FATFreq Scarlet Mini

TL;DR: the Scarlet Mini is a must-try IEM for anyone that enjoys bass, but its full potential may be contingent on the source(s) it is paired with



Disclaimer: I was fortunate to demo the Scarlet Mini as part of its Australian Head-Fi Tour. Thanks to @Damz87 for coordinating and the Fatfreq team for affording me this opportunity.



I am mindful that there’s already a few reviews of this set that go into a lot of detail and so I want to take a different, casual approach (I get it, casual and kilo-buck IEM may not necessarily go hand-in-hand, but I digress) - let me start by sharing some anecdotes about myself that will help provide context for my views on the Scarlet Mini.



I consider myself both a basshead and a hiphophead. I’ve listened primarily to hiphop since the mid-late 90s and enjoy both the lyricism (think 2Pac, Nas, Styles P, Royce 5’9”, the Game) as well as the beat-making (Dr Dre, RZA, Havoc, DJ Premier, Alchemist, Hit Boy) aspects. As portable audio became more accessible, I experimented (albeit superficially, upon reflection) with different headphones like the Koss KSC75 (an old favourite) and IEMs like the Sony MH755 (my current daily). I also dabbled in car audio, and recall fondly my custom install comprising Vibe liteair splits paired with a 12” space sub. All of this to say, I like bass and I know how good bass sounds (and feels).



For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had to rely on EQ to achieve the sort of “visceral” low-end I’ve craved. I use this adjective today as it’d been used to describe to me another IEM in the past (Dunu DM480, to be precise). Admittedly, I was disappointed then, so I am careful not to overstate or oversell now as I felt had been done to me.



When the opportunity came up to audition the Scarlet Mini, I wanted to approach it from the bottom-up - give it the equivalent of a hospital pass for those that follow football or, in lame man’s terms, listen in less than ideal circumstances. This might seem counter-intuitive, but my view is we can’t always enjoy our equipment in optimal environments so I challenged myself to see how the Scarlet Mini performs when playing lossy audio while streaming (Spotify) and driven with a bluetooth DAC (Fiio BTR3K). If this combo fails to deliver, I can isolate each variable and iterate to reach an acceptable level of performance.



Suffice it to say, the Scarlet Mini satisfied that visceral craving of mine - in spite of the relatively inferior conditions I began with. I could feel the kicks, which is the distinguishing characteristic of sub-bass - it’s omnidirectional, so you have to feel it otherwise what’s the point?! Better still, I didn’t need to resort to EQ, tip rolling or anything extraordinary to achieve this level of performance - literally plug and play.



What also impressed me was the soundstage; I can’t speak on other genres and for most listeners, but for me the lyrics in a hiphop track are just as critical as the beat. When resorting to EQ to reach the lows I wanted, this would typically come at the expense of recessed or muddied vocals. Not so with the Scarlet Mini; although the emphasis is on sub-bass, vocals were forward and I was able to enjoy them at the same time as the bass slam, seemingly without compromise.



In terms of aesthetic, the Scarlet Mini fit comfortably in-ear and I did not notice I needed to adjust them as regularly as other, less-hefty IEMs (not suggesting the Scarlet Mini is bulky by any means, but proportionate considering the number of drivers). Given my initial impressions were positive, I can only assume that the Scarlet Mini would perform even better when driven with more powerful and better quality source(s).



In the interest of objectivity, I will call out two criticisms (if you can call them that, as neither should be classed as deal-breakers) during my brief time with the Scarlet Mini. For one, I did notice the battery life of my bluetooth DAC fell dramatically while listening with the Scarlet Mini (approx. two hours, at full volume) compared to at least twice that when I’d listen with my daily IEM. From this, I infer the Scarlet Mini does require a fair bit of power to drive so not ideal for a commute or mobile setting (again, perhaps not the intended use-case for a kilo-buck IEM). Also, there were some sessions where my ears felt fatigued to the point where I wanted a break, but that was not the case for the entire 2 week span of my audition, and adjusting the tips and/or fit sometimes helped prolong my sessions.



Overall, to say the Scarlet Mini lived up to the hype may even be selling it short. Listeners who are looking for an IEM to satisfy their bass cravings will not be disappointed, but if one really wants to get the most of the Scarlet Mini I’d recommend complementing it with powerful source(s). As I said from the outset, I wanted to give a different perspective in the hope of expanding the discourse. Please do leave a comment if you have any questions or would like for me to elaborate.

The presentation is quite nice you get what Fatfreq call a “Fat red box” with the red silver cable or black.




My first unit came with a huge Channel imbalance so I had to send my unit back for repair. However, I was really not happy because I just got the Scarlet after waiting more than two months but Fatfreq assured me that they will be sending an immediate replacement along with gifts to compensate for the situation. So I received a metal case along with an released red cable.




The sound:

The Scarlet sounds really good for price just what you would expect from a bassy iem. So when my replacement unit arrived I kept testing the Scarlet with different sources to reach the perfect sound.
Although I tried dongles like Ibasso DC04 pro, Shanling UA5, Questyle M15 or The RU7 but none of those really could drive the Scarlet to it’s potential, and I found the best synergy with Hiby R6PROii, and Hiby R8ii with maximum performance settings enabled.

One thing to note that The scarlet is a sub-Bass oriented so you will get more deep rumple rather than mid-bass slam, and this could be a deal breaker for people as it was for me in the beginning but the the Scarlet made me appreciate sub-bass even more than mid-bass as Fatfreq was able to achieve such deep sub-bass with little bleed to the mids.

The mid-bass will still slam but it’s more polite comparing to the sub-bass. At least for me as I know that I needed more mid-bass with the Scarlet mini but could they really have delivered more mid-bass without bleeding into the mids even more? Honestly I don’t know and only Fatfreq could answer this question.

To make it simple the everything sound correct in the Scarlet but feels more pushed back comparing to the sub-bass that present its self with extreme confidence. Most people getting this set for the fun bass so don’t be expecting top tier resolution, and clarity while you could reach better technical performance with more power feeding into the Scarlet it will still not be an all rounder but it improve the overall performance.

The Hiby R6PROii:
the Scarlet could be driven and it sounds good to my ears. Although the R6PROii has only total 383 power via the balanced output. It still features a decent DAC/AMP that could drive the Scarlet to an acceptable level that will actually sound good and it’s my favorite source to use with the Scarlet currently. For settings I use high gain with Class A and I use the DRX10K Dynamics filter.


The Hiby R8ii:
Could absolutely drive the Scarlet to its potential thanks to its 710mW power output and much more advanced DAC\AMP configuration and High gain and Turbo mode despite all of the capabilities that the R8ii has to drive the Scarlet I still think they have a bad synergy slightly as the R8ii is very organic and natural source that tames most aggressive iems or at least roll of a little bit their aggressive toning at least to my ears. I use high gain with Class AB and engage the Turbo mode for the Scarlet and I use the Sound field filter to push the stage a little bit back for an illusion of deeper soundstage.


Comparisons:

Comparing the Scarlet to the Mangird Xenns UP. The UP is way better as an all rounder in my opinion as it has better drivers set, and EST drivers handling ultra high frequencies to provide overall better details, and more treble extension for an amazing detail retrieval. The UP is a very warm iem that will slam very hard via Mid-bass but it’s has good vocals, treble and sub-bass comparing to the Scarlet which I think lacks a little bit more treble extension and needed more detail retrieval.

Genres

The scarlet is very satisfying with genres like hip hop, reggae, EDM.

reggae
1-Daddy Yanke RUMBATÓN
2-PANTIES Y BRASIERES
3-La Llevo Al Cielo

Hip-hop
1-Butterfly effect by Travis Scott
2-Dive by kid cudi
3-ILL what I bleed by kid cudi

EDM
1-Long time by John De Sohn
2- Bromance by Tim berg
3-Theateum Antony Waldhorn


To sum up:

The scarlet mini is definitely worthy of the hype that it’s been getting lately. Although it’s slightly overpriced for a specialist set.The Scarlet provides the best quality and quantity sub-bass boost that I have ever experienced for an iem but its very hard to use as all rounder given all that bass distracting other frequencies. If you got the money, and you are a basshead go for it you will not be disappointed unless if you are a mid-bass lover then the Xenns UP will be a better set for mid-bass, and a better set overall.

Please check my video review I made for the Scarlet mini below.