Published on April 26th, 2015 | by Igor Rebenko

Review: FIDUE A71 Dual Dynamic Drivers Hi-Fi Earphones

Pros: Building quality, mids, soundstage, comfort, earhooks.

Cons: Bass bloat, straight jack.

Disclaimer: I did not purchase the Fidue A71 but I will not let review bias effect me and will not hold any punches when there are punches to be throw. Now let’s begin!

The Fidue A71 is what you get when you have have that great idea and have the experience and ability to make that great idea a reality. The overall package of the A71s is superb. Presentation, attention to detail and build quality is above par. The overall sound signature is great for modern listening. Fidue have gone above and beyond to bring you a good product and they did just that.

A little bit about the Fidue A71

Driver Unit	10mm dynamic driver & 6.8mm Titanium dynamic drivers
Frequency response	12Hz -25000Hz
Impedance	19ohm ±10%
Sensitivity	103±3db
Distortion	≤ 1%
Max Input Power	20mw
Plug	3.5mm mini stereo gold-plated plug (Straight)
Cable	1.2m 7N-OFC

FR Graph:

Thanks to Fidue for providing this for me!

Packaging

The box is hard cardboard and has a great thought out colour scheme. Very contrasting with the lime green and charcoal, with a little bit of a carbon fibre touch that has the Fidue logo within it (which I think maybe a little bit too much). The tones and contrast go great together to attract the eye and get you to come closer and read the box.

Writing on the box just has the name and specs on it in English, Chinese(?), and German.

Inside the box you find most of the earphones tucked neatly into the carry case and the ear pieces sitting snug in pre cut nooks cut into a felt pad sitting on top of the foam guts of the box. Great stuff!

I’ve not seen anything like this before. It kind of reminds me of when you buy jewelry or maybe a boutique watch.

Accessories

You get a nice looking black carry case witch is oblong in shape. It’s got a nice soft touch and has the Fidue logo impressed into the top of it.

Inside you get a felt backing and a pocket to store the spare ear tip or whatnot. You get a Velcro hook/loop strip to tie off the cable for easy storage inside the case. The felt backing of the case lets you then just stick the earphone in the case so it doesn’t fall out when you opening the case.

In terms of ear tip you get the following:

3 pairs of Silicone tips (S/M/L)
2 pairs of double flange silicone tips
1 pair of foam tips

The ones that I like the best were the small double flange tips. Which, if fact, are now my favourite and have been my new go to ear tips for all my IEMs.

Comfort

I have to straight out say that these are by far the most comfortable IEMs I’ve used. They’re super light and have this great malleable steel insert in the ear hook which allows you to shape them to your ears. The result is extraordinary! The perfect term for it, and I quote, “Set and forget” (thanks to @H20Fidelity for using this term, it’s perfect). I can go for a sprint with these on and would not even notice that they are in my ears, and they are in so well that they will not fall out. And believe me I’ve done this. Top marks for this.

Isolation

Isolation is great. I have 3 kids who just love to annoy me when I’m listening to music. Needless to say that I can thoroughly enjoy my music by drowning out the screams and cries of a needy child. Good marks for this as well!

Design and Build

The build quality looks a bit cheap, but because they are so light, unlessyou step on them with your foot they could not break if you dropped them. In addition, it has great strain relief and the cable quality feels great.

The design of them is actually quite interesting. The main part of the housing is black, lightly see through plastic. This means that if you shine light through it you can actually see inside the chamber. The back of the housing is solid plastic, sporting the Fidue logo, which is lofted into a triangular shape of the strain relief, which extended into the earhooks. It a very nice transition. The earhook extending from the strain relief gives you the impression that the cable will last much long in that region.

The Y split and jack are made of machined aluminium with round burrs for extra grip. You’ll find the Fidue logo on them as well. Strain relief on both is thick durable rubber.

You also get a neck cinch, which is a welcome addition, but my quarrel is that it is way too tight on the cable and is quite hard to position. I tend to leave it alone in fear of stripping the cable.

Sound

The Fidue A71 is a dual chamber, dual driver IEM which means that each driver has it’s own chamber to push air from. I’m no expert on this but what I would gather from this information is that the sound waves would not cross paths until it hits your ear. Correct me if I’m wrong, though.

My initial impression was “Mind rattling”, but as my ears got uses to the sound the bass got less “boom = ouch” to a rumble that gave me a chill down my spine.

Overall the the Fidue A71 sounds good. It’s bass orientated without having any recesses that I can hear. Its very warm but has enough treble to stay detailed for the most part. With the mid bass bloat you get a sense of bloominess in the air which is quite sweet in some tracks.

It has a great soundstage. Way above par to what you normally get with an IEM. It’s wide and deep, though the bass makes it quite an intimate listen as it takes away from the airiness.

Bass

The bass extends well into the sub-bass of around 30Hz maybe even a little lower. But it has a huge mid bass hump which bloats quite a bit. It bleeds into the lower and mid mids. The bass punch is big and visceral. I quite enjoy it for modern music where you don’t need to hear the fine detail, you just listen and enjoy. But when you want to listen to something complex the bass puts a veil over some of the finer details you would normally enjoy. And frankly, to my ears, these earphone are BASS CANNONS!

Mids

The mids are very rich and warm. Acoustic guitars sound very real like they’re in front of you. Male vocals are somewhat let down by the bass. They sound deep and in some songs I found that they are getting downed out by the bass. This is of course only when there is a mid bass orientated bass line present.

Treble

The treble extends very well. It has no sibilance and doesn’t really have any peaks or dips which makes the sound unnatural or metallic. There is a tiny bit of emphasis on the “SSS” sounds, which I actually like. Really sounds great with female vocals when they whisper into the mic. Sparkle is present but not as much as I would’ve hoped for. The sense of air and space is hindered by the bass making the sensation of air more like a bloom instead.