FiiO EX1 In Ear Monitor Earphones Review
About Fiio:
About FiiO Electronics Technology Co., Ltd.
FiiO designs, produces and sells high-quality products at favorable prices to those who love music and style.
FiiO’s aspiration: to raise the reputation of “Made in China”.
Brand spirit: innovation, quality, service
Brand positioning: HiFi with style
FiiO was established in 2007 and has experience in researching and developing countless portable music products of different types, and sell FiiO-branded products through sales agents worldwide.
FiiO is focused on product quality, adheres strictly to ISO9001 standards in quality management and works hard to attain the lowest repair-related product returns rate.
Several products from FiiO have created record sales in their respective product segments; our portable headphone amplifiers, DACs and high-resolution digital audio players have all received praise from the majority of users.
FiiO places great importance on users’ needs and ceaselessly pursues perfection in product design and manufacturing, to supply users with the best audio products at the best prices.
About myself:
As a benchmark: I am 43, I am somewhat of a headphone collector, this review was conducted with the AK100, the Fiio X7, GloveAudio A1 and an iPhone 6. I listen to an eclectic choice of music from industrial to classic, mostly FLAC and ALAC but also some MP3 320kbps and AAC 256 kbps thrown in.
Manufacture’s Specifications:
- Type: in-ear
- Drivers Size: 13mm
- Drivers Type: Nanotech titanium diaphragm driver (dynamic)
- Frequency Response: 20Hz to 30KHz
- Sensitivity: 102dB @1mW
- Impedance: 16 Ω
- Microphone sensitivity:
- Maximum Input: ?
- Cable: multicore OFC 42 strands with Kevlar fibre strands , 1.35mm thick
- Weight with cable: 18g
- Connector: 3.5mm single ended
- MSRP: AED 299
Design
The EX1 is build by Dunu for Fiio. Fiio has this earphone specifically tuned for them in order to make it stand out. It has a large body to house the enormous 13mm driver. For in-ears this is really extremely large. The body is made of non-resonating metal. The diaphragm is made of titanium. The nozzle is offset and relatively shallow, so no very deep insertion is needed which makes this a pretty comfortable headphone. When worn cable-down. The 3.5mm plug is made of aluminum with a generous strain relief and everything feels very durable.
Style
A large housing and an offset nozzle make this an in-ear that has to be worn cable down. The cable is not replaceable but since it’s intertwined with Kevlar strands it should have a very long life-time.
Build quality
Solid and reliable. The EX1 are rock solid, as mentioned before the plastic sheeting is antibacterial and the cable is kevlar enforced. They also come with a 2 years warranty.
Comfort
They slip in your ears – inception is shallow and isolation not that great (on purpose). The driver housing is semi-open, which makes this a very open sounding in-ear with a large soundstage.
Supplied accessories:
A great hard plastic carrying case with padding on the inside, 4 sets of ear tips and that’s it.
Sound
Details, lots of them, amazing treble without being sibilant. Well rounded and with a good seal, you get a nice and impactful bass. The overall sound quality is very natural and dynamic.
Bass: The bass reaches down low. Not over exaggerated but nice and very impactful. Make sure you have the right sized ear tips with a good seal and you are in for a treat.
Mid-range: Maybe slightly recessed for the “fun sound” V-shape but not too much. You will still enjoy instrumental music and female and male voices.
Treble:The treble is the star of the show. The detail retrieval is quite extraordinary for this price range. I must admit, this is pretty amazing.
Sound Stage and instruments separations: Thanks to the semi-open-ness with plenty of vents in the housing, the soundstage is large for in-ears. Instruments can be quite clearly identified and they have their specific location in space. Don’t expect wonder, but for this price range, pretty unheard of.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Sound quality
- comfort
- Soundstage
- fun and detailed music
- high build quality
- 2 years warranty
- crazy good first offering from Fiio
Cons:
- can only be worn cable down (I prefer cable behind the ears).
- microphonic due to design that requires cable down wear
Conclusion
Fiio has a reputation to churn out very good quality for affordable prices. They don’t disappoint with their first headphone collaboration with Dunu. This is a headphone based on the Dunu Titan 1 (or 3 or 5, not sure) and it sounds great. The quality and little touches Fiio added are smart and make sense. I am pretty sure these will become my best in-ears under $100 – for the price, these will be hard to beat.
Disclaimer: Samma3a provided me with a review sample which I purchased after a very short time with them. These will be mine for a very long time.
