Face to face with James，Anything about FiiO

[JamesFiiO]

OMG Did you just say Tube Dongles?
Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

 

[MDKrinkles]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

Yeaaaaaah I’ll take one….maybe two.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Following is my personal opinion - my thoughts are as follows:

I think Fiio has a huge opportunity to re-brand.

In my opinion, Fiio can raise prices without much decline in demand (although more research here is needed in terms of how much to increase) if you promise regular firmware updates and support for a number of years.

My last purchase was a ka17 which I bought specifically for the eq which was exceptionally unstable until yesterday - I think the new firmware fixed 80% of the issues but time will tell (it’s improved but if you toggle the eq you can see it still doesn’t always load a preset properly - I’m not sure if the bricking of the ka17 on the control site was fixed but that was ridiculous for a flagship item - and silence from Fiio). Months of having a device where the main feature (to me) was not stable (and easily bricked) made me say “I’m done with the brand”.

However - there is an opportunity here - on certain products consider including priority support and prioritize resources to their firmware/software development - especially for flagship items in each category. Rushing to release a ton of new products I think is not the best strategy - focus more on quality, raise prices as needed and the loyalty should return. Releasing a ton of new products without refining older products looks terrible to your fans.

Yes it’s true Apple does not get it right with the release of the new iPhone each year but refinements are made quickly and support is ongoing for many years. Additionally many of your products have the same or similar components making multiple product updates at the same time potentially possible (update btr-17 and ka17 at the same time).

This type of communication with the forum is already a great start!

Thank you for your time.

thank for your advice, but not matter the price , most of our products share the same techinical which means once one model fixed the bug the others will be fixed too.

 

[BeelzAlBob]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

It looks like a vape.

 

[JamesFiiO]

Fiio, please consider making an electrostatic headphone energizer converter. No one is producing such a device in the market right now. The last known option was the iFi iESL, but they have discontinued it.

I would personally love to see more of a sound shift towards a warmer and more natural tone with R2R and tube technology. I hope to see more products from Fiio for electrostatic enthusiasts in the future.

we need to make some researching first and there will more R2R and Tube products in this year.

 

[Menkau-ra]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

Wow! These look too good

we need to make some researching first and there will more R2R and Tube products in this year.

R2R is the feature. Many people are so tired of stock delta-sigma DAC’s.

 

[SushiiFi]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

Take my money

 

[JamesFiiO]

Wow! These look too good

R2R is the feature. Many people are so tired of stock delta-sigma DAC’s.

I understand, the R2R is more interesting and now we have two different R2R DAC, one is the same in K11R2R, and one is testing which is more expensive and better in SQ.

 

[JamesFiiO]

How does Qudelix do it with their 5k? That thing works awesome. Seems like the tech is available but I’m not an engineer…

if you was refer to control the PEQ via bluetooth, we already or will supports too, but if you refer to control the PEQ via USB, any device should be pass the MFi first.

 

[JamesFiiO]

I saw fiio is raising prices in USA because of the Tariffs and end to De Minimis Shipping. Will that also change the prices in other parts of the world?

not

 

[scracy]

not

Thank you James

 

[OVERHATE]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

Oh this is IT. The perfect office companion.

 

[sendstormer]

Below is a highly recognizable concept design for IEM, with the main feature being the use of artistic relief panel design.

Hi James!
Every metal Fiio iem is of GREAT production quality and with good/great bass,
but the problem is tuning especially in MIDS,
so all sound bloated and MUDDY-what correlate to bad RESOLUTION.
Solutions are simple:
-do not use standard V-shape tune of KZ(such in for example FD5)
- re-tuning old non v-shape models(for example too bright fh5s to frequency similar of Sony z1r-because both have incredibly similar configuration of drivers.YES FIIO CAN DO YOUR OWN ,EVEN BETTER version/iteration of one of best ever iem:z1r(better at scale on higher volume and better, not so recessed mids)-
also at low cost economically.
I hope Fiio will produce new(better tuned) metal iems of highest range,
and concept design above("deer") is OK for mid tiers
Good luck-and mind-Fiio!

 

[JamesFiiO]

Hi James!
Every metal Fiio iem is of GREAT production quality and with good/great bass,
but the problem is tuning especially in MIDS,
so all sound bloated and MUDDY-what correlate to bad RESOLUTION.
Solutions are simple:
-do not use standard V-shape tune of KZ(such in for example FD5)
- re-tuning old non v-shape models(for example too bright fh5s to frequency similar of Sony z1r-because both have incredibly similar configuration of drivers.YES FIIO CAN DO YOUR OWN ,EVEN BETTER version/iteration of one of best ever iem:z1r(better at scale on higher volume and better, not so recessed mids)-
also at low cost economically.
I hope Fiio will produce new(better tuned) metal iems of highest range,
and concept design above("deer") is OK for mid tiers
Good luck-and mind-Fiio!

Thank you very much for your suggestion. We may need to hold a larger-scale opinion solicitation activity to see everyone's suggestions on our tuning direction.

Overall, I think the IEM market is being destroyed by new models. Overnight, you will find dozens of new brands, most of which are just using the same solution for a different shell. In fact, the number of high-level acoustic engineers is very small. I have been in this industry for decades, and the number of formal acoustic college students trained in China every year is very, very rare. Even fewer of these people work in headphone manufacturing and design after graduation.

Therefore, one trend is the increasingly fierce price competition in the low-end market. Another trend is to sell at high prices based on appearance and unrestrained marketing.

Previously, we tended to create different styles of sounds for people with different tastes, but now we may need to reconsider whether this strategy is correct. Perhaps sticking to a fixed style would be a good thing.

However, no matter what, R & D resources are always limited. Currently, FeiAo's large earphones have achieved good performance, and our R & D resources also need to be tilted towards large earphones. Because developing a large earphone requires tens of times more investment than IEM, and we have enough space to adopt our own acoustic technology, so we should not have the energy to focus on the IEM market so quickly.

In addition, I would like to ask, among all the earplugs made by FeiAo, which one do you think has a unique and popular style?

 

[Eiffel]

yes, here is a concept design, but I don't think it will launch market in this year cause there are a lots of thing to do .

Are those lighters ? They look like...

@JamesFiiO - any chances for some BT Speakers or Soundbars someday ?