Fiio FX15 Review: Fiio Breaks New Ground

mmorpg.com:

Fiio is a brand that’s impressed us over the years. It has made a point to deliver value with exceptional designs, build, and sound quality. Today, we’re looking at the FX15, a first for the brand. It’s the company’s first-ever earphone to utilize electrostatic drivers. Its late arrival might raise some eyebrows, but Fiio has been hard at work to develop an EST earphone that stands out from the pack. At $799, it’s expensive but only in the middle tier of pricing for this style of IEM. Does it deliver? Let’s take a closer look and find out. 

If you’ve been following the audio world at all, you’ve likely already heard of Fiio. We’ve covered the brand extensively over the years and for good reason — or should we say, reasons . It’s one of the biggest players in the Eastern Hi-Fi world, delivering a multitude of products over the years that, by and large, have been positively received. It releases new products regularly, and in some cases quite a bit faster than its competitors. Just as importantly, its products span the gamut from low-cost and affordable to premium and expensive, though nearly always with an eye toward accessibility. It’s a brand that tends to push prices down and increase what you can expect for the dollar, so even if you’re not a fan of every product they release, it’s worth watching them closely.

With that in mind, it’s rather surprising that we’re only now seeing it enter the tribrid (triple driver type, typically dynamic drivers, balanced armatures, and electrostatics) earphone market. Tribrids have been increasing in popularity over the last couple of years and a number of top sets utilize this design. So what took Fiio so long to join the fun?

The company sent along some background information ahead