Final Audio Design Impressions and Discussion Thread

[F700]

Final Sonorous VI with Lawton lambskin leather pads - my way to go if I need/want clarity, energy and details. The bass pounds heavier without losing its tightness. The treble is tamed down a bit. There are no sibilance and/or harshness, but it remains a bright headphone in the signature. Tonal balance is just fantastic in my opinion. A very nice pair of headphone indeed.

 

[samuraivoodoo]

d8000 or sonorous series viii/x? I want the realism of the totl iems

 

[NymPHONOmaniac]

forgot to shae my review of the very nice B2 here. I mean, how can a single BA achieve this wide range sound??? And....this bass. Not a boomy sub centric one, a well controled realist one. Again, i'm very impress by FA tuning magic!
review on headfi or my reviews website

 

[jhog]

Just wondering if anyone here has compared the Final Sonorous VI with the Shure SRH1540? I have the Shure and love the spacious soundstage and detail, but not such a fan of the Midbass hump and boominess it sometimes displays. would the Sonorous be an upgrade in that sense, especially listening to classical etc? Also, how are the Sonorous comfort-wise?

thanks so much in advance

 

[jwbrent]

Just wondering if anyone here has compared the Final Sonorous VI with the Shure SRH1540? I have the Shure and love the spacious soundstage and detail, but not such a fan of the Midbass hump and boominess it sometimes displays. would the Sonorous be an upgrade in that sense, especially listening to classical etc? Also, how are the Sonorous comfort-wise?

thanks so much in advance

In my humble opinion, the VI is one of the best sounding headphones under $1,000. I can’t compare it to the Shure since I’ve never listened to it, but if you like an extended top end with great micro detail retrieval, then you should try to audition it. The bass performance is quite good as well, and the midrange, to my ears, is neutral with very little grain.

This headphone which is easy to drive deserves to be used with higher quality gear in order to truly appreciate how good it is (I use an A&K AK240SS). Some claim it is too bright sounding due to its use of a BA driver for the trebles, but I disagree, and I am very sensitive to any anomalies in the upper frequencies. Regarding the comfort, I never had troubles listening to the VI for extended periods of time (> than two hours), but this is a highly individual quality. The design of the VI spreads its ~480 gram weight evenly, so I never felt any pressure points.

With all this said, I’m giving my VI to my 17 year old son who has followed in my footsteps of loving music and higher quality audio gear. I’ve gotten to the point of not wanting to collect headphones/IEMs anymore, and my current final D8000, final B1, and Focal Utopia give me enough variety to satisfy my listening needs without getting bored. Yes, I’ve attained end game status that for my age (60), is a good thing. This passion is getting very expensive these days.

 

[chickenman413]

so my e5000 cable just broke ,can anyone suggest good silver balance cable

 

[jwbrent]

so my e5000 cable just broke ,can anyone suggest good silver balance cable

How old is your E5000? The cable may be under warranty.

 

[DivineCurrent]

Hey, speaking of the E5000 cable, can someone tell me how to properly remove the cable from the housing, without it breaking? It's almost impossible for me to hold a grip onto the shiny metal surface, my fingers slip off before I can get it to budge. I don't want to pull on the cable itself.

 

[kmmbd]

Hey, speaking of the E5000 cable, can someone tell me how to properly remove the cable from the housing, without it breaking? It's almost impossible for me to hold a grip onto the shiny metal surface, my fingers slip off before I can get it to budge. I don't want to pull on the cable itself.

You can try something like this:
https://m.es.aliexpress.com/item/32...d=5747amp-1az8e6NJg-Ah2iAl9-ogDA1570125612373
I have one and it works for most cables including the E5000.

 

[kingdixon]

Hey, speaking of the E5000 cable, can someone tell me how to properly remove the cable from the housing, without it breaking? It's almost impossible for me to hold a grip onto the shiny metal surface, my fingers slip off before I can get it to budge. I don't want to pull on the cable itself.

sometimes it is easier to pull or pinch at the contact area between the plug and the iem, not from the cable or the beginning of the plug, try the upper contact area.

 

[PopZeus]

Hey, speaking of the E5000 cable, can someone tell me how to properly remove the cable from the housing, without it breaking? It's almost impossible for me to hold a grip onto the shiny metal surface, my fingers slip off before I can get it to budge. I don't want to pull on the cable itself.

I find it useful to have a lens cloth or something soft with enough friction as a barrier between the cable housing and my fingertips. That way I can get enough leverage and grip the connection point and pull straight outward without my fingers slipping.

 

[jwbrent]

Final designs its MMCX cables this way because the connector loosens and affects proper contact with repeated connect/disconnects.

 

[DivineCurrent]

Well, thank you all for the suggestions, I finally got the cables disconnected after much struggling. At least they should now be loosened up a bit.
Anyway, the cable issues I had are easily forgiven, because the E5000 are the best IEMs I have heard to date! Granted I haven't heard many IEMs, but I like them a lot better than the rest of the ones I own: Etymotic ER2SE, Hifiman RE-400, and Meze 12 Classics.
I find the sub bass to be very present, almost too much sometimes with certain music. Other than that, it's very balanced across the mids and treble.

 

[Infoseeker]

so my e5000 cable just broke ,can anyone suggest good silver balance cable

Any cable is good, but if you want something really low profile get an overpriced Linum cable.

I am surprised no Chifi company has tried to make a competing cable. So maybe it isn't really overpriced?

I have their relatively reasonably 69 euro 3.5mm cable which is perfect on my E5000. It is perfect for this barrel form factor.

But that other balanced premium cable's price... Reason I bring them up. They have a clearance sale right now for 99Euro since they have updated their design. I would highly recommend it and catching this sale.

https://www.linum.dk/shop/buy-now/

 

[DivineCurrent]

So, I’ve started noticing channel imbalance issues with my E5000. I saw someone else had channel imbalance as well on this thread. I ordered them from Amazon, so maybe I should just return for another pair? Or should I contact Final Audio? I tried swapping cables too, no difference.