FiiO FT5

The FT5 was FiiO's first planar-magnetic headphone. Instead of a cone pushed from one point, a planar driver uses a thin flat film with the voice coil printed across it, held between magnets, so the whole surface moves at once; the FT5 has a 90 mm driver with a 6 µm PAR diaphragm, aluminium-silver alloy traces and 20 N52 magnets per side, which FiiO says gives detailed sound with more bass than planar headphones usually have. It is open-back: the grilles let sound out, which gives a wide, airy presentation but means you hear your surroundings and people near you hear your music, so it is a headphone for a quiet room at home. Planar headphones often need a big amplifier, but at 36 Ω and 96 dB/mW FiiO designed the FT5 to be driven by portable players and dongles too. The magnesium-aluminium frame keeps it at about 456 g, the cups swivel on three axes, and it comes with suede pads fitted plus a set of protein-leather pads. The 1.5 m silver-plated monocrystalline copper cable plugs in with dual 3.5 mm connectors and has swappable 3.5 mm and 4.4 mm plugs, with adapters to 6.35 mm and XLR-4 in the box.

• 90 mm planar driver, 6 µm diaphragm
• Open-back, 36 Ω, 96 dB/mW
• Swappable 3.5/4.4 mm plugs, 6.35 mm and XLR-4 adapters