Our favorite budget audiophile brand unveils wired earbuds with 26(!) drivers, electrostatic units, USB-C ultra-Hi-Res Audio, and a not-so-budget price

(Image credit: FiiO)

Fiio FX17 in-ear monitors are extremely high-end in-ear monitors
8 electrostatic drivers, 4 custom Knowles BA drivers per ear
3 connection options, including USB-C with an elite DAC

I think FiiO's engineers may have been on the Red Bull: how, other than if you're absurdly over-caffeinated, do you decide to put 26 speaker drivers into a single pair of IEMs?

They don't look like they've got 13 drivers apiece, but the FiiO FX17 do – and they're there because FiiO wants to get the full benefit of their different sonic powers.

That means mixing up electrostatic, balanced armature and dynamic drivers to deliver what FiiO says is a "generational step forward in IEM design".

Drive, baby, drive

The FX17 have eight electrostatic drivers, four custom Knowles balanced armature drivers with extra vents, and a dynamic driver in each bud, made with a lithium-magnesium alloy. That's extremely light and extremely rigid, delivering very precise audio with significantly reduced vibration and resonance.

Those drivers are packed into good-looking titanium shells milled from a single block and polished by hand, and they're connected via a three-metal cable – gold, silver and copper – that comes with three swappable terminators: 3.5mm, 4.4mm balanced and USB-C.

That latter connection includes a built-in DSP audio decoding chip that supports up to 32-bit/384kHz high-resolution PCM. And it also enables you to customize the frequency curve of your FX17s via its eight-band high-precision PEQ, which you can control via the companion app or web interface.

The FiiO FX17 will be priced at £1,399 / $1,499 / about AU$2,873 which is a major high-end price to match the specs – we usually rate Fiio for the amazing value its products offer, such as the Fiio M11S or the Fiio FT5. These might still be good value, just at a totally different end of the market… we look forward to comparing them to the best wired earbuds after they’re available from April 14th.

See more News about Headphones

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.