Final Audio Design Impressions and Discussion Thread
Mar 22, 2020 at 5:10 PM Post #9,318 of 11,789
Mar 22, 2020 at 5:35 PM Post #9,319 of 11,789
Looks like there's a slight reduction around the 6KHz peak. I guess the upper-treble increase is a coupler artifact (as these usually don't measure post 10KHz frequencies reliably). I wonder how other filter materials (micropore for example) might perform after seeing this.
 
Mar 22, 2020 at 6:05 PM Post #9,320 of 11,789
Looks like there's a slight reduction around the 6KHz peak. I guess the upper-treble increase is a coupler artifact (as these usually don't measure post 10KHz frequencies reliably). I wonder how other filter materials (micropore for example) might perform after seeing this.

Exactly! 6kHz is a common sibilance peak, and depending on your ear sensitivity and the shape of earcanal which is also a "filter", by the time a sound reaches our eardrum it could be naturally attenuated. So, I'm just sharing my personal observation relative to what I'm hearing. Usually people jump to a conclusion of placebo effect, which is true in some cases. But here, I was able to do relative measurements with and without a filter and see a slight reduction around 6k peak which made lower treble more pleasant to my ears :wink:

And for the reference, my sound analysis is usually based around this well known chart:

FreqChart.JPG
 
Mar 24, 2020 at 4:24 AM Post #9,321 of 11,789
Just ordered the e1000 and e3000 to add to my collection . @Final Audio how does the e2000 compare in the line up
Thank you for your support! For E2000? Erm, E-series is more leaning towards flat and neutral sounding to match with all kinds of music genre. As we understand that different people might have totally different tastes, so we have decided to bring different sound variations into the series to suit wider taste and preference.

It is not our place to comment on our product here, but I think you could find a lot of reviews and comparisons in HeadFi. :)

Thank you so much for the exhaustive reply, yeah I think I misunderstand it somewhere that the beryllium is used to start the A8000 :sweat:, I'm on the lookout on what the A series gonna bring in the future as I think it fits me better than the E Series. I tried the E4000 again yesterday, as I read here that it's the brighter pair in the series, and that's when I fell in love with the E-Type tips as I got curious and put it on my IM04. the, Mids~! Glorious.
I just hope replacement tips is more available to be purchased locally.

Not that the E series itself is bad or anything, it's tuning just feel too safe for me, what i love about Final is it's unique tuning that I remember from Heaven IEMs and Pandora headphones, so yeah...
Thank you for your compliment to our E-Type tips. We are indeed very proud to make it good. It might be looking very simple, but the science behind is actually not that simple.

E-series concept is to bring a smooth and relaxing sound, which is almost good for every music genre and everyone. Therefore it is not surprising for you to feel that it is too neutral. Because that is exactly what we are aiming for and it also means that we have achieved our goal.

If you prefer Heaven IEM and Pandora, have you tried B2, B3, and A8000 yet? I think they might suit your taste more.

@Final Audio Thank you for your in-depth responses. It is easy to see you are very passionate about your products and it's great that you are actively engaging with your customers. I have yet to hear any of your products but will likely buy an E5000 sometime soon after the coronavirus crisis has passed us by. Hopefully you and the Final team, and all your families, are staying safe and healthy too!
Thank you very much for your generous wish. We are very safe here. Even though it has caused slightly less people on the street now, but everything is quite normal. Restaurants are still opening by asking every customer to clean their hand with alcohol before entering and all tables are wiped with alcohol after customer left. And more than 50% of the people are having a mask on while in public.

In our office, we have started mobile work for people who need to commute a long distance to work and still more than half of us come to the office every day with smile on the face. So, thank you for your concern.

Thank you for considering our E5000. Please note that the E5000 actually has a lower sensitivity and therefore depends on personal listening volume requirement, some older smartphones might not have enough power to drive it well. We would normally recommend having E5000 being driven with a music player.

@Final Audio, I appreciate the clarification. It’s great to hear that what your engineers are interested in creating aligns with my preferences, because it seems like what is popular in the industry are BA and hybrid designs.

And for the record, I fully support the idea of producing a more affordable IEM in the A series. Personally, the cost of the A8000 puts it outside the range of a casual purchase for me, and that’s okay. I don’t need to get the best, but I am interested in seeing what you do to serve us audiophile bassheads haha.
Don't worry, we would not compromise the sound quality even if the price is lower. We have proven this with our E series and now we want to make it happen for A series too.

However, as the A series concept is already fixed to "Transparency", I am so sorry to say that please do not expect strong bass product coming out from the A-series.

No matter what people think about their products, they have to agree that @Final Audio is one of if not the most active and best brand when it comes to interacting with their customers/fans.
Actually we just started being active recently. We are a Japanese company and it is quite a Japanese culture to be a perfectionist?
The good part is, we always want to make high-quality products, the bad part is, if we cannot do it best, then we better don't do it.

It is actually a leap of faith to make a tough decision to involves ourselves in the community over here with my broken English.
After a few weeks of experience spending with you guys, we are glad that we have made one of the best decision of the year. :)

Exactly! 6kHz is a common sibilance peak, and depending on your ear sensitivity and the shape of earcanal which is also a "filter", by the time a sound reaches our eardrum it could be naturally attenuated. So, I'm just sharing my personal observation relative to what I'm hearing. Usually people jump to a conclusion of placebo effect, which is true in some cases. But here, I was able to do relative measurements with and without a filter and see a slight reduction around 6k peak which made lower treble more pleasant to my ears :wink:

And for the reference, my sound analysis is usually based around this well known chart:

You are actually right. Different ear canal (size and shape) would lead to different sound impression. Therefore no earphone could actually satisfy everyone's preference because what I am listening to is different from what he/she is listening to. Therefore as an IEM maker, this is also a very important aspect for us to take into consideration during sound design.

Actually the 2 peaks that can be found on the A8000 are intentional to achieve extreme transparency. I have tried another prototype with those 2 peaks removed, of course, it sounds more smooth, but the overall level of revealing also degraded. A8000 as a flagship, we want to achieve a level of "Transparency" that has never been achieved before, therefore we confidently tune the sound by following our research result of Perceptual Transparency Measurement (PTM) and we are very glad that we are doing the right thing.
 
Mar 25, 2020 at 7:23 PM Post #9,324 of 11,789
Don't worry, we would not compromise the sound quality even if the price is lower. We have proven this with our E series and now we want to make it happen for A series too.

However, as the A series concept is already fixed to "Transparency", I am so sorry to say that please do not expect strong bass product coming out from the A-series.

I understand. I hope that somewhere in your product line-up there is room for an upgrade or revision to the E5000 sound. I am treble sensitive and can only get a decent seal with wide-bore Spiral Dot tips, which have a general bass reduction impact compared to most silicone tips.

So, to me, the E5000 sounds less bassy than it probably does for others, and it means that the A8000 probably has more treble to me than for others. This makes it incredibly difficult to find IEMs that suit my taste. Perhaps my experience is very atypical. I hope it's not THAT much because it would mean a lesser chance of seeing an upgrade path that fits.

Though I suppose some of this could be fixed with a matching Final XXL tip? :pray::smile:
 
Mar 25, 2020 at 8:28 PM Post #9,325 of 11,789
Final E3000 grows on you the more you listen to them, and their soundstage and instrument separation is unlike anything I've heard in this range.

Comparing with another budget champ BLON BL-03, they have a better lower-mids representation than the BLONs, making them better for snare drums and male vocals. However BLONs have more contrast between lower and upper-mids thus giving this sensation of clarity in female vocals and string instruments. E3000 is more relaxing and doesn't really sacrifice much treble to achieve that. BLONs have less upper-treble extension in comparison but has more lower-treble energy.

The E3000 wins for me due to the infinitely better comfort (and you can use them while lying down unlike BLONs which kinda slides out) but that fixed cable which is rather susceptible ruins the looks for me. An E3000 with a detachable cable - now that would be perfect!

IMG_6691.JPG
 
Mar 26, 2020 at 3:44 AM Post #9,327 of 11,789
I understand. I hope that somewhere in your product line-up there is room for an upgrade or revision to the E5000 sound. I am treble sensitive and can only get a decent seal with wide-bore Spiral Dot tips, which have a general bass reduction impact compared to most silicone tips.

So, to me, the E5000 sounds less bassy than it probably does for others, and it means that the A8000 probably has more treble to me than for others. This makes it incredibly difficult to find IEMs that suit my taste. Perhaps my experience is very atypical. I hope it's not THAT much because it would mean a lesser chance of seeing an upgrade path that fits.

Though I suppose some of this could be fixed with a matching Final XXL tip? :pray::smile:


I have the same problem regarding most tips not being big enough.
Although, I seem to be the opposite to you, as wide bores like the Spiral Dots boost bass performance to my ears.

Have you tried Slater's 'Flip Tip' mod with the Final LL tips - I can get a good seal doing this (and it works quite well with a few other tips in my collection)
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/flip-tips-prepare-to-have-your-mind-blown.906357/
 
Mar 30, 2020 at 1:36 AM Post #9,328 of 11,789
Hi, i'm new in IEMs.

Mostly i just use samsung earphones from samsung S10.
Now i'm planning to upgrade.
There are 3 that caught my attentions
1. Final audio e3000
2. Zero audio duoza
3. Intime sora 2

Any suggestions and recommendations ?
 
Apr 1, 2020 at 12:11 AM Post #9,329 of 11,789
I made a full written review, about the slightly colored, yet really amazingly-looking and comfy IEMs, Final B1

https://www.audiophile-heaven.com/2020/03/final-audio-b1-in-ear-monitors-iems.html

Final-Audio-B-Series-B1-IEMs-Earphones-BA-Dynamic-Drivers-Portable-Japanese-In-Depth-Audiophile-Heaven-Review-20.jpg
Thank you for your generous review. The colorful lighting is very creative!

I understand. I hope that somewhere in your product line-up there is room for an upgrade or revision to the E5000 sound. I am treble sensitive and can only get a decent seal with wide-bore Spiral Dot tips, which have a general bass reduction impact compared to most silicone tips.

So, to me, the E5000 sounds less bassy than it probably does for others, and it means that the A8000 probably has more treble to me than for others. This makes it incredibly difficult to find IEMs that suit my taste. Perhaps my experience is very atypical. I hope it's not THAT much because it would mean a lesser chance of seeing an upgrade path that fits.

Though I suppose some of this could be fixed with a matching Final XXL tip? :pray::smile:
It is actually true that even while E5000 is considered to be the earphone with the most low frequencies among our current line up, it is still considered to be relatively weaker compared to some other earphones from the other brand.

In nature there is a masking effect due to our ear structure. Higher frequencies are quite easy to be masked away when low frequencies being strong. Which means that when the bass getting stronger and stronger, as the mid and high is significantly affected, the overall sound might become muddy and less transparent.

While we definitely understand that some music genres can use more bass, we are still trying to find a way to deliver higher quantity bass without compromising too much for the overall musical details and balance. Even this task has never been easy because this is a human ear limitation, this is a bottleneck that we love to challenge.

Hi, i'm new in IEMs.

Mostly i just use samsung earphones from samsung S10.
Now i'm planning to upgrade.
There are 3 that caught my attentions
1. Final audio e3000
2. Zero audio duoza
3. Intime sora 2

Any suggestions and recommendations ?
Thank you for considering our Final E3000. I believe that the community over here is very supportive and able to give you some insight. :)
But I notice that as all 3 of these are brands from Japan, there are only a very limited number of people who have the chance to try all of them before.
 
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