noob questionā¦ pls enlighten me on thisā¦ i changed my fh3 cable to 2.5mm balancedā¦ if i want to use it in a 3.5mm single ended inputā¦ will a 2.5mm balanced female to 3.5mm unbalanced male adapter work? will it not damaged the iem or the dac? bec i know a single ended wire with a balanced adaptor will damage the dac/amp
Nope as you are changing it to unbalanced so the power going through will decrease instead of increase like vice versa.
If you plan on changing it from 2.5 to 3.5 often, Iād suggest getting a module cable
Howās the bass of the FH3 compare to ZSX? Is it better in quantity and quality? Also they donāt have the metallic timbre ZSX has, right?
better in quantity, quality and also a bit louder (using balanced tip, have not tried the bass tip yet. and even better on balanced)ā¦ yes no metallic, artificial sounding treblesā¦
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Very glad to hear youāre enjoying your FH3! Would enjoy hearing your thoughts once youāve had more time with them in your ears! 
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Iām SO glad for You! 
Canāt WAIT yo get mine then 
Will Buy a balanced fiio cable then, it seems Will be worth it to push all the juice out of the FH3!!
I canāt express how happy I am to have this back in my life!
I think there was probably an issue with my last FH3ās MMCX connectors. The connectors on this FH3 swivel much easier and the connectors snapped off and on a lot easier.
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Congrats on getting the new set.
Regarding cablesā¦ Iām curious, do we REALLY think balanced adds much (if anything at all) to these? I mean they seem to need almost no power to drive.
Edit: Aw fuck. I have never really bought into cable hype, like at all, a cable is a cableā¦ But in trying to answer my own question about balanced cables I accidentally answered a different question. I have a balance cable and adapter for my THX amp, the thing is that itās a dirt cheap cable, really basic material, none of that fancy silver that the stock cable for these have contains. Welp, I noticed a sound difference right away. They sounded worse, less clear. To make sure I wasnāt crazy I quickly swapped back to the stock and plugged it in and started the song over. Yuuuupā¦ The āhigh purity monocrystalline silverā cable sounds better.
I still donāt think these need a balanced cable but now I have to live with the knowledge that these damn expensive silver cables actually do something. I donāt need more temptation in my life.
They do not āneedā a balanced cable. If youāre running a THX AAA 789, just make sure youāre running your IEMs in low gain unless youāre running something like a P1. I have a Fiio Q5s that has a 4.4 balanced connection so I prefer a balanced cable on my IEMs.
I only know this because Iāve asked the question and members here have set me straight. Theyāve told me that balanced and single ended do not matter up to the point of your amplifier design. If the amp was designed with the single ended connection in mind (Hugo 2) you do not need balanced and the amp may not even include a balanced connection. Other amps that are designed around balanced connections will benefit from balanced connections.
So needless to say it boils down to how the amp was designed. (guys please correct me if Iām wrong)
And yep, the consensus seems to be cable materials do make a difference in sound.
Actually, most of us agree that the stock FH3 cable could use a replacement. Itās not a very āfancyā cable.
Amp design is important, but hard to know unless you research about your specific amp.
Best and quickest is to just take a look at the spec:
(fiio M11)
You can see that going balanced gives you more than 2 times the output power (550mw vs 195mw at 32ohm). So for harder to drive like the Tin Hifi P1, it is better to use balanced. While if you are using a low resistance full BA iem like the Audiosense T800, going SE is better on the M11, because of its lower ouput impedance (1 vs 2).
For the FH3, SE should be enough.
Although if you are using something like the Fiio BTR5 that isnt very powerful (compared to other mid-tier daps): 
Then going balanced should be helpful (especially with tightening the bass, as having more power helps that aspect the most).
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Not always, you can still most of the time get better performance out if the balance out imo, there are trade offs
I did say that with the Audiosense T800 as the example.
The Fiio BTR5 has two ESS ES92818P, but unbalanced only one is used, but both if you use balanced. This could also be a reason in this case.
Can using the balanced connection cause damage to the IEM compared to the single ended?
Iām trying to figure out why two of IEMs developed channel imbalances and am wondering if it were issues with the IEM or if thereās something else going on with my equipment. All my other IEMs are running balanced and are fine.
Going balanced shouldnt hurt them. The amp should be able to readjust the power it sends out depending on the resistance of the iem (I think, not sure).
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Can using the balanced connection cause damage to the IEM compared to the single ended?
Well, FiiO FH3ās page states:
Max input power 100mW
So using a balanced connection at its high/highest volume probably will be enough to damage some driver. If you let it burning in higher volumes that you normally wouldnāt listen to Iād guess that could be the culprit.
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I only have the KZ ZSX that i bought 4 months Ago. Now i cant stop reading about iems.
I watched so many videos and read so many reviews but what makes me click on buy Button ir the FH3 was ur comment. āHave something better then ZSXā
I live in Brazil, so my FH3 Will arrive in 2 months. When It come, iāll say what i think.
Thank u
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Hi!
Can anyone compare the FH3 to the Drop FDX1? I know, one is a hybrid, the other is a single DD twice the priceā¦ I ended up returning the FDX1, but I liked the clarity and tonality of the FDX1 so much I found it almost perfect. The only thing missing was a bit more bass (rumble, not punch), it wasnāt fun enough.
Thanks!
The clarity of the FDX1 is really difficult to match, and I donāt think the FH3 does match it. The HUGE downside of all of that clarity and detail is that the FDX1 can easily be fatiguing to listen to. The clarity on the FH3 is no slouch though.
The tonality is vastly different though. The FDX1 is cool and analytic sounding, and the midrange can sound thin. The FH3 sounds much warmer and fuller. There is a lot more rumble and punch with the bass, but it is just as controlled as on the FDX1. I find the FDX1 to be a classical and jazz specialist, and those are the weaker genres for the FH3 IMO, primarily due to too much mid bass for those genres.
Edit: OT, I donāt know why when I quote someone for a reply, it posts it correctly, then a split second later, the quote suddenly disappears, and it shows that I āeditedā the post to remove the quote?
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Both channel imbalances happened during break-in. I do break-in headphones at a pretty high volume and with a very bass heavy playlist.
Now that Iāve read the FH3 max power is only 100mW, Iām really scared after I read the spec sheet of my amp! OMG!!! I shouldnāt be using the THX AAA 789 with IEMs at all then? Itās 4X the max input of the IEM on the lowest gain?!?!
