>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translator tools to help<<
INTRO:
As I mentioned in the FIIL KEY review, I already had the FIIL CC NANO on hands when I evaluated the KEY, so now it’s time for another experience with TWS Earbuds. I’ve already made a more elaborate introduction in the FIIL KEY review about this Earbuds scenario, so, to avoid sounding repetitive, and for those who are interested, just check it in the FIIL KEY review intro.
If you noticed, the CC NANO has a design almost similar to the CC PRO2, both were designed with the case without the lid, for easy removal of the earphones from inside the case.
Previous reviews: T2 PRO (portuguese), CC PRO2, KEY (english)
Price: $68,99 USD
Colors: Black/Gray
FIIL store:
https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDQW5N1
SPECIFICATIONS:
– (1) 13.1mm Dynamic Driver (DD) LDP per side
– Frequency: 15Hz – 22kHz
– Sensitivity: 126dB SPL@1mW
– Impedance: 32 Ohms
– Speaker power: 3mW/5mW
– Speaker distortion: <3% @1mW
– Touch Control
– Bluetooth 5.2
– Codecs: AAC, SBC
– Bluetooth Profile: HFP, HSP, A2DP, AVRCP
– Radio range: 10 meters
– Low Latency mode (Game, Video, Music)
– FIIL+ App
– Battery: 30 hours (5 hours playback)
– 2C fast charge: 5mins=1h listening
– Dual-Mic for calls (with ENC)
– Water-resistant: IPX4 (earbuds)
– Charging time earbuds: 50 mins
– Charging time case: 100 mins
– Earbuds battery: 30mAh
– Charging case battery: 450mAh
– Power supply: input 5V 500mA
– Input: USB-C
– Earbuds size: 3,2cm [H] × 1.8cm [W] × 1.7cm [D]
– Case size: 4.5cm [H] × 4.3cm [W] × 2cm [D]
– Earbuds weight: 4g (one side)
– Case weight: 31g (without earphones)
PHYSICAL ASPECTS:
No doubt, there’s no way to start this review without talking about this design that is simply the product’s eye catching. I’ve already reviewed the CC PRO2 which also has this design, so for me it’s no more a surprise, however, when I reviewed the KEY, I missed this lidless case design, it’s something very cool, and practical too. Until then I hadn’t seen another company have a lidless case, FIIL takes the lead and scores a very positive point with this open design. #GoodbyeLids
There are some products that I evaluate that I don’t even mention the aesthetic part of the product, often even having found it beautiful or not, but this one here I’ll comment… what a beautiful product, the whole set (earphones + case). I found it even more beautiful than the CC PRO2, this one is a matte silver, in the CC PRO2 it was a slightly darker color, like a dark gray even more towards to magenta… anyway, the CC NANO is the most beautiful FIIL product I’ve been able to evaluate so far.
The CC NANO case is coated by a metal piece, just like the stems of the earphones are also coated in metal. The product is very light and compact, the case is even smaller than the CC PRO2. Everything is very well polished and rounded, the product has no sharp edges, nor strange parts in the construction. The case is very compact and portable, I believe that now it only stays behind the KEY case, which I think is the thinnest of the ones I’ve tested. The build quality is really excellent, it doesn’t owe anything to more expensive TWSs I’ve tested, such as: the Jaybird Vista 2 or the Sennheiser CX Plus.
Bluetooth signal connectivity. Here the performance was the same as in the FIIL KEY, that is, excellent. The pairing is very fast (after the first initial pairing), the signal range following in a straight line to the smartphone managed to reach a distance even greater than 10 meters. The signal stability was also great, I had no problem with signal failure or interruption, even walking between the rooms of the house, that is, with some walls between the smartphone and the earphones. In addition to my smartphone, I also evaluated it with a DAP that I’m currently using, both devices are bluetooth 5.0, while the CC NANO already has version 5.2, so there may be even more benefits when the versions compatible. The difference here is that the KEY is already version 5.3, while the CC NANO is version 5.2.
Application. FIIL provides an App for Android and iOS: the FIIL+. Here with FIIL CC NANO we basically have 3 tabs in the application, here are the screenshots of the application:
As I always say in other reviews, the images of the App are already very self-explanatory, everything the user can touch is there in the screenshots above. In “Advanced Settings” there is only the “Reset Settings” option, so I didn’t even put an extra screenshots.
PS: The fiil+ App continues with the same issue that I already mentioned in the CC Pro2 and Key reviews, there’s no “exit” button, and even if you end the process, the app continues running, showing a square icon in the notification bar. The only difference now is that if you click on the icon that appears in the notification bar, you will be directed straight to the Android app settings, and thus be able to “force stop” the App. I hope the company finds a solution for this soon.
A nice detail of the CC NANO case is the LED that indicates the operation of the case, it is exactly there behind the name “FIIL”. When I put the case to charge, I received the surprise, a whole white LED lit up and was pulsing in waves (a back and forth). This LED also indicates the battery status of the case when you put the earphones back in the case. The earphones have the indicative LEDs on the top of the stems, it is through them that we guide ourselves when the earphones are receiving charge (energy from the case).
Latency. I always do the latency (delay) test by watching some videos on YouTube, and in my perception, the synch between the image and the sound was perfect, without delays. I could look at the image of a person speaking and at the same time listen to the sound, and I didn’t notice any delay. The CC NANO has the Low Latency mode feature, which are 3: Game, Video, Music. I tested the 3 modes and couldn’t notice any difference between them, that is, all of the 3 are already very fast and doesn’t present delays. To enable the Low Latency features, you need to go to the App and activate the function.
Touch control. The CC NANO is controlled by gesture touches, the commands can be executed on the top of the stems. During use, I found the commands very responsive to touch, I had no problem. It’s worth noting that the stems of the CC NANO are kind of square, so you need to have a little patience until you get the hang of it. As I’ve already reviewed the CC PRO2 which has this same shape, so for me now it was more peaceful, but the first time I felt a little strange with the format.
The fit. Just as it was for the FIIL KEY, the same will be here, both have the same shell. So, the fit was great, it’s a format already established by the industry, there’s no mistake. The only observation I make is that – unlike IEMs – Earbuds can have a small variation in the positioning of the earphone in the ear. In other words, the same person can have more than one fit with the same earphone, because Earbuds don’t have the eartips to “lock” the earphone in the ear canal, and it is known that this can slightly change the sound. But in a general context this doesn’t affect the common listener, they won’t notice this difference when in casual use.
The comfort also follows the same line as the FIIL KEY, that is, very light, very polished, soft touch in contact with the skin, without pressure points, without intra-ear pressure. This is the great highlight of Earbuds earphones, I understand that this issue is very important because not everyone feels good using IEMs, so Earbuds emerge as a good alternative. There are people who have a very narrow ear canal, so any nozzle + eartip can be a discomfort, Earbuds come in exactly with this benefit of just approaching to the ear canal.
Microphone. In my tests, I found that the audio quality was good, even better than the FIIL KEY. It was possible to hear the voice clearly and defined. The method I used here was a voice recording application. In my understanding, the quality is sufficient to communicate accurately, now, if you are looking for more professional audio, then the CC NANO mic may not be ideal. For noiseless environments, the microphone did a good job, but when I turned on the fan, there was only a slight addition of hissing during the moment of speech. When there was no speech, there was also no external noise in the audio, which for me is a positive point.
ENC microphone. The FIIL CC NANO comes equipped with the ENC (Environmental Noise Cancellation) system, which is a microphone dedicated to capturing and subsequently reducing ambient sounds so that they don’t interfere with the quality of the call. In short, the application is when you are in an environment with some background noise and ENC tries not to pass this noise to the call. There was definitely a better implementation of this feature here in the CC NANO than the KEY, I think the audio capture as a whole was better.
Accessories. Included accessories, the FIIL CC NANO comes with a USB-C to USB-A cable, which is used to charge the case (charging case), and a small cleaning stick, something very similar to a cotton swab, but thinner. The accessories come kind of hidden under the main tray, if you don’t pay attention, you might think that the accessories didn’t come.
If you want to access the product manual, it’s possible [here at this link] (in English).
SOUND ASPECTS:
Starting with the sound part, it’s important to remember that my greatest experience is with in-ear monitors (IEMs), this is only the second Earbud earphone I’ve had the opportunity to test, so it’s inevitable that what I’m going to write here is largely referencing what I heard with IEMs, and this can certainly make me too critical of this style of earphone (Earbuds)… maybe it’s not very fair, but I can’t avoid it. My position is that I continue to believe that IEMs are superior to Earbuds (in my opinion). The T2 PRO and CC PRO2 from FIIL themselves – in my understanding – are a step above.
Comparing the FIIL KEY with the FIIL CC NANO, I confess that the differences between one and the other are not so big, but there are indeed some small ones. In my understanding – and here considering one to the other – the KEY has a bit more mid-bass and a bit more upper-mids than the CC NANO. I couldn’t notice difference between them in the treble region, for me it sounded basically the same. So, I could say that both have a V-shape sound, but the overall difference is that the CC NANO presented a more “balanced” and smoother sound than the KEY, which in turn had a slightly more “fun” sound and tended to be the most V-shaped among the two.
Now speaking to an average person who isn’t accustomed to this audiophile language, I would say to stay calm because both earphones are very similar and you won’t have any loss or gain in terms of sound between one and the other. I think you will want to know why one is more expensive than the other, and in my opinion the difference will be on the extra sound side, which are things like design, battery, etc.
The differences are so small that my evaluation of the KEY will serve as a basis for this evaluation here, but I will point out what I found different from one to the other. Right off the bat I can tell you that the only differences were two: in the mid-bass and in the upper-mids (in my opinion).
Bass. So let’s talk about the bass of the CC NANO. In terms of quantity, here we have a level that I understand as moderate. The earphone has a greater emphasis in the mid-bass region, just like the KEY, but to my ears the KEY has even a little more mid-bass than the CC NANO. The extension is good, but as the sub-bass isn’t the highlight, then there is a certain decrease with deeper sounds.
In qualitative terms, it follows the same as the KEY, they are clean, controlled bass, have a good definition, the impact is also very interesting, it’s something very “natural”, and with a more delineated and dry touch. Just like in the KEY, the CC NANO is also not very physical. They aren’t boomy bass, they aren’t muffled, they aren’t bloated, and they don’t invade the mids. In my understanding, electronic music (EDM) I would like more dynamic and “strong” bass, but for other genres the CC NANO did well, even with Hip-Hop it managed to do well.
Mids. This is the other region that I found to be a little different from the FIIL KEY, but the truth is the difference was minimal, I only noticed it because I did a more careful A/B test, but I believe that an average listener won’t feel this difference. Basically it follows the same proposal as the KEY but with a little less emphasis on the pinna gain, but the proposal is the same, it doesn’t sound too recessed, nor does it sound too forward.
Voices. I believe there was a technical tie, this is because the earphone isn’t “hors-concours” for either type of voices – male/bass and female/treble, that is, it isn’t the best in texture with the lower voices, and it is also not the best in energy for higher voices. However, it does very well with voices that inhabit the middle range of the vocal scale. Sweeter and whispering voices sound very good.
Treble. In terms of quantity, the treble of the CC NANO are recessed, the level here I understood as moderate to low. This is a region that resembles what I heard in the KEY, both have a sense of decay in the higher treble. Thus, the extension is compromised. Still, the earphone has treble, and I think it would be an ideal earphone for those who are not interested in elevated treble, that is, who are looking for treble that don’t bother. I need to have more experience with Earbuds to know if this type of treble is common in this type of earhone or if it was really the proposal brought by the company.
In qualitative terms, I could say they are calm, very soft, “shy”, polished, without peaks, without coloring, relaxed. The sparkle is presented discreetly, the details I found low, and the airy I thought was also lacking. Once again I reinforce that my greater experience is with IEMs, so all the time the criteria we use to evaluate earphones with ear canal sealing are used. The treble of the CC NANO aren’t strident, they aren’t sharp, they aren’t harsh and they don’t present sibilance. As you can see, they are more recessed treble and that certainly makes the technical performance decrease, but I also understand that there are people who are looking exactly for this type of treble here, that is, free from sounding tiring, this is the great triumph of this earphone. All the instruments that stand out in the highest frequencies, the CC NANO managed to leave them comfortable and relaxed.
Soundstage and imaging. So, these attributes in the CC NANO – for me – had the same performance as the KEY, so in terms of stage, the CC NANO isn’t something big, but there is that feeling of the sound not being closed, as if there were no “walls” limiting the sound output, but unfortunately the performance doesn’t compare with that of IEMs. The imaging also doesn’t have the performance that I would like, same reason I said in the KEY: the tuning and the issue of not being so detailed (remembering that the separation can also vary according to the recording and other processes during musical production).
Amplification (or volume in the case of TWSs). We know that the amplification part in bluetooth earphones isn’t something necessary to comment on, but I use this paragraph to talk about the volume, how much the earphone can reach in terms of volume. So, this is clear it will be subjective, but I found that the earphone isn’t one of the “loudest” I have ever tested. For example, I usually listen to sound in a lower way, I could put the CC NANO at maximum volume and I was not bothered. Of course, I don’t have the habit of listening to music at very high volumes, it was just to do the test. This perspective here is because I know that there are some people who listen to music at higher volumes (which I think is dangerous for hearing health).
The driver flex characteristics is also waived with Earbuds earphones.
Music is subjective, so below is the list of some musical genres that I personally think that was better with this IEM. Remember that were only few genres and few artists tested. If I describe that one genre was better and the other don’t, it doesn’t mean that you can’t listen to your favorite music genre with this IEM and love it. So, here goes:
Better:
Hip Hop
Reggae
POP
Rock
Blues
MPB*
Bossa Nova*
Samba*
*Brazilian musical genres.
Not so much:
Classical
Metal
Jazz
EDM
PLAYLIST LINK:
Graphs by ZOUNDAHOLIC:
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