FiiO Earbuds Discussion & Impressions Thread

[FiiO]

One picture to learn about FF3

 

[FiiO]

Let's enjoy some picture of FiiO FF3

 

[skeeb23]

Beautiful design and aesthetics!

 

[FiiO]

What a lovely FiiO FF3! The large-diameter drivers not only provide a strong and shocking bass performance, but also provide treble with nice extension and resolution because of the light weight and strong rigidity of the beryllium-coated diaphragm. Now you could get one from our Aliexpress store: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004396885661.html

 

[geokite]

Is the cable MMCX, or not replaceable?

 

[mt877]

Is the cable MMCX, or not replaceable?

The cable is not replaceable. The plug is swappable between 3.5mm SE and 4.4mm balanced. You'll have to wait until September for the FF5 release for MMCX.

 

[mt877]

I'm really enjoying the FF3. Nice bass with good sub-bass rumble, as long as the music you're listening to has that kind of bass impact. Overall sonic balance is excellent. Bass that doesn't step all over (muddy) the mid-range or treble. Nice clean treble extension, not so bright that it is fatiguing on longer listening sessions. These buds perform well with either neutral or warm amps / DAPs and perform well with any music genre.

 

[Laurence11]

I'm really enjoying the FF3. Nice bass with good sub-bass rumble, as long as the music you're listening to has that kind of bass impact. Overall sonic balance is excellent. Bass that doesn't step all over (muddy) the mid-range or treble. Nice clean treble extension, not so bright that it is fatiguing on longer listening sessions. These buds perform well with either neutral or warm amps / DAPs and perform well with any music genre.

Hi there

just picked these up and can concur, excellent buds. Can i ask what foams you are using? I have only used the donut (treble) so far and can't see why i would change as they sound so good. And at £89, they are punching way above that.

Well done Fiio

David

 

[mt877]

Hi there

just picked these up and can concur, excellent buds. Can i ask what foams you are using? I have only used the donut (treble) so far and can't see why i would change as they sound so good. And at £89, they are punching way above that.

Well done Fiio

David

I started with the balanced foams (thin full foams), eventually moving to the donut foams. I do like the balanced foams sound. I found the treble a little rolled off which makes long listening session easy on the ears. Switching to the donuts brings out that treble crispness which I sort of missed.

 

[Ronion]

Try VE thin foams. That takes these up a huge notch for me.

 

[FiiO]

Thanks for sharing the experience.

Best regards

 

[Laurence11]

Try VE thin foams. That takes these up a huge notch for me.

I tried that today, still think I prefer the Fiio donuts. Felt the VE lost the richness of the bass a tad.

 

[Ronion]

I tried that today, still think I prefer the Fiio donuts. Felt the VE lost the richness of the bass a tad.

Everyone has a different anatomy. That’s just part of the reason why it’s good they included 3 different types. I just ordered the Trig Rain to see how they work with these as well. The baseline character of these buds should work for most people. I’m not sure how FiiO is going to improve on these with the FF5, but it will be interesting. I’m planning on resisting those for a while, but I’m glad FiiO continues to put their design and engineering acumen into buds. Nearly every bud I’ve tried with donuts doesn’t work well for me. I’m glad there’s a reason for them because I was beginning to doubt it LOL.

 

[o0genesis0o]

I didn’t realise @FiiO had a thread for these wonderful earbuds. I share my initial impression from the other thread here in case any head-fier stumbles across this thread. Full review would come later, I need to finish the ones for Westone MACH first.

(Impressions with treble foam. Balanced and bass foams are too muffled for me and greatly reduce the resolution)

Lower midrange sounds flat. The ear gain sounds very Harman (it can be shouty on some tracks, but generally correct in terms of tonality). It’s certainly not 15db ear gain like the graph, but there is a correct ear gain for sure.

Now the bass is unexpected. I expected something like ER2SE, because the graph shows flat midbass and significantly rolled off subbass. However, I hear punchy kick drum with some physical sensation in my throat, which only comes from IEMs with strong subbass. I have been jamming to some electronic music. FF3 is no E5000 in terms of bass for sure, but I am surprised at how competent it is.

Soundstage is wider and deeper than usual IEM. It’s kind of reminiscent to FD5 or E5000: upfront center image, but the rest spread out widely. I don’t hear any tuning trick to push the image back like Andromeda and U12t / Trio.

Resolution is surprisingly good. I hear resolving treble, though treble is not loud.

Again, coming from IEMs, I’m shocked by what I am hearing. I think I need more time to nitpick be critical.

 

[o0genesis0o]

I'm really enjoying the FF3. Nice bass with good sub-bass rumble, as long as the music you're listening to has that kind of bass impact. Overall sonic balance is excellent. Bass that doesn't step all over (muddy) the mid-range or treble. Nice clean treble extension, not so bright that it is fatiguing on longer listening sessions. These buds perform well with either neutral or warm amps / DAPs and perform well with any music genre.

Agree with you. The bass loudness is certainly neutral / flat, but the bass impact is quite strong. Perhaps it is due to the large driver? Perhaps because it is an ear bud. I don’t know. FF3 subbass can hit as hard as my IEM with 12db subbass sometimes, without having to do all the tuning tricks to avoid bass bleed.