final A8000

Introduction​

The dynamic transducer is the most used driver in the audio industry. It is known for its ability to produce powerful dynamic peaks and impactful bass. However, due to limitations in diaphragm stiffness and weight, it is challenging to achieve the ideal diaphragm for optimal performance.

Aesthetic appearance​

From the packaging and accessories, it is evident that the Japanese people pay great attention to detail and have a meticulous approach, setting them apart from other brands in the market. The entire box, both on the outside and inside, is designed in a luxurious white color, adding a touch of elegance to every small aspect.

Sound impression and analysis​

To assess the performance, I use my daily gear as a reference player - the A&K SP3000. I paired it with the Chord Hugo2 as a DAC/AMP and the Cayin C9 to explore the scalability of this IEM. An interchangeable option to explore the diversity in sound matching by source is the L&P P6 Pro 99Ti. In addition to the stock cable, I use the Crystal Cable Dream Duet as my ultimate reference cable. This cable stands out for its exceptional tonal neutrality, speed, and incredible ability to retrieve low-level details, as well as its ability to clarify the timber and nuance.


The brand new A8000 sounds quite harsh and it changes significantly after 20 hours of usage and burning in at moderate volume. It improves the smoothness and microdetail as well as the dynamic impact.

Ear tips are a sensitive matter when it comes to listening to the A8K. The Final E type, which has small tips and a soft cylinder, appears to absorb some energy and micro transients. This has the effect of reducing brightness and sharpness, but sacrificing dynamics and nuance is the trade-off. Tiefe Wasser highlight this problem, with E type the piano sound the same in dynamic, lack sparking top end and lose the piano and contrabass coherence, lead to a emotionless experience. I finally changed to Alza SednaEarfit to get a more dynamic, vibrant presentation.

Bright tonal balance​

From the measurement it can be concluded that the tonal of A8K leans to the neutral bright side with lots of up lifting in midrange and low-treble region, boosting the clarity up-lifting the tone. With the gradually step-up from 1k to 2k region and maintain the response stable, A8K tends to emphasize the harmonic structure of human voice or violin rather than the fundamental.


The bass section has step-up response from 100Hz down to 20Hz, indicating the slight dominance of sub bass impact over mid bass. The slightly exceed amplitude of sub bass extends the image and sound field of lowest octave while lighting fast impulse response keep it not bleeding into the other object in the presentation. It gives A8K a strong and solid foundation of representation, regardless of what genre of music you listen to. The un-balanced ratio in frequency response of A8K affects the ratio between image size of each harmonic's component of instrumental in this region.

Precise and transparent sound stage.​

A8000 gives me the impression of one of the most clear and transparent sound stages in IEMS ever. The image is rendered with a high level of fidelity. The superb clear edge definition not only defines the localization but also gives the refining of how sound of instrumental envelops in time axis.


The edge-definition and micro transient are impressively good. They perfectly handle the movement between silent and dynamic striking passages in the track Solspill, op. 13 Trond Schau - Lasse Thoresen: Sea of Names.

It expands the sound stage width to L/R location and even stretches outer L/R boundary in extended in high quality recording, especially binaural record. There is problems with sound stage that I feel the same with a reviewer have indicated, that is the image focus is shift more on LR more than other IEM and headphone, which make me wonder about these effects. The focus on center image is somehow lacking density than L/R sight. The center plane is flat and shifts the upper part of the vocal and harmonics forward to the listener.

This issue might related to unbalance, a huge dip in the mid range region compared with a elevated low treble in 2-3k region. The second factor might be using the physical filter to shape the FR. I have experience the effect of flattening the center layer and shifting in other while using filter in the nozzle. This is just my assumption from my experience.

The background is exceptionally clear, without any artifacts from the driver itself or internal acoustic issues. I have the same impression of a clean background as Focal Utopia 2022.

Due to the ultra-light weight and stiffness of the Beryllium diaphragm, the A8000 can produce exceptional low-level amplitude detail. This results in a defined and refined recreation of instruments. Additionally, the nearly flat impedance across the frequency range allows you to lower the volume level of your source without losing any detail in the treble or bass. Every detail remains clear, concise, and transparent, even at lower volumes. This means you can still hear the same sound stage and spatial dimensions, but with the images of each musical instrument shrink to their point source. This creates a sense of vast distance between the musical instruments.

The extended sound stage width gives the impression of a 21:9 ratio screen monitor, rather than the traditional 16:9 on the same record. With detail and lightning-fast response speed, the spatial cues and ambiance are reproduced with defined detail. This provides traditional stereo mixing with more space and spatiality, resulting in an immersive feeling.

Plugging in to A&K SP3000, in quite environment, I listen at volume 30 to 40, which is double my ordinary single DD, which need only 15-20 volume level.

Vocal​

The human voice is a crucial element in music. With its bright tone and clear decaying vibration envelope, A8000 provides a detailed representation of vocal tracks. The articulation is excellent, clearly delineating each component of the word (vowel) and the singer's transitions between them. It lends a sharpness and pleasant resonance to soprano voices. Although I noticed some sharpness in the sibilance region, the fast response speed may prevent it from being fatiguing.

One issue I've noticed is that while I have no problems with woodwind instruments like the flute, the vocals seem to lack airiness and airflow stability.

With its V-shaped structure, the fundamental part (vocal track) of the A8K tends to be lean and lacks dynamism and thickness compared to the harmonic parts. This reduces the fullness, weight, and dynamics of mid-range male and female voices. Nevertheless, the A8K renders each vocal piece with freshness and delicacy by blissing brilliance. It may not be the best fit for popular tracks that often contain many faults in the production chain. However, with higher quality tracks found in genres like folk, opera, and Celtic, the A8K truly shines.

Instrument performance​

A piano perfectly showcases the speed and dynamic range of the A8K. Its high-speed response and low distortion enable piano notes to project effortlessly. The detailed progression of a note's envelope, from the hammer strike to sustain and harmonic resonance, is distinctly clear. The A8K effectively captures the pace and silence between notes, contributing to a strong and accurate representation of tempo. This is particularly evident when listening to La Campanella in G-Sharp Minor. The A8K presents each note with full resolution, speed, and dynamics.

One of the most challenging parts of this song is the last phrase, where low octave notes are struck and then abruptly stopped by the pedal. The A8K recreates these notes with solidity, offering a clear structure envelope between string vibration and body resonance and a instant stop by the pedal. There are some sparkles in your head when listening to this song with A8000. Although the string vibration is defined clearly, I find it less dynamic and solid than Focal Utopia.

The opening track, the title track "Spark," is utterly mesmerizing and spine-tingling. From its solo piano introduction to its ultimate climax, A8000 handles every beat with complete mastery and control. This song might initially seem chaotic to some, but when you grasp the underlying contemporary connection, it delivers a powerful performance, sparking a vivid image in your mind.




In Bacchanale - Minnesota Orchestra, the A8K provides the woodwind and brass instruments with clear and agile expressions. Even in the quietest passage in the middle of the piece, at volume 18 of SP3000, the delicate flute sound is solidly set against a deeply layered background.

Despite its ultra-fast response, the A8K appears to lack coherence, particularly when playing violin instrumentals. This is noticeable in tracks like Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, MWV O14 (Felix Mendelssohn). The notes seem disconnected and lack continuity, resulting in a performance that feels flat and lacks passion.

If you're interested in the music, you can refer to the playlist that contains songs used in the review.

Paring and comparison​

DAP​

SP3000 and L&P P6 Pro 99Ti​

SP3000 and P6 Pro 99Ti is two outstanding choices in portable DAP market today. SP3000 utilizes AKM 4499EX DAC architecture while P6 Pro 99Ti use R2R architecture.


When paired with the SP3000, the combo leans towards a clean and clear signature. The edge definition is ultra-precise, revealing even the smallest details and movements of the performer or instrument. The micro transients and details surpass those of competitors, enhancing performance across the frequency range. IMO, paring with SP3000 captures the authentic transparency of the A8000, albeit at the expense of reduced engagement associated with any distortion. Operatic compositions are even more delightful when enhanced by this combination.

Contrarily, the P6 Pro 99Ti has a smoother and warmer presentation than its competitor. When using the NOS digital filter mode, the vocals offer richness in tonality, resulting in a pleasing listening experience. The extension to the low-end region is reduced, focusing more on mid-bass punchiness. This adjustment compensates for the dominance of sub-basses on the A8000, making the sound easier to listen to.

Sony Wm1Zm2​

This pairing provides an intriguing combination to explore, exceeding my expectations even though Sony isn't typically my first choice. Together with the 1zmk2, the bright tonality of the A8000 is beautifully balanced, rendering a warmer, richer, and more mainstream sound. The pairing is more accommodating to popular, mainstream music due to its smoother treble representation. The sharpness is rounded out, and the bass section gains additional depth, particularly in the mid-bass region.


While it may not delve into the finest detail and speed like the other two, Wm1zm2 undoubtedly stands as a compelling choice to pair with A8k for those seeking a more mainstream sound.

Final A8000 and Focal Utopia​

Given that they use the same driver material, there's a clear similarity in sound signature between them, particularly in their excellent impulse response. When paired with a portable source, I'm even more impressed with the Final A8K than with the Utopia due to the efficiency of IEMS when paired with a portable DAP. In general, the Focal Utopia has a warmer tone in the mid-range presentation, especially in vocal tracks. The Utopia, utilizing a larger diaphragm, can create a more punchy, dynamic, and dense sound signature.

In the low frequency range, Utopia has roll-off sub bass, while A8K has slight dominance ratio of sub bass. A8K has more extension in sub bass, which extends the sound stage depth further. With piano, A8K shows more presence of piano body resonance while Utopia can represent more dynamic, solid texture and intense forte nuance.

On mid and treble frequency, The A8K show offers fast, sharpness, sparking, and lighter note weight while Utopia has more density and note weight. The two show identical levels of clarity and detail, where I can clearly hear each word in the song more than ordinary items.

Final A8000 and JVC FW10000​

Recently, I've had the opportunity to listen to the JVC FW10000 and would like to offer a comparison between the two distinct sound signature products.

The physical appearance is quite different; while the A8K has a mirror-like surface, the FW10K offers a natural and vintage look with its wooden faceplate.


The FW10K uses a Wood Dome Carbon Diaphragm, which is less efficient than the A8K in terms of performance. The FW10K's sound signature can be described as smooth, with lusty and intense vocals. The frequency response graph shows that the FW10K has a strong mid-bass presence over the sub-bass and a substantial uplift in the high mid-range, with a notable peak in the 2K region. Due to the diaphragm's longer decay response, the FW10K can deliver a good punch and thickness to drum attacks. This long decay translates into a lustrous, sweet vocal and mid-range region, providing a richer sound signature impression. However, its downsides include a slow speed response.

On the contrary, the A8K provides lightning-fast response speed due to its utilization of true beryllium diaphragms. This higher speed response translates into a cleaner and clearer sound signature. The vocals are sweet but more clarity and detail. I can hear each vowel more clearly and understand how each word is pronounced. In mid and treble region, A8K sounds even brighter with broader up-lift region.

External Amplification​

Rated at 102 dB (presumably at 1 kHz @ 1 mW), the A8K is less efficient compared to other single dynamic driver IEMs. Although it can be adequately driven with modern DAPs like the SP3000 or P6 pro, the A8K could benefit from more powerful amplification.

The Cayin C9 offers increased body, thickness, and control, whereas the Hugo2 emphasizes sharpness and micro-transients. Given its low distortion profile, the A8K can distinguish between the C9's amplification modes easily.


Hugo2 provides the A8k with an energetic and lightning-fast response. The drums and percussion have more authority and impact, while the treble gains more energy, sharpness, and edge definition. It controls the A8K effortlessly, without any distortion, from concerto to symphony tracks.

Eartips​

Eartip comfort is a sensitive topic as it varies for each user based on the shape of their ears. In this discussion, I want to emphasize the bright tonal quality of the A8000. The stock eartips might counteract its natural characteristics, but this could compromise micro dynamics and nuance. The Alza SednaEarfit may unlock all potential, but it might not be suitable for extended listening sessions. Softer eartip material can mitigate the brightness and provide comfort for long listening sessions, albeit at the cost of some dynamic and contrast.

Final thought​

In one hand, the A8000 falls short in terms of a well-balanced tuning approach. Its thin mid-range raises the overall perception of tonal bias towards the neutral-bright side, which affects the timber of instruments and lacks density, warmth, and extreme fortissimo nuance. This tonality is preferable for baroque period or Celtic music duos due to its resonance in tonal qualities. The A8000 tends to amplify the joy, vitality, and agile aspects of music.

On the other hand, Final has accomplished a significant level of completion in specific engineering aspects and technicalities, surpassing some over-hyped flagship devices currently available. The exceptional physical properties of beryllium material have made it highly desirable for single dynamic full-range IEMs. While diamond could potentially challenge this performance, its expensive price and technological limitations pose a barrier that prevents any brand from pushing the boundaries further.

In conclusion, while the Final A8000 may not be a perfectly tuned IEM, it offers a distinctive flavor and transparency that sets it apart in the audio industry. Paired with the right gear and music, the A8000 can provide a unique and exquisite musical journey.

I have always been a fan of Final. I‘ve owned E3000, Heaven IV and I like its design and sound color/style.
For the A8000, due to its high price, I have high expectations for it, but the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment. The sound of the A8000 really can't allow me to give it a high score.

Memers and guests who have read my previous post will know that I have heard and compared FD7 with Zen Pro. The former is a pure beryllium diaphragm earphone priced at only 1/3 of the price of A8000, and the latter is a pure metal diaphragm earphone priced at half the price of A8000, but in fact, the sound impression of these two earphones is better than A8000.

The treble tunning of the A8000 is like a headset designed for audiophiles with hearing loss problem (the treble is harsh). But its mids and bass get a hign density and are very natural, and that is the "pure Final-lous sound". There is a word in our country to describe Final's sound: sense of palace---listening to Final's headphones is like being in a palace.

Final A8000​

A8000 is a flagship IEM from the Japanese manufacturer Final Audio. It uses a pure beryllium dynamic driver and its price is set at $1999.

• PAWEŁ
• SEPTEMBER 14, 2021
• IEM

Introduction​

If you’re in this hobby for a while, there’s no chance that you haven’t heard of Final Audio. The Japanese company specializes in producing IEMs, Over-ear headphones, and quality accessories. Who hasn’t used their famous E type tips at least once?
Their lineup is broad and really thought-out, starting with a budget IEMs like E1000 and going all the way to the flagship territory with their A8000 IEM and D8000 Pro planar magnetic headphones. While almost all of their models are popular and well-regarded, it is the A8000 that truly marked their position as one of the best in the business. A revolutionary approach to making high-end IEMs, using a pure beryllium dynamic driver and that wonderful, stainless steel shells made them one of the biggest players in the high-end IEM market.
This specific model marked a comeback of single DD IEMs to the high-end, being followed by many manufacturers in the recent months, with Cayin’s latest launch – the Fantasy for example. After all these years of pushing hybrids and tribrids, Final Audio decided to bring something fresh to the game, and it’s really something special.
See, the Japanese audio market is really different from the rest of the world. Take the legendary Accuphase or Sony as an example. While the rest of the world pushes the limits by delivering new technologies very often, Japanese brands are all about improving the technologies that are already here. Thanks to that, they might not launch new models too often, but when they do, you can be sure that they went the extra mile with RND. That’s how the A8000 was born – they took a rather old and well-known technology, and simply made it better with research and engineering.
There’s a difference between a generic dynamic driver and that piece of art that is used in A8000. Even though the principal technology is the same, the performance is just simply miles ahead with these IEMs.

Packaging​

The packaging of the A8000 is very…Japanese. Don’t expect a huge box with many compartments, wood, or anything flashy. It’s all about simplicity and equality between quality and functionality.
Because of that, the outer box is just a white, very minimalistic sleeve with golden engravings. It looks tasteful and elegant. Beneath the sleeve, you’ll find a white box that’s not much different from the outer sleeve. After opening it up, you’re greeted by a white cloth with a honeycomb-like print. It’s really soft to the touch and it’s definitely made of quality material. Actually, it looks so good that I used it for some photos in this review.
Apart from that, you’re getting a set of Final E Type silicone tips, which are definitely one of the most popular silicone eartips on the market, and for a good reason. Apart from that, there’s a yellow tool that Final describes as the “MMCX Assist”. This little guy is a lifesaver, I’m not kidding. It makes unplugging every MMCX cable so easy and stress-free, that I’ve been using it very often since getting the A8000. It does the job especially with the A8000, which are rather hard to hold, which is quite problematic if you want to unplug the cable.
Next up, the case. It’s made of silicone and aluminum, providing good protection to those beautiful shells. It’s stealthy and thin, so you won’t have any problems fitting it anywhere, even your pants pockets. Brilliant.
Last but not least – the cable. Final included a very high-quality cable with the A8000. It’s made of silver-coated OFC copper, and it looks like a piece of jewelry.

Build quality and comfort​

The shells are made of mirror-polished stainless steel. They look like a piece of art, absolutely stunning. The materials used have a con as well, the main one being easy to scratch these beauties. Minor scratches will start to show after days of use, and some major ones will arrive in some time, even if you’ll really care about them.

Additionally, stainless steel is heavy, and the A8000 is definitely one of the heaviest IEMs I’ve been using. Thankfully, thanks to their ergonomic and interesting shape I’ll call them rather comfortable, but definitely not class-leading in this regard. They’re not even close to my Fir M5 Custom (yeah, what a surprise), Unique Melody MEST, or Dorado 2020 by Campfire Audio. Still, I’ve used many less-comfortable IEMs in the past, so I would rate the ergonomics of the A8000 as decent.
Lastly, they use MMCX connectors, of which I’m quite a big fan. I don’t understand why people are hating those. If done properly, they are very secure, they rotate and won’t lose the grip as fast as 2-pin connectors. Removing the cable is very hard due to the shells being quite slippery and hard to grab, and here the yellow “MMCX Assist” comes in handy, making the task gloriously easy and satisfying. If you’ll forget to take it with you though, you might be having problems with unplugging the cable, so keep that in mind.

Tech​

I’ve covered the driver configuration of the A8000 in the introduction already, so I’ll keep this straight to the point.
The A8000 uses a pure-beryllium dynamic driver, being the main influence for many single DD IEMs that have been released in the past few years. Before the A8000, single DD wasn’t really treated seriously, so this is THE IEM that changed it all. Thanks to using pure beryllium, the diaphragm is both insanely light and fast, resulting in a very detailed yet natural sound reproduction.
Here’s a quote from Final’s website:
“The adoption of pure Beryllium will lead to improved time response that greatly transfigures sound into transparent. The sharpness of sound build-up and the lingering resonance of the sound can be clearly felt, as can the silence between sounds. Crafting thin pure Beryllium foil is difficult. Our engineers had to struggle to make it stable enough for the product, but it can be said to be a valuable material that pays off our hard works.”

All of that creates a very impressive product that was definitely a risk while developing. It was well worth it, as the A8000 is definitely one of the most important IEM released in the last few years.

Sound​

The most important thing about every IEM is the sound quality though, no matter what rocket science went into engineering. Final A8000 is widely regarded not only because of its mesmerizing looks and revolutionary technology but most importantly, for its sound quality.

First of all, the bass. Since we’re dealing with a DD driver, you can expect a great slam, physicality, and decay of the low frequencies. That is exactly what you’ll find while listening to the A8000.
This was THE first thing that surprised me when I heard them for the first time a couple of years ago. They do slam pretty hard, even though I was expecting a somewhat bass-light response, similar to Cayin’s latest Fantasy IEM.
Well, not at all, the A8000 is definitely a better IEM when it comes to bass quantity and quality, giving you a more real and neutral feeling. Thanks to this pure-beryllium diaphragm, the bass is insanely fast and clean, with absolutely no distortion even on high volumes.
When it comes to detail reproduction, this is on par with some of the best IEMs on the market. The technical capabilities of low frequencies are on the exact same level as my Fir Audio M5, which are significantly more expensive and they are one of the best tribrids on the market, that should say a lot.
This gives us a very universal IEM when it comes to the choice of music, at least when it comes to the bass response. I haven’t tried a single genre that wouldn’t sound good with the A8000 in the bass category, no matter if it’s jazz or modern pop.
So, feel free to grab these regardless of what you’re listening to on the daily basis. I have fun with King Crimson, Hugh Masekela, or Post Malone, and that surely is a wide selection of music, that would definitely not be an easy task for a single IEM to handle.
Have in mind though, that the whole bass response is slightly boosted here, but that is a great choice by Final, giving the A8000 a fun, crispy yet full-bodied and rich sound signature.



The midrange was a surprise for me as well. Looking at the graphs, I was expecting a recessed and thin midrange performance, but I actually cannot really hear it. Sure, it’s not as exposed as the bass or the treble, but just by listening to it, I wouldn’t call these mids recessed. Vocals have a proper weight and timbre to them, resulting in a very natural and fun experience.
There’s one thing to the midrange, that is present in every frequency with the A8000 – the crispiness. You’re having a sensation that every sound is insanely textured and fast, thanks to this wonderful beryllium driver. Final states that this is the best material to use when it comes to a dynamic driver, and it’s definitely true when you’ll listen to these little babies.
Sure, the A8000 wouldn’t be your favorite IEM if you crave thick and boosted lower-midrange, as many of you probably do. Hell, I myself like that kind of sound performance, and guess what…it doesn’t bother me at all with the A8000. It’s probably because its absurdly fast, detailed, and natural sound in general, that I tend to listen to them as a whole, having a tough time focusing on a certain frequency. They simply sound very consistent throughout the whole range, and it reminds me of the greatest coaxial-design loudspeakers I’ve heard in my life. You just simply hear the sound as a whole, as it stretches from the very low bass all the way to supersonic treble. No crossovers, no different drivers being responsible for a certain frequency, just one driver that does it all, and you can really hear it. Brilliant.


The treble is probably the most talked-about thing regarding the A8000. You’ve probably heard it too at some point in your life – the A8000 tends to get slightly harsh and bright. Well, it’s not really true in my opinion, but it’s not false either. Hear me out.
The high frequencies are definitely boosted a bit, and they are most certainly the star of the show. But, it is so bloody fast, detailed and its resolution is simply god-tier, and because of that, I wouldn’t call the A8000 as “harsh”. The choice of eartips, the source, and the cable really matter in this situation, you simply don’t want to “overdo” it, as the treble is on the edge of being too much. But hey, plug them into a nice quality DAP like the iBasso DX220, Cayin N6ii/E01, or the SP2000cu by Astell&Kern, swap the cable for something like Erua Tawa or Nostalgia Audio Olorin, and you’ll end up with a fantastic treble response that you’ll love in an instant.
The A8000 is an IEM that definitely sounds the way the sound engineer imagined it, and it takes no prisoners. Its job is to entertain, without hiding a single thing in the mix, nor being overly “crazy” sounding. This sits on the fence of being superbly snappy and sounding a little bit too extreme for some. Luckily, I’m not having any problems with listening to them for a whole day, but it’s definitely a wild ride, instead of some late-night relax with a glass of whisky.
The whole sound signature definitely sounds “Asian tuned”, but it’s not bass-light as many of those products are. This gives the A8000 a great mix of detail, superbly fast transients, and yet natural and engaging sound.


The soundstage is really good on the A8000, but it’s definitely not its biggest selling point. The size is what I would describe as pretty good, you’re getting a good feeling of both width and depth. Also, the imaging is very good, but not on par with the likes of Unique Melody MEST or Fir M5. Still, for a single dynamic driver, the imaging of the A8000 is very good, and you’ll be having a good time distinguishing every instrument in the mix. While the two IEMs that I mentioned above do better when it comes to instrument separation and the amount of air between them, the A8000 is not bad either. It just creates bigger and more forward-sounding sound sources, which is actually a good thing having in mind the sound signature of the A8000. It is not about crazy layering capabilities or lots of air that you’d find in Vision Ears Elysium. This is a fun-sounding IEM, and its staging is fun as well, sacrificing a tiny bit of impressive technicalities. It stages really well, but it’s not class-leading.

Comparisons​

VS Fir Audio M5



This comparison is really interesting. While both M5 and A8000 are fun-sounding IEMs, they do it completely differently. The M5 is all about that powerful, thick bass response, warm and romantic midrange, and exceptional imaging. The A8000 on the other hand is fast, punchy, and crispy. While I’d give a slight edge to the M5 when it comes to the raw technical capabilities, it’s still quite a lot more expensive, and Finals will suit treble-heads better.
Picking between the two should come down to your preferences. If you want a slightly warm, thick, and kinda “American” sounding IEM, the M5 is definitely one of the best picks you could make. If you’d want a more speed and crispiness-oriented IEM with punchier and firmer bass, the A8000 is your guy. Both are brilliant, yet are so different that it definitely wouldn’t hurt to own both.

VS Campfire Audio Solaris 2020


When comparing these two, there are more differences than similarities. While both Solaris 2020 and A8000 are fun, the latter is by far more extreme sounding – faster, punchier, and more splashy.
The Solaris 2020 is still one of my top picks when it comes to romantic, sweet, and very enjoyable sound. It sounds mellow, welcoming, and calming, and the A8000 is the opposite. It takes you dancing, while CFA invites you to sit in a comfortable leather chair with a glass of your favorite drink.
When it comes to raw technical capabilities, I’ll give an edge to the A8000, providing a more insightful, detailed, and crispier sound performance. I’m not saying that the Solaris 2020 isn’t detailed or crispy, but it’s not as good as the Final flagship.
The soundstage is slightly bigger on the Solaris, as well as its imaging being a little better, but it’s a very slight difference, to be honest.
If you want a relaxing, warm, and romantic sound, definitely get the Solaris 2020. If you want a more extreme and brighter sound though, the A8000 will definitely suit you better.

VS Unique Melody MEST


Unique Melody MEST is my favorite IEM ever since getting them last year. There’s something to them that sounds just right and very lifelike. When comparing it to the A8000, I would say that they both represent certain values. The A8000 is more crispy and brighter sounding, and it packs more punch. The MEST on the other hand is even more detailed and its soundstage is…well, you know that already, absolutely phenomenal.
I’d say that the MEST is a better value and would satisfy a wider variety of people with its more neutral tuning while having some Summit-Fi qualities. Still, the Final A8000 comes out as more fun and “crazy” sounding of the two, and that really means something, having in mind what we are comparing it to.
When it comes to the build quality though, the A8000 is just way better than the MEST with its beautiful Stainless Steel earpieces, and the cable included in the box is better as well. On the other hand, MEST is more comfortable (for me at least), thanks to its lighter and more ergonomic shape, as well as the weight being significantly lower.

Summary​

Ever since being introduced back in 2019, the A8000 by Final Audio has been one of the most popular High-End IEMs on the market. It’s not a surprise having in mind how good it is. Brilliant build quality, sophisticated presentation, and that marvelously fast, fun, and punchy sound that’s very easy to like. Make sure you’ll feed a good quality signal to them, kick back and close your eyes because there’s a huge dose of fun coming your way. Exciting!
Recommended.
Gear used during this review for the sake of comparison and as accompanying equipment:

• Headphones – Unique Melody MEST, Campfire Audio Dorado 2020, Ara, Solaris 2020, Final A8000, Fir Audio VxV, Hifiman HE1000se, HEDDphone, Hifiman Ananda
• Sources– Cayin N3Pro, iBasso DX220, SMSL SU-9 + SH-9, LittleDot MK III SE,, JDSLabs ATOM+,
• Cables – Nostalgia Olorin, Cross Lambda Future Jr.

Preamble: Despite being the flagship single DD, the A8000 (A8K henceforth) was actually my second Final ToTL. This was mostly due to an long outstanding misunderstanding of what dark and bright were describing in terms of an iemg signature. I would use dark to describe the background of an iem and I associated bright with warmth. That and I thought I was treble sensitive when in fact it was Dio (Well no, I was just a treble head). @riverground can attest to the hilarity that ensued, I swear I can still hear the laughter when I asked about those terms in FB messenger. OFC this misunderstanding allowed me to hear some of the best and most interesting kilobucks iems on my way to finding my signature. It also saved me quite a bit of dough on acquiring the A8K thanks to @fzman (great guy, you can buy with no worries!) reaching out when I expressed interest in hearing the A8K post SK testing. If the SK was the dark before the dawn, the A8Kis the dawn heralding Gandalf the White's arrival at Helms Deep.

Design: The A8K's shell has one glaring downfall: the sharp edge on the rear of the unit housing possibly digging into the back of your concha depending on it's size. the lacquer on the SK affords some better protection than the A8K and I strongly insist demoing before buying to make sure it's not an issue. Per the SK, I had no issues and the shell sat perfectly in my ears. The set of replaceable nozzle screen and the mmcx assist tool in the box are probably the best and most useful accessories to come with a ToTL iem for me in a while. The A8000 is extremely prone to being a fingerprint magnet and picking up micro scratches lacking the SK's lacquer protection and I recommend babying the unit, despite the best of intentions, micro scratches are impossible to avoid. Better to think of it as a testament that you've kept it long enough to pick up those micro scratches (kinda like Andros), of course if the condition of your gear is of utmost importance to you, it might be worth looking into putting some lacquer or some sort of film fresh out of the box. It goes without saying that this might also solve the cutting into concha issue as well. It's a shame that this is probably the biggest issue of such a unique and stand out design in the ToTL market.

Testing: I went right to Radius Deepmounts out of the box and ignored the Type E, again. I wouldn't call the A8K hard to drive as it sounds fine off the 1A's 3.5 and 4.4 on low gain. But it sounds like a completely different (albeit still very good sounding) iem between low and high gain off both outputs. On low gain I put it at 55 and 45 in high gain off the WM1A. I quite liked the stock cable so initial impressions were done off the 3.5 than reviewed once I acquire it in 4.4. For a time I had the PW Audio Monile, which to my ears was not the best pairing. With the low treble boost on top of an already overloaded treble, it pushed the limits of my tolerance. I ended up going back to the stock cable which is exceedingly competant relative to the rest of market and I dare say the first stock cable I've heard that I hesitated to even cable swap, Bravo Final.

Bass: A8K and the SK both have a very interesting contrast in the actual bass signature compared to how they graph. The graph for the SK would indicate a clear mid-bass bias, but upon listening has a very clear sub bass bias. Which I like...a lot. I have no idea how Final did that, but hats off to that. Sub bass extension is excellent, it goes deep when needed. While the mid bass has excellent slam and impact with no bleed at all into the mids with a clean bass shelf. The A8K manages to do all of this and still have a balanced cohesive bass presentation, maintaining that texture and resolution offered by a DD without the slowness. Beryllium just does magic with the bass presentation in a unique way compared to prior DD materials. Similar to that build up as Theoden rallies for that final charge out of the keep.

Mids: It's an established fact (Between me and some members outside of the forums) that I kinda roll my eyes and contemplate a heated response everytime someone posts about amazing and emotional the Elysium's mids are. It really doesn't do it for me, and needing a source that imposes that kind of signature on it just doesn't sit well with me. But ymmy and all that. In the A8K, I've found the one iem that truly does emotional mids to me. While the Fourte is close, the A8K blows it away. The overloaded lower treble just gives the mids something extra that no other iem does for me. In fact while putting the A8K through it's paces, I put some Asian pop that got me through some difficult moments after ending a long but toxic relationship. While the I enjoyed how they were presented on many iems, it didn't really move me. The A8K somehow tears that I had long thought dried up. And thats when I knew this was staying (for a while at least). That said, the A8K and SK also carry on that interesting contrast in the mids as well. The brighter signature does favour female vocals slightly in this case, but again is a balanced presentation despite the wildly boosted upper mids and lower treble on the FR graph. I did notice on very specific tracks that the lower mids could use a bit more body so I recommend this if you listen to more female tracks that male. Overall, the mids are clear and forward, but never too forward walking in lockstep with the bass and treble to form a cohesive whole. Despite all that, the A8K above all is a bright iem and the upper mids might get to some. And that's before we get to the treble. Imagine the turning of the tides as the dawn illuminates Helms Deep, the Rohirrim at the peak ready to take on Saruman's Uruk Hai.

Treble: Once agian like the SK, the A8K has a very interesting treble as well. Both graph similarly in this case, but while the SK takes it a couple of steps back and lets the air in the stage refine the sound, the A8K doesn't try to hide what it is and goes out full force. There's excellent extension coupled with energy and sparkle but not fatiguing, very similar to the Wraith. The amount of treble of the graph looks frightening, especially for those with treble sensitivities and for those people I insist that you demo. For me, the treble was excellent and I had no issues at all. I think that outside of the usual 5 and 7k peaks for sparkle and upper mid harmonics, most of the treble is actually used the harmonics of the bass and mids to give that emotion I hear and love so much than a tangible wall of energy. Unlike the SK, where the presentation will sit very well even for those with treble sensitivities, the A8K is a treblehead iem through and through. This is the trimphant counter attack of the reinforcements, scattering the forces of Sauron and the heroes carry the day triumphant.

Conclusion: I stayed away from the A8K through a misunderstanding of my preferences and when I did get time with it, it came very close to upsetting the Odin as my favourite. While not as grand as the skyfather in terms of soundstage width, depth and height or as effortless as the skyfather images busy passages, the A8K does excellent in all of those categories. Rivaling the U/A12t as one of my must have/try for the price bracket, might I dare say it has a slight edge over the 12t with the unique treble tuning despite an upper treble roll off when compared to the Tia high. Which makes the SK to me rather disappointing in comparison, the two are just so different and one ticks all the boxes I had and added in a little bit extra. The biggest flaw with the A8K (the only one I would argue) is the treble. It's fundamental to the tuning of the A8K and it's astounding how well controlled it is. While I have no issues with treble, this simply might not be the iem for those with treble sensitivities.

However, treble sensitivities need not kill A8K dreams. For those where the treble is a minor annoyance, changing out the stock SPC for a copper might be enough for you. Going from the stock to a larger gauge SPC boosted the mid bass too much and the treble became too much for even my treblehead tendencies. Personally the stock SPC is probably the best stock cable I've heard to date through 4 years in this hobby so I recommend sticking with it if you can. For those where the treble is more of an annoyance, I found the A8K not hard to drive. In low gain, the A8K becomes a different animal: a darker version of itself still retaining good energy and sparkle in the treble, a 12t slightly boosted in the treble I would say. And unlike estat hybrids like the Wraith, not "having enough power" wasn't an issue because at lower power the A8K still has an excellent presentation, albeit in a different vein.

I have to note that Final does an incredile job of reducing the hit in the lower mids, but the slight difference ultimately influenced my decision to move on. For those LOTR fans you'll notice that I related each segment of the FR to a portion of the climax in Two Towers: from the darkest before the dawn to the dawn breaking through illuminating the scene. That is ultimately the A8K the crescendo of the rising sun.

In this “2000-dollar IEM Shoot-out”, I compare the much-loved 64 Audio U12t with the venerable Final Audio A8000, two flagship IEMs that I have had the pleasure of owning. I am more of a headphone user, so I decided to keep one and sell the other. Read till the end to find out which I kept, and which I sold off!

In this review/comparison, I will go through technical, timbral and tonal characteristics of each IEM, giving each a score of 1 or 0, depending on which performs better for each characteristic. In case of a tie, I will give 0.5 to each.

Let the games begin!



Source
FLAC Library & Tidal Master=> AK Kann Alpa => Final A8000 / 64 Audio U12t

Music
I test with multiple tracks across a range of genres: jazz, electronic, rock, metal, pop, and some orchestral thrown in, to test sound stage.

Cables/Tips, etc.:

• With the 64 Audio U12t, I use a 100-dollar Effect Audio Virtuoso cable instead of the stock cable. For tips, I use Spinfit CP-145 and Apex Module M20; this combo, I feel, gives it the most balanced presentation between higher and lower frequencies. But I do use the M20 when exploring this IEM’s bass.
• With the Final A8000, I use its stock SPC cable and stock Final e-tips.

Aesthetics, Build and Comfort:
A8000: The A8000’s shells are made of mirror-polished CNC-ed stainless steel. Despite the polygonal shape, the shape is ergonomic, with no chances of poking your ears. I find these IEMs comfortable, although wearing them requires a fraction of a second longer, to find the right fit. However, the shells pick up micro scratches and scuffs rather easily, so they need to be handled with higher-than-average levels of care. The supplied stock SPC cable is decent albeit slightly thin, and while not inflexible, certainly not the best cable out there.

U12t: The U12t design is straight forward. Each shell is a single machined piece of aluminum – without any obvious “wow” factor. The subtle design will attract many, but I found it a underwhelming. The supplied stock cable is poor, tangle-prone, and flimsy. The U12t also has swappable “Apex” modules: the m15 and m20 modules. The m20 add a slight sub-bass shelf, while the m15 enhances the stage slightly.
In aesthetics, build, and comfort, I give aesthetics to the A8000 and comfort to the U12t, while build is about equal; therefore, half a point for each.
Total Score: U12t: 0.5; A8000: 0.5.

Detail Retrieval:
A8000: The A8000 is a highly resolving IEM. Its detail retrieval abilities is further enhanced by its tuning. There is a near-magical clarity to the A8000’s presentation that reminds many people of the Focal Utopia. One way of looking at it is that if other IEMs give you a window to the music - the A8000 sort of breaks that window and gives you the music itself. Beyond the clarity, there is great reproduction of details across frequencies.

U12t: The U12t is slightly more detailed than the A8000, but this difference is not as significant as one might think. The U12t provides slightly better environmental cues. You hear echoes of voices and reverb of string instruments more clearly. That said, the U12t has an ever-so-slightly yet perceptibly “softer” presentation to the music. This reminds me of my Pass Labs XA25 amplifier’s presentation, or older R2R DAC’s presentation. This presentation allows U12t’s details to be presented in a more palatable way, and poor quality tracks perform significantly better on the U12t than on the A8000.
On detail retrieval, the U12t beats the A8000.
Total Score: U12t: 1.5; A8000: 0.5.

Speed and Dynamics:
A8000: To me, macro dynamics are integral to the enjoyment of music. On headphones/earphones with good macro dynamics, you feel the satisfying kick behind bass drums, a weighty snap to string instruments, and the attack of piano key strokes. The A8000 has outstanding macro dynamics. In fact, it is the best IEM that I have heard for dynamic slam and punch, bar none. This is a very visceral-sounding IEM, and very fast.

U12t: Meanwhile, the U12t has the best slam I have heard for a balanced armature IEM. But it is still some ways from the A8000. On electronic music with lots of slam, given the U12t’s bass energy and especially on the M20 module, you get quite close to the A8000’s level of slam. However, on tracks with simple drum lines, the U12t slam can appear soft and the texture less life-like. On the A8000, drums sound more lifelike, and the crunch of the wood hitting the leather will remind you of Focal headphones.
The A8000 easily takes this category.
Total Score: U12t: 1.5; A8000: 1.5

Soundstage and Imaging
Both IEMs have wonderful sound stage and imaging, considering limitations IEM's face with staging and imaging, owing to their positioning inside listener ears. I tested for staging and imaging with may tracks, among which was “Paper Moon” by Booka Shade, the German house duo. On this track, the music moves across the stage, and an IEM’s ability to keep up with the track’s playfulness is tested. Although both IEMs image and stage exceedingly well, the layering is better on the U12t. You can make out distinct layers and the U12t’s soundstage is also more holographic. Therefore, although the staging and imaging on the A8000 is very impressive, the U12t is one of the best IEMs out there, for this trait.
Overall, although the A8000 is strong performer in imaging and sound stage, the U12t wins this round.
Total Score: U12t: 2.5; A8000: 1.5



Timbre:
In audio, there are timbre-focused listeners, who tend to gravitate towards vocals, acoustic, jazz, classical, etc., and then you have listeners who have a higher tolerance for metallic or plasticky timbres. Then you have listeners who prefer a “softer” sound that they may call analog or “vintage.” I am personally a timbre-head, and I pay close attention to IEM and headphones’ timbral performance. When it comes to the two IEMs in question, each has a rather unique take on timbre.

The A8000 has superb timbre across the frequency range. The bass texture sounds more lifelike due to the high-performance beryllium drivers. The midrange sounds natural, weighty, and clear. Vocals sound phenomenal.

Meanwhile, the U12t has this interesting presentation where notes have softer edges which remind me of my Pass Labs XA25 speaker amp’s presentation or of older R2R DACs. Many listeners may opt for this “softer” timbre, and some call it an “analog” sound. However, this analog presentation can also give the U12t a muffled or a slightly hazy presentation, especially when A/B-ing with the A8000.

That sad, the A8000 also has its limits to timbral performance. I find that when it comes to synthesizers and reproducing them, particularly for industrial metal bands like Stabbing Westward, the U12t recreates them better.

However, for most tracks and genres, I find that the A8000 has more accurate timbral performance, owing to the U12t’s “softness”.
On timbre, the A8000 wins it for me.
Total Score: U12t: 2.5: A8000: 2.5

Tonal Performance:
For tonal performance, I will allocate a point for each of the three frequency ranges.

Bass: For bass, the U12t has outstanding bass extension and sub-bass energy. The bass impact is solid for an all-BA IEM. The A8000 has slightly less sub-bass, but its more natural sounding, and its bass texture and timbre are just wow.

The A8000 bass is the best and most accurate I have heard on an IEM, and yes, I have heard the Sony Z1R. On the track, “Busy Child” by the Crystal Method, the A8000 slams so hard, you would be forgiven for mistaking that you are wearing headphones. Bass performance goes to the A8000, for me, although the U12 is impressive.
Total Score: U12t: 2.5; A8000: 3.5

Midrange: Both IEMs are masters of the midrange although their presentations vary. Vocals are relatively recessed on the A8000 while being clearer. Meanwhile, the U12 has more forward vocals, while sounding “softer” and a tad thinner.

However, on the A8000, on tracks with complex vocal harmonics, background vocals can blend in with the foreground vocals. But I would never know this if I didn’t A/B with the U12t, which does vocal harmonics masterfully.

Midrange details are also more discernible on the U12t. Overall, both IEMs have outstanding midrange performance, but I give this to the U12t.
Total Score: U12t: 3.5; A8000: 3.5

Treble: Treble details are easier to make out on the A8000. However, in my opinion, the treble is both a strength and a relative weakness of the A8000, depending on your listening preferences. I personally love a sparkly treble as long as it glistens but does not bite.

The A8000 achieves this balance for the most part. However, on certain specific tracks with distortion from electric guitars or synths, especially if poorly recorded, the A8000 treble can come off as wonky. On these tracks, the U12t’s relatively softer treble presentation sounds better. The U12t’s tia driver is certainly a capable puveyor of treble frequencies, overall.

However, for all practical purposes, I personally bought the A8000 for its treble clarity and sparkle, and this clarity is not something I have found on any other IEM.
Therefore, for me, the A8000 wins it for treble.
Total Score: U12t: 3.5; A8000: 4.5

Conclusion:
If you have kept up with the tally of points, it should be clear which IEM I kept, and which I sold off. But in case it is not: I kept the Final A8000 and sold off the U12t. That said, these are both surprisingly good IEMs, even for their price.

Ultimately, if you want a “safer” and more laidback presentation, with great bass extension, decent slam, and a detailed but softer treble, get the 64 Audio U12t.

However, if you are a seeker of clarity without compromising timbre, and you will appreciate a winning combo of clarity, musicality, and best-in-class bass and slam, get the Final A8000.

The A8000 will push boundaries a bit with its treble energy, but I personally love this quality about these IEMs. And as always, your mileage may vary. Hope this was helpful.

Sonic Revealing Maestro – Final Audio A8000 Summit-Fi IEMs


Final A8000 is the Summit-Fi release from Final Audio, an IEM costing over 2000 GBP, so it will compete with the absolute best, like the Clear Tune Monitors Da Vinci X, FiiO FA9, Campfire Atlas, Dita Fidelity, and Lime Ears Model X, all of which are similar in price, but none quite as pricey as Final A8000 except for Da Vinci X, which is even more expensive.

It will also get paired with the best DAPs I reviewed to date, so pairings with FiiO M11 PRO, iBasso DX220 MAX, QLS QA361, Mytek Brooklyn DAC+, and even FiiO BTR5 will be included in the review.




Introduction

Final Audio is a large company from Japan, making their best Hifi products. Japanese folks love high-end audio, and they love music for sure, a large part of my favorite songs being sung by Japanese artists. Final Audio decided to pursue the ultimate with their Final A8000, and instead of making just another IEM, they put in all their best technology inside this one, trying to make it their best. Final Audio is a company that offers excellent support and it is always a great experience to purchase something from them.

That being said, it should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with Final Audio. I’d like to thank Final Audio for providing the sample for this review. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it, the purpose of this review is to help those interested in Final Audio A8000 find their next music companion.



Packaging

First things first, let’s get the packaging out of the way:












Final A8000 comes with Final Audio’s Traditional Package, with their Final Tips (we should never forget that they are the company who created the Final Tips in the first place).

There’s also a fully metallic carrying case included with A8000, as well as ear guides, some sponge to protect the IEMs, and an MMCX remover tool that will help you remove the cable, if you decide to upgrade it.



Youtube Videos

First Impressions





In-depth video review after I spent a few months with A8000








Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort

Final A8000 is made of metal, and has a modern / elegant design, but the comfort is actually excellent. There’s a Single Dynamic Driver inside, and Final Audio has been exceptionally transparent with information about A8000, inner design and all of the tech that goes in.

This is because no one can copy their tech, as long as the drivers are proprietary, and any company that supplements lack of specific tech with BA drivers will fail to achieve the same sound as A8000, since the larger the number of drivers, the higher the group delay, distortion and overall incoherency is.


The cable MMCX connector is extremely tight, and this is why a plastic tool to remove the cable is included in the package. This is because the quality of the connector is the best I ever touched, and Final invested quite a bit in creating A8000 to be perfect.

With an impedance of just 16 OHM, A8000 is slightly sensitive to hiss, and with a sensitivity of 102dB, it is slightly hard to drive, and you need to push most portables a bit to drive them well. A smartphone won’t do them justice, and I really recommend a high-end source to be able to fully enjoy A8000.


The cable is an OFC Silver Coated Cable, drawing from the advantages of both Silver and Copper. The name of the model is FI-A8DSSD, indicating that they are a Final Audio product, with A8 being the name and DSSD meaning a Dynamic Stainless Steel Design. The inner IEM has four chambers to accommodate the driver, and to create the sound, Final Audio having invested huge amounts in designing this gem to be acoustically perfect.

There’s a Left and a Right indicator on the IEMs, and the cables, and they feature a vent, so there is no driver flex, and thanks to the cables being over-the-ear, you never hear any microphonics either.


I really loved the overall fit / comfort, and somehow they beat most competitors, like Model X from Lime Ears, and CTM Clear Tune Monitors X, or HIFIMAN RE2000. Final Tips are also great for comfort, and I never felt the need to switch them.

With A8000, it is normal to notice some burn in, it sounds a bit better after a while, with smoother presentations of details, a larger soundstage, and after a few hours it becomes much more open in general.



Sound Quality

I offered Final A8000 a few months of usage before making this full in-depth review, because for a flagship this expensive, you’d want to know how it holds to usage, not just how it sounds. I also made sure it has at least 300 hours of burn-in, so that I both got used enough to their sound to remove the initial “Wow” effect, but also to make sure every component is running to its maximum potential.


For the sonic impressions part of this review, I used FiiO M11, FiiO BTR5, iBasso DX220 MAX, FiiO M3 PRO, Lotoo Paw S1, and iBasso DX160. I noticed that A8000 is really easy to reveal the source, and it really favors a better source, and you will hear the improvement in detail between using DX160 and DX220MAX. Furthermore, they prefer a slightly warm and natural source over an analytical one, so they liked FiiO BTR5 more than FiiO M3 PRO, and sounded at their absolute best with DX220 MAX during those tests. A/B switching and Volume Matching was used to remove any bias and to be able to bring you the best description of A8000’s sonic performance.

The sound of A8000 can be described as extremely detailed, slightly bright and analytical, open, extremely well imaged / separated, with one of the most impressive layerings I heard to date, excellent dynamics, excellent punch, and a crazy good treble extension.


The bass of A8000 is extremely quick, deep, and reaches the lowest octaves with ease. It is never the type of bass that makes you think it is the central point of their sound, and it tends to be above the midrange, while the treble is slightly elevated above both. The bass can define and reveal every fine nuance between instruments, emotion, and is incredibly vivid. Listening to older rock, or even newer one is a total delight, especially with bands that rely a bit on bass guitars. Jazz and Classical are also a delight with A8000, and at every single moment I was listening to them I thought to myself, that this is how a really high-quality bass should sound like.

Although the mid / upper bass is recessed compared to the lower and the sub-bass, the lower midrange doesn’t lack body, and you can hear an excellent presentation of both male and female voices. This being said, A8000 has a really liquid presentation of details, and has zero grain, so it works really well with sadder songs rather than happy ones. Emotion is transmitted in a crazy specific way, every part of a song has the artist’s feelings presented to you. You can hear micro-details in a way that’s insane, and even short pauses, breathing, everything about the way an artists interprets a song is there, every one of those details makes you realise how much information is actually there, and once you close your eyes, you can hear and even see what the artist felt while singing that song, you’re there, and you’re at the risk of getting so caught that you won’t ever notice the time passing by.

On this note, thanks to their dynamics, detail, clarity and punch, I was able to enjoy music at moderate volumes, and it was quite often that I started listening to A8000 late at night and I couldn’t stop, I would just explore my music, discovering new things in songs I’ve known for a while, or discovering new music, with A8000 being my guide and showing me everything I needed to know about my music collection.

The treble is the most exciting part of A8000, with the upper treble having a good amount of sparkle and excitement, an extreme extension and somehow managing to not bother. It has a strong treble for sure, but somehow A8000 has a liquid presentation of it, so it is slightly splashy and soft, making it detailed, yet never harsh or sibilant.

The sound tends to favor Hifi experiences a bit, with really well recorded music sounding the best, but I was able to enjoy old rock, metal, pop, EDM, Dubstep, Jazz, and even Rap with A8000. Despite them not being made universal, for me listening to them has been universally enjoyable.



Comparisons

The main comparison list includes FiiO FA9, Lime Ears Model X, Campfire Atlas, Dita Fidelity and Clear Tune Monitors CTM X. Those all are flagships and reach Summit-Fi in some ways.


The main reason it took me so long to post this review is that comparing all of those, and getting careful notes has been quite hard, and as I want to give you a very certain impression, I like to think it has been worth the wait!


Final Audio A8000 vs CTM Clear Tune Monitors Da Vinci X (2000 USD vs 2400 USD) – This is the most pertinent comparison, because both CTM Da Vinci X and A8000 have the same sonic signature, which is quite analytical, edging on bright, and with a taste for detail. The package is slightly better for the CTM Da Vinci X, but the overall comfort is considerably better for A8000. Final Audio designed a smaller body, with a better fit, but also designed ventilation for their IEM, since CTM has a BA-Only design and didn’t need any vents. They are both somewhat hard to drive, and somewhat sensitive to hiss, but A8000 is a bit less picky with the source, where Da Vinci X really needs the ultimate source you can give it to shine. The overall tuning is indeed similar, but the detail level is ever so slightly better on A8000. It is far more coherent too, with Da Vinxi X having tons and tons of details, but having slight differences in timing between them, and some textures are a bit soft, while some are a bit hard, where A8000 is extremely coherent and fluid, it ain’t just detailed, it is perfectly natural too. Both edge on being a touch bright, and A8000 is a bit brighter than Da Vinci X, but this also comes with better extension in the uppermost octaves, where Da Vinci X tends to have a slightly better sub-bass. Each is a great option, but if I had both, each in one hand, I’d go with A8000, because it is more comfortable. Da Vinci X is indeed the masterpiece of CTM, but given its huge number of drivers, it ends up being larger and harder to recommend to someone unless you got yourself large ears and can accommodate it.

Final Audio A8000 vs FiiO FA9 (2000 USD vs 500 USD) – FA9 is warmer, thicker, more natural in the midrange. Going from FA9 to A8000, it is like a thick veil is taken off the entire sound. The overall midrange becomes far more clear, the treble shines and has much more air, and the bass has a quicker presentation with better extension. The price to be paid is some note weight and substance, A8000 has a thinner sound, and is a bit splashy, where FA9 is right in the center of natural for both textures and note weight. FA9 rolls off a bit at both ends if we do a direct comparison, and FA9 is somewhat easier to drive and less picky with sources. The comfort, ironically, is still a bit better on A8000, they really nailed down the ergonomics and fit with it. Paying four times as much for A8000 shows that there’s a bit of diminishing returns here, and if you want a fully natural sound, FA9 may be better, but if you want the ultimate resolution, ultimate detail, and ultimate music experience, A8000 will be your companion.

Final Audio A8000 vs Lime Ears Model X (2000 USD vs 800 USD) – Model X comes with a much worse cable from the factory. A8000 sits a bit better in my ears. If we tune Model X to be bright, A8000 has better weight and substance, more sub-bass extension, more bass, and a better overall bass. Tuned bright, Model X is extremely bright and edges on harsh and sibilant. If we tune Model X to warm, and engage its bass, it is much heavier, with more warmth across the bass and midrange, but A8000 ends up sounding far more detailed, with better resolution, clarity, precision, and even textures. All in all, it is a worthy upgrade, regardless of what you configure your Model X to, but that does come at a price – literally, as it is more than twice the price of Model X.

Final Audio A8000 vs Dita Fidelity (2000 USD vs 1300 USD) – Dita Fidelity is the only IEM on this list that’s absolutely analytical, and while it doesn’t lack bass, it does have a purely analytical sound. By comparison, A8000 sits a bit better in my ears, thanks to its more ergonomic design, but Fidelity is still great. Fidelity has a slightly better package. A8000 has a more detailed sound, with better clarity, resolution, more weight, and substance, more punch and more dynamics in the presentation. A8000 sounds more natural in the midrange, where Fidelity is a bit ethereal, a bit bright and needs some EQ to sound natural in the mids. A8000 is easier to recommend on an overall level, and is better in every way, while doing pretty much the same signature, but the price makes it Summit-Fi in every way, so take it as a kind warning, 2000 USD is quite a bit.

Final Audio A8000 vs Campfire Atlas (2000 USD vs 1300 USD) – The package is actually better for A8000. Atlas even uses the Final Tips, so we know Final Audio makes some solid tips. The fit is better for A8000, because Atlas has some driver flex, where A8000 has none. The overall sound is very different, with much better resolution and analytic abilities for A8000, but much better overall bass impact and a grand presentation for Atlas. Atlas is special in its own way, with a huge sound, wide soundstage, and with a ton of bass, depth, and impact. It also has a pretty sparkly treble, although for old music, it can be a bit hot. A8000 sounds more clear, cleaner, more resolute, but has less substance, and can be thin in comparison, with more focus on detail and dynamics, and less focus on impact and bass quantity. Atlas is easier to drive, but much more sensitive to hiss.



Pairing

The main pairings explored will be with with DX220MAX, FiiO M11PRO and FiiO BTR5, QLS QA361 and even Mytek Brooklyn DAC+. HIDIZS AP80PRO is also a good pair, and A8000.


You could pair A8000 with most portables, but they won’t be loud enough if the source is weak, so I would exclude FiiO M6, and I would also recommend having something with a good clean background, since they are slightly sensitive to hiss, so no Hiby R6 for this one. I don’t really recommend most DAC/AMP solutions, since you can hear a faint sound in the background with A8000, unless that DAC/AMP does a really good job at cleaning background noise.

Final Audio A8000 + iBasso DX220MAX (2000 USD + 1880 USD) – DX220 MAX is able to bring out the detail, and also body in music quite nicely with A8000. Everything has an extreme resolution, but keeps a natural midrange, and an excellent soundstage. Overall, this is probably the best pairing I found with A8000, if you want to see their full potential when it comes to their detail, especially given the black background with noise-free presentation of DX220 MAX.

Final Audio A8000 + FiiO M11 PRO (2000 USD + 650 USD) – It was impressive to hear A8000 paired with a slightly bright source like M11PRO. The overall soundstage is wide, open, while the bass is quick and neutral. The midrange is colorful, vivid, detailed, while the treble is peppy and sparkly, lots of air and extension. This pairing can be a bit edgy in the treble, so I would recommend it mostly to those who want to hear the most treble presence A8000 can have.

Final Audio A8000 + FiiO BTR5 (2000 USD + 100 USD) – BTR5 is downright cheap compared to most of the other pairings I recommend in this review, and it does lack some detail and refinement, but if you need something light, easy to carry and pair, and something practical, BTR5 is all you’ll ever need. It has an excellent overall midrange, natural, and wide, with good instrument separation, and the pairing has good detail. While not as detailed as M11 PRO or DX220MAX, BTR5 is quite excellent for its price, and it is not as far as you’d imagine, most of the loss being in micro-detail and resolution rather than large detail parts. A8000 shows a larger difference between Bluetooth and Wired DAC usage than I expected.

Final Audio A8000 + Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ (2000 USD + 2000 USD) – Mytek made legends with their DAC+, and nowadays are working on headphone amplifiers, as this was one of the ways people mainly used their Brooklyn. No jokes there, DAC+ with its two headphone outputs that could be combined to make one balanced output was impressive, and with A8000, it presents a beautiful, natural, smooth midrange. The soundstage is huge, the detail is top level, and the pairing is just natural and pleasing to listen. The main downside is that if used on USB, you can hear some background noise from the pairing, and even when used on optical, hissing and some background noise is audible, the DAC+ is not dead silent with A8000 (this applies to other IEMs too).

Final Audio A8000 + QLS QA361 (2000 USD + 700 USD) – If you want a soft presentation, but a detailed one, this is it! QLS QA361 is soft, pleasing, and gives a nice soundstage to A8000 as well. It has less body, but more dynamic, A8000 seems to be as resolute as ever, but in a softer, more mellow way, with QA361. While this pairing won’t appeal to someone who wants to give A8000 more bass, it will be perfect for those who want it sounding a bit softer, smoother, but still detailed and clear.



Value and Conclusion

Final A8000 is a really expensive IEM, with the price being so high that it is hard to recommend it to beginners. If you’re someone who heard it all, and want to challenge your stereo system costing over 50.000 USD, then by all means, Final A8000 will most probably beat it. This kind of resolution is better than what I could hear when trying the most expensive speaker systems I could find in Romania, so there’s a high change that Final A8000 will surprise you, even if you already have quite a bit of experience. The value doesn’t get any better, and this is a flagship purchase, made to get the best available, the value being in their quality.


The package is traditional for Final Audio, and A8000 comes with tips, a metallic / rubber carrying case, an MMCX remover tool. Ear guides are included too, but there is no balanced cable and no extra cables. This being said, it does feel like a premium IEM, and if you’re the kind who likes to upgrade your cables, you probably eyed a specific one already. If you’re like my and take it on the go, you may even meet some crazy wonders of nature using the A8000.


The budget for A8000 was all invested in its sound, its performance, the overall design, and how it was made. It has a stainless steel design, but also comes with one of the best MMCX connectors in the market. Multiple sonic chambers ensure that you get the best experience of their very coherent Be Single Dynamic Driver. The comfort is excellent, with no driver flex and no microphonics, and they look stunning in person.


The sound is detailed, with a slightly analytical side, and they make probably the most detailed IEM I heard to date, and which are available in the entire world. If you want both coherency and detail, they are it, the most detailed IEM that’s coherent too.


Before the end of today’s review, I want to add A8000 to Audiophile-Heaven’s Hall Of Fame for being one of the most detailed IEMs in the entire world, for having excellent design, excellent ergonomics, and having a crazy resolution.


At the end of today’s review, if you’re looking for one of the most detailed IEMs out there, with one of the best resolutions, if you want that ultimate micro-detail, but with a smooth texture with no grain, if you want excellent ergonomics, and great support from the company, Final A8000 should be at the top of your list.



Full Playlist used for this review

We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. PRaT, Texturization, Detail, Resolution, Dynamics, Impact, and overall tonality are all revealed by those songs. We recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music!

If you have a dime to spare (donate), it would make my day much brighter, as it would help me improve things around the website and increase the frequency of my posts.

Youtube Playlist



Tidal Playlist

https://listen.tidal.com/playlist/64555551-ec3c-4279-ae44-248fdfcf6c4b

I hope my review is helpful to you!



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Final Audio Design A8000 Review: Exquisite balance

Final Audio Design (Final in short) is no stranger when it comes to our portable audio hobby. Under the mother brand S'NEXT from Japan, Final has been making a number of remarkable products, ranging from small accessories such as eartips to full-sized headphones. Within the in-ear range, their Heaven Series and FI-BA-SS series have been one of their classic line-ups that many have and still find it cherishing. In recent days, Final has launched a variety of new line-ups - MAKE series where you could mod the sound signature yourself, E series which are strong performers and priced to be affordable.


However, the earlier two line-ups, MAKE and E series, each had the purpose of being experimental and budget-friendly. So not stopping here, Final soon after announced another two line-ups that would enrich their family which are B and A series. The B series is the ultimate (or the official) version of the MAKE series IEMs and are categorized into three models - B1, B2, and B3. These IEMs are built to be premium and to sound stellar, but what about a flagship?


This is where the A series kicked in with a one and only model, A8000. It is meaningful for Final to be creating their first in-ear flagship, but what is remarkable beyond that is that A8000 is one of the very first IEM to be using a pure beryllium diaphragm, along with Dunu Luna. Enough with the small talk, let us now get into the review, analyze the sound and the performance, and compare and contrast with other flagship IEMs that are in the same league.

Packaging

A8000 comes in a smooth, clean white box with rose gold printings, well representing the oriental beauty of space. Once uncovered, it appears a white cloth, printed with Final logo patterns that wraps the inner packaging, plus a sponge padding for extra protection. Other than the earpieces, it includes a premium stock cable, a carrying case, a full set (5 pairs) of Final E-type eartips with a hard case, a pair of silicone ear hooks, a velcro cable tie, a cable detaching tool, and 8 pairs of spare filters for the nozzles. The carrying case is interestingly made, having it to be made of aluminum-silicone hybrid, allowing the user to easily tuck in the IEM into the case without completely detaching the lid.


Moreover, their E-types eartips are far well known for their quality, plus the ear hooks for being smooth and comfortable. Final released a new accessory as they announce A8000, which is the yellow tool in the picture. This is a cable detacher made for MMCX, where you could safely and quickly detach the earpieces from the cable, simply by pinching it at the joint. Trying to detach MMCX cables gives us a struggle every now and then when the connector has a slippery texture, limited in gripping point, or the connector gripped in particularly strong. This tool is highly useful as it greatly reduces any struggles or damage that might be caused when detached by hands. Having more variety of eartips could have been even better, yet the amount of other useful tools already makes the list of accessories more than enough.

Earpieces - Beryllium

In case you were wondering why such the model name, A8000 is built upon their know-how and technologies used for creating D8000 which is their flagship full-sized headphone. Since that, many parts of the inner components and structures have been inspired by their D8000 headphones. Now to talk about the star of the show - the diaphragm. Along with Dunu Luna, Final A8000 is one of the two first IEMs to use diaphragms that are fully made of beryllium, which Final named this as a "Truly Beryllium diaphragm". As also mentioned in the review for Luna, beryllium is known to have an extremely high stiffness level which eventually leads to a much faster sonic response speed, thus outdoing more than twice than materials such as titanium, aluminum, or magnesium.

Earpieces - The techs

Final's "Truly Beryllium" driver is formed to have a dome shape and the driver as a whole is sized at 10.8mm, which is quite a large one for an in-ear. Between the driver and the driver housing, it sits an elastic dome holder. This dome holder grips the diaphragm in place, preventing any unnecessary resonance while producing sound. The dome holder holds the driver in place, but what about any possible variables caused to the housing while manufacturing? Because of that, Final used what is called Tetra Chamber Topology, basically making an internal structure dedicated to A8000's shape with all 4 chambers optimized to bring out maximum potentials.


Along with that, Final also applied a measuring technology called the PTM Method (Perceptual Transparency Measurement) where it makes analysis and evaluation through mathematical calculations. Led by experts from spatial audio and music recording, incorporating this method ensures the precision for the diaphragm as well as its spatial presentation.

Earpieces - Aesthetics

So those were the technical details for A8000, and now for the outer elements. The housings are fully made of CNC'd stainless steel with mirror polished, giving them a shiny and elegant look. The chassis follows up with the DNA from Final's B series, yet larger and advanced in shaping. Despite the polygonal shape, it is designed to have a very ergonomic fit with the rear side being rounded, so the housing does not poke any part of the ears. Yet the size of the earpiece is marginally on the larger side, so stay noticed if your outer ears are particularly small.


The nozzle length is slightly on the shorter side from neutral, but not to the point where I would be bothered about. Besides, the stem of the E-type eartips is rather long and at the end of the day, I have got just the right depth when inserted. The nozzle is divided into 4 bores which were somewhat unusual (since it uses a single driver!), yet I believe this is to set clearer sound transmission and due to the 4 chambers. The nozzles are then covered with a mesh filter to prevent dust from falling down the nozzles.

Cable

If Final spend that much attention on their earpieces and its accessories, they would of course not leave out with its stock cable. Final collaborated with a famous Japanese cable manufacturer, Junkosha, creating a stock cable made of 4-core high-purity OFC silver coated wires, which these wires are usually used for supercomputers due to its fast transmission speed. The wires are then shielded and insulated with Junflon Fluoropolymer (PFA) by Junkosha, preventing any possible cable oxidation.


The lower side of the cable is double-braided, making it appear as a 2-core cable but more importantly, making the cable more pliable. The cable is terminated with a 3.5mm TRS jack and MMCX connectors, directly produced by Final. It feels soft to the touch without any sparingly feeling to it, so microphonics. The housing for the plug and the MMCX connectors are also mirror-polished, bringing a consistent look with the earpieces. Since the connector housing is slightly shorter in size as well as the slippery material, I would suggest using the included cable detaching tool to prevent any damage.

Sound impressions - Lows

First, looking at the big picture, A8000 draws a vibrant W-shaped sound signature with a bright mood. Lows show great dynamics backed up with its elastic and groovy bass flows. I had no doubt about its bass performance thanks to its pure-beryllium diaphragm, yet A8000 still amazes me. Lows dive deep all the way towards the ultra-low and with quality. The textures are what I especially love from A8000 as the insides are smooth, meaty, and moist while the outsides are crispy and bitey - like a piece of nicely cooked pan-seared salmon. Thanks to that, the bass details are highly revealing but done with grains that are refined and well-polished, then wrapped with crisps around the rims. A8000 makes it distinct and obvious of where the bass and its reverbs end, ultimately leading to better clarity and accuracy.


With speed, lows dive deep while holding in its weightiness. The strike and decay happen in a very clean manner, yet never leaving out on bringing that dark, pressurized power. The strikes are fast along with the reverbs tightly controlled. In fact, reverbs are kept tight but A8000 still allows the bass to ooze out the minimal portion of reverbs, in order to breathe in liveliness and a smooth bass flow, but only within the boundary of keeping the bass tight as its cable braiding. The bass feels well-established, rich, and to be kept with dignity. The ultra-low and low details are clear and blatant but presented with sincere and caution.

Sound impressions - Mids

As we move on the mids, this is where the details could easily be buried by the assertive lows and highs. However, upon a steady buildup from the upper lows, mids come upfront and show a major presence on the music. It is impressing that despite A8000 presenting a strong W-shaped signature, all three bands (lows/mids/highs) would not go all abstruse but kept dreadfully harmonic and overwhelming. Upper lows and lower mids would conjoint inevitably and A8000 takes a beautiful approach on how to keep these two bands connected and distinct at the same time. Without the upper lows smearing into the mids, A8000 transforms only the power from the lows, leading the mids to gain higher depth, concentration, as well as a larger body.


Mids are high in transparency and clarity with advanced texture exposure than it did on the lows. Still keeping the grains smooth but it gets more explicit, giving mids the ability to further open up the vocal details as well as slightly breathing in an airy and husky tone, mainly for the male vocals. Since mids are quite dense and straight-forward to its nature, this airy and husky tone acts as a counteractive and adds fluffiness and fluidity to the vocals. Not too dense where the sound would feel stiff, not too fluffy where the sound would get mushy, but just the right hardness. The thickness of the vocals is just around being neutral, being neither thick nor thin.


Both male and female vocals are nice, yet female vocals tend to make a bit more out of A8000's delicate, refreshing tone. A cool breeze continues throughout the mid-range with much air openness. Sibilance, however, does not particularly happen other than delivering crispy bites on the upper mids. I am aware that I have referred to the term "crispy" numerous times, though that is simply one of the strongest merits this IEM has - these crispy, refreshing bites and strikes leave such strong impact and addictiveness. Since that, it would be hard to consider A8000 to have a completely fatigue-free sound signature, but it would just feel refreshing for those who are used to the breezy, clarity-focused IEMs on the upper tier.

Sound impressions - Highs, etc.

Highs also come up close and penetrate fast with much crispiness and freshness. Getting superficial or out of control is not the case at all, thus the overall sound will not get too hot or overwhelming for a number of reasons; first, the lows and mids are toned down to be warmer, gentler, and soothing - still packed with crispiness, of course. Second, highs do not get loosen or leave much reverbs. Third, highs would make a quick (and detailed) jab and fall back to its background. Basically, highs on the A8000 knows where to stop its emphasis - elevating closer to the verge of fatiguing, which at the end of the day, A8000 would not cross that line where the sound will get uncomfortable. This "risky" approach of trebles are kept stable to a surprising degree.


What I find lovable from its treble is that while its strikes are instant and decay at a split second, it still catches up all the texture details as well as those small and thin reverbs that quietly splashes away towards the void. And yes, I still have to bring up that "crispiness" topic once again - because highs are the ultimate part where A8000's crispiness blooms. This crispy sensation is incomparable to lows and mids, that is how much they get thrilling on the highs! From here, these crispy strikes would snap right next to your ears with much reality and concentration, immensely boosting both musicality and aural pleasure.

Comparisons (1/2)

-Dita Audio Dream XLS (Review link)

It would be a good choice to start off this comparison with one of my very favorite 1DD IEM - the Dream XLS. These two IEMs, the XLS and A8000, takes a similar path in tuning once we look at the large picture, yet their characteristics differ quite a lot as we take a closer look. Dream XLS tends to spatially open up the mids, better highlight the vocal layers and its left/right expansion, whereas A8000 takes the advantage in terms of density, straightness, and penetration where the vocals are released with more liveliness and passion. Since that, the vocal textures show more crunch and firmness to the bite. A8000 overall is a bit more analyticity-based or clarity-based while Dream XLS tilts a bit more to the mellow side.


Now for the bass. A8000's bass is tighter, snappier that it makes the strikes firmer and more in-depth. It also possesses a bit more deepness in color, nicely bringing out the darkness that oozes out from the ultra-lows. Meanwhile, Dream XLS's bass shows more body and fullness, making the bass spread slightly wider throughout the headroom - but at the end of the day, these differences are quite marginal. Having these two compared, Dream XLS leaves me impressed once again as its bass basically achieves the same level of quality and performance against A8000's pure beryllium drivers.


For the upper ends, A8000 gets more up-close with a cooler, shinier, and purer tone. Since that, instruments would sound more passionate, shiny, and refreshing. On the other hand, Dream XLS manages to dismantle the fine treble details into small pieces along with breathing in more air and calmness. Staging-wise, A8000 puts more weight on highlighting the heights (or the ups and downs) This also leads to a difference where A8000 keeps the music more reference-like by preserving the music's original, linear imaging when Dream XLS applies a gentle polish to the imaging details to give more mellowness. As already said, the differences are not night and days, leaving these two masterpieces in the very same league.

Comparisons (2/2)

-Dunu Luna (Review link)

As the first two IEMs to be using pure beryllium drivers, these two were destined to be matched up. While the sound signature of A8000 shows subtle similarity to the way how Dream XLS does, though A8000 pursues further with its transparency/clarity-focused sound signature, making the difference between A8000 and Luna even bigger. Lows from both IEMs dive just as deep and similar in quantity, size, and reverbs but there is a subtle difference on the way how they end their bass - Luna lets the reverbs ring slightly more with the edge of the bass to feel more rounded, giving a stronger splash once it blows a strike. In the case of A8000, the reverbs are less bouncier and calmer, with the edge of the bass being more acute which leaves it on a cleaner, crispier note.


Moving on to the upper frequencies. Luna is slightly fuller in body, warm, and soothing while A8000 is relatively slimmer (neutral-thin), bright, and highly revealing with superior resolution. Mids on A8000 goes full force on clarity and transparency, carrying the vocals with an airy, cool breeze throughout the mids and highs. Mids step in close to the ears with vivid straightness, forming a highly intimate vocal presentation. Since all that, A8000 achieves outstanding detail retrieval and clearness, though it is possible for treble sensitives to find this a bit hot. Meanwhile, in the case of Luna, mids sound softer and bring in more warmth which keeps the vocals bold and clear yet leaving no possibilities for causing any fatigue or sibilance.


The same situation goes on with the highs. A8000 would carry a brighter tense with extra crisps added to the texture. Relative to that, Luna is mildly lesser in treble quantity with darker brightness, making the treble more comfort-based. In short - if a warm, easy-going sound signature with stronger bass slams is your jam, Luna would work out better for you. Though if you are keen to enjoy clarity-focused signatures that carry a transparent, crispy sound, A8000 would be a better choice.

Verdicts

Who said dynamic drivers are inferior to BA and EST drivers due to their structural shortcomings? A8000 blows a solid punch in the face with its Beryllium-powered reaction speed, as its sound and the performance backs up the point that not only dynamic drivers could achieve extreme performance for the lower end but also for the upper ends and on many other fields. Interestingly enough, A8000 reminds me of Final FI-BA-SS but in a more mature way and with a dynamic driver instead.


As we look at the craftsmanship of A8000, Final makes it clear and loud on how much devotion and effort they pour into their products, both the sound and appearance oozing with elegance. I appreciate how they pay attention to all the small details in order to reach perfection - the precision-built earpieces, high-quality stock cable, self-invented eartips as well as the cable detacher, and their in-house assembly process for quality control. Building a pure-beryllium driver was already an achievement as it is. Yet even if we put all gimmicks aside and view the IEM solely as it is, A8000 truly shows Final's high level of expertise and perfection. If you would like to experience the lively crips, deep bass, and the cool breezy upper ends, I would be confident enough to say 8000 times that this could be your very solution.

Effortless Natural transparency : the Final Audio Design A8000

I would like to thank final audio design for sending me a review sample for the flagship single dynamic driver called the A8000 . What makes this iem so special you might say?. Could it be the true berrylium foil driver or the stainless steel housing with tetra champer that affect different part of the sound. Or the sound tuning philosophy for totl natural transparency.

In my review I'll do my best to describe this breakthrough in audio Nirvana and why it might matter to the true lover of music such as I and you.

I was sent a8k for short as well as the b1 which I post in a separate review soon for review and to give my honest opinion and if I didn't like them I didn't need to write the review . But to me this iem definitely deserve a big A+ review as it had changed my prescription on transparency..

Lest start with fit , for my ears it fits like a glove and the isolation is like the semi custom for me . I'm using the xs size of the fad e type tips.

Build quality is high end with it's repairable housing that you can take apart and replace if it gets damaged which is a good thing for some people. The housing does get dirty easily because of the mirror polish .


Let's get to the main reason why we need the A8K.

Bass:

She is deep and fluid like air , clear and transparent and pure . She can hit you by force like a tornado, deadly and visceral impact and clean and fast. She can also be gentle in an instant like touching you gentle with the warmth of a motherly love.


Mids.
The holographic sound and imagining is top , warmth is coveyed and real with all tones never smearing with other . Vocal sound like the should no recession or boosting , it's just in perfect harmony right in the middle of your head and can shoot out to the furthest of space and time. It can shoot up to the sky and dig deep to a never-ending abyss .

Treble.

She is fast and gentle at the same time just like air , clear and transparent while be natural and real and never hurt you one bit. She extends far and wide and deep and high . She touches you soft with light textures that can tickle your follicle.

Soundstage.

Like a concert in an massive open field where you are in the center with the band and everyone is surrounding you and dancing and yelling. But they can't really hurt you ears because it's so natural and open so no sound can bounce off.

Conclusion.

Do you need it , fo you want it . I would say yes and yes to both of the question because ithis tool will take your music appreciation to the top and you can never be sad . It'll cause estasy , eargasm , emotions , feels the joy and dancing to whatever you enjoy. Every genre is play in pristine clarity and naturalness. You can never be bored with this iem because whatever you have heard 1000s of times over will be heard brand new ad if you have heard them for the first time in you life . The awe and ooooos of life will come and you'll be content. And letting it go will be devastating for me.

The review was originally posted here first: https://www.klauseulenbach.de/2020/05/28/flavor-of-the-month-final-a8000/

The Grand (Audio) Finale – A review of the Final Audio A8000

Photos:

First up, some photos of the IEMs themselves to tantalise your mental tastebuds prior to the veritable cornucopia of delights that is to follow:













Packaging and accessories:

The box and sleeve in which the A8000 arrived is sleek, elegant and attractive, much like the IEMs themselves.

Inside there’s a pretty stripped-down set of accessories; a metal and rubber carrying case (more on this later), some ear tips securely stored in a smoky translucent plastic carrying case, some ear-hooks, spare filters for the nozzles (very nice to see) and a very welcome plastic tool for cable swapping. I’ve seen these on sale individually, but it’s rare to see a company include these with the IEMs.

Since MMCX cables can sometimes be notoriously tough to remove, this was a well thought out addition to the accessory package.

Regrettably, the list ends there, albeit at least on a high note

As a £2000 flagship product, I think you might be forgiven for expecting rather more in terms of the packaging and accessories.
Whilst elegant and attractively designed, compared with the slide-out drawer and sub-sections, and Pandora metal carrying case of even a mid-range Empire Ears IEM (for example), I feel the packaging is somewhat behind the times here.

Simply, it would have been good maybe 3 years ago, but several of the manufacturers of such high-end audio gear have significantly upped their game over the last few years.

This market is growing ever more sophisticated and its consumers ever more cognizant of the standards they expect at these dizzying heights.
I think any company wanting to compete at this level can no longer afford to ignore such aspects and assume that the IEMs themselves will be enough to sell units.

Whilst that may be true to some extent, I just think the market is more competitive now and anything a company can do to stand out and give themselves an edge will be of benefit.
I mean all this only in a spirit of constructive feedback of course

With regards to the carrying case, my immediate impression was one of admiration and respect. It looks like a slim clamshell; classy, subtle, lightweight, yet sturdy enough to resist the best you can throw at it.

However, when I flipped it over, I found that the underside was made of a soft rubbery silicone. It has a useful sliver of that material acting as a divider across the centre of the case (see photos), which provides something around which to wrap the cable.

Still, I can’t help wondering whether this is something of a design blunder?
I’m merely speculating here and playing devil’s advocate, but what if you drop the case and it lands on a bumpy surface (or item on the floor), rubber side down?

Again, it’s a £2000 pair of IEMs, so the owner is going to want to know that they are securely ensconced in an impenetrable cocoon of protection.

On the one hand I do really like the design. It’s delightful to have something so slimline, lightweight and pocket/bag friendly.

On the other hand though, the 3 drawbacks that I see are:

1) The aforementioned rubber underside. If Final Audio could even add a disc (of the same metal used in the top) to the underside, fixed onto the rubber if necessary, you could maintain the profile, increase the weight only a little, but add an exponentially greater degree of protection for its precious cargo.

2) The slimline design is great, but I suspect it’s not going to work if the owner wants to swap to a relatively more chunky 8-wire cable for example.

3) The rubber side is sometimes a bit of a fiddle to close even when the case is empty inside. With a coiled cable pressing up against the sides where the rim of the rubber lid would go, I found it to be even more of a challenge.

Finally, I'll discuss the cable itself:
It’s.. nice.

There, I said it.

But, again, perhaps not ‘£2000 worth of IEM’ nice.

It features an attractive rendition of the Final Audio logo etched onto the base of the earphone jack. However, just a plain unadorned thin cylinder of metal on the Y-split, and the same again on the MMCX plugs (albeit with handy L and R etchings and a colour coded red ring).

I suppose it’s ok; I think many other high-end IEM makers only include a stock cable with their IEMs, but again, in an increasingly competitive market place, I see this as being something that is starting to change and feel it will become more of a common thing over the next year or two (Empire Ears again are a good example of this).

Finally, and for me personally, this is somewhat of an unforgivable omission, the cable comes with a 3.5mm termination. And that’s it. No other cable choice.
Now, I am not especially au fait with the Japanese audiophile market; perhaps smartphone use is common amongst audiophiles there?

However, many of the TOTL smartphones no longer come with a headphone jack anyway and more importantly, I can’t help feeling that the majority of audiophiles buying a TOTL IEM at this price are going to be plugging it into a DAP/DAC/Amp of comparable quality.

Most of those now feature balanced 2.5mm or 4.4mm outputs.
For those that have 3.5mm ones as well, it’s often the case that they have less driving power and possibly slightly lower sound quality than the balanced one, just because of how the product is engineered.

Finally, you can have adaptors to make a 2.5mm jack fit both 3.5mm or 4.4mm sockets.

So again, in terms of hopefully constructive feedback to Final Audio, I’d recommend either providing a choice of both balanced and single-ended cables in the box, or at least go with a 2.5mm cable and include adapters to convert to 3.5mm and ideally 4.4mm too.

Again, remove any unnecessary obstacles that could make anyone hesitate instead of taking the plunge and buying, especially when the issue can be solved for a tiny fraction of the cost of the overall package.


The Fit:

With its classy angular metal shell, the fit on these is going to be pretty user dependent.

I’ve said before that I’m a fan of great design, but of course good design needs to cover not only a beautiful appearance but also a practical and well-engineered design that’s fit for purpose.
Unfortunately, here we have something of a case of aesthetics over ergonomics.

It’s far from the first IEM to make this design choice, and I’m sure won’t be the last.

However, it does lead me to wonder why, when you’ve got an IEM at this price point (never mind all the R&D and engineering that went into designing it), would you then use a shell design that’s pretty much guaranteed to alienate anything from 10% to 30% of potential customers?

If it were a tiny shell that was sure not to have any skin contact with even the smallest of ears, then perhaps it would be no issue, but these shells are decently sized and that claim simply cannot be made.

I saw another reviewer struggled with the angular metal shell digging into his ear sometimes. Now for me, these were fine, but if my ears were literally another half/quarter centimetre more prominent in various places, it definitely would start pressing in.

If this helps some people, by way of comparison I did find that Campfire Audio’s Andromeda dug uncomfortably into my ears (other people didn’t of course).

Also, it’s worth adding that these all-metal shells have an additional comfort-based caveat:
They may look stylistically hot, but I’d advise you to warm them up in the covetous palms of your hands prior to wearing them. The feeling of chilly metal against my oh-so-sensitive ‘golden’ ears was almost too much for my delicate sensibilities to bear

Humour aside though, these factors are something that I really feel IEM manufacturers ought to be considering more when making such design choices, even more so when you’re trying to sell a flagship product, positioned near the upper end of the market, where there is a sizeable base of consumers with a combination of demanding standards and an ever-increasing range of choices to satisfy them, who are critically examining the offerings available.

Well, in fairness, I feel I should close this section by saying that despite all my previous caveats, I noticed myself in the mirror whilst wearing these, and upon angling the mirror so I could see my own ears, I have to say that the A8000 do look extremely classy and elegant in daily wear. Ladyfolk around the world subject their feet to discomfort because of the perceived aesthetic benefits of high heels, so perhaps I should also not judge the shape of the A8000 by the sole (pun intended) criterion of comfort


The Sound:

So, as ever, I’m going to start my review with critical listening to a variety of tracks, in order to draw forth impressions of how these IEM’s sound with different genres of music.

Listening was done on a Sony WM1Z, on the single ended output (as I had no choice due to the supplied cable, grr).

James Taylor – September Grass (16/44 FLAC)

Immediately noticeable are the clarity and the big wide-open clean stage.

This song starts with a delicate but firm fingerpicking, then 10 seconds in, the bass comes in.

Things I’m listening out for are the tactility and physicality with regards to how an IEM presents the plucked strings.

I’m a big fan of dynamic drivers, and the way in which some well-implemented ones can present that tactility and physicality in a way that other kinds of drivers simply can’t.

After that, it’s about how the IEM handles that bass as it comes in.
It’s not especially rumbly or powerful in the mastering, but it does add a delightful warmth and body to the track.

With the A8000, I found the sounds of the fingerpicking to be very faithful in timbre, but not as pronounced in terms of tactility and physicality as I would have expected, having owned and heard quite a few DD and hybrid IEMs myself.

It’s not poor by any means; I feel the tuning decisions in this IEM have been to go for restraint, elegance and understated excellence, rather than raw power and dynamism.
Ah, but from 3mins in, the song starts to feature an extra guitar playing harmonics in the background.

At this point, and with the pronounced fingerpicking that takes place just prior to that, I really noticed the delightful timbre and accuracy of the A8000.

It doesn’t rely on heavy mid-bass warmth or note thickness to achieve these. It comes about through speed and accuracy, combined with a well-judged degree of note weight and a lovely tinge of delicate organic warmth and musicality that softens what might otherwise have been a somewhat analytical and reference tuning.

Right now, the IEM that the A8000 most reminds me of is my $500 iBasso IT04.
That may sound like a negative thing but bear with me!
I’m definitely going somewhere with this

I have a lot of love for that IEM.

It is a hybrid IEM, which also features a fairly subtle tuning of its dynamic driver, a relatively reference sound with great separation and a holographic soundstage, good technical performance, and that lovely delicate blush of organic warmth and musicality that just make it so enjoyable for extended listening.
I feel the A8000 takes all those qualities, and then raises the bar in terms of technical performance.

Now that I think about it, it also reminds me somewhat of the more similarly priced Unique Melody Mason V3 that I reviewed previously.

Quite similar airy and open soundstage, separation, detail retrieval, and overall tone and tuning. However, it’s been a fair while since I wrote that, and I can only go on memories (admittedly very fond ones!).


The Rocky Horror Picture Show OST (16/44 FLAC)

Just managed to somehow listen to the entire album whilst ‘popping out onto the balcony for a moment to enjoy the sunshine’, whilst barely managing to refrain from singing loudly along, within earshot of neighbours who might question my sanity or predilections generally were they to overhear

I just got lost in the music; the A8000 was absolutely on point for this album.

I could hear every background detail and every instrument with such fantastic clarity and pinpoint accurate timbre, and the singing and music just came alive with the beautiful musicality that the A8000 offers.

I so wanted to burst into song, but I told myself “Don’t get hot and flustered; use a bit of mustard!”, and managed to manfully keep it all in


Anberlin – The Art of War (16-44 FLAC)

Another go-to test track for me.

A driving, complex rock song, with a modern tuning where the bass is reasonably powerful in the mix.
Straight up, the clarity, separation and soundstage all sound terrific.
The music is engaging and dynamic, very well done with the A8000.

However, when the cymbals and some similar sound effects are coming in though, it’s just a touch too sharp for my hearing, which is somewhat treble sensitive.


Shawn Mullins – The Gulf of Mexico (16/44 FLAC)

Another go-to test track for me here.
Another track on which the A8000 really impressed me.
This is top-of-the-line earphonery, make no mistake.

Putting these on for a quick relaxed session is somewhat like popping to the tennis court for a leisurely knock-around, only to see Roger Federer is your practice partner for the day

Things on this track that I’m critically listening out for are how it presents the timbre with the hand struck drums (bongos?), and the degree of shimmer presented with the acoustic guitar strumming. Also, vocal timbre and general feel.

I feel the vocals are good, but perhaps could do with a touch more thickness and body. Shawn Mullins’ voice is relatively somewhat higher pitched in this song compared to some male vocalists, so there’s not a huge amount of body to be captured anyway mind you.

One frustrating thing here is that I don’t have any spare cables with MMCX connectors with which to try swapping. I suspect this IEM would respond very well to a variety of cables and the owner could customise the sound signature to their liking in this way.

Nevertheless, again timbre is excellent, but the mids seem relatively linear so there’s no great warmth or body in this kind of tuning (and for many people, that’s exactly how they like it!).

Regarding the bongos and acoustic guitar strumming, the A8000 massively delivers on both fronts. With the bongos, the timbre – again – is extremely accurate, whilst there’s just enough note weight and power from the dynamic driver to really deliver that thump and percussive hollow resonance from the bongos.

The shimmer is very well executed in the tuning. Nothing excessive or overly lush; just enough to make the strummed acoustic guitar chime and ring beautifully, whilst the dynamic driver again ensures that the tactility of each strum is perfectly captured.

And, oh, the separation, the soundstage, imaging, layering.. the clarity and detail.
Everything is open, spacious, but utterly cohesive. Addictively detailed AND musical, without being fatiguing or overbearing.


Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing (DSD64)

Yes, it’s my critical listening hit parade today

So, in the opening 10 seconds, I’m noticing straight away that the rhythm electric guitar has such crispness and defined edges, the effect of an IEM that handles transients with aplomb.
The bass guitar is musically engaging; not overemphasised or dominating, but just enough to help it fulfil its vital role of driving the song along and getting one’s head bobbing and feet tapping. This is something that some IEMs fall down on for me, so I’m delighted to hear the A8000 pass this test.

Vocals on this one are a different story. Perhaps there’s a peak in this part of the midrange, but Mark Knopfler’s voice sounds gorgeously gravelly, authoritative and realistic.

Wow, as he sings “a band is blowing Dixie, double-four time”, there’s some percussion in the background (hi-hats?) and I was captivated. It’s just a small effect in the background, but it’s just presented so insanely wellby the A8000.
It’s just letting the natural musicality of the piece shine, without any obtrusiveness.

A brief two-second flurry on the drum kit from 4m24s astonished me with how clearly defined and accurate it sounded too.

Overall, I feel the A8000 has very well-executed sound signature. I don’t really feel like any particular area is more prominent than another. Very balanced, but the polar opposite of bland. It extends epically in both directions too and I’m delighted to report no treble sharpness or fatigue for me on this track


Alison Lau – Handel’s Lascia la spina (24-96 HDTracks FLAC)

This is another of my common test tracks, so I decided to take a listen.
Strings (from something like a stringed quartet) along with a harpsichord, and Hong Kong Soprano Alison Lau providing an excellent vocal performance.

Well, the positives are that the spatial imaging is great, soundstage is good, details are crisp and clear.

However, for me – compared with other IEMs I own – the song just sounds a bit anaemic and unengaging here on the A8000. I miss the warmth and richness in the lows and mids that really bring out the best in this song.

The song is recorded and mastered in such a way that it’s not especially full-bodied or rich, but still..


Buena Vista Social Club – Chan Chan (24-96 HDTracks FLAC)

Hmm. Similar to the previous track.. Again, impressive on the technical side, but lacking the engaging musicality I enjoy with other IEMs for this song.
It presents all the details impeccably (and there’s a lot in this song!).

When there’s two singers performing simultaneously, the A8000 effortlessly separates the vocals and allows me to focus on either.

The trumpet solo – a test of sharpness for me – just about scrapes a pass on this test.
Slightly too sharp for me in places, but not at all unbearably, and most people would have no issue with this at all I suspect.


Dave – Streatham (16-44 FLAC)

That was a nice easy song title to write

A bit of UK Grime music here, with deep and extended low end, and a complex array of music and sampling.
Sounding engaging and top class with the A8000.
The low end is richly presented, the whole track pops gloriously.

I’m aware that on IEMs with a more powerful low end (Itsfit Fusion, UM MEST, EE X-series line-up etc) this low end would probably be even more driving and engaging – which bass lovers like me would probably enjoy even more. But when a track is mastered like this, the A8000 has enough to certainly make it an enjoyable and head-nodding experience.


Cigarettes After Sex – K. (16-44 FLAC)

This is a pretty intimately mastered song, with muted instruments and an androgynous-sounding male vocal. So it’s something a bit different from the norm.

A8000 presents it very well indeed. It opens out the soundstage a little bit, and separates things nicely, without destroying the feeling of intimacy.
The vocals sound precisely front and centre, and the timbre on them is really excellent.

He could almost be singing right in front of you. It’s really impressively presented.
Again, with a bassline that’s already mastered with depth and some power, the A8000 can take that and make it sound really engaging and hugely enjoyable.

The strumming of the acoustic guitar on this track is recorded in a very tactile way, the sound of plectrum strumming against steel strings is vivid and the A8000 really presents this superbly.


Counting Crows – Round Here (24-192 HDTracks WAV)

As is becoming common with the A8000, I’m immediately struck by the wide-open soundstage, imaging, layering and separation.

It really is an excellent technical performer.

This song is really emotional and beautiful though too, and the A8000 really brings that emotional engagement through its terrific clarity and detail, fast transients and layering.

Again, there’s a nice tinge of musicality. I’d probably wish for more, but this is a sound that’s still going to please a great deal of people.

Also again though, I find that when the electric guitar with a wah-wah pedal comes in at around 2m45s the whole presentation becomes slightly sharp and starts to lose the feeling of engagement, until everything gets quieter again at around 3m5s.


Counting Crows – Angels of the Silences (16-44 FLAC)

A hard rocking track, with – unfortunately - a fairly neutrally tuned bass and drums (in the way the track is mastered).

This track reveals one of the few issues I have with the A8000; the song starts with squealing guitars and a fairly high pitched guitar lead line, combined with crashing cymbals aplenty.

I want to turn up the volume in an attempt to hear more low-end heft and weight, but doing so doesn’t actually help and only makes the guitar and cymbals trigger my sensitivity to such things.

Now, this is partly a result of the way in which the song is mastered, but also with the way in which the A8000 is tuned. Trying the same track with a different IEM (the UM MEST), the low end has more power and impact and the mids/highs are slightly less sharp, allowing the whole song to sound much more balanced and engaging. More comparisons between these two excellent IEMs later.


Garrett Kato – Love is an Advert (16-44 FLAC)

For those who don’t know, he’s a predominantly acoustic singer-songwriter.

Here he has a backing band with him, nice drums that variously thump and clatter with marvellous tactility (on the right IEMs), bass guitar, lead acoustic guitar and rhythm acoustic guitar, a bit of electric guitar, something like organ/mellotron/keyboards and a bit of banjo or ukulele. Yes, I don’t know instruments as well as I wished

The song at its best (when presented well) has a wide-open, spacious kind of feeling, a driving rhythm and a delightfully engaging melody, especially in the last minute or so.
Here with the A8000, the sound has that beautiful, open quality due to the impressive soundstage and separation of the A8000.

I feel the drums lack the thump and power that they should have, so there’s something of a lack of realism there. The ‘clattering’ part of the drumming is done well though.

There’s a similar pattern with the guitars; I feel the rhythm guitar is good, but would be even better with a touch more power and warmth to accurately convey the driving rhythm that it normally imparts to the song. Conversely, the flat-picked lead acoustic guitar is presented with tactility and sparkle, a good level of presence, aided by the impressive detail retrieval letting me hear very accurately the sound of his fingers moving from one fretting position to another on the guitar neck.



Comparisons:

Stealth Sonics U9:

They both present high levels of detail retrieval, but the U9 comes across as more neutral-reference in tone, whereas the A8000 comes across as more natural and musical in doing so, although both of these IEMs still offer a pretty linear and balanced tonality overall.

The A8000 has a bit more low end presence and rumble. They both present the clattering drum sound from “Love is an Advert” with realistic timbre.

The U9 seems less forward in instrumental presentation than the A8000, but conversely the vocals on the U9 seem more forward in the mix, like someone is singing into my ear, rather than – with the A8000 – like I’m standing in front of them listening.

They’re both excellent with vocals, so here it’s really just a matter of how you prefer the vocals to be presented.

Although they both have a holographic and spacious soundstage, I feel there’s greater clarity and openness in the sound signature of the A8000, and it should be noted that these are qualities that I have previously praised highly in the U9!

Tactility and timbre and musicality are all areas where I feel the A8000 pulls ahead of the U9. Listening again to “K.” by Cigarettes After Sex, that strummed guitar line just pops so much more vividly and realistically on the A8000 and the whole song is just more engaging as a whole.

I should qualify this statement by adding that the U9 was designed principally as a neutral reference studio monitor, and as such, performs that function extremely well. Of course, it’s also worth adding that the U9 is around half the price of the A8000.

Reviewing the A8000 has been something of a rollercoaster ride for me.

When I first heard it, I had a whole day of musical bliss, listening to it non-stop with such a feeling of joy and delight, going through entire albums and playlists with abandon.

Then after another day or two, my usual bass-head longings kicked in, and I went through a whole “it’s great, but if only it had more bass!” phase. Frankly, this is quite normal for me

Listening to the relatively more neutral-reference IT04 and U9 IEMs have let me appreciate that the low end on the A8000 is actually fairly engaging and present.

No, it’s not visceral or hard-hitting as my EE Nemesis, or even the Itsfit Fusion or Unique Melody MEST. But it’s certainly not anaemic either. Speaking of which…


Unique Melody MEST:

Going back to that “K.” song, I’m hearing more detail right from 5 seconds in with the MEST, where I noticed the electric guitar noodlings which underscore the main melody; these sound relatively recessed on the A8000 and kind of ‘pass under the radar’ (I didn’t even notice they were there until I listened with the MEST). The acoustic guitar strumming is even more tactile and vivid, extremely impressive.

The drums have significantly more impact with the MEST; I notice the high percussion (hi-hats, cymbals etc) stand out a bit more on the MEST too, with increased clarity.

The superb handling of transients on the A8000 comes into play here, where the drums and bass sound a little cleaner and tighter than they do on the MEST. Not that the MEST is in any way deficient in this area, just that this is a key strength of the flagship A8000 which – again – is substantially more expensive.

Vocals are superb with the MEST, a bit more detailed than the A8000 and with great timbre, sounding spatially in between the positioning of the U9 and the A8000; a pretty excellent balance.

Overall, I feel that both the MEST and the A8000 have their strengths and weaknesses, as one would expect. I feel that they both do certain things better than the other.

The MEST has even more outstanding detail retrieval than the A8000, a more impactful low end and it matches it in most regards. However, the A8000 is king of the transients and compared with the “all dials turned up to 11” presentation of the MEST, comes across as a bit more balanced, smooth and coherent overall.

Conclusion:

The A8000 are, in my opinion, a TOTL IEM and certainly earn their place amongst the big hitters in the field. They have slightly above averagely tuned low end, that manages to infuse welcome warmth and musicality into most songs and can work beautifully with songs that have a low end that’s mastered with a reasonable degree of strength and impact.

On songs with a weakly mastered low end, especially when combined with sharp sounding instruments in the mids and treble (electric guitars, splashy cymbals and such like), they can lose that captivating musicality and came across as somewhat sharp or anaemic to me.

However, firstly I’m a self-proclaimed bass-head so you can interpret my impressions with that in mind

Secondly, this is more than compensated by the stunning performance the A8000 brings to pretty much everything else

The transients have been mentioned quite a bit and with good reason; this is a real strength of the A8000, along with a terrifically coherent and smooth performance that still doesn’t lack for energy or authority.

The A8000 features a midrange that doesn’t shrink into the background, shamed by the excellent lows and highs. It brings vocal performances firmly front and centre and the excellent timbre across the whole range brings a little bit of magic to everything it touches.

If you’re looking for a bass cannon, you’ll probably wish to continue searching

If you’re looking for a very warm or rich IEM, this may not be for you

If you’re looking for a pure neutral-reference IEM, this also may not be for you.

For most other use cases, and if the price is within your budget, then the A8000 is a beautiful looking and beautiful sounding IEM that will certainly be worth consideration.

What to do when stuck at home trying to avoid coronavirus? I know, I'll write another review...

I'll skip the photos and the unboxing video, because you folks already know what the A8000 looks like and I have zero photography/videography skills anyway. Let's get to the important stuff.

I should first point out that I can metaphorically rip any headphone to shreds given enough time and blank paper. The A8000, like every other headphone, has its faults. That being said, the A8000 doesn't have many faults, and the issues I have with it are relatively minor. Let's get those points out of the way first.

1) The A8000 is an undeniably bright-sounding IEM. Its characteristic brightness comes from a series of treble peaks corresponding to driver and ear canal resonances. Is it so bright that it's intolerable? I don't think so, but the answer to this is going to depend on the insertion depth you can achieve (more on this later), your overall sensitivity to treble, the frequency content of the recorded/mixed/mastered source material and (to a lesser extent, given the flat impedance curve of the A8000), the DAC and amp.

With the A8000, my preferences mainly shift with the genre and spectral content of the recording. Certain female vocals (and Jon Anderson) can sometimes sound a little peaky. "Open Your Eyes" - the quite-listenable title track from the otherwise awful 1997 Yes album of the same name - is too bright for my liking with the A8000. Whereas the entire Tears for Fears catalogue (especially that 96/24 Steven Wilson remastered Songs from the Big Chair) sounds amazing on these headphones. There's something about the A8000 that makes it quite a special and unique-sounding headphone.

Here's a comparison of the average FR (from L & R channels) measured with two different types of GRAS coupler (RA0401 measurements courtesy of @jude):


When I first measured the A8000 (in my review of the FiR Audio M5:
https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/fir-audio-m5.23861/review/23350/), I saw the primary ear canal resonance peaks at around 7.5 kHz and 11 kHz. But when I did a frequency sweep, I heard them higher than this - closer to 8.5 kHz and 11.5 kHz. Sure enough, with a slightly deeper insertion in the coupler, these newer measurements (above) closely match what I hear. Note that the standard RA0045 coupler matches what I hear - the RA0401 coupler is designed to massively damp the ear canal resonance - and it works as advertised. Yay(?) So, the RA0401 is a great device for designers wanting to specifically isolate/identify ear canal and driver resonances, but it's not very useful when you want to actually know how an IEM would sound in your ears. I don't trust the RA0401 to faithfully represent what I hear. IMHO, you shouldn't either. (Thankfully, it looks like headfi will be moving away from using the RA0401 for future measurements: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/brüel-kjærs-evolution-of-hearing-simulation-part-2-coming-soon.928514/post-15533359.)

The RA0045-measured spectrum shows that the A8000 still follows the Harman target closely in the low frequencies, but it doesn't hug that target quite as well in the treble and has a few small peaks that are audible with a frequency sweep. I had some communication with Final Audio about this and they told me these resonance peaks were an intentional design choice, because although they could remove them, they felt the headphone sounded boring without them. I believe that's absolutely true. Any downward adjustments to those treble peaks would need to be very subtle so as not to risk destroying the fairly addictive sound-signature that the current A8000 design has. This is definitely a case of being careful what you wish for.

2) As mentioned above, the A8000's shell has some razor-sharp edges - as in, sharp enough to use it as a cutting tool - this edge, and this corner, in particular:



Perhaps the sharp edges won't come into contact with your ears? They don't seem to bother me, but I read one comment from somebody on the forum who had cut their ear with the A8000. A slightly rounded/chamfered edge could still have looked nice and would perhaps have removed that potential problem?

Having got those two issues (slightly bright-leaning sound signature and sharp edges) out of the way, everything else I have to say about the A8000 is positive.

Channel Matching

Channel balance is good:


Fit

When I put the A8000 into my ears, the top part of the IEM body just naturally rotates out a bit under its own weight, leaving the face-plate at a bit of an angle (roughly 45-degrees to the vertical) and this naturally pushes the IEM farther into my ear canal, which pushes up the frequency of those resonance peaks. (In my experience, most IEMs sound better with deeper insertion for exactly that reason.) I'm not entirely sure how the A8000 is supposed to fit, but when I asked Final Audio, they just said "whatever works". Well, for me it works I would never have anticipated this, give the weird, non-ergonomic, boxy/sharp-edged-looking shape of these, but the A8000 is possibly the best, most comfortable-fitting IEM I've ever used. It's quick and easy to insert and it isn't ever fighting to get out of my ears. I can't tell you how much of a rare find that is for me

I should also mention something about isolation. The A8000 is vented, so it won't isolate as well as an Etymotic. However, surprisingly, I found its isolation to be actually quite good -FWIW, slightly better even than the Sony WF-1000XM3 earbuds with their active noise cancellation on.

Impulse Response

The A8000's impulse response is not quite as fast as that of the KSE1500 (but nothing else is in my experience). Its speed is more at the level of the dynamic driver in the Beyerdynamic Xelento, however, it has better damping, which I suspect has something to do with the Beryllium used in the A8000's driver:


Square wave response is reasonable. I've seen a lot worse:


Distortion

I'm not entirely convinced that harmonic distortion levels are all that important, but for those that care about this sort of thing, they're extremely low on the A8000:


The only other headphones I've measured with a distortion this low are the Beyerdynamic Xelentos, and honestly, it's pretty hard to pick a winner between them in that regard (see graph below - note this particular measurement was at 80 dB @ 500 Hz). I suspect the THD is so low in both these IEMs that it's hit the floor of my measuring equipment (likely limited by the THD from the coupler microphones):


There's another point about the THD worth mentioning. Despite the heavy ear-canal-resonance damping in the GRAS RA0401 coupler (which should produce artificially-low levels of THD), the THD percentage levels (normalized w.r.t. the fundamental) I measured at 90 dB on a GRAS RA0045 coupler were notably lower than those measured by @jude at the same SPLs:



The reason for this may be that Jude's distortion levels seem to have been taken directly from a sweep measurement. (Note the better agreement above with my standard sweep THD measurement. This was done at 94 dB @ 500 Hz, but it's close enough to show the effect. The stepped-sine measurement was 90 dB @ 500 Hz.) For harmonic distortion measurement it's more accurate to use a stepped-sine approach. This uses fewer steps (hence the reduced frequency resolution), but is able to more accurately pick out the harmonic components at each frequency bin. The settings used above are my standard approach for stepped sine: 131072 FFT length, rectangular window, 4 sliding averages with a 50% overlap and 6 points per octave. Anyway, the bottom line is, the A8000 has incredibly low distortion.

Impedance as a Function of Frequency

The A8000 has a beautifully-flat impedance curve:


What this means in practice is that the frequency-response curve shown earlier can be achieved with virtually any source, even your phone. And even with a HiBy R6

Comparisons

Here are some thoughts on how the A8000 stacks up against what I consider to be its most worthy competitors (my current favorite selection of IEMs):


Final Audio Thoughts

The bottom line is the A8000 is a very nice-sounding headphone. To respond to some negative comments I've seen elsewhere... If you're worried about the weird shape and whether they'd fit you or not, I think you're likely to be pleasantly surprised; at least, they fit me amazingly well. If you're worried about the solder being visible on the semi-transparent 3.5mm plug, don't be. It's just a design aesthetic (like being able to see the PCB on a Hugo 2) and actually shows a very neat soldering job. If you're worried about it lacking in bass - don't be; it isn't. The low frequencies follow the Harman target closer than any other headphone I've seen and it has a fantastic sub-bass without also dumping tons of energy in the mid-bass. The low-end of the A8000 is pretty much flawless to my ears. I think the reason that some have commented on a "lack of bass" is simply because it tends to lean a little bright with those treble peaks, and that shifts the overall emphasis away from the bass. That potential brightness is probably the only real caveat with the A8000, but your experience in this regard is going to depend on other factors such as source material and whether you can get a deep-enough insertion to push the ear-canal resonance peaks out of the regions that might bother you. For me, they sound bright, but rarely ever come across as too bright. They are certainly one of the best IEMs I've heard in recent years - easily up there in my top 5

FINAL AUDIO A8000 REVIEW

SOUND: 10/10
CONSTRUCTION&DESIGN: 9/10
PACKAGING&ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10
VERSATILITY: 9.5/10
VALUE: Cannot Apply

Click to expand...

FINAL AUDIO story begins more than 40 years ago (1974), when Kanemori Takai established the FINAL company by creating high-fidelity audio products for turntable ranging from high-end cartridges to amps and speakers. The first product ever created was a revolutionary turntable cartridge designed by Yoshihisa Mori that deliver highly precise and clear sound and was highly regarded by audiophiles at the time. After numerous years in sound system hifi engineering, Mr. Takai joins with Mr.Yamagushi (a Sony developer for Pro acoustic equipment) and create S’NEXT OEM audio company as a subsidiary of Molex LLC that is a big OEM of audio components.
From 2007 to 2013, FINAL mostly create headphones and earphones for other companies, gaining experience with different audio technology and research. In 2011, they even do earphones assembly trial sessions that became very popular among curious audiophiles in Japan. This kind of event is still offered today by Final Audio, which proves they have a rich passion for sharing knowledge about tuning and audio engineering in general.

All begin in 2013 when they launch their first official headphones under FINAL name. After this, research intensifies for audio engineering, creating new types of earphones housing that will inflict on acoustic rendering. Since then, they mostly concentrate on earphones technology, even if they create high-end Dynamic and Planar headphones.

FINAL have a lot of experience in audio technology, which is enriched by both past, present and future knowledge. Their passion for the different acoustic phenomenon is at the core of their audio quest and evolve from niche high end offering like the Sonorous and LabII to ultra-budget IEM like the E series. Whatever the price range of their products, FINAL always dedicated themself to offer a mature balanced sound that both audiophile and audio enthusiasts can enjoy.

FINAL is one of the audio company I respect the most because they are transparent about every aspect of their audio product, they explain with great humility and generosity what sound experience you can expect from any of their earphones or headphones, describing in great details what was the tuning goal and what acoustic rendering they aim.

After reviewing the whole E and B series, as well as F4100 and F3100, I’m even more passionate about FINAL creation. While they have a ‘’house sound’’ I would call as balanced and mature tuning, they never repeat themself and always offer different sound perspectives, should it be about imaging, dynamic nuance, timbre, clarity and lately, transparency.




The FINAL A8000 leitmotiv is Transparency of sound layers perception, which is something that cannot be measure and could only be achieved by a lot of testing of different drivers and acoustic chambers. One of the most important factors to achieve this acoustic phenomenon is the transient response of the drivers used, but we have plenty of types like a balanced armature, dynamic, planar, electro-magnetic and so on. After testing multiple audio drivers to find the one that can be fast enough to push simultaneously different sound wave that will be layered fast enough without losing the air within timbre that permits fluid transparency, they conclude only a 100% pure beryllium diaphragm with highly powerful neodymium magnet can achieve this impulse audio response prowess. And after years of research, the A8000 was birth.

At 2000$, the FINAL A8000 is a luxury audiophile earphones that only wealthy people can afford. This isn’t about value, this is about the absolute sound perfection quest. Is this the end game earphones of audiophile utopist? Let’s see in this review if the A8000 delivers a versatile high-end sound or is more aimed for specific music which makes it more a niche audiophile caprice than end game IEM.

You can buy the FINAL AUDIO A8000 from official seller like AUDIO46


SPECS

Product code: FI-A8DSSD
Housing: Stainless
Driver: Dynamic driver（Truly Pure Beryllium Diaphragm)
Connector: MMCX
Cable: OFC silver coated cable
Sensitivity: 102dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Weight:41g
Cord length: 1.2m

INTERN




The star of the show here is the pure beryllium diaphragm used for the dynamic driver. Unlike other coated beryllium diaphragm drivers that have to deposit thin coat of beryllium onto a resin film that will still keep its inner transient response and inflict on overall impulse speed, the A8000 use 100% pure beryllium foal crafted together. This is a very complex nanotechnology achievement, and the result is an extremely flexible and durable diaphragm that can achieve a surreal sound propagation velocity of 12,900m/s. Sound is air vibration that goes at different waving speed, it’s very complex to reproduce multiple sounds at the same time because of different frequencies speed like the bass is slow waveform while highs are ultra-fast, the diaphragm is like your speaker’s woofer, but it does not only need to be sensitive to every current push but be able to contract-retract extremely fast too to keep silence between sounds. FINAL quest of transparency in sound means they must find the fastest driver possible, which means it must be ultra-thin but ultra-solid too. Every micro-seconds are important, as this permit to produce transparent layering of sound.





To help cohesive sound reproduction in spatiality, the A8000 uses a ”tetra-chamber construction” for acoustic projection. The size and shape of 4 sound chambers inflict on sound quality, especially in keeping the bass thigh and well separated from other frequencies, as well, imaging improvement in spatial separation. As seen in the image, chamber number 1 is separate from chamber number 2 which is behind the drivers, this is to avoid any unwanted resonance that can inflict on ultra sensible beryllium diaphragm, this permit the cleanest acoustic resonance possible. The chambers tame sound leakage too.

PACKAGING&ACCESSORIES





The box presentation is very similar to the B series, it’s minimalist and elegant but very humble too, which will perhaps be underwhelming for those expecting luxurious presentation for a flagship IEM of this price. Accessories do improve a little from B series, the biggest difference is in little details, like the ear tips box and beautiful aluminum and silicone case.






A very welcome accessory is the genius MMCX ASSIST, perhaps it looks like nothing more than just a little piece of plastic, but it achieves it’s purpose gloriously, as the MMCX connection is quite a thigh whit whole B series, A8000 is no exception and this tool permit to disconnect it without any effort, you use it as mini-scissor and ”cut” the space between 2 connectors. I use this MMCX ASSIST with a lot of my IEM now, and my swearing statistic has dropped from 90%. You have as well ear hooks, 5 pairs of ear tips and dust filter sticker, that can be used to tame treble too. The 4 cores SPC cable is the same as B1, B3 and E5000. I must admit I would have loved a balanced cable included with this pricy IEM, and perhaps a more unique box too, so it stands apart from B series.




CONSTRUCTION & DESIGN









Exquisite craftsmanship follows the same path begun with the B series they launch some months ago. The chassis has a luxurious steampunk look to my eyes, it is glossy thick stainless steel with refined angle and curves. The mirror finish is a real joy to look at, and all this angle does create interesting light contrast too. Yep, this is a looker and will surely intrigue people on the street, it really acts as much like decorative jewelry than high-end IEM. In terms of durability, housing looks invincible, but I would have liked it to be less prompt to small scratch because it ruins the glorious mirror clarity. So, even if I take care, I do not have range the IEM carefully in it’s carrying case and now regret it cause it’s not just sensible to fingers prints, but to micro scratching too. I encounter the same thing with Hifiman RE2000 and FINAL B1, so I’m not surprised, but the B2 and B3 aren’t easily scratchable and I prefer this peace of mind than having a beautiful DIVA full of scars.





Similar to B series, the A8000 is bigger in length and thickness but near as comfortable. While the B series housing use 2 part put together, A8000 use 3 parts. As well, you don’t have any screw in the back which keeps the surface fully glossy and free of any asperity. Another interesting detail is the fact nozzle does not have the same metal mesh-like the B series, it has 4 holes and a very thinner barely visible mesh. Designed to be worn with cable over-ear, the fit is both comfortable and secure. The A8000 is thought to have more weight in the nozzle section, so it pushes naturally into your ears and does not tend to fall. This make the fit very secure and universal, but I still think small ears can encounter a problem with the length of its body that has cutting angle that can perhaps touch time to time the ears helix or anti-helix.


DRIVEABILITY





The A8000 isn’t particularly hard to drive due to rather low impedance of 16ohm, but it isn’t very sensitive either at 102db. While they are easier to drive at full potential than the Final E5000 that have a very low 95db of sensitivity, I conclude that the A8000 like powerful ultra-clean audio source or amplifier to show you what it got in term of speed and definition. For example, my favorite DAP is the Ibasso DX90 that can deliver up to 2.8vrm in power output or my Xduoo X20 that can deliver 300mW @ 32ohm. For an amp, my favorite pairing is with JDS LABS ATOM that pushes 1000mW @ 32ohm and Xduoo TA10 that push 2000mW @ 32ohm. Once properly amped, the soundstage expand, the tonality is fuller and more balanced, the timbre gain is nuance and body and attack is more speedy.

As a top-of-the-line luxury audiophile earphones, It deserves a source that is free of any distortion, black in the background, and precise in audio decoding. As well, it deserves to be powered effortlessly so the beryllium diaphragm drivers respond to its full speed potential without any instability in electric conductivity.


ISOLATION





These intensely block outside noise, the thick stainless steel body, as well as tetra chambers, act like extra walls between outside noise and your ears making the A8000 among the best for sound isolation. Sound leakage is none existent too, well, apart if somebody sticks its ears on yours.


EAR TIPS PAIRING





Here I will share with you 4 different ear tips pairing impressions. First of all, the stock Final ear tips is among the best one both in term of comfort and balanced sound rendering. Let’s start with my personal favorite.

The KZ Starline are super cheap ear tips that have a unique conic shape and slightly bigger nozzle holes than average. Strangely, it tends to expand soundstage of any IEM I try it with, sometimes I use Large size for adding length to IEM with big nozzle, but this time I use Medium size so I can push the nozzle deeper in my ears. The fit is perfect and extremely comfortable and more of all it goes deeper than Final ear tips. The sound improvement is very noticeable, especially in soundstage wideness and deepness, but the bass too sounds fuller, giving more sub-bass presence and rounder mid-bass punch, without affecting mids. Treble is slightly more balanced and less forward.

Stock ear tips offer a very flat sound, the bass is very thigh and extends gently, with excellent articulation but you need active listening to hear the nuance as it stays in the background. As well, the soundstage is above average but still a little too intimate for my taste, especially in terms of wideness-tallness. It must be noted that ear tips are very dependant on your own unique ears anatomy, which explains you might have a different result than me.

Memory Foams tips give the worst result, taming bass rumble and impact and making the mids even more intimate and dry. Treble lose it’s sparkle too. The soundstage is the smallest one and the overall sound is very forwards and energic.

Wide bore tips that with short nozzle length is interesting because though it stole some air to the soundstage, the mid-range is pushed slightly forward, making the A8000 more mid centric and very pleasant for vocal. Bass is similar to stock Final ear tips, treble is tighter in attack-decay.

Small hole with long nozzle ear tips (stock one of DITA Fealty) are excellent too, and very similar to KZ but with even taller soundstage. The bass is excellent, sub-bass has good presence and control, slightly less weighty than KZ but more controlled and natural. Mids are similar to stock tips but with more space between instruments, making it less compressed. More I listen to this ear tips pairing, more I might think it’s the best one.

All in all, apart from memory foams tips, the A8000 will never give an underwhelming result with any ear tips, but it must be noted bass response is the frequency range that is the most affected by right ear tips fit for your ears. I still suggest deep insertion to get the best result.


CABLE PAIRING





Now I will test 3 different type of cable, which is 4cores Silver-plated cable (stock cable), high-quality 8cores Litz copper (40$ Audiosense flagship cable) and an 8cores mixed SPC-full copper cable (15$ NiceHCK).

The stock cable offer clearest, sharpest and most neutral sound, it’s as clean as it can get, but tend to keep timbre on the thin side. Bass is really lean too, and treble is vivid. Upper mids are a little hot too.

The Audiosense Crystal Copper 8strand 19 cores 6N OCC Cable offers the best pairing to my ears, the sound is fuller in timbre, bass slightly more weighty and bodied, the vocal gain hint of warmth and highs gain in nuance as if mid treble was boosted and balance better with upper highs. As well, the slight sibilance than can occur in upper mids is better rounded and the whole tonality feels slightly softened. If you own the A8000, you can surely afford this 40$ cable. This perhaps tames treble a bit but balance whole sound too.

The SPC-Copper mixed cable is an excellent pairing too, very similar to Audiosense cable but with slightly more details and clearer sound. Soundstage is bigger than stock cable and mids more fowarded. I think this is the best of both worlds as it delivers fuller-bodied bass and keeps snappy treble that is extremely addictive with the A8000. As well, it’s the cheapest cable, selling around 15$.

SOUND

NOTE: It makes about 2 months I use daily the A8000, so it has at least 300H of burn-in. I thoroughly test it with high multitude of audio sources and amps which include Ibasso DX90, Xduoo X3, Xduoo X20, Xduoo XD-05plus, Tempotec Sonata HD PRO, Fiio BTR5, EARSTUDIO ES100, Xduoo TA-10, JDS LABS ATOM to name a few. What I conclude is that it deserve the clearest AMPING possible, this amping need to bo above 250mW @ 32ohm to permit fuller transient response possible. The DAC should be a reference one. For this review, I choose to stick with Dual ES9018 DAC from Ibasso DX90 line out to JDS LABS ATOM. This is my favorite pairing with the Xduoo TA-10 used as a USB DAC-AMP. For portability, the DX90 do a great job as well as FIIO BTR5 balanced. All the music I listen too is at least in 44.1khz/16bit FLAC but I have alot of 48khz/24bit and 96khz/24bit FLAC album too. I listen to a very wide range of music, from old and modern jazz, to chamber classical (mostly baroque composers), post and math rock, indie singers, Soul and R&B and Hip-hop to electronica, experimental, folk and worldmusic.




Welcome into musical reality, enter this cathedral, enter this studio, enter this small room, enter this live concert, the FINAL A8000 can warp you anywhere you want, just be sure to know the quality of your musical destination. With the A8000, the wow effect is within music first of all, how it was recorded and how it is played back. You will hear everything with pristine clarity, not in a surgical way where all very sound is coldly extracted and feel like they play for themself, but in a harmonious heterogeneity that will awake a fresh active listener curiosity. The sound of A8000 reminds me of those of full Planar Headphones like the Hifiman Sundara, but with closed-back dynamic bass and a more edgy definition in the attack that is mostly found with hybrid or multi-balanced armature IEM. With planar, sound projection is fast, but it can be dry in timbre, which the A8000 isn’t, as well, the bass does not extend naturally even if it can have some kind of muffled impact, again, the A8000 is more organic in its cohesion, without lacking in texture which is hyper nuanced yet natural and smooth too.

Everybody raves about the incredible transient speed of the A8000, and indeed it’s for good reason, but if it was wrongly balanced all the energy could have been stoled either by bass or treble, here, the whole sound spectrum is injected with lively dynamic, never struggling to offer a high level of definition of every instrument, whatever the numbers it have. A symphony will be treated with as much respect and minuteness than a solo of violin, a duo of piano and sax, or a slow burner bassy Soul track. The A8000 is the most agile IEM I ever heard, it achieved the pinnacle of sound articulation effortlessly, with incredibly transparent layering that feel infinite in its addition possibility. As much analytical than musical, transparent than lush, the A8000 embrace polarity of sound waves with mind-blowing fluidity.




TONALITY can be simply described as hyper-realist and perfectly balanced and neutral, but let say it’s smoothly brightish too, well polish by acoustic control, free of any tonal imperfection. To me, the term bright feels pejorative for refined tonality of the A8000, because of the high level of naturalness.

TIMBRE is rich and transparent, it’s very complex in numerous nuances that fulfill its texture, but you need active listening to discover every subtle color that fulfill every sound. Sometimes, I get hooked by one instrument and literally crave its musical soul, the cello is a good example of how rich, full-bodied and multi-layered in textures it can be. Vocal too, Violin…timbre is as much highly resolved than highly transparent and never sound artificial or warmed by other frequencies range.

SOUNDSTAGE will differ not only by audio source and amp pairing but the mastering of music you listen too. Greater is clarity, greater is the depth, if it’s play in a big hall, the soundstage will expend in tallness and wideness. It’s out of your head, surrounding you from every side even the back of your head, but mostly from left to right full axis which has extreme deepness. So, yeah, deeper than wider, but it’s already very wide and airy.





IMAGING of this quality coming out of a single dynamic driver IEM wasn’t possible to imagine until I heard the A8000. Even a great 8 balanced armature earphone like the Audiosense T800 cannot offer this level of accuracy and clarity in instrument separation. Neither the DITA Fealty which have a wider soundstage but less sharp definition. With the A8000 you have both spatial placement and transparent layering, no instrument overshadow the other or stole its individuality. I can easily pinpoint any sounds anywhere in the sound spectrum, some will be more distant in the back or at right or left angle, but never drown being opaque sound or congested one against another due to lack of instrument space. It’s as if sound and silence are as fast and important. Razor-sharp precise, cohesive and hyper-realist(again).


BASS is exceptionally flexible, with natural extension that digs to it’s the lower end and highly precise separation between sub, mid and high bass. This isn’t a boring lifeless dry bass that neutral tuning tends to offer, not at all, if your music has recorded rumble it will have this rumble, if the kick is aggressive, the mid-bass will punch with weight. Sub-bass lines are full-bodied with the transparency free of any slow sound wave congestion. The articulation of acoustic bass is fluid, agile and full of natural air resonance, lower is the note, longer is the decay as it should be. No unbalanced sub boost that will affect tonal balance, it’s all-natural here and you will be delighted by your favorite rock album, like the last TOOL ‘’7empest’’ where you follow the grungy bass line and complex drum pattern with great easy, feeling the energy and impact of every note. The mid-bass is ultra-fast and punchy, and do not touch the mids at all, this time, it reminds me of excellently balanced armature mid-bass, the decay is tightly controlled. This is a ‘’multi-forme’’ type of bass response that is surely the most versatile I heard, with boomy electronic or rap, the slam is their, heavy and accurate, it does not ruin the vocal at all. Whatever music style you listen, the bass will never add unwanted warmth or dryness to the sound, and I think this kind of bass can be a masterclass for basshead so they became more aware of the difference between quality and quantity as well as less afraid of well done uncolored bass response. As shown in sub bassy track like ‘’Canadian Hillbilly’’ from GEORGIA ANNE MULDROW the lower bass note do product good amount of rumble, as much felt than heard, and unlike with over bassy IEM, it keeps vocal clear and never become sloppy in lower control, and in another track from the same album like ‘’Overload’’, the sub line is faster, extremely clear and precise, not interfering with thigh well-rounded kick, this track show well the crazy fast transient response as nothing sound unbalanced or shouty, which make this track very over-saturated in grain or congested with inferior IEM.


MID RANGE is always the center of the show with the A8000, and it’s important to say that every instrument keeps their clean space in rich sound imagery. If their any brightness coming from smooth tonality, it’s for better definition, which is beautifully edgy, in the sens ‘’line contour’’ of the sound is clear. This isn’t warm mids that are abstract in macro-resolution or micro-resolution, and it find it’s placed between naturalness and reference sound. It avoid sounding too sharp or analytical due to its transparent ungrainy timbre and cohesive, near fusional in harmony. Piano sound fully accurate, whole note register having a snappy attack, nuanced contract in tonal projection from finger hit on the keyboard to sound expansion that follows with incredible synchronicity. In a track like ‘’Speak no evil’’ from HELGE LIEN TRIO, the hard-hitting piano note in beginning is full of authority and weight, the piano playing perfectly extracts from rest of instrument, nearer of the listener, and as it should, lower note is coming more from center-left and higher notes from center-right. The presentation has a grandeur to it, bigger than life musicality that no concert hall can deliver, and I do not miss one notes because of fast attack and thigh decay, articulation is just mesmerizing, and if I want to concentrate on drummer or bassist, I will be as much wowed by clear accuracy and presence as with the piano. VOCAL have similar treatment, like a mix of lushness in timbre and brightness in tonality, with centered but full presence, clear and detailed without pushing the texture to the point of being distracting with lips movement or breathing, both male and female sound great, never thin or artificial, female vocal can be slightly more forward due to slight extra upper mids push, but I encounter extremely rare sibilance only with the stock cable or with the wrong audio source pairing. The voice of TIMBER TIMBRE is perfect in tonality with just the right amount of body so it keeps the rest of the audio spectrum free of any lows intrusion.


TREBLE is a miracle. A8000 treble is as much delicate than fierce when it need too, and always with extreme control and snappy attack. Rarely I heard the highs so full yet not lacking in both brilliance and sparkle. It’s crisp but have timbre meat too, cymbals crush became more detailed than ever, without the vulgar splash or harshness, again: tightly controlled. Hit-hat is crazy fast, if it has to length 1 microsecond, it will, nothing more. Xylophone became utterly fascinating, as we can follow the whole dynamic of its playing, the hit, the sound and the resonance which will not drown other hit notes. You can mix a lot of different instruments in high range and the clarity will still be as clean, harpsichord, organ, and violin all playing in high range at the same time is no problem and will be mixed in spatiality and layering as needed. Acoustic guitar sound particularly great, with great sparkle in the higher note and perfect delimitation in lower treble, never unbalanced between details, attack, and timbre. We know the treble is fully covered without an important dip in tuning when both acoustic and electric guitar sound as rich and snappy, and this is the case with A8000, whatever the degree of distortion offered by the electric guitar, it will render it meticulously and cohesively. Violin is surely my guilty please with A8000, listening to J.S Bach ‘’Partita for violin solo no1 in B minor’’ by Hilary Hann show the perfect tonal balance of the highs, as well as extremely agile attack, we feel tonal crescendo at every end of melody motif, the lightning-fast bow hit, and higher sound projection when powerful bow slide with more energy. I’m not treble sensitive, but I’m sensible to tonal unbalance in a high range that can make ‘’scream’’ the sound or even ‘’ring’’ it in ultra highs, this does not happen with the A8000, and while treble is energic, it’s not harsh because it’s never grainy, violently edgy, over boosted or artificially analytical. Still, if your preference is laid back delicate highs, the A8000 will perhaps be too vivid and revealing for you. While it’s a very revealing sound, I don’t encounter a lot of bad music rendering, even if mastering wasn’t perfect, but this could affect supreme clarity, which will be fulfilled by recording imperfection.


SONG EXAMPLE



In this sumptuous ARIA from BIBER ‘’Mystery Sonata’’, the full nuance in dynamic range, as well as superbly clear transparent sound layerings, is perfectly shown, in both it’s fast and slow transient response. Slow is the cello, and full-bodied, with realist timbre that project controlled resonance in the clean silence, it’s placement has its own space in spatiality, and the instrument resonance and sound projection go from left to right with great fluidity. We can hear the bow gradually hit and rub the cello string, and produce the sound with perfect tonal contrast, without any details unbalance. When the organ comes in, it’s from the right and sound develop into the center, it’s more distant in the background but keeps great definition both in timbre and impact. Blissful violin fiercely attacks it’s melody line in the middle of two other instruments and is well centered, with greater proximity, the rendering is extremely accurate and agile, showing every edge of attack and tonal change with an excessively flexible transient response. The mix of tempo speed between instrument do not affect transparency, neither the volume change in violin attack create harshness or timbre change. This is truer than life musicality.



In the ultra-heavy sub bassy ‘’Moonlight’’ track from IAMDDB, we have a great example of how heavy and rumbly can go the A8000 driver when it’s needed too. That mix with super thigh kick, snare and percussions, with super clear vocal that has great space between other sound layers, and then the BIG sub line, a thick, grungy, juicy, wall of sub rendered with authoritative weight, real headbanger coming from a 2.5K refinedly tuned IEM. The kick is very snappy-thumpy, wich surprise me, and this beefy bass line….I wasn’t expecting the A8000 to sound that good with trap rap. Spacious HD thigh ass sound right here ma bro.



All arounder you say? The A8000 really can deal with any type of music, but I will not pass through everything here, it’s already done in my 2 months of use. IDM sound punchy, detailed, extremely, please. Soul or R&B has a superbly clear voice. And now, this jazz-rock band is no exception, and A8000 excel to render this track even more alive. The separation between electric bass and guitar is just so fabulously layering, you can hear both playing together with ultimate articulation, the bass has a nice texture to it and a grungy body. The electric guitar is fast and tight, so rich in tone change and when it uses wah pedal the sound is elastic, thigh and euphonious. Kick is weighty, hit-hat have a fast pace, splash cymbals are extremely realist with long extension that is never harsh. In fact, while the presentation is vivid, dynamic and ultra-clear, it’s never overly bright, more reference sounding with extra musicality. Yes, the A8000 do know how to Rock.

COMPARISONS


VS DITA FEALTY (1400$)





Now, in terms of construction and comfort, the A8000 is clearly superior. SOUNDSTAGE is quite wider and more holographic and airy with the DITA, this will give more space between instrument but the number of instruments will struggle more for proper IMAGING due to slower transient response. Still, A8000 sound like an on-ear open-back headphone while the DITA is more similar to an open back in headroom size. BASS is where I find the A8000 more realist, it extends better and has more body as well as less dry timbre, the DITA bass is a rather thin and tonal balance between low and mids is less cohesive than A8000, which make instruments like cello lack a bit of body. MIDS are slightly more recessed with the DITA, they are drier, brighter and thinner with smoother definition, while the A8000 is more edgy and natural in tonality. Piano sound fuller with the A8000 and vocal closer and clearer, but more intimate, though mids aren’t the smoothest one with A800, the DITA upper mids are more aggressive and affect the tonal balance of vocal, making them sound wider, but thinner and harsher too. TREBLE is brighter with more emphasis in upper highs with the DITA, which tend to push forwards percussions and affect overall naturalness of tonality and stole some definition to mid treble where the A8000 have plenty of it, so the highs are more bodied and in line with rest of audio spectrum. I feel the highs are crisper and more sparkly with the A8000, which gives a fabulous performance for both acoustic and electric guitar, while the DITA is more on the metallic side.
All in All, these two are fabulous listen, slightly similar in overall bright tonality but with more balanced and natural sound for A8000 and more holographic airy sound for the Fealty.


VS FINAL AUDIO B1 (700$)





The B1 is a Hybrid IEM with one Dynamic and one balanced driver, it’s the flagship of B series and 3 times less expensive than A8000. Construction is on par with a mirror finish too but of golden color, the A8000 is notably bigger so he’s little less comfortable. Now, both have similar SOUNDSTAGE apart for extra deepness of A8000, IMAGING is clearer in positioning as well as instrument separation space with A8000. BASS is notably more boosted and warmer with B1, it has more emphasis in sub-ass and lack speed and mid-bass separation of A8000 which have flatter more textured timbre too as well, it feels it extend down to 20khz with more realist tonal balance. MIDS are lusher, thicker and warmer with the B1, lacking high resolution and edgy attack of A8000, this tend to mix vocal with rest of instrument, offering a presence that stole instrument layering while the A8000 keep the individuality of every instrument and offer a well centered and intimate vocal presentation. TREBLE is more relaxed with the B1, it lacks snappy attack and crispness of A8000 but makes the B1 less aggressive and more natural, for micro-details lovers the B1 is way more inferior in term of both definition and resolution and can make the musicality lack in highs energy.


All in all, the A8000 is from another league in term of clarity, technicalities and accurate articulation of music, but do not sound as natural and smooth as the bassier-warmer B1.

CONCLUSION



The FINAL AUDIO A8000 delivers nothing less than epiphany of audio fidelity, some will consider them reference sounding, other neutral or even natural, and this is because the sound is so rich and complex in nuance, that you cannot easily categorize it’s unique musicality as versatile and surprising in tonality and timbre.

Sure, the highlight here it’s the incredibly refined technicalities, the lightning-fast transient response, the high level of clarity and precise multi-layered and transparent imaging. But the A8000 is more than just technically talented, and you will only discover it’s full potential by testing as much different music style as possible. Sometime the bass will wow you, other times it will be the vocal, other time instrument presence and timbre, other times the vivid details, you really travel within the own A8000 universe and saying it’s addictive is an understatement.

The A8000 have the balance of E4000, the speed of F41000, the edgy attack of B3, and it’s own unique bass response. This is perhaps the only End Game flagship IEM you will ever need because it injects extra life to any type of music without being overly analytical or unforgiving.

Sure, 2000$ is a lot of money, but if you are wealthy enough and search for an audiophile reference sound that lacks nothing from lows to highs and offers crisp and transparent imaging, the A8000 will pass the test of time due to its near-neutral sound that can deal with any music style.

The FINAL AUDIO A8000 are the best earphones I ever try, and they still find a way to impress me with their hyper-realist lively musicality even after 2 months of intense use. You cannot get enough of this audiophile luxury.

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A Knight in Shining Armor!

The product was provided to me free of charge for the review purpose in exchange for my honest opinion. The review was originally posted on my review blog, and now I would like to share it with my readers on Head-fi.

Manufacturer website: Final Audio. Available for sale from Audio46.

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Intro.

Pure beryllium driver IEMs were definitely a buzzword of CanJam NYC 2020 show which I recently attended. We often don’t realize that some manufacturers put more emphasis on “beryllium” than “coated” when referring to beryllium-coated drivers. Pure beryllium drivers are rarer, so when Final Audio announced their new flagship A8000 (A8k) IEM with Truly Pure Beryllium Diaphragm, it got attention of many audiophiles.

Since my recent review of Final Audio B-series IEMs, I was curious to spend more time with their new A-series flagship because 10-min audition at the show in a crowded environment was just not enough, and also it has been awhile since I reviewed a single DD monitor. After spending the last few weeks testing, comparing, and pairing A8k, here is what I found. Enjoy the read!



Unboxing and Accessories.

Final A8k (A-series) IEMs arrived in a compact white box, with a very similar packaging as in B-series. The unboxing experience is very “layered” with outer sleeve that has Final logo on the front and a detailed spec on the back. Then, a soft cardboard box with A-series label on top, and another cloth wrapping inside once you lift the cover, followed by more wrapping to unveil the travel case and eartips case. While I enjoyed the unboxing experience of A-series, I personally felt it should have been more premium to differentiate this flagship model from B-series.




Inside you will find a silicone/aluminum carrying case, a pair of small clear transparent earhooks with a lock mechanism, dust filter stickers, 5 pairs of Final E-Type silicone eartips (SS/S/M/L/LL) inside of a small travel box, and a clever mmcx assist removal tool. Eartips have a firm cap which makes a good seal with earcanal and comes with a ribbed color coded (Pink – right, Grey – left) inner stem with a tight grip around the nozzle and a smaller size bore opening.




Silicone/aluminum travel case is similar to the one included with B-series, except with an addition of aluminum protective top cover. It has a clever design with a top part of the case (silicone layer with aluminum shell) being roomy/deep enough to fit IEMs w/cables. And the bottom flexible silicone half of the case covering up IEM/cable when closed to keep it secure inside, preventing the content from sliding around.




Cable.

A8k comes with a quality silver plated copper (SPC) cable which I find to be non-microphonic, pliable, lightweight, and comfortable to wear while on the go. Though you do get removable earhooks, I personally found it to be more comfortable to wear the cable with these IEMs without it. And of course, since we are talking about the removable cable with universal mmcx connectors, you can use any of your favorite cables with it. I will cover various pair up examples with aftermarket cables after Sound analysis section.

And speaking of removable cable, Final Audio came up with something very simple yet brilliant – MMCX removal assist tool. While the cable is easy to attach, the removal requires a bit of force and the housing of the connectors is slippery. This little “yellow” plastic tool makes it very easy to disconnect mmcx connector, and it works not only with Final IEMs but other brands (tested and verified with Campfire audio, Westone, and iBasso).



SPC cable itself has 4 conductors, 2 on each side, twisted and in a clear flexible jacket, with each side twisted again after the y-split going down to a right angled 3.5mm plug. The plug has a nice clear strain relief, 2/3 of the housing is metal and the rest is clear transparent so you can see the connection of the wires. Y-split has a matching slim metal finish, and chin-slider is a clear small silicone piece. The earpiece connector housing with mmcx also has a matching finish and red/black color-coded rings to indicate Right/Left sides.






Design.

While A-series A8k uses a similar housing concept as Final MAKE and B-series models, the actual design of the shell is more elegant with a flat faceplate instead of busier multi-facet surface. The stainless-steel finish is a little shinier than B3 finish, but in general they are similar.



The inner part of the shell is rounded, fitting comfortably inside of my ear concha area, while the outer part has more angled edges, though still “soft” and comfortable, not as sharp as B-series. I noticed one pinhole vent at the bottom of the shell and another vent (with something like a mesh cover?) on the inside of the shell. The shells itself are average size, each one about 41g which is a bit hefty, have shorter nozzle with a lip for eartips grip, and 4-bore nozzle tip with a slightly recessed area to apply a screen filter.






In the heart of A8k design you will find a Pure Beryllium diaphragm made from ultra-thin Beryllium foil. This material is known to be super lightweight and to have properties of high sound propagation velocity. To optimize the operation of this Beryllium dynamic driver, Final came up with a stainless-steel chassis internally divided into 4 chambers, called Tetra-Chamber construction. Those were precisely calculated since the volume and the shape of these chambers and their placement around the driver will have a significant impact on the sound tuning because we are dealing with an ultra-thin beryllium dynamic driver.



The fit.



Sound Analysis.

I analyzed A8k sound performance paired up with LPGT and N6ii w/E01 (Class AB) while playing a variety of test tracks, such as Agnes Obel “The curse”, Sandro Cavazza “So much better” (Avicii remix), C-Bool “Never go away”, Ed Sheeran “Shape of you”, Alan Walker “Darkside”, Galantis “Hunter”, Iggy Azalea “Black widow”, Indila “Boite en argent”, Counting Crows “Big yellow taxi”, David Elias “Vision of her”, and Michael Jackson “Dirty Diana”.

As strongly recommended by manufacturer, I let A8k play for 200 hrs before starting my critical sound analysis. I did occasional sound checking throughout that time and noticed some changes with more rumble in bass and a little less harshness in treble, though it’s subjective. Also, I applied the included nozzle filter stickers, two filters on top of each other per side. And while I personally not too keen to share my FR captures since I have a hobby setup, I was actually able to capture (and to hear) a slight reduction in lower treble peaks after applying those filters.

The sound signature of A8k in different pair ups I tried is tilted toward being slightly mid-forward with extra emphasis on clarity of vocals and instruments, improved retrieval of details, and more vivid presentation of the sound with higher definition and resolution. The tonality is brighter, colder, crisper, very transparent, hardly any coloring. The retrieval of details and the level of clarity is quite high. Also, the sound has a super-fast speed with the transient response of note on/off being among the fastest and the cleanest I heard, in many ways reminding me of planar magnetic driver performance. Plus, when tried at higher than my usual listening volume level, I didn't hear any distortion at all.

The bass has a deep sub-bass extension, audible rumble which is closer to neutral in quantity, and fast articulate mid-bass punch, with an overall bass being nicely layered and a little north of neutral in quantity. Lower mids are neutral, clean, lean, without too much body, while upper mids are revealing on micro-detailed level, nicely layered, more analytical yet still very realistic, though in a colder way. Treble is crisp and airy, with a more revealing definition. In some pair ups treble can get a big splashy, but it never crossed a harsh sibilance threshold, though there is some accentuation on "s", especially in poorly recorded tracks. To my ears, treble sounded more natural in tracks with non-synthesized instruments, while a little exaggerated in some EDM tracks.

Soundstage is huge, holographic, nearly on 3D level across majority of DAP sources I tried. But even with being nearly holographic, it sounded realistic, not artificial, and with some tracks it even felt like I was listening to open back full-size headphones. Imaging has excellent placement of instruments and vocals with an accurate positioning of every element in 3D space which I found to be quite impressive.

Due to a nature of its tuning, A8k is not very forgiving, picks up every imperfection of poorly recorded tracks, without smoothing anything out. While listening to different music genres, I found A8k to pair up better with more natural instruments while synthesized instruments sounded a bit exaggerated in treble. That's where a pair up with a neutral or a warmer source will be more beneficial.



Comparison.

This comparison was done using A8k with a stock 3.5mm cable, and N6ii (E01, Class AB) and LPGT sources, volume matched in every comparison.

A8k vs Hifiman RE2000 Gold - soundstage width is the first big difference you will notice comparing holographic expansion of A8k vs a narrower soundstage of RE2k. Both have the bass which goes deep, but the quantity is more elevated in RE2k while A8k relative to RE2k has a closer to neutral quantity. The speed of the bass is also very different, especially when you focus on mid-bass where A8k is fast, articulate, layered, while RE2k bass is slower, more analog, sounding like a dynamic driver. Mids is where I hear difference as well with A8k lower mids being more neutral and upper mids brighter, more layered, and less colored, while RE2k has a thicker fuller body mids that sound more organic and less revealing. Treble is very similar between these two, bright and crisp, and a little splashy.

A8k vs Sennheiser IE800S - very similar experience as in comparison to RE2k. A8k soundstage is noticeably wider and more holographic, while IE800S soundstage sounds narrower in comparison. Both have the bass which goes deep, but IE800S bass is thicker, slower, less articulate, and more laidback, while A8k bass is fast, layered, articulate, and has less impact. A8k lower mids are more neutral while IE800S lower mids are thicker, and overall IE800S mid are more colored, more organic, and not as layered, while A8k has a lot more revealing, more neutral, brighter mids. Treble is very similar, crisp and airy, though A8k treble sounds a little less splashy in comparison.

A8k vs Beyerdynamic Xelento – the holographic soundstage expansion of Xelento is closer to A8k, but I still hear Final to be just a little bit wider. Bass in both goes deep, but as expected Xelento bass is more elevated and also sounds slower in comparison to faster and more articulate A8k bass. Lower mids are a lot leaner in A8k while Xelento is thicker and with more body, and upper mids are also warmer and less analytical in Xelento in comparison to more revealing layered mids of A8k. A8k treble has more air and better extension while Xelento treble is smoother and more natural in comparison. Overall, Xelento sounds smoother while A8k is more micro-detailed. On a side note, it has been awhile since I used Xelento, and its very shallow insertion was a good reminder of why.

A8k vs oBravo ERIB-1C - again, soundstage difference is quite noticeable with A8k being wider and more holographic in comparison to ERIB soundstage being narrower. A8k bass is faster, going deeper, having more sub-bass rumble and more articulate mid-bass punch, while ERIB bass is slower and a lot more neutral, more anemic in comparison. Mids is where you can hear more difference as well. Both have neutral lower mids, but upper mids are more transparent, more layered, and more natural in A8k while ERIB mids/vocals have a little more coloring, slower, with fuller body and more laidback flow. Treble is very similar, being brighter in both, though ERIB sounds a little splashier in comparison.

A8k vs DUNU Luna - Personally, I don't trust my ears doing comparison by memory, and at CanJam NYC show I wasn't able to do direct A/B comparison between these two IEMs. But based on my separate notes, they both impressed me with their speed (very fast transient response of note on/off) and a very low distortion at higher listening volume level. When it comes to soundstage, A8k has a more holographic expansion with a wider L/R spread. Luna had a very wide soundstage as well, but I recall it having more width then depth, creating a more oval-shaped staging. Also, relative to my separate notes, the tonality was different, with A8k being brighter and more transparent, while Luna being a little smoother and more natural, though both had retrieval of details on a similar micro-detailed level. If I get a chance to spend some time with Luna in a future, I will update this comparison with more details.



Pair up.

A8k has an average 16ohm impedance and a little lower 102dB sensitivity, but I still found it to be very efficient and easy to drive from any portable source I tried it with. Since I was using A8k with its stock cable, I only used single ended output in every source pair up.

Lotoo PAW Gold Touch LPGT - holographic soundstage, deep extended sub-bass rumble, fast mid-bass punch, a little north of neutral bass quantity, neutral, natural, layered mids, crisp airy bright treble. Upper frequencies are more revealing and brighter with a colder tonality. Great pair up to analyze micro-details of any recording. No hissing.

Lotoo PAW 6000 - holographic soundstage, deep extended sub-bass rumble, fast mid-bass punch, a little north of neutral bass quantity, fuller body lower mids with more organic upper mids/vocals tonality, crisp airy bright treble. Upper frequencies are more revealing and brighter with a slightly colder tonality. A little more natural tonality in comparison to LPGT. No hissing.

Hifiman R2R2000 - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass has noticeably more impact in comparison to Lotoo DAPs. Mids are neutral, natural, layered, treble is crisp and airy yet sounds more natural, less splashy. Good pair up, except there is waterfall hissing, even in low gain.

iBasso DX160 - holographic soundstage, good sub-bass extension and fast mid-bass punch, overall bass is more neutral in this pair up, mids/vocals are also closer to neutral/natural in tonality, nicely layered and with great retrieval of details, treble is not harsh but it is bright, crisp, airy, more vivid. No hissing, but definitely more upper frequencies energy in this pair up.

Hiby R6 Pro - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, and overall bass is a little more elevated in quantity, mids are more neutral, natural, layered, very detailed, treble is crisp and airy, brighter, more vivid. I hear a faint hint of waterfall hissing.

Hiby R5 - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, overall bass is more elevated, mids have a little more natural body, still layered and very detailed, treble is crisp and airy, bright and revealing, and more natural in comparison to R6Pro pair up. Dead quiet, no hissing.

Cayin N6ii w/E01 - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass has more impact and more analog weight, mids/vocals are more natural, a little warmer, with fuller body, but still layered and very detailed, treble is crisp and airy, and still more natural, not splashy. No hissing. Another one of my favorite pair ups. All this in Class AB mode, but when switching to Class A mode, the bass sounds a little slower and mids were thicker. I preferred AB.



FiiO M11 Pro - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass is north of neutral, a little more elevated in quantity, mids/vocals have more natural body, sound more organic, still layered and detailed, treble is crisp and airy, bright and revealing, and not too splashy. No hissing.

Sony WM1Z - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass has more impact and more articulation, mids are neutral-natural, layered, very detailed, definitely more organic, treble is crisp and airy, nicely extended, bright, but not harsh or splashy. Actually, among better pair ups when it comes to treble. No hissing. Tested with latest stock firmware.

A&K SP1000 SS - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass has a little more impact in this pair up, mids/vocals are neutral, natural, layered, more revealing, treble is crisp and airy, brighter and splashier, even with some traces of sibilance. No hissing. Not the best pair up due to a little too much energy in treble.

Dethonray DTR1 - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass has more impact, very layered and fast, mids are more neutral, revealing, micro-detailed, a little colder, treble is crisp and airy, bright but not harsh, though a little splashy. In low gain I don't hear any hissing.

Shanling M0 - holographic soundstage, deep sub-bass rumble with fast mid-bass punch, bass is north of neutral but doesn't have as much impact, mids are more neutral, revealing, brighter, treble is crisp and airy, bright, and a little harsher with a bit of a sibilance. No hissing.

Samsung Galaxy S9 - soundstage is wide and has a nice depth, but not as holographic as with dedicated DAPs. Bass goes deep with a nice sub-bass rumble and fast mid-bass punch, mids/vocals are neutral-natural, layered, revealing, treble is crisp and airy, bright, energetic, a little splashy, but not too harsh. No hissing.



Cable pairing.

I’m aware that some people don’t believe in cables and have very strong opinions about it. It's not my intention to trigger anybody, and instead I would like to share what I hear during my testing. What makes sense to me, a metal wire is a material with physical properties of resistivity, conductivity, purity, and unique geometry, all of which put together act as a filter between your source and headphones. Variations of these physical properties can affect the conductivity of analog signal, resulting in a sound change, from a subtle to a more noticeable level. If the talk about cables upsets you, please skip this section.

• Stock SPC to ALO Super Litz - adds a little more sub-bass rumble, and accentuates lower treble a little more, especially around "s". Also, I perceive soundstage having a little more depth then width, taking away the feeling of 3D holographic effect.
• Stock SPC to Linum SuperBaX - nearly identical to stock SPC cable.
• Stock SPC to DITA Oslo - adds a little more sub-bass rumble, and pushes lower treble a little more forward, making it more vivid, but surprisingly doesn't make it harsher or splashier. The soundstage width is slightly reduced.
• Stock SPC to ALO Ref8 - nearly identical to stock SPC cable.
• Stock SPC to iBasso CB12s - nearly identical to stock SPC cable.

Conclusion.

One of the questions my readers often ask me is to recommend IEMs to complement what they already have. It’s not always an easy task because there is so much overlap in tuning of today’s flagships, making it hard to recommend something different and more original. A8000 vivid micro-detailed sound tuning with a focus on speed, transparency, and clarity, along with a holographic soundstage, makes them unique. Perhaps it’s not for everybody, especially if you prefer a more natural smoother tonality, but it has a very distinct and quite enjoyable tuning.

Typically, I listen to IEMs with a more natural smoother tonality, especially when it comes to treble. So, when I switch to A8000 after my usual selection of naturally tuned monitors, it takes me a few seconds to adjust my ears to A8k vivid micro-detailed presentation of the sound. But once I do, it becomes so addictive that I'm having a hard time switching back, and some of my other favorite IEMs start to sound congested and bloated in comparison. And that is exactly how I would summarize my experience with A8000, being super addictive!

The fit is nice. The cables go around the ear. Somehow they tilt into your ear canal to give an almost custom style fit. So I suggest using smaller tips for a deeper insertion.

I got the A8000, very transparent sound signature. AKA U, whilst it maintains forward mids; so they never sound too thin either.


Good bass, but tilts more to the subbass. Can rumble like bigger drivers or smaller sealed drivers.

Voices are a step forward.

Little harsh but not ssssimbilant treble though; but it dances closely enough that bad mastered recordings treble will not be forgiving.

Very good soundstage that is not airy; keeps things dark as needed. Really deep cavernous feeling.


These remind me a lot of the sound signature of my brighter closed back Audio Technica headphones, but here as iems. Really good strike slam on high notes.


Do not seem to need a more powerful source to sound good.

But a source with certain aspects will synnergize well with it. Chord Hugo 2 gives it good voices representation.

The provided tips have a narrow bore to ease out the treble. If you are going to use your own favorite tips expect to have the treble more hot.

Comparison to my Shuoer EJ07:
Bass is not as tactile for the EJ07. EJ07 is more safely tuned with a slight V, making them a better fit for people's popular music selection.

Mids are a step back compared to the A8000 (which is an extra step forward) .

Highs in the EJ07 are much more smoother. Without leaving out the presence of any notes.

Soundstage in EJ07 is different, but I never felt it was small. Just that it is smaller than the A8000. Also the A8000 gives a deep dark cavernous soundstage, no air-feeling soundstage. The EJ07 gives the soundstage via a very small sense of air.


Imaging is great on both. Especially with the A8000 being able to handle heavy metal presentations. The EJ07 can have some notes coming off from an odd directions, using its Multi-driver setup. The A8000 can mimic this somehow which is amazing, though it does it with more energy than the EJ07 (which has a more practical smoother treble presentation) .

Compared to Imr Acoustics' Rah
Using my setup of the black nozzle and blue treble filter that I settled on.

Bass in the Rah goes as deep into the subbass, but its more forward. Can't raise the volume too much for the subbass will come through.

Voices come through cleanly. Actually... If the EJ07 is a step back, and the A8000 is a step forward, then the Rah is the nuetral goldilocks position. Very undistorted and smooth, does not contribute to effecting the soundstage. The Rah never has a track where voices sound wrong. Rah, has less eargain, but does have the essential lower-mids for the vocals.

Treble is less hot in the Rah than the A8000. But it is smooth like the EJ07 and contributes even more air for the soundstage. So like the EJ07, the soundstage is a more open airy stage style. (Unlike the A8000 dark silent cavern soundstage). The piezo ceramic driver gimmick is implented well.

Update 2022:
Comparison to Sennheiser ie900 & Dunu Luna
Sure, both have great subbass presentation.


A8000 has less a rounded hit in the midbass category.


A8000 has too fast a decay when compared to the IE900. Both the ie900 & a8000 have a fast decay if compared to the Dunu Luna. Luna is special in this regard.


A8000 has the better mids compared to the ie900. A8000 being best for clear vocals. Instrument notes hit too hard with the a8000, while harmonics get lost due to the fast decay. Ie900, doesn't hit as in-your-face (more reasonable in this sense), but lots of instruments are missing a sense of bite to them.


Both have a good metallic lower treble, with the ie900 being less harsh of the two. As for last octave treble, the A8000 decays too quickly to represent anything here other than having a good sense of cymbals. The ie900 does a better job in this front. While the Dunu Luna, being the best at this aspect (but Dunu Luna has a polite dip in the lower metallic treble for cymbal initial strike).


Closing remarks:

A8000 takes priority if you want to focus on vocals. Ie900, takes priority if you want that special midbass rounded hit.


A8000 has better instrument strike & intensity. Ie900 has better instrument trailing notes.


Both are kind of sibilant. Both have a great fit. It may help to use deep-fitting triple-felange tips with the Final A8000 to compensate for its sibilance. While the ie900 needs 3rd party tips that seal fully to not sound more treble-tilted.



Tl;dr
I would recommend the Final Audio A8000 iems. Everything has its niche; I especially recommend the A8000 to heavy metal fans.



Notice how the outside a little sticks out. This is not bulky, it just tilts into your ear.



Edit: November 2021
Applying some tricks to a8000:

Using triple felange tips for a deep fit. (Mechanical way to handle the metallic peaks)
Modified AutoEQ with extra subbass, flatter mids, & more last octave treble.
My dx300max with its amazing bass presentation as a source.

The copium power is strong. This works really well. As long as I don't read this outloud and hear myself how ridiculous it sounds

The ultimate IEM? The Final Audio A8000

May I thank you for at least reading these first few words, in a World where everything seems like it's taking too long or is out of date before it's on the shelf. Bear with me, if you will, for a 15 minute dip into the thoughts of a like minded individual just like you. You are caught up in a maze of choices, all of which seem to good to be true, and too tempting to avoid. I'm here for you. Stick with me, let us see where the journey takes us and welcome to my first written article for some time.
First of all, shout outs to the people behind the scenes who made this possible. @ostewart - Oscar, a great great reviewer and an asset to this hobby. A man of integrity, something to be admired in this day and age. Oscar introduced us all to a distributor, John Creigan of K & S Technology, who has supplied the tour model and been kind enough to cover our postage costs. Why have a distributor, a middle man between us and another company? I hear your cry. And I am extremely glad you have asked the question! Take the company in question here, Final Audio, for instance. Final are based in Japan. Without a UK distributor, it's a direct from Japan deal. No auditioning of said item, outside of the usual audio shows. Customs charges. Yes! And handling charges! And delays. Oh the wait! It can be agonising! And what if it gets lost in the post? Or damaged? Or goes wrong? OMG! This is putting me into a cold sweat just writing about this! A distributor solves all of these problems. They send them out to shops. The shops have them available for demo. You put your card into the machine, they hand you over the box. Any problems, you go back to the shop, the shop sorts your problems out. Simple. Stress free. In a life where trouble lurks behind every click on the "Buy Now" button of our souls, redemption can be found through the distributor. Distributors; what's not to love?

About the Final A8000

The Final Audio A8000 is a flagship IEM. It is the best 1 they do. The statement product, against which Final are willing to compete with the best of the best. Make no mistake, flagships are a tense business. They are serious. And they tend to command an equally sobering price tag. The A8000 are available in the UK, in all good outlets, for a cool £2000.
Let us look at what you get for £2000. The A8000 is a single driver design. It has a detachable cable feature. It is sensitive enough to sound half decent from the headphone port of a smartphone, but ideally would look for something with a slightly better amplifier. How could a tiny little thing like an iem justify such a lofty price tag? Final Audio informs us that they have spent a great deal of money on the materials used in the A8000. The flagship has a special driver in it. The driver is made from beryllium. Beryllium is expensive to make. It needs some of the most stringent quality control standards of any factory. It is extremely toxic when being produced. Don't worry; once it gets to us, it is as safe as any other iem for sale. The manufacturer takes all the risk. We just have to bear that risk in the retail price.
This metal is incredibly strong, and can therefore cope with being stretched. This creates the right conditions for a driver to keep to low distortion levels. Low distortion levels are what we seek in our journey to find the best in the World. Most every iem at this price level will have more than 1 driver doing the work. A driver in an iem is tiny. Most drivers would not be capable of really decent full range reproduction. To overcome this, a manufacturer will put in drivers for bass mid and high frequencies. More drivers, bigger sound. Each driver will have a cut off point, or a come alive point, in the frequency range. Each driver will need a crossover. Crossovers create distortion. There is a trade off. If a full range driver with low distortion could be made then just maybe it could outperform the rest of the pack.


This is where Final Audio come in. They believe they have created just that; a single driver that will conquer them all. You may be reading this and thinking; so if I get these, I can hang up my hat and say I'm finished; I've got the best IEM and the curtain is closed once and for all and no other will ever compete. No my friend! No! Never! There will always be more innovations, more claims to greatness. Even Final will not rest on their laurels for long. Something else will force us out of complacency and get us back looking at these reviews. I am not aware of anything being made with kryptonite yet! There is much left to do!
A driver is, of course, a very important part of what makes an iem great. However, there are other factors involved. This is where I come in. I will take you on a journey. We shall scour every detail I think is important. Then you can see whether this is truly the object of your desire.

Accessories/build

The Final Audio A8000 is a relatively simple affair. You get a cable. You get the iems. You get a small box of tips. You get a metal pouch to carry them in. Apart from a few odds and sods, that's it. No frills. No interchangeable filters. No posh booklets. No certificates of frequency response curves etc. I didn't know what I was expecting. But, for £2000 I was underwhelmed. You will say, who cares? If it's got the sound quality I want, I'll do without all the paraphernalia, they can keep it! And you might be right. Let's see. But let's go through this stuff first. Because, it can make a difference.


We start with the box. Cardboard outer sleeve, cardboard box inside. Typical iem size. No leather swankiness. Let us move on.


First layer protects the contents with silk paper.


Then wax paper follows.


And we open up said paper to reveal this metal pouch. It is a brushed steel affair and looks like it cannot be scratched. It's a weighty thing. It has more than a passing resemblance to a pebble in both size and heft.


The A8000's are opened from the bottom. 3 soft clasps keep the iem tightly under wraps.


The pouch is open and we can now see the A8000s. They are tastefully coiled together to get the iems neatly tucked away. There are no bands or wires to keep the cable from doing it's own stubborn thing and it takes some practice to get these in the box. A bit of patience and they're safely away for the night.


The rest. At the bottom we have a set of different size tips. Top left - a cable detachment device. It looks cheap and cheerful. But it does work really well. A bag of black dots is in the top right. These are replacement dust filters. The filters are presumably easy enough to change, because those dots are tiny. So it must be child's play. I didn't spend much time deliberating over this, my apologies. Lower right we have a set of silicon ear hooks. They look cheap and would detract from that silver braided cable for sure. Why didn't they make the cable with some memory wire attached? Each to their own. There'll be a reason.


A shot of the twisted braid cable. It looks lovely doesn't it? It's quite heavy. But then, so are the driver shells.


A close up of the terminations. Not a blob of solder or silicon to be seen. As you'd expect from a flagship. And no hand need ever pull at these to prise them out of the respective drivers, thanks to those tweezer/plier things.


A side view of that stainless steel finish. Almost like 2 pieces of jewellery.


The underside offers the only clue to the untrained eye that these are made by Final. The laser etching is nicely done, but mysteriously absent from the front.


A view of the unbalanced jack plug. Some strengthening here and some plastic alas is forced into our picture. This right angled plug has to be pulled out of the socket by hand and stainless steel gives way to slightly lighter, cheaper material, although it is almost transparent. There are some advantages of plastic over metal, though, of course, not normally in the lustre of the finish. Put these down on a glass table outside on a hot summer's day for very long. I'm sure your ears might regret that decision! Safe to say; keep these tucked away in that pouch if you're not using them.


As we admire the beauty of these iem's, we must also bear in mind that beauty needs function as well. Can you see the right hand edge of that driver? That had the nasty habit of giving the cartilage of my left ear a good seeing to after 30 minutes of use.


The flawless lines of these stainless steel drivers are difficult to argue against. But stainless steel is heavy and smooth as silk. With only a small eartip to keep these trapped in the ear canals, they were often trying to sneak out.The shells had a habit of sliding out of my ear canal, more so when I was leaning to one side.

The sound

I admit to not giving the most positive impressions above regards the lack of accessories and problems I had with the fit. All this will pale into insignificance if we can get the sound quality right. Headfier's can put up with some hardship if they are transported when they press play. That is a known fact. Let us now get to the nitty gritty.

Bass

I am pleased to tell you that the bass that comes out of the A8000 is the best bass I've heard from an iem. I will do my best to explain why, in as jargon free a manner as I can summon. There is subbass, the type of bass that you can feel more than hear. There is air moving against the ear. The sensation is almost fleeting at times. It stays there just long enough for you to wonder if it was really there at all. So it is fast and tight. The mid and upper bass has that similar viscerality. It just sounds right. I know the bass must have been tweaked to achieve this impression. I remained enchanted and enthralled throughout my time with them.



Mids/highs

I had a mixed reaction to the rest of the frequency range. The driver did do some great things. There was a delicacy and poise to the sound, in many tracks. Even some of the older numbers showed an ethereal quality to them. Albatross by Fleetwood Mac, with it's minimalist approach and the way in which the guitars ask and answer each other in harmonic bliss. Yes, we definitely have something here.
The longer I listened for, the more I became aware that many of the tracks have too much going on in them for them to properly benefit from the approach of the A8000. The fact is that the driver is very close to the eardrum and nothing is left out on the A8000. I found that fatigue was starting to set in after several loud rock tracks. There is more in my YouTube presentation shown below:





Conclusion

With much to like about the A8000, a bass that underpins the pedigree of these flagship iems, and a mid and high presentation that can bring out the very best in acoustic and orchestral music, there remains some question marks as to whether these can justify the £2000 price tag. I know that some have already bought these. They are absolutely delighted with their purchase. If you can, please try these out for yourselves. If you can get a satisfaction or your money back, even better again. Please keep in touch with the growing numbers that are showing interest in these products, as your opinion as an owner has an equal validity to mine. Thank you for your time, keep listening, keep reading and keep headfi'ing!

Final approached me to review their latest flagship IEMs and I had no idea what to expect. Possibly the biggest surprise was the single, pure beryllium dynamic driver. I have been a fan of dynamic driver IEMs, such as the DITA, Campfire Atlas and HiFiMan RE2000 though the tuning of the latter two weren't always the most friendly with all types of music.

The A8000 arrived in somewhat of an un-remarkable box -- at this price many people expect something along the lines of what Sony provides with the IER-Z1R (but, granted, Sony has always been the king of overkill packaging, even with their cheaper offerings). A small amount of critique is also worth putting towards their use of plastic in this day and age, though that is as much a reflection of Japan and its high-tech incineration of burnable garbage as anything.

A nice surprise is the remarkably thin case. I consider most zip pouches (think Campfire and Meze) to be sufficiently small, but the clever metal-and-rubber case of the A8000s is no thicker than one of my average-sized hands, and makes those aforementioned zip cases look unsophisticated in comparison.

The attention to detail is what makes the A8000 special. One has to start with the yellow cable removal tool. Why has nobody thought of this before?!? It takes much of the stress out of removing the cables from the IEMs.

The optional ear guides, which appear to be made of silicon, can, with a bit of fiddling, be attached to the cables and provide a comfortable way to maintain a good fit of the IEMs. This balances nicely against their weight which, being polished steel, are on the heavy side.

The cable, while not being particularly remarkable beyond the matching metal parts, is particularly good. At one point I swapped it with the Campfire Audio Reference 8, and found that to be possibly a slight downgrade, rather than an upgrade to the sound so I'll say no more about it. Maybe those more enthusiastic about cable rolling will find a good match.

Sound, of course, is where the A8000 is excellent, initially surprising with a large soundstage (as much as an IEM can have soundstage). Listening through a wide variety of music from my Hugo 2, the degree of clarity surprised me. In getting a handle on the sound signature, I found the A8000s delivered bass to what seemed the exact degree that it was in the music. If there was a lot, then a lot of was delivered. If there wasn't much, then that is what you heard. It was of sufficient quality that during some tracks, I felt that I didn't like the bass presentation, and it wasn't the IEMs, but clearly the result of the mastering itself that I had disagreement with.

The spaciousness of the sound made me feel initially that the mid-range is a bit recessed, as vocals and instruments were not up-front. I think part of this may have been to do with the treble, which, while outstanding in quality, is on the bright side and, if Jude's measurements are anything to go by, slightly higher than the Harman target curve for IEMs. Patricia Barber's Higher album was sibilant, for example. Memories of the HD800 when they were released and our issues with SCHWEEET Jane come to mind. When this wasn't an issue, however, the most difficult of instruments were reproduced with excellent clarity, such as cymbals and violin.

It was this brutal reveal, and complete lack of editorialisation of the sound that are the hallmark of the A8000. High-quality recordings were outstanding. Stuff that I like a lot but clearly has distortion was fairly unlistenable. Compare that to, say, the HiFiMan RE2000, which, with its v-shaped sound, brings plenty of bass to the sound, while the hot treble brings air, colouring everything (as most IEMs do) but, where the music is good, in a pleasant way. The A8000, on the other hand, gives you the music exactly as it is (plus a bit of brightness).

Unlike the RE2000, which has to be used with narrow-bore tips, or the sound goes all wonky, the A8000 has the output of the driver going through four holes, providing sufficient restriction that wide-bore tips have less effect. This made the use of Spiral Dot tips possible, though they didn't seem to provide a significant benefit over the stock, and very good Final Type E tips that are included.

Ultimately, Final's A8000 is sonically too good. If it weren't for the treble being a bit too hot, I might have considered giving them 5 stars.

Silent unboxing:

A8000 is the new flagship from Final Audio, featuring a single beryllium dynamic driver.

This review was organised by K&S Technology and Final Audio and I'm thankful for this opportunity.

In the box:

• IEMs
• 1.2m 3.5mm cable
• MMCX Assist tool
• Metal case
• 5 Sets of silicone tips
• Replacement mesh filters
• Earhooks

Accessories:
It's hard to approach build quality of such a luxury item without expectations, especially considering how much the cheaper market has improved over last year. Thankfully the A8000 delivers in this regard.

The IEM shells, made out of steel feel very well finished, with substantial weight to them, the edges are, even though they look quite sharp are perfectly finished.


The cable is nicely braided and light, it doesn't keep much memory and isn't prone to microphonics, to me the included "earhooks" are kind of a strange idea but they are the best implementation of this kind of system I've seen so far, but more on that later.


The case has an extremely premium feel to it, the finish and texture are just a pleasure to handle even though I would have preferred slightly roomier one if I was going to change the cable. The MMCX Assist tool is probably one of the best tools for IEMs I've seen, as someone who owns a lot of cables, it proves very useful and saves from the stress of disconnecting MMCX plugs which are prone to breakage.

The added mesh filters are a really nice touch, the amount of IEMs where those got dirty and had to be cleaned and re-glued with DIY methods I had over the years is hard to count. This proves Final is taking the longevity of the A8000 seriously.

All in all, the quality of the accessories is very nice, however, I wish a second balanced cable and some different tip options would be provided in such an expensive package.

Fit and comfort:
The A8000 is made of steel which makes them very heavy, this combined with their shape proved to be quite fatiguing to wear for prolonged periods of time. After a couple of hours, the IEMs would start hurt the back part of the ear and it would only get worse over time.

The cable without the ear hooks was quite difficult for me to use, it wouldn't provide enough support to take some of the IEM weight off of the ear which in turn made them fatiguing to wear even faster.

Sound:
A8000 has a U shaped with great speed, extension and amazing staging capabilities.

Bass:
Tight, fast, with a subbass emphasis. The A8000 manages to play the deepest notes of "Bonefied - Window" effortlessly, presenting all the detail in a volume of clean extremely detailed sound. There's absolutely no bleed or lack of control anywhere. The beryllium driver definitely does its job here.

Midrange:
Again, fast and very detailed sound, with great timbre with maybe a touch of metallic sheen to it which to me was most noticeable with acoustic guitars getting. Vocals are more forward than they should be considering the U shaped signature which is surprising but welcome to see. Female vocals can get slightly hollow depending on tips used (I recommend acoustune AET08 and spinfit CP145). No matter how busy the mix, A8000 present everything effortlessly. As I was listening to some badly mastered music it became apparent the A8000 isn't forgiving of badly recorded tracks, especially of sibilance. To make matters worse, the resonance region of the driver seems to overlap with the voice sibilance region which made the effect even worse for those tracks.

Treble:
Yet again, treble is very detailed, fast and extends very well. It has a substantial amount of air and creates an incredible sense of air within the music. All this comes at a cost, A8000 doesn't forgive a bad mix or slightly emphasised cymbals presenting them as quite harsh. Scrubbing through a frequency generator it's easy to find another driver resonance in the 7-8k region.

Imaging and Soundstage:
Staging is probably where the A8000 shines the most, you are presented with this room like experience. More than a few times, during my listening, I had to check whether my speakers were off, that's not an easy feat for an IEM. On top of that, the imaging and layering are excellent.

Conclusion:
Final A8000 are unique, they create a portable listening experience which can compare to a room with speakers. Unfortunately, this comes at a cost, driver resonances rendering most of the average or badly mastered music hard to listen to. Is it worth the asking price of £1999? I think that largely depends on what music you listen to and whether you can justify the price tag of uniqueness.

The final A8000 ($1,999) is the new flagship IEM from this venerable firm known for its headphones and IEMs. Over five years ago, final began the design of this single dynamic driver (DD) model with the goal to produce an IEM that excels in transparency, and through new technologies that became available during the lengthy design phase, namely the advancement of material science, final engineers developed what they assert is the first pure beryllium foil driver ever used in an IEM. By combining this ultra-thin, ultra-light diaphragm and enclosing it in a stainless steel, multi-compartmented shell, final officially released the A8000 in Japan recently to great acclaim.



Before I begin my listening experience with the A8000, I'd like to thank Kyo-san from final Japan for sending me a loaner in which to assess its capabilities. I received the A8000 three weeks ago, and for the first ten days straight, I ran it through my burn-in procedure. My source component for this review is the Astell&Kern AK240SS ($2,999). Finally, all music used for my evaluation was lossless with no EQ.

The A8000 is super-fast with transcendent detail retrieval, unlike any single dynamic driver design I've ever heard. I've always been a fan of single DD IEMs having owned most of the top end JVC woodies (still have the HA-FW01) and the Sennheiser IE 800. For those familiar with final's FI-BA-SS IEM, there is a family resemblance in terms of tonality, but the A8000 has much greater transparency, and purity, as we shall see.

Sinéad O'Connor / So Far / You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart / 16/44.1

Perhaps my favorite female vocalist, Sinéad's range is impressive. Midway through this song, the tempo picks up and her voice explodes with emotion, every nuance of her expressiveness clearly conveyed. This song is quite dense at times, yet everything is separated out into a cavernous presentation.

Biosphere / Microgravity / Baby Satellite / 16/44.1

I wanted to assess the bass performance of the A8000, especially the low bass, and this electronica album begins with emphasized, sub-bass tones. The A8000 handled these tones with aplomb, the taut nature of its bass performance showcasing a fullness that is quite satisfying.

Cowboy Junkies / The Trinity Sessions / Misguided Angel / 16/44.1

This album is well known in the audiophile world due to its minimalist miking of the performance inside a church. Margo Timmins' voice conveys an ethereal quality which the A8000 captures fully with delicacy and spatiality. The A8000 easily reveals how the different band members occupy space in each direction, surrounding each member in a cushion of air.

Jackson Browne / Late For the Sky / Before the Deluge / 24/96

Jackson's voice comes across with a clarity and expressiveness that I had not heard before my time with the A8000. His intake of breath before beginning a new phrase is clearly resolved, and the voices of the chorus members separate out behind him with great layering, adding to the beauty of this song.



Summing up, the A8000 has world class transparency which continued to transfix me during my lengthy listening sessions. Some may find the top end too aggressive at times (no harsh sibilance to my ears), but with proper burn-in and source material, and a source component up to the challenge, the A8000 throws out a huge soundstage on all three axes, the width and depth among the best I've ever heard from an IEM. The midrange melds in nicely with the heightened trebles, and the bass performance, in my view, was quite satisfying; even sub-bass tones came through with some authority, yet never in a boomy manner. Every album I listened to over the course of my evaluation was reproduced with tiny detail I had not heard before, bringing excitement to my experience.

The engineers at final have produced a world class product, and those that resonate with my sensitivities should find an opportunity to listen to this spectacular transducer. The A8000 truly is an exciting listen!