Very excited to join the FH3 family - have a set that should arrive in mid February from Amazon.
That said, I am a bit anxious about the mixed reviews regarding sibilance/treble spikes on the FH3. I tend to prefer a very smooth and warm sound signature with well articulated (or even emphasised) bass and tamed highs like the Audeze LCD-2, Focal Elegia and the Sennheiser HD6XX.
IEMs Iāve owned and enjoyed in the past include Shure SE215, BLON BL03, Noble X and the RHA T20i. I also own a pair of Tin T2s and while I do like them - there are certain songs where the āSā sounds can get just a touch too high for my tastes.
Can anyone comment on the treble peaks/sibilance on the FH3? Are there any other IEMās I should consider instead? The Ikko OH1, OH10, Moondrop Starfield and the Thor Mjƶlnir were also IEMs that were on my shortlist.
Are some other iems that are tamer with the treble than the fh3.
Since the tin t2 was only a touch too much for you, I doubt you will have problems with the fh3. But I canāt say for sure since I havenāt heard the T2.
Dark timbre? I think you are mistaking timbre for tonality. The timbre is correct and very natural, tonality wise it leans a bit towards brightness but not too much and Is able to adapt to the tonality of the song.
This is really promising! I donāt find the BL-03 to be fatiguing or sibilant at all and if Iām reading the graph correctly, it seems that the FH3ās treble follows that of the BL-03 quite closely. Really looking forward to receiving my set!
lol, I think of BA timbre as a type of ācrispinessā in the tonality that I donāt hear with single DD sets. BA timbre is again just another lens to enjoy your music through. Some might even consider it sounding more ādetailedā than a single BA. The thing with BAs that I hear is there is usually a better sense of layering and imaging than a single driver for whatever reason.
Youāre reading it properly. The BL03 is an extremely well tuned IEM for itās price. I have a few of them. It is not a technical IEM. The bass is bloated, slow and undefined. Mesh mod is said to help. It also has a very shallow fit which can be challenging to get a proper seal. Everyone should have 1 at its price.
Thatās good to hear - I was more concerned about the FH3 potentially being sibilant / exhbiting treble peaks but based on the above comparisson Iām guessing I wonāt have any issues with it, given how closely it matches the BL03.
Do you think the FH3 is a good upgrade from the BL03?
Depends on what you listen to. If you listen to old recordings, Youtube, lossy MP3s, donāt care about detail or HIFI, donāt have quality amp/dac/dap, the BL03 might be all anyone would want or need. Then again, you canāt expect much from such a cheap IEM in the Blon. It is impressive for what it is no doubt.
The FH3 has much better detail, much wider soundstage and imaging, the bass quality is in a completely different league than the BL03. The fit, accessories, build and design are a huge improvement over the BL03, but you need to be listening to music that can take advantage of those improvements. That means high quality lossless recordings, quality dac/amp to scale with better IEMS.
You canāt expect a $1,000.00+ IEM to make a 40 year old record player playing a record recorded 50 years ago that was found in a basement that has seem multiple floods to work miracles.
The accessories, tips and cable that come with the BL03 are bad. And thatās being nice.
Most people donāt care about any of this stuff we obsess over. Everything is subjective so itās difficult to make suggestions to anyone about anything because everyone has different values. What is 10% wider soundstage worth to you? A dollar? $100? $1000?
Also very good to hear, thanks for sharing your thoughts! I do understand and appreciate the importance of source files, I have a setup that Iām quite happy with at home - KEF Q100s + Audeze LCD-2 + Focal Elears driven by a Topping MX3 and a Centrance DAC Mini, looking at upgrading my āon the goā and āat workā setup with the FH3. After a long and disappointing quest to find high end closed back headphones that I enjoy, I think IEMs are just a better option for the use cases mentioned.
I also have a Meizu Hifi dongle coming my way (non pro, pro is sold out everywhere and might be discontinued). If its unsatisfactory, I might invest in a BTR5 or a BTR3k, my phone struggles to provide enough juice to even drive the BLON.
Interestingly, the biggest difference in using a DAC + Amp that Iām able to hear comes through IEMs and not the headphones I own.
I too own many high-end headphones. None of them can reproduce the low frequencies or overall detail my IEMs seem to do with ease. My Lawton modded Fostex TR-X00s come the closest. I have three of them all with different cups. Highly recommended if you want proper bass in a closed back. Theyāre just not that detailed, but they do bring the bass. I prefer the sound of IEMs but sometimes I just donāt want something stuck in my ears. I also go through spurts where my tips just wonāt fit in my ears properly, like my ears dry out or my ear canal might be changing size.
I did manage to trial the Fostex TH610 and I really did love them - however the semi-closed design meant that it leaked audio which made it unsuitable for a quiet office
