Recent months have seen Chinese audio makers that traditionally focus on IEMs — like Moondrop and Thieaudio — introduce over-ear headphones, and they've had varying levels of success at doing so. Moondrop's first effort was the Void, and it failed to hit the mark. Thankfully, the brand redeemed itself with the $599 Venus, offering an exquisite design and large planar drivers with a fabulous soundstage. Similarly, Thieaudio's Wraith didn't quite get the tuning right, so the brand pivoted to the budget segment with the $129 Ghost.
Fiio is now the latest brand vying to make its mark in this category with the introduction of its first over-ear headphones, the FT3. Fiio churns out more products than Moondrop and Thieaudio combined, and the launch of the FT3 was highly anticipated. The headphones were set to debut at the end of last year, but the launch was pushed to early 2023, and they're now available for purchase in most global markets for $299.
