Picked up the FA-011 from the post office a short while ago.. total turnaround from placing the order to delivery was 17 days. The fastest I've received anything from GD-A. In my parcel was the phones, warranty card/instructions, extension IC, & 1/4" adapter. The phones arrived in mint condition.. no scratches anywhere on the wood or metal badges.. they possessed no funky odors so I did not receive the limited run, FA-011 "Tobacco Edition" ..
My 011 does not have the foam cut out. The wood is indeed dark.. and GORGEOUS. Depending on the light and how closely you look, the deep red/maroon color is distinguishable.. from a distance, the red appears more easily.. up close, they look practically black.. I simply love the look of these..
A word about the comfort: SUPREME. These rival the 598 in terms of overall comfort for me! Both my ears completely fit inside the pads, leaving the thicker circular pad to sit on the sides of my head. Clamping force is a non-issue for me and the pressure is again, perfect.. not too tight, but perfectly snug to where I can shake my head violently and they don't move any inch. The plastic headband that appears to server a stabilizing function across the top of the head is really nice here and is not bothersome at all, practically disappearing after a few minutes of wear Comfort is just right for me & I couldn't be happier.. lord knows I hate having to adjust a phone every few minutes due to discomfort.. there will be NONE of that with the 011. I can foresee my ears getting a bit warm (not to be confused with sweaty) if I wore these for three or four straight.. but a relaxing, cozy warmth. The outer pads material is such that it doesn't cause the area around my ears to sweat or or get itchy.. thanks FA! I obviously can't speak for others, but LFF was spot freaking ON in terms of description here.. these are sinfully comfortable!
The single-sided, coiled cable is excellent.. identical to the one on the 004. The extension cord look durable and of good quality. The jury appears out on their audio quality and/or if they degrade the signal at all.
On to the sound.. unamped, I was able to drive these to
slightly above my normal listening levels with the iPhone 4 on full volume.. no distortion or clipping was heard and they sounded VERY good actually.. a testament to the iPhone 4's amp & DAC: pretty damn good for a portable/smart phone combo, imo. I could see myself listening to them unamped quite often actually.. a good amp does increase the dynamics, cleans up the sound, and provides better overall control so.. insert the Arrow. With the Arrow in chain, the 011 SINGS. My impression here are with about an hour of listening so consider them quite premature & remember, these are my opinions..
The treble was a sharp and uncontrolled the first few minutes.. after about an hour, they smoothed out noticeably. Still sharp.. but these possess some kind of terrific sparkle. It's on the crisper/brighter side right now and can get a little grainy at very high volumes when amped (Arrow's Gain on II). I'm venturing a guess this graininess resolves with burn in (similar to what I heard with the 003 out-of-the box). The treble has good timbre, accuracy, and a lot of energy right now. With time, I bet they walk a nice line between smooth and crisp/bright.. very impressed here.
The midrange sounds ever so slightly behind the treble and bass.. and I mean
ever so slightly. Those lovely, signature, FA mids though are thankfully there is all their glory.. The midrange sounds neither too warm or too cold, too thick or thin.. simply very natural, balanced, slightly warm, and very musical... awesome. Timbre is again pretty good. I love the cohesiveness of the midrange.. instruments have just the right weight and never sound artificially boosted or altered to sound better. Decay is just right to my ears.. natural and synthetic instruments sound very alive and lively to my ears.. smooth, natural & balanced sounding is, again, the best way to describe it. Vocals have very good detail and can sound quite dynamic when called on. I'm definitely impressed with the midrange out of the box and without foam cutouts. I know the midrange improved quite a bit when I removed the foam covering the driver on my 004 so it's gonna be interesting to see how the 011 sound after the mod.
The heaping praise on the bass is well deserved. These go deep and have a strong punch. What I really appreciated was that the midbass hump was for the most part non-existent.. With the GAIN set at 2 on the Arrow, the bass did distort a little when the volume got turned up (to a level a little above my normal listening level).. this might clear up with burn in, we'll see.. but the bass has excellent presence, extension and texture.. I'd say the 003's bass is a little bit better textured (but it's also a closed phone I've redampened).. for an open phone, the 011 has some astonishingly good bass.. must be heard to be appreciated. I must note that despite such authoritative bass, it does not dominate the sound.. YES! The weight the bass provides along with the dynamic midrange makes orchestral pieces with bellowing horns and brooding cello work sound incredible.
Switching between the gain settings on the Arrow vs unamped from the iPhone and comparing at the same volume between these configs.. I noticed the distortion primarily when using the Arrow on gain II.. so I'm attributing it to the Arrow's gain implementation more than the 011. I've always used my Arrow at stock settings (except crossfeed set at I). The gain at II brought the mids up a noticeable amount and provided clarity there, but it sounds like cutting the foam out does this too.. Listening with the stock Arrow settings, the 011 had a more slightly u shaped sound.
So far, color me
very impressed. I'm loving every minute of listening to these phones & look forward to hearing how they sound after significant burn in. They work really well with practically everything I've thrown at them. They're definitely a keeper in my book!
Fischer Audio knocks another one out of the park!
