FiiO planar magnetic cans + A&K’s ‘entry-level’ player = hi-fi heaven
Hi-res audio can be a cruel mistress. You’d be forgiven for thinking two five-star products joined in union will surely bring high fidelity sound to your ears, but, as anyone who’s connected a set of high-impedance IEMs to a hi-res DAP (even if it’s one of the best portable audio players hooked up to some of the best wired headphones) knows, it’s just not that simple.
Why? Because said player may not have the oomph or power to fire up your earphones‘ multiple drivers to their full potential, that’s why. And that means you’ll need a separate headphone amp (often bundled in with some of the best portable DACs), which may affect the sonic characteristics of your chosen player’s onboard digital-analog-converter.
And aside from all of this, headphones are tuned specifically by audio engineers (often to reflect the sonic recipe a brand is known for) and said audio curve may not work as beautifully with your player’s presentation as you might hope.
In hi-fi as in life, compatibility is key. And that’s why I want you to know about this little system. It surprised me, in all the right ways.
First off, I decided to start with a set of very big and rather new headphones, namely the December 2023-issue FiiO FT5, also known as FiiO’s first ever planar magnetic design. Why did they set my internal alarm bells ringing – and why might such a product be a tough match for any pocket player? Each ear cup uses a large and extraordinarily thin (6µm) planar magnetic driver, with 11 neodymium magnets on one side and nine on the other. Sounds tough to drive, no? And because these headphones are priced at $449 / £429 / AU$799, (a level at which PM designs aren’t unheard of, but the more practical dynamic driver alternative still dominates) coupled with the fact that this is FiiO’s first stab at a planar magnetic design, I worried sensitivity would be an issue.
On top of all of that, I plugged their 4.4mm balanced output into Astell & Kern’s most ‚entry-level‘ player, the Astell & Kern A&norma SR35.
