twister6
Android Expert
This is a Review of Fidue A83 triple driver hybrid hi-fi IEMs. http://penonaudio.com/Fidue-A83 - currently available with a bonus silver-plated replacement cable with in-line remote/mic.
Fidue A83 has been on my radar for quite some time. I had an opportunity to review their A31S and A63 headphones in the past and already familiar with a high level of attention they pay to both physical and sound aspects of the design. If you add to this a fact that I have a soft spot for hybrid IEMs, you can understand my natural curiosity to find out what Fidue was able to accomplish with a single dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers. What I found during my testing made me realize how quickly these hybrids got elevated to the top level, surpassing every other hybrid and multi-BA driver IEM I have tested in the past. Here is what I found.
Arrived in a traditional black box with green stripe details, I never take for granted their cover description of the sound and design since from my previous experience I learned that Fidue is always spot on. While reading "reference class" in the description did trigger a possibility of cold/bright sound, so I was a bit anxious to find out results of their dual BA tuning. I also would like to mention that I always appreciate how they include a little bit of history and design philosophy behind their company on the back of the box. It's a nice touch that shows how much pride Fidue takes in their product. Out of the box you will find a small bag with accessories and a protective case with headphones inside. These accessories include a flight adapter, 1/4" headphone adapter, 3 pairs of single flange tips, 2 pairs of double flange tips, and a pair of foam tips. This being their premium pair of headphones, I would have expected a better selection of eartips but the included hard shell pelican-style case makes up for it big time! I can't comment if this is a genuine Pelican case, but it has exactly the same build quality to survive anything! Headphones were in a display setting wrapped around foam insert in all of their glory with an outer champagne color wings design.
That particular outer part of the shell felt metallic because it was cold to the touch in contrast to a plastic inner part of the shell. From the initial glance the shell looks rather large and flashy, but I actually found a fitment to be quite comfortable from the moment I put these in. Overall fitment is rather shallow, so a right selection of eartips will be very important. The inner plastic part of the shell is translucent, revealing outline of internal drivers, and also color coded for red being a right side and blue for the left side. No confusion here, even so they also labeled each side with L/R marking. There is also an air port on the inner part of the shell next to the nozzle, a design detail I found to be very important in sound shaping of these IEMs. The cable is removable and uses a standard MMCX connector, but the included cable has a unique design with a latch tab that interlocks with an earpiece preventing it from spinning. This design is quite ingenious and also makes it backward compatible with any standard mmcx connector replacement cable.
I have a number of IEMs with mmcx connector cable and other silver-plated replacement cables, but nothing comes even close in durability and sound quality provided by this Fidue cable, not to mention that it also looks super cool! Starting with 3.5mm straight gold plated plug with a color matched scheme and excellent strain relief, it is connected to a high quality thick braided cable. Following the y-splitter, also with an excellent strain relief on both sides, the individual earpiece cables afterwards are twisted and have a clear soft tubing over it. The significance of this clear tubing is to eliminate microphonics effect of the cable rubbing against your cloth. I was surprised they didn't provide a cable cinch which comes handy considering over-ear fitment of these IEMs, but perhaps they thought a provided memory wire will be sufficient enough. I still think cable cinch is a good idea to include in the design to keep the wires together for a better fitment.
Before I get into sound description, let me revisit a topic of eartips. The anatomy of our ears is not the same, so fitment will be different for everybody. But in case of A83 a proper selection of eartips will either make it or break it especially if you are sensitive to high frequencies. I started with a proper 25hr burn-in which had little effect on dual BA drivers, but did contribute to tightening of the bass and bringing up it's rich texture. From my previous experience I thought the included narrow bore large tips will be sufficient enough to attenuate the brightness I'm typically "allergic" to. But that wasn't the case at first. I went through half a dozen of different single flange and foam tips without too much success looking for a good seal (to accentuate the bass) and a way to attenuate the brightness. Not until I came across HiFiMAN custom wide bore eartips (from RE400) with a long extended cap, I realized that I'm hearing one of a kind sound sig like I have never experienced before!!! Again, my eartip experience might not be applicable to everybody else, but a combination of these large eartips that sealed my ear canal and the extension of their cap down to cover the air port of the inner shell - yielded an AMAZING sound results!!!
I found sound signature of A83 to be a unique blend of smooth analytical sound truly reaching a reference level. It's very unique to experience a sound with such high level of micro-details without artifacts of cold sibilance typical of other BA drivers and hybrids. Also from my previous experience, an analytical signature usually makes a sound thin and harsh, but here you have just the right amount of non-fatigue brightness and low end warmth to give it more body and to make it thicker and fuller.
Bass extends down to a rich sub-bass level with a nice rumbling texture and has a great balance with a mid-bass punch without any exaggeration or bloat. The level of clarity and details of low end really stands out beyond anything I heard in the past. It's definitely north of neutral and comes to play only when called up by instruments in the song. The bass is also well controlled without spilling into lower mids. Mids feel a bit forward due to their bright and clear nature, but at the same time they have a smooth musical feeling with an easy listening perception. Vocals delivery has a natural tonality, high level of details, and no harsh peaks or sibilance. Treble was also crisp and detailed while still feeling a bit smooth and maybe even laid back. It had a nice extension, not even a hint of sibilance, and very enjoyable for an extended listening period. The layering of the sound was excellent, and I was able to focus with ease on separate instruments and vocals in space. Which brings me to a staging where you have a wide separation but not as much depth to match it. Surprisingly it doesn't make sound congested or less dynamic, just more intimate and up close, similar to a front row experience.
I have quite a few multi-BA driver IEMs and hybrid IEMs, and typically uses them in different setups for different listening purposes. The only one I would consider as my go-to universal is ATH-IM03, but it still fell short in the level of details when compared to A83. In other comparison starting with UE900s, I found UE sound to be more congested and a bit veiled, with less sub-bass quantity, mids not as natural or detailed though smoother and thicker, and soundstage deeper and more open. W40 also sounds more congested and less detailed, while being smoother and thicker. Another good comparison is Altone200 which sounds thinner, with less body and harsher upper mids/treble, not the same level of sub-bass texture, and overall inferior balance between bass and mids/treble. When it comes to IM03, even with silver-plated cable it sounds warmer, smoother, less detailed, and with bass not having the same level of clarity/details, and soundstage being deeper.
Overall, I was expecting a high level of performance from this flagship pair of Fidiue's IEMs, but wasn't expecting it's going to be that good! The biggest surprise was a tuning of upper mids/treble where Fidue delivered a detailed analytical sound which is still very ear friendly and non-fatigue. A perfect balance of upper frequency smooth/bright details with a low frequency warmth turned these IEMs into all around headphones for any type of music, regardless if it's EDM or pop/rock or jazz or classical. In addition to a fantastic sound tuning, these IEMs also look stunning with the highest quality removable cable I have seen to date. I can't be 100% certain about build quality since a shell is a mixture of plastic and metal material, but I'm sure time will tell because these A83 IEMs going to get a lot of mileage!!!
Here are the pictures.
Fidue A83 has been on my radar for quite some time. I had an opportunity to review their A31S and A63 headphones in the past and already familiar with a high level of attention they pay to both physical and sound aspects of the design. If you add to this a fact that I have a soft spot for hybrid IEMs, you can understand my natural curiosity to find out what Fidue was able to accomplish with a single dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers. What I found during my testing made me realize how quickly these hybrids got elevated to the top level, surpassing every other hybrid and multi-BA driver IEM I have tested in the past. Here is what I found.
Arrived in a traditional black box with green stripe details, I never take for granted their cover description of the sound and design since from my previous experience I learned that Fidue is always spot on. While reading "reference class" in the description did trigger a possibility of cold/bright sound, so I was a bit anxious to find out results of their dual BA tuning. I also would like to mention that I always appreciate how they include a little bit of history and design philosophy behind their company on the back of the box. It's a nice touch that shows how much pride Fidue takes in their product. Out of the box you will find a small bag with accessories and a protective case with headphones inside. These accessories include a flight adapter, 1/4" headphone adapter, 3 pairs of single flange tips, 2 pairs of double flange tips, and a pair of foam tips. This being their premium pair of headphones, I would have expected a better selection of eartips but the included hard shell pelican-style case makes up for it big time! I can't comment if this is a genuine Pelican case, but it has exactly the same build quality to survive anything! Headphones were in a display setting wrapped around foam insert in all of their glory with an outer champagne color wings design.
That particular outer part of the shell felt metallic because it was cold to the touch in contrast to a plastic inner part of the shell. From the initial glance the shell looks rather large and flashy, but I actually found a fitment to be quite comfortable from the moment I put these in. Overall fitment is rather shallow, so a right selection of eartips will be very important. The inner plastic part of the shell is translucent, revealing outline of internal drivers, and also color coded for red being a right side and blue for the left side. No confusion here, even so they also labeled each side with L/R marking. There is also an air port on the inner part of the shell next to the nozzle, a design detail I found to be very important in sound shaping of these IEMs. The cable is removable and uses a standard MMCX connector, but the included cable has a unique design with a latch tab that interlocks with an earpiece preventing it from spinning. This design is quite ingenious and also makes it backward compatible with any standard mmcx connector replacement cable.
I have a number of IEMs with mmcx connector cable and other silver-plated replacement cables, but nothing comes even close in durability and sound quality provided by this Fidue cable, not to mention that it also looks super cool! Starting with 3.5mm straight gold plated plug with a color matched scheme and excellent strain relief, it is connected to a high quality thick braided cable. Following the y-splitter, also with an excellent strain relief on both sides, the individual earpiece cables afterwards are twisted and have a clear soft tubing over it. The significance of this clear tubing is to eliminate microphonics effect of the cable rubbing against your cloth. I was surprised they didn't provide a cable cinch which comes handy considering over-ear fitment of these IEMs, but perhaps they thought a provided memory wire will be sufficient enough. I still think cable cinch is a good idea to include in the design to keep the wires together for a better fitment.
Before I get into sound description, let me revisit a topic of eartips. The anatomy of our ears is not the same, so fitment will be different for everybody. But in case of A83 a proper selection of eartips will either make it or break it especially if you are sensitive to high frequencies. I started with a proper 25hr burn-in which had little effect on dual BA drivers, but did contribute to tightening of the bass and bringing up it's rich texture. From my previous experience I thought the included narrow bore large tips will be sufficient enough to attenuate the brightness I'm typically "allergic" to. But that wasn't the case at first. I went through half a dozen of different single flange and foam tips without too much success looking for a good seal (to accentuate the bass) and a way to attenuate the brightness. Not until I came across HiFiMAN custom wide bore eartips (from RE400) with a long extended cap, I realized that I'm hearing one of a kind sound sig like I have never experienced before!!! Again, my eartip experience might not be applicable to everybody else, but a combination of these large eartips that sealed my ear canal and the extension of their cap down to cover the air port of the inner shell - yielded an AMAZING sound results!!!
I found sound signature of A83 to be a unique blend of smooth analytical sound truly reaching a reference level. It's very unique to experience a sound with such high level of micro-details without artifacts of cold sibilance typical of other BA drivers and hybrids. Also from my previous experience, an analytical signature usually makes a sound thin and harsh, but here you have just the right amount of non-fatigue brightness and low end warmth to give it more body and to make it thicker and fuller.
Bass extends down to a rich sub-bass level with a nice rumbling texture and has a great balance with a mid-bass punch without any exaggeration or bloat. The level of clarity and details of low end really stands out beyond anything I heard in the past. It's definitely north of neutral and comes to play only when called up by instruments in the song. The bass is also well controlled without spilling into lower mids. Mids feel a bit forward due to their bright and clear nature, but at the same time they have a smooth musical feeling with an easy listening perception. Vocals delivery has a natural tonality, high level of details, and no harsh peaks or sibilance. Treble was also crisp and detailed while still feeling a bit smooth and maybe even laid back. It had a nice extension, not even a hint of sibilance, and very enjoyable for an extended listening period. The layering of the sound was excellent, and I was able to focus with ease on separate instruments and vocals in space. Which brings me to a staging where you have a wide separation but not as much depth to match it. Surprisingly it doesn't make sound congested or less dynamic, just more intimate and up close, similar to a front row experience.
I have quite a few multi-BA driver IEMs and hybrid IEMs, and typically uses them in different setups for different listening purposes. The only one I would consider as my go-to universal is ATH-IM03, but it still fell short in the level of details when compared to A83. In other comparison starting with UE900s, I found UE sound to be more congested and a bit veiled, with less sub-bass quantity, mids not as natural or detailed though smoother and thicker, and soundstage deeper and more open. W40 also sounds more congested and less detailed, while being smoother and thicker. Another good comparison is Altone200 which sounds thinner, with less body and harsher upper mids/treble, not the same level of sub-bass texture, and overall inferior balance between bass and mids/treble. When it comes to IM03, even with silver-plated cable it sounds warmer, smoother, less detailed, and with bass not having the same level of clarity/details, and soundstage being deeper.
Overall, I was expecting a high level of performance from this flagship pair of Fidiue's IEMs, but wasn't expecting it's going to be that good! The biggest surprise was a tuning of upper mids/treble where Fidue delivered a detailed analytical sound which is still very ear friendly and non-fatigue. A perfect balance of upper frequency smooth/bright details with a low frequency warmth turned these IEMs into all around headphones for any type of music, regardless if it's EDM or pop/rock or jazz or classical. In addition to a fantastic sound tuning, these IEMs also look stunning with the highest quality removable cable I have seen to date. I can't be 100% certain about build quality since a shell is a mixture of plastic and metal material, but I'm sure time will tell because these A83 IEMs going to get a lot of mileage!!!
Here are the pictures.
