FiR Audio - Official Thread

FiR Audio is a fairly new company that’s producing high performance IEMs. My understanding is the founder was one of the higher ups at 64 Audio. I’ve recently had a chance to check out their M4 and M5 hybrid design flagships - both feature the ‘tubeless’ design style for the balanced armature drivers being implemented. What I like about this is that it yet again demonstrates there’s more room still for BA performance.


For anyone interest in a more modest priced IEM they do have others in their lineup. I’m personally interested to hear the M3 at some point as well. If anyone has heard that one, feel free to let me know what you think.

Here are my impressions of the M4 and M5:

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F’ng cars!!! lol :wink: do it…do it!!

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hahah you can hear them in the background in the video too! It’s the downside with living next to a major street.

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Nice ! Glad you got the IEMs safely. I’ll post my impressions too, now that there’s a thread for FiR Audio :slight_smile: !

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Yeah, maybe I will reach out to try and see if I can review the M3. I think the biggest downside with these is the price. They’re both excellent, and I think they could’ve made a big splash by pricing them a bit more aggressively.

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Definitely my issue with them too. I have a hard time recommending them when the U12t is just $100 more than the M4 …

They sound quite nice (especially the bass on the M4), but I think there’s just too many issues for the price range.

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Exactly. At $1500, the M4 would have been the IEM to beat. I think maybe the Solaris gives it a run for the money, but the bass on the M4 is better in my opinion. I do think the M4 is more appropriately priced than the M5 though for sure.

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I feel like the Solaris goes for a more “balanced” sound signature, while the M4 has that awesome DD bass and sounds amazing with most of my heavy rock / metal tracks. Not sure if you noticed the same thing, but the M4 sounded great with some genres, but a bit disappointing with others.

As far as the Solaris goes, it does a lot well, but does not really “wow” me in any way, apart from the fact that it is quite balanced and has a good tonality (except for the bass, which sounds a bit too much like a BA for my tastes).

I’m glad we can both agree that these two models are quite overpriced !

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Yup, I found exactly this. Certain recordings sounded great on the M4 but there were others where the extra 5-6khz energy caused it to sound a bit shrill at times.

Here are my impressions for the FiR Audio M4 and M5. I was also part of the HeadFi tour, so I got to try both of these IEMs for free.

The sources used with both IEMs are the iFi Micro Black Label and Sony NW-WM1A. Both models were fairly resistant to hissing, which makes them more versatile with sources. They were also very comfortable for long periods. No pressure build up whatsoever. Stock cable is quite good. It is pliable, but not the softest. Feels good on the ears, it doesn’t itch or anything.

The music I listen to tends to be quite vast, but it mostly revolves around metal, rock, instrumental and soundtracks. Here is a non-exhaustive list of the bands I used to gather my thoughts : Dream Theater, Haken, Jinjer, Opeth, Tool, Gojira, Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Soen, Karnivool, Andy Timmons, Marco Sfoli, Anup Sastry, Intervals, Plini, Animals as Leaders, Hans Zimmer and Ramin Djawadi.

FiR Audio M4 impressions

Best genres : rock and metal, if you don’t mind the reduced treble presence.

Some things sound amazing, some things don’t sound really good. Relaxed sound signature.

Excellent bass (sub bass is excellent, mid bass is good)
Lower mids are nice, distorted guitars sound amazing

Vocals are definitely laid back, they sit a bit at the back when compared to everything else in the mix.

Not the best detail out there, can lack definition on more complex and complicated tracks.

Some instruments just aren’t well reproduced (piano, bass guitar), due to speed mostly. Seems like the drivers can’t keep up. Much better at higher volume, but performance is quite poor if you keep the volume fairly low.

Recommended for the price? If you really just want to “chill” and relax while drinking some whiskey, then sure. If you want to do some critical listening, then no. A bit on the pricier side of things, would be more competitive at a lower price point (something around 1.2 - 1.3k usd), cause I would definitely take the Solaris or U12t over the M4.

FiR Audio M5 impressions

Exciting sound signature, with decent bass (not the best, even though it’s a DD, but gets the job done). The sub bass extension and mid bass are about average for a DD (still better than most full BA setups).

Treble does not feel exaggerated, even though most EST implementations tend to have a bit too much energy. Can definitely be a little hot for some people, but I did not hear unbearable peaks.

Mid range is quite good ! Definitely goes for something balanced. Vocals and instruments are not emphasized, they just sit a little back compared to the rest of the mix. Detail pickup was a little disappointing for a flagship. It could not keep up with some of the other models I’ve tried (namely, the Anole VX and U12t, which are both cheaper). Still decent overall, but nothing to write home about considering the price.

Recommended for the price? Definitely not at retail. The price is higher due to the technologies used (trybrid with EST, DD and BA drivers), but the actual sound does not feel improved per se. The price would be fair at around 1.5-1.6k usd, so I consider MSRP to be very overpriced. Would probably look at alternatives from 64audio instead, although the bass response probably won’t be as good. The techs used are similar (LID, APEX, etc.), so you can something comparable if that’s something you care about.

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Great impressions. They do seem to be a little overpriced from what everyone is saying.

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Great impressions. Loved the video too. And yeah, seems like they are quite a lot expensive for what they are. Another thing I realized is that they really need to make their website more modern. IMHO. their best product is the FIR Audio earphone mini VAC to clean earphones (however, I wish others made similar stuff).

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I shall have to look into this Mini Vac. I have seen one on 64 Audio’s web site. I am interested in getting one at some point.

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I bought an hearing aid cleaner on Amazon, it gets the job done and it was only 50 cad. You should look it up if you’re on the market for one of those.

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Great idea. I never thought of that. Thank you.

I just figured out that the hearing aid dryer I was talking about does not remove wax, since it is not a vacuum. If this is what you are looking for, then don’t mind my previous message ! It does work great to clear out humidity and stuff like that though !

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Just checked that out on their website. Do you think it would work with universal IEMs as well?

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It does work. There are several videos on YouTube of this. I’m sharing one of them here.

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Thank you for the video. It looks like it wouldn’t work with IEMs that have some sort of protective grill (like the U12t) though. That’s too bad.

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The vac works just fine with all IEMs. I have the Jr vac from fir and it comes with different tips for different IEMs.

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