Hey George,
Hoping to pick your brain as i know you have experience with both the F9 and F9pro. I often find myself gravitating towards the F9's and they have become my daily drivers. To tell you the truth, I'm surprised with how much I've enjoyed them after pairing them with the Fiio X7 via balanced output as it has seemed to have tamed the harshness out of them.
I have started to wonder if it's worth the upgrade to shell out another $140 for the pro versions. I'm not into re-selling stuff so the original F9's will most likely be shelved or only used for workouts, etc. Would you jump at the upgrade if you were in my shoes or are the improvements too marginal for costs involved?
Thanks soooo much.
It is absolutely worth the difference and the effort.
I have finished writing my draft to my F9 review, and have given them to my brother, while I kept the F9pro to myself, to actually listen to them, and mind you, I also have other IEMs to listen to, so F9Pro just is just really fun.
There is no doubt about it, the difference in detail, resolution and vividness is big enough to make F9pro quite impressive. The soundstage is considerably wider on F9Pro, and the very instrument definition is better.
I am most sensitive to soundstage in general, both width and depth, and F9Pro really really solves that by being quite better in both aspects.
Kindly mind this, F9Pro is similar in tuning to F9, but it is the same tuning done much better. This doesn't mean that F9 is any less good, it just means that F9Pro is an improvement over a solid IEM, both are great, F9Pro is almost double the price of F9, and it is absolutely worth double the price, there's no doubt about it.
Oh yes, about the more accessories, I have personally thrown away the pink tips, the black ones, the foamies and the black transparent ones, only red-transparent are kept, so my tip needs are very much satisfied with both F9 and F9Pro, but F9Pro also comes with a grey pouch which is just too lovely!