How much are you likely to pay for headphones in the near future?

[Jasonovich]

I got lucky and managed to get a set starting with a £5xx.

New and via Amazon, but it seems like they were the last pair a store up near Edinburgh had in stock. I'm not sure quite how that makes any sense for them financially, but I'm happy to go with it - it's about 20% off RRP and ~£200 less than the Meze 109s that I've auditioned, liked, but remained on the fence about.

When you receive them, give us your thoughts. 😊

 

[RTHerringbone]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.

 

[Shrek]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.View attachment 10096View attachment 10097View attachment 10098

Congrats 🥳nice looking like the Carbon finish 👍

 

[Jasonovich]

They've arrived 😎

I'm just listening to a few things for a while but will have a proper listening session later. Early impressions are very good, but I'm coming from 15 year old closed-back cans, so they're almost bound to impress. They're a totally different prospect in terms of soundstage; I actually have one now! Also seem very comfortable and not heavy. The build quality seems great too.

I've started off with some twinkly music as some feedback was that they could be a bit bright, but I'm just getting a satisfying fizz from cymbals and some lovely detail from higher piano and guitar tones.

They handle Hania Rani very nicely with some deep, sweeping cello and her incredible piano.

And: look at all the boxes and the gaudy, I'll-never-use-it hard case.View attachment 10096View attachment 10097View attachment 10098

If Audeze and Hifiman had a love child this is what it looks like, really a nice pair of headphones you got there.
Planars, not all, have a tendency to be a little bright, small thing compare to detail retrieval, three dimensional soundstage none of this low frequency distortion you get from dynamics.
The sound doesn't feel compressed, it's like your belt coming loose around your waist....ah breathe!
I think it's true, it's about the engineering, there are bad planars as there are bad sounding dynamics at the end of the day, it's about the enjoyment of music.
I hope the FiiO's hit the spot and give you lasting enjoyment 🙂 👍

 

[jjbomber]

, it's like your belt coming loose around your waist....ah breathe!

Brilliant description!

 

[RTHerringbone]

I listened to the FT7s for a couple of hours last night. First listening to a selection of tracks from the Nirvana and Pearl Jam Unplugged MTV sessions as I know them like the back of my hand. Next, I switched to a TIDAL playlist "for testing headphones".

They're impressive. Incredibly clean and airy. I can hear small details that I've never heard before - minor stuff like a muttered word as an aside onstage, an extra squeak on a fretboard - that sort of thing. Percussion is exceptional. No fatigue (physical or auditory) after a couple of hours last night and I'm looking forward to getting back into them at points today.

Even though headphone burn-in is clearly an audio myth, I have left them running downstairs with a MASSIVE Spotify "headphone test" playlist running through them. I did start listening to that as my first real test of Spotify lossless and it seems great to my fairly broken ears. I may have to use Spotify a bit now and then to get the algorithm working for me. Presently we have an Android tablet down there which we use as a "remote" for the Node Icon, so my algorithm is utterly ruined as my wife and kids use my account to put their music through the hi-fi 🙄 😬