I made a new thread for this post since a lot of people seem to be interested in the Fischer Audio products.
I hope this ongoing review will help you guys out a little. I will keep adding to this as time progresses and will maybe end up reviewing more Fischer IEM's in this thread. I am not a professional reviewer like some of you guys here and English isn't my native language so bear with me. Now, onwards!
My main mission objective is to find the best sub-$100 IEMs in the world.
After reading here about the Fischer Audio IEM's I got interested in buying a pair and got in contact with a friend from Russia. I myself am from The Netherlands. After choosing the models I was most interested in (Fischer Audio Eterna and Fischer Audio Evolution) I was able to buy a pair through him and by now I have received the Evolution in the mail. The Evolutions and Eterna are in their Fundamentals-series which is the "audiophile" range I guess. I will do a complete review when I feel I have had enough experience with these IEM's but will now post my first impressions.
Gear:
I use these in combination with an Iaudio X5L 30gb with battery-mod and a Fiio E5. Music listened to so far is Gojira's "From Mars to Sirius" and Venetian Snares' "Rossz Csillag Allat Szuletet", which are my reference albums. Both albums in 320kbps mp3. Also briefly tried some selected tracks by different artists, ranging from extreme metal to classical to breakcore to singer/songwriter.
Packaging:
The packaging is very minimal. A small black box with modest marketing imaging and some overall decent looking fonts and graphics. Nothing flashy and I have to admit I was expecting a sturdier packaging. Inside there's the phones, a small pouch, a little user-manual and three types of tips; two single flange and one bi-flange. I will add pictures later.
After burn-in of app. 20 hours my first impressions are:
Pros:
+Moderately deep, clear and very warm bass. A smooth layer of bass in all the right places. They are NOT basshead IEM's though. The bass supports the other freq's. No in your face crushing bass of doom. The Eterna IEM's will be bassier. Will try to review these as well. The bass lacks detail in the very low end but has a pretty speedy and punchy response towards the mids. At higher volume the bass stays tight without becoming muddy. I don't need the Fiio E5's bass-eq for these since there is more than enough for me. I also turn down the Iaudio's "Machbass" to 2 (out of 10).
+Pronunciated mids, seem perfect for distorted guitar sounds and actually, the mids are absolutely brilliant for the price payed. I am seriously impressed. Vocals aren't up front though but sit comfortable between the guitars.
+Highs are bright without sounding sharp. There is SOME sibilance in the very highs (cymbals, harsher electronics in breakcore) but I find it hardly noticeable.
+Isolation is good. I could see me using these in the metro.
+Price!! I paid 40 euro. They don't SOUND like 40 euro to me. Amazing bang for your buck so far.
Cons:
-Thin cable, looks fragile. This is its weakest spot. Since this IEM is in the same "league" as the Eterna's (some Russian reviewers even favour these over the Eterna's because of their more balanced nature) I do not understand why these don't have the sturdier cable that the Eterna does have.
-Bass sounds a bit separated from the mid's. No perfect transitions in the lower end of the spectrum. There is no actual sub-bass.
-More cable noise than I find acceptable. I need to get used to this. Wearing them over the ear is a no-go due to the design. No clip included.
-I don't like the driver's design. The silver and white plastic looks cheap in my opinion. The paint on the driver looks like it will come off after prolonged use.
-The website says they come with a volume controller. There is none.
Story so far:
So the first impression I get is that they sound balanced with a small preference for mids and upper-bass. Not overly bright/no silver lining around the edges. These are great for rock/metal/funk/blues if you like your guitars up front instead of your vocals. They are also pretty good if you listen to snappy, mid-oriented electronica like glitch/clicks'ncuts/idm because the sound is lively and upfront. They keep up with higher volumes but the bass then does get a bit "wooly". There is no real distortion though. I got an instant seal but they don't seem very comfortable. Might consider switching to Comply tips. Soundstage is pretty decent. Not high-end but man, are these sweet for the price! You get an actual sense of presence and space. They destroy my friend's Soundmagic 50's and Beta Brainwavz. Different league all together. I can hear a small hiss when using my Fiio E5 on louder volumes so they're quite sensitive. No problem though. So far I am very happy! More soon!
