Product page: https://www.fiio.com/fh7

MSRP: $450

Driver configuration: 4BA + 1DD hybrid

Post-publish edit: it has come to my attention that the FH7 comes with interchangeable filters. I haven’t tested the other filters yet and I have no idea which filter I’ve listened to, so take these impressions as “tentative” just in case.

God, FiiO is one minefield after another. If the FA7 is overhyped then the FH7 is a cult, especially after the traction the FH5 got.

The big weakness of the FH7 is that its tonality has a sort of “uncanny valley”-ness to all of it. It’s not outright wrong, but there are times when specific instruments come in that make you think “wait, that isn’t quite right”. As a personal example, the FH7 sounds okay with most stringed instruments to my ears, but every time a piano section starts my head just automatically tilts at an angle in mild confusion. There is just something wrong but not totally wrong: is it the probably-too-early pinna gain from 500Hz? Is it the peak at 2k that is followed by a relative 3-7k suppression?

Who knows. Not going to go too deep with the analyses; these are just cliffnotes.

The obvious question would of course be how it compares with its smaller brother. Here’s my hot take: it’s worse. I’d take the FH5 over the FH7 any day, and I haven’t exactly been in agreement with the FH5 hype myself. It’s not like the FH7 is technically better than the FH5 either; at best they’re equal, at worst the FH5 seems to outresolve the FH7 and comes with a more realistic and tactile bass response to boot. And of course, the FH5 doesn’t have any of the tonal weirdness that the FH7 exhibits which already puts it as the winner in my books.

Not even going to talk about pricing on this one, the answer should be obvious. I’d say that if you absolutely have to go with a mid-tier FiiO IEM, just stick with the FH5.