The FiFine X3 Wireless headphones feature Active Noise Cancellation, Multi-point Wireless Bluetooth 5.3 connectivity for casual listening and a detachable boom mic. If you’re already familiar with FiFine, you know they are known for their microphones.
The FiFine X3’s are equipped with Bluetooth 5.3 for convenience but you have the option to plugin via 3.5mm audio jack as well. So they can be used for virtually anything. FiFine takes a stab at wireless with the X3 headphones. Lets take a test ride.
- Features & Specs
- FiFine X3 Filters & Modes
- Sound Quality
- Spatial Audio
- The Fit
- Wireless Connectivity
- Built-in Controls
- Pros & Cons
- Wrap Up
Features & Specs
Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connectivity, Active Noise Cancellation, Passive Noise Cancellation over-the-ear design, Spatial Audio, Multi-point pairing, integrated Button/Touch/toggle Control on headset, Transparency mode, Base Boost. Comes with the X3 wireless headphones, 3.5mm aux wire, Detachable Boom Microphone, USB-A to USB-C charge cable, Instructions. Operating Frequency 20 Hz – 20,000 kHz with 32 Ohm Impedance.
The X3’s come with a 600mAh battery that provides up to 65hrs stand by, 33hours music playback, 40 hours communication. You can use a USB-C to USB-C to charge it but you’ll only see up to 450mA rate. The total charge time is about 2.5hrs.
FiFine has provided us with the X3 wireless headphones so that we could provide hands on review coverage and our personal experiences with it to our readers. Our reviews are for educational and informational purposes only.
FiFine X3 Filters & Modes
Active Noise Cancelling helps to remove or reduce background noise that may interfere with your audio experience. The ANC does well in tandem with the passive noise cancellation to further isolate your experience and give you that fully immersive feeling. In addition to the powered ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) the X3’s feature Passive Noise Cancellation through isolation with these over-the-ear cups. They do not completely block out 100% of ambient noise but they do a good job at significantly reducing it. When you have music or media playing the ambient noise is perceptibly zero.
Transparency mode allows you to toggle to listen to the outside world when you need to. The ambient noise is deadened but what if someone is trying to speak to you, or perhaps you need to hear something in the real world? You can do so without taking off the X3’s. Very convenient.
Press the ANC button multiple times to engage, wait for the voice confirmation. ANC on, ANC off, Transparency Mode in that order. or you can press and hold the touch pad area on the center of the right earcup to enagage. It takes a couple of seconds to enable but it’s easier in the sense that you can simply touch then let go to return to normal listening.
Bass Mode lets you add a little more bass to your output. Unfortunately, the bass boost features seems to fall a bit short. What happens is the onboard EQ reduces the overall volume output in favor of increasing the bass. The problem is that the resulting audio is muddy. At the time of this article it seems worlds better to keep the base boost off for 2 reasons; the overall volume output and clarity are noticeably increased.
Sound Quality
The FiFine X3’s sound great for general media, music, movies straight out of the box as is. It seems best to use them that way. As we mentioned the bass boost unfortunately only muddys the sound.
The microphone audio quality isn’t the best but was acceptable for phone calls. The microphone opening is a slot and does not extend around the mic’s housing so make sure the microphone opening is turned in the direction of your mouth, just don’t try to eat it. Some popping and over-modulation can occur if you put the mic too close.
Music and movie sound quality is where the Fifine X3’s seem to shine. Music and movies sound robust, thick and plenty loud. Good balanced levels of lows, mids and highs. Media/Streaming audio quality from the phone is good. We had issues with the performance on our Windows 10 machine. Choppy audio quality made it impossible to use on our PC setup. Potentially this can be fixed with firmware. (with so many different manufacturers, drivers, hardware, your mileage may vary)
Spatial Audio
The FiFine X3’s offer Surprised Spatial Audio. Spatial Audio is virtual 3D sound which is engineered to give you the impression that the audio is coming from 360 degrees around you for a more immersive experience. We’re not entirely sure what ‘Surprised’ spatial audio refers to but the spatial audio is noticeable when paired with media that is recorded with spatial audio. The difference in spatial audio is noticeable when compared to our daily drivers, V-Moda wired headphones. To clarify, FiFine has mentioned that the “surprised” term was a typo.
To test the Spatial Audio output we are watching one of our favorite movies, Fury on Netflix. At first the differences seem subtle, but as we skip around to different scenes the difference seems much more obvious. Since you have over-the-ear cans on, the sound can easily become muddled but what we are experiencing is some nice directional sound. You’ll need to have the premium version of Netflix to get the spatial audio.
For example speech from inside the tank sounds more echoey, gun fire in the distance sounds more realistic, foreground voices have more clarity, ricochet cannon fire you can hear the whistling as the projectile flies off deflected by the tank armor. Fighter planes did sound more real as you can almost picture the plane drawing closer and flying overhead.
We are unable to maintain a stable connection on our Asus Motherboard. Where we were able to fully experience the spatial audio was to watch Netflix on mobile.
The Fit
The FiFine X3’s are adjustable and feel comfortable for extended wear. Earpad cushions are made of PU leather and the arms can extend to accommodate a larger head. Over-the-Ear cups pivot 90 degrees and also pivot slightly the opposite direction. The X3’s are hinged so you can fold them. It is helpful that they fold, but they don’t exactly fold neatly, more like they collapse. We found them to be very comfy but like any other headphones if you plan on wearing them for hours and hours on end you CAN experience some fatigue.
The 90 degree pivot on the arms is nice for comfort sake since no one’s head is exactly a consistent shape. However when you take the headphones off, the 90 degree pivot can be a bit annoying in that it does not click in place to any degree so it sort of has that floppy, I’ve used the headphones for a couple of months feeling. Not a deal breaker though.
Wireless Connectivity
The X3’s feature multi-point connection means you can connect to 2 devices and switch between them without having to pair your devices each time, simple but helpful.
Bluetooth 5.3 for the latest connection experience. They did not have issues pairing with the Smartphone. The X3’s took a few tries to pair with the Nintendo Switch but eventually it worked. Audio output quality is excellent on the Nintendo Switch, the Spatial Audio is noticeable and enhances the gaming experience quite a bit.
Where we did experience quite a bit of latency on the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but there wasn’t any noticeable lag when playing on the Nintendo Switch.
We did have issues with our Windows 10 machine. PS5 does not allow you to use Bluetooth headphones, so if you want to use them for PS5 you’ll need to purchase a USB Bluetooth transmitter dongle or plug into the 3.5mm audio jack on the controller. Bluetooth offers the same 30ft/10 meter distance for operation but things can get spotty like any other Bluetooth device when interference is preset or walls impede a clear line-of-sight.
On our Windows 10 machine we were able to pair the X3’s mostly without issue, sometimes it paired immediately, sometimes it took a second. But what remained true was that we were not able to get stable consistent audio output working; the X3’s disconnected periodically but seemed to be able to reconnect on its own. We are running an Asus Motherboard, updated chipset drivers and no improvement.
Typically we go for wired connections when it comes to peripherals and tend to stay away from Bluetooth connections when possible due to the potential interference and connection drops. For intense FPS gaming, wired anything is always better as a general rule.
That said, the X3’s give acceptable all around performance in a fairly inexpensive product.
Built-In Controls
While controls that reside on the headphones can typically be a bit confusing, it won’t be long before you’ve memorized them. There are helpful audio confirmations that are spoken to you so you know what mode or feature you’ve prompted. for example. “Power On” or “Transparency mode” etc. It would have been nice if the accent were English; each time the voice says Power ONG, it draws our attention and can be distracting.
The controls all reside on the right ear cup. There are physical buttons for ANC, Volume rocker, Power Button, Touch Control Panel and a 3.5mm aux jack, Type-C charge port, microphone port . Thankfully the answer button (for phone calls) is located directly South at the 6 o’clock position so it’s very easy to feel for without looking.
The Touch control panel is the large flat area on the outside of the right ear cup. The surface is large and is very convenient to operate. Just tap to switch to your secondary device. The Transparency mode for pass-through sound can take a second to enable but it’s still a very convenient feature.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Excellent Battery life Comfort Sound Experience Spatial Audio Folding Design Price | Microphone audio quality lacking No Mute button for mic Latency for FPS gamers No Stand or Case included No Wireless Charging |
That’s a Wrap
The FiFine X3 wireless headphones are feature packed with Active Noise Cancellation, Over-the-ear design for Passive Noise Cancellation, connect up to 2 devices for easy switching, and Bluetooth 5.3 wireless connection in a price point that won’t break the bank.
If your audio needs aren’t mission critical for gaming then the X3’s offer quality audio and comfortable wear as your daily drivers. Nice inexpensive wireless headphones for traveling. Sound quality shines for music, movies and casual gaming. They’re comfortable for extended wear and have excellent battery life. Available in Black or Beige
$62.99 FiFine X3 wireless headphones
fifinemicrophone.com
