REVIEW

FIR Audio VxV

When one of your favourite songs is ‘White Rabbit’ from Jefferson Airplane and you’re into IEMs, it’s a bit difficult not to get drawn to the FIR Audio VxV.

Released in 2021 and designed in collaboration with Singapore-based Project Perfection, the VxV was aimed to be an Every Day Carry (EDC) IEM.

The object — Small, light, well-built, with faceplates you either love or hate, together with engraved coordinates for FIR Audio’s headquarters is what makes the VxV.

The VxV are linked to your source with a supple and nicely braided 2.5mm balanced SPC cable. Balanced 2.5mm was an interesting choice given that, at the time, many manufacturers were already moving onto balanced 4.4mm terminations. With that said, from an EDC standpoint, 2.5mm does make a lot of sense.

Fit & Comfort — The ATOM vent system ensures the VxV are a pressure-free experience all the while providing a good level of isolation — and since you cannot change them ‘à la’ 64 Audio, you won’t toss and turn at night to decide which one’s the best.

The nozzles otherwise aren’t too short, nor long or thick. The shells are small and light enough to be quickly forgotten, together with an SPC cable you quickly won’t feel anymore. What’s more to ask?

Tips used: Campfire Audio silicone

Sound — The VxV have an easy to drive, coherent, neutral and musical, sound signature which will let your source colour some of the sound. This means that you’ll read (sometimes very) different impressions, likely depending on the source used.

With the below listed sources, the sound remained natural and musical, with a somewhat reserved low-end which does however punch when needed. Despite being powered by a dynamic driver, the low-end sits in-between a BA and DD low-end.
Mids work equally well with female and male vocals, guitars, strings, and bring out the texture in a very nice way.
Treble is well extended and could turn a bit bright with some sources though it wasn’t the case here.

Single-ended, the VxV will sound a tad more analogue and relaxed with less top-end fatigue on some tracks though this will be at the expense of some soundstage.

Files / Sources used: CD-quality FLAC bought from Qobuz & Tidal HiFi streaming / Cayin RU6, RU7, Uncapped Sony ZX-507 & NW-WM1AM2 (Direct Source: On), all via ddHiFi adapters

Conclusion — While some might prefer it with specific genres, the VxV remains genre agnostic and will very likely play well with a bit of everything with the only caveat that it isn’t for bassheads.

Interestingly, it seems to take the best of what another Northern American brand has made: Campfire Audio. The VxV packs the qualities of the Andromeda 2020, Ara and Solaris 2020 into a sub-$1k IEM with a funky look that might be the best, and most convenient, sound for the money I heard in an IEM. Better late than never.

— BACK —