Closer Examination

I am so happy to see FiiO continue to use the modular headphone cable design that we saw with the FT3 before. The FT5's cable is identical in that aspect and supports interchangeable audio jacks out of the box. It comes with a 4.5 mm balanced TRRS plug pre-installed that you can unscrew the housing for and pull out as seen above. This allows you to align and fit the 3.5 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 arguably even better to use than the fancier limited edition Furukawa copper cable that shipped with the first few batches of the FT3. This time we get 392 wires of high purity silver-plated monocrystalline copper conductor with each wired being 24 AWG thick. The exterior fabric sleeve makes for a more pliable cable which also looks premium at the same time. 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 darker color scheme of the FT5 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.


The FiiO FT5 is a nice looking—and feeling—set of headphones if I say so myself. It doesn't have the more gamery aesthetic of the FT3 and instead goes for a far more practical frame that is smaller in profile too. This makes the FT5 take up less space around your ears and over your head compared to the FT3 and many other such planar magnetic headphones it is competing with. Another thing I noticed right away is how solid it feels despite the smaller footprint. It's not very heavy either and this can be attributed to the use of lighter, more expensive materials used. The frame is composed of a magnesium-aluminium alloy, for example, compared to the usual plastic construction. The suspension-style headband also goes for a steel band with a slit cut in the middle for weight savings and it is accompanied by a relatively thick protein leather band with good stitching throughout along with enough padding 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 and suspension band meet the frame on either side where we see L/R markings on the inside to denote the left and right channels, respectively. The use of screws to secure the headband suggests this could be easy to repair/replace should spare parts be made available.


The suspension band is self-adjusting which means it 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 steel band 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. The good news is the cups here are large enough to where this should not be happening for anyone but those with the largest of heads


There are articulating points where the frame meets the ear cups allowing for a small amount of cup swivel on the FT5 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. This can help mitigate some of the cup motion issues with the self-adjusting headband for those with larger heads although it can result in some inward pressure from the ear pads by the side of your head near the temples—something to be aware of again if you are blessed with a large head. On the other hand, this 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 most people.


A look from the side reveals the open-back nature of the FiiO FT5 better in addition to showing how the magnesium/aluminium frame works here too. The grill is part of the acoustic design and not just for aesthetics with FiiO saying it helps control and accelerate the airflow when the driver underneath is moving. The driver housing just behind the grill also doubles up as a baffle in this regard to isolate sound waves in the front and back of the driver. Of course there have been some liberties taken to make for a pleasing geometric pattern to the grill and to have FiiO branding here in a tiny splash of color to contrast with the otherwise dark color scheme ongoing. 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 planar magnetic drivers for a closer look.


The stock pads are made of a suede material throughout 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 and the oval opening is ~62.5 x 46.5 mm in size with a thickness of ~20 mm for your ears to fit into. My ears fit in this space plenty fine and these are larger in the taller side than the pads on the FiiO FT3, which did test the limits for some, but there is still room for improvement if FiiO wishes to cater to those with larger ears, let alone also those with larger heads as discussed above. 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 FT5 with the replacement protein leather pads so you get an idea of how this combination looks. The pads are slightly contoured to better match the pinna spacing on either side of the ear and there are clearly marked L/R pads to help identify them 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 are angled outward to help position the cable connectors away from your neck and shoulders. The stock cable is 1.5 m long, which feels shorter than what most people using the FT5 at home would like. On the other hand, FiiO would no doubt want you to have a desktop DAC/amp—preferably one they make—within arms reach to where the cable length won't be a bottleneck anymore. Either way, you can use any cable with dual 3.5 mm TS/TRS connectors here even if they may not have the modular connector feature of the stock cable. I'd also recommend going with a taller headphones stand, if you are the type to use one, to have enough room to place the FT5 on using the steel band rather than the suspension band as seen above.