FiiO FA19 In-Ear Monitors
Trailblazing into a new world, Moving BAs into a new
Our goal was to create a truly monumental multi-BA driver IEM. We aimed to shake up the current market of flagship multi-BA driver IEMs, and spent three years on refining it to do so. For the ten balanced armature drivers FA19, we collaborated deeply with Knowles. Together, we built a custom enhanced bass balanced armature driver specifically for the FA19 to provide the listener with a deep low-frequency experience uncommon in multi-BA driver IEMs. Additionally, FiiO also worked closely with Knowles to optimize the mid and high-frequency drivers so that they not only sound highly detailed, but also pleasantly smooth. With the FA19 we carefully tuned all parts of the frequency response curve for a truly coherent and resolving sound. Welcome to a new world for multi-BA IEMs, and the FiiO FA19 will be your guide.
Swift as the wind, with a thunderous impact 10 Knowles BA design
The FIIO FA19 is designed based on both science and actual listening tests. For the FA19 we settled on using these drivers per ear. 4 custom Knowles bass BA drivers, 2 Knowles ED mid BA drivers, and 4 Knowles SWFK treble BA drivers.
Having more drivers in an IEM does provide certain advantages. It significantly increases the energy density within a given frequency range, resulting in more detail reproduced. This is especially apparent during dynamic audio passages, where more drivers are better able to handle the nuances present, ensuring that the resulting sound is not compressed. And thus, the IEM is better able to faithfully reproduce the original sound.
When tuning IEMs, it is important that there are ample energy reserves from the drivers so that the engineers have enough to work with to achieve their sound goals. This may simply not be possible with fewer drivers. Thus the FA19 employs ten outstanding BA drivers. And the physical electronic three-way crossover accurately segments different drivers working on different frequency ranges, resulting in a clear, reference monitor-like sound quality.
The FA19 is an IEM that reaches the heights of sound quality with a thunderous impact, being able to faithfully reproduce every last single audio detail.
Rediscovering the essence of bass, Custom Knowles enhanced bass BA drivers
FIIO collaborated closely with Knowles to create a custom bass BA driver. By improving the airflow throughput of this driver, we enhance its overall energy. Additionally, the FA19 uses four of these custom drivers per channel, further ensuring there are enough drivers to produce detailed and powerful bass. The result is truly robust, impactful bass.
Don't follow the crowd, stand out from it. Negative feedback bass enhancement system
With four custom enhanced bass balanced armature drivers per channel developed by FIIO in collaboration with Knowles, the FA19 boasts ample bass. Engineers creatively made use of the precise DLP 3D printing technology to create a shell that helps to guide this low-frequency energy into the earphone's rear cavity, effectively lowering the resonant frequency there essentially a negative feedback bass enhancement system. The result is a bass that reaches extremely deep, uncommon among IEMs of its class.
Furthermore, this ensures that the front cavity of the earphone is adequately vented, effectively preventing wearing discomfort caused by excessive pressure in the earphone's front cavity. Thus this negative feedback system also improves both wearing comfort and soundstage size, so that the wearing experience is not sacrificed in the pursuit of high-fidelity sound.
Clean coherent transition Scientific HiFi Mid-frequency notch filter
A smooth mid-frequency curve not only stems from the core unit's quality but also results from meticulous tuning by professional acousticians. The FA19 employs two classic Knowles ED mid BA drivers, known for their high resolution and favored by demanding listeners. However, if not implemented properly they can sometimes exhibit sibilance which negatively affects the overall listening experience. To address this, engineers have specially designed a mid-frequency notch filter at the bottom of these two mid BA drivers.
Enhanced mids
Measurements show that the mid-frequency natch filter increases the sound pressure level between 1kHz and 3kHz in the FA19, avoiding a "hole" in the mids. This ensures not only that the highly detailed nature of a BA driver continues to come through, but also that the mids sound lusher a nd more realitic, as if the singer really was in front of you.
Sibilance eliminated
The mid-frequency notch filter effectively filters out the 8kHz peak of the mid- frequency BA driver. Doing so reduces the overlap in frequency response range between the mid and treble BAs, eliminating sib