F.Audio FA3. I gave trust to them having bought already the S1, XS 01 and XS 03. Only the XS 01 was not good, sounds well but too many drawbacks. So I had chance to try their flagship for 160€ on AliExpress, with discount and coupon.
Packaging - simple, a quite big black cardboard box with white writing, "F.Audio exporing moving sound", the same that appears on dap screen when turn on off. Inside, the dap and the usb-c cable. Same as XS 03.
Construction - Well built and finished medium sized, stay well in pocket even not being unforgettable (160g weight)
On front side there is a 2,4 inch screen with fixed lighting average quality overall, five buttons for on/off, play/pause, prev/next, back, and a rubberized jerkywheel. On top side, two 3.5mm outputs, one SE/line out, one balanced. Bottom side, a 2.5mm balanced output, reset pinhole
and usb-c socket. Left side, nothing
. Right side
, volume
+/- and micr
oSD slot. Buttons have nice feedback, the whee
l is so so.
UI - To power on must press button quite long, then boot is quite fast. When power on, it ask "last played yes/no". Is resume play, and must answer yes within few seconds otherwise it goes in main menu and lose the resume! (by default is no). Navigation is quite easy thru FLODER view (also in XS 03 there is this typo lol) The main menu shows from top:
1) Music, it browse in now playing screen, displaying a small album cover (if any, otherwise there is a 70s disco style image named F.Audio) track info, file info (mp3 flac etc, bitrate, sampling frequency)
2) Classification, is album artist genre etc, and create playlist. But here the tracks are listed alphabetically even if they are numbered, so I never use it.
3) Favourite, the playlist created.
4) Fold... ops FLODER view
), where tracks are listed correctly numbered.
5) Equalizer, 7 band. Some presets, one custom and HiFi setting (zero all)
6) Settings. Some usual, auto off, screen off timer, plus l-r balance, digital filter (ak4497 dac, I cannot hear difference among the six settings) and set up for wheel and back button.
In now playing, the on/off button open menu for play mode (repeat shuffle etc)
File handling - Almost all usual formats are played. The DSD is played flawlessly, 64, 128 and 256. As told before, resume play yes, but no gapless play. No cuts at begin/end of tracks (I hate cuts, as it happen on Aigo Z6pro). Rew/ff is fast enough, faster and smoother in flac or wav than mp3. If rew/ff is made further the begin/end of track It will continue onto previous/next track. With mp3, rew onto previous track makes the player freeze for about 15 seconds when release, then restart (small issue)
Changing tracks and play/pause produces very light clicks, forgettable. Files speed transfer from PC to dap is about 8-10 Mb/s, not very fast.
Sound - As previously checked by
@cqtek, the FA3 has a noticeably bass roll-off. So it depends of which phone is linked to, I think neutral ones are not the best. With Logitech ue900s (4BA) it sounds nice, but bass lacks impact and depht, too light. The ue900s with Z6pro, that I think have no bass roll off, have good bass. I found a great pairing with bassy iem like NiceHCK M6 (1dual DD, 4BA), that is not perfect, though, upper bass is a bit too thumping covering the lower bass. I applied EQ, lowering 80hz -2dB and 200hz -3dB. Result, deep punchy articulated bass, clear natural mids and smooth detailed highs. Full, complete sound. Similar to XS 03 (with M6) with a step up in resolution, detail, clarity with right warmth, naturality. I think it worths the higher cost compared to Xs-03. The M6 with Z6pro have too much bass for my taste even I like bass! The M6 are connected to FA3 with balanced 3.5mm occ cable, and they are very comfortable for long listenings.
The background noise is... zero. The most silent dap I ever had (and also the most expensive...)
The output power is very high.
I tried briefly other 2 iem I have: CCA C12 (1DD, 5BA) balanced output. Similar bass, but without EQ, mids-highs brighter and detailed but a bit lesser warm, natural and smooth. I prefer the M6, but C12 are good too, comfortable (even a bit lesser, the M6 seem unbeatable in confort for me) and they cost one third than M6.
NiceHCK Nx7 (1 dual DD, 4BA, 1Piezo) in SE output. Good bass no-EQ but innatural mids, highs piercing and unrefined. Average comfort. How did NiceHCK made two iems so different at similar price?
Battery life is about 7 hours 30 minutes, sufficient, not great. Tested in continuous play, volume 50/100 (above average I listen to) screen off, balanced output. I read somewhere that single-ended output would last longer, maybe I try but I want use always balanced, has bit better quality overall as I checked in XS 03 before.
Battery is 4000mAh, but the amplifier is in Class A, that consume more power, and balanced output has about 60mW more power than SE, the device heats up pretty well when playing.
Pros : nice build, SQ (with bassy earphones), no background noise, easy to use.
Cons: bass roll-off, battery life not great, no gapless play.
Votes for this set, FA3 + M6, balanced output:
Bass 8 Punchy and deep (Without EQ 7, lesser defined upper bass)
Mids 9 great naturality, smoothness, warmth. But also detailed.
Treble 8,5 Natural, extended, detailed, smooth, never fatiguing.
Soundstage 9 Wide, nice 3D feeling, good separation.
Dynamics 7 A bit subdued to warmth and smoothness. More cuddling than shaking, but not boring at all.
Added a protection for the connector, made of plastic and metal, plus some adhesive rubber on sides and bottom sides. They covers the SE output and the 2.5 bal output that I don't use, and the SD card slot. 64 gb enough for me. And, for me, they makes the player look better!