[Umwelt]

A nice pure copper cable should due the trick. Congrats on your A8000 purchase! If it is brand new, 150 hours is what final recommends in regards to burn-in.

Has Final ever commented on what physically is expected to change during/after those 150 hours? Maybe the beryllium membrane becomes more supple?

 

[mochill]

By the way, the A8000 sounds really good when paired with a good 8 wire OFC cable like the Sony Kimble Kable. Still excellent technically but it does take some of the raw edge off the trebles.

I think the s.k. version is same driver with maybe filter tuning to the nozzle and some beautiful design shell? Am I correct

 

[lafeuill]

The voice coil is different.

 

[jwbrent]

I think the s.k. version is same driver with maybe filter tuning to the nozzle and some beautiful design shell? Am I correct

Same beryllium driver, but a modified surround using DITA’s adhesive technology.

 

[jwbrent]

Has Final ever commented on what physically is expected to change during/after those 150 hours? Maybe the beryllium membrane becomes more supple?

I believe the surround on the driver loosens up during burn-in, plus the cable benefits from extended playtime.

 

[LightBlue77]

i have a copper cable which is suppose to have high quality, a8000 sound very well out from a sony wm1a but i don't think any burn in is real.

 

[jwbrent]

i have a copper cable which is suppose to have high quality, a8000 sound very well out from a sony wm1a but i don't think any burn in is real.

final recommends 150 hours of burn-in, or in its parlance, “aging.” I concur.

 

[NinjaGirayaZ]

Compared four cables yesterday night, on my Final A8000. Stock 3.5mm vs CEMA Tianwaitian vs Fengru Hakugei White Dragon vs CEMA Pipa.

I used my main dac, a powerful Audio-GD dual WM8741, hooked to iFi's Pro iCan. One of the 1/4in output had a 1/8 adapter for the stock cable, the second identical output a 4.4mm adapter for the other three cables. I just had to switch the inear connectors to compare two at a time.

Long story short, Pipa was the last to be tested and cleared the table. It's a perfect match to the A8000 for my ears. Tianwaitian was the previous pair up, a very nice combo but a bit too soft on the lower treble, I now see.

Pipa gives a sense of focus, fidelity and tremendous energy to the already very competent A8000. I've been binge listening great music all afternoon, the feeling of perfect synergy has not wavered in the slightest.

Here's one the highlights of the day :

As always with Grisman, production quality is top notch. Listening to this one is a delight of tone and vibrancy. Such a true to life first row experience of music.

Other blasts were :

and

Magnificent renderings.

In a more synth-pop-with-a-twist mood, this one was a treat :

I've been to three of their shows in Paris, love all their albums. Delicious on the A8000 / Pipa pairing.

The moniker Pipa refers to a Chinese string instrument, which I heard played by Wu Man on this album many years ago :

Very thoughtful of CEMA to have chosen such a name.

Today's listening was experienced with my DX300, streaming Qobuz, mid gain with a 50 to 60 volume, D1 filter. Beautifully intense, without any harshness. Tuned to perfection.

This is the most impressive inear / cable pairing I've experienced, period. The previous one was VE8 with Dunu Hulk, which - again to my ears - was a superior match compared to way more expensive offerings.

Bravo CEMA, I'm very grateful.



And the Tianwaitian will happily return to the Luna ^^

How does Pipa do in relation to the bass? Does it increase them or stifle them?

 

[calpiyuki]

Has anyone's cable for their a8000 turn yellow? Will the silver cable change color in the future? I am trying to preserve the "all silver" look

 

[jwbrent]

Has anyone's cable for their a8000 turn yellow? Will the silver cable change color in the future? I am trying to preserve the "all silver" look

I believe the conductors are litzed, and if so, there won’t be any green coloring from oxidation.

 

[krude]

I recently got into iems and went for Solaris mk1 and now a8000 …

I have to say I love the finals, I use a medium E tip with smaller bore and they sound quite warm and lush with it (rather than brighter and shouty with other tips).

For me this is pretty much a slightly warm and smooth take on reference tuning. Detail is excellent, sound stage is medium. Dynamic and bass excellent.

They remind me a lot of Utopia in their delivery, but with a lot more bass and slam in their out of the box tuning.

I would also compare them to studio monitors in a really well treated room, with a very smooth presentation, but retaining detail.

I’m going to be evaluating them against u12t and the Odin hopefully soon … will see but they are awesome so far.

 

[jwbrent]

I recently got into iems and went for Solaris mk1 and now a8000 …

I have to say I love the finals, I use a medium E tip with smaller bore and they sound quite warm and lush with it (rather than brighter and shouty with other tips).

For me this is pretty much a slightly warm and smooth take on reference tuning. Detail is excellent, sound stage is medium. Dynamic and bass excellent.

They remind me a lot of Utopia in their delivery, but with a lot more bass and slam in their out of the box tuning.

I would also compare them to studio monitors in a really well treated room, with a very smooth presentation, but retaining detail.

I’m going to be evaluating them against u12t and the Odin hopefully soon … will see but they are awesome so far.

Congrats on your A8000! final recommends 150 hours of burn-in to fully settle, so you may hear even greater improvements as you continue to listen.

 

[krude]

So, some impressions if anyone is interested :

Compared to Odin (battling a God) :
Odin is just a better performing iem, but Odin performs betters than pretty much anything else, at least for me. Having said that, they trade blows in my setup. I started with putting A8k on sale, a few things happened and they are not on sale anymore ... let me explain.

While Odin is technically a better, faster, more precise iem with a better sound stage, imaging, texture, bass precission, mids, highs ... A8k is not that far behind on it's own, and it bests Odin in 2 things : natural and effortless presentation and sub bass slam. The bass on A8k is a lot more loose (or maybe on the Odin is just a lot more tight), but the effortless and natural sounding slam of A8k will make anyone who likes deep and thundering bass smile. Now for the effortless presentation, it's less precise than the Odin which I find laser sharp, but Odin feels really tightly tuned and calculated, while A8k sounds more natural and effortless ... I'm probably repeating myself at this point

And then there is running A8k from tubes ... which I will get to more at the end.

Compared to Utopia :
It's the same setup, and it has much the same traits as the Utopia. Same effortless speed, same levels of detail (mind you Odin is better, there I said it, to my ears Odin is a step up in detail from Focal Utopia ... take it with a grain of salt, your milage may vary but for me it's acutally quite a bit better especially in bass precision and midrange) ... anyway, A8k I find to be on the level of Utopia which is no surprise give the tech. For me personally A8k is a better Utopia, both objectively and subjectively ... the objective part only applies if you're after harman curve tunning and sub bass presence ... the subjective is that for me it's quite a bit smoother all around than the Utopia, and I prefer the harman curve. It also has a very similar staging (relatively small but deep) and imaging to Utopia (precise and sharp).

I recently sold my Utopia, I really love this headphone, we had a love hate relationship, but it's one of the very few sets I would buy again. I was going to sell the A8k because Odin, but ... I got my hands on a HA6a tube amp in the meantime.

Tubes :
I also got my hands on a tube amp in the meantime ... and while for some sets it doesn't make a huge difference (like for Odin, it does a bit obv but not massive) on a dynamic driver iem it makes a HUGE difference to the sound stage and presentation. What was already effortless and natural is even more natural, to a point where it feels organic ... as cliche as it sounds ... soundstage expands ... probably about x2.5 times ... and turns into a proper out of head experience ... and the bass ... the bass just thunders. It's not a technical listen, but it is hugely enjoybale, like a good vinyl : )

So ... the moral of the story is, Odin is a better set (no suprises), but A8k has some really unique traits, and on Tubes I would say it bests Odin, and most things I've heard ... it is spectacular on tubes! This is a true endgame setup.

Downside :
The only real downside I've found is that on really complex and highly compressed tracks with a load of bass the single driver setup will find it's limits ... but ... those are very very few and far between. I'm talking really extreme drum and bass here, or acousic ensables with huge dynamic range, bass hits overlayed with complex passages, that sort of thing. It's really hard to find those limits, but I have to mention it here.

All in all, my A8k is no longer for sale, and I doubt it ever will be to be honest after hearing it on tubes. Plus I love how the set looks and feels! The build and feel is trully excellent!

 

[snk8699]

So, some impressions if anyone is interested :

Compared to Odin (battling a God) :
Odin is just a better performing iem, but Odin performs betters than pretty much anything else, at least for me. Having said that, they trade blows in my setup. I started with putting A8k on sale, a few things happened and they are not on sale anymore ... let me explain.

While Odin is technically a better, faster, more precise iem with a better sound stage, imaging, texture, bass precission, mids, highs ... A8k is not that far behind on it's own, and it bests Odin in 2 things : natural and effortless presentation and sub bass slam. The bass on A8k is a lot more loose (or maybe on the Odin is just a lot more tight), but the effortless and natural sounding slam of A8k will make anyone who likes deep and thundering bass smile. Now for the effortless presentation, it's less precise than the Odin which I find laser sharp, but Odin feels really tightly tuned and calculated, while A8k sounds more natural and effortless ... I'm probably repeating myself at this point

And then there is running A8k from tubes ... which I will get to more at the end.

Compared to Utopia :
It's the same setup, and it has much the same traits as the Utopia. Same effortless speed, same levels of detail (mind you Odin is better, there I said it, to my ears Odin is a step up in detail from Focal Utopia ... take it with a grain of salt, your milage may vary but for me it's acutally quite a bit better especially in bass precision and midrange) ... anyway, A8k I find to be on the level of Utopia which is no surprise give the tech. For me personally A8k is a better Utopia, both objectively and subjectively ... the objective part only applies if you're after harman curve tunning and sub bass presence ... the subjective is that for me it's quite a bit smoother all around than the Utopia, and I prefer the harman curve. It also has a very similar staging (relatively small but deep) and imaging to Utopia (precise and sharp).

I recently sold my Utopia, I really love this headphone, we had a love hate relationship, but it's one of the very few sets I would buy again. I was going to sell the A8k because Odin, but ... I got my hands on a HA6a tube amp in the meantime.

Tubes :
I also got my hands on a tube amp in the meantime ... and while for some sets it doesn't make a huge difference (like for Odin, it does a bit obv but not massive) on a dynamic driver iem it makes a HUGE difference to the sound stage and presentation. What was already effortless and natural is even more natural, to a point where it feels organic ... as cliche as it sounds ... soundstage expands ... probably about x2.5 times ... and turns into a proper out of head experience ... and the bass ... the bass just thunders. It's not a technical listen, but it is hugely enjoybale, like a good vinyl : )

So ... the moral of the story is, Odin is a better set (no suprises), but A8k has some really unique traits, and on Tubes I would say it bests Odin, and most things I've heard ... it is spectacular on tubes! This is a true endgame setup.

Downside :
The only real downside I've found is that on really complex and highly compressed tracks with a load of bass the single driver setup will find it's limits ... but ... those are very very few and far between. I'm talking really extreme drum and bass here, or acousic ensables with huge dynamic range, bass hits overlayed with complex passages, that sort of thing. It's really hard to find those limits, but I have to mention it here.

All in all, my A8k is no longer for sale, and I doubt it ever will be to be honest after hearing it on tubes. Plus I love how the set looks and feels! The build and feel is trully excellent!

Thank you for sharing your detailed impressions! I was always curious about this comparison.

 

[gazzington]

Matter of interest do warm daps like the m8 calm the brightness of the a8000. Or do certain cables or tips help?