Here you go ...
FIR Audio Frontier Series IEM Set – Impressions from the Aussie Tour (by jaydoc1)
I have just passed on the set of FIR Audio's Frontier Series iems’s to the next Australian Headfi’er after 3 weeks of listening experience with the FIR Audio Xenon XE6, Krypton KR5 and Neon NE4, and below are my impressions.
Well, as I don’t really see myself anywhere near the level of audiophile articulation / testing methodology that I’ve seen here on Headfi, this is less a full-blown technical review and more a review of just the listening experience of these iem’s through a relatively 'heavier' music lens.
But before I launch into my thoughts, I would like to give a big, big thankyou to Headfi’er
Damz87 and local Aussie Supplier
Minidisc and of course
FIR Audio themselves, for making this all possible.
It is very rare (has it been done before here?) in Australia, to my knowledge, to be able to trial such high-end gear for 3 weeks in your own surroundings, own music collection, etc. Over the course of many years climbing that audiophile gear ladder most of my purchases have been ‘blind’ overseas buys as there is 2, maybe 3 stores that I’m aware of in all Australia that cover the high end iem / portable gear market.
So, to say I appreciate the experience is definitely an understatement, and I encourage any other Aussie Headfi’ers to support and signup to this tour.
So, about the Xenon (XE6), Krypton (KR5), Neon (NE4) eh ?
I will say that apart from the give-away bass-port design of each, their sound signatures were quite different from my expectations and having now experienced these, I feel like there is a bit of a sound quality gap in the iem’s I currently own.
To give you a reference point, my own iems range from the JHA / AK Kayla Aions, MMR Thummims, UM Fusang, 64 Audio Fourte, Final A8000, LCD-i4 to the Obravo Ra-C-Cu’s, and what I was expecting from the FIR Fontiers was a sort of “Thummim / Fusang” mix with an increasing base signature as you go from the NE4 up to the XE6’s.
What I actually experienced with the FIR Frontier set was that each had their own unique sound signature, quite unlike what I’ve heard before, and, for my music collection / tastes (fairly raw 60’s, 70’s rock / punk, Pistols, Radiohead, Queens of the Stone Age, Pixies, Breaders, Dandy Warhols, early Bowie, Wire, Black Sabbath, Eno… you get the idea) there was one of the FIR’s in particular that stood out, but all 3 sound to me to be some of the best iem’s out there.
My player setup of preference currently is the AK 2000T via the 4.4mm cable port (but I also used my Sony WM1Z and Chord Hugo2 as well for the demo’ing), tube amp mode, Crystal Azedna ear-tips, music mostly 24bit / 192kHz with some 128 & 512DSD as well, so pretty good high-resolution sound, oh, and a nice big bean bag. In a quiet house.
So, after that lengthy intro (?), my impressions (as I mentioned, I actually won’t cover much of the tech details, design and physical descriptions, build quality, etc, as others have done that much better that I could – see Twisters 6 review for example).
Impressions Common to all 3 FIR Audio Frontier IEM's :
With a similar design for each of the 3 I found them all to be a very comfortable fit in my ears, with a fairly compact face / shell size, not too heavy, but a nice solid ‘heft’ to them, especially the XE6 being stainless-steel vs aluminium for the KR5 and NE4. The ear nozzles allow a good insertion level, good tip seal and tended to stay put – very nice.
While each one has an interchangeable Atom module (air pressure relief to reduce fatigue) with 3 different relief levels, they are fairly small and could be easy to lose, so I left them all with the supplied silver Atom inserted, which I believe is the middle level of isolation / air pressure relief range in the set of 3 supplied.
Interestingly, given the open base post design facing your ear cartilage I had assumed it would need a close / flush fit against your ear but found a little bit of movement or gap away from the ear didn’t really affect the bass to me, which is good news when compared to physical bone conduction driver designs that get a bassier ‘feel’ the closer or firmer the contact to the ears surface.
Each of the casing designs are also very solid and the plated finish over metal bodies (aluminium for the ‘NE4’ & ‘KR5’, stainless steel for the ‘XE6’) should last well and don’t seem to be susceptible to fine hair-line scratching ala’ the Final A8000’s polished stainless-steel finish. To my tastes the looks are in keeping with their price point; attractive faces with that ‘premium’ look.
As I mentioned earlier, they each have a unique sound signature, so I’ll cover the sound part separately for each starting with the NE4.
The Neon NE4:
As the NE4 is at the starting point of the FIR Frontier series I expected a ‘junior’ version of the other 2, but surprisingly experienced something quite different. To me, I heard a unique ‘raw’ style of sound tuning, by that I mean (in a good way) there was an energy and visceral edge to the mid-bass & vocal region that brought to life the type of music I enjoy (see above), without the expected bass / sub-bass dominance I expected from the exposed bass port design feature of these earphones.
High-mids to high frequencies were sharp enough to define guitar work beautifully without harshness (although they don’t extend into the extreme of highs like some estat driven iems can do) and the listening experience had the cohesiveness across the whole frequency range like you would expect from a single driver iem with none of that slightly compartmentalized frequency feeling I get from some hybrid multi-driver type earphone designs. They just work so well for my music & ears.
The bass port does its job well and bass sounds feel very natural but prominent, very strong and well defined. Just right for 60’s / 70’s heavier rock (just try out Bowies “Width of a Circle” … width indeed !).
Soundstage, while not expansive, has some good width while being a bit on the intimate side, which didn’t seem to be an issue for me as the detail & clarity of placement was all there, just not at a holographic level. Funnily enough, I think this suits the heavier / sharper rock music sound I like, giving that sense of ‘being there in the music’, whereas a more holographic sound doesn’t quite work or seem realistic to me with this type of music – especially if like me, you’ve spent any time in smaller live rock club venues (eg being pounded from huge stacks of Marshal amps from formative bands like RadioBirdman, Birthday Party… ah, showing my age a bit here).
The NE4 was also easy to drive, covering my preferred loud listening levels lower down the scale – maybe an effect of the bass port and Atom port perhaps?
The Krypton KR5:
This one was unexpected after my NE4 listening sessions as I was expecting a scale up across the board but found to my ears that it seemed a more reference sounding tune. While still visceral in the lower regions, being well defined and articulate right through the frequency ranges, it didn’t seem to bring my music alive like the NE4’s. I even had a feeling in the highs like I get from my 64 Audio Fourte’s – a bit odd in this area being slightly harsh / artificial sounding. Hard for me to pinpoint, but a bit of a spoiler for what I listen to, even given it has a more holographic soundstage, great layering and detail.
I played around with tips, Atom modules, insertion in my ear but couldn’t get the sound impact I was after and kept wanting to go back to the NE4’s. Maybe these are better suited to those who prefer a more reference sounding tune with elevated bass?
The Xenon XE6:
Now these were superb! To have such hard hitting bass (Black Sabbath’s Paranoid – bass and drum rolls never punchier than this), expressive vocal region and extreme high frequency extension and crystal clarity (one of those rare iems that make you say all over again “I’m hearing sounds in the background I haven’t heard before”) while still delivering near technical perfection in its huge 3D created soundstage is quite the achievement in iem design. To then deliver that cohesively across the range of frequencies makes me think this set would perform exceptionally well for all music styles and tastes.
So, are they the best of the set?
Well, yes from the stance of technical / holographic / clarity / extension (high to low) brilliance and I would be happy with just these as my only iem …… but for my music & ears I have an odd preference for one of the other FIR’s.
To explain, I kept wanting to go back to the NE4’s as it seemed to give my music an alive / raw feeling not quite present in the others – the music sounded more exciting to my ears than any other iem in my collection as well. How to define this ‘musicality’?
Not sure, but I think that maybe it’s just that personal connection we get from certain type of tuning in certain iems with certain types of music. So for me I like the NE4’s over the better reference level sound of the KR5’s and the sound range perfection of the XE6.
I suppose thats what I've really learnt from my time with these wonderful iem's.
PS; The NE4’s were so good for me, I’m putting a few of my iems onto the classifieds to fund these as my next purchase. Fourte or LCD-i4 anyone?
Cheers,
JD
. I heard the three Fir IEMs similar to how you did. NE4 was sharp but had the least amount of resolution kind of like a photograph with the contrast boosted up.
