New favorite budget phones - FAAEAL Rosemary

Submitted by nodemms t3_10rema7 in headphones

TLDR; Buy a pair of FAAEAL Rosemarys and you (probably) won't be disappointed. They're cheap as chips and might just surprise you.

I tend to keep a handful of super budget-friendly IEM options on hand to keep in rotation. My intro into hi-fi was admittedly rooted in the budget tier (my m50s and friend's 599s). The first true IEM that grabbed my attention was the KZ AS10 some years ago and they will likely go with me to the grave (gimme that V signature).

More recently I've been holding onto my CRA+s, Zeros, and Chus not knowing really which I prefer. In all honesty it probably comes down to fit and comfort. In order I'd probably go Chu > Zero > CRA+. I can never seem to get the CRA+ to fit comfortably, the Zero earhooks are just too big, and the Chu cable can be annoying to float in place behind my ears without twisting around (and yes, I'm aware the Zero cable can be easily replaced but for a $20 iem why bother).

My daily drivers are a trusty old pair of detachable cable modded 880s that can absolutely outperform their price bracket (with some EQ). All three IEMs listed above sound great but, to no-one's surprise, miss the fullness delivered by the 880s (or B2D/Timeless but you know).

I'm a full-time remote worker and the appeal to have something more easily pop in my ears for impromptu calls and meetings has been growing. I came across the FAAEAL product line of earbuds and had absolutely no problem throwing $15 to the low-fi gods in hopes of something that might scratch the itch.

I am most likely late to the game in discovering the FAAEAL product line. I'm just surprised to not see the Rosemary or Snow featured in any write ups or reviews. I've been listening to the Rosemary for only a couple days but they have FAR exceeded any expectations. When you add to the fact they cost less than a visit to the drive-thru it's an absolute no brainer.

Here's my quick impressions:

Mid - fairly butter smooth, nothing to write home about but I can clearly enjoy Mr. McCartney's bass all the day long

Low - I'm pretty sure the Rosemary has a bit of a V-shaped tuning so the bass is quite enjoyable. They won't shake your face by any means but the bass presence is there (just a bit muddy at the very low end). The Mop is my typical bass track - the last ~20s or so is super revealing in the lower range.

Hi - This is really where I think the Rosemarys shine. The definition and separation in the hi-range honestly shocked me. Listening to strings and high hats are nearly just as resolving as my 880s and for that I am super happy with the 1,500 pennies spent.

I'd love to hear from anyone else in the community here with a pair already or any other slightly off-the-wall recommendations. Also, if you have a FR curve for the Rosemary I will forever be indebted. I don't know if they were made before measuring FR went mainstream or what but damn it if I can't find much more than a few niche review videos. Thanks for looking and letting me get some creative writing out of my system.

11

Comments

You must log in or register to comment.

DPKingston t1_j6vv470 wrote

Honestly, I prefer the Iris 2.0 over the rosemary with its even cheaper price and I prefer its sound signature more. FR curve are generally harder to find especially with less interest over iems and headphones, and the fact that its hard to get a consistent fit on a measurement rig which makes getting proper results harder.

5

nodemms OP t1_j6vvaay wrote

Good point in the difficulty with fitment on a measurement rig. I’ll have to snag a pair of those Iris’s. Thanks for sharing.

2

DPKingston t1_j706tlp wrote

Ive basically bought a shit ton of those as gift for friends.

2

AggravatedAutist t1_j6x9yu9 wrote

I really like these for when I want a simple pair of in-ears and don't need anything fancy, but they just do not stay in my ears properly.

1

nodemms OP t1_j73vp54 wrote

Yeah, fortunately I was gifted with relatively wide ear canals and forgiving pinnae. My wife had a similar complaint when I tried having her try them out. Are you using the pad/covers that came with them? I'm curious what impact/changes swapping these around might have (if any).

1

Arnval0 t1_j6zgu2x wrote

I do like the rosemary quite a bit, it really is great for the price. If you are finding it a bit muddy I do recommend trying the easy and simple mod of taping over some of the vents to adjust the bass. This changes the sound quite a bit and is easily reversible, the amount you cover is just to preference but make sure to leave at least one open.

1

nodemms OP t1_j73lp5x wrote

Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely play around with that this weekend. Might update here if the findings are good (or bad).

1

terejuga t1_j72yl9q wrote

Hello Is it true that it has arena-like soundstage? Also it has little/no imaging and positioning? I'm considering between Tingo Tc200 and this one, the one with a wide/holographic soundstage. Thanks.

1

FromWitchSide t1_j7eqvpg wrote

The soundstage is bigger than in more direct sounding earphones like Vido, Monk+, KBear Stellar or EMX500, but not extremely big. It actually is similar in size to Snow-Lotus 1.0, but like with a tiny bit of reverb added so it sounds more spacious than it. Reverb/echo is not a soundstage, it will sound spacious, but instruments/soundsources can't be placed there. As for positioning sounds in space I personally found everything mentioned above to be about the same. Like there is no actual difference in accuracy if you try to locate a sound source in 3D gaming. They all do 360 somewhat ok, but all fail at distance.

Paiaudio PR1 does improve that, despite it being slightly warmer and lacking in details, the soundstage is fairly big, and more accurate, you can tell which room say enemy in fps is, but accuracy is still like within several meters, so you can't tell where exactly in that room, can't just fire at specific spot.

Currently I'm trying out Qigom S300 White Lotus, it does sound most spacious, I think it has the biggest soundstage + a bit of that reverb. It is the most accurate when it comes to distance as well. Sorry for using gaming as example, but in their case I can play more or less normally, get a good grasp on distance on sounds that are gradually closing in to get a good timing when to react/prefire and such. It is not yet a tournament grade, not on par with good more expensive headphones, not a wallhack, but first among the budget earphones where I don't feel like I'm really being hold back.

2

nodemms OP t1_j73lige wrote

To my ears, the imaging and positioning of the Rosemary is far from little. I can’t speak to the Tc200 personally but I have read a few good reviews.

Part of my curiosity with the Rosemary was it’s larger than average impedance. In my experience, this can allow a set of cans to respond well to equalization which I tinker with endlessly using APO/Peace.

So far I can safely say I have no regrets with the Rosemary. Let me know which way you end up going. I’m curious what others think of the Tc200 as well.

1

terejuga t1_j74chuc wrote

Thanks for the reply. I think I will choose Tc200, because it's easier to driver, 16ohm only.

Is the soundstage of Rosemary really huge though? Thanks

1

nodemms OP t1_j74era4 wrote

I think they easily beat out those three budget IEMs I mentioned above. It’s a very engaging sound.

1

FromWitchSide t1_j7ep444 wrote

I'm recommending cheap FAAEALs almost everyday :P

Personally I like FAAEAL Snow-Lotus 1.0 more (also have SPC version, no difference), because I find Rosemary's treble to be a bit piercing and fatiguing, although Rosemary is killing it when it comes to details in the price range. Snow-Lotus is a bit calmer, slightly less reverberating, if there is a space between the sounds it feels completely empty. So I kind of like them as a daily driver at PC, next to HD600.

Aside that I'm using Iris Ancestor as a headset for mobile, I do have Iris 2.0, it's the same sound, I like 3 button remote of 2.0 more, but simple straight cable of Ancestor more :P

btw. recently been discovering Qigom S300 White Lotus (300Ohm 109dB/mW). It sounds bright, but not piercing and is not fatiguing, so I just started listening to them and got used to it. Soundstage might be the best for the price, not just bigger than Paiaudio PR1, but also better imagining when it comes to distance. They are currently my choice for comfortable fps gaming (but they are not "tournament grade"). One qualm though, they are particularly good with Sevenhertz 71 (AK4377), but with CX-Pro CX31993 I did feel some fatigue - it is just that one dongle, all the other sources I have are fine. There is also S300 Black Lotus which is said to be more balanced version, so I'm thinking about testing it as well.

1

palanoid11 t1_j7z4dho wrote

i've been using the rosemary with a kuangpai player dac dongle that sports an ess es9218p chip for a while. i found the bass to have the biggest presence while the mids and highs are laid back. still i quite like them for music listening. for fps gaming they are average.

though recently the dongle has had connection issues, i switched to a cx31993 dongle and now the rosemary sound a little more balanced in comparison

1