Verdict
As objects , the FiiO FT1 are an unarguable success . As headphones for listening to , though , they are far from all - libertine …
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Given that it ’s a rare day that take place without the launch of a raw FiiO ware , the fact that there are no shut - back , over - ear headphonesin its line - up is quite startling .
Well , that all changes with the launch of these FT1 hard - wired earpiece – and , as is established FiiO practice , the way these headphone are intend is at odds with the money the party is enquire .
FiiO has offer noted economic value for money in the past tense . Is it doing so again ?
Availability
The FiiO FT1 come together - back over - ear headphone are on sale , and in the United Kingdom they sell for an eye - catch £ 139 , while in the United States they ’ll cost you $ 159 . Australian pricing has yet to be confirmed , but recognise how These thing lean To Work I ’d imagine you ’re look at AU$269 or thereabouts .
This is not an awful destiny for some nice - look closed - back over - ear earphone , but the FT1 are far from the only game in town . Austrian Audio and Beyerdynamic are two well - see brands with similarly specified and priced products that spring to mind …
Design
sure enough , broadly speaking the FiiO FT1 look like any other pair of over - ear headphones . But the timbre of the materials they deploy sets them aside from any price - corresponding alternative .
The most obvious of these is the disastrous walnut that mold the out surface of the earcups . The acoustic benefits of wood are long - launch , of course , and the fact that it makes the FT1 look like a rather more upmarket proffer than any nominal rival does n’t do any harm either . aggregate with munificently block earpads of pleather and breathable fabric up front , the earcups seem to be from a much more expensive design .
They impound to the headband ( which itself features a quantity of pleather and breathable fabric over a heady amount of cushioning ) using slim , polished metal . There ’s a degree of articulation in vertical and horizontal lanes admit , but not a huge amount – and the FT1 do n’t fold , so their saucy traveling showcase is on the sizable side .
The same metal is used to form the headband adjustment mechanism that ’s let on above the headband itself . There are twelves stages of adjustment available here , so it should be simple enough to get well-situated inside the FT1 – although those earcups are on the turgid side , so the smaller - head among us may sense overwhelmed . At least FiiO has judged the hanger arrangement and clamping force so nicely that the FT1 do n’t really feel their 340 g when they ’re in situ .
The company is claim an impressive -26dB for peaceful noise isolation . A lot of this is down to the size if the earpads and the fit they can achieve , of course of instruction – but FiiO has also included sound - absorbing cotton , an acoustical weaken thermionic valve and volute - shape resonance wastefulness sleeping room between the inner part of the wooden earcup and the equipment driver itself . So as well as the built-in lack of outward leak a close - back design offers , less external strait have in than you might imagine would be the case .
Specification
FiiO provides two duration of cable length with which to tie in your FT1 to a reference of music . Both are 1.5 mm long , both are made using silver - plated oxygen - free fuzz , and both split at one end into a couple of 3.5 mm terminations – both FT1 earcups must be wired .
One has an unbalanced 3.5 millimeter connection at the other end , and FiiO provides a 6.3 mm transcriber too . The other has a 4.4 mm unhinged termination . Which mean that the FT1 will connect to pretty much any equipment with a headphone socket – and that 4.4 millimeter labourer mean that includes more upmarket devices . Which is ready to hand when you conceive these headphones are certifiedHi - Res Audiocapable by both the Consumer Electronics Association and the Japan Audio Society .
Once the audio information is aboard , it ’s serve up by a couple of 60 mm full - cooking stove driver that FiiO claims are good for a frequency response of 10Hz – 60kHz . The drivers are mostly compose of Grant Wood fiber , and each one is backed by a 25 mm voice coil and wolfram - shaped suspension gasket in an effort to downplay driver break - up . A conical baffle board plateful ahead of each driver allows them to be positioned parallel to the user ’s ears , which ought to keep standing waves to a lower limit too .
sensitiveness is a utile 98dB and sensitivity is an equally helpful 32ohms – so the FT1 should be no trouble to tug , even if you seize them directly to a smartphone or something like that .
And as far as features go , well , that ’s about your lot . These are low-cost passive headphones , after all – there ’s a limit to what you could reasonably expect .
Sound Quality
When the FiiO FT1 are practiced , they are – by the standards of their cost - comparable rivals – very good indeed . When they are less good , though , they undermine a mickle of the convinced work they ’ve done – and the outcome is a pair of headphone that somehow vocalize less than the sum of its parts .
On the positive side , the FT1 are a detailed and attacking listen . At every phase of the frequency mountain range – and these headphones can dig as late into the downcast frequencies as they can attain up at the opposite end – they key and contextualise great deal of detail both unsubtle and okay . They ’re attentive to the minutia of even the most complex recording , and will happily contextualise even the most ephemeral occurrence in a 24 - bit/48kHz file of Skinny Pelembe and Beth Orton ’s interpretation of Leonard Cohen ’s Who By Fire . They aim the recording send on unmercifully , apparently dictated to maximize every shred of muscularity and labor it ’s imbued with .
The top of the frequency cooking stove is almost willfully assault , but there ’s just about enough inwardness to three-fold sound to keep their radiance and glare on the right side of painful . At the opposite oddment of the frequency orbit , the FT1 control bass sound well enough to check convincing rhythmical expression – and they ’re able to regulate low - end information efficaciously too . There ’s good variation to the bass here , a sensation of shade and grain , that ’s by no mean value a given in earphone as aggressively price as this .
In between , the midrange communicates eloquently , and again there ’s muckle of item usable – so a singer ’s mentality and motivations are excuse just as in full as the nuts and dash of their outspoken proficiency . The overall frequency response is fairly even , and key is commendably neutral .
Switch to a recording that does n’t command feral floor of driving or attack , though – a 24 - bit/88.2kHz file cabinet of vivid Horses by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will do – and the FT1 ’s attempts to rush the Sung dynasty forwards and put it with some entirely unwelcome and indefensible vim are uncomfortable .
The FiiO actually sounds hurried , unwilling or ineffectual to countenance the recording to extend at its own tempo . And when you supply a rather two - dimensional soundstage into the mix , the immediateness of the FT1 presentation is much too much . No matter the euphony you ’re listening to , it ’s does n’t ever get the respiration space on the stage that it requires – instead , everything is forced towards the front where it has to attempt to muscle its manner past every other element of a transcription . The end result is a presentation that ’s narrow , unconditional in terms of acoustic projection , and ultimately rather exhausting .
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Should you buy it?
The FT1 are not scant of price - corresponding competitor , but there ’s no two way about it : they look ( and feel ) a heap more expensive than any tokenish competitor
The FT1 sound the opposite of open and there is n’t enough cubitus - room on the soundstage they create to allow a right transonic balance to be take
Final Thoughts
Oppressive is rarely a positive word in any setting , and it ’s among the very last thing I look for in the sound of a pair of phone . Which is a not bad shame , because in so many ways the FT1 are an unarguable success – but good tone ca n’t carry them as far as cracking sound would .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every pair of headphones we review thoroughly over an extended period of time . We apply industry - standard test to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a Cartesian product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics insurance policy .
FAQs
The impedance for the FT1 headphone is 32 ohm , which hit them relatively easy to drive .
