FiiO FT3 headphones

Audio Gear Talk FiiO
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After listening to the FiiO FT3 headphones at CanJam Singapore, under less than ideal conditions mind you, I was impressed enough with their price to performance ratio to order a pair for my very own. Well they arrived this afternoon and I have been putting them their paces for the past couple of hours.

The biggest standout of me is that the FT3’s bang of the buck is simply of the charts! Here’s just a short list of why I feel this way.

  1. The included at no extra charge metal headphone stand - WOW!

  2. The included high quality cable, various adaptors, carrying case and second set of easily replaceable earpads.

  3. The outstanding build quality

  4. Comfort

  5. Large dynamic driver which leads to…

  6. A very nice overall sound quality.

So far I’ve been listening to FT3s using either my Oppo HA-1 desktop amp or the FiiO M11 Plus DAP, both of these with balanced output. In spite of their relatively high impedance (350 ohms) the M11 Plus drives them with plenty of room to spare. I am using Roon and have crossfeed enabled in the DSP settings.

I did a brief comparison of the FT3 with the Focal Clear MG and the Seenheiser HD800 and while the FT3 fell a little short of matching the sonic qualities of these heavy hitters, the thing to remember is that these relatively inexpensive headphones only “fell a little short”. In order words I didn’t switch headphones and notice a night and day difference. Sure there were differences but nothing earth shaking and nothing that made me pull the FT3s off my head while saying “well there goes $300 down the drain!” No instead I’m sitting amazed how just how much these $300 headphones are going to impact the under $500 headphone market. Yes they are that good!

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:pray:
As looking this year to finally get a pair of headphones for home I can say thanks

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I think that these would be a good, low cost choice. I purchased mine from AliExpress with no issues whatsoever.

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I was interested in these but was put off by the high impedance, but if the M11 can drive them very very interesting. Would like to know how they compare to Meze 109 as those are on my list to try.

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Remember my “review” is not so much a review but rather more like an initial impression write up. I’m quite sure that full reviews along with lots of comparisons will be on their way very shortly.
A few things to note: The headphone stand and high quality cable are only being included in the first batch of headphones being sent out. After that no stand with be included and more standard fare cable will be included. The Meze 109 Pro is more than twice the price ($300 versus $800) of the FiiO FT3 But hey it’s your money to spend as you see fit.

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I just wondered if you had tried the Meze 109 as well to compare. Price isn’t always an indicator of quality or performance as the M11 Plus shows very well.

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I don’t own the Meze 109 so I can’t compare it to the FT3. I do own the Focal Clear MG and the Sennheiser HD 800, which is why I was able to compare them to the FT3. What I can say it that, like the Meze 109 Pro, the build quality of the FT3 is really first rate. The FT3 also has a slightly smaller ear cup, similar in size to the Beyerdynamic T5p, which is smaller than the full sized ear cups of the Focal Clear MG and the Sennheiser HD 800.

By the way, at the Singapore CanJam I was able to listen to the new FiiO R7 desktop player but only with the FT3 or with FiiO’s new powered desktop speakers, which also looked like another high bang for the buck product. The R7 was everything that we ben hoping it would be, which is a full featured and great sounding unit for much less money than the nearest competitor. I really love all these “disruptor” products. Based on the R7, the FT3, the PL50 power supply and these new desktop speakers (which are not even shown on the FiiO site yet) I think that 2023 is going to be a very good for FiiO Audio.

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I’m all for disrupting the overpriced market. One thing Fiio hets right seems to be the quality of build and finish for a modest price and from my experience they are rock solid at what they do.can’t fault the Roon integration.

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FiiO have really got their act together this year.

I’m still bowled-over with my M17. It drives my HD820’s to perfection.

Their KA2 is also a seriously good product. Couple this with an iOS device and Beyer T5’s and you have the ultimate portable setup.

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Should pair well with an OTL tube amp.
Looks like a nice pair of headphones at a great price and cant grumble at the package contents either.

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Looks like an interesting design……have to
look into this one.

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In today’s rapidly expanding personal audio market there are now several “ultimate portable setups”. Here are a few other choices:

FiiO M11 Plus with a 1TB or large microSD filled with music files → too many headphones and IEMs to list here.

And my favorite: a mobile phone → music service subscription → Focal Bathys (used in USB DAC mode). About as simple as it gets and provides noise cancellation as well.

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