[Edric Li]

Purple/purple is a brand new E500. Yellow/green/light blue is a 500hr+ E500. (pls ignore the humming from my refrigerator)

 

[F700]

I own the EVA2020 TWS from Final since they came out. Always have liked the punchy and somewhat darker/laidback sound of them. Huge battery life too and built like a tank.

Their newer and cheaper siblings, the ZE3000, clearly outperform them. The sound is much more refined and nuanced, with a tighter but impactful low-end and more extended treble. Mids are less thick. Separation and detail retrieval a step ahead too.

The ZE3000´s price/performance is just excellent. The only « drawback » is that I had to dig in my tips collection to find more suited ones for my ear canals. Nothing that really matters actually.

Final hits hard with these ones. What a proposition! Well done.

 

[Kiats]

Just wanted to share a shot of the Olive Luxe case, from @Eric Chong and Eletech Cables, with my older treasures from the Final Audio range: clockwise from top right - the FIBASS; the Piano Forte IX; the Piano Forte X; the Lab II; the Piano Forte VIII; the 1601SB (precursor range to the PFs). Thought it was fitting that they have a lovely case.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Purple/purple is a brand new E500. Yellow/green/light blue is a 500hr+ E500. (pls ignore the humming from my refrigerator)

That's a lot of change. How is your channel matching?

 

[o0genesis0o]

Final Audio VR3000 is surprisingly popular on Reddit r/HeadphoneAdvice. My gut feeling is that it is a Final A3000 without removable cable, however I have never been able to confirm it. Sadly, there has been no graph of this IEM on the Internet that I can find.

If you have that wondering whether how VR3000 measures, wonder no more. I finally got my hands on one unit and measure it.

You can compare VR3000 with other IEMs using my graph database here.

Soundwise, it's alright. The timbre is kind of unusual, not unlike A4000. I think it quite resolving, like other IEMs with the F-core drivers. The store manager, on the other hand, thinks it is cheap and cheery but also kinda nasty. I think it is not universally recommendable like other budget single DD IEMs, but it has great soundstage and resolution. A good platform for modding.

 

[Edric Li]

That's a lot of change. How is your channel matching?

Channel matching is fine. They lasted longer than my E4000/5000. The change in bass after burn-in is overwhelming.

 

[WilliamCruz]

Purple/purple is a brand new E500. Yellow/green/light blue is a 500hr+ E500. (pls ignore the humming from my refrigerator)

Pardon me. I haven't been following. How do I know if I have the old or new E500?

 

[WilliamCruz]

I am thinking about upgrading from E4000 to E5000. I like a bit of extra bass so they sound like a good upgrade.

My main question is - can something like Hidizs 9Pro with an iPhone drive them? From the reviews, it sounds like it may not be possible.

I currently have E5000 as my daily driver. E5000 would not only be an upgrade but also a change in sound.

The E4000 has more energy in the upper midrange, which I found lacking in the E5000. Also, the E5000 sounded different with a desktop stack compared to a typical setup.

Besides, I think many did not find E5000 tuning ideal. I identified that the stock ear tips were one of the culprits that caused it to sound congested in busy tracks. I then looked for tips with shorter stems and large openings and was glad to have found noticeable improvements in those factors.

Anyway, the E4000 is a safer choice so I wouldn't really recommend moving to the E5000 unless you are very sure.

Are there any other bullet-style IEMs I should consider as an E4000 upgrade? I tried many different models and just can't get a good fit that will let me listen for more than an hour if it is not a bullet shape/style.

It seems like I just found my kind. If you come across any competent bullet-style IEMs, please do let me know, too =P

I love the convenience and comfort of these.

 

[Edric Li]

Pardon me. I haven't been following. How do I know if I have the old or new E500?

This is to demonstrate the effect of burn-in. Your E500 will have more bass over-time, that's all. I can confirm this because I have multiple pairs of 100hr+ E500, purchased at different times, and they sound equally bass heavy.

 

[jlemaster1957]

I currently have E5000 as my daily driver….It seems like I just found my kind. If you come across any competent bullet-style IEMs, please do let me know, too =P

I love the convenience and comfort of these.

I do not have E5000 but I have A4000. I recently bought Hifiman Re800 silver which is bullet shaped and allows very deep ear insertion, good isolation, great tip selection (some quite unusual double and triple flanged) and a tonality quite similar to A4000. Soundstage is good but not as holographic as A4000. Also only has non-detachable SE 3.5 mm terminated cable. They were originally 600 $USD now are reduced price - 99 $USD on Amazon but there are only 14 left in stock on Amazon in the US. They were recently reviewed by PassionforSound here, compared to Fiio FH9 and Meze Advar.

 

[Cheradenine]

Thank you for confirming my concerns and suggesting Sony. I will do a bit more research on them but they sound like they could fit my needs.
I am also looking at Shure Aonic 3 but I am not sure they provide enough of an upgrade over E4000.

The Sony xba-n3 is a favorite of mine. Its very nicely tuned with good bass. Very comfortable to wear for hours and doesn't require much power. I bought mine from Amazon Japan a while ago, it can be bought from Amazon in other regions but often at inflated prices from sellers who order it from Amazon Japan. I paid about 39,000 yen which included tax and DHL delivery to UK. The JVC HA-FW01 is also worth considering.

 

[james444]

This is to demonstrate the effect of burn-in. Your E500 will have more bass over-time, that's all. I can confirm this because I have multiple pairs of 100hr+ E500, purchased at different times, and they sound equally bass heavy.

That's interesting, because it's the first time I see someone actually measured a significant effect of burn-in. I for my part have been measuring very small changes over time with some IEMs, but never anything that pronounced.

If I may ask, did you let a new E500 burn for 100hr+ without actually listening to music? Or were these 100hr+ of listening sessions over a prolonged period of time?

 

[EMEM2049]

My Final B1's took a very long time to burn in, when I contacted Final, they said it can take hundreds of hours.

It can be quite difficult to notice though unless you compare them to a brand new set, which is what I did. I noticed a tad more bass and midrange whilst the trebble was softened.

I actually like more treble so ended up putting the clear Final Type E tips on which made them nicer. Could be an option for some if you don't like how your IEMs burn in.

 

[Edric Li]

That's interesting, because it's the first time I see someone actually measured a significant effect of burn-in. I for my part have been measuring very small changes over time with some IEMs, but never anything that pronounced.

If I may ask, did you let a new E500 burn for 100hr+ without actually listening to music? Or were these 100hr+ of listening sessions over a prolonged period of time?

Allow me to back track: while it is true that my 3 pairs of 100hr+ E500 all sound more bass heavy than my new E500, it may not be due to that they were used for longer. It may be due to how they were used.

I have a Jodi-Vac, and I have cleaned all 3 E500s multiple times using the vacuum during their life span. This includes cleaning the filter in the nozzle as well as the two air vents. I have noticed that if the front air vent was vacuumed improperly, the driver will flex in the wrong direction, causing the sound to be completely off. Think of a membrane button being pushed into its opposite direction, and is not able to pop itself back up. I have learned to fix this flex by blowing air from the nozzle onto the driver. However, this may have caused the driver to become more "loose" than they originally were, causing the bass to increase.

Now, this theory may be completely off too. It could just be that my Jodi-Vac somehow messed up the damping material inside all 3 of my E500s, causing the bass to increase. It can also be the debris being built up in the air vents. It could also be, as I suspected, natural burn-in. I guess one way to find out is to
1. Keep using my new E500 for hundreds of hours and measure again, and
2. Buy another pair of E500, Jodi-Vac it to try to cause the driver flex, and immediately measure it after.

Edit: To answer your question, I used all the E500s naturally, without deliberately burning them in by playing burn-in noises.

 

[baskingshark]

I read a few forum reports/graphs from others that there's lots of unit variations for the Final E500 (possible QC issue), so that might be a possible explanation for the differing graphs too?