FiiO - FT1 Closed-back Headphones

If you want satisfying bass for your music genre go with MDR-M1 or FT1 closed-back. For open-back MDR-MV1 has the best sub bass & bass if your budget allow. Otherwise AR5000 or used 105 AER.

1. Sennheiser Momentum 4 - Magical. Don't know how they pack in the sound quality there. Sometimes I trash the EQ settings just to try to make them sound bad. I baby them though, so my number 2 is 2. AKG K361 - Cheap, sounds great, and comfortable as heck to my head and ears. Never offensive, easy to drive, good durability. I'll carry and use these without a care while the M4s would stay in my work bag. When I'm at home, though, I generally use my number 3, the 3. Fiio FT1 - Does the same thing as number 2, just with a little more style, cost, and weight. I love the wood. Driving it through 4mm balanced on my Fosi K7 sounds sweet and rich. I got these to replace #4, the 4. Audio-Technica M50x - This was my go to for seven years before last year. Built like a tank, I went through a set of pads on it. For a long time this was what I thought headphones were supposed to sound like. I'm glad I mixed it up. Speaking of mixing, let's talk about number 5. 5. Sony MDR-7506 - I got these because I wanted to see what the fuss was about. I get it. If you can make your music sound great on these, you can make it sound great on anything.

If you just want something wired that sounds good and you just don’t know where to start, pick up a pair of Koss Porta Pros or Koss KPH30i. These are between $30-50, and they punch way above their price for sound quality. They’re on-ear headphones that look like they’re straight out of the 80’s (which they are). If you want something a little higher in the scale, consider the FiiO FT1 closed back. They’re $160 but Are definitely in the “worth stretching for” category. If you prefer more acoustic music, consider the Grado sr60x, but then add a pair of Geekria G-pads. Total will be about $120, but frankly that may be the last headphones you need for a long, long time: build quality is questionable a times, but replacement parts are super easy to find. Side note: this is about as different from JBL as I can think of. I highly recommend finding reviews on each of these to see what you might like best.

From least to most favorite: Audio-Technica ATH-M50X - well-built, cohesive imaging, but some of the most unnatural-sounding headphones I've heard, having a huge hole in the lower mids, mud-fest in the bass, and harsh peaky treble Audio-Technica ATH-M60X - well-built, surprisingly spacious for how small they are, but still a hole in the lower mids and shouty ear gain, plus they're on-ear and therefore uncomfortable Audio-Technica ATH-M40X - well-built, decent all-rounder, but still lacks the lower mids and mid-bass is too boomy, plus the treble is a bit sibilant Sennheiser HD280 PRO - great isolation, large pads, cohesive imaging, but too much sub-bass giving me a headache, too dull yet grainy, plus the cable is microphonic, heavy, stiff, and non-detachable AKG K361 - the most tonally balanced overall, but not very impressive technically, having kind of a tinny timbre with metallic treble, mediocre imaging, and some of the worst build and comfort with a huge design flaw - earpads have a lot of compression with pressure affecting the FR, creating constant channel imbalance, so you have to be perfectly still while using them AKG K371 - the same but more natural timbre for the sacrifice of warmer and muddier tuning Sennheiser HD620S - nice build, comfort, and isolation, good clarity, but unpleasant, cold, harsh, focused, claustrophobic, fatiguing tuning with wonky low-end Adam H200 - nice build, comfort, and isolation, surprisingly spacious, good bass quality, but too shouty FiiO FT1 - the best all-rounder, most casual, most comfortable, solid tonal balance, spatial qualities, and bass quality, but too much bass and too peaky unrefined treble, making them sound fatiguing Beyerdynamic DT770 PRO 250Ω - the best clarity, sounding almost like an open-back, great all-rounder, great low-end and midrange, decent spatial qualities, decently comfortable, but too sibilant, making them unsuitable for a certain kind of music NOTE: I also had the 80 and 32Ω versions of the DT770 but didn't like them as much

HD600 and Fiio FT1 for when I want a closed back. Among my LCD-2 and FT7, those two keep me grounded :) I also use my Space Travel a lot when working and yes, the Porta Pro is a certified banger! Love them for watching older movies, Apocalypse Now is always good fun with them.

FT1 more muddy than 99 neo? Wow, we must have very different ears indeed… Graphs and my experience says the contrary

thats a possibility, maybe a bad batch? i´m a long time headphones junky and have a lot of mid fi cans and my experience echoes most reviews: quute balanced sound with mild bass boost but very good lids and clarity, overall very competent heqdphonrs and way better than 99s

I use both open and closed back headphones for meetings. I never have any conversation bleed from open backs. I most use my Koss porta pros for meetings. They are not great for all day use though. My ears get sore after an hour of use. For longer meetings I'll use my Sennheiser HD 6XX, FIIO FT1, or Meze 109 Pro depending on my mood.

I had exactly the same experience, and I also read a fair amount of reviews before purchasing them. They sound muddy, like VERY muddy on busy (metal) tracks, and the low end is a mess. I tried balanced, unbalanced, Zen Dac 2, straight from the pc, but there's hardly any difference except for volume level. There's a blanket over the music, and I also think the treble sounds very thin and artificial. You hear the sizzle, but absolutely no "body" on cymbals. On some tracks it's unbearable to listen to, even with EQ. The Meze 99 Neo sounds way crisper and clearer in comparison, and people are saying they're super muddy. It does help that the pads on mine are super worn though. I'll return the FT1. The people who are saying "give them time" are either deaf or coping, or there's a chance that our pairs are faulty. I actually don't think they are, but Meze 99 Classic, Neo or Noir seem like a much better all-rounder, but hey, they're not the new kid on the block, so people of course aren't raving about them. Lastly, the build quality is decent at best, and I don't believe they'll hold up well.

Sure, I don't think they're bad, but they feel somewhat fragile, and I'm also not sure how well the wood will hold up. Bump them a few times and it might crack. I don't mind a dark tuning, but I think the FT1 lacks a lot of mids. I don't see how anyone can call these headphones "balanced", or "slightly warm". To my ears they're just extremely muffled. I tried any genre I could think of, but I didn't have a single "wow" moment and the Meze beat them in clarity in every single track, so for me these aren't worth the money. I'll look for something else, but I think I'm done with Fiio.

There were no issues with the setup as I was A/B testing, I even used the Meze cables to check if the cables were the problem. But yes, what I heard and what the graphs show doesn't add up. They don't seem "broken" (rattling drivers, harsh treble etc.), so I was in disbelief honestly. I need to check out another pair to see what's up.

If you have weird ears then headphones are probably going to be a consistently more enjoyable experience. There are a lot of good options in the $250 range, the Fiio FT1 (closed back) is a really nice choice, as is the Sennheiser+Drop HD6XX (open back) which is essentially a half-price HD650 for the NA market. If your listening environment is quiet I'd say the HD6XX is probably the nicer sound but if you need a budget closed back that rocks the FT1 is pretty great.

Disregarding old over ear noise canceling cans i had years and years ago, 1. Fiio ft1. Its genuinely just amazing for the price. Nothing to sharp in the treble, decent enough mids that my ears (with abiut and hour of listening so far) dont pick out any issues, and the bass while the audio is there, bass heads like myself may feel it has less impact as a planar, and speakers obviously rival even good headphone bass impact. Its textured and clear. 2. Sjy horizon closed carbon There is a vocal forwardness to this set, has a decent little bass bump that I enjoy and the "detail" treble, is extended, I will say the headband, like the omega, kinda sucks. Its too big, very little clamp and doesn't feel secure, they are fairly heavy, there is also several songs that have a loud snap or crack sound, mostly edm if that helps because I couldn't pinpoint the frequency range myself, that comes across as very snappy and loud to my ears. Its there in the song with other sets but it doesn't hurt my ears the way this set does, if I could find the damn frequency and tone it down a few db I would enjoy it much more at my listening level. Detail retrieval is excellent and competitive with the noire x from dca. 3. The noire x from dca is very detailed, clean clear and sibalant on certain peoples heads including my own, the esses?? "S" while watching the headphoneshows closed back tier list was so bad I sent them back after a week. Its now a "test track" for things that may have an issue for me. Very comfy cans and if the amts works with your ears they will be a great pair, how ever the bass is there but doesn't lead to very much punch, kick, slam whatever term tickles your brain. Someone else i heard speak about the dynamic range, which I onky have a limited understanding of currently. 4. Hd569 To me the graphs seemed decent for the 60 bucks I paid, there not great. I've genuinely listened to them maybe an hour and 5 mins was actually listening and the rest was trying to eq them to sound more pleasant. I have very little impressions of the actual sound of them im sorry. They would be decent with someone who doesn't wear glasses, wants to eq them a little and is willing to buy open box. At the msrp, I rec the fiio ft1 much more.