Conclusion
As my first opportunity to try a NiceHCK IEM and listen to a planar IEM for longer than a few minutes I wasn’t sure what to expect from the F1 Pros.
For just $99 these are exceedingly easy to recommend if you’re a “technicality over tonality” kind of listener like I am. Now don’t get me wrong, believable & naturalistic tonality is something I value highly, particularly for vocal-centric genres.
Unfortunately the world of audio is one of compromises, where you’re forced to choose which shortcomings you can live with regardless of how much you spend – I’m sorry folks, but perfection does not exist even at the highest echelons of expenditure despite our fantasies whispering otherwise!
Which brings me back to the F1 Pros. If you can live with their weaker tonality & fairly prominent treble, the resolution, coherency & technical performance they deliver for $99 is stunning.
Minor quibble? None of the cables I tried seemed to upgrade their performance as much as I hoped, which could just mean the stock cable is great & you shouldn’t feel obliged to change it.
The F1 Pros really demonstrate the potential of planar drivers. I’m still waiting for the explosion of Planar/BA/EST hybrids onto the market many predicted two years ago, but this level of performance for under $100 gets me very excited for the next generation of planar IEMs around the corner.
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