Recently, FiiO’s new products have really been one after another, whether it is FiiO’s first “Little Tail” product KA3, or the recently released “Portable Desktop” FiiO M17 priced at $1,800. It’s a very hot new product right now. But the products I want to talk about today are not these two, but the FiiO FA7S, the latest product of FiiO’s FA armature series.
$340 – Check latest price on: AliExpress, Amazon US, Amazon UK, GermanyAmazon DE or other Amazon countries
Appearance Design
The latest member of the FiiO FA family, the FA7S, seems to have “betrayed” the traditional design of the family, and is made of metal materials that require technology accumulation and research and development costs. FiiO FA7S uses 316L stainless steel as the earphone cavity material. The stainless steel earphone cavity is cut through a five-axis CNC process, and then hand-polished and PVD surface hardened to create this mirror-like earphone cavity.
In order to prevent the pure bright silver mirror stainless steel cavity from being too monotonous, FiiO’s designers added a “Y”-shaped blue metal decoration on the headphone cavity to further enhance the beauty of the headphone. This kind of visual effect of shining blue light in the gap above the bright silver cavity of the earphone will make this earphone full of technology, and it can also increase a certain degree of recognition. In addition, FiiO FA7S also has a black & gold version, this color will make the product look extravagant. It has to be said that the FiiO FA7S with stainless steel cavity design is very successful in appearance, and can have a very good appearance recognition.
Comfort & Accessories
The wearing experience of FiiO FA7S did not disappoint me either. The size of the earphone cavity of this earphone is similar to that of the FiiO FD5 that I have experienced before, and both belong to the smaller earbuds, so the ear will not feel swollen if worn for a long time. The headphone cavity made of high-standard stainless steel is smooth and skin-friendly, and can be well placed in the ear canal. You may find the 8.4g weight of the stainless steel cavity unacceptable, but the ergonomics of the FiiO FA7S are very good, and the weight of the earphones can be well distributed on the various stress points above the ears. And the acoustic tube of this earphone is relatively long, so the eartips can penetrate deep into the ear canal to achieve a good sound insulation effect.
FiiO, as an “accessories manufacturer” in the hearts of enthusiasts, did not disappoint in the FA7S accessories this time. In addition to the usual accessories like the acclaimed Waterproof Storage Box HB1, MMCX Quick Release Tool, Cable Winder and Cleaning Brush. In order to further meet the diverse needs of users and enrich the choices of users, this earbuds has as many as 15 pairs of eartips, including: 3 pairs of vocal eartips, 3 pairs of bass eartips, 3 pairs of sponge eartips and double-section eartips. From storage and cleaning accessories to various eartips, it can be said that the manufacturers are very attentive to such a variety of accessories.
FiiO FA7S follows the design of the inflatable MMCX headphone connector, and it also carefully optimizes the human ear wearing experience at the headphone connector. A more ergonomic elbow design is adopted, and a quick identification mark of left “blue” and right “red” is designed on the headphone connector, which further increases the convenience of users during use. In addition, the FiiO FA7S adopts the design of in-line twist-lock interchangeable audio plugs. The earphone package comes with three audio plugs: 3.5mm single-ended, 2.5mm balanced, and 4.4mm balanced. No matter what kind of audio equipment you use, you can find the right plug.
In terms of cables, FiiO FA7S comes standard with 152 wires in 8-strands silver-plated monocrystalline copper cable, which is woven with Leeds structure. The outside of the cable adopts imported transparent TPU environmental protection material, which can effectively improve the situation that the cable turns yellow after being used for a long time or becomes hard in a low temperature environment. If I remember correctly, the original cable that comes standard with FiiO FA7S should be one of FiiO’s best cables, which shows how much attention the manufacturer attaches to this product.
Sound Quality of FiiO FA7S
Before introducing the sound of FiiO FA7S, let’s briefly introduce the hardware configuration of this earbuds. Based on the FiiO FA9, this earbuds adopts a 6-unit three-way design. The low-frequency and high-frequency parts each use two knowles armature units, while the mid-frequency part uses FiiO’s custom-made armature units. As the FiiO FA7S is a flagship earbuds, the reference device must also use the flagship audio source. The conclusions of this review regarding the sound quality performance are all based on the FiiO M15 portable flagship player as the reference sound source. And the sound conclusion of this evaluation is based on the eartips used by the earbuds from the factory.
We all know that for a mid-range earbuds product, there will be a relatively obvious style orientation. It is not easy to achieve a balanced sound, but after I listened to this six-unit FiiO FA7S for the first time, it left me with a very balanced sound.
The three-frequency distribution of this earbuds is very balanced, and the mid-frequency will feel a little prominent. There is a certain sense of line in the high frequency, and this earbuds handles the treble of the instrument very well, smooth and not obtrusive. Although the FiiO FA7S does not use the knowles IF unit, this does not prevent this earbuds from having a good IF performance. The mid-frequency sound is very mellow and has a good sense of atmosphere, especially when listening to some female voices, there will be unexpected surprises.
The low-frequency quantity is relatively moderate, the rebound is relatively fast, and the overall transient response of the earbuds is also excellent, and there is no procrastination. The sound quality of FiiO FA7S is commendable, and it should be difficult to find rivals in this price range. Such a very tuneful sound should be favored by most people.
Conclusion:
I have indeed experienced quite a few FiiO products recently, and these products all gave me the same feeling. Each product has surpassed the standard of this price segment in terms of hardware configuration and actual performance. Perhaps this also explains why FiiO’s products are now favored by more and more people. And the FiiO FA7S feels the same after the actual experience. The $340 earbuds are definitely worth the price. If you happen to like to listen to human voices, FiiO FA7S is a good choice.
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