Final Audio Design Impressions and Discussion Thread

[pholcus1975]

@CT007 : now I'm feeling scared, I got them for metal, and bass must be there, fast and lean, but must be there.

 

[Edric Li]

A4000: My first Final Audio product.

The cheapest build quality I've probably ever seen. Basic plastic. They weight nothing. They look like they're made of Sculpey. KZ blows this thing out of the water. Even their craptastic brown cable is nicer than what A4000 has. Shocking, for $159 in 2021. Inexcusable. Tips are good quality, though(you bought these for great tips, right?).

These sound very, very detailed in the treble. Lots of texture and minute clicks, pops and shimmer are audible with these. Light, bright, airy and very clear. With stock tips + stock cable + no burn-in = a little too bright for me with most of the content I listen to. The crackling sound of a fire, for example, is quite exaggerated. Female vocals, acoustic guitars, and distorted metal/rock guitars are fairly sharp. Not a painful or piercing brightness, just an excessively "treble enhanced" sound. If you love the bright side of life, hey, these are for you lol. Mids seem quite good(I'm no expert on this mysterious area of the frequency response). Bass seems to have good texture and extension, but is sadly very lean with minimal weight. Vocals are very clear, with not much weight/fullness, and can be quite shouty with 's's, The spaciousness and clarity are quite nice; everything else I don't think I care for. I've never heard clicks/pops/static from sub-par recordings/microphones so well before. These are a pretty strange IEM, if you ask me. You can hear acoustic drums just fine, but there's barely any impact to be felt. Can't say I'm impressed with Final. Who wants no bass..?! Fit is a mixed bag for me so far.

I agree with you on most of your sound assessment, but I'd have disagree with you on build quality. A light weight earphone is a well-engineered earphone. People really should get over heavier = more premium, especially when it comes to portable product. More weight means more easily damaged from dropping. I thought people had learned from buying those heavy iphones these past few years.

Same goes for the cable. A light weight cable is a well-engineered cable. If you actually wear your IEM outside as opposed to only wearing them indoors, you'd know how annoying a thick and heavy cable is to the overall enjoyment of music. The C112 is one of the best sounding light weight IEM cable on the market, on par or better than some of the Onso offerings. It is even better than some fancy $300+ cables in my inventory.

 

[dakanao]

So while removing the nozzle filter on my E500 to insert some extra foam in the tube, the head of the pin I used to remove the nozzle filter with, got stuck on the driver due to the magnetic attraction.

I inhaled on the nozzle to make sure to get the dent out of the diapghram, if it had any. I did hear a slight pop after doing that, confirming the diapghram is back to normal.

Is there a possibility I got more distorted highs because of doing this? I tested it out with a bass test and the bass sounded fine, no rattle.

But I’m not sure on the highs. To me it sounds like it got slightly harsher, but it could well be placebo.

Is there a way to test this out properly? Your help would be really appreciated.

 

[CT007]

A light weight earphone is a well-engineered earphone. People really should get over heavier = more premium, especially when it comes to portable product.

The lightness is a neat feature. I prefer weights between Legacy 3 and KZ models, but those IEMs actually have shape and fit you well, unlike whatever A4000 is supposed to be shaped like. I also would take quality, transparent or opaque resin over A4000 plastic any day, as well, but that might just be me.

Yeah, I would never take my babies outside my house lol. It's scary out there, man. I agree that there are nasty, big, bulky cables(4-core IMO), but I'm very happy with how flexible and durable 8-core cables are such as the one with Legacy 3 and my $8 TRN 8-cores. These also have some actual protection from a zipper or something. I would certainly assume the A4000 cable does not hold up to the FD5 cable, as a comparison on the high-end.

 

[Edric Li]

The lightness is a neat feature. I prefer weights between Legacy 3 and KZ models, but those IEMs actually have shape and fit you well, unlike whatever A4000 is supposed to be shaped like. I also would take quality, transparent or opaque resin over A4000 plastic any day, as well, but that might just be me.

Yeah, I would never take my babies outside my house lol. It's scary out there, man. I agree that there are nasty, big, bulky cables(4-core IMO), but I'm very happy with how flexible and durable 8-core cables are such as the one with Legacy 3 and my $8 TRN 8-cores. These also have some actual protection from a zipper or something. I would certainly assume the A4000 cable does not hold up to the FD5 cable, as a comparison on the high-end.

I personally prefer cheap plastic over resin over any metal. I've personally lost at least $3k (in resell value) from dropping resin/acrylic IEM. (Yes I take my babies outside lol). I never liked the weight of metal IEM, even those bullet-size ones. They pull themselves out of my ears.

Well I have in my inventory a TOTL 8-core gold plated cable from one of the hottest cable brand on the market, and C112 has a better midrange, so... never judge a cable by its look.

 

[CT007]

Yeah, the cable seems replaceable if it does break, at least. (at your own expense)

 

[mochill]

Cooper n silver ?
The sound changed on something? Better?

5n single crystal copper plus copper , more deeper bass , and blacker background with more openness

 

[rx79ez08]

The cable is a bit flimsy, but it's not microphonic which is my pet hate. The cable is a standard 2 pin job with slight raised lip, so that's user replaceable. I have no problem with the two cables I have, but some one did complain the fit is a bit tight.
I would prefer mmcx connector though like Final used in the B and E series.
I really like the A4000, for the price I can also be a lot more careless with them. I think there is something to be said about a product that sounds decent and can be thrown into a bag without being too worry about losing or damaging it.

 

[Edric Li]

I think there is something to be said about a product that sounds decent and can be thrown into a bag without being too worry about losing or damaging it.

This. I find myself spending more time with my music now that I don't have to baby my earphones.

 

[DJ Core]

@CT007 : now I'm feeling scared, I got them for metal, and bass must be there, fast and lean, but must be there.

Depends on your source. How they sound is also song dependent. If a song has bass, you'll def hear it.The deeper the bass, the more the 4000 presents it to your ears. it's fast but goes really deep actually if the song has it. on the Sony ZX500 Walkman, There's plenty of bass, great mids, and treble extension depending on the track, while on the DX160, they can be bright on certain songs with stock tips but that's an easy fix. I switched to Sony MH755 tips and that tames the treble.

Honestly for the money, this is a real steal. The cable is something most will replace anyway

Fit is perfect for me. I compared it to my UM MEST and I can confidently say, you get 85% of the same excellent sound for so much less.

 

[pholcus1975]

My source is a Cowon Plenue M2, that is known to sound warm and bassy, due to its Burr-Brown dac. It should pair nice with a4000. No hiss even on Hifiman re600, my most picky and sensitive iem.

 

[Rizzo43]

[QUOTE = "mochill, postagem: 16161694, membro: 290781"]
5n de cobre de cristal único mais cobre, graves mais profundos e fundo mais preto com mais abertura
[/CITAR]

Have you tested other cables? Do you think this cable had the best result on the a4000? I have a NiceHCK C16-1, but I'm looking for others.

 

[Rizzo43]

Depends on your source. How they sound is also song dependent. If a song has bass, you'll def hear it. on the Sony ZX500 Walkman, There's plenty of bass, great mids, and treble extension depending on the track, while on the DX160, they can be bright on certain songs with stock tips but that's an easy fix. I switched to Sony MH755 tips and that tames the treble.

Honestly for the money, this is a real steal. The cable is something most will replace anyway https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZQB9JZ6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Fit is perfect for me. I compared it to my UM MEST and I can confidently say, you get 85% of the same excellent sound for so much less.

Are you using this cable with the a4000? What was your result?

 

[dakanao]

So I let my E5000 burn-in for a week. They certainly sound more refined than last week.

I put on a copper cable I got from ebay, and when I listened back with the stock silver coated OFC , the treble became less grainy/smoother in texture, however the quantity of the treble rose and lower mids got a bit weaker.

This isn’t expectation bias, as I expected the copper cable to sound smoother than the stock cable. With an A - B, the stock cable is less grainy.

Will the Final C112 OFC cable offer the smoothness of the stock cable, but with the thick lower mids of a copper cable?

 

[DJ Core]

Are you using this cable with the a4000? What was your result?

I just got the Silver cable today to use balanced. it widens the sound field, even more, treble is down a little but I think copper sounds best on this IEM. Waiting for the copper balanced cable.