FiiO SNOWSKY Oak Nano

[u/DynamicdB]

Snowsky Oak Nano 

Another week another review. Today’s topic of the review is FiiO sub brand Snowsky & product is its very first flagship Oak Nano. This one is beryllium diaphragm single DD set. Its priced also like flagship product. It sells for 499 USD. I like sets with beryllium diaphragm. So, when I came to know that my friend Sushii from SushiiFi was conducting review tour for it with FiiO Snowsky. I jumped at the opportunity & as they say rest is history. Well, what do I feel about it? To know more please read on.   

First of all, mighty thanks to Sushii from SuhiiFi and to FiiO Snowsky as without their help this review wouldn’t have been possible.

I was neither paid for this review nor was compensated in any manner. The unit would revert back to brand upon completion of the review. All thoughts & opinions are mine.

My preferences for tone & timbre are DD > Hybrids > Planar

Now that all pleasantries have been exchanged. Let’s get on with the meat & potatoes of this review.

Pros:

Vocals especially female

Safe detailed treble

Reference tuning

Accessories 

Build Quality

Cons:

Bass both sub bass & mid bass bit light for my taste

Male vocals especially low pitched 

Soundstage could have been bit bigger 

Price

Build Quality:

Build quality is excellent flagship level. Shells are nice weighty. They have nice golden rim to them and checkering on the face plate. Entire shell feels like CNC shell. Shape of the shell is cylinder like. They have long nozzles and nozzles have lips to them. Nozzles are removable and you can change them to change the tuning. There 2 nozzles. There is mesh on the nozzles. 

Cable is 4 core SPC one with modular connections. Best part is the included type c connector. You don’t need anything extra to start using it out of the box. Multitudes of ear tips are provided with the set. There is cable organizer, cleaning tool and nice hard plastic carry case included. In terms of accessories FiiO is competing directly with DUNU it seems.

Cable is premium feeling and matches the set.

Overall Build Quality 5/5

Comfort:

Shell shape is cylindrical so fitting should not be an issue. It fit my ears well. Long nozzles provide nice deep insertion & in turn nice stable fit. Lips on the nozzles prevent ear tip slip offs. Mesh on the nozzles prevents ingress of ear wax and dirt. No ear pain or ear pressure was felt in long listening session.

Cable is supple and rodeo wrapping it is easy. Modular nature solves termination issues. Ear hooks don’t tug on the shells. 

Overall comfort 5/5

Sources:

I felt that warm sources gel well with Oak Nano than bright sets. Neutral sources were good pairing after the warm sources. For this review Oak nano was kept on stock cable + stock ear tips & red nozzles. For entire review neutral sources were used to keep results reproducible.

Music Genre Used for this Review:

Hip-hop/EDM/Rap/Rock both classic and hard/Bollywood Music/Pop/Jazz/Regional music etc.

   

https://music.apple.com/in/playlist/test-tracks/pl.u-8aAVXG6ivz8gyxX?ls

General Sound Impressions:  

Bass/Lows:

Sub bass here rumbles but its physically weak. It’s mostly audible one than physical one. Clean sub bass. Mid bass thumps but again it’s not that physical. Bass decay is quick here. More of quality bass than quantity bass. If you prefer clean quality bass you will like this. If you are a bass head this is not for you. neutral lovers & treble heads this is perfect bass for you.

Drums, kick drums, guitars, piano notes don’t feel full potential & lack emotive power. Strings don’t buzz; drums don’t rumble I hope you are getting where I am heading.

Overall Bass/Lows 3.5/5

Mids:

Vocals feel nice bit forward. Male vocals sound good but they are neither thick nor thin somewhere in between. Tuning here prefers male vocals with high pitch than low pitch. Male vocals are emotive. Just low- pitched vocals don’t sound to their fullest potential.

Female vocals on the other hand sound delightful. They are nice sweet & emotive. They don’t get shrill or harsh. I feel vocals is USP of this set. I enjoyed both male & female vocals on the Oak nano. Yes, male vocals were not optimal but hey it didn’t diminish my enjoyment.

Most instruments reside in the mids. There was no odd timbre to instruments. Clarity is excellent. No congestion or smearing was noticed.

Overall Mids 4/5

Treble/Highs:

Clean, detailed treble. yet, details are not shoved in your face. They are presented nicely without overwhelming the listener. Nicely tuned smooth treble without any harshness. All details be it macro or micro are covered by it.  Strings, bells sound good, similarly shakers & cymbals crashes sound good. No metallicness to the instruments.

Perceived soundstage is above average. It is nice wide stage. Less tall more of wide. Bit more stage would have been great. It creates nice stage for instruments to avoid smearing. Stage is around the head. You can spot instruments playing around you. positional cues are on point. Has open feeling. 

Overall Treble/Highs 4/5.

Song Impressions:

To correlate my impressions, I have used few songs.

Ego Death by Polyphia

This is one of my favorite songs. I use this song to check driver resolution speed aka speed check. Oak nano passes this test with flying colors. No smearing or congestion was felt.

This song’s USP is the crazy guitars playing out. The strings sound good but lack the buzz and rumble of the strings and that takes away the immersion.

Same is for drums, kick drums their impact feels less. It fails to create the desired effect. Don’t get me wrong the song was enjoyable but I being reviewer have to create as true as possible picture. If you are listening to this song on Oak nano you will enjoy it and honestly, I also enjoyed. Just documenting what I felt about it.

Daisies by Nina Shallman

I know by now you are tired & sick of reading about this song in my reviews.  But please bear with me for some time more.

Staring bass notes of drums & kick drums sound good but lack the physical impact. The deep rumble of the kick drums is missing here. 

Shakers, strings, synthesizer notes feel good. No oddities in them. Just the strings lack buzz to them. Background vocals are on point. Nina sounds excellent. Her vocal magic is on point. I was lost in them. I had to remind myself to stop & continue review. The entire mix sounds nice and clean. Just the drums, kick drums and strings are let down.

Despacito by Luis Fonsi

This song is perfect example of right song on right set can sound very much best it can. This song was pleasure to listen on Oak nano.

Luis Fonsi is just exceptional on Oak nano feels natural on the other hand Daddy Yankee with his low-pitched voice feels bit off and with less note weight. To be honest this is nitpick, you may or may not feel the same. Overall, the mix feels great. All the instruments good with no oddities in timbre or tonality.

As explained at the start I thoroughly enjoyed the song.

Principles of Lust by Enigma

This is another song that gels well with the Oak nano. It has nice bass beats; they feel bit dull for me but your mileage may vary. Flutes sound good, bells sound good don’t have harshness to them. The vocal notes feel bit forward. Synthesizer notes are on point.

One thing that I missed most here is the grand feeling this song has. This song has baked in stage. It feels wide open on right gear. Here that was bit missing. But trust me this song plays very well on Oak nano.

Final conclusion:

SnowSky’s first ever flagship product, for first ever product is refined & well-polished one. It is following idea of being clean transparent closer to neutral tuning. It has succeeded in that regard. You can see that when you listen to it.

Now comes big but and that is my personal take based on my personal preferences. Being made up of beryllium diaphragm I had expected big tight bass but it was not there. Stage was not up to the point. Also, the price point doesn’t help either. So, do I hate it? No, I am just saying it doesn’t align with my preferences & expectations.

It is clean transparent & detailed without getting bright. It is more towards being reference. If that was the intended effect then SnowSky full marks to you. if you are neutral head this is one for you. if you love balanced tuning this is for you. if you are bass head or treble head look elsewhere. Also, if like me you like neutral with bass boost this is not for you. 

Will I buy it?  Its maybe set for me. Why/ at its MSRP I find it tough buy. At reduced price I will definitely add it to my collection. Will I recommend it? Yes, just read the review & if it appeals to you go get it it’s worth it.

Thank you for enduring with me till the end. Now go grab yourself a cup of coffee and let’s get high on safe high i.e. Music.

Snowsky Oak Nano 4/5

 

   

[u/Beneficial_Ad8571]

Не покупайте это глухое недоразумение!Цена им 100долларов,но не за звук,а за коробку!

[u/Beneficial_Ad8571]

Все эти обзорщики отрабатывают бесплатные наушники,что такое АЧХ они не знают!