Closer Examination

IEMs released over the past few months have had modular connectors as a selling feature. This is where the connector on the source side (usually) can be swapped out for a different one based on convenience or your source. You would have seen reviews here with IEM cables having modular connectors offering 2.5/3.5/4.4 mm connectors, for example, although the 2.5 mm TRRS connector is quickly going out of fashion. So imagine my delight to see headphone cables finally follow suit! The FT3's stock cable licenses the same FABRILOUS patent for interchangeable audio jacks and comes with a 3.5 mm single-ended TRS plug pre-installed that you can unscrew the housing for and pull out as seen above. This allows you to align and fit the 4.4 mm plug we saw on the previous page and there are also two adapters provided, allowing for the use of 3.5 or 6.35 mm single-ended connectors or 4.4 mm/4-pin XLR balanced connectors on the source side. The cable itself is quite substantial and—at least until there is new stock—is the last of the Oyaide HPC-23T 23 AWG headphones cable stock that uses Furukawa high-purity monocrystalline copper conductor. This cable was produced in 2013 and discontinued to where FiiO purchased all remaining stock to include with its headphones, following which the FT3 will ship with other sources of monocrystalline copper conductor. The cable itself is quite thick (6.5 mm diameter splitting into two 3.5 mm thick segments) and long at 3 m in length and uses TPE sheath over the individual wires that are packed inside a nylon sheath. It's not particularly easy to reshape but also does not kink easily nor exhibit any microphonics in use. The splitter has the new FiiO logo on it and the hardware here uses a dark blue finish to the aluminium which matches well with the black and blue color scheme of the FT3 itself. The other end has two 3.5 mm TS connectors on similar housings with L/R markings to help indicate the left and right channels, respectively. The various metal plugs are gold-plated for oxidation resistance.


When FiiO first teased its FT3 headphones, people were quick to scoff at the photos. I wasn't a fan myself for reasons we will see on the ear cups soon, but rest assured that the FT3 looks and feels premium in the hands and certainly is a case of better in person than in photos. It almost comes off as if Focal had a love child with the new Yamaha YH5000SE flagship! Perhaps some of this is due to the relatively smaller nature of the headphones despite the use of a suspension-style headband. The FiiO FT3 would not draw much attention front on thus! It uses a black and dark blue color scheme and has no plastic parts in the chassis either, with the use of aluminium alloy for the ear cups and frame and a steel band at the very top that has a slit cut in the middle for weight savings while getting a faux leather wrap that is well executed. The suspension band is also made of protein leather with good stitching throughout and is padded enough to alleviate any localized hot-spots while adding to the comfort factor in use. The surface touching your head has a soft suede finish to it too! The steel band is exposed on the sides where the suspension band meets the frame and we see L/R markings on the inside to denote the left and right channels, respectively.


The suspension band is self-adjusting as seen above, which means this lifts up naturally when the headphones are placed over and around your head. It moves up to occupy the space at the top before the headband acts as a stopping point, meaning there is a limit to how much vertical sizing is available. I had plenty of room left with my average-sized head to where I dare say this itself is not going to be a dealbreaker for those with larger or wider heads. Where it can be an issue is if the ear cups move up with the suspension band and break the seal at the bottom of the ears perhaps, or the other way round for those with smaller ears wherein the ear cups might keep falling down and thus applying some undue pressure on the top of your ears. It's not a perfect solution necessarily and yet I feel it will work plenty fine for most people as it was for me.


There are articulating points where the frame meets the ear cups allowing for a small amount of cup swivel on the FT3 in either direction. This is enough to accommodate ear positioning on the side of your head and is accompanied by the ear cups having a spring mechanism pushing the top section inward similar to what we saw on the Focal Utopia before. This can help mitigate some of the cup motion issues with the self-adjusting headband for those with larger heads although it does mean consistent inward pressure from the ear pads by the side of your head near the temples—something to be aware of. On the plus side, it allows for a more secure fit for folks with average-sized head given the clamping pressure was near-perfect for me to begin with. There's also motion in all three axes thus with vertical sizing combining with ear cup swivel and rotation to add to the high probability of getting a secure, comfortable fit for many.


The darker colors and the relatively svelte ear cups go a good way in making the FiiO FT3 look clean but then we get to the ear cups and suddenly it has a more aggressive design language. I've seen the outside of the FT3's ear cups be described as car rims and shurikens, among other things, and it's a topic of discussion to say the least. I can't say I am the biggest fan either although I do concede this is working well enough to get people talking about the product. This aluminium alloy piece is placed over a honeycomb mesh that helps make the FT3 an open-back set, or at least semi-open given the blockages seen. The ear cups are naturally angled with the pads facing the same way, and the spring-loaded cups combined with the frame add to the clamping pressure to more evenly place the ear pads around your ears. Removing the ear pads is simple enough in that you just pull them off until they snap out of place revealing the plastic inserts placed evenly around the inner side and also exposing the drivers for a closer look.


There is a mesh screen on the ear pads helping to keep any contaminants from hitting the drivers. This is good because the large 60 mm dynamic driver used on each side is otherwise quite open on the inside having a Fibonacci pattern grill on top. Note also how the drivers are angled to direct the outgoing sound straight into your ear canals rather than pointing in line with the ear cups as with most other headphones, which would not be parallel with the ear canal. This can help reduce any unwanted standing waves and resonances. There's also an integrated baffle within the ear cup on the inside, which is held in place by six Torx T6 screws. Disassembly was done after all testing was completed and this allows use to better examine the springs in the ear cup as well as the various dampening materials employed by FiiO. Once again the Focal comparison comes in owing to the use of those pyramid-shaped materials on the inside in addition to the single-piece baffle/ear cup design. Solder quality from the cable connector to the driver was quite good and here you can see how the driver is easy to remove for those wanting to perhaps try modding the FT3 or even use these drivers in another headphone chassis. I'll talk more about the driver on the next page but suffice to say that this is the closest I've come to accidentally touching the diaphragm and surround so I highly discourage opening up the FT3 even beyond the part where it no doubt voids warranty.


The stock pads have a suede finish on the outside without any perforations. They also have the same foam ring on the inside at the mating surface to minimize any sound leakage—especially in the lower frequencies. The suede pads are slightly fluffier than the protein leather ones although both are on the smaller side for over-ear headphones with an inner diameter of ~56-58 mm and a thickness of ~20 mm for your ears. My ears fit in this space just about but those with larger ears should be aware of this. There is some wiggle room in all three directions and yet I would have liked to see FiiO use slightly larger ear pads. Swapping the pads is quite simple given the plastic insert mechanism used here, simply push the pads in until you hear them snap in place all around. Seen above is the FiiO FT3 with the replacement protein leather pads so you get an idea of how this combination looks. The pads are not contoured to better match the pinna spacing on either side of the ear and there does not seem to be any specific left or right orientation thus. There is a stitch mark on the side which is meant to point down so you can use it to align the pads when installing them.


On the bottom of the ear cups is where we find small cutouts for the cable connectors, and here too there are L/R markings applied in a subtle manner. These point directly down rather than being angled outward that would have helped position the cable connectors away from your neck and shoulders. There was clearly enough room inside the ear cups to do so! The consolation is the cable connectors are on the smaller side so they should not hit anything despite the use of the relatively thick cable here. A taller headphones stand is still a good idea though given the 3 m long cable can stack up quite a bit as seen above while also being arguably too long for most desktop use cases. Good thing then that you can use any cable with dual 3.5 mm TS/TRS connectors here, although they don't give you all the features of the stock cable. In particular, the modular nature of this cable means you have extra flexibility in choosing your source, be it for a more portable use case with the FiiO BTR7 (review coming soon) or stationary on your desk using the FiiO R7 we saw before.