That seems to be the case then. Amazon should have your back though.
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Iām selling a fully working/mint condition FD5 for $200 if interested.
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Thanks for the offer. Iāll see what happens though, I should be able to get a brand new pair I hope
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Iām new to iems. Fiio in general, are they reliable?
Fiio is one of the chi-fi brands with better QC and quality than the competition in my experience.
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OK thanks
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Just stay away from their true wireless earhooks, those have a pretty high failure/issue rate especially the UTWS3 version.
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I learned this the hard way. Twiceā¦
Usually, the fd5 are the portables i pick up when I leave the house but decided to throw them on the home setup and yes a better dac will benefit the fd5.
I was wondering if dacs also mattered for iems and yes they do if one is looking for better dacs for better performance.
With the asgard 3 i used the e30, micro bl, and ares II.
E30 had an edgy sound with good 3d spacial creation, micro bl steps up in resolution and provides a cleaner sound but when jumping to the ares II, it was clear that the ares was providing that little extra that makes the fd5 more enjoyable to me and makes me want to grab them when im at home.
The ares brings an organic/natural sound with better seperation, more body, and smooths out the mids while maintaining high resolution compared to the e30 and micro bl.
Also powered up the crack w/speedball and liquid platinum paired with the ares and the fd5 really perform.
I had a similar experience as well. Been exclusively using the FD5 on my Sony A55, but after getting the Fiio Q3 just last month, the changes and improvement in sound really are quite a lot. The treble are smoothed out and the mids, especially on the vocals are more lush (But still has that vocal sibilance). The bass still sounded good so I couldnāt tell if that part is an improvement or not.
Staging and imaging really got a huge bump and it took me a while to get used to the very wide but detailed soundstage.
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How are you using your fd5 - with main wide bore or with narrower ?
With narrow it shouldnāt be sibilance or at least i canāt hear it. Of course not all like this narrow bore because of smaller soundstage.
I remember when i got them first and with original ābalanced tipsā with wider bore there was something i could call sibilance but after using cp145 tips even with wide bore there is much smoother in this region.
And fd 5 really souds event better with proper dac and amp. I like them a lot, A LOT 
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Smoothing out the vocal sibilance or edgy -ness was exactly what i felt the fd5 needed. Lush fd5 vocals hits the spot for me.
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I am not exactly a fan of the narrow bore so itās been the main one. Yup! I had been using the CP145 for a few months and then switched to the CP100+. Staging felt more open and detailed with this tip but of course, the sibilance, unfortunately are still there. I could be sensitive to the treble peaks and the highs.
Listening through on a dac/amp really does help smoothen out the treble a lil bit and made the vocals much more better. I am thinking on finding other tips to help smoothen out the treble and sibilance just a tad more. Iām close to finding the right preference for my FD5 listening needs.
Yeah, I came to a similar conclusion as well. The FD5 has a lot of potential to be an IEM to stay for a long time but it needed some personal tip rolling and listening to it on a dac/amp or a decent DAP. I spent an entire day one time just listening to Jazz and it was heavenly!
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Thanks for mentioning this, perhaps need to buy this tip as i am not very sensitive to treble but still donāt know if cp100+ worth their price over cp145. Only way to get it in Europe is to buy from USA amzon and it becomes with sending about 35 eur for one set that is a little bit more than i would like to spent. But as i like spinfits a lot for fd5 - perhaps worth to try. Will see 
Yeah fd5 with proper tips is fireā¦ ) Made for metal and ofcourse other genres 
Are the wood diaphragm and body shell have good durability? Any case where wood got broken or rotten? 
Such a silly question. Wonāt ask this if Iām super rich 
What tips u use on FH3 and FD5? I find Radius deep mount tips sound best transparent, balanced, fit, accuracy, isolation, sub bass and treble extension. But I only tested against all stock tips, spinfit cp100 and sony hybrid. Maybe Iāll try Azla Sednaearfit Light or Final E. But I doubt it will be better based on measurements. My source is UAPP phone + FiiO Q3 + 4.4 cable
Measurements with different tips is something I would take with a massive grain of salt. They usually dont show a lot of change.
Our ear canals on the other hand is the reason why we hear such a big difference with different tips. The couplers out there wont be able to replicate that.
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After reading here, now I prefer Mangird Tea > Blessing 2 Dusk > FD5. For my future upgrade to FH3. I need that mid centric clarity. Hopefully the bass is fast as Berylliumās for some heavy metal songs. I listen to all music genres but 50% are vocal focused. 30% metal
Wow nice small Tea like FH3. Need to test first, the nozzle seems too long compared to FH3. I have small ears and shallow canal. I use XS size tips
IMO the FH3 is in a league of its own for metal in the bass category. After hearing how the MEST MKII handles bass, I know that the FH3 sounds artificial, but I still love how fast, textured and detailed the bass presentation in the FH3 is for metal. Itās upper frequencies are a bit wonky, but for 130 bucks, the FH3 presents bass like no other Iāve heard.
It sure is. I suggest going down a tip size than what youāre normally used to.
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