- \n
- Type: Dynamic single-driver (driver size 14.2 mm)<\/li>\n
- Weight: 31 g (with cable)<\/li>\n
- Frequency range: 20 Hz – 20 kHz<\/li>\n
- Sensitivity: 105 dB<\/li>\n
- Impedance: 45 ohms<\/li>\n
- Cable length: 1.2 m<\/li>\n
- Connection: 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm<\/li>\n
- Colors: Black\/Silver<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Packaging and assembly<\/h3>\n
The headphones come in a beautiful black packaging.\u00a0Inside you can find headphones, two interchangeable plugs: 3.5 mm (worn) and 4.4 mm, 3 sizes of soft covers, waste paper.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Pasted-20.jpg\")
<\/p>\nDesign<\/h3>\n
The headphones are made in a classic “in-ear” design.\u00a0You can choose two colors, dark and light.\u00a0I personally really like the look of them, especially in the light, silver version.\u00a0At the heart of the headphones is a large (14.2mm) dynamic driver covered by a dome with beryllium sputtering.\u00a0The voice coil is made of special Japanese copper from the Daikoku company.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Pasted-21.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe case of the headphones is made of steel, which is very cool, and at the same time, in my opinion, on the verge of delusion.\u00a0FiiO probably really wants to stand out from the crowd and all new models, namely the body of their headphones, are made of metal.\u00a0Because of this, they are cold and heavy.\u00a0I would suggest that they release a separate heater for their headphones.<\/p>\n
The FF3s are quite comfortable for me personally, as are all earbuds.\u00a0As I wrote above, I find in-ears much more convenient for me than any in-canal IEMs and “ear-ears”.\u00a0These headphones are not suitable for active body movements, they are perfect for wearing while sitting and lying down.\u00a0If possible, I recommend trying it on.\u00a0It should also be taken into account that this design has very poor noise insulation, in fact it is absent.<\/p>\n
Sound<\/h3>\n
The FiiO FF3s play absolutely fabulously live, instrumental music that has almost no bass, or it’s on the back burner.\u00a0The music of the 70s shines on these headphones, it is without exaggeration a real candy, not a sound, you can’t say otherwise.\u00a0At the moment, I don’t remember the records of the 70s playing as “deliciously” as it does on these pads.\u00a0High resolution, lightness and a kind of “metallic”, sterility in sound, make them “number one” for me for vintage and any “light” instrumental recordings.\u00a0Connecting them to vinyl rekindled my love for this antique.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Pasted-22-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAs for electronics and any recordings that contain a lot of information in the LF, here it must be admitted that the FF3s are not suitable for this at all.\u00a0A saturated signal in the low range gives distortion, and at a volume above average, the headphones start to crackle!\u00a0Yes, it is crackling that occurs, such high distortions due to the fact that the driver is catastrophically unable to cope with the bass.<\/p>\n
In my memory, these are probably the most non-universal headphones in terms of sound.\u00a0The paradox of FF3 is that they have very strong and weak points at the same time.\u00a0The strong point is the resolution in midrange and treble, sterile clean sound.\u00a0The weak point is the implementation of the low frequency range.\u00a0Headphones are great for watching movies, where clarity of speech is important, especially for people who are a little hard of hearing, or completely deaf like me.\u00a0The quality of the dialogues, the clarity of the midrange is on par.\u00a0Even when a character speaks softly and indistinctly, in FF3 there is almost no chance of not understanding the language.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/Pasted-23.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe sound of these headphones, despite the huge price difference, somewhat resembles the sound of the\u00a0FiiO FD7\u00a0, about which I recently wrote an article.\u00a0In the case of FD7, pure beryllium is used, in FF3 a dome with sputtering of beryllium.\u00a0As I see it, FiiO tune their new models according to the same pattern, as strange as it sounds, but the FF3 to my ears is a very simplified version of the FD7.\u00a0On third-party sites there are frequency response graphs that confirm their similarity from 100 Hz and above.\u00a0In addition to frequency response, they are combined by a dry, sterile presentation.<\/p>\n
It would be very appropriate to mention EM5, but as I wrote, I did not have them.\u00a0And the price of 300 dollars for the liners makes them, probably, not particularly in demand.\u00a0Now more details about the sound of FF3.<\/p>\n
Also read: Top 8 best Hi-Fi players early 2022<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
Low frequency range<\/h3>\n
The headphones have a strong drop below 90 Hz, which is expected for such a design.\u00a0I can’t say that they don’t have bass, but the lower bass is actually absent at all, the middle bass is very weak, lightweight, flat.\u00a0The upper bass is very fast and precise, with high detail.\u00a0The distribution and decay rate in the bass make the FF3 an excellent choice for listening to, for example, classic rock.\u00a0The lack of weight in the woofer and lower bass in particular make the overall sound a bit flat and dry.<\/p>\n
Medium range<\/h3>\n
Relatively flat, with a slight downward deflection at 700 Hz – 2 kHz and has a small hump at the very top.\u00a0Excellent resolution and instrument separation.\u00a0Vocals play fairly naturally, despite the slight “metallicity” in the sound, fatigue is very low.\u00a0The high resolution in the mid-range, in particular, makes FF3 an excellent choice for watching movies.\u00a0The midrange is quite comfortable without unpleasant peaks.\u00a0In the 3kHz area, if the recording contains a lot of sharp information, it can be a bit jarring, the headphones will emphasize this.<\/p>\n
High range<\/h3>\n
It has good dispersibility, higher than average for similar headphones.\u00a0Around 10 kHz and above, there is a slow decline, probably in order not to topple the sound, due to the lack of bass.\u00a0The top does not scream and does not sting.\u00a0In general, HF are moderately comfortable, fatigue is low.<\/p>\n
The sound of the FF3 is generally balanced, slightly leaning towards lightness due to the lack of bass.\u00a0As for the width and depth of the stage, the stage is slightly larger and deeper than average for such headphones, not as flat as a wall, but you shouldn’t expect much.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/fiio-ff3-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\nConclusion<\/h3>\n
There aren’t many earbuds on the market at all, let alone ones that are ready to offer good sound quality.\u00a0In such a design, it is difficult to achieve good sound quality, in particular, low frequencies.\u00a0These headphones try to break stereotypes and to some extent they succeed.<\/p>\n
If, like me, other types of headphones are not suitable for long-term listening, then among in\u00a0-ear headphones\u00a0at this price, I do not see any alternatives.\u00a0The Fiio FF3<\/a> costs just over $100, so if your budget is the same, it could be a good buy or a waste of money.\u00a0It all depends on what you listen to, for what purposes you need headphones.\u00a0If you like electronic music with a lot of bass then FF3 is the last thing you need, blacklist them, choose something else.\u00a0If you enjoy live music, classic rock, casual listening to podcasts, watching movies, or anywhere where low-end isn’t key, then chances are the FF3 will be your best purchase in years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Somehow I found that I can’t use in-ear headphones more than two hours in a row, as well as full-sized due to discomfort. I love long hours listening to audiobooks, podcasts, background music while I work. I decided to try the “inserts”, which many, like me, have long associated with poor sound quality and lack […] More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10404,"featured_media":152982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[640],"tags":[778],"class_list":["post-152980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headphones","tag-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hifiratings.com\/tech\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}