The good headphones transform the music . They break notes lost and whispers hidden and the wipe of a digit down the cosmic string of a guitar . They enlarge the euphony and transport you . Whenever you move up a price point , the sound should move too . And that ’s precisely what happened with the Fender FXA7 in - ear monitors ( IEMs ) .
The last in - ear headphones in the $ 500 range I test did n’t do that . They were a pair of Shure 535s . I get it on my Shure 215 Special Editions and wanted to chase the lost bits of my medicine again , to find all the thing I ’d been lack . So I spent $ 455 ( plus change to get them delivered in a day ) and I queue up a mix of some of my favorite songs .
I was underwhelmed . Within a week the 535s were on their path back to Amazon , and I was on the hunt for a duo of IEMs that would disclose what the 215SEs were hiding from me . Making the jumping from more ceremonious earbuds to professional - grade IEMs , the more sophisticated devices that musician tend to employ on - stage , should declare oneself better fidelity .
But I did n’t anticipate that Fender ’s new IEMs would be so stunning . Earlier this year , Fender buy a small boutique earpiece society ( Aurisonics ) and start making Fender - branded headphones . That ’s not as spoilt as companies that slap their name on subpar products to catch a small of an issue market — but it still give me a small wary .
Thankfully , Fender has created a really unanimous serial of products — from the $ 200 FXA2 to the $ 500 FXA7 I ’ve been wearing . Fender ’s also produced a “ budget ” pair , the DXA1 , with a more traditional Shure - corresponding physical body element . Those retail for $ 100 , and Fender has made it clear that they ’re the cheapest pair of headphones the company will produce . “ We do n’t want to compromise caliber for price , ” a Fender rep told me .
Fender instead wants to get into the office of the lively music shot that it ’s been missing out on . That ’s why these are IEMs . While audiophiles like myself make love IEMs for the high - quality audio — musician prefer them for their extremely exact interpretation of whatever the hell they ’re represent .
And the FXA7s I strain out are more than just accurate . They ’re a joyfulness . I can hear the clap of a wooden blockage in Feist ’s “ Sealion ” that I ’ve never heard before . And over there the steel guitar in Dolly Parton ’s “ Jolene ” pitches just right . ( Why do must headphones so thoroughly screw up the brand guitar ? ) There ’s that frail timbre to forte-piano in Rachmaninoff ’s Piano Concerto No . 2 that I did n’t realize I ’d been missing in other headphones . It ’s not quite the hammer on the pianissimo string , but the person - thrumming vibration that would companion it if you were in the room with the instrument . And Soul Coughing ’s “ Blame”—which will wreck most deep enceinte headphones — is suave . It ’s like you ’re stand right on in front of the put up - up sea bass .
It was the sea bass that really surprised me about the FXA7s . IEMs of all kinds are known for their over-the-top detail . You ’re spending a hundred plus dollar sign on a distich of speakers you cram into your capitulum canals . Between the dissonance reduction and the propinquity to your frail inner ear , IEMs can bear a lot of contingent t that ’s frequently lose in heavy fertile headphones that model on your ear . But IEMs also lack a raft of warmth . String instruments in particular tend to sound infertile and digital .
Much of that is due to the type of verbalizer system within the IEM . Most ( included the Shure 535s I hated ) use what ’s called a “ balanced armature . ” They ’re very tiny , very precise , and they struggle with the lower absolute frequency that honest bass take .
buffer uses a hybrid armature that blends the balanced armature with traditional dynamical speakers ( found in most over - the - ear earphone and a few IEM brands ) . The technical school is based on the work of Aurisonics , the little IEM companionship that Fender purchase last yr . But commix up the two style of sound reproduction , and throwing in a bass port so aviation can move in and out of the ear without disrupting the close seal of approval , Fender ’s IEMs make a lot of bass .
The IEMs are wickedly fun to take heed to . They seldom sacrifice truth to do so , which is great because Fender wants these headphones to be worn by musician doing gigs and sound engineers running boards . The fact that they work for the eternal rest of us is just ice on the cake .
Well … they do n’t work for all of us . Fender secure me that its IEMs would fit up to 95 - percent of people comfortably . However if lilliputian pinna canal run in your family , like they do in mine , you ’ll experience a little discomfort . The Fender IEMs are vainglorious .
They also use a connection that is theoretically the oecumenical MMCX connector establish in many other IEMs , including Shure ’s total line up . In pattern , I would not advocate using other MMCX cables with the Fender earphone . The audio was n’t quite as meretricious , and the connective did n’t actually clack into the ports on the Fender headphones . Other cables will work in a pinch but will finally be lousy for regular employment . Use the Fender cable length .
But it ’s not reasonable to compare the chunky FXA7s to my much cheaper Shure 215 SEs . These are phone for rock out on stage or bopping along at your desk — not for epical walks with the cad or long subway commute . The Fender FXA7s have n’t supersede any of my phone , but they ’ve supplement them nicely . When I ’m in a deep brown store mainline techno trying to crank up out a account book chapter of a Word of God , I ’d reach for the FXA7s . And when I take a plane next calendar month I ’ll wear the FXA7s instead not a pair of noise - invalidate earmuffs .
The Fender FXA7s did precisely what I need a couple of $ 500 earphone to do . They dig deep and found all the missing notes of the music I mind to . And they bear those notes with an almost uncomparable fondness .
README
The Gigantor of the Inner Ear Monitors . Tiny - eared people need not employ .
Spectacular freshwater bass performance and fabulously warm replication of music .
Also luxuriously detailed . You ’ll pick up instruments you did n’t even acknowledge were in song .
The silicon backsheesh that go in your pinna are sticky . Great for make a seal , but prostrate to picking up lint in your sack .
But in earnest , these thing are huge .
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