kingpage
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Boycott will make him learn a valuable lesson.
REVIEW: Fischer Audio FA-011 - OFF THE DEEP END!!
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Nick01
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Got mine today (bought here on head-fi). And the bass immediately reminds me of the Grado GS1000 & PS1000. Need to listen to all 3 of them to confirm this.
Enthralled
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well, at least that website has it in stock, Malaysia anyone?
glad i didn't pull that trigger on gd-audiobase.
Gmork
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Perhaps they tried to contact him, were unsuccessful, then just went ahead and refunded me?
...meanwhile the headphones are still on their way? I can dream, right?
But seriously though I have no idea what happened, I have not been told anything by either party.
Wow. This actually happened, I still can't believe it.
I got mine today, AFTER Moneybookers had given me a full refund, including shipping. Apparently Dmitri just does not read his emails because I know Moneybookers definitely contacted him once, then again when they cancelled the order. Sucks for him, awesome for me. I don't feel the slightest bit bad about it either.
They're in almost perfect condition with some tiny dings in the wood. Unfortunately they are the new style darker wood models, which if I had gotten then normally I definitely would have complained about. I got the coiled cord, but they came with the straight cord and 1/4" adapter. Mine DO have the earholes cut out, but it looks like they gave a 2 year old a pair of scissors and told him to just wing it. The holes aren't centered in the middle of the pads and they aren't circular.
Out of the box they sound good; bass is there for sure but surprisingly to me its actually kinda bloated and not very tight at all. Highs are definitely not the greatest, there's noticeable sibilance and they lack clarity in the upper end. With like an hour of burn in, they sound pleasant but overall a bit muddy. Sound staging is nice, comfort is awesome but I also have small ears.
SobbingWallet
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Alright, after all the drama, I finally received mine!
They arrived in a nice Fischer Audio carrying bag, which was placed inside a roomy cardboard box. There wasn't any packing material in the box, but the sheer amount of air in the box gave the headphones a bit of protection (along with the foam lining most walls of the carrying bag). Overall, my headphones are in quite good condition, barring an issue with one of the cutouts...
The good:
The bad:
The ugly:
I'll post some sound quality impressions later on, after I deal with the cutout issue and actually sit down to enjoy these.
They arrived in a nice Fischer Audio carrying bag, which was placed inside a roomy cardboard box. There wasn't any packing material in the box, but the sheer amount of air in the box gave the headphones a bit of protection (along with the foam lining most walls of the carrying bag). Overall, my headphones are in quite good condition, barring an issue with one of the cutouts...
The good:
- They smell like new headphones with cloth pads, and there is no indication they have been exposed to smoke or anything like that.
- The suspension headband is pretty neat and comfortable.
- The carrying bag was a nice "surprise." I thought I might receive one since the others did, but I definitely didn't expect it upon ordering...so it helps offset some of my outrage over the shipping process.
- The wood is very dark as expected (think very dark chocolate), but it's very smooth without any real defects.
- The leather(ish?) rim of the cloth pads is also in good condition. I could be picky and cite a thin dent/crease/scuff or two, but that's to be expected from any product. There are no tears or gouges or stringy flesh wounds.
- The gold band looks slightly worn, but I can't say I've ever seen a similar band that doesn't. Either way, it's a nice touch that adds to the appearance.
- I should note that I'm not especially particular about the cosmetic condition of things, and I'm more a "function over form" kind of guy. Minor imperfections don't even ordinarily register for me. I'm only mentioning (or even noticing) the particulars here, because I know other people are more picky. All that said, I'm pretty impressed with the quality and condition of the materials.
The bad:
- The pads are indeed very shallow, and the design creates a good bit of clamping force. People always tell me I have little ears, but they're definitely being pushed against my head with these, and I may have to play with lifting the pads. It will be a miracle if I can wear these for a long time without them getting painful, hot, and itchy...but miracles happen, so we'll see!
- One of the cutouts in the foam is only slightly off center, and a bit of precision cleanup work will make it perfectly expose the first two rows of holes...but the other cutout is RIDICULOUSLY off center. On one side of the cutout, only one row of holes is visible...and on the other side of the cutout, THREE rows are visible. What? It was so bad that I had to tear it off, and I'm going to recenter it myself after cleaning up the residue from the original glue.
The ugly:
- As others have mentioned, the cord is designed in a pretty silly way. It's about two feet long and uncoiled, so it would be great for plugging into a laptop right in front of you...but who really plans on using these without an amp? The extension cord is necessary for using an amp, and it's quite long. These headphones would have been better off with the original cord design, but no biggie. Anyone who REALLY cares about these kind of things can always recable.
I'll post some sound quality impressions later on, after I deal with the cutout issue and actually sit down to enjoy these.
Dsnuts
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Wheres mine??
gnolnait
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Jesus guys just be patient. It's already been stated in this thread several times that it takes at least a month for these to arrive from Russia, due to Russian customs. So really there's no need to freak out or overreact about the shipping time if you're fully aware that it takes so long. I ordered mine on October 11, shipped on the 15th, got them November 17th in CA. No tracking number, no problems, arrived in good condition, amazing sound. I don't get this compulsive need to track the shipment every step of the way. If you're not willing to wait for these then don't order them, you should know full well how long these take to ship from Russia.
Dsnuts
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Oh I knew it would take a month maybe two. I am just getting impatient hearing everyone else get theirs. I haven't had the need to write an email or anything like that.. It still doesn't make the wait any better.. Oh well it is what it is.
SobbingWallet
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Okay, time for sound quality impressions:
For starters, I think the high end is the most interesting/unusual aspect of the FA-011. I haven't heard anything quite like it (recall my limited experience though), and it's almost as if the headphones respond to treble in a totally nonlinear way.
On the one hand, the high frequencies are strongly, STRONGLY emphasized, and by that, I mean that it's not subtle to me at all:
For one thing, the background treble details (intentional and unintentional
) are put into sharp relief, and the louder high-frequency sounds have an obvious bite to them. If you have a bunch of low-level high-frequency garbage in a badly recorded or badly compressed track, you're likely to hear it and be distracted by it far more than you might with most headphones. The energetic treble can also be harsh at times, and there are some songs where it's a bit much for my ears.
On the other hand, I keep expecting the hardcore treble emphasis to overwhelm the mids with uncontrolled screeching sounds and racket...and it's really not doing that at all. It could be my imagination, but the loudest treble sounds don't seem to be magnified nearly as much as the [otherwise] subtle and modest ones. This is what I was referring to with my "nonlinearity" comment: There's a ton of high-frequency energy, but the extra emphasis seems to be reduced for high-frequency sounds of higher volume.
Technically, I think the mids are a bit quieter than the boosted treble and mid-bass, but they're crystal clear and well-separated, and their placement in the excellent soundstage highlights them in a different way. Every time I'm tempted to peg the mids as recessed, the FA-011's surprise me by putting them in the spotlight again. The mids are well-damped and crisp as well, and it sounds like every bit of mid-spectrum energy I'm getting is coming directly from the driver instead of from echoes or resonances. That might be par for the course for open headphones, but these are the first open pair I've ever owned...and I'm pleasantly surprised at the directness of the sound. There's a profound sense of airiness, and I think the highs are also carving out space around the mids and giving them more distinct boundaries than I'm used to.
It's interesting comparing these to my Re-ZERO's: They're probably about equal in terms of resolution, but the details pop out more on the FA-011's due to the superior imaging and stronger highs. The Re-ZERO's have a far more even balance of mids and treble, and it gives them smoother, subtler, and more natural overall tone than the FA-011's, which sound a bit thin. However, the FA-011's soundstage and imaging are just leagues ahead of the Re-ZERO's (or the cheaper HTF600's) though, which also imparts a more natural quality to listening. Unlike the Re-ZERO's, the FA-011's also have the bass to match...
...and speaking of the bass, it's tons of fun. Now, my HTF600's have been called basshead cans with almost as much emphasis as the XB500's, and I originally bought them to get an idea of what bassy headphones are actually like. I really like them overall despite the veiled highs, but the bass didn't floor me the way I hoped: The HTF600's have plenty of bass presence, but it's much more balanced with the mids than I expected going in. They were supposed to be my "guilty pleasure" cans, and I came out thinking the bass emphasis was pretty restrained. I thought, "If these are nearly as bassy as headphones get, I might need to stick with speakers on my serious basshead days."
In contrast, the bass on the FA-011's is really impressing me. It hits noticeably harder, faster, deeper, and "closer" than my HTF600's*, and it's nicely textured. There's a big "mid-bass hump," but I think it's actually centered in the middle of the bass range instead of the typical 100-120Hz area between the bass and the mids, which would account for the overall deeper sound/feel. Even though the bass is strongly pronounced, I haven't noticed it intruding into the mids at all (or at least not vocals). The bass doesn't impose itself where it's not called for, but it can and will be quite powerful if the track is bassy, and it punches me in the face when I deserve it.
Unlike the HTF600's, the FA-011's are bassy enough to qualify as a true guilty pleasure for me.*
[*Update: It turns out my impressions of the HTF600's bass were tainted by the common channel imbalance issue, which affects bass the most and keeps popping up whenever I let my guard down. According to a comparison I made this morning, the HTF600's at their best have at least as much deep sub-bass 60Hz and below and a little more at 30Hz (that said, cranking up the volume for a 30Hz tone tends to make them sputter and break again for me though). That's roughly volume-matched by ear with a 1kHz tone. I'm now duly impressed by the bass emphasis on both the FA-011's and the HTF600's...even though it's hard for me to get the HTF600 working at its full potential. The FA-011 seems much better at avoiding bass bleeding though.]
The bass decay also sounds natural but fast to me out of an O2. I'm not sure if I'm hearing something different from Gmork or if he's just more discerning, but I'm not hearing any bloat or boominess to speak of. (I'm definitely not hearing any muddiness or lack of clarity whatsoever.) Granted, the bass CAN be bloated if that's what's in the source, but I'm judging the FA-011's bass capabilities based on the fastest decay I hear rather than the slowest. Our contradictory impressions might be due to amping differences, but the bass quality and overall quality is still pretty good straight out of my laptop without an amp, to be honest. Then again, my particular laptop's headphone output might be a bit of an exception to the rule: The bass does sound boomier straight out of my iPod Nano, and the overall sound becomes a bit congested that way too. (All of that could be my expectation bias talking, but I don't have the means to do an ABX test.)
Overall, I have to say that I love the way my FA-011's sound. Like LFF said, these headphones are NOT neutral, and the hot treble definitely isn't for everyone...but man, they're loads of fun. I've been enjoying music today that hasn't held my interest in a long time, too. There's just something addicting about the sound of these. (As a completely random side note, I need to watch out for listening too loud: I usually listen at very low volumes, but I've been listening to these a bit louder today. I don't know if I'm indulging myself, or if these headphones really just sound better a bit louder. I really wish I had an SPL meter.)
My biggest complaint has to be the comfort: My ears didn't get hot like I expected, but the shallow pads and clamping force are problematic for long-term listening. My ears are hurting right now, and I just can't listen anymore for a while...no matter how much I want to. I'll probably stuff the pads with paper towels to alleviate this problem, but I can only hope it won't detract from the sound.
Speaking of mods, I ended up making my foam cutouts a bit bigger in the process of making them more symmetrical. They now expose two-and-a-half rows of holes. (Actually, the right one still isn't a perfect circle, but it'll do.)
For starters, I think the high end is the most interesting/unusual aspect of the FA-011. I haven't heard anything quite like it (recall my limited experience though), and it's almost as if the headphones respond to treble in a totally nonlinear way.
On the one hand, the high frequencies are strongly, STRONGLY emphasized, and by that, I mean that it's not subtle to me at all:
For one thing, the background treble details (intentional and unintentional
On the other hand, I keep expecting the hardcore treble emphasis to overwhelm the mids with uncontrolled screeching sounds and racket...and it's really not doing that at all. It could be my imagination, but the loudest treble sounds don't seem to be magnified nearly as much as the [otherwise] subtle and modest ones. This is what I was referring to with my "nonlinearity" comment: There's a ton of high-frequency energy, but the extra emphasis seems to be reduced for high-frequency sounds of higher volume.
Technically, I think the mids are a bit quieter than the boosted treble and mid-bass, but they're crystal clear and well-separated, and their placement in the excellent soundstage highlights them in a different way. Every time I'm tempted to peg the mids as recessed, the FA-011's surprise me by putting them in the spotlight again. The mids are well-damped and crisp as well, and it sounds like every bit of mid-spectrum energy I'm getting is coming directly from the driver instead of from echoes or resonances. That might be par for the course for open headphones, but these are the first open pair I've ever owned...and I'm pleasantly surprised at the directness of the sound. There's a profound sense of airiness, and I think the highs are also carving out space around the mids and giving them more distinct boundaries than I'm used to.
It's interesting comparing these to my Re-ZERO's: They're probably about equal in terms of resolution, but the details pop out more on the FA-011's due to the superior imaging and stronger highs. The Re-ZERO's have a far more even balance of mids and treble, and it gives them smoother, subtler, and more natural overall tone than the FA-011's, which sound a bit thin. However, the FA-011's soundstage and imaging are just leagues ahead of the Re-ZERO's (or the cheaper HTF600's) though, which also imparts a more natural quality to listening. Unlike the Re-ZERO's, the FA-011's also have the bass to match...
...and speaking of the bass, it's tons of fun. Now, my HTF600's have been called basshead cans with almost as much emphasis as the XB500's, and I originally bought them to get an idea of what bassy headphones are actually like. I really like them overall despite the veiled highs, but the bass didn't floor me the way I hoped: The HTF600's have plenty of bass presence, but it's much more balanced with the mids than I expected going in. They were supposed to be my "guilty pleasure" cans, and I came out thinking the bass emphasis was pretty restrained. I thought, "If these are nearly as bassy as headphones get, I might need to stick with speakers on my serious basshead days."
In contrast, the bass on the FA-011's is really impressing me. It hits noticeably harder, faster, deeper, and "closer" than my HTF600's*, and it's nicely textured. There's a big "mid-bass hump," but I think it's actually centered in the middle of the bass range instead of the typical 100-120Hz area between the bass and the mids, which would account for the overall deeper sound/feel. Even though the bass is strongly pronounced, I haven't noticed it intruding into the mids at all (or at least not vocals). The bass doesn't impose itself where it's not called for, but it can and will be quite powerful if the track is bassy, and it punches me in the face when I deserve it.
[*Update: It turns out my impressions of the HTF600's bass were tainted by the common channel imbalance issue, which affects bass the most and keeps popping up whenever I let my guard down. According to a comparison I made this morning, the HTF600's at their best have at least as much deep sub-bass 60Hz and below and a little more at 30Hz (that said, cranking up the volume for a 30Hz tone tends to make them sputter and break again for me though). That's roughly volume-matched by ear with a 1kHz tone. I'm now duly impressed by the bass emphasis on both the FA-011's and the HTF600's...even though it's hard for me to get the HTF600 working at its full potential. The FA-011 seems much better at avoiding bass bleeding though.]
The bass decay also sounds natural but fast to me out of an O2. I'm not sure if I'm hearing something different from Gmork or if he's just more discerning, but I'm not hearing any bloat or boominess to speak of. (I'm definitely not hearing any muddiness or lack of clarity whatsoever.) Granted, the bass CAN be bloated if that's what's in the source, but I'm judging the FA-011's bass capabilities based on the fastest decay I hear rather than the slowest. Our contradictory impressions might be due to amping differences, but the bass quality and overall quality is still pretty good straight out of my laptop without an amp, to be honest. Then again, my particular laptop's headphone output might be a bit of an exception to the rule: The bass does sound boomier straight out of my iPod Nano, and the overall sound becomes a bit congested that way too. (All of that could be my expectation bias talking, but I don't have the means to do an ABX test.)
Overall, I have to say that I love the way my FA-011's sound. Like LFF said, these headphones are NOT neutral, and the hot treble definitely isn't for everyone...but man, they're loads of fun. I've been enjoying music today that hasn't held my interest in a long time, too. There's just something addicting about the sound of these. (As a completely random side note, I need to watch out for listening too loud: I usually listen at very low volumes, but I've been listening to these a bit louder today. I don't know if I'm indulging myself, or if these headphones really just sound better a bit louder. I really wish I had an SPL meter.)
My biggest complaint has to be the comfort: My ears didn't get hot like I expected, but the shallow pads and clamping force are problematic for long-term listening. My ears are hurting right now, and I just can't listen anymore for a while...no matter how much I want to. I'll probably stuff the pads with paper towels to alleviate this problem, but I can only hope it won't detract from the sound.
Speaking of mods, I ended up making my foam cutouts a bit bigger in the process of making them more symmetrical. They now expose two-and-a-half rows of holes. (Actually, the right one still isn't a perfect circle, but it'll do.)
SobbingWallet
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Quote:
It's not just a matter of patience though: Timodeus ordered in August. He never received his, and gd-audiobase isn't exactly picking up the tab for him. He's not the only one either, judging by ebay feedback. It would be one thing if people only had to put up with long shipping times, but the fact that some people turn up empty-handed adds stress to the process. Your order had a happy ending, and so did mine, but not everyone has been so lucky, so it's not really fair to criticize the people who are worrying. Getting a tracking number isn't always about a compulsive need to track your shipment every step of the way: It's about getting proof that anything was even shipped in the first place. (I really don't think the Russian postal system is the biggest problem in the case of gd-audiobase, either.)
beyondthepale35
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Quote:
My thoughts exactly. I filed a request with moneybookers to try and contact him just in case. If I end up getting refunded and the cans actually come in, Ill be glad to send the money back. But it is disconcerting when people dont ever receive their orders and youre leaving it up to the good faith of someone who hasnt exactly been reliable.
Gmork
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Update: One huge problem I am getting is that there's something rattling around in the right side, under the grill. I can see a wiring and a cap in there, so something must be vibrating. Its driving me crazy and makes me not want to use these cans at all. How should I go about trying to fix this? Is there an easy way to get in the grill without damaging them?
Dsnuts
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OH wow just as I thought I wouldn't get mine before the end of the year. .
Was hoping to get the colored wood.
WakiDabeast
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how do they fair for competitive fps gaming.
Dsnuts
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Will report back as I just got them. I will try it on BF3. Strike at Karkand.
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