FIIL CC2 Review – Beating the AirPods

Pros — Build quality and industrial design
– Good battery life overall
– Stable connection, doesn’t have sync issues with video on any platform
– Warm, analogue-ish tuning
– Open acoustic design leads to surprisingly good soundstage width
– Above-average imaging
– Good instrument separation

Cons — Fit of the FIIL CC2 can be awkward
– Lack of noise isolation due to open acoustic design
– Sub-bass roll-off
– Midrange coloration may not suit everyone’s tastes
– Average resolution and dynamics

INTRODUCTION

FIIL has made a name for itself in the True Wireless and Wireless earphone/earbud/headphone space. They have a large collection of Bluetooth audio devices and most of them seem rather interesting in their respective price brackets.

The FIIL CC2 is an update to the original FIIL CC that was positioned as an Apple Airpods alternative. The half in-ear design and similarly open acoustic structure makes the CC2 rather different from the in-ear designs out there. The competition is strong in the True Wireless space, so let’s see how well the FIIL CC2 holds up.

The ratings given will be subjective to the price tier. FIIL was kind enough to send me the CC2 for evaluation.

Sources used: Google Pixel 6, iPhone SE

Price, while reviewed: $70. Can be bought from Amazon US.

PHYSICAL THINGS AND USABILITY

PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES

FIIL CC2 has a fairly compact packaging that covers the essentials. You get the earbuds themselves housed inside the carrying/charging case and a charging cable. Given the earbud style design, there is no need for silicone eartips, though I wish they had one of those silicone wings that helps better fit the earbuds.

The charging case, however, is fantastic. It’s a CNC-milled aluminium shell that houses an ABS plastic chamber (the chamber contains charging circuitry etc.). I love the design of the carrying case and it definitely stands out among the crowd.
4/5

BUILD QUALITY

The earbuds themselves are made out of plastic that has a metal-like finish in the stem and matte black driver housings. Each stem houses the battery and required wireless modules. At the bottom of each earpiece you will find two gold contact-points for charging and a mic. At the top, you get the status LED. At the side there is a dot that acts as a touch-input. Tapping it twice/thrice performs several operations (customizable in the app).

The earbuds are quite lightweight, though nothing feels flimsy or cheap. Solid build quality, overall, even if nothing extraordinary.
4/5

COMFORT, ISOLATION, AND FIT

The FIIL CC2 earbuds have an Apple Airpods “inspired” shape (also called half in-ears), though there are differences in curvature of the driver housing. For me it was fairly comfortable but after a while the hard plastic shell became distracting. The fit wasn’t the most secure for me as well, though my friends had a much better time and they could even go on a run with these in their ears.

So I guess the fit will vary but should be fine for most people (unless you have non-earbud friendly ears like mine). Isolation is almost non-existent, however, so don’t expect these to drown out traffic/commute noises.
3/5

SOURCE, CONNECTIVITY, AND BATTERY LIFE

I used my Pixel 6 and Sony NW-A55 for most of the critical listening. I also tried with an iPhone SE and my laptop. The FIIL CC2 worked fine with all of them. Battery life was very good for my use since I didn’t listen to them longer than an hour. Simply sliding the earbuds back in the case recharges them and with just a few minutes of charging I could go on for another hour or so.

The problem with the battery life is mostly down to the continuous playback time: it’s about 3 hours or so if you use them without putting them back in the charger. The charging case holds charge for ~18 hours which is very good and I needed to charge the case once a week. It’s only if you are using the earbuds consistently for more than 3 hours shall you run into problems with battery life.

As for connectivity: Bluetooth connection was fairly stable. I didn’t notice any lag or random dropouts from any of my devices (ranging from BT 4.0 to BT 5.2) You can also install the FIIL App and customize the presets/change EQ modes/assign gestures. Finally, a small note about call quality: the FIIL CC2 mic records sound better than the much more expensive Apple Airpods Max. I had no problem talking with others even in moderately noisy environment and calls sounded loud and clear.
4.5/5

DRIVER SETUP

The FIIL CC2 uses a 13.1mm single-dynamic driver with a Titanium-plated dome and PET surround. The acoustic structure itself is open and thus expands the soundstage beyond your head, at the expense of noise leakage and isolation.

TONALITY AND TECHNICALITIES

The general sound signature of the FIIL CC2 can be described as warm with a lower-treble tilt.

The most noticeable aspect of the sound is the sub-bass roll-off. You only hear sub-bass frequencies well from above 40Hz. The rumble factor is missing in action, though the moderately bumped up mid-bass does add some punch to the bass. Either way, the bass is not very textured is mostly tuned to give a sense of rhythm rather than cater to the bass afficionados.

Being very particular about bass myself, I was a bit disappointed but at least FIIL played within the limitation of the driver and acoustic structure rather than being overzealous with bass boost and add distortion.

Thanks to the mid-bass boost (which is fairly moderate and mostly thickens the lower-mids rather than cloud them) the vocals come through well even in some bass heavy mixes. However, there is some strange mid-range coloration going on. To my ears, the mid frequencies start to rise from 500Hz and then suddenly go down around 800Hz. Then it starts rising again from 1000Hz and peaks at 3.2KHz or so (to my ears).

So there is adequate pinna gain but the strange peaks between 500-1000Hz can make male vocals sound strangely colored and nasal at times. Female vocals were mostly fine and didn’t sound shouty to my ears. String instruments were decently portrayed though I think they could do with a bit more clarity (mostly due to the lower-mid tuning I guess).

As for the highs, the FIIL CC2 opt for a sizeable lower-treble peak at ~5.8KHz and then another mid-treble peak ~7KHz, after which the treble rolls off rather quickly post-10KHz. The 5-6KHz peak is definitely noticeable and brings cymbal hits forward and makes certain acoustic instruments sound metallic. It also makes some percussion instruments sound compressed. Overall, this treble peak isn’t too problematic (e.g. doesn’t introduce sibilance) but should definitely be EQ’ed down in the FIIL app IMO.

Lastly, the staging is rather open and definitely a neat trick of the FIIL CC2 due to its open acoustic design. Imaging is also better than average for the price range. Separation was good, but the overall resolution was rather average. Also note that the FIIL CC2 lacks in dynamics due to the sub-bass roll-off and lack of upper-treble.

Bass: 3/5
Mids: 4/5
Highs: 3/5
Soundstage/Imaging: 4.5/5
Speed/Dynamics: 3/5

SELECT COMPARISONS

vs Apple Airpods

The Apple Airpods are nearly 3x as much expensive and doesn’t come with as neat a carrying case as the FIIL CC2. However, if you’re an Apple user it will integrate seamlessly with all your Apple devices. For someone like me who only use an iPhone sporadically – this is not a selling point. So I’ll focus on comfort and sound aspect mostly.

The FIIL CC2 was more comfortable for me than the Airpods, though both lacked isolation. The FIIL CC2 app is also something the Airpods lack (and CC2 is more customizable as a result) but then again if you are getting Apple products you do not do a lot of customization either way. As for sound, the Airpods are noticeably worse than the FIIL CC2.

The bass is looser and distorts easily on the Airpods in bass heavy sections. In the mids, the FIIL CC2 resolves slightly better than the Airpods with better separation. The treble is rolled-off on both but the CC2 has the lower-treble peaks that gives a sense of enhanced clarity and presence of high notes. Staging is deeper on the CC2 though both has an out-of-your-head staging, just that the Airpods feel more congested due to the bass tuning. Imaging is more precise on the CC2 as well.

Overall, I find the FIIL CC2 to have noticeably better sound quality than the most popoular True-Wireless earbud on the planet.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

The FIIL CC2 is designed really well and has crossed off most of the checklist: good battery life, decent comfort, good call quality, above-average sound quality. The one area where it falls short is isolation but that’s an intended design decision.

However, based on sound quality alone, the FIIL CC2 will fall short of other wired earphones in the price range. Then again, that applies to even the most expensive wireless headphone out there.

So considering the limitations and the current state of the competition I can recommend the FIIL CC2 for someone who is looking at an Airpods alternative. It sounds better than the Airpods and while it lacks the seamless software integration of the Apple product, the companion app along with the large price gap makes the FIIL CC2 a good option.

MY VERDICT

4/5

A good Airpods alternative, though there are better sounding wired earphones out there.

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