With the substantial improvement of the front-end audio performance, it is irreversible that open earbuds have been replaced by various in-ear monitors with better sound insulation, greater dynamics, stronger resolution ability, and wider frequency response in the audio industry. Therefore, there are actually very few brands that are still focusing on open earbuds. The reason why we researched and developed the EM5 is actually for ourselves and some old audiophiles. If considering the commercial value, the EM5 is undoubtedly a money-losing project. The open market itself has almost gone back to zero, especially when coupled with the bold and personalized (weird) exterior design and expensive price. We don't have many expectations for the sales of the EM5 in the market. Instead, we are delighted to finally make a model of open earbuds that we are satisfied with and can share it with our friends.
1. Why Did We Design Such a Unique Look for the EM5
The EM5 project was actually established in 2017. At the beginning, we wanted to copy the most fashionable double flute design at that time. Those who are familiar with that era may know the classic one like the V99. We even went to find some old earbuds to explain to our young engineers what a flute (bass sound tube) is and what its structure is.
However, during the design process, we found that even the materials, design tools, and production processes have been improved. Today, it is impossible to go beyond the traditional open earbuds. So what left to us was either to directly copy the design, or to find out a different way. Therefore, the progress of the open earbuds project has moved terribly slowly.
During this period, FiiO also began to introduce 3D printing technology to mass-produced models. From the FA7-FA1-FA9, by cooperating with HEYGEARS and the manufacturer we have overcome many obstacles which also helped us know more about the application of 3D printing technology. On this basis, the idea of using 3D printing to make the open earbuds came to us. After carefully figuring it out, we assumed it might have many benefits.
1) The 3D printing can achieve seamless processing workmanship. Compared with the conventional gluing workmanship, the 3D printing is obviously more advanced on the fineness. And the high-end resin materials used in 3D printing have amber-like texture, making the shell of the open earbuds look fantastic.
2) The structure of the traditional sound tube is complicated. Besides, it might lower the audio quality as a result of easily leaking air. What's more troublesome is, such as some classic tube models, the volume of the whole earphone would be relatively larger to ensure the length and caliber of the tube.
3) Controllable integrated cost. If we decided to copy the classic, a lot of molds would be needed. In this way, the research and development cost would be extremely high despite the low manufacturing cost of mass production. For models like the EM5 that are unlikely to be mass-produced, although the 3D printing processing and manufacturing cost of a pair of shells is high, the overall cost of choosing 3D printing (included the mold cost) will be more friendly.
Considering the above factors, the ID designer put forward a bold design according to our requirements (acoustic flute design), and deliberately isolated the sound tube as an interesting design visually. Some people think of this ID design as an alien, while some say it looks like a snake, a dragon, and even a predator. However, one thing everyone agrees with is that this ID is a bit wild, bold and unrestrained, completely out of the traditional frame of the open earbuds.
To be honest, FiiO's styling has always been stable for considerations of many commercial factors as well as user preferences. Therefore, it is unavoidable to be led by users, which contributes to rather reserved and stable ID designs.
In conclusion, the ID design has actually taken most time in the three-year process of the EM5. In order to create something new, we finally reappeared the classic acoustic flute design 30 years ago in a different way by virtue of the newest 3D printing technology in the 21 century. A collision of tradition and modern gave a personalized exterior style to the EM5. In fact, according to the feedback from netizens we have contacted in the past two days, those who like it like it so much while those dislike it just dislike it. But this is not important, for the EM5 itself is not focusing on the mass market.
2. Why Choosing Beryllium-Plated Diaphragm
After decades of development, the open earbuds technology has actually become very mature. Therefore, it is not enough to meet our expectations of the open earbud model by merely inheriting the acoustic flute design. The beryllium-plated diaphragm technology which has been introduced first starting from the FH7, has been applied to earphones like the FD1/EA1/FH3 and accumulated some experience and won praise from users. Simply speaking, its advantage is that it has extremely high intensity, thus achieving wider frequency response and lower distortion. In terms of the diaphragm material, it is still much more advanced than diaphragms decades ago.
As a result, we naturally introduced the beryllium-plated diaphragm to the EM5. In this way, with the bass tube, it can make up for the disadvantages of traditional open earbuds that cannot go down at low frequencies and up at high frequencies. Another possibility is the mid frequencies have become more outstanding to lead to haunting vocals.
Not only can it retain the advantages of the large sound field, loose timbre, prominent mids, etc. in terms of the sound quality of traditional open earbuds, but also it can suit for modern high-definition recording as well as the distinctive sound sources.
By the way, a big reason for the decline of the traditional open earbuds is because of the decline of the walkman. The low SNR and narrow frequency response of the walkman tapes are good for open earbuds. But for in-ear monitors, it would be easy to hear the noise floor of the tape unit because of its great ability to insulate the sound. Moreover, the wide frequency response of the IEMs is unable to act its excellence when using for tape devices.
3. Why Not an Interchangeable Cable Design?
Back in the day, if the open earbuds are equipped with an oxygen-free cable, it would be regarded as incredible earbuds. Unlike now, there are so many choices for cables of various materials and structures. Therefore, most of the earbuds facing the HIFI market now adopt a replaceable cable design to meet the needs of users to "burn" cables.
However, due to the limitation of its structure, open earbuds rarely use a cable with the replaceable 2PIN/MMCX connector. If you are interested, you can take a look at a few of the designs with replaceable connectors, either of which is with a thick handle or a large and raised cavity.
So at the beginning, we have thought about referring to the structural design of the Sennheiser IE800 with which one part is fixed while the other is replaceable. Although it is impossible to replace the entire cable, it still has the playability to change different cables of different materials. It is also convenient to replace different connectors of 3.5/2.5/4.4 and so on.
Later in the tuning process, our tuner had tried a variety of different materials of cables, and found that the best sound comes with a sterling silver cable. He suggested to not change cables on our own. Considering that the EM5 is not a market-oriented model, we decided to respect the tuner's opinion. As for uses' needs to match the front end of different connectors, we figured out the replaceable plug design.
Therefore, if you are really entangled in burning the cable, we are sorry to say we fail to help.
4. Is It expensive for such a price?
After the price was announced, some audiophiles said it was too expensive. Old FiiO users may know that FiiO's pricing is sincere and kind, especially for some recent models like the M11/M11Pro/M15, whose price would not be officially lowered even when the production ceases. For one thing, during over one year of production process, the cost has risen instead of dropping. For another thing, it is also because the pricing from the beginning is already in place in one step. Besides, if a product is highly competitive, there is no need to grab the market by reducing the price.
As mentioned earlier, the EM5 is different from other FiiO models and is not a market-oriented product. So we don't have to consider its sales and profit. Basically, the pricing follows the principle of hardware cost + reasonable profit. We assume that the EM5 project will make a negative profit in the end. But as long as it can fulfill the wishes of us and some loyal fans, it is enough.
Here, we would like to briefly analyze the pricing reason for the EM5 for our consumers.
1) How much is the 4th-generation 3D DLP printing technology worth? Some people said it only costs a few bucks. In fact, the cost of 3D printing is related to resin materials, printing accuracy, and faceplate processing craftsmanship. The EM5 has a more complicated flute design inside and a 3D printing faceplate different from traditional in-ear monitors. We have adopted the latest high-precision printing equipment for the case. The materials have still imported from Germany. The surface is over-varnishing and spray painting to ensure automatic spray painting effects. (Manual spraying cannot guarantee the uniformity which is easy to accumulate gloss material locally). It is estimated that the overall 3D printing cost of the EM5 is over 30 USD.
2) How much is the monocrystalline silver cable? For some reason, we will not promote any of the cable purity officially. The included cable of the EM5 is a 4N monocrystalline silver cable plus the standard 2.5/3.5/4.4 replaceable connector design. If we sell this cable alone, the price of it will be set to over 160 USD.
3) The other expensive segment is the beryllium-plated diaphragm unit. Since its diameter is different from the FD1 and FH7, we have to open a new set of mold frame units. Plus the molding cost and the research and development (R&D) cost, the overall cost of each unit is not cheap.
During the R&D process, we have thought about the selling issue it might encounter for the cost is really so high. However, we eventually follow our heart. The most important thing should be the product itself.
5. Evolution of the Design Scheme
Figure 1 was the earliest design, which showed the earliest scheme was our familiar old structure of traditional open earbuds.
Figure 2 was an attempt of using metal CNC craftsmanship because most of the open earbuds have used plastic male molds.
Figure 3 was the actual effect of scheme 2 of being adjusted after putting the acoustic speaker unit inside.
Figure 4 was further optimized according to the faceplate design.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 were plans to use 3D printing for the later design after abandoning scheme 4.
Figure 8 was an acoustic faceplate with the flute structure using the 3D printing technology.
Figure 9 was the first creative plan and the final scheme.
Figure 10 was an attempt of using the metal faceplate but was later abandoned due to processing problems.
Figure 11 was the original interchangeable plug design scheme referring to the IE800's.
Figure 12 was the further optimization of the structure.
Figure13 was the finalized scheme of mass production.
In fact, there were many other adjustments in the middle phase during the R&D process. But it won't be listed here one by one. All in all, the EM5 project is quite a challenging and fun project.
1. Why Did We Design Such a Unique Look for the EM5
The EM5 project was actually established in 2017. At the beginning, we wanted to copy the most fashionable double flute design at that time. Those who are familiar with that era may know the classic one like the V99. We even went to find some old earbuds to explain to our young engineers what a flute (bass sound tube) is and what its structure is.
However, during the design process, we found that even the materials, design tools, and production processes have been improved. Today, it is impossible to go beyond the traditional open earbuds. So what left to us was either to directly copy the design, or to find out a different way. Therefore, the progress of the open earbuds project has moved terribly slowly.
During this period, FiiO also began to introduce 3D printing technology to mass-produced models. From the FA7-FA1-FA9, by cooperating with HEYGEARS and the manufacturer we have overcome many obstacles which also helped us know more about the application of 3D printing technology. On this basis, the idea of using 3D printing to make the open earbuds came to us. After carefully figuring it out, we assumed it might have many benefits.
1) The 3D printing can achieve seamless processing workmanship. Compared with the conventional gluing workmanship, the 3D printing is obviously more advanced on the fineness. And the high-end resin materials used in 3D printing have amber-like texture, making the shell of the open earbuds look fantastic.
2) The structure of the traditional sound tube is complicated. Besides, it might lower the audio quality as a result of easily leaking air. What's more troublesome is, such as some classic tube models, the volume of the whole earphone would be relatively larger to ensure the length and caliber of the tube.
3) Controllable integrated cost. If we decided to copy the classic, a lot of molds would be needed. In this way, the research and development cost would be extremely high despite the low manufacturing cost of mass production. For models like the EM5 that are unlikely to be mass-produced, although the 3D printing processing and manufacturing cost of a pair of shells is high, the overall cost of choosing 3D printing (included the mold cost) will be more friendly.
Considering the above factors, the ID designer put forward a bold design according to our requirements (acoustic flute design), and deliberately isolated the sound tube as an interesting design visually. Some people think of this ID design as an alien, while some say it looks like a snake, a dragon, and even a predator. However, one thing everyone agrees with is that this ID is a bit wild, bold and unrestrained, completely out of the traditional frame of the open earbuds.
To be honest, FiiO's styling has always been stable for considerations of many commercial factors as well as user preferences. Therefore, it is unavoidable to be led by users, which contributes to rather reserved and stable ID designs.
In conclusion, the ID design has actually taken most time in the three-year process of the EM5. In order to create something new, we finally reappeared the classic acoustic flute design 30 years ago in a different way by virtue of the newest 3D printing technology in the 21 century. A collision of tradition and modern gave a personalized exterior style to the EM5. In fact, according to the feedback from netizens we have contacted in the past two days, those who like it like it so much while those dislike it just dislike it. But this is not important, for the EM5 itself is not focusing on the mass market.
2. Why Choosing Beryllium-Plated Diaphragm
After decades of development, the open earbuds technology has actually become very mature. Therefore, it is not enough to meet our expectations of the open earbud model by merely inheriting the acoustic flute design. The beryllium-plated diaphragm technology which has been introduced first starting from the FH7, has been applied to earphones like the FD1/EA1/FH3 and accumulated some experience and won praise from users. Simply speaking, its advantage is that it has extremely high intensity, thus achieving wider frequency response and lower distortion. In terms of the diaphragm material, it is still much more advanced than diaphragms decades ago.
As a result, we naturally introduced the beryllium-plated diaphragm to the EM5. In this way, with the bass tube, it can make up for the disadvantages of traditional open earbuds that cannot go down at low frequencies and up at high frequencies. Another possibility is the mid frequencies have become more outstanding to lead to haunting vocals.
Not only can it retain the advantages of the large sound field, loose timbre, prominent mids, etc. in terms of the sound quality of traditional open earbuds, but also it can suit for modern high-definition recording as well as the distinctive sound sources.
By the way, a big reason for the decline of the traditional open earbuds is because of the decline of the walkman. The low SNR and narrow frequency response of the walkman tapes are good for open earbuds. But for in-ear monitors, it would be easy to hear the noise floor of the tape unit because of its great ability to insulate the sound. Moreover, the wide frequency response of the IEMs is unable to act its excellence when using for tape devices.
3. Why Not an Interchangeable Cable Design?
Back in the day, if the open earbuds are equipped with an oxygen-free cable, it would be regarded as incredible earbuds. Unlike now, there are so many choices for cables of various materials and structures. Therefore, most of the earbuds facing the HIFI market now adopt a replaceable cable design to meet the needs of users to "burn" cables.
However, due to the limitation of its structure, open earbuds rarely use a cable with the replaceable 2PIN/MMCX connector. If you are interested, you can take a look at a few of the designs with replaceable connectors, either of which is with a thick handle or a large and raised cavity.
So at the beginning, we have thought about referring to the structural design of the Sennheiser IE800 with which one part is fixed while the other is replaceable. Although it is impossible to replace the entire cable, it still has the playability to change different cables of different materials. It is also convenient to replace different connectors of 3.5/2.5/4.4 and so on.
Later in the tuning process, our tuner had tried a variety of different materials of cables, and found that the best sound comes with a sterling silver cable. He suggested to not change cables on our own. Considering that the EM5 is not a market-oriented model, we decided to respect the tuner's opinion. As for uses' needs to match the front end of different connectors, we figured out the replaceable plug design.
Therefore, if you are really entangled in burning the cable, we are sorry to say we fail to help.
4. Is It expensive for such a price?
After the price was announced, some audiophiles said it was too expensive. Old FiiO users may know that FiiO's pricing is sincere and kind, especially for some recent models like the M11/M11Pro/M15, whose price would not be officially lowered even when the production ceases. For one thing, during over one year of production process, the cost has risen instead of dropping. For another thing, it is also because the pricing from the beginning is already in place in one step. Besides, if a product is highly competitive, there is no need to grab the market by reducing the price.
As mentioned earlier, the EM5 is different from other FiiO models and is not a market-oriented product. So we don't have to consider its sales and profit. Basically, the pricing follows the principle of hardware cost + reasonable profit. We assume that the EM5 project will make a negative profit in the end. But as long as it can fulfill the wishes of us and some loyal fans, it is enough.
Here, we would like to briefly analyze the pricing reason for the EM5 for our consumers.
1) How much is the 4th-generation 3D DLP printing technology worth? Some people said it only costs a few bucks. In fact, the cost of 3D printing is related to resin materials, printing accuracy, and faceplate processing craftsmanship. The EM5 has a more complicated flute design inside and a 3D printing faceplate different from traditional in-ear monitors. We have adopted the latest high-precision printing equipment for the case. The materials have still imported from Germany. The surface is over-varnishing and spray painting to ensure automatic spray painting effects. (Manual spraying cannot guarantee the uniformity which is easy to accumulate gloss material locally). It is estimated that the overall 3D printing cost of the EM5 is over 30 USD.
2) How much is the monocrystalline silver cable? For some reason, we will not promote any of the cable purity officially. The included cable of the EM5 is a 4N monocrystalline silver cable plus the standard 2.5/3.5/4.4 replaceable connector design. If we sell this cable alone, the price of it will be set to over 160 USD.
3) The other expensive segment is the beryllium-plated diaphragm unit. Since its diameter is different from the FD1 and FH7, we have to open a new set of mold frame units. Plus the molding cost and the research and development (R&D) cost, the overall cost of each unit is not cheap.
During the R&D process, we have thought about the selling issue it might encounter for the cost is really so high. However, we eventually follow our heart. The most important thing should be the product itself.
5. Evolution of the Design Scheme
Figure 1 was the earliest design, which showed the earliest scheme was our familiar old structure of traditional open earbuds.
Figure 2 was an attempt of using metal CNC craftsmanship because most of the open earbuds have used plastic male molds.
Figure 3 was the actual effect of scheme 2 of being adjusted after putting the acoustic speaker unit inside.
Figure 4 was further optimized according to the faceplate design.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 were plans to use 3D printing for the later design after abandoning scheme 4.
Figure 8 was an acoustic faceplate with the flute structure using the 3D printing technology.
Figure 9 was the first creative plan and the final scheme.
Figure 10 was an attempt of using the metal faceplate but was later abandoned due to processing problems.
Figure 11 was the original interchangeable plug design scheme referring to the IE800's.
Figure 12 was the further optimization of the structure.
Figure13 was the finalized scheme of mass production.
In fact, there were many other adjustments in the middle phase during the R&D process. But it won't be listed here one by one. All in all, the EM5 project is quite a challenging and fun project.
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