Overview headphones Fiio Fiio F1 and F3 — fight for the mass segment

The Fact that Fiio decided to try himself in the field of headphones — no longer a secret. As it is no secret that the OEM manufacture for them are carried out by another well known company Dunu. Fiio EX1, recently updated to a second revision, deservedly became a hit, but the company has decided to try itself in the budget segment, releasing a couple «mass» models F1 and F3.

These Models I will survey together, despite some differences, they have much in common, and the price range is generally close, the youngest F1 sold for the equivalent of 15 dollars, and seniors — 25.

In both models, use the emitter with the aperture of polyester and a coil of copper-plated aluminum. Both models received the body of translucent polycarbonate and cables with polyurethane insulation (the triumph of modern polymer technologies). Both models have a 3-button headset (volume control works with Android devices, the center button is any). The difference is in the design and, of course, the sound.

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specifications

Fiio F1

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• Beam: 9.2 mm, dynamic
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• frequency Range: 20Hz – 20kHz
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• Sensitivity: 97 dB/mW
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• Impedance: 16Ω
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• Weight: 19.8 g

Fiio F3

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• Beam: 11 mm, dynamic
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• frequency Range: 15 Hz – 20 kHz
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• Sensitivity: 98 dB/mW
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• Impedance: 40Ω
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• Weight: 19,6 g

General

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• Cable: 1.2 m polyurethane insulation
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• Headset: 3-button, CTIA
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• Plug: 90°, 3.5 mm TRRS

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Packing and delivery

Over the boxes, think especially did not, both received the same cardboard packaging of white color, the difference between the models consists entirely in the printing industry. Traditionally, on the box there is a sticker to test headphones on originality. From the external packaging for the special tongue in the sky, inner tray cardboard in it are the headphones and a nice case «carbon».

Package includes both the headphones 4 pairs of silicone ear tips of different sizes, additionally F3 to put the soft rubber ear pieces and two pairs of interchangeable front panels (the main feature of the design of this model).

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Design and usability

Despite the rather different design, both models «» similar. Case F1 and F3 slightly transparent, so in bright light you can see inside. F1 slightly smaller size, and F3 is a little larger, but both are small enough in order to easily fit in your ears. This contributes to the rounded shape without sharp angles and projections. Overall build quality good for this price range, no flaws and inaccuracies in the Assembly.

You can Wear headphones and ear method, and the cable down. Traditionally behind-the-ear wearing provides a slightly better insulation and eliminates cable noise from friction of clothes (microphone effect). Soundproofing F3 approximately at the middle level, F1 is slightly worse. For use on the street model will work, but in the subway or the plane — of the insulation will be missed.

The Wire in both models is the same, it is quite durable, soft insulation, little inclined to tangling, almost hard in the cold. MIC effect is weak, behind-the-ear wearing allows you to handle him. The supplied microphone is of average quality, and your interlocutor will hear, but the block is better than headsets bring closer to face. Plug — angular and fairly reliable. On the wire has the signature rubber «tongue» to rewind the cable, I still consider him one of the greatest inventions in personal audio.

«Chip» F3 steel replaceable outer panels. They are mounted on the snaps, that makes them easy to remove and replace with others. The set includes 3 pairs of different colors: glossy black and chrome-shiny blue and red. This opens up opportunities for combining, beginning with a strictly black and ending with «» marking channels: left blue and right red.

The overall level of performance very good for this price range, durability is also credible, but this could be checked only in the long run.

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Sound

To listen To the following equipment was used.

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• and the role of the DAC and amplifier
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• Apple MacBook Pro Retina 2013 as a source
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• the role player
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• , and the role of portable players
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• Recording high-resolution Lossless-formats (Dr. Chesky have The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration Disc and others)

Before listening headphones were heated for 48 hours.

Perhaps we should just split this section into two parts, starting with model younger.

F1 is a typical «bushenyi» headphones tuned under LF lovers. Bass clearly dominates in their submission, it is not the fastest, but not the spread. Headphones teetering somewhere on the verge of being muddy and very dark «model bashadi». Not super deep bass, emphasis on midbass. Midrange on some tracks suffer from excess low frequency range, but it doesn't happen in 100% of cases. «Core» this model remains quite legible for the common contemporary genres: pop music, easy rock, «elecro style» sound quite in the spirit of submission this model. HF laid by the wayside, of course they are not perfect elaboration and definition. The reverse side of this feeder is the almost complete absence of field.

In General, the F1 — model for «fans Kacha», who prefer to midrange is also somehow present. The imaginary scene is small enough that is characteristic for headphones with the dark flow.

The Older model, the F3, of course, takes a step forward in terms of sound. They keep a good flow with emphasis on bass, but the bass here is better controlled and is diluted with a large amount of treble that adds up to more than «universal» flow. NCH here a little less quantity than F1, but he goes deeper and better controlled. The speed also increased, but not enough to ensure textures and separation of instruments. NCH have F3 already close to that, to consider them not crawling into the middle. Midrange slightly laid by the wayside, but their intelligibility is higher F1, largely due to the fact that in this model they do not interfere with the bass. Headphones are already more or less normally convey emotion and give significantly more detail than F3. However, up models price range from $ 50 F3 is still far away, in the initial segment of the growth rates is quite noticeable effect on the quality. The high-frequency range there is placed a little closer to the listener, so percussion and the upper octave of many of the tools are not lost somewhere «in the background» what is good for the flow.

F3 is a step forward, this model also has «warm» flow, but it is already designed for the slightly more discerning audience and is suitable for a larger number of genres: jazz, rock, simple metal genres — already the forces F3, of course, if the owner like a similar flow. An imaginary scene more than F1, but still a little less than average in width and is deep.

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Insights

Two simple and inexpensive model for «mass» market. Stars from the sky they sound not enough, and it is not intended such application. F1 and F3 are clearly not intended for users of Fiio players, they have a EX1 and older models, and F1/F3 is the company's effort to compete for users of smartphones and tablets, listening to simple music, and in this niche, these models are just very competitive. There are rumors about the older model F5, but how they are true — we'll see with time.

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