Review : Fearless Audio S8F – Better… Again !

Disclaimer : The Fearless Audio S8F were sent to us free of charge by Linsoul in exchange of an honest opinion. The retail price is 489 €/$ and you can find them at Linsoul’s store directly.

About Fearless Audio

Founded in 2012, Fearless audio produces IEMs and CIEMs for professional users. They’ve been making IEMs for more than 7 years now and Fearless began to experiment with 3D-printed models in 2016 only.

 

fearless logo

If that sounds early, let’s recall how far this technology has come in just a few years. Today, you can choose if you want your IEM to be custom-fitted, or universals, for just a fraction of what it cost a few years ago, and that’s all thanks to brands like Fearless in my opinion.

Anyway, time to dig in.

The SX Series

Unsurprisingly, Fearless offers a wide range of models to fit everybody tastes, and budget.

Start

The Fearless Audio Start is the entry-level IEM from the brand. It doesn’t look much different from any modern UIEM as it offers a CIEM like shape, to cover the whole ear. Once fitted in your ear, none can say if you’re wearing a custom or a standard one.

Inside, there is a 10mm dynamic driver with a Diamond Like Carbon diaphragm, something we’ve seen recently inside the iBasso IT01S in-ears. There is an option to choose which colour you want, and the cable can be swapped thanks to the 2-Pin socket.

Crystal Pearl

The Fearless Audio Crystal Pearl is another entry-level alternative. Instead of one dynamic driver, the brand took two balanced armatures, and fit them in a tiny acrylic shell. If the name is a bit fancy, it was a pleasant surprise overall.

To auto-quote myself :

It’s not the most resolving IEM, but they give you just enough to satiate your audiophile thirst. It’s the perfect daily driver, combining unharmful highs, exceptional noise-blocking and all the good traits we found in the S6 Rui.

S4

The Fearless S4 is a four balanced driver IEM with a 3-way crossover. It mixes a dual Bass Driver from Sonion with two Knowles driver for mid-frequencies and trebles, a fairly common architecture in this range.

The IEM comes with DDP Technology and can be customized, be it custom-fitted or universal. Price is still low for this type of in-ear, so I’d be curious to see how that may sound.

S5H / S5T

The Fearless audio S5 comes in two editions. The S5H which is a five-drivers IEM “suitable for music production and stage production” whereas the S5T shows a “strong sense of low-frequency”. Basically, the S5T is a bass-boosted S5H with a prominent low end, to please the bass-lovers out there.

S6 RUI / Pro

The Fearless S6 comes in two version (again), the Pro version aiming at professionals (thanks master of the obvious) and the Rui which offers “richer and fuller sound”. Or more bass, if we’d have to be blunt.

We’ve already reviewed the Fearless S6 Rui and it boasts impressive performances and punchy bass. You can read our review here, but in the meantime, here is a snippet :

To sum up, the Fearless Audio S6 Rui is a great IEM, period. It is precise, dynamic, powerful in the lows, accurate in the mids and most of all they do that for a very keen price. For me the price/performance ratio is almost as important as its performance itself. The good news is that nowadays, cheaper doesn’t mean worse, far from there.

S10 Genie

The S10 Genie is a ten balanced driver IEM with a 4-Way Crossover. It’s not anything special anymore as you can see more and more IEMs with two-digits drivers, what’s surprising here is the low asking price.

There is not much information regarding the Fearless audio S10, but the architecture is described on the website : 2x dual ultra low, 1x dual Low-mid and 2x dual Mid-high. Impedance is low at 13 ohms and sensitivity reach 115dB/mW, so this should be easy to drive.

Spoiler alert : I received them and review is incomiiiiing.

ACME

With only 8 drivers, the Acme is announced as Fearless Audio’s flagship, over the S10 genie. It’s not very different from the S8 Pro and S8 Freedom if you only look at the specs, but that is only half of the truth.

Y2K

The Fearless Audio Y2K is a very special case. First, it costs a whopping 4,399$. Second, it’s not just a 10 Balanced driver in-ear, it comes with its own amplifier. A very special amplifier.

Basically, the Y2K is a tuning system that allows you to set your IEM as close to perfection for each listener. It’s the same kind of material you use to parameter your CIEM/IEM before launch, and I find it pretty cool to get a change to own this kind of setup. Just writing it, I want to get/buy one !

S8 Pro / S8 Freedom

The S8 is an eight balanced driver IEM in a 4-way crossover configuration. It’s like the S4 but the brand double-downs on every driver : 2x ultra-low, 2x medium-low, 2x medium-high and 2x ultra-high.

 

There is a different tuning, labelled as S8Pro and S8Freedom. The first one is tuned to fit performers and music producers whereas the second one is supposed to suit musics listeners and audiophiles. Also, the impedance for the Pro version is 10 ohms lower, at 15 ohms instead of 25 ohms, so it should be easier to drive.

Good news, this is the one we are reviewing today. More specifically, the S8F or S8 Freedom, but let’s make it simple and stick with Fearless Audio S8F.

The article continues on Page Two, after the click here

4.8/5 - (169 votes)
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A nerdy guy with a passion for audio and gadgets, he likes to combine his DAC and his swiss knife. Even after more than 10 years of experience, Nanotechnos still collects all gear he gets, even his first MPMAN MP3 player. He likes spreadsheets, technical specs and all this amazing(ly boring) numbers. But most of all, he loves music: electro, classical, dubstep, Debussy : the daily playlist.

5 Comments

  • Reply August 8, 2019

    Justin

    Correction: Unless they changed spec recently, the S8 Pro also comes with 3 tubes. At least the one I had, did 😉

  • Reply August 11, 2019

    Filippo

    As an S8F owner i agree with your review….. I love my new babies so much that i’m losing hours of sleep ’cause i listen to music for hours on end. The only downside is that they are so much revealing that i’m starting to hear the limits of my LG V30 ( something that never happened to me with the Etymotic ER3XR )…. so here’s the 500$ question : better save for the Fiio M11 Pro ( or similar priced DAP) or bundle my LGV30 with the Chord Mojo??
    Thank you fellow Music Lovers

    • Reply August 19, 2019

      Janis

      Try the iBasso DC01 with your LG V30. It’s as cheap as an upgrade can be and beats the M11 in sound quality. I’m rocking a Oneplus One 5T, Fearless S8 Freedom, a balanced cable by Tripowin, I believe it’s the C8 and the ibasso DC01.

      Sounds terrific!

  • Reply August 20, 2019

    Mantas

    Fearless S8 Freedom or FIIO FH7? Help me to deside.
    I’m looking for warmer sound with deep authoritive sub base notes.

  • Reply August 21, 2019

    Dilip vishwanath

    Can you compare the s8f and the fh7, I’ll be upgrading from the beyerdynamic dx160ie

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