@rebski and shigzeo, thanks for your condolences. My quest for getting the best out of these little beauties continues, and I'm happy to report that my perseverance is finally starting to pay off!
For clarification, my first impression that "
this isn't going to blow
any of my IEMs out of the water" was right out of the box with the solid silicon tips - a natural first choice because I use most of my IEMs with silicon tips. I wasn't then prepared for the smeared and congested sound that came out of the FADs. Later on and cycling through the tip choices I found out that they just don't get along well with isolation and started using the metal ones. From this point I no longer thought of them as
bad phones. But Final Audio's choice to include tips that make their product inevitably sound inferiour still puzzles me.
Now the metal tips have one drawback, they rest very loosely in my wide ears - sometimes strangely angled against the ear canal, affecting soundstage and imaging. That's why I reported problems with a consistent rating of soundstage. Anyway, here's my personal major breakthrough with the FADs: I started using some small generic silicon tips over the metal ones. This gives me better placement and improved stabilty while still allowing free air flow for best sound quality. I know this sounds somewhat funny, but it's pretty much like sticking a rubber pad beneath a table leg to keep it from slipping.
Long story short, now for the first time I experience consistency with the FADs, taking them out and putting them in again they sound exactly the same.
@shigzeo: Just a few notes regarding your last reply. Yes, I was talking about soundstage, not instrument separation. Like I said, it was a bit difficult to judge but now I can give a more precise report. I stick to my observation that the soundstage (as in virtual width, depth, and height between instruments) is generous but even larger on the IE8. But there's another ingredient on the FADs that adds to the illusion of space:
reverb. You already mentioned it in your review, their metal body is a formidable echo chamber. This does work great with some genres and not so good with others, but when it works it certainly makes the FADs sound larger than life. Just like a cottage piano will sound like a grand piano if you play it in an empty room. But strictly refering to virtual stage size and distance between instruments the reverb does not increase soundstage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by shigzeo /img/forum/go_quote.gif
James, I hope that you can find something to love, otherwise that is a shame.
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These phones turn out to be an unexpected challenge for me. As a person who likes challenges, so far I'm not disappointed.