FiiO FH1 Earphones Review

March 28, 2019 2:26 pm

FiiO continues to knock it out of the ball park when it comes to great value for money audiophile gear. One of their latest releases, the FH1, is one of the most affordable IEMs with detachable cables in FiiO’s line-up. But do these buds sound any good? Let’s find out in this FiiO FH1 Earphones Review.

FiiO FH1 Earphones Review

IN the BOX

FIT

Perhaps it’s the well contoured and relatively small size of the shells that makes the sound isolation on the IEMs so effective. And in this respect, I would put it up there with any model from Shure or Westone. If you’re used to the around-the-ear memory wire, it shouldn’t take too much fiddling to get on, and the cable has a slightly elastic design that keeps the mould in place.

DESIGN

The FH1 employs a hybrid driver setup; one 10mm dynamic driver for the lows and Knowles balanced armature for the mids and highs.

While the plastic shells look like nothing special, what sets these buds apart from others in this price range is the detachable cable. Using MMCX connectors, the FH1 comes with two cables. The 3.5mm cable has a mic and remote designed for Android phones. And the second braided cable is a balanced 2.5mm. Add to that a sturdy carrying case, and you’ve got a great bang for your buck.

SOUND

Overall Impressions: Versatile, fast, fun and inoffensive.

Lows

The FH1 presents tight and grippy lows. You can expect great bass impact when listening to pop, making it a fun genre for these earphones. But the lows avoid overkill. And listening to hip-hop, while the bass doesn’t get super subby, it was meaty enough to do justice to the track. Rock songs had a bit of warmth, but the separation between the lows and higher frequencies was pretty clean. And testing out cellos in this range, the FH1 conveyed a nice amount of detail for an IEM in this price range.

Mids

You can expect a present midrange with a pretty even balance between the low and high mids. As a result, you’ll hear the full scope of the mix in this range; big rock and pop-rock choruses will have a sweeping, full-bodied feel. At the same time, the sound is very clean for IEMs in this price range, and tracks that involve heavy instrumentation are neatly layered. Listening to acoustic guitar strums in the lower mids, the separation was impressive. Add to this a speedy transient response, and you’ve got a versatile sound signature that works well for everything from funk to folk.

Highs

Strings in this range present a smooth profile with a decent amount of transparency. Moving back to pop, percussion has a tight crispness, bringing just a touch of brightness to the track, as well as plenty of snap. But the high frequencies avoid fatiguing the ears, and even sensitive ears need not be concerned about too much sharpness.

Soundstage

An impressively spacious and multidimensional soundstage for such an affordable pair of buds. You’ll probably sense more depth than you will height, but in general, the FH1 portrays a colorful landscape of sound.

SUMMARY

If you’re an entry-level audiophile looking to get into the world of high fidelity, then the well-balanced and versatile FH1 is a great entry point. You can experiment with various cables and balanced connections, and it should keep you busy till your next upgrade. This is also a fun IEM, bringing tons of punch to pop, and clean clarity to acoustic instruments. A great deal, for sure. In fact, think these babies deserve the coveted MajorHifi Gold Award.