Shure had the monopoly for 20 years. While the best sounding closed headphones under 300 euro Are the srh940, they are made of the cheapest plastic ever constructed. A lot of their non sense products are still the standard of pro audio until today. I was just finishing to cry for my lost se425 and the fa 10 appeared: no more 300ish unaffordable pairs!
Shure had the monopoly for 20 years. While the best sounding closed headphones under 300 euro Are the srh940, they are made of the cheapest plastic ever constructed. A lot of their non sense products are still the standard of pro audio until today. I was just finishing to cry for my lost se425 and the fa 10 appeared: no more 300ish unaffordable pairs!
The technology available today and reduction in cost to produce it has been been drastically reduced.
Hearing Aid technology has been improving too, the new apple chip in iphone's has nine billion transistors. What many think as everyday has only very recently been available to a larger amount of people.
Another track that shines on the FA1. The recording convincingly captures the space these instruments occupy, with the FA1 embracing the period textures and the acoustic in a very engaging presentation.
Haydn: Baryton Trio No. 50 in D Major, Hob.XI:50: II. Allegro di Molto (Hsu/Miller/O’Sullivan)
A note in the bass: i disagree with people who say that the bass isn't enough for certain genres. The bass on this is just perfect and detailet to te point of discerning the texture of a low synth, the effect, and even the model of the bass guitar if you are a specialist. More bass would cover this detail with useless boom and the perfectly fleshed out voices would be swallowed in the mix. What emotion is to have such a dynamic on the voice, very human. I always feel lost in the music instead of thinking if the amp is warm or powerful enough. An iPad or a MacBook do the job better than a phone, but the fa1 are played flawlessy from anywhere.
I feel that the closest closed-back headphone that will compare to the FA1 is the Audio-Technica ATH-M40X.
I am doing a direct comparison as I type this reply, and the sound signatures match quite closely IMO.
Of course, the soundstage is not as open on the FA1, but that is to be expected from an IEM vs an over-ear headphone. The treble may be just a bit warmer on the FA1 as well, but without losing the clarity.
The track I am testing with is a 24bit/96kHz FLAC of Charles Mingus' Fables of Faubus from the Mingus Ah Um album.
A note in the bass: i disagree with people who say that the bass isn't enough for certain genres. The bass on this is just perfect and detailet to te point of discerning the texture of a low synth, the effect, and even the model of the bass guitar if you are a specialist. More bass would cover this detail with useless boom and the perfectly fleshed out voices would be swallowed in the mix. What emotion is to have such a dynamic on the voice, very human. I always feel lost in the music instead of thinking if the amp is warm or powerful enough. An iPad or a MacBook do the job better than a phone, but the fa1 are played flawlessy from anywhere.
That's bc you prefer/genres don't require much sub bass rumble. The FA1 is good but if listening to anything that requires rumble to fill out the music then the FA1 comes up short, that's just a limitation of a single BA. I'd compare these to a good set of studio monitors, add a subwoofer and it just brings it all together. There is a reason why hybrid IEMs are so popular and why I love my N5005, powerful quality bass yet no loss of any mid or high freqs
I ran 10K with them yesterday, and they did pretty well. I could hear the sound leakage go up and down a bit on each foot strike towards the end of my run, and needed to adjust the fit a little in the last mile to get the full bass impact. I'm currently using Final Audio E-type L tips.
They aren't the lightest IEM out there, but I wouldn't call them heavy, either. Retention on the move is dependent on a few factors; because the shell is designed to clear all pinna features, tip fit becomes the main one. All that said, they seem to stay put as least as well as my other IEMs. Rotating the ear hooks inward upon insertion seems to help keep the tips better aligned with my ear canals.
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