Top hybrid in-ear headphones. This is how the new FiiO FH9 are presented, a proposal with which the Chinese multinational company tries to conquer the most demanding ears, those who do not mind investing 600 euros in headphones that promise to keep for audiophiles looking for great value for money.

We perceive that feeling of exclusivity as soon as we open the package that contains them. Primarily due to the design of the headphones, in which the polished titanium stands out and the commitment to semi-open capsules, intended for reduce acoustic fatigue to listen after hours.

One might think that metal is generally heavy and cold, but titanium tends to maintain body temperature very well and dissipates heat quickly. It’s also a very light metal and incredibly stiff at the same time, which makes it a very interesting material for this type of in-ear headphone.

FiiO also ensures that this extreme stiffness provided by titanium precisely helps to minimize unwanted harmonics and resonances, thus offering better sound quality. Along with the headphones, the package also includes a leather case for storing the headphones, pads of different sizes and three replaceable filters (Red to enhance bass sounds, green for balanced a Black for heights). As connectors, FiiO gives us options to plug the headphones into 3.5mm, 4.4mm and 2.5mm players, and the set comes complete with its own earwax cleaning tool.

As for the cable, the FH9 has opted for a braided design made of silver, consisting of 8 cores of 28 strands and covered in transparent TPU, again expressing the premium “look and feel” it promises.

Seven drivers for better definition

In this second generation of headphones, FiiO has committed to nothing less than performance seven drivers: 6 drivers with balanced armature and 1 dynamic. The latter specializes in managing the bass, while the management of medium and high frequencies is handled by the other six).

To precisely improve the management of high and mid frequencies, FiiO explains that for the past two years it has been working closely with Knowles, one of the best-known brands in the audiophile sector, in the development of drivers. In addition, the chassis of the capsules has been designed to eliminate unwanted harmonic resonances generated when sound waves pass through them.

In the case of bass, the DLC driver has been completely redesigned, offering a 20% higher magnetic density than the previous generation and therefore having more power to push sound towards the 13.6mm diaphragm.

All this is achieved that the size of the capsules is something bigger and bulkier than what we are used to in this type of headphones and they are also thicker than usual, but it is not usual to have seven drivers. However, the various pads we can play with allow us to find a comfortable wear (albeit always “present”) at a weight of about 12.8 grams (per earbud), which makes them quite bearable even after several hours.

strength and balance

But when you push, you push How do these FiiO FH9 sound? About as much as we could expect in this price range. There’s a lot of punch in the low mids, a crystal clear top end and a very smooth midrange that has a well-defined presence.

The lineup is very balanced and it’s surprising that they can sound really high with very little distortion even in some subgenres within metal that literally drag the bass. On the other hand, in jazz they have a very wide dynamic range with great precision and instrumental differentiation in both channels. And perhaps spaciousness is the key word here. The midrange in particular has been treated to cover as wide a spectrum as possible, which it does wonderfully at the cost of being somewhat flat for some.

At the beginning of the article, we talked about the fact that the capsules are semi-open, which favors greater acoustic comfort after a long period of use. In return, FiiO gives us headphones that isolate us from the outside less than other models, so if we use them in a noisy environment, we notice how outside sounds “creep in” quite easily.

In the end, as users, we have to decide where we strike the balance and whether we prefer headphones that isolate us more from the outside, or others with clearer sound and less interference. All in all, at medium performance, the FH9s perform well outdoors, although they won’t be able to compete in this field with those that rely on active noise cancellation.

In short, FiiO gives us its FH9 headphones to which for both build and design and sound quality, you can have very little faultbeyond the preferences we have regarding the balance and power relationship that involves betting on this or that internal hardware configuration.