Final Audio A6000

A few people have asked me about the Final Audio a6000 so I figured I’d do a mini review


It’s my first time doing this so I know there’s gonna be a lot of grammar errors

Intro

A few things about me—I’m a musician who records music, writes poetry, and does YouTube/fashion content. I got into this hobby about two years ago, but I’ve always been into tech and music. I’m no audiophile, but I figured I’d do a mini review.

I’ve been daily driving the Final Audio A5000 for about a year—it was the first IEM I ever purchased. The only other IEM I can compare the A6000 to is my Dunu SA6 MK1. I paid $900 NZD for the A6000 here in New Zealand, which is retail price—around $479 USD.

Driver

The A6000 uses a brand-new, in-house 6mm dynamic driver. Final Audio states:

“The flagship model A8000 was fixed directly to the stainless steel housing to maximize the performance of the driver. For the A6000, a new stainless steel mounting frame was developed to hold the ‘f-Core DU.’ The lightweight resin housing provides a comfortable fit, while the internal metal frame increases the rigidity of the housing and firmly supports the driver. This has resulted in a sound quality with extremely fine sound grain and clear contours of each sound.”

The A6000 is now the second-best A-series IEM—or the little brother of the A8000, which has been discontinued.

Design

Looks-wise, they’re identical to the A5000, with the same 3D-printed Shibo finish that has a grainy texture. Comfort is just as good—they fit flush against the ear and don’t poke out like some other IEMs.

The new cable uses crystal copper, and I like it because it’s lightweight, similar to the A5000. It also doesn’t force you to wrap it around your ears like the Dunu does. Sadly, there’s no 4.4mm connection—only 3.5mm—but that doesn’t really matter to me.

The comfort for me is 5/5 they fit flush against my air & they’re one of the most comfortable iems I’ve ever tried.

You get a rubber/silicone-style case, which I think is kinda wack compared to what other brands include, but it does the job.

Sound

There aren’t any FR graphs out there yet, so I’m just going off what I hear.

Pairing these with my FiiO KA17 DAC, they blew me away. I really liked the A5000, but I always wished they had more mids—granted, those were V-shaped. The A6000 sounds cleaner and more neutral.

Bass

The bass is cleaner and smoother than the A5000. It’s sub-bass-focused, not so much on the mid-bass. It slams, but it doesn’t sound as full as the Dunu SA6. The SA6 isn’t a bass-heavy set, but its mid-bass gives it a fuller sound. The A6000, on the other hand, can feel like something is missing in the bass region, but that also helps it separate it from the midrange

Midrange

The mids are much more present this time around—which is exactly what I wanted from the A5000. Instruments like guitars and pianos sound great, and I feel like Final excels in this area. That said, vocals on the Dunu SA6 MK1 are more forward than on the A6000, but Final sounds more balanced overall.

Treble

The treble on the A6000 is fantastic. It has that airiness and sparkle that makes vocals shine, and it sounds incredible. Playing Adele – Easy On Me, her voice comes through beautifully—I feel like I can hear every minute detail. It might be on the verge of piercing for some, but for me, it never quite reaches that point. The treble is really well done. The A5000 has great treble too, but the A6000 takes it to another level.

Imaging & Soundstage

Instrument separation and imaging are great. Playing some rock tracks, the Dunu SA6 can feel a little cluttered, but with the A6000, I never had that issue.

The soundstage is wider than the A5000, which was already pretty good for the price. I don’t know if it’s just my ears or the DAC I’m using, but the Dunu SA6 sounds more holographic/3D in terms of soundstage, while the A6000 sounds wider. It feels more spread out—almost like the sound is going beyond your head. The reverb and overall presentation just sound amazing.

Conclusion

The resolution and detail are definitely there, and I feel like Final really stepped it up with this one. Granted, it’s a bright-sounding IEM, and some people might not like Final’s tuning. Some might even say these sound dull or boring, but for me, they’re fantastic. I honestly think this is a pair everyone should have in their bag.

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I tried so hard to like these. They do have a lot of nice things going for them, but ultimately the shrill, unnatural timbre and tonality proved to be unbearable for any real listening. They’ve since been returned. Here are my thoughts and observations while using them daily when they arrived, and some comparisons with a couple other IEMs.

Comfort/fit-

This is the best aspect of this IEM. They are so damn comfortable for me, as they are lightweight and fit flawlessly into my ears. I never get discomfort and they never get weighed down and want to fall out of break the seal. The stock tips are very shallow, and they have only different sizes as far as circumference, so you might need to swap with something else as they are all very shallow, but worked well for me. I did try some other third party tips and they all worked fine for me.

Build/accessories - Great build, super lightweight 3d printed housing is very comfortable and sleek (though basic and utilitarian), but it still feels very durable.

Accessories are laughably bad. Besides the upgraded braided cable, you get the same accessories with this as all the other A Series IEMs. Which is, not much at all. The carrying case is this tiny, flimsy “blister pack” type deal which just feels ridiculous and cheap. This is a $479 pair of IEMs. The current flagship of the A Series. And you get dollar-store level accessories. No tuning nozzles, no balanced cable, one set of shallow tips, and the soft case. I mention balanced stuff and tuning nozzles because the two other IEMs I have that are half (or even less than half) of this price have all this and more. It’s just weird.

SOUND- Ugh. I tried so hard to like these. The stage is huge. It extends in all directions. Not as much depth as far as width, but it’s really, really impressive. Very detailed, very resolving, no complaints on that front. These stage is very diffuse though, and lacks dynamics and punch. It sounds a bit compressed in the front as far as depth and dynamics, especially in the midrange.

It’s the frequency response and tonality/timbre that absolutely kill this IEM for me. There’s no other way for me to put it, they are SHRILL. They are shouty, honky, wonky, any word I can think of that any other reviewer has ever used to describe an unpleasant tonality, I can genuinely apply to these. The upper mids and treble have random spikes and create resonances that are truly grating and unpleasant.

Strings have great texture, but a shrill timbre that resonate in all the worst ways. Ear piercing, thin, grating. Pianos sound thin and distant. Vocalists sound hollow. Kick drums lack punch. It truly is like listening through a small, tinny speaker (tinny as in a tin can, not tiny).

I tried for many, many hours to get used to it. I remember people complaining about the HD800 tonality, but I sound it enjoyable after a while. Imagine that treble spike of the OG hd800 and multiply is by a thousand. I just couldn’t do it. Where the stock hd 800 also had a smoothness and balance/richness in the mids and bass, the a6000 just sounds rough, peaky, uneven. Polished and smooth are the last words that come to mind when I hear this IEM.

The bass also has almost no impact. I even swapped out the tips for a larger style with a longer stem, and inserted the BASS BOOST nozzle filters from the AKG n5005 into the stem of the tips, so the filter sat flush directly against the a6000 nozzle. This actually did help quite a bit, but it couldn’t save them. The bass isn’t non existent, it’s just weirdly tuned and very flat. No sense of fun in the bass here.


VS AKG n5005- the n5005 sound infinitely more textured, dynamic, and lively. Even frequency response., massive bass if desired, and while there’s a slight decrease in stage width, the depth and impact, texture, and overall cohesion is miles better. I paid $200 for these.

Vs 7hz Timeless II - the clarity present in the Timeless II is instantly more pleasing, polished, smooth, and just downright head and shoulders better than the A6000. The a6000 once again wins as far as stage width, by a fairly large margin. Everything else- tonality, separation, instrument timbre, dynamics, polish- are significantly better on the Timeless II. I paid $230 dollars for these.

Both of the IEMs in the comparison had hard carrying cases, tuning nozzles/filters, balanced cables and/or other adaptors, and a huge selection of ear tips. For under $250…

A6000 is not worth it for this listener and lover of orchestral scores, jazz, EDM, metal and classic rock.

One of the worst FR and overall tonality I’ve ever heard, personally. I found the a4000 overly bright but the a6000 is much more honky and shouty. Hard pass and they’ve been returned.