Quick Summary
FiiO's FX17 IEMs have three different driver types and a five-way crossover, cabling made from three kinds of metal, and three kinds of connectors.
They'll be available in mid-April for £1399 / $1499 / about AU$2,873.
How many drivers do you need for amazing audio? FiiO's new FX17 IEMs suggest that the answer may be 26.
That's not a misprint, these earbuds come with eight electrostatic drivers, four custom Knowles BA drivers, and a dynamic driver in each ear. That trumps pretty much every one of the best in-ear headphones currently available.
That's a lot of drivers and to control them, FiiO has added a precision-tuned five-way crossover to balance the energy distribution and ensure each driver operates in its optimal state. According to the manufacturer, that means a bigger soundstage and more natural sound.
Why so many drivers? You've heard of the best of both worlds. This promises to be the best of three.
FiiO FX17 IEMs: key specifications and pricing
The reason for three different driver types is because different kinds excel at different things. Electrostatic drivers are excellent in the high frequency ranges, but they're not as sensitive as BA or dynamic drivers. Hence, the use of so many of them here.
The second kind are balanced armature (BA) drivers. They're for the mids and highs, and the BA drivers used in the FX17 earbuds have added acoustic vents to deliver better vocal clarity.
Last but not least, the lithium-magnesium alloy diaphragm dynamic driver responds very quickly, and its high internal damping reduces unwanted vibration and resonance.
The drivers are housed in a titanium cavity that's been milled from a single block and polished by hand, and the cable follows the drivers' lead by mixing multiple materials – gold, silver and copper – to benefit from their individual strengths. Those cables come with three sets of swappable plugs: 3.5mm single-ended, 4.4mm balanced and a Type-C connector with built-in digital decoding and DSP.
That DSP supports up to 32Bit/384kHz high-resolution PCM, and also has FiiO's 8-band high-precision PEQ so you can adjust the IEMs' frequency response via the companion app or using the web interface.
The FiiO FX17 will be priced at £1399 / $1499 / about AU$2,873 and will be available from 14 April.
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