Put "Wings" on Headphones-Feiao UTWS5 Experience

1. TWS HiFi?

speaking, it has been many years since the birth of real wireless earphones (hereinafter referred to as "TWS"). users' attitude towards this product has changed from their initial curiosity to their current habit. on the contrary, traditional wired earphones have gradually been squeezed out by TWS products and become synonymous with "old-fashioned backwardness. In the past, the difference between ordinary earphone users and burning friends may only lie in the price and brand of the earphones used, but now, this unobvious difference has evolved into a dispute between "wired" and "wireless". The enthusiasts who stick to the wired earphone camp have become an alien in the eyes of ordinary users.

, as an enthusiast, has always had a tangled attitude towards TWS headphones. It is true that this fashionable product form of off the charts is quite attractive to me who likes the new and dislikes the old. However, it is this form that makes me feel that my choice as an enthusiast is greatly restricted. TWS earphones are different from Bluetooth neck hanging products. All their configurations and functions are limited to a small cavity. The usage scenario also conflicts with the existing earphones in the hands of burning friends. It is impossible to achieve the best of both worlds in terms of convenience and HiFi attributes.

, in order to allow the HiFi headphones of the fans to have more room to play, in the past two years, brands in the circle have introduced Bluetooth neck hanging wires to match them. After TWS products swept the market, how to integrate the two elements of "true wireless" and "HiFi headset" has become a new problem in the circle. After many twists and turns, Bluetooth earhook, a brand-new product type, came into being.

egg experience is Feiao UTWS1. To be fair, this product still had some experimental meanings in those days. It had a single function and the experience could only be said to be barely passing, which was far from excellent. However, it is such a product with many slots that I see the possibility of TWS products taking into account HiFi sound quality. After two years, this series has been updated to the third generation-UTWS5. Compared with the crude first-generation Bluetooth earhook, UTWS5 has made considerable progress in configuration and design. As an old user of UTWS1, Eggs also experienced this new evolution for the first time.

2. objective experience

UTWS5 box is square, black in body, simple in design and good in texture. In addition to the instructions and charging cable, there is also a palm-sized earphone box in the box. This earphone box takes into account both storage and charging functions and supports wireless charging. In addition to placing the earphone itself, it also leaves enough storage space for the earphone unit to easily put down most earplugs on the market. The exquisite "FiiO" logo is engraved on the top of the box, followed by the type-c charging port, and the front is the charging indicator light of the box and the ear. Although the box is not small in size, it is lighter in weight and has a relatively high-grade look and feel.

UTWS5 is about finger-thick, but the weight is well controlled, and the burden when wearing it is not obvious. The material of the earring is elastic, reliable to wear, and moderate in thickness, which has little effect on children's shoes with glasses. The operation of the ear hook is mainly carried out through the physical buttons above-this is very sweet for balls that are extremely irritable by various touch panels. Hong Kong Zhen, today most TWS headphones are limited in size, the touch area is quite limited, the sensitivity is not high enough, and the experience is uneven. It is not as reassuring as physical buttons.

Bluetooth earring products, in fact, the circuit part of TWS earphone is separated and put into the earring, and an independent earring chip is added at the same time, thus increasing thrust and reducing distortion. More importantly, through this program, fans can convert high-end HiFi headphones with better sound quality into true wireless headphones, and have more choices in sound quality. In essence, Bluetooth earring is a smaller Bluetooth decoding player. Although UTWS5 is small in size, the contents of its manual and product details page are quite rich, and great efforts have been made in sound quality and experience. In terms of operation, this earhook can be controlled through Feiao's exclusive APP -- FiiO Control. On this APP, users can adjust the settings such as indicator light and charging protection. You can change and set the key function, so that different operations can be realized by clicking, double clicking, long pressing, etc. Can set the power saving shutdown time. In terms of audio function, this APP can adjust the channel balance and filtering mode, and can also fine-tune the earhook volume, prompt volume and call volume respectively. According to the official, UTWS5 will be upgraded to realize 10-level EQ adjustment function, increase environmental sound mode and have more abundant playing methods. In the sound area, UTWS5 is equipped with an independent DAC AK4332 and Qualcomm flagship Bluetooth chip QCC5141, which supports Bluetooth 5.2 and Qualcomm Snapdragon sound Xiaolong listening technology, and can play 96kHz/24bit high definition audio.

During this period of time after the machine was in hand, the egg obviously felt that the performance of UTWS5 in all details was much better than that of the previous two generations: fast connection can be realized when it is used for the first time, and the connection stability is also good every time it is turned on. The battery life of the earhook itself can reach about 6 hours, plus the power of the earphone box, the total battery life is about 30 hours, and the battery box supports wireless charging, which can basically say goodbye to the power anxiety. This earhook supports MMCX and 0.78 pins and can be adapted to most earphones on the market. In addition, the application of TWS Mirroring mode (mirror mode) also greatly improves the convenience of use: when one earhook is connected to the mobile phone, the mobile phone will monitor the situation of the other earhook in real time, and when the power of the unilateral earhook is low or it is put into the box, the mobile phone will switch intelligently in time to connect seamlessly. In terms of calls, UTWS5 has a dual-microphone call noise reduction function and also supports aptX Voice HD voice. After actual measurement, its call effect is the best among the TWS products I have experienced so far, and its definition is even better than many neck-mounted Bluetooth devices, which surprises me quite.

in short, the comprehensive experience of UTWS5 is quite perfect and thoughtful, and its performance in many aspects is even better than I expected. The whole experience process is quite smooth and worry-free.

3. Sound and Matching

Although the timbre of UTWS5 mainly depends on the matching headphones, its style also affects the performance of the headphones to a considerable extent. Similar to most Bluetooth devices, the overall distribution of its sound is olive-shaped, the energy sense of the intermediate frequency is relatively concentrated, and the human voice is slightly forward. The low-frequency sense of quantity is not small, but the dive is not very deep, the overall soft, the atmosphere is acceptable, but the performance is not solid. High frequency is a problem that all Bluetooth devices are difficult to solve. Of course, the advantage of UTWS5 is that it can be matched with high frequency earplugs to improve its performance in this respect. However, the lack of information doomed its high frequency hearing to have a certain gap with wired earphones.

, as the flagship Bluetooth earhook of Feiao family, UTWS5, although it has not been able to break away from the shackles of Bluetooth products, its excellent driving force and smooth tuning still impress me. When it is matched with most earplugs, the final sound frame is quite good, and the fullness and fineness of the timbre are remarkable. In the process of this experience, balls tried a number of earplugs with different configurations and different prices, and there were few vicious noises.

Feiao FH5s UTWS5

this combination is the cheapest one in this evaluation, but the fit between the two products is beyond my expectation. Just looking at the appearance, the black earring is matched with the black cavity, and both are matte texture, which is really natural. The style of FH5s itself is a bit warm, the timbre is slightly warm and delicate, with more moist dyeing, good listening resistance, and the driving threshold is not particularly high. Driven by UTWS5, the intermediate frequency of FH5s is sweet and warm, quite grasping ears. Low-frequency dive is not deep, but the sense of energy is acceptable. The high-frequency hearing is soft and relaxed, and does not appear dark. Although the sound field is not broad, it is better than loose.

, this set of collocation is especially good at lyrical female songs: for example, Mo Wenwei's "I like you slowly". The sound of bass and piano as the background creates a romantic atmosphere and makes the human voice more soft. The deep feeling and love in Mo Wenwei's voice are vividly interpreted. Another track that impressed me was Joey Yung's "Sequel". Joey Yung's timbre looks beautiful, dense and powerful under this set of collocations, and the emotional transmission is also quite in place.

from my personal point of view, if it is usually used to make phone calls and occasionally listen to music, in fact, headphones at the price of FH5s are the most suitable match for UTWS5. On the one hand, HiFi earphones with advanced price are actually much better than most TWS earphones at present in sound performance, and their sound quality can satisfy most users. On the other hand, the driving threshold of such headphones is relatively low, and UTWS5 is enough to drive them to a good state. Of course, if you still have more high-end headphones, you may as well continue to look down......

Feiao FD7 UTWS5

FD7 is definitely Feiao's big killer in the earplug market this year. The configuration of pure beryllium diaphragm, excellent workmanship and texture, coupled with comprehensive sound performance, is really irresistible. In fact, compared with compound unit headphones, Feiao's single-acting ear plugs have always been more appetizing to me. Therefore, in this evaluation, I did not miss the opportunity to match this mobile flagship with my flagship Bluetooth earring.

FD7's sound style is more balanced than FH5s, and the dyeing is relatively less, but the timbre is not dry, and the hearing is quite natural. For friends who like male voice and dance music with strong rhythm, FD7 will be more sensitive than FH5s. Take "Grey and Green" by Genshi Yonezu and Masaki Sugada as an example. Under the interpretation of FD7 and UTWS5, the sense of strength and sadness in the singer's voice is fully revealed, and the atmosphere of the climax is also very well handled. Cheerful dance music such as Britney Spears's "Alien" is also the best of this combination. The excellent sense of space and low-frequency atmosphere make the listener shake his head and shake his head. The more positive timbre and remarkable quality ensure that the whole song will not be confused and stuffy.

In fact, compared with the combination of FH5s, the biggest difference is not the amount of detail or resolution, but the dynamics and timbre. Therefore, when choosing a match, Eggs personally think that the hard quality of the earphone is not necessarily the most important consideration, and the sound style of the earphone has a greater impact on the final effect.

Campfire Audio Helios 2020 UTWS5

how would it work with hundreds of yuan of bluetooth earrings and ten thousand yuan of reference earplugs? with curiosity, I took out the sun god 2020 in my hand. This stopper is a very comprehensive performance in the past two years. It has a good wearing experience, low-key appearance, excellent quality, wide range of music adaptation and easy matching. Therefore, it is often used by me as a reference plug for evaluation.

high-end headphones often have certain requirements on the driving force and control force of the front end, so I didn't expect much from this match at the beginning. After all, it is a bit crazy to feed the sun god with the amount of information and thrust of Bluetooth products. However, after listening to one ear, even under the premise of not being fed, the hard quality of the sun god 2020 is still better than that of the first two earplugs, the timbre is more atmospheric, and the sound field has a better sense of space. Although it is far from the state of full fire, the black sun god driven by UTWS5 2020 does not lose FH5s and FD7 in terms of dynamics and separation. This result is already beyond the expectation of balls. Perhaps, those burning friends who hold flagship earplugs can also relax and try these less "HiFi" matches.

to be fair, UTWS5, as a solution that takes into account both wireless function and HiFi sound quality, has performed quite well. It is true that its upper limit of quality is limited by volume and transmission rate, and there is still a certain gap with the traditional wired connection method. But it can make headphones play a good level, can let different price and style of headphones show their own advantages, so that users have more choices, which is already a good experience for enthusiasts. If you want to make Bluetooth earhook products perform further, I'm afraid you have to rely on the next development of wireless audio technology.

4. Thoughts on Bluetooth Products

I think every traditional enthusiast will struggle more or less when facing Bluetooth products. Because "wireless technology" itself is really "too HiFi", it violates our enthusiast's belief and pursuit of "sound quality first. Using Bluetooth products to enjoy music seems to be a betrayal of HiFi. However, our struggle will not stop the development direction of audio technology. Bluetooth products, especially real wireless headphones, have developed rapidly and have already had the momentum to replace traditional headphones. Today, as enthusiasts of "minority groups", what attitude should they apply to face real wireless products that are "not HiFi enough?

in my opinion, Bluetooth earhook products like UTWS5 give a good answer-embrace new technologies and seek a balance between "experience" and "sound quality.

from bulky stereos to light real wireless headphones, from delicate vinyl records to convenient online streaming media platforms, our way of listening to songs is changing with the acceleration of the pace of life. The good time of lying on the sofa and enjoying music quietly has gradually faded away, replaced by busy leisure on commuting and lunch break. In these restricted scenes, learning to accept the matching way of listening to songs and pursuing better sound quality as much as possible under this premise may be the right choice for enthusiasts and HiFi brands.

author:egg loves hifi10-08 12:00

website: https://weibo.com/ttarticle/p/show?id=2309404689995859362115