"Don’t let the graph above worry you — these earbuds aren’t bass short, sharp, or shouty. I say that because the graph did worry me. That graph makes it look like the earbuds lack bass and could potentially be much too bright. In fact, the earbuds are very well balanced and have plenty of bass. They are bright overall, but not negatively so. With either the crisp foams or bare, the FF3 has a classic, audiophile-friendly tuning that balanced well-textured bass with great details in the mids and highs. With the balanced or bass foams, they become quite a bit warmed and lean into the low-end.
There’s also good bass extension, which isn’t at all what I see in that graph. You can hear noticeable rumble in the sub-bass frequencies even at moderate volumes. The bass is punchy and well-textured. It appears that the drum cravity is effective!
At the same time, there’s quite a bit of detail in the higher registers too. I especially liked this set for rock music. Vocals are forward and warm. Cymbals from the drums have realistic sparkle and decay. Snares snap. Guitars, on the other hand, move freely throughout the soundscape depending on the mix. This is an area that can work against it at times, as acoustic guitars exists in the area of its mid-range bumps and can sometimes sound too wide and uncontrolled. Most of the time this isn’t an issue, but when it jumps out — Rain City Drive’s I’d Rather See Your Star Explode — it’s left me reaching for the EQ.
What made them stand out more, however, was the soundstage. Compared to IEMs, the soundstage is much wide and more open, closer to open-back headphones than in-ears. This, I’m told, is common to earbuds and one of the reasons they still have a dedicated fanbase. Since the buds don’t fit into the ear canal, they’re able to leverage more of the outer ear to deliver a greater sense of space. The FF3s aren’t as wide as they best in-ears or over-ear headphones, but they’re excellent for the current price point. They also aren’t great at isolation either, so using them on a noisy commute will be more difficult than with a sealed off pair of IEMs."
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