Intro
In high school and college, I had a 12-inch subwoofer in my tiny car and had the amp gain turned up way too much. Hard hitting, thumping, slamming, hard-to-breathe bass was the name of the game.
I was a bass-head. There, I said it.
However throughout my audiophile journey, I eventually learned that thunderous, unbalanced bass was less than ideal.
Over the years my longing for massive bass was repressed, giving way to the super-flat type of frequency response of something like Etymotic Research. This became my new audio nirvana. However, it wasn’t fully satisfying. And the bass-head still lurks deep within me, ready to strike.
That leads to the FiiO x Crinacle FHE: Eclipse (“Eclipse” for short). When Crinacle (previously mentioned in this review) pitched this collaboration with the tagline: “F*ck You Bass” the inner bass-head in me stirred. +12db of sub bass? Yes please! I wanted to hear what good, monstrous bass actually sounded like in IEM form.
The Eclipse is a Crinacle re-tuned FiiO FH3 (not to be confused with this model, the FHE). It is a single dynamic driver and two Knowles balanced armatures hybrid model.
How does it sound? Read on to find out!
Tech Specs
Driver Configuration: 10mm beryllium-plated dynamic driver, Knowles ED30262 for mid frequencies, Knowles RAD33518 for high frequencies
Sensitivity: 111dB (1kHz@1mw)
Impedance: 21Ω@1kHz
Frequency Response: 10Hz- 40KHz
Connector: MMCX
What’s in the Box?
The box itself has a soft, matte texture to it and has a magnetic clasp on the side. It’s a simple initial presentation but somehow feels a little special at the same time.
In typical FiiO fashion, the box is loaded with goodies. FiiO provides three types of silicone eartips (balanced, vocal, and bass) in three sizes each, and two sets of foam tips. The Eclipse also comes with a cleaning brush and a velcro tie for the cable. Last, there is a soft carrying pouch and the typical Pelican-style hard case that comes with most recent FiiO IEMs.
The cable that comes with the Eclipse is a 4-core high-purity monocrystalline silver-plated copper cable that terminates to a right-angle 3.5mm connector and MMCX connections at the IEMs themselves. The coating on the cable is nice, soft, and doesn’t hold its shape if it’s been coiled up for a long time. The metal right angle 3.5mm connector is beefy and feels very high quality. Somehow, this connector is the most surprising thing about the Eclipse – I did not know how much I appreciate 90 degree connections. Overall, the cable isn’t flashy to look at, but does its job very well. It is a really nice cable.
The IEMs themselves are beautifully machined from an aluminum-magnesium alloy. Every single angle on these are smooth to the touch and machined to absolute perfection. In fact, with the cable disconnected, it’s hard to hold onto these IEMs as they want to slip right out from your fingers. Even though these are made of metal, albeit light metal alloys, these IEMs weigh in at 7.6 grams – much lighter than they feel like they should be!
Fit, Comfort, & Isolation
In my ears, the Eclipse ear insertion depth is solidly medium. This combined with the lightweight, exquisitely machined shells makes for an extremely comfortable fit. It was easy to wear these for hours upon hours. Isolation is average for IEMs – they do not block out the entire outside world, but they don’t let in a whole lot either.
Sound
Overall
Obviously, these do NOT have a balanced type of sound. Even with the “balanced” eartips on, songs with a good amount of sub bass sounded like there were subwoofers in both ears. In fact, it was a fairly strange sensation, as normally when there is that much bass with speakers, you can feel it in your chest. However, since these are IEMs, it was just the bass with no chest thumps.
Switching to larger bore eartips such as the Moondrop Spring Tips tamed the bass a little bit and brought the Eclipse more into a “fun” type of sound signature, as opposed to the full-on basshead IEM that they are.
However, the bass isn’t the full story here. The mids and treble are quite great and very well tuned. This was a complete surprise. I was expecting amazing bass and sub-par to average everything else. I expected this because it would be really easy for the tuning to get caught in a high amplitude v-shape sound to compensate for the huge bass. Basically, with +12db of sub bass, it would be easy to leave the mids lower and boost the treble to compensate. But Crinacle, being the professional that he is, did not let that happen.
If you only looked at the mid range and treble of the frequency response graph, you would be tempted to think that these are just another nicely tuned, neutral set of IEMs. And they are – albeit, with some monstrous sub bass attached.
Overall, the sound signature is super fun to listen to and I find myself coming back to the Eclipse when I just want a fun listening session.
Bass
Is +12db too much bass?
Gloriously, yes.
While the sub bass is obviously emphasized, the timbre is very natural. This is partially due to the fact that while the sub bass is elevated, the mid bass glides effortlessly into a balanced lower mid range. Because of this, the bass does not have a big “slam” or punch factor – it stays smooth and doesn’t bleed into the mids. That much sub bass emphasis not bleeding into the mids is pretty incredible – well done Crinacle!
Overall, the bass is pretty quick, and has good texture and resolution for the price. While kick drums and bass guitars are emphasized, they sound very natural and have a good timbre. The bass can be too much of a good thing with recordings that make use of heavy sub bass – Rap, R&B, DUB, etc. In some recordings, I got listening fatigue from too much sub bass.
Mids
The mids are smooth and well tuned. The upper mids/pinna gain are darn near perfect and neutral, with the exception of a small +3/4 db peak at 3kHz. This can make things a little hot concerning vocal timbre. Overall, the mids are well done but overshadowed by the bass and sparkling treble.
Treble
The treble is well tuned and balanced. Again, this was unexpected as these are bass heavy IEMs. It would have been easy to fall down that rabbit hole of over-emphasizing the treble to compensate for the heaps of bass.
Depending on the recording, cymbals are absolutely fantastic and lifelike or they can come in slightly too hot and can break into sibilance territory at times from a +5/6db spike at 8kHz. When the recording allows, the timbre of cymbals is spot on and energetic. Saxophones and clarinets are crisp and beautifully airy. However, the treble at times can sound, well…a bit balanced armaturey (yes, I made that word up). The sound can be a little unnaturally quick and decay just as unnaturally fast. This is just the way that balanced armatures work and sound. I kind of like the way balanced armatures sound, so it does not bother me. However, if you do not like the BA sound, you’ve been warned.
The extreme highs drop off after that 8kHz spike and come back fully at 15kHz all the way to 20kHz. The treble extension of the balanced armature goes all the way to the top – something usual for this price range. If your hearing allows it, the Eclipse sparkles all the way to the top.
Soundstage & Imaging
The Eclipse has above average left and right separation for the price. The width is definitely above average and the height is average. Instrument separation is also average for the price, but definitely not completely 3D or holographic. When it comes to detail retrieval, they are also above average, but cannot compete with the Moondrop Kato or Tripowin Olina.
Conclusion
I love the Eclipse. I keep coming back to them when I want to listen to music for fun and not be overly-analytical. While definitely bass-heavy, these are an excellent all-arounder for exciting listening. I really enjoy them with the Spring Tips that bring the bass down to a more manageable level.
As long as you know that you are getting into massive, deep, rumbling bass, these are easy to recommend. I can not think of another IEM that I have had this much fun listening to.