[mndless]

The Story of Bluetooth Cable LC-BT1--From James：https://www.head-fi.org/threads/the-story-of-bluetooth-cable-lc-bt1-from-james.956796/

In the end, it is likely that TWS ear hooks will have more development in the future. Therefore, Bluetooth cables ought to disappear completely from our product line in 2022.

Best regards

What a disappointment. It was literally the only product keeping me involved with your ecosystem. I dislike the TWS earhook implementation because they are incapable of the kind of battery life possible for Bluetooth neckband solutions. Additionally, because you are forced to put a Bluetooth transceiver and DAC/amp in each earpiece, you end up with so much power draw from each earpiece that you're effectively unable to utilize the highest quality Bluetooth codecs due to their power consumption relative to Qualcomm's chipset dependant codecs.

I guess Shanling will get my business when my LC-BT2 require replacement.

 

[FiiO]

Chapter 21 Exquisite acoustic artwork FD5.

For the earphones, I’m going to write backwards in chronological order. FD5 is actually a very meaningful product, which has served as a link between the past and present in the FiiO product line. Especially the industrial design of FD5, due to its excellent performance, we failed to achieve any breakthrough when we developed FD7. We can only continue the design of FD5 and make some adjustments in color and details. Even for the TWS earplugs we are going to launch in the future, its ID also inherits the design of FD5. Here, we can see how much we, the market and users recognize the industrial design of FD5.

FD5 uses a cylinder as its main body, which is most suitable for dynamic driver earphones. In order to match the design of the semi-open acoustic cavity, our designer took inspiration of the cover from musical instrument, and designed a structure similar to the strings with breathable mesh elaborately embedded between the four "strings". In addition, for the sake of highlighting these four "strings", the exposure and development technology is used for the first time, and two different textures of matte and glossy are made on a small cover at the same time.

In order to avoid shocks and make the earphone a more stable structure, FiiO adopts stainless steel on the earphone shell for the first time. With polishing and electroplating, the shiny silver metal texture is full of extravagance.

In terms of sound, I have introduced a lot in the early posts. Due to the limited cost, the FD5 only uses a double-sided beryllium-plated diaphragm, a high-flux magnet, a large-diameter unit, an acoustic prism, and a semi-open acoustic structure. It can be said that after years of continuous exploration and developing, FiiO has formed its own system in the acoustic design of earphones, which has also been recognized and praised by many audiophiles.

The same as FD3, FD5 is suitable for classical music, instrumental music, and vocals. The slight difference is that due to the inherent advantages of the FD5 drivers and the shell, FD5 gets a more extended sound with higher resolution. Therefore, it suits more different types of music, and its tuning is more modern and advanced.

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To be continued​

 

[FiiO]

Chapter 22 Introduction to FiiO’s Balanced Armature IEMs Family

The route of FiiO’s earphones is mainly dynamic driver IEMs- open earplugs- balanced armature IEMs- headphones. So pure BA IEMs is actually the latest one we released. The first BA IEMs is the quad BA IEMs FA7 launched in November 2018, while the second one is the single BA IEMs FA1 launched in January 2019. The third one is the 6 Knowles BA IEMs FA9 launched in April 2020.
We can see some commonalities among FA1/FA7/FA9 from FiiO's earphones family tree. In fact, the key remains the shell made of 3D printed resin imported from Germany and the Knowles balanced armature drivers. The main difference lies in the quantity of driver, tuning, and the cables.
According to the sales figures and survey results, there are indeed less fans of pure BA IEMs than DD+BA IEMs, but they still have a large share. Especially, the BA driver enjoys the characteristics of high fidelity, fast speed, less coloration, and high resolution, and the high sound density for multi-BA drivers. Thanks to these merits, I personally think it would be better for rock music and electronica. In addition, many singers like to use custom earplugs for playback, and it is estimated that more than 90% of these custom earplugs are multi- BA drivers IEMs because of its feature of less coloration. This also highlights the advantages of BA IEMs in some ways.
Therefore, as you can see, since there are too many types of earphones, even if we are quick in launching new ones, we still fail to take care of every product line. It has been almost 3 years since FA7 was launched in November 2018, and thereafter we finally update this line, which is the FA7S that we released last month.
I don't know what do you expect from FA7S, but I can say for sure that FA7S is an all-round transformation in terms of design, shell, drivers, cables and accessories. In fact, apart from the similar price, FA7S and FA7 have nothing to do with each other. FA7S is a very competitive multi- BA drivers IEMs that is full of modern music style. Let’s stay tuned for it.

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To be continued

 

[FiiO]

Chapter 23 The Best Dynamic Driver + Balanced Armature IEMs of FiiO- a preview of FH9.
It has been 8 years since FiiO launched the X3 in 2013 at the price of 200USD, to the recently launched M17 at the price of 1700USD. There are two issues involved here, one is how to view the HiFi products are becoming more and more expensive. Another one is what is the top of the FiiO product line, and how does FiiO set the price of new products.
It is undeniable that the price is indeed getting higher and higher in the market of HiFi earphones. A few years ago, If an audio player or a small pair of earphones was priced at over 10,000, it would definitely shock the market. How could a pair of earphones or an audio player be so expensive? However, think it over, this may be a proof of the development of the HiFi earphones market. Overall, apart from a few high-priced products that continue to break through the market’s imagination, there are also more and more products low-priced products. For example, After the release of X3, there are not only M15 came out with the price of 1300USD, but also the M3/M3K with 70USD, the μBTR with 20USD, and the EM3S of 10USD.
Therefore, for the market and users, as long as not all products of all brands decrease the price floor as a whole, I think the development of the industry is healthy. After all, there is no monopoly in this industry. You can choose not to buy expensive ones, for that there are many products with good quality and affordable price to choose from.
For the second question, it is actually related to FH9. According to FiiO’s plan, we normally have three products in one line aiming to different market: low, mid and high end market. But sometimes, we have to expand our product line to a higher level because of the calls and expectations of our users. Especially when the products of our peers are priced at thousands of dollars, it is true that only three products cannot cover such a wide price range.
In addition, I would also like to explain that, it is not true that the more products models we have, the better situation it will be. Because there are costs (including direct costs and opportunity costs) for doing anything. When the number of models reaches a certain level, the income of the enterprise will decline instead.
Back to FH9, DD+BA IEMs line is currently the most popular earphones product line of FiiO, covering the market from 60USD to 400USD by FH1S, FH3, FH5S and FH7. Especially the FH7, can be considered as FH5S Pro in terms of tuning and design, which is an enhanced version on the basis of FH5. Therefore, this product achieves a great success and is praised by many users. However, it is also true that there is still a lot of room for improvement in terms of pricing when the FH7 is compared with its competing products over 1500USD. In the words of our users, they are not afraid of our high pricing, but afraid of us not planning to make better products with higher price. Because they all know that FiiO makes products with reasonable pricing. If the price goes up, the design, the quality of materials as well as the accessories will certainly keep up.
Therefore, we started the design of FH9 one year ago, and it will be released soon. Regarding to the FH9, I believe it’s quite easy to guess that the number of driver units will definitely more than FH7. The interchangeable plug and semi-open acoustic cavity design shall also be included. But will the cavity material and units bring you surprise? Is there any improvement in sound? Please pay close attention to our new product launch!

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To be continued

 

[gto88]

When will a tribrid IEM due to release? I see there is plan in the road map.

 

[FiiO]

When will a tribrid IEM due to release? I see there is plan in the road map.

Could you please indicate which IEM? Thanks in advanced!

Best regards

 

[gto88]

Could you please indicate which IEM? Thanks in advanced!

Best regards

In your post #18, there is a thread for “electrostatic IEMs”, I guess that there is none in the market, but I thought that one might be planned?

 

[FiiO]

In your post #18, there is a thread for “electrostatic IEMs”, I guess that there is none in the market, but I thought that one might be planned?

We could not promise about that currently. But we will try!

Best regarads

 

[FiiO]

Chapter 24 FH5S/FH5S Pro

In the previous post, I introduced our FH9, now it’s time for our FH5S updated in 2021. In this way, the product line of DD+BA IEMs can be covered, and then new products will have to wait until 2022. Of course, according to the our pace, FH7 will be updated in 2022.

FH5, the predecessor of FH5S, was launched in May 2018. It is a successful product in the history of FiiO IEMs. As the positioning of the previous products is generally aiming to low-and mid market, there are many of our M11 users tend to use with earphones of other brands. The FH5 has changed the whole situation since its launch. At the same time, the sound quality has also been recognized by many experienced audiophiles with its warm tone and strong bass. It is also a pair of earphones that are heavy in sound coloration in FiiO IEMs family.

In addition, FH5S has also changed the olive-shaped design of its previous models, and has adopted a new shell (nicknamed bicycle saddle by audiophiles). The cavity employs the TRISHELL “sandwich” structural design. It can be said that the sound and design of FH5 have a great influence on the earphones designed afterwards.

However, even the best products have a life cycle. Especially in recent years, the competition between Chinese HIFI earphones manufactures becomes fierce, and the progress in appearance/acoustics/materials/cables/accessories can be said to be rapid. Therefore, we launched FH5S in April 2021, an updated product of FH5.

Compared with FH5, FH5S has several major changes listed as follows.

1. In terms of the drivers, FH5S has changed from 1 dynamic driver and 3 balanced armatures design to 2 dynamic drivers and 2 balanced armatures design. Our thought in tuning is to further highlight the advantages of mid-range vocals on the basis of FH5, so a 6mm beryllium-plated dynamic driver is used for the mids. For the balanced armature part, we employ the well-known Knowles 30017 balanced armature driver.

2. The material of the diaphragm is changed. Both dynamic drivers use the beryllium-plated diaphragm, which further improves the acoustic characteristics.

3. The acoustic cavity has been changed from the original closed type to a semi-open design, which further widens the lateral sound field and reduces the pressure of long-term wear.

4. The 3 tuning switches have been added, which makes the earphones more interesting and facilitates the users to find a certain kind of sound based on personal taste.

5. To comply with the changes of output jacks of players and other front-end devices, a cable made of high-purity silver-plated monocrystalline cooper with interchangeable 2.5/3.5/4.4mm plugs comes as standard.

It can be regarded that FH5S is a completely new upgrade. Frankly speaking, though the cost has increased a lot, we still maintain the same pricing level as FH5 in order to show gratitude to our users and to enhance the competitiveness of our products.

In addition, to satisfy the needs of more users, we have also launched the FH5S Pro with a better cable after FH5S.

 

[Acolit]

New products that waiting to be launched in 2021:

M11Plus (ESS version), M17, K9 Pro ESS, FW5, UTWS5, BTA30 Pro.

Hello. Apparently, the plans to launch the M11Plus (ESS version) in 2021 were not destined to happen. Can you share any new information about the plans for this model? Should we hope that the launch of the new M11Plus will happen at least in the first quarter of 2022?

Thank you for sharing information with us and responding in this thread.

 

[FiiO]

Hello. Apparently, the plans to launch the M11Plus (ESS version) in 2021 were not destined to happen. Can you share any new information about the plans for this model? Should we hope that the launch of the new M11Plus will happen at least in the first quarter of 2022?

Thank you for sharing information with us and responding in this thread.

Thanks for your interest in our products!
If everything goes well, the M11Plus(ESS version) will be available soon!

Best regards

 

[MrHedgehog]

Hello, I wonder if we can expect receiver/transmitter function for the new BTR5?

Let's imagine following schema of connection: PC + BTR5 + wireless connection to Bluetooth headphones. At the moment this is possible according to my searches only using players, but unfortunately M6 feels a little bit outdated. So it would be great to have such an option.

Can you please share any thoughts on the matter? Thank you!

 

[FiiO]

Hello, I wonder if we can expect receiver/transmitter function for the new BTR5?

Let's imagine following schema of connection: PC + BTR5 + wireless connection to Bluetooth headphones. At the moment this is possible according to my searches only using players, but unfortunately M6 feels a little bit outdated. So it would be great to have such an option.

Can you please share any thoughts on the matter? Thank you!

Dear friend,

The BTR5 does not support BT trnsmitting function.
You could check whether our BTA30Pro could meet your need instead: https://www.fiio.com/bta30pro

Best regards

 

[mcnaugha]

This dongle sounds interesting. I currently use the BTR5 2021 as my dongle with iPhone for listening with my FH5s Pro. I’d like a balanced port on it. I‘d also love it to transmit LDAC.

I think also there is a need for a tidy solution, e.g. A MagSafe feature or companion case that allow you to attach the dongle to the back of the iPhone. Could you please talk to your partners about making MagSafe cases for your portable devices? I think it would be safer for my BTR5 too.

 

[FiiO]

This dongle sounds interesting. I currently use the BTR5 2021 as my dongle with iPhone for listening with my FH5s Pro. I’d like a balanced port on it. I‘d also love it to transmit LDAC.

I think also there is a need for a tidy solution, e.g. A MagSafe feature or companion case that allow you to attach the dongle to the back of the iPhone. Could you please talk to your partners about making MagSafe cases for your portable devices? I think it would be safer for my BTR5 too.

Dear friend,

Thanks for the kind feedback! We will report this to the product manger for assessing!

Best regards