Build and Fit
The FH15 feels very nice in hand, and I think it should be a reliable item for extensive usage. Everything is beautiful and complete, and the shells are simply fantastic.
FH15 comes with a silver-plated copper cable with 8 strands. They are braided together in a Litz pattern. The cable feels very high quality with good flexibility and tensile strength.
The FiiO FH15 has a very ergonomic shape for most ears out there. It’s quite round, like the previous models, and I think it has a fantastic fit. FiiO somehow managed to find the sweet spot with the fit of their IEMs, and I think the FH15 is even better in that regard.
The supplied tips work very well. I chose the silicone ones, despite me usually liking the foam tips more. That’s because the IEM fits very well and I don’t have to use the foam tips to get a flush & secure fit. The silicone tips do the trick and they’re enough to give you nice isolation. You can opt for foams to get more isolation though.
The IEM also feels quite comfortable and I did not feel any pressure. Overall an excellent and very comfortable fit experience.
Sound Quality
The FH15 is a very smooth and full-sounding IEM with good naturality and balance. It has great warmth, fullness and bass texture. It’s mostly a balanced IEM with a boost in bass warmth and punch. The treble part is very smooth and forgiving. It packs a good body and musicality, with a good sense of realism and nice tonality.
The presentation is quite warm, and although it can be altered with nozzle filters provided, the main signature doesn’t change much. The FH15, while being nicely balanced, also carries a dense approach with a bassy nature. The good thing about the FH15 is that the presentation always feels natural and musical, with good smoothness and timbre.
Bass
The FH15’s bass is impactful, strong and deep. However, it stays under control with good decay and texture. The kick is satisfying to hear, and it would be great, especially for bass lovers out there. The texture of the bass is the most impressive part of the FH15 for the price. The quickness is not exactly at the level of pricier options (FH7S), but for this price, it’s pretty impressive.
So overall the bass response is very satisfying, especially with Pop and RnB music. Although, some may find this bass a bit over the top, especially in terms of mid-bass quantity. If you want to tame the bass, you can utilize treble filters combined with double flange tips. That helps reduce the bass quantity, yet it’s still considerably full-sounding even with that configuration, so bear that in mind.
The “balanced” tips work the best and they extract the most realistic bass presentation from the IEM in my opinion. Bass filters add more weight and lift to the sub-bass region particularly, making the bass meatier and more impactful. It’s not a drastic difference but you can think of it as an EQ.
Mids
The FH15 gives somewhat darker mids with good timbre but there’s a certain veil factor in its delivery. Especially the transition from the upper bass to the lower mids lack some resolution. The rest of the mids is pretty good, with natural tonality and a realistic approach. I especially liked the timbre quality for the price, which is lively and organic.
The FH15 is an IEM that doesn’t feel unrealistic at all, at any part of the spectrum. That’s the plus of this monitor. Mids sound coherent and it also has a good body and note thickness. Timbre-wise this is quite accurate and realistic, and there’s good warmth in here. However, the resolution is not quite the same as the higher-end FH models, and it’s not as transparent. Still, it has fairly good clarity for the price level.
I think the FH15 has a very musical mid-range with very nice tonality and dynamism. However, you sometimes feel that you need a bit more clarity and transparency, with more crispness. There’s great smoothness and easiness in the mids but there’s not enough air and separation for Classical and Jazz.
From a technical standpoint, the transparency, air, separation and resolution in the mids could’ve been better, but for that, you need to look at higher models of FiiO and other brands. In terms of naturalness and timbre, the FH15 has good musicality. The IEM has a very nice tonal quality, especially for instruments.
