[kingpage]

I like the idea of an open can. Can any FA-011 owner tell me if its isolation is any good, compared to open or closed cans (some examples would be great too)? I'm not sure hearing road noises and things like that would be a problem for me.
 
It looks like the headphone will be touching my ears since the ear-pads are so thin. I'm not sure I like that either. How's the comfort in general? I heard it did bother some of you.
 
The next question is as important as comfort. How easy is it for cleaning? I clean my CAL! almost everyday or each time before using it after a shower. All I need is a wet towel to wipe the leather pads.
 
Last but not least, I read that FA-011 is like D2000, which in turn is like an upgrade to D1001. But then, some claim that a modded D1001 is 90% D2000. I'd like to think my modded CAL! performs 90% like D2000. LOL. I know, but sometime a bit of wishful thinking is healthy for us. I like everything about my CAL!'s signature. It wouldn't hurt to have a bigger sound signature though,  from an open like FA-011. I can already imagine the improvements when watching movies with it with Dolby Headphone turned on.
 
$130 is quite a lot of money we are talking about (for me). I'm not expecting to just get the last 1%. Headphones are a bit different from amps I guess. When I first heard about FA-003 as FOTM, and it being as good as many top tier headphones, I was being tempted. However, it was called a neutral king, which may not be something I enjoy as much. If FA-011 is similar to FA-003 in value and if it is similar to CAL! in sound signature, yet noticeably (much?) better in every (or at least most) aspect, I think I'm game. Prove me wrong please. I'd much prefer getting something cheaper.
 
In the mean time, I will catch up with what I have missed in the last half year or so by reading the reviews about FA-011 and other products. Fostex T50RP for $116.5 could be a contender, yet it is rather mid-centric. Or would FA-002 or FA-003 be "better" than FA-011 by any chance?
 
Update: I have decided to go with FA-006. It's risky, but it should be worth it.

 

[kingpage]

Moved to the right forum now. Thank you, moderator(s).

 

[kingpage]

What about the new FA-006? I can get it for under $100 shipped from a local Australian distributor. That is just so tempting.
 
FA-006 is supposed to be a lower version of FA-003. It is closed. But the good (best?) thing is they include an extra pair of earpads and a carrying case. You know, if FA-011 had those, I would jump the gun despite the much longer wait and $35 price difference.
 
FA-006 probably won't have the deep and impactful bass, or the treble sparkles I'm used to from CAL!. Somebody, help please. I feel like FA-006 would be a side-grade instead of an upgrade, and I don't like that idea.

 

[MalVeauX]

Heya,
 
The FA-002 would be an excellent neutral open-air headphone.
 
However if you want to keep some bass, the FA-011 is the way to go. The FA-011, like all open headphones, have no isolation, so go ahead and throw that notion out. If your environment is noisy, then you'll hear it. It's that simple. And it's that way with all open headphones. I find the FA-011 to sound a lot more like my HE-500 than my D2000 in terms of signature. It's warm, musical, and not harsh in any way, highs are smooth, but detailed. When I first got my FA-011, I was completely impressed. It's a $118 headphone that sounded like a better overall image than the DT990. THe FA-011 sounds to me like a headphone of the $300ish area territory, but the beauty is, the FA-011 does everything well. Good sound stage, good highs, good mids and good bass. It does all genres justice without being lesser for one or another. It really does strike me as an excellent all around headphone for all uses. The cups are not super deep, so the inside may touch your ear. I found it did not bother me and I wear glasses too. They're cloth pads, not leather, so cleaning is the same as cleaning any kind of cloth--it's not just a wipe down with a towel. Compared to the T50RP, the FA-011 is the better all around headphone by quite a margin. I don't know how anyone who puts the T50RP on and listens to several grenes of music can like that headphone, it sounded so incomplete to me, it's treble was damp and the bass was pretty much on vacation, it was just a bunch of mids in a rather uncomfortable shell. Maybe when several hundred dollars of modding turn it into a "high end" sound like many claim (with Thunderpants) it becomes a good headphone, but stock, it's just not something I would really recommend to anyone who wants a good all around headphone. The FA-011 is superior to it completely.
 
By the way, being within 10% of a better headphone doesn't make it almost as good. I think you should just save up and get the D2000. You seem to really favor closed headphones. The natural upgrade path for you is a used D2000 (or wait for a nice holiday sale).
 
Very best,

 

[kingpage]

Quote:

By the way, being within 10% of a better headphone doesn't make it almost as good. I think you should just save up and get the D2000. You seem to really favor closed headphones. The natural upgrade path for you is a used D2000 (or wait for a nice holiday sale).
 
Very best,

Thanks for the mini-review. CAL! is regarded as one of those closed cans that don't isolate much. But I suppose it still isolates at least better than any open cans (correct me if I'm wrong).
 
D2000 costs more than FA-002 or FA-003. And it doesn't have the value of either. Besides, FA-002 and FA-003 are up there with many top-notch cans, whilst D2000 is usually regarded as a mid-tier. If FA-002 were not neutral but like FA-011, I'd buy them I guess. FA-011 does look cool with the wooden cups and design of headband making it look more comfortable, I wish FA-006 had that design or the Australian store has FA-011 in stock before next year. As you can tell, I'm a confused man. Maybe I need to go to audiophile anonymous.
 
How about leakage from FA-011?
 
 
 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

 And it doesn't have the value of either. whilst D2000 is usually regarded as a mid-tier. How about leakage from FA-011?

Doesn't have the value? Far from truth. The FA-002 and FA-003 are excellent headphones, but so is the D2000. You end up having to choose, with difficulty, between them. For me it's simple, I like sub bass to be the same volume as the rest for a nice impactful slam but without taking over the spectrum. Denon does that. So it's the way I go. And I ended up going D5000 shortly after for even more.
 
As mentioned in the previous post (second sentence even), the FA-011 is an open air headphone, it leaks. There's no way around that.
 
Very best,

 

[kingpage]

I know it leaks. But there are open headphones that leak so much that the person standing next to you can hear the words from a song; while others leak so little that you don't even know the guy is playing music (with 40-50 dB normal noise in the background); and everything else in between.
 
I just stumbled upon this great site with standard sound graphs for almost all well known headphones, that I never knew existed http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads
 
It's got CAL! and FA-003. It looks like the FA-003 isn't too bad in terms frequency response, except for the -10dB dip at 300hz. It isolates so much better than CAL!, with -15dBr versus -8dBr. They don't have the PDF for FA-006 or FA-011 unfortunately. Funny enough, the square waves look a little better on CAL! than on FA-003. And look at the modded Fostex T50RP's square waves (Thunderpants), they are like perfect. Of course, these graphs don't mean everything.
 
 

 

[MalVeauX]

Quote:

I know it leaks. But there are open headphones that leak so much that the person standing next to you can hear the words from a song; while others leak so little that you don't even know the guy is playing music (with 40-50 dB normal noise in the background); and everything else in between.
 
I just stumbled upon this great site with standard sound graphs for almost all well known headphones, that I never knew existed http://www.innerfidelity.com/headphone-data-sheet-downloads
 
It's got CAL! and FA-003. It looks like the FA-003 isn't too bad in terms frequency response, except for the -10dB dip at 300hz. It isolates so much better than CAL!, with -15dBr versus -8dBr. They don't have the PDF for FA-006 or FA-011 unfortunately. Funny enough, the square waves look a little better on CAL! than on FA-003. And look at the modded Fostex T50RP's square waves (Thunderpants), they are like perfect. Of course, these graphs don't mean everything.
 
 

Fair warning: charts are very misleading. So as you mentioned in your closing, they don't mean very much. You'll see one that should have a perfect or very good response. Yet it doesn't sound like it at all.
 
As for more specific details about the leak, the FA-011 doesn't leak as much as a Grado, but leaks more than a closed headphone.
 
Very best,
 

 

[Gems]

Actually, the price of a new FA-003 from the frogbeats store is nearly the same price as a Denon D2000 in mint condition from these forums ($194~ with Frogbeats shipping to continental USA vs $215.15+ with paypal fees respectively). At the moment, I cannot find the FA-002 price on the Frogbeats store, but they're actually more expensive than the FA-003 recalling from an October search result. The Frogbeats store has UK shipping, so the shipping brought the price up substantially against continental USA shipping for most D2000s. I'm actually paying exactly $211.15 for my D2000s
 
So in the end, you would actually be paying the same amount for a new FA-002/003 as a mint-but-used Denon D2000, but the Denon would have far faster shipping. the FA-003/002s are very hard to find used anywhere including these forums, so interpret that as you wish. Frogbeats isn't the only store that sells Fischer Audio products however; the other source(s) are Russian, so expect even more shipping costs/time than UK.
 
Frogbeats:
http://shop.frogbeats.com/fischer-audio-fa-003
Russian (?) seller:
http://www.gd-audiobase.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=4&category_id=5&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2
http://www.gd-audiobase.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=3&flypage=flypage.tpl&pop=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=2&vmcchk=1&Itemid=2
 
Mint-condition D2000s: selling topic found above and numerous sub-15 hour used D2000s on the buying/selling forums at the moment.

 

[kingpage]

I have read the whole FA-011. The general consensus is FA-011 is better than D2000 without the recessed mids. That's why D2000 is not in my list for consideration. Let alone, D2000 costs more than $200.
 
Too bad there's only a couple of people who have the FA-006, for me to know enough of how it compares to other headphones.

 

[zest]

It seems FA-006 is FA-003 little brother, neutral with a good soundstage for a closed headphone, but has lower build quality and comfort than FA-011 or FA-003.

 

[kingpage]

From LFF's FA-006 thread, nowhere did he specifically say about the SQ difference between FA-006 and FA-003. That's why I feel like FA-006 is not close enough...
 
For now, I'm leaning towards FA-011. The downside of that would be to get over velour pads, an open design and a higher price. I do have the option of buying FA-006 now and returning/reselling it for FA-011 if it's not good enough.

 

[zest]

Found his review, he wrote this:
[size=12pt]The FA-006 has a very balanced, neutral sound without ever being sibilant or much too boomy. If you own a FA-003 or have heard the FA-003, then you know what the FA-006 will sound like. The sound is a baby brother version of the FA-003 without the superior comfort of the FA-003. [/size]

 

[kingpage]

I read that. But what he is saying it that FA-006 is very similar to FA-003, as in a lesser model of it. I'd like to know what makes FA-006 nearly half price (apart from the build and comfort), in terms of technicality and sound quality. Unless he implied FA-006 is exactly or nearly identical to the FA-003 in SQ alone. But I didn't get that idea from him.

 

[minimix]

I've got an FA-002 and a FA-011.
Go for the FA-011, don't look back, amazing sound that they play, and for only 100€ or 125USD (I think).
Fa-002 is Cinderella and FA-011 are the warrior Xena, 2 princesses but so diferent.
It's just my opinion about this 2.