FiiO has introduced the FX17 flagship in-ear monitor headphones, which boast one dynamic driver, four balanced armature drivers, and eight electrostatic drivers per side.
A five-way crossover has been precisely tuned to balance energy distribution among the driver and ensures each unit operates in its optimal state, resulting in a bigger soundstage and more natural sound, says the company. It also comes with a USB-C cable in the box so they can be used with all modern Android and iPhone devices out of the box.
The electrostatic drivers have high-frequency extension easily reaching 50kHz. The sensitivity is only 99dB/mW, which is low compared to the 110dB/mW sensitivity typically found in balanced armature and dynamic drivers. But the FX17s use eight electrostatic units to increase sound pressure levels to make the electrostatic drivers more audibly perceptible as they handle the high and ultra-high frequencies above 6kHz.
The FiiO FX17 uses Knowles balanced armature driver composite units that handle the mid and high-frequency sounds. Each of the composite balanced armature driver units is divided into two parts, one part responsible for mids and the other for mid-high frequency. This, says FiiO, leads to denser mids and a more transparent sound and allows them to transition seamlessly into the electrostatic drivers.
To achieve higher flagship-level vocal performance, FiiO, in collaboration with Knowles, custom-developed a ‘Midrange Enhanced Balanced Armature Unit.’ Acoustic vents have been added to the rear cavity of the balanced armature, which provide more sound energy reserves for the mid-frequency balanced armature unit to further tap into the driver’s advantages.
Lithium-magnesium alloy is lightweight, rigid and has a density of 1.6g/cm³, making it an ideal material for a dynamic driver diaphragm, says the company. When reproducing high-frequency signals with rapid vibrations, the lithium-magnesium alloy diaphragm has excellent mechanical properties thanks to its high internal damping, leading to significantly reduced intrinsic frequency resonance and distortion, FiiO adds.
The FX17 features a minimalist aesthetic, with a classic and natural curved cavity. The ‘ear shell’ cavity is made of high-density, high-strength titanium that is precisely milled from a single block and meticulously hand-polished.
The cable uses three different transmission materials – gold, silver, and copper – to take advantage of the strengths offered by the different materials. The gold, silver, and copper are forged at over 1,000 degrees and undergo secondary refining to form crystalline monocrystals to remove impurities and reduce transmission loss. Each of the three elements has its own advantages, which together result in improved sound quality.
Included with the FX17 are three swappable audio plugs – 3.5mm single-ended, 4.4mm balanced, and a Type-C connector with built-in digital decoding and DSP. The Type-C swappable plug features a built-in DSP audio decoding chip that supports up to 32Bit/384kHz high-resolution PCM. It also supports eight-band high-precision PEQ through FiiO’s proprietary algorithm and the FiiO Control app or web interface, the PEQ allows you to adjust the headphones’ frequency response curve as first seen in the FiiO K19 headphone amplifier.
Each FX17 comes with an exclusive serialised commemorative nameplate. The FiiO FX17 will be priced at US$1,499 and will be available starting April 14.