Fiio has been expanding its catalog over the last few years, and last year, we looked at its first pair of true wireless earbuds with the FW5. We liked them, but at $135 (now $125), they were still out of reach for many listeners. The Fiio FW3 is the answer to that, promising high-res listening, good battery life, a comfortable fit, and a nearly identical appearance for only $79.99.
The sub-$100 market is more crowded than ever, and the FW3 isn’t without its trade-offs, but it manages to be a good value where it matters most: sound quality.
Specifications
Current Price: $79.99 (AliExpress)
Fiio FW3 - First Impressions and Key Features
At a glance, you might not be able to tell the difference between the Fiio FW3 and the more expensive FW5. There’s a good reason for that: in an effort to keep prices as affordable as possible, the company re-used the same molds as the FW5. They’re not exactly the same, however. The FW3 uses a metallic coating on the faceplate, so even though it’s entirely made of plastic, they look like they could be made of milled aluminum, similar to the FD5.
The effort to keep costs low while maintaining sound quality is present throughout its design. Both models maintain the same QCC5141 Bluetooth DAC and AK4332 amplifier, but the FW3 simplifies the driver configuration to a single dynamic driver per side. The FW5 included two balanced armatures per side for a hybrid design, similar to what we’ve seen in many wired IEMs. The FW3 is aimed at the mainstream listener who isn’t likely to care about the drivers in their earbuds as long as they sound good. By shifting to a single driver per side (carbon fiber versus diamond-like carbon in the FW5, the same as found in the FH15), Fiio was also able to shift to a lower-cost PCB. Likewise, the packaging is also been simplified.
The idea here is simple: cut costs wherever possible and focus on sound quality and core features. To that end, the FW3 has been tuned for more warmth without going over the top on bass. It’s still a Fiio earbud, after all, which means you can still count on a detailed listening experience. The earbuds also support high res Bluetooth codecs including aptX, aptX Adaptive, and LHDC with LDAC coming soon in a firmware update. These codecs increase the wireless bandwidth much higher than traditional Bluetooth, improving listening quality. In fact, using LHDC, you’re able to listen at a full 24-bit/96kHz, which is generally only possible when listening with a wired set of cans.
The buds also feature app support that allows you to tune their sound and control their features. In app EQs aren’t anything special at this point, but they’re also not a given. Fiio’s is also more robust than much of the competition, including a number of presets for different listening styles, as well as a full 10-band custom parametric EQ. If you don’t know what that means, parametric equalizers allow you to focus on exact frequencies you’d like to boost or scale back. With some experimentation, it’s possible to create a sound signature that’s more catered to your tastes. Note that this paraEQ is a bit more limited, as the frequencies and Q-depth are both locked.
Like the FW5, the FW3 are quite comfortable to wear but aren’t the smallest earbuds either. Their nickel-sized faceplates give way to a fairly thick body that stuck out of my ears a bit. It’s important to choose the right tips for your ears, and Fiio includes six different pairs to find the right match for you. These include Fiio’s premium HS18 ear tips (which use colored inserts) and three standard silicone tips, all in small, medium, and large. I found the best fit using the standard tips in small and medium and they stayed in place well. The larger body of each earpiece leverages the outer ear for additional support, and I didn’t experience any discomfort with them whatsoever.
Controlling the buds is done through two physical buttons on each earbud. This is done with a combination of clicks, double clicks, and click-and-hold commands. It takes a little bit to learn, but all of the basics are there, including call controls and track navigation, as well as volume, which is good to see. I like the use of physical buttons versus touch controls for their reliability, but I found that I had to hold the body of the earpiece to prevent moving them in my ears, but given their shape it felt natural to hold them in this way anyway.
There’s no active noise cancellation, which is a big omission at this price. ANC is becoming a common feature even on buds significantly cheaper than the FW3, so I would have liked to see it implemented here. The lack of ANC improves battery life, however, with seven hours rated for each listen and two recharges provided by the case. This isn’t class leading, but it’s good enough to work through nearly a full day of constant listening, and far more if you listen with a single earbud at a time (for podcasts and audiobooks, etc.)
One of the high points for our purposes is their built-in gaming mode. By toggling the option inside the Fiio Control app, AV lag essentially becomes a thing of the past. The buds connect at under 100ms, which effectively eliminates the delay between what you see on the screen and what you hear in your ears. This mode does seem to limit how far you can move from your PC or phone before the signal breaks up, but makes for a great option if you’re trying to squeeze in a game on the go or between classes.
Fiio FW3 - Listening Impressions
The idea behind the Fiio FW3 seems to be to cut all of the extras, save every extra expense, and return that with superior sound quality at a lower cost. I think Fiio achieved that, for the most part, and these are the better value per dollar, even compared to their more premium FW5.
While it’s easy to get hung up on the FW3 dropping to a single driver versus the three in each earpiece of its precessor, it truly seems like Fiio had different sonic ambitions here. So, that scale back doesn’t mean as much as it seems like it might on paper. The FW5 was more about the crisp, middle-high-centric audiophile sound. It was designed to let its balanced armatures shine. That’s not what the FW3 is after.
Instead, the FW3 leans more into a smooth, warm mainstream sound signature. There’s more bass and less air in the treble. It’s much more of an “easy listening” pair of earbuds than the FW5 was — but it’s also not bloated in the low-end. There’s still a crispness to the upper mids that gives a better impression of clarity and detail to the listening. It’s still Fiio, and Fiio isn’t interested in a muddy sound.
For its price, there truly isn’t a lot to gripe about with their sound. The bass is full and rich, if a bit soft around the edges of defined hits like kick drums. But for bass guitars, synths, and explosions/rumbles in games, they’re very good. The mids are smooth and slightly forward to highlight vocalists and teammates. The highs are crisp enough that cymbals and percussion cut through and have the necessary edge to drive what you’re listening to. Gunshots have a satisfying snap with these that makes first-person shooters more fun.
If you’re not a fan of the stock sound, I also found them to be quite resilient to EQ. The app comes with Pop, Classical, and Harman Curve presets available, as well as three custom EQ slots. The Harman Curve is noticeably duller than the stock sound, so I’d suggest steering clear of that and adding more bass or treble. You can push these quite a bit before risking distortion.
I was also impressed by the soundstage. With true wireless earbuds, the listening experience is often rather constrained. Necessarily so, in many cases. Extra electronics get crammed in alongside the drivers and antennas and microphones. Resonant space and air are second considerations, if they’re considerations at all. Here, the listening experience is wide enough that music and game audio sounds like it’s coming from outside of your ears. With Dolby Atmos added to the mix, I found them to be quite immersive.
Final Thoughts
The Fiio FW3 are a good value at $79.99. The balance between affordability and sound quality is well done, and they’re the kind of earbuds you can wear for extended periods of time without difficulty. I was a fan of the stock sound, but the ability to dial that in with a resilient EQ is a very nice feature. The lack of ANC is a big hit in this space, though, and I hope the next version includes it for added competitiveness.
The product described in this article was provided by the manufacturer for evaluation purposes. Articles may include affiliate links from which we may earn a small commission to help support the site. Authors do not earn affiliate revenue or commissions.
