🔶 FiiO FD5 Flagship Single dynamic driver

Resolution · January 19, 2021, 4:09am

DD’s need 100-200 hours to break in properly. Mine have definitely changed over the time I’ve had them.

CT007 · January 19, 2021, 4:19am

I think I’m just going to eat these other tips. They look DELICIOUS

LGC · January 23, 2021, 12:43pm

The FD5 is something of a unicorn; they take well to mods (EQ, cable swap and dampening filters) and can be pretty much what you want them to be.

For the low end: the balanced, YinYoo 4 cores 4N OFHC High Purity Oxygen-Free Copper cable takes the FD5 well into basshead territory. On well recorded tunes the sub bass is clean, yet has it’s fair share of resonance.

For the mids: most of my IEMs (at best) can address the polar ends of the frequency range, but can be found a little lacking in the mid range. For vocals, I find Dynamic and Planar drivers to be my go to. After the recommended (by rep on Head-Fi) 100 - 200 burn in, the mids are clean (devoid of bass bleed) yet remain true to the artists (e.g. Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Alicia Keys, …)

For the upper range: in stock form, I find the FD5 to be fatiguing, as I’m overly sensitive to spikes in the 2khz - 4khz range. But after a cable swap and my homemade filters, I can now appreciate the FD5 for it’s ability to address a broader expanse of the frequency range, than most.

To dial in the FD5 to exactly what I want out of them, I’m using the PEQ, on my Qudelix-5K

CT007 · January 28, 2021, 3:34am

Welp, got the DM8 in tonight. It sounds like it’s at the $50-150 level :\ It’s no competition at all for this bad boy I’ve got in my ears right now. About to put the copper cable on. Buckle up… But wait, lemmy finish this 28 min Mike Oldfield jam quick, it sounds SOOO GOOD…

Can’t tell if I like the copper better or not… I do seem to be losing some detail. Depends on how aggressive the song is, I guess. I’ll stick with the silver, I think. I would rather hear all of FD5’s incredible, shining, diamond-like, unmasked details and listen at lower volume when needed.

Every time I put these on and hit play, I’m amazed. If you’re reading this and you haven’t gotten an FD5 yet, you need to immediately sell some of your car doors and buy one. These are the real deal. I’ve never been so impressed with a phone before, outside of my brief time demoing HE6 & LCD-3 like 5 years ago. From the deepest growl to the highest squeak, these amaze me equally across the board. NO weaknesses.

Current burn-in = ~93 hours. Bass tips + wide tube + stock cable.

progdvd · January 28, 2021, 3:47pm

Well I got the FD5 today
After 2-3 songs I’m picking up graininess in the treble, symbals sound splashy, mids are recessed definitely, it’s like they have a veil over them, separation is not the best also.
I can’t say that I like what I hear at all

That’s with stock tips, cable and V50 as a source

Ohmboy · January 28, 2021, 3:51pm

It’s a DD give it some burn in

progdvd · January 28, 2021, 3:56pm

Yes I’m gonna be fair and give it 200 hrs of burn in, but for now S8F are walking all over these.

Ohmboy · January 28, 2021, 4:00pm

Interested to hear the outcome

J3fferson · January 28, 2021, 7:19pm

I don’t know all the products available in this hobby. If the source is the V50 phone I would throw more power at them. They tighten up a bit and the mids start to come out. I apologize if I’ve mistaken.

Could be the dac. I noticed a big difference between my AP80 pro vs DX160 and Q5s THX. Ap80 had more bass and treble.

Edit:
I just listened to them on my AP80 again and they sound bad.

Rikudou_Goku · January 28, 2021, 7:32pm

It is the amp, not the dac that is the reason for that difference.

J3fferson · January 28, 2021, 9:28pm

Whoops, I meant DAP.

progdvd · January 28, 2021, 11:56pm

I don’t own any fancy DAPs or amp-dacs all I use is V50, ES100 and BTR5. I can only experiment with tips and cables after burn in, we’ll see…

dcofficehack · January 29, 2021, 12:59am

I’ll be eager to hear of your experience with the BTR5 and these.

progdvd · January 29, 2021, 8:00am

After burn in I’ll share my thoughts

Resolution · January 29, 2021, 7:39pm

The stock cable is one of the best cables that comes with any IEM. I wouldn’t remove it especially being an MMCX.

progdvd · January 29, 2021, 8:18pm

Yes that is my thought on mmcx I usualy avoid changing cables too much even 2pin. But I think it won’t hurt if I try 1-2 cables. In addition fiio have provided mmcx tool for easier removal so it should be OK.

CT007 · January 30, 2021, 1:54am

I did not enjoy using that tool… :\ The shell gets in the way big time, and I felt like the plastic lips had deformed/dented during my 2nd cable swap, when taking the copper off to put the stock silver back on. Not impressed with anything MMCX-related, period. It needs to end.

Resolution · January 30, 2021, 4:05am

Agreed. This is why I recommend not to remove an MMCX cable unless you are changing it once to upgrade it, then leave it alone for life.

progdvd · January 30, 2021, 1:25pm

Fair enough. Stock cable is indeed very nice, it doesn’t handle the best but it it what it is. I agree it’s better to leave it be. I had mmcx ports failing in the past.

Just with some 30-40h of burn in sound has started to settle in and with azla xelastec tips and 2.5 connection out of BTR5 there is already significant change for the better.

Thebearded1 · February 5, 2021, 1:22am

I’ve seen a few people mention on this forum and others, the outer sharp edges rub against their ear. The same happens to me, and I’m trying to think of the best way to take care of this. I’m thinking of using a small strip of climbers tape just big enough to cover the sharp edge and adhere to the iem. Anybody out there have a better idea? The size of the iem isn’t bad, it’s just that darn sharp edge that rubs after a while.