they seem to be an impressive IEM.
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 3:03 PM Post #5 of 12
I am happy with the sound quality and the quality of the cable so I will not be changing it unless it becomes damaged, however, I have to say that yet again I am feeling like a production Beta tester reading this.

Fiio seems too keen on releasing new products before they have been properly researched and developed. I would prefer Fiio to spend more time on development and testing before releasing product after product riddled with bugs. Some here treat audio as a hobby and so are happy trying out new fixes, but I just want to buy my tech and enjoy it without becoming a Beta tester.
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 4:46 PM Post #6 of 12
FiiO - personally if the MMCX connector remains tight, and therefore difficult to remove, thats OK with me. I'd prefer that than to have it loosen over time.

Your other ideas are good ones :)

Yes please keep MMCX connector tight, they loosen even on £500+ IEMs. Not sure about the angle change they fit my ears perfecly! :smile_phones:
 
Oct 13, 2017 at 4:54 PM Post #7 of 12
I am happy with the sound quality and the quality of the cable so I will not be changing it unless it becomes damaged, however, I have to say that yet again I am feeling like a production Beta tester reading this.

Fiio seems too keen on releasing new products before they have been properly researched and developed. I would prefer Fiio to spend more time on development and testing before releasing product after product riddled with bugs. Some here treat audio as a hobby and so are happy trying out new fixes, but I just want to buy my tech and enjoy it without becoming a Beta tester.

I mean don't get me wrong, it kinda bugs me too, to buy something then find out a better version is coming out(looking at you, Nintendo). But in this case it's just minor engineering improvements most people aren't even going to be aware of being implemented in the first place.

Unless they sound better...:thinking:(just bought my F9 this morning)
 
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Oct 16, 2017 at 7:20 PM Post #8 of 12
Are the new versions the ones for sale currently on Amazon (sold by FiiO) or are they the older version? Thank you.
 
Oct 17, 2017 at 6:21 AM Post #9 of 12
Are the new versions the ones for sale currently on Amazon (sold by FiiO) or are they the older version? Thank you.
Not sure, but the new version has been released as well.
Best regards
 
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Oct 17, 2017 at 1:31 PM Post #12 of 12
Then I feel a bit screwed. I bought this a good week ago, sure I got old one. Very sad, if I knew would not have bought it as improvements are important.

I heavily doubt you will notice if you don't swap cables. And even if you do, it is a 5 minutes it takes to swap them anyways. My F9 is clearly form the first batch and I've changed the cables about 100 times now since I am experimenting with them, and they have no issue! :smile_phones:
 

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