Earbuds Round-Up

[droenald]

It's target audience is not really for veterans, unless they want a budget beater set that is very good for the price, or a good 3.5mm set. It's balanced with mild bass boost. It has surprisingly good transients and bass, with no bleeding into mids. Good details for the price. I can tell it's a bery driver.

But for you? No, you don't need Maybe save up for one of Flathead Audio's next releases

Thank you for the feedback, very much appreciated! I'll pass on the FH-01 then and wait for the FH-03 instead.
I wouldn't consider myself a veteran however - it is has been only two years since I've gotten into flathead earbuds, but have moved pretty quickly from budget sets towards totl and DIY. The rabbit hole is oh so deep - am eying the ibasso DC Elite right now. All the talk on the Flathead Sanctuary made me curious.

 

[ttorbic]

Slightly unrelated, but I recently downloaded the Hearing Number app, created by Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH. It's on Apple and Android stores. I really like the user interface, and I'm hoping people on here can try it and share results? Takes about 3 minutes!

As expected, my left ear is a little worse than my right at the moment of course, this might be my natural imbalance, but can't rule out the possible impact of my hearing accident earlier this week.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=edu.jhu.android.hearingnumber

 

[samandhi]

The delivery was fast, so had a quick listen and unreliable impression is right below. Please take them as just a grain of salt.

Build quality: Shells are high-quality, gold-plated; have some weight but I won't consider them to be as heavy as some other models that I have. Very nice cable - thin but premium as I like them to be. Some may not like the plastic chin slider though, which never bothers me at all.

Fit, Comfort: With stock full foams, they sit very well, but being earbuds, they are never 100%. These get 85 or 90 percent. Despite being metal, they are as comfortable as I had expected.

Lows: Balanced for both mid and sub bass. There is power on kick drum and bass guitar is present as true to the recording.

Mids: No sibilance. Lean to a slight warm kind of vocals. Just very nice.

Treble: Both acoustic and electric guitar, cymbals and drums are very clear and well presented.

Overall: So far, really positive.

Thanks for sharing your impressions.

I think you'll find that on this thread, you are encouraged to share your impressions even if they don't agree with the consensus, unlike other threads that don't want to hear them if they disagree or are negative because they want to justify their expensive investments.

In the end, I think this is much more helpful to those thinking of purchasing a set, especially when most all flatheads are purchased (mostly) blind.

So, again welcome to the thread, and thanks again for sharing your thoughts.

I'm way behind on giving impressions of my newest additions - Lavender Sound EchoForce and Flathead Audio FH-01. Here are photos for now Yes, FH-01 comes with a free hat styled after the mx500 faceplate!

Slacker!

Both sets look really nice.

Thank you for the feedback, very much appreciated! I'll pass on the FH-01 then and wait for the FH-03 instead.
I wouldn't consider myself a veteran however - it is has been only two years since I've gotten into flathead earbuds, but have moved pretty quickly from budget sets towards totl and DIY. The rabbit hole is oh so deep - am eying the ibasso DC Elite right now. All the talk on the Flathead Sanctuary made me curious.

Two years is an eternity in personal audio my friend. You ole' veteran you.

From all that I have read, the DCE is even better than the DC07 Pro, and if that is true then you will love it (I have the DC07 Pro btw). Though I am just not sure that it is better per sec, only a different "flavor" in the TOTL dongle DAC/amp category. Though I AM curious to read your thoughts on it if/when you get it.

 

[mt877]

Welcome, and congrats on your newest set! Glad to hear that you're impressed by the SMG Happy listening!

I'm way behind on giving impressions of my newest additions - Lavender Sound EchoForce and Flathead Audio FH-01. Here are photos for now Yes, FH-01 comes with a free hat styled after the mx500 faceplate!

Where does the FH-01 ship from? Being sold on the AE platform doesn't necessarily mean they will ship from China. Just curious.

Slightly unrelated, but I recently downloaded the Hearing Number app, created by Mimi Hearing Technologies GmbH. It's on Apple and Android stores. I really like the user interface, and I'm hoping people on here can try it and share results? Takes about 3 minutes!

Funnily a German company is using the Japanese word for ear in their company name. I guess it's really not that uncommon to use foreign words for products or company names.

 

[ttorbic]

Where does the FH-01 ship from?

Mainly China, but maybe also Australia since @lordearl is based there?

 

[mt877]

Mainly China, but maybe also Australia since @lordearl is based there?

Thanks. I would love to order a set to help @lordearl kick start his company, but not if they are shipping from China and the current tariff situation.

 

[JerseyD]

Total flathead newb here (after lurking on this thread for a while), so please forgive me. I was looking for a solution for airplane travel that would not aggravate my tinnitus the way closed back headphones and in-ear iems do. So, I decided to give flatheads a try and arbitrarily decided to throw $100 at the experiment.

While there are hundreds of options on Ali, I always worry that my purchase will either not show up at all or arrive DOA. Fiio is the only reputable company with flatheads I have seen with US distribution, so I bought the FF3 (after reading here that its tonal balance is warmer than the FF5). I do prefer a warm sound.

With my leftover budget, I did buy two pairs on Ali that have yet to arrive (the HB1 HiFi 300 ohm and the DQSM Z&W Pandas PK2).

So far, my fear of all flatheads sounding mostly tinny and bright are only slightly allayed. Out of my Fosi DS2 dongle with the bass-boosting foams applied and eq set to lift the bass as well, there is indeed a fair amount of bass, but the dreaded hashy sounding treble is exactly as I feared. They sound good enough for air travel, but not something I would want to hear every day. (Maybe they will burn in and smooth out?)

I’m not expecting the budget pairs from Ali to be any better, so if anyone has suggestions, fire away. Thanks.

 

[ttorbic]

Total flathead newb here (after lurking on this thread for a while), so please forgive me. I was looking for a solution for airplane travel that would not aggravate my tinnitus the way closed back headphones and in-ear iems do. So, I decided to give flatheads a try and arbitrarily decided to throw $100 at the experiment.

While there are hundreds of options on Ali, I always worry that my purchase will either not show up at all or arrive DOA. Fiio is the only reputable company with flatheads I have seen with US distribution, so I bought the FF3 (after reading here that its tonal balance is warmer than the FF5). I do prefer a warm sound.

With my leftover budget, I did buy two pairs on Ali that have yet to arrive (the HB1 HiFi 300 ohm and the DQSM Z&W Pandas PK2).

So far, my fear of all flatheads sounding mostly tinny and bright are only slightly allayed. Out of my Fosi DS2 dongle with the bass-boosting foams applied and eq set to lift the bass as well, there is indeed a fair amount of bass, but the dreaded hashy sounding treble is exactly as I feared. They sound good enough for air travel, but not something I would want to hear every day. (Maybe they will burn in and smooth out?)

I’m not expecting the budget pairs from Ali to be any better, so if anyone has suggestions, fire away. Thanks.

No need to forgive - glad you're posting on here! Welcome to the bud rabbit hole

I'd love to give you more suggestions, but two questions:
1. What's your budget, now that you've spent 100$ on it already?
2. I've once tried to use my earbud on an airplane and heard a load of rubbish because it was sooo bad at passive noise isolation. Are you sure you want to try more buds for this particular use-case? Most bud use is for stationary listening, like open-back full-size headphones (yeah I saw your impressive ZMF collection )

 

[Eduardiofilo]

Hi, after trying silicone rings + foams i am thinking on apply glue on the silicone rings before put it on the shell to prevent they move out or something. Has anyone tried this before?

 

[JerseyD]

No need to forgive - glad you're posting on here! Welcome to the bud rabbit hole

I'd love to give you more suggestions, but two questions:
1. What's your budget, now that you've spent 100$ on it already?
2. I've once tried to use my earbud on an airplane and heard a load of rubbish because it was sooo bad at passive noise isolation. Are you sure you want to try more buds for this particular use-case? Most bud use is for stationary listening, like open-back full-size headphones (yeah I saw your impressive ZMF collection )

Thanks. You raise a great point about isolation, and I have not flown anywhere since getting these. Buds may not be the answer I was hoping they would be. (Back to closed-backs or in-ears for the plane - tinnitus be damned?). Maybe my use case for buds is dog walks? Ha!

 

[droenald]

Two years is an eternity in personal audio my friend. You ole' veteran you.

From all that I have read, the DCE is even better than the DC07 Pro, and if that is true then you will love it (I have the DC07 Pro btw). Though I am just not sure that it is better per sec, only a different "flavor" in the TOTL dongle DAC/amp category. Though I AM curious to read your thoughts on it if/when you get it.

Man! You are such a ! You're trying to push me over the edge there...
I said I'm EYEing not BUYing. That thing is 449€ around here. Might order it a few days before the rest of the family leaves for two weeks of vacation, so the package will not go through the hands of my girlfriend.
Again: MIGHT order. But I already feel my willpower weakening every minute passing...

 

[ttorbic]

Thanks. You raise a great point about isolation, and I have not flown anywhere since getting these. Buds may not be the answer I was hoping they would be. (Back to closed-backs or in-ears for the plane - tinnitus be damned?). Maybe my use case for buds is dog walks? Ha!

Sorry to hear about your tinnitus so it's worse with certain transducers?

Some people use buds in bed or even to fall asleep, so maybe that's your use case

 

[droenald]

Thanks. You raise a great point about isolation, and I have not flown anywhere since getting these. Buds may not be the answer I was hoping they would be. (Back to closed-backs or in-ears for the plane - tinnitus be damned?). Maybe my use case for buds is dog walks? Ha!

In all honesty I believe bud use outside the house is useless because of the missing isolation. Maybe if you're living on the countryside where it's really quiet (and I mean really quiet!) and on a day without any wind at all.
If you need bass boosting and experience too much treble already with the FF3 chances are the fit is not perfect/your ears might be on the bigger side. In this case you should try silicone rings under the foam, so you get a better "seal". Well it won't and shouldn't seal, but still you should get a better fit which again should translate to more bass and less treble. You might find that there'll be no more need to eq up the bass. The FF3s are known to be a bassy set.
Welcome to the earbud world!

 

[samandhi]

Total flathead newb here (after lurking on this thread for a while), so please forgive me. I was looking for a solution for airplane travel that would not aggravate my tinnitus the way closed back headphones and in-ear iems do. So, I decided to give flatheads a try and arbitrarily decided to throw $100 at the experiment.

While there are hundreds of options on Ali, I always worry that my purchase will either not show up at all or arrive DOA. Fiio is the only reputable company with flatheads I have seen with US distribution, so I bought the FF3 (after reading here that its tonal balance is warmer than the FF5). I do prefer a warm sound.

With my leftover budget, I did buy two pairs on Ali that have yet to arrive (the HB1 HiFi 300 ohm and the DQSM Z&W Pandas PK2).

So far, my fear of all flatheads sounding mostly tinny and bright are only slightly allayed. Out of my Fosi DS2 dongle with the bass-boosting foams applied and eq set to lift the bass as well, there is indeed a fair amount of bass, but the dreaded hashy sounding treble is exactly as I feared. They sound good enough for air travel, but not something I would want to hear every day. (Maybe they will burn in and smooth out?)

I’m not expecting the budget pairs from Ali to be any better, so if anyone has suggestions, fire away. Thanks.

I have found that a common solution for that shouty sound (which lots of earbuds have this tuning) is to subtract -4dB or more at 3k using EQ. Most times a BW of .25 or .50 would be wide enough to cover this.

Also, while the FF5 are brighter and a bit less warm than the FF3, they also have no offensive tuning. The FF3, while being a great set, CAN be fatiquing for those sensitive to it (like myself). And especially at louder volumes (Munson Curve) like you would need if using for flying.

Also, i noticed you said that you used EQ to increase the bass on the FF3. Tese buds are actually known to be very bassy in the flathead world. Secondly, I dont know if you are aware or not but boosting bass on a set can/does also (potentially) trigger tinnitus. My suggestion would be to listen to the FF3 for a week or more exclusively to let your brain get used to having less quantity of bass. After a time you will find that IEMS and headphones are actually too bassy in most cases. Just my $.02 though.

Also, my suggestion for flying head gear would be some noise canceling headphones. This way you can listen at much lower volumes, and still be able to hear your music, without triggering your tinnitus. The answer with tinnitus is to never boost volume on the whole, or on individual frequencies. Most times it will only exacerbate the issue; and in some cases make it worse permanently, making you have to increase the volume even more.... Rinse and repeat. The trick is to get your brain trained to listening at lower levels. After a while, anything louder will seem too loud for you.

if none of this applies to you, then please just ignore me.

No need to forgive - glad you're posting on here! Welcome to the bud rabbit hole

I'd love to give you more suggestions, but two questions:
1. What's your budget, now that you've spent 100$ on it already?
2. I've once tried to use my earbud on an airplane and heard a load of rubbish because it was sooo bad at passive noise isolation. Are you sure you want to try more buds for this particular use-case? Most bud use is for stationary listening, like open-back full-size headphones (yeah I saw your impressive ZMF collection

This is true.

Man! You are such a ! You're trying to push me over the edge there...
I said I'm EYEing not BUYing. That thing is 449€ around here. Might order it a few days before the rest of the family leaves for two weeks of vacation, so the package will not go through the hands of my girlfriend.
Again: MIGHT order. But I already feel my willpower weakening every minute passing...

I just want you to be happy.

Also, you COULD save about $200 if you went with the DC07 Pro. They both have the same interface/screen, and the numbers are beyond amazing on both devices. They have different DACS, and the DC07 is much smaller, but otherwise are very similar. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have the DCE (just because of FOMO), but i don't see it being $200 better, even if it sounds as bit better. Just my (warped) logic though.

I know all about ordering things in secrecy though. It has been tough getting all of my TOTL buds into my house (she would NEVER approve).

 

[tOMZY]

In all honesty I believe bud use outside the house is useless because of the missing isolation. Maybe if you're living on the countryside where it's really quiet (and I mean really quiet!) and on a day without any wind at all.

The main reason I like buds and open-type headphones is that I can't stand isolation. I even prefer this mix of music and the sounds of the real world. For the same reason, I simply can’t stand IEMs. And no, I don’t have any issues related to claustrophobia