[SynaestheticA]

Hi everybody,
First post but I was always visiting this forum for reviews and first impressions about IEM which I’m fan of.
Reading this topic I decided to buy FW5 after earlier testing in my local Hi-Fi shop in Poland. They were sounding astonishingly good for their price and with companion of iPhone and iPad (which has more power as I can hear)… why not..?
Problem appeared after upgrading firmware to v1.26 which threw this relaxing signature out the window replacing it with something very bassy and too much accented in mid/uppermid region.
I tried to fiddle with EQ in the app with more or less succesful effects but I was wandering if some of You tried to mix with sliders in Fiio Control to make FW5’s sound as good as their more expensive wired models - even from other manufacturers.
I would be grateful for complete description about sliders position with gain info in individual frequencies because You know… Apple doesn’t have such things as PowerAmp or so…
Thanks for help

I didn't get any sound difference after the 1.26 update. But if you go back some pages you'll probably see that the in app EQ doesn't stick.

Does apple allow Wavelet? Might be an option. Although I'm using the stock EQ as I can't get the app EQ to stick.

If anything I want more bass to mine

 

[helmutcheese]

Might be the reason but I do not use any EQ with them but would if I used them out and about for lower quality music.

About 5+ hours real battery life at a decent volume level and poor passive seal means these are for indoor use for me at night connected to my PC via an aptX Adaptive USB Dongle.

 

[DILLIGAF84]

It seems that factory reset worked - FW5’s are back to their smooth signature. Very happy with it. But still I’m interested in playing with EQ. Why not?
@SynaestheticA - at this time I can only find Equalizer FX which has 7-band EQ and as I see it’s used mainly for bass boost because of iPhone almost-neutral signature. I won’t even bother to touch it - it just don’t seem to do anything significant to my taste.
@helmutcheese - I have read about problems with Your 5’s. With mine fully charged I can reach 6-7 hours of playtime with minor hiccups in connectivity but most of the time they perform pretty darn well with battery protection turned on. I don’t care about isolation due to the fact that I’m using them mainly indoors when I can fully focus on performance and details.

 

[helmutcheese]

Do you have a poor signal range and on occasion the buds do not power on (sometimes L or R or both) after taking them out of the case?

I will never use Battery Protection as at 85% it will be even less hours, I know there is a lot inside these buds but again no way could I use dailies for outdoor use.

 

[DILLIGAF84]

Nope - only sometimes I can notice a slight stutter in signal when I walk 3-4 meters from the source. About powering on each bud almost immediately blinks in searching for BT signal. After putting in ears I always receive the command „connected”.
I told myself that I’ll be using Battery Protection in controlled environment where I know that I won’t need extended battery life. Usually it works for me - after about 3-4 hours of work I put them in the case, make about 1 hour break and when everyday duty calls I’m putting them on again And of course I’ll turn it of when travelling or such. There is no need to stress the batteries inside.
What I can also mention is weird situation while switching between custom presets. For example: being on totally flat Custom3 and switching on Custom2 where I have more „airy” setting it makes the signal stronger/clearer only in right bud while left one is kinda dull. To solve this problem I go to Harman preset -> Custom1-> Custom2 -> Custom1 and on final switch to Custom2 I can finally hear equal signal. Strange thing…

 

[dbsf]

on occasion the buds do not power on (sometimes L or R or both) after taking them out of the case?

Yes, this is the life long design feature. You get this extra bonus for free once you upgraded to the newer firmware, or it did ship with newer firmware. Roll back to older version will not fix this.

The lesson is: never buy any Fiio product from a place that you cannot return

 

[helmutcheese]

No, I got at launch from FiiO so updated FW at later date when it was released.

Now I get them saying Connected/Connected/Connected even though they are already connected, and I made sure my other BT devices are disabled in case it was the poorly implemented Multipoint connecting to them.

 

[hatbox]

Hello @FiiO ! LHDC is not working on my phones!
Phone "Realme 9 5g" - connection is only APTX. After switching the mode to LHDC in the Fiio Control app, AptX is reset to SBC mode, and I can switch back to AptX only by hard resetting FW5.
The second Axon 40 Ultra phone. When connected, Snapdragon Sound is determined, and AptX Adaptive. After switching the mode to LHDC in the Fiio Control app, AptX Adaptive is reset to SBC mode, and you can also switch back to AptX Adaptive only by hard resetting FW5.

 

[cYxFrag]

Hello @FiiO ! LHDC is not working on my phones!
Phone "Realme 9 5g" - connection is only APTX. After switching the mode to LHDC in the Fiio Control app, AptX is reset to SBC mode, and I can switch back to AptX only by hard resetting FW5.
The second Axon 40 Ultra phone. When connected, Snapdragon Sound is determined, and AptX Adaptive. After switching the mode to LHDC in the Fiio Control app, AptX Adaptive is reset to SBC mode, and you can also switch back to AptX Adaptive only by hard resetting FW5.

LHDC in FW5 is fake? Why doesn't the Fiio Control app work and only makes things worse?

The problem of phone manufacturers.
Go to the fiio control application and rename the headphones to OnePlus, uncheck the codecs except lhdc, the headphones will reconnect and lhdc will work.

 

[hatbox]

The problem of phone manufacturers.
Go to the fiio control application and rename the headphones to OnePlus, uncheck the codecs except lhdc, the headphones will reconnect and lhdc will work.

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely use it.
But I do not agree with you that this is a problem of phone manufacturers.
Soundcore Anker Liberty 3 Pro is announced to support LDAC and both smartphones are connected via LDAC codec. What I paid for, I get.
Why not say for sure that LHDC only works on certain phones?

 

[hatbox]

PS: On Axon 40 Ultra changing the name does nothing. AptX Adaptive is reset on the SBC, and HD mode recovery is only through a hard reset

@FiiO answer my questions!

 

[cYxFrag]

Thanks for the advice, I will definitely use it.
But I do not agree with you that this is a problem of phone manufacturers.

Soundcore Anker Liberty 3 Pro is announced to support LDAC and both smartphones are connected via LDAC codec. What I paid for, I get.

FiiO look like scammers.
Why not say for sure that LHDC only works on certain phones? It will be true. Why not say that if you want the LHDC codec you have to put in a fake headphone name? Such actions by FiiO are not the norm and cannot be justified.

I think it's worth checking with fiio themselves here — do they declare 100% lhdc operation on all phones where this codec is available?
Personally, my opinion is that manufacturers specifically make it so that you only buy their headphones with their phones, in which case they will work 100% according to lhdc. A marketing ploy.
I have exactly the same problem as you, but if you rename the headphones to the BBK brand, then lhdc works. I didn't see the point in it, but the fact is funny.

 

[cYxFrag]

PS: On Axon 40 Ultra changing the name does nothing. AptX Adaptive is reset on the SBC, and HD mode recovery is only through a hard reset

@FiiO answer my questions!

If you are sure that your phone supports lhdc, then:
1. Rename the headphones to fiio control (OnePlus or OPPO Enco X).
2. In the fiio control application, uncheck the sbc, aac, aptx, aptx-adaptive codecs, but leave a check mark only on lhdc.
3. The headphones will reconnect themselves and the lhdc should work, if this did not happen, then you can still try to cancel the pairing and reconnect.
4. If it doesn't work again, then most likely the phone doesn't support lhdc.

 

[dweaver]

LDAC is a more open and widely supported codec since it's built into Android and has been free for several years. LHDC seems to be much more niche in nature and sounds like it allows for the phone manufacturer to play games.

The biggest issue is that Fiio chose the codec that has limited spotty support. One of the reasons I have held off trying the FW5. Hopefully they eventually add LDAC.

 

[cYxFrag]

One of the reasons I have held off trying the FW5.

Very bad. The codec is not a panacea for sound quality, they sound the same according to aptx-adaptive as they do according to lhdc.
The sound is good out of the box, but after correction... They are great, as close as possible to a good wired sound.