[TMRaven]

How much bass do the FA-011 have in comparison to the DT990?-- strictly quantity and extension wise.

 

[Cajunky]

I took the foam out to give my ears more room and they are very comfortable. They were a little brighter but sound great as long as you are listening to well recorded material. When I listen to more mainstream / lower quality recordings (Bright or Sibilant) I use a 75 Ohm adapter and it tames down the highs a bit. I think it depend a lot on your source also. The headphones sound brighter amped with my CMoy BB from a line out of my CD Player. However straight out of my LG Chocolate Touch the highs sound smoother. Even though these benefit from an amp I have found that they sound pretty good straight out of my phone and they are only short on volume on a few quietly recorded classical vocal recordings.
 
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You can just rip off the foam that sits over the driver with the hole open for the driver. Removing the foam will change the sound quality, I have no idea as to what it would sound like if you replaced it with another dense but non itchy foam material.
 

 


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Is it possible to mod (change) the itchy material that covers the drivers? Anyone tried and/or have any idea what sort of material would be suitable and where to find it?
 
It seems to me that if I can replace that material with a less itchy material without changing its sonic signature, those headphone would be PERFECT (for me anyway)

 

 

[parsona]

I just got these cans yesterday.  Just to give my impression, might not be of much use sonically as my ears are not a typical head-fi trained pair of ears. 
So anyway, first looks weren't that impressive.  I'm coming from a Phillips HP 890 which was huge and extremely comfortable, which was also quite a bass heavy headphones.  My apologies as I only have that to compare against.  I'm connecting it to my Xonar Essence STX at the 2nd level gain.
 
Build quality seems a little filmsy, most of the components are thin.  The metal plate covering the cans were unattached when it came.  Easily put them back on.  However, one of the metal plates were discoloured, almost rusty.  Doesn't look good, worries me on the durability of the cans. 
 
Comparatively, the FA-011 had very small and thin padding which I did not think would match the comfort of my old cans and I was right.  The grip was rather tight and the light padding resulted in a slight uncomfortable fit but I am sure the grip will loosen after a while and I will get used to it.  Still, these cans aren't exactly what I would call anywhere near comfy, but maybe my expectations were too high coming from my HP 890. 
 
Soundstage wasn't that great, it lost out to my cheaper HP 890 significantly.  However, the FA-011 really shines with Dolby Headphones in games.  Positioning was easily distinguishable, and the sound did not lose too much quality as compared to my older cans. Without the Dolby Headphones, I could not hear surround sound at all.   So for games with Dolby Headphones, this is a great improvement as I get 3D sound without compromising too much on sound quality. I still get to feel the explosions, giving a better immersive atmosphere although maybe for competitive gaming this might not be a plus.
 
Bass is strong, tight and controlled.  Wins over my already bassy HP 890 but not by alot.  Bass quality was definitely much better though. 
 
Everyone is quite right with listening fatigue on this, treble is rather high.  Its fun only for a while, maybe an hour later you will want to take off the phones when listening to music. 
 
Sound leaks ALOT on these.  It can easily replace any speakers built into monitors.  Do not bring them out. 
 
All in all, I do not regret buying these.  I wish it could be comfier, but I hope it will eventually become better fitting. 
 
 
 
 
 

 

[DefQon]

These are open can's, not closed so you have to expect them to leak a lot of sound. To bring the best out of these headphones you have to at least have over 90 hours of burn-in and an amp, otherwise you would just have mediocre sound quality out of these unamped and with no break-in time.
 
An amplifier would not just bring out the glitter out of the sound of these earphones but also the soundstage, as these are rated at 160ohm your average stock player or phone or onboard sound card would have trouble pushing these headphones to its limits sound quality and soundstage wise. These headphones are a bit power hungry but you will max out or almost max the volume on your player to bring out the soundstage. An amp remedies this easily.
 
The only thing I can complain about these is that there is a lot of fatigue wearing these for more then 2 hours, as the pads are too hard and shallow. If it was a bit softer and thicker these I would expect everyone on Head-fi to at least have one. 

 

[Cajunky]

My Fa-011s had a lot of clamping force when I got them. I tried bending the metal bands as show in the following illustration. I also pulled out the foam in front of the drivers to give my ears more room. They are now some of the most comfortable headphones I have worn. Regarding the treble I use one of these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Etymotic-ER4P-ER4S-3-5MM-plug-resistor-adaptor-/270792974191?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0c84df6f#ht_1792wt_1141
 
It smoothes out the treble just a bit and makes them better with bright recordings / sources.
 

 

[DefQon]

Quote:

My Fa-011s had a lot of clamping force when I got them. I tried bending the metal bands as show in the following illustration. I also pulled out the foam in front of the drivers to give my ears more room. They are now some of the most comfortable headphones I have worn. Regarding the treble I use one of these:
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Etymotic-ER4P-ER4S-3-5MM-plug-resistor-adaptor-/270792974191?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0c84df6f#ht_1792wt_1141
 
It smoothes out the treble just a bit and makes them better with bright recordings / sources.
 
 

I soldered a resistor in mine.
 
 

 

[Cajunky]

That would work too. My only fear is that as I upgrade my source and amp that I might run in to darker, warmer link in the chain and I might appreciate the extra sparkle. I guess you can always remove/replace it. Do you know what that blue thing (capacitor?) is on the back of the driver and why it is there?
 
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I soldered a resistor in mine.
 
 

 

 

[DefQon]

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That would work too. My only fear is that as I upgrade my source and amp that I might run in to darker, warmer link in the chain and I might appreciate the extra sparkle. I guess you can always remove/replace it. Do you know what that blue thing (capacitor?) is on the back of the driver and why it is there?
 


 

That's another resistor. That's probably there to filter out highs giving it that extra modified sparkle. Remember LFF mentioning earlier in this thread that highs on these are like separately enhanced and modified not really sounding natural but still has sparkle to it, I believe the resistor there may be that piece of modification. I'm thinking about putting a portable amp into housing of these things.
 

 

[minimix]

Hi
 
I need some help, I'm thinking about buying the FA-011.
The problem is that I went to GD-Audiobase website and I saw some christmas trees.., So soon? it's only september...
Then I read some sentences advertising about the DBA-02 saying that they will arrive in February and February was 8 months ago...
So I would like to know if someone got them lately from GD-Audiobase (for lately I mean last August or September), I don't want to waist more than 100€ for nothing!
Is this site trustable?
 
thank you
 
minimix

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Hi
 
I need some help, I'm thinking about buying the FA-011.
The problem is that I went to GD-Audiobase website and I saw some christmas trees.., So soon? it's only september...
Then I read some sentences advertising about the DBA-02 saying that they will arrive in February and February was 8 months ago...
So I would like to know if someone got them lately from GD-Audiobase (for lately I mean last August or September), I don't want to waist more than 100€ for nothing!
Is this site trustable?
 
thank you
 
minimix

GD-Audiobase is absolutely trustworthy. Their site isn't the greatest, but they are to be trusted. That is where most people have gotten their Fischers. Be warned, shipping takes 2-3 weeks, but these things are worth it.

 

[minimix]

That sentence is music to my ears, i hope they are (I came from ultrasone pro900 that my small daughter broke into pieces

)
 
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... but these things are worth it.

 
 

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

That sentence is music to my ears, i hope they are (I came from ultrasone pro900 that my small daughter broke into pieces

) 
 
 

Yeah I recently purchased a pair of Pro 900s to replace my FA-011s, because their open design made it difficult to listen with roommates. I honestly would pick the FA-011s over the Pro 900s any-day. The amount of bass from the Pro 900s is amazing, but isn't suited for genres other than EDM or Dubstep. Every other genre suffers from the severely recessed mid range and overpowering bass. Meanwhile, the FA-011s, when called upon, still give a really solid amount of bass when needed, and have nice full, brilliant sounding mids for other genres, and the bass can go from powerful to laid back easily, depending on what the recording calls for. Make no mistake, however. There is nothing that compares with the massive bass of the Pro 900s, but I never found myself wanting the bass of the Pro 900s over the FA-011s. The FA-011s, to me, had plenty of bass and I never found them lacking in comparison, even though the 900s had a good bit more bass.

Do note this is all coming from someone who doesn't mind listening to these bass heavy genres from a more neutral pair of cans, though I do prefer to have a solid quantity and quality of bass. Also, for me, the Pro 900s just had too much bass. If that isn't the case for you, like most others it seems, then you may miss the bass from the Pro 900s more than me, but I'm certain you won't be unhappy with the FA-011s. That said, get a good amp, these things need it.

 

[rmiya]

Be aware on new orders of the fa-011 model. I just got mine and they're not wood based. I could have ordered the Hyperion model (simular) for 50.00 less. Now I am trying to get some money back. Very disapointed!!!

 

[LFF]

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Be aware on new orders of the fa-011 model. I just got mine and they're not wood based. I could have ordered the Hyperion model (simular) for 50.00 less. Now I am trying to get some money back. Very disapointed!!!

That's interesting...I don't anyone else has received anything else but wood when ordering the FA-011.

 

[rmiya]

Be aware of new orders of the fa-011 model. I got mine now and it's not wood based. I could have waited for the Hyperion model and paid 50.00 less. I'm very disappointed!!!