My favorite band is Dream Theater as you can tell by my avatar. I live and grew up on Long Island and took guitar lessons when I was younger from John himself. Now, I will listen to him on the F7U because I just placed my order with Musicteck. I couldn't pass up the Black Friday sale.I mostly listen to prog metal and metal core so that should give you an idea
These are some earp0rn pictures my friend!FIBAE 5 in the house:
Will take them to work for some listening with/without filters and then measure the frequency response over the course of this week.
Thank you for posting your initial impressions! Happy listening and testingReceived FIBAE 5 today and having tried it with a few dozen songs, my initial impressions are very positive! But first, here's my graph measurement with and without the filter. You can compare it to other IEMs I've measured in my squiglink here - link. I've uploaded 60-70% of the IEMs I've measured, still have more to upload and a lot of IEMs I haven't even gotten to measuring yet. Shall keep adding one by one in my free time.
I'll write more detailed impressions once I've spent some decent time with the FIBAE 5 but I have to say that the 12dB of bass shelf has the bass rumbling really nice and strong, with really good impact but without coming in the way of other things - which is exactly how boosted bass should be done. Plus on top of that the boosted planar treble makes sure that the bass doesn't overpower the presentation, making for a super crisp, clear and sparkly W-shaped tending V-shaped signature. The midrange is done quite tastefully too without taking it too far away from accurate tonality and timbre of instruments. I basically hear it as a W-shaped, bass boosted take on a reference character, like listening to the band in a very lively arena. With the few songs I've tried it with I feel that it has really good technical performance for its asking price too - a really good soundstage that engulfs you really nicely with very good imaging but I'll reserve my final thoughts once I've spent enough time with it having taken it through its paces with my favourite tracks.
Hope this at least helps give some quick insight into how the FIBAE 5 is tuned and what you can expect until more detailed impressions and full fledged reviews start rolling out. Cheers!
Received FIBAE 5 today and having tried it with a few dozen songs, my initial impressions are very positive! But first, here's my graph measurement with and without the filter. You can compare it to other IEMs I've measured in my squiglink here - link. I've uploaded 60-70% of the IEMs I've measured, still have more to upload and a lot of IEMs I haven't even gotten to measuring yet. Shall keep adding one by one in my free time.
I'll write more detailed impressions once I've spent some decent time with the FIBAE 5 but I have to say that the 12dB of bass shelf has the bass rumbling really nice and strong, with really good impact but without coming in the way of other things - which is exactly how boosted bass should be done. Plus on top of that the boosted planar treble makes sure that the bass doesn't overpower the presentation, making for a super crisp, clear and sparkly W-shaped tending V-shaped signature. The midrange is done quite tastefully too without taking it too far away from accurate tonality and timbre of instruments. I basically hear it as a W-shaped, bass boosted take on a reference character, like listening to the band in a very lively arena. With the few songs I've tried it with I feel that it has really good technical performance for its asking price too - a really good soundstage that engulfs you really nicely with very good imaging but I'll reserve my final thoughts once I've spent enough time with it having taken it through its paces with my favourite tracks.
Hope this at least helps give some quick insight into how the FIBAE 5 is tuned and what you can expect until more detailed impressions and full fledged reviews start rolling out. Cheers!
That bass shelf getting me excited. Can't wait to receive mines.
I went to your squiglink and compared it to the Fir Audio XE6. I have heard the XE6 and seeing that graph comparison puts a huge smile on my face.
I think it's better.Compare the graphs matched to 1kHz. That'll make for a better comparison between them.
I absolutely cannot wait to try these out based on your impressions David. @piotrus-g does the CIEM support the filter too?So… I have taken my sweet time with the F5 before sharing first impressions… but well those babies are so addictive they didn’t let me off the hook to write this upI also took my time cable rolling, more on that later… let me say right now favorite pairing is CEMA Tianwaitian…
I suspect FIBAE5 will grow better over time due to the DD burn in phase. Things have already settled a bit.
Still I have never had an IEM that radically changed over burn in (save some very specific stuff like Dunu Luna…) so let’s venture first impressions
Back to FIBAE5 : I know the product page says they feature a « mainstream » brand of sound and they sure offer a great deal of fun but let me say this they are also very very serious. Don’t let their price fool you, they compete at a very high level technically and it’s probably among my favorite brand of fun signature with deep, powerful bass and exciting treble.
Bass is more articulate than F4 with better sub extension there is no mimicking DD bass with BAs really… This sure is not a dry and snappy fast bass but rather a hefty bass with satisfying midbass. Subs also benefit from the DD, you can clearly feel the power when the F5 is properly fed (yes, they scale with good current and power). It’s a textured bass as well and listening to percussions was real fun and I’ll sure get back to those albums (Manu Katché, among others, sure sounds amazing). I wouldn’t call the F5 a bass head IEM either as we’ll see there is much more to F5 than its bass… but it sure is a toe tapping IEM. Add in the filter and to me you loose the essence of FIBAE5 soul, but it can be nice if you have a limited collection to have the option to have two IEMs in one.
The mids - although they are not the star of the show (but add the filter in and it’s a different story) - are not forgotten and let me say Piotr mids are just special. The midrange is finely tuned, not too much lower mids presence and that’s a good thing because without filters the bass has a powerful presence. It’s interesting to have filters because when you add them in it makes very apparent how accurate and technically sound the mids are on the FIBAE5. Yet those mids have « soul » it’s Custom Art special sauce really. It’s not a colored and warm midrange. FIBAE5 to me has more mids presence than the FIBAE4. I love the fact that vocals are more articulate than the fun FIBAE4. When I cable rolled with some pairing upper mids was playing with my personal edge but I do love that (Yes, I stand by the F7 as well on this although it’s more pronounced with them and doesn’t need cable that enhance that range). With most cables you’ll just enjoy good bite and I must say I enjoy electric guitars for example with F5. I therefore spend a bit of time on Blues albums with those babies…
Treble is something else as well - still comparing to F4. I was wondering what to expect with dual planar array and I still need time to properly analyze as the F5 simply leads you towards fun but let me say treble benefits the excellent imaging and staging. The treble is vivid thanks to an energetic lower treble, which makes a great contrast with the powerful bass. This is the essence of a fun IEM and the FIBAE5 delivers for sure! Where I still find BA have the edge treble wise is note weight. Planar driver have more weight than EST is capable to deliver but still not that superb treble weight I find with my FIBAE7 on piano notes. What you loose on weight you gain on speed, the FIBAE5 treble is fast and agile and it was apparent when I used my usual test tracks with some quite complex treble it handled it superbly.
I need more time to go more in depth but FIBAE5 is a winner in its own type of fun IEMs with strong foundations.
The FIBAE5 commands your attention with a fun, energetic signature both down low and up top while the mids - the heart and soul of music - is masterfully delivered.
