[bunit]

I'm glad these phones seem to be working out for most of the people that ordered them.  I have to admit I"m a little disappointed by the reports of just average soundstage and imaging though; has anyone tried them with gaming yet?  Seems like they'd be just average...but who knows
Still though, within the <$150 price bracket, these looking to be pretty strong contenders, especially for open phones.  Glad to hear that those Fischer Audio mids are still intact and strong, yet intimate.
 I might have to pick a pair up to compliment my upcoming stable of closed phones.
I'm particularly curious how these stack up to other open phones in the sub-$150 price bracket though...looking forward to more impressions, thanks to all the early adopters for spending their hard earned money and time as well to post here 
 

 

[ericp10]

Hmmmm? Well imaging and soundstage is above average to my ears.  But we all truly do hear things differently. Again, I think people need to give headphones time to settle in with burn-in, although I admit I loved the sound out of the box.

 

[rawrster]

Wow Anaxilus you picked up a pair of these as well?
 
How much bass impact are we talking about here? Is it slightly north of neutral or a bass monster

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Going to test bell of the Beatles' "Penny Lane" out  on the FA-011. This with give me a real good sense of how natural sounding it is.

Ughh! I wish you could hear my master of Penny Lane from the original stereo master tapes....
 

 

[Sophonax]

I think these are approaching the bass monster territory -- impact is very strong, and quite impressive for an open headphone.  The bass on the FA-011 reminds me most of the Denon D2000, except that it's much tighter and better controlled.
 
I've put about 20 hours on these now, and I'm noticing some improvements.  I reported earlier that they sounded a little overdamped -- that's not the case anymore.  As a result, I think they're picking up more low-level detail now, more than they did out of the box.  Also, imaging has improved slightly too.  Tonal balance remains pretty much unchanged, though, and the treble hasn't tamed.
 
One of the most impressive aspects of the FA-011 is its ability to handle all kinds of different dynamics.  Today, I was listening to my FLAC library on shuffle with the FA-011.  One minute I was listening to Ayreon's "Dragon on the Sea", and the FA-011 was reproducing the bold sounds and cannon-fire with convincing authority.  Then, the next song that came up was Trapeze's "Medusa", which starts off with a delicate acoustic guitar riff; the FA-011 handled this quite well also.  It seems like the bass response can step up to support huge dynamics, but the mids are also quite capable of beautifully reproducing more delicate tracks as well.  I think this is a rare and special quality.
 
My biggest complaint is still comfort -- it isn't the greatest, but it's acceptable.  I can wear these for about 2 hours before my ears start to complain.
 
I should mention that I'm running these from my Schiit Lyr -- seems to be the best match of all the Schiit amps.  They're also decent from the Asgard, but not as good from the Valhalla (bass becomes overwhelming).  I also tried them straight from my iPod -- they sounded passably decent, but I had to turn the volume up about 3/4 of the way to get the sound to an acceptable level.  Also tried them from the headphone out of my Yamaha speaker amp -- that was just a disaster, somewhat surprisingly (bass become muddy and bloated).

 

[bunit]

I'm thinking of picking these phones up as a compliment.  My current stable is all closed phones, and mostly bass-heavy phones with a slightly (ymmv) recessed midrange.  Would these satisfy me as being an open phone with a larger soundstage than say, Pro 900s/D5000s, while also being more mid-centric?  Harsh highs are a little bit disappointing but I can cope, I rather enjoy sparkly treble but there is a fine line between enjoyable and just tolerable, I probably won't know until I try these out myself.  Most importantly though, I want silky smooth, beautiful non-recessed mids, and Fischer Audio has definitely delivered on some of their other models. The bass is considered a bonus to me, and I"m glad to hear that its very tight and controlled but goes deep when called upon.  What do you guys think?  Worth the $130 + 2week-1month wait as a pair of complimentary open phones to us users who primarily use closed phones (for various reasons) ?  I can't seem to find any other open phones in the price range that compare (from reading at least) so these seem like a good choice.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

I'm thinking of picking these phones up as a compliment.  My current stable is all closed phones, and mostly bass-heavy phones with a slightly (ymmv) recessed midrange.  Would these satisfy me as being an open phone with a larger soundstage than say, Pro 900s/D5000s, while also being more mid-centric?  Harsh highs are a little bit disappointing but I can cope, I rather enjoy sparkly treble but there is a fine line between enjoyable and just tolerable, I probably won't know until I try these out myself.  Most importantly though, I want silky smooth, beautiful non-recessed mids, and Fischer Audio has definitely delivered on some of their other models. The bass is considered a bonus to me, and I"m glad to hear that its very tight and controlled but goes deep when called upon.  What do you guys think?  Worth the $130 + 2week-1month wait as a pair of complimentary open phones to us users who primarily use closed phones (for various reasons) ?  I can't seem to find any other open phones in the price range that compare (from reading at least) so these seem like a good choice.

Treble perception is something we really must judge individually. Someone's sparkly might be somebody's annoyingly bright.
 
As for the worth in wait and $$$, IMHO, definitely worthwhile as they compliment neutral headphones very nicely.
 
 

 

[Anaxilus]

Quote:

Wow Anaxilus you picked up a pair of these as well?
 
How much bass impact are we talking about here? Is it slightly north of neutral or a bass monster

No sir, I was strictly commenting on the 598.  I'll hear the FA011 tomorrow.
 

 

[ericp10]

I wish I could I hear your master of the original stereo master tapes too @ LFF. Sounds spectacular on these phones?
 
Quote:

Ughh! I wish you could hear my master of Penny Lane from the original stereo master tapes....
 

 

 

[ericp10]

Well at this point I can say I think I have found my dream headphones - sound signature-wise. Great width of soundstage, wonderful tight bass, nice forward mids and vocals and nice treble (though that's not so important to me). I really love what these do for electric guitar, bass and acoustic instruments. Radiohead sound wonderful through these headphones. I really like the M-50 and the beyer DT-150 that I have, but I fear they aren't going to get much listening time when I am in a headphone mood. Only sound signature I like better than these phones (and not by that much) are my 1964-Q  custom. Job well done @ Fischer!

 

[iSkullz]

Quote:

Well at this point I can say I think I have found my dream headphones - sound signature-wise. Great width of soundstage, wonderful tight bass, nice forward mids and vocals and nice treble (though that's not so important to me). I really love what these do for electric guitar, bass and acoustic instruments. Radiohead sound wonderful through these headphones. I really like the M-50 and the beyer DT-150 that I have, but I fear they aren't going to get much listening time when I am in a headphone mood. Only sound signature I like better than these phones (and not by that much) are my 1964-Q  custom. Job well done @ Fischer!

Nice review and I'm glad you are happy with these phones, now only if i can get mine, I have been waiting for more than 2 weeks now...
 

 

[Dorohero]

Hi, how do they sound unamped? Just plugged in sound card on PC. I'm thinking of buying them for gaming (RPG, RTS and FPS) movies and music (rock, metal ...). I'll be using them with asus xonar D1. Oh and how about comparison between them and AD700? (sorry for bad English)

 

[Roleaux]

 
I placed my order on March 25th and picked them up at the post office this morning.  The box was in good shape and fortunately, there was no smoke smell when I unwrapped them.  As for imperfections, the left cup has a moderate sized buckle in the foam as if it were stitched poorly and the right side has some wear marks in the pleather ring that sits between the foam and the cup (thinking this might be from rubbing against the cardboard packaging of the box during transit). As you can see from PooManDeluxe's unboxing photos, the headphones are nestled right into the cardboard with nothing to protect them. 
 
 

 

[iSkullz]

Quote:

 
I placed my order on March 25th and picked them up at the post office this morning.  The box was in good shape and fortunately, there was no smoke smell when I unwrapped them.  As for imperfections, the left cup has a moderate sized buckle in the foam as if it were stitched poorly and the right side has some wear marks in the pleather ring that sits between the foam and the cup (thinking this might be from rubbing against the cardboard packaging of the box during transit). As you can see from PooManDeluxe's unboxing photos, the headphones are nestled right into the cardboard with nothing to protect them. 
 
 

How come everyone is picking theirs up from the post office, when u placed the order did u use your home address? Because I have been looking everyday eagerly at the post man waiting to drop of the headphones.... I ordered on March 24th and paid the same day...
What am i doing wrong?
 
Hey Roleaux, what did u tell them when u got to the post office?
 

 

[ericp10]

I picked mine up from the mail room of the company I worked for, not the post office. But I think are just impatient, and when they here they are at the post office they just opt to go get them. I probably would do the same after the long wait. I mean for most - including myself - it took almost a month to receive them. For me, however, it was worth the wait.