FIIO FT3 Dynamic High-Res Over-Ear Headphones

At the initial price of $300, I found the FT3 to be a great deal. At the current price, it's an incredible bargain. Build quality first, just fantastic, especially for the price. Ear cups look a little plasticky, but they're mostly metal with good heft and very sturdy feel. The headband seems to have a center of spring steel wrapped in leather with a self adjusting comfort strap that seems to be made of vinyl. The headband and comfort strap work fantastically well. It's one of the best headbands I've used at any price and is an absolute rarity at the current price of $220. The ear pads are good, nothing terribly special and are likely the low point of the otherwise stellar build. They're perfectly comfortable and remain cool on the ears, but aren't terribly plush. One wish I have is for replacement and upgrade pads to be more easily accessible. I've had difficulty finding them anywhere other than Chinese vendors. That's a bit of a shame too, as replacing the ear pads is fantastically simple, I wish ALL headphones allowed pad swapping so easily. You simply pull the ear pads and they pop off with a firm tug. There's a plastic ring on the pads with 5 little plugs sticking out. You align the plugs with the holes on housing and press to pop back in. After dealing with some incredibly inconvenient pad swapping procedures over the years, this is incredibly refreshing. Now, sound quality. Very neutral tuning with fairly extended bass for an open back dynamic headphone of this price. Good dynamics, once again for an open dynamic driver and a very musical timbre. Unsurprisingly, at 350 ohms, the FT3 benefits from an amp, but with pretty good sensitivity it's certainly not required, especially at moderate volume. Also unsurprisingly at 350 ohms, the FT3 does very well on OTL tube amplifiers. Both the Little Dot MK3 and Schiit Valhalla 3 were capable of lighting up the FT3 very well, with punchy dynamics, slight warmth and crystal clarity. Extended highs from these amps lends the FT3 and overall very slight v-shaped tuning. The FT3 also pairs very well with the Aune S17, offering fantastic resolution and a slight mid-range emphasis compared to the two OTLs. Overall, a very technically capable, musical and mature sound for the money. For the price, I'd have zero hesitation recommending the FT3 over the typical audiophile suggestion in this price category, the Sennheiser/Drop HD6XX. I think the FT3 is more musical, less veiled and more technically capable than the 6XX, does even better on tubes, and I feel that the FT3's build quality is substantially better and more luxurious than the excessively plasticky 6XX Lastly, accessories. Again, the FT3 excels here. A very nice and sturdy case is provided as well as a good quality cable that includes adapters for 3.5mm, 4.4mm, 4 pin XLR and 6.35mm. Two sets of pads, suede and protein are included as well. Overall a very solid accessory bundle for the price. At the current price of $220, I think the FT3 is just an insane value. Given how popular the FT1 is (and deservedly so), it seems as if some of Fiio's other models aren't getting the attention they deserve. The FT1 Pro and FT3 are chief among them. If you're looking for a quality open back under $300, I can't think of a better option than the FT3.

I have nearly 25 pairs of headphones ranging from the Philips h2xr to my Klipsch hp-3 and audeze lcd-x. I have plenty of experience with "mid-tier" cans. I am comparing these to my other dynamic drivers. Overall score: 8.5/10 For the money, these perform well against their price category peers, though at full MSRP you can find similarly performing units for less when discounts are to be had. Heck, you can get a few higher quality units for just a little more when discounts are on the table. Given that, I can't say that they sit too highly abovetheir competitors when at full price. All said, I've spent $300 on dumber things, but I don't want to waste my money making lateral moves in audio. If you are looking at these for your first pair of headphones, you won't be disappointed. You get a great sounding product at an affordable price. If you e got a range of cans on your stands, these will still provide you with a new, worthwhile experience. If youre looking for something to last you years as a daily driver, you may want to consider some of the alternatives below. Audio Technica ATH-R70X ($250-375) More lively than the ath-r70x, but lacking the same resolution. I still would choose my ath-r70x over these for overall quality and enjoyment. Emotiva GR-1 ($200) Very neutral compared to the emotiva, but not as "fun" or boisterous. It's kind of a draw overall, but the gr-1s can be had for $200 right now. Sound signature is distinctly different: the ft3 sounds "reserved" ("veiled"?) in comparison. Theiaudio Ghost ($140) Way more detail and clarity than the cheaper ghost (with upgraded pads), but those are half the price. The ghost are a great candidate for their price range, though. Still, for twice the price I would say that the Fiio are a better package. Save those pennies. Beyerdynamic DT 880 (250 Ohm?, $125-300) When compared to my dt880 they had better sensitivity and all around soundstage, though the 880s still delivered with mids above the fiio. Overall, the 880s are more "relaxed" product. Honestly, it's a hard pick here, though I have a bias for beyerdynamic as a brand AND the 880s can be had for 1/3 the price depending on where you look. The ft3 wins if priced the same. Sennheiser HD600 (a classic, $300-500) The hd600 sit proudly above these in overall performance, but definitely have an accentuated frequency curve that caters more to a wider audience. The ft3 holds it's own, but for rock and more bombastic music the hd600 are my choice. Focal Elegia ($300-375) Against the elegia the ft3 fall short in every catagory. Sensitivity, bass, mids, and soundstage: the focals aren't even fazed by the fiios entering the arena. While that may seem unfair given that the elegia originally sold for $900 USD (crazy!), they can currently be had for closer to $325 USD. Far money bang for the buck there. Harmonicdyne Zeus ($275-350) The Fiio deliver a more clear and flat sound than the Zeus and overall communicate a wider of genres more effectively. The Zeus have a distinct coloration that sounds great for metal and aggressive music whereas the ft3 just dont have the same punch. I imagine that the ft3 would be a better mixing choice or preferable for jazz, but don't have the same excitement and tanginess with rock.

Well-made and sounds amazing. Everything feels primo and fancy. The only issue is the ear cups are too small for my ears and hurts over time just because they can't fit inside... but another issue is the fact the earpads are those peg snap ones... those sucks to take out and replace I really hate it when anyone uses those... At the very least I wish they added one where it has that normal earpad ring so we can use our own pads to find better comfort.

they sound good and the value of the accessories included is nice but QC and customer service are non-existent. i had accessories missing and the cable completely failed on me and was unusable, i had to purchase a replacement. i reached out to customer service but only got back complete silence. i liked them, except there seems to be QC issues and no possibility of help from customer service

I am very pleased with these headphones. I have a Fiio X7 MarkII and these headphones take the sound to the next level easily. Quite a few people are giving negative reviews about the cord being too long, however with the multiple plug adapters, you can use them for your home theatre system and not have to sit too close to the tv. I highly recommend them for people using a high resolution DAP.

So appreciate that I am only starting to get into high Res audio and am very much uninformed as a whole at present, but wanted a capable set of headphones to help me on said entry! For me, nearly £300 isn't an amount I could drop on a pair of headphones and not worry if they're bad, I did my research, read a couple of articles and watched some streams, these kept coming up. Also, I didn't want to waste my time with a pair that were potentially able to do more with music than I could realistically perceive or appreciate. These were at just the right price for me to take a plunge, and honestly, I'm really glad I did. I store my music in higher resolution formats already on my NAS box, but wasn't sure if my speakers or current/older headphones were really doing the file's justice, and as a precaution I also bought a little USB c DAC by a different brand to test with. Game changer. I think there is a lot of hype around these recently, simply because of how premium they feel and plush the presentation is in their arrival. Honestly, that's a great bonus for a dullard like me, but I can say the clarity even when I plugged them in without the DAC was much better than any of my Bluetooth devices (I know, no duh right?). However, with the DAC and some pressing of buttons I managed to get my first glimpse of the music I had been storing, and whilst it's likely a placebo, I feel it sounds clearer and different. When I say different, I think it's the access to a greater amount of detail in the music which I appreciate and might be picking up on, but overall it feels so much nicer. Something the reviews mentioned was the ear cups being potentially too small, but no context. To that end, if you wear Bose Qc35's and find your ears fit in the cups without touching the top and bottom, you'll find these fine. I do and can say they fit just well, but my ears are also quite flush to my head, so this might also be a something I can't comment on. Second watch out, the braided cover over the 3m cord is a little loose very susceptible to velcro snags, which is on the case in the area you store your cable! Third, buy a DAC as well, even a cheap one can be useful! If you haven't got one, you can grab them for less than £30 but unlock higher resolutions which is why you should be buying these anyway, it's not always as simple as; buy headphones, plug them into laptop, world changed. The DAC might help.

Buen sonido. Es cierto que un iPhone sin ayudas ya los mueve bien, aunque para escuchas larga los suelo usar con un DAC que amplifica un poco. La funda… dependerá estéticamente de los gustos, pero a nivel de protección un 10. Trae varios conectores, incluido el balanceado.

para la versión de 350 ohms aclarar que no es tan difícil de mover, un Mac mini M2pro (directamente al 3.5) o un dac Fiio Ka3 (conectado al 4.4) es suficiente. Vengo de unos V.Moda M100 y unos Fidelio X2, cualquiera de los 3 son buenos si no buscas un sonido plano y una buena calidad de construcción.

Ich hätte nicht gedacht, dass mich der FiiO FT3 so überzeugt. Als jemand der schon einige Kopfhörer ausprobiert hat, darunter den Meze 99 Classics und den Dan Clark Aeon 2 Noire, war ich wirklich überrascht, wie viel dieser Kopfhörer bietet. Besonders der Umfang an Zubehör und die Verarbeitungsqualität sind mir direkt positiv aufgefallen. Da ist nichts billig oder halbherzig, sondern durchdacht und solide gebaut. Das wirkt alles deutlich hochwertiger, als man es in dieser Preisklasse erwarten würde. Beim Klang war ich am Anfang noch ein wenig unsicher. Er klingt sehr neutral und ehrlich, fast ein bisschen nüchtern, wenn man vorher mit einem warm abgestimmten Kopfhörer wie dem Meze 99 unterwegs war. Aber mit der Zeit habe ich genau das schätzen gelernt. Der FT3 zeigt dir, was wirklich in der Musik steckt. Nichts wird künstlich aufgeblasen, aber auch nichts verschluckt. Die Bühne ist angenehm weit, Stimmen und Instrumente sind klar voneinander zu unterscheiden und der Bass ist da, wo er sein soll. Nicht zu fett, nicht zu dünn, einfach sauber. Was ich besonders mag ist, dass er nicht anstrengt. Ich kann ihn stundenlang tragen, ohne dass etwas drückt oder klanglich nervt. Der Tragekomfort ist richtig gut, vor allem mit den Velourpads. Und wenn ich ihn mit dem FiiO K7 betreibe, spielt er nochmal eine Klasse besser. Die beiden passen perfekt zusammen. Für mich ist der FT3 mittlerweile kein Zweitkopfhörer mehr. Ich greife oft zu ihm, weil er einfach unkompliziert ist und trotzdem auf einem sehr hohen Niveau spielt. Er ersetzt keinen Meze 99, wenn ich einfach Spaß und Wärme will. Und er kommt nicht ganz an die Detailtiefe vom Dan Clark ran. Aber er ist ehrlich, entspannt und musikalisch. Genau das, was ich im Alltag brauche. Ein echter Geheimtipp für alle, die nicht einfach nur wummernden Bass wollen, sondern echten Klang erleben möchten.