Fiio FH5S - Fiio Fail Great Idea horrible implementation.
I have had the IEM for quite a while. I purchased it previously ( I was going to say enjoyed but I don’t think that happened either ) used.
While you can pick this up for under $200 now. Don’t.
I decided to take some time and review the Fiio FH5s as I have one more IEM with tuning switches that I like quite a lot The Yanyin Canon.
I will be getting 2 more in the next week here so I thought in order to prepare for the Joyodio Shine and TRI StormRiver I would get this one out of the way and have a bit of a shoot-out at the end to compare the 4 IEM’s with tuning switches.
I HATE TUNING SWITCHES AS A REVIEWER THEY ARE EVIL!
Pros:
- Build Quality and shell design is beautiful
- Quality MMCX is a pleasure to use
- Switches do change the sound signature
Cons:
- Switches so change the sound signature in some good ways and bad
- Short Nozzles were hard to find good seal with the right tips
- Mid Switch “On” reduces the mids.; Kind of opposite of the other too switches but makes sense if you know what it does or what I think it dose.
Now let’s get into it: The Techy Stuff
This IEM uses two Dynamic Drivers both are Beryllium Coated.
The Bass driver is a 12mm rather large in the IEM world and the mids. use a 6mm
The highs and to a lesser extent uses the 2x 30017 Knowles Balanced Armature drivers.
Semi-Open back design for a better stage - Keep reading to see if this was accomplished. SPOILER NOPE! - But it looks cool so there is that.
More information can be found here and non-affiliated link: 2 Balanced Armatures 2 Dynamic Drivers In-Ear Monitors FH5S/FH5S PRO
Subjective Part of my Audio Review -
Hello Ladies & Gents: Thanks for reading my feedback.
I share my impressions as I hear them with my ears.
As all our ears are different shapes & size so what I hear as bright or bass heavy -you might hear as dull and Vise-Versa; just something to be mindful of.
What makes my ears happy as a sound signature is a slightly more aggressive L shape. I love my Bass Sub and Mid Bass love it all actually; and in large quantity. With the Bass, I prefer a faster decay the faster the better so as to not bleed into the mids., I am treble sensitive and prefer a slightly darker warmer replay with good treble extension.
I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Beryllium Coated Driver of my Xenns Mangird UP as my IEM reference and my desktop Adam Audio studio monitors. My Car sounds amazing with all Focal Drivers & MacIntosh amps and I can play with my DSP to figure out what makes me happy across the frequency spectrum.
My music Library is widely varied from; Metallica, Great White, Cowboy Junkies, Pink Floyd, Adelle, Melisa Ethridge, Fleetwood Mac, Five for Fighting, Manskin, Poncho Sanchez, Jimmy Smith, Chopin, The Crystal Method just to name a few. When not listening to my test tracks the majority is Jazz or Alternative Rock especially Female Rock. Lorde, Halsey, Alanis Morrisette, Evanescence. All depends on my mood.
Sources: E1DA SG3, Shanling UP5, Geshelli JNOG J2 with AKM4493 chip. Truthear SHIO (Dual Cirrus Logic 43198 DAC Chips)
DAP/TRASPORT: From Lenovo Laptop with Tidal, iBasso DX160 (Dual Cirrus Logic 43198 Dac Chips), Samsung S22 Ultra with DSD Files.
Amps: LoxjiP20 & XDUOO MT-604 tube hybrid amps and Topping A90D Amp 4.4 Pentagon Balanced Out - Unless stated
My Format has changed with community feedback. So now I will list the music tracks I used & why with my musical impressions of the playback using that track. I hope this will give you some context for my library and give you some contexts to compare using the same tracks.
(26 Tracks 2:03:03)
Let’s Begin: I normally write my comments on each song but because of the tuning switches 2:03:03 turned into 5+ hours and a pattern became self-evident and so I will just summarize my impression in the summary below. To give you a idea of the sound pattern after listening to this entire playlist 2:03:03 long 3 THREE TIMES with each switch Bass, Mids., Treble in the on position to get my sound impressions. 6HRS + that I will never get back!
Notes I transcribed from what I wrote on my notepad during my time with the FH5s on the first 10 tracks and the other 16 sounds like a broken record.
#1 “Beautiful Blue” by Holly McNarland
(I love Holly’s vocals should be crips clear vocals with the right edge to here vocals)
- Nice vocals on Holly (110) too thick on (100) on (100) was more natural sounding but still not right
#2 “Give Me One Reason” Tracy Chapman
(I love her voice and the way it is recorded listen for the strums on the guitar - I have seen Ms. Chapman live a few times; so In my mind, I try and remember how she sounds like 5ft from me as I was blessed to experience)
- See notes above - that’s what I wrote LOL
#3 “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones
(I use this track because I love hearing how well the IEM can give me a sense of stage and placement. At 28 Seconds you can hear Mic change his position and face towards the Mic on the left side with the overall stage outside of your head)
- Better male vocal on (100)
#4 “Rock Me” by Great White
(80’S Baby, Double Kick drums at the beginning of the first track I am listening to how fast it hits how solid is the bass and what’s the decay like. An ideal replay here would be fast, powerful bass with nice note weight to feel it in your chest so to speak if you were at a concert.) ( With “Rock Me” same thing but I am listening for the bass guitar drops on this track it should be quite low)
Lacked deep sub exertion and was just missing something
#5 “Wheat Kings - Remastered” by The Tragically Hip
(Sense of stage and Male vocals)
Whoa with (101) Not in a good way take my face off.
#6 “Chemical Mentalist” The Crystal Method
(Bass, more bass fast and lots of it - How does it do end of the story - Huge Smile or poo emoji?)
NOPE has bass but somehow no excitement drivers all sound veiled?
#7 “Its Time” by Labrinth, Sia, Diplo
(3 very different singers and their voices come together. I use this because it’s a cool track and at higher volumes lesser IEM’s get sibilant.)
Not bad on (100) - on second listen (110) not sure if that’s better something off
#8 “All My Friends Are Here” Joe Satriani
(In this track you can hear Joe playing dead Center with the busy and very separated L & R licks added in and then he brings you back to center with some crazy and very hard-to-play Descending A Major rifts! As Joe described this song as “A rock guitarist trying to control a wild beast”
FAIL guitars sound like Ukulele aghhhh
#9 “The Antidote Is In The Poison” GoGo Penguin
(Modern Jazz at its best. Powerful, Dynamic track full of emotion and snappy bass. Fantastic track to listen to how well Micro Dynamics are conveyed and get a good sense of the IEM’s ability to convey that to the listener.)
Ok on (110 ) but lacks dynamics and sounds veiled not a great listen
#10 “Angel” by Massive Attack
(Say it with me - massive textured bass drops )
Has Sub bass on (110) but not correct still x-overs and drivers messed up.
#11 “Bring Me Some Water” by Melissa Ethridge
(I like this track to hear Melissa’s voice and see if the transducers (speakers) reproduce her voice to how edgy I think it should be.)
#12 “A Whiter Shade Of Pale” Annie Lennox
(A Bach-inspired Hammond Organ M102, I seriously love it and its unique sound with Annie’s voice this is so cool)
#13 " So Cold " Holly McNarland
( Vocals on this track are further back in the track and L & R upfront good track for testing depth of stage and vocals - Sub Bass at the very beginning has a nice drop.)
#14 “Shape Of My Heart” Sting
(in this track I am listening to the sound of the guitar pulls and slides. How well does the IEM give an emotional presentation of the mix between the vocals and the bass.
#15 “Wishing You Would Stay” by The Tea Party with Holly McNarland
(Love this track. With this song and this band, it was the first time having a guest vocalist. Holly McNarland has a great voice and I have seen her live a few times front and center getting sweat on. Listening for Holly’s voice being forward in the mix and not sibilant.)
#16 “Avenue A” Tom Cochrane and Red Rider Live from the Symphony Sessions
(This track with more resolving IEM’S you can hear the guitar pulls and slides with a sense of open spaciousness and grandeur)
#17 “Eden” Hania Rani
( The way Hania has recorded this track with the mics on the strings in the body of the piano is incredibly unique and such a unique presentation you can hear the string’s tension at the beginning, Bass kicks in at 1:40 and goes low that’s what I am listening for )
#18 “Summertime” Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
( This Track has both legendary artists Simply listening to Louis and Ella’s voices and of course, the Piano and trumpets how accurate and lifelike )
#19 “Blue Train” Poncho Sanchez
( Trumpets here are silky or should sound that way with good timbre, overall mix how does it present, and of course Poncho’s drums )
#20 “ My Girl “ Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
(Listening for instrument placement and stage and this track gives a good sense of dynamics and excitement with lots of dynamics in the mix)
#21 “Iconic” by Alanis Morrissette
(More edgy female vocals to give you the chills)
#22 “The Day That Never Comes” Metallica - Live with the SFO from S&M2
(Big open stage good depth of stage excellent recording with a excellent orchestral opening)
#23 “Tricycle” by Flim & BB’s
(Turn this one up and wait till 0:28 seconds- Have Fun Dynamics test)
#24 “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
(Great song to listen for stage and imaging)
#25 “Team” by Lorde
(Female vocals if your lover of those this is a great track)
#26 “ Wake Up “ Oliver Mtukudzi
(Oliver Mtukudzi is an African Musician and prolific guitarist and Vocalist. He sings with a mix of South African styles sometimes in English sometimes mixed like in this track and includes the traditional drumming styles of the Korekore. TUKU MUSIC at its finest – Listening for vocals, bass lines, and clarity – and because it is just fun! Right at the beginning you have some very cool snaps and instrumental)
SUMMARY & FINAL THOUGHTS FOR: Fiio FH5s
Fiio messed up this one. I could not find a happy place with any of the 8 Tuning options none of them resonated with me.
I guess the idea was the create a tunable IEM that you could hone with the switches and that’s were Fiio failed.
The overall systemic problem resides in the overall tuning of the crossover points and the overlap of frequencies each driver is responsible for.
I suspect since the 6mm Berry driver is responsible for in this case or what I can hear 100hz to 3kish I don’t honestly know exactly and herein lies the problem.
It sounds like Fiio crossed over the 12mm Driver too fast and should have let it play a bit higher giving the FH5s a bit more note weight, because it sounds like they let the 6mm play lower to get a faster speed out of the replay in the overall tuning.
That’s actually sounds ideal except the mid switch reduces the “Mid’s” but what in reality it does by tuning this switch on is increasing the overall driver resistance and lowering the overall volume of the 6mm driver. Now since this driver is responsible for lower mid-bass frequencies as well as upper mids. when you hit the switch the mid-bass is sorely lacking and the vocal presence for female vocals suffer a lot as the BA’s don’t seem to be crossed over low enough either to fill in the gap.
The 12mm bass driver should have been utilized more and the 6mm less. The 12mm should be playing 400 hz and below and the 6mm 400 to 3k, with the BA playing 3K and up. All with a gentle x-over slope of like 6db/Octave. ( A gentle slope lets the drivers bleed higher and lower from the x-over frequency. With X-over component you normally see 6/12/18/24 db. per octave slopes the higher the value the faster the cut off at the tuning frequency.)
I think Fiio used excellent drivers. But and a large one here- But Bottom line Fiio messed Up a mix of great drivers with the wrong implementation and tuning.
On setting 100 (Bass Boosted, Mids. not muted, Treble not boosted) This setting kills the stage , micro and macro dynamics suffer and female vocals sound a tad too thick.
On setting 110 (Bass Boosted, Mids. 6mm driver gets snipped in volume output, Treble Not Boosted) This setting caused much better female vocals but bass guitar and male vocals sound too thin. Not enough snap and weight on the bottom end of the frequencies.
On setting 101 exactly how you suspect Bass boosted , Treble Boosted brough back some of the air and female vocals but not enough and makes the BA’s have a certain metallic timbre that gets much more noticeable.
Bottom line is there is no good combination, either the weighted lower bass suffers or is lacking and or and or and or, just too many compromises and the incoherency between the three different drivers is the worst mix that I ever heard, solely caused by poor tuning.
Stage also suffers same as the rest following the same pattern from great width and air to very intimate and undynamic and boring.
A further note of the FH5s’s stage is it has great width but lacking any depth or height.
The tunings switches while versatile to change the overall tuning, compromise everything else and at no point with any setting was there a time through any of the test tracks that left me wishing for more or less of something. It was hard to just enjoy the music.
Final thoughts, Warmer sources helped with 110 to add back in some weight but not enough. More analytical dacs didn’t add enough air and sparkle to 100 to give it a better stage and vocal presence.
I just could not come up with a pairing with all the gear I have to be able to bring out the best in the Fiio FH5s.
Thanks so much, Cheers from the Tone Deaf Monk.
BASSHEAD v’s TREBLEHEAD 
