FiiO's retro headphones will make me look like Julia Roberts singing in a bathtub bigger than the Blue Banana — and I must have them
Act your age mama, not your shoe size!
· TechRadarNews By Becky Scarrott published 23 January 2026
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- FiiO just unveiled retro-style on-ear mini headphones
- But with LDAC and volume/skip knobs on the earpieces, they're also modern
- …and at just $29.99 / £32.99, I just want their extra time and their… kiss!
Look, if you’re not channeling Julia Roberts singing Prince from Richard Gere’s hotel bathtub in the movie Pretty Woman when you gaze upon FiiO’s late 80s-inspired headphones, do you even love music – or for that matter, movies?
Not content with transporting me back in time to 1960's era Bond movies (with a Phantom flagship iFi DAC), it feels like every recent hi-fi release was designed with the sole aim of sending me into a world of analog – cassettes at the ready.
FiiO is continuing to blur the boundaries between classic design and modern audio engineering with what it's calling the "FiiO EH11 Retro Bluetooth Mini Headphones". Yes, that name is also bigger than the Blue Banana…
At first glance, the EH11 look absolute like the on-ears Vivian Ward plugged into a Walkman (which was precariously balanced on the edge of the Beverly Wilshire hotel bathtub) and wore to belt out the lyrics to Prince's Kiss. But look a little closer, and their compact wooden ear cups set them apart.
Inspired by iconic on-ears they may be, but the design features transparent elements that reveal internal components, and those driver housings actually double as control knobs. FiiO tells me you can rotate them, adjust volume, or skip tracks. The aim, says FiiO, is to create "an experience influenced by vintage hi-fi gear while remaining portable".
You don't have to be beautiful, to turn me on…
…but it helps! Weighing just 92 grams, the EH11 are certainly ideal for portable listening.
FiiO tells me that the 40mm long-throw dynamic driver in the earpiece features "a high-damping composite diaphragm" to lower the resonant frequency to 60Hz and "enabling bass extension down to 17Hz". Impressive.
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