FiiO releases so many new products each year that many inevitably slip through the cracks of the press, and consumers. The FA7s got its own dedicated thread on relevant forums and had many social media posts and teasers prior to being announced, but nothing much past that. Some people seemed excited by the looks, others complained about the departure from the semi-ergonomic fit, and another subset asked questions about the tuning. But then FiiO found success with the premium single dynamic driver FD7 and FDX, which did the job in keeping the relatively huge audio brand churning. Indeed, there are even more new IEMs being announced by FiiO as this is written—in an ever-competitive world where not being featured by a major media outlet or somehow getting word of mouth going is the equivalent of contending with a steady sales chart that's not going to break any records.

The FiiO FA7s gets a lot of things right from the get go, including the welcome trend of FiiO being generous with a rich assortment of accessories, as well as a premium cable with modular connectors larger Western brands would charge $350 or more for itself in some cases. By using some off-the-shelf drivers, employing larger volume scales with associated BOM discounts and reusing some designs and ideas from other recently released FiiO IEMs, the company has managed to put out a product that on paper and during the unboxing seems like a real steal. Unfortunately, it doesn't do justice to the marketing expectations set forth by FiiO and thus doesn't meet expectations at $340–$360.

The biggest issues I have are with the tuning that can't be fully fixed with EQ and lackluster technical performance that is bested by many sets costing less or the same without compromising on the basics. Sure, the FiiO set bests almost all of those when it comes to the accessories, and has a larger retail channel to where these other options may not be valid for many, either, but even among FiiO's own offering I'd take the FH5s with the parity on the unboxing experience and customer support. There have been many winners in the FiiO portfolio, and we'll soon take a look at two desktop DAC/amp combo units that are excellent offerings at their respective price points, but the FA7s unfortunately is not one.