I am really surprised that nobody else has has contributed to this thread yet. I also own a pair of FA-003s. I've had them for over 4 months. At the beginning I actually didn't like them that much, but from the very first listen, I knew that they had potential and would improve with burn in. I was right - I got over 100 hours on them now and the sound seems to have improved significantly, at least to my ears. For the price of $179, they are definitely one of the best price/performance headphones out there. They easily outperform my Sennheiser HD555s and pretty much any other full sized can I've heard in that price range. There are some headphones that can match the FA-003 in some ways, but fall short in others. The FA-003 on the other hand, is an all-arounder - they do everything well. But I feel that they also really excel at some things like timbre and dynamics - the sound is completely uncompressed and real instruments and vocals sound very realistic like they should with little to no coloration. That is quite a feat Fischer was able to pull of with their cans at this price range! Usually the sound qualities that I am hearing with FA-003, I've only previously heard in reference cans, costing $300+.
To be honest, I am not much into full sized headphones. I've auditioned many, but have actually owned only a few, so take my opinion with a grain of salt. However, I am also a big believer in reference quality IEMs. I've owned several IEMs which I consider to be every bit as good as expensive hi-fi full sized headphones, such as Shure SE530, Earsonics SM3, Ortofon e-Q7, Hifiman RE0 and Q-jays. I've compared SM3 and Q-jays to FA-003 and found FA-003 technically superior to both in many aspects. Those who don't believe that IEMs can compete with similarly priced full sized cans won't find this surprising and significant, but for those who, like me, believe that great IEMs are in no way inferior to similarly priced cans, this is quite a feat. In particular, the SM3 is a $350-$400 IEM that I think puts some full sized reference headphones to shame in sound quality and yet compared to FA-003, it sounds somewhat compressed in dynamic range and clearly sounds too much on the warm side to be able to reproduce accurate timbre. FA-003 sound is more open and realistic in many aspects, even despite the fact that in some ways like detail resolution and speed it may not be quite on par with SM3's naturally fast and resolving armature drivers. Compared to Q-jays, which is another very impressive IEM, FA-003 also comes out on top overall. Now, Q-jays are not as good as SM3 technically, but they are still great IEMs and still beat most headphones in their price range IMO. FA-003 sounds better not only technically, but in many ways musically. Q-jays sound obviously grainy and dry by comparison and do not have the dynamic range and accurate timbre of FA-003 either, especially in the higher frequencies.
But great sound alone can't make a man happy. Fortunately, FA-003 also mostly excels in ergonomics, thanks to the wonderful, high quality leather earpads which are very deep, provide excellent isolation and are very comfortable. The headphones are also nice and lightweight, but made of high quality, durable plastic. They also have replaceable cables so you don't have to worry about doing a recable in case the cable decides to die on you. Finally, they are also reasonably easy to drive. At 64 Ohms, they are neither too sensitive, nor require an amp. They don't hiss at all with any sources and they still sound good out of most portable players and onboard soundcards. At the same time, they have a lot of potential and surely benefit from more powerful, higher quality sources. Now, the only real complaint that I have is that they don't fold and also creak a bit when I move my head around. But that's not much of an issue, since these are not really meant for portable use anyways. But that being said, I still have no problem using them outside for on my commute to university and back. The isolation is great even on the subway and I don't have to turn my music up too loud to be able to hear it. Also, the sound is just so fantastic that I forget about the otherwise somewhat annoying creaking sounds that the headband is making when I walk with the cans on my head. They also clamp sufficiently so that they don't slide off the head (well, at least my head) but don't clamp too hard to make them uncomfortable either. Finally, I think FA-003s actually look pretty good on the head unlike most other big cans. They are not exactly stylish, but they don't intimidate with massive form either - the earpads compress to about half of their original size when the headphones are worn, resulting in a pretty slim and neat looking can IMO.
Overall, I feel that FA-003 thus represent a fantastic value for their price and everyone who is looking for accurate, natural sounding headphones in that price range should put FA-003 at the top of their list. They can even be used as portable cans quite happily if you don't mind the lack of foldability (lol is that even a word
), their relatively big size and somewhat annoying creaking noises they make when you walk around and/or move your head a lot with them on.
Great job, Fischer Audio! :thumbs up:
