[40760]

How much are you thinking of spending? The Penon line is generally very lush (I only have experience with the Globe. But, "lush" seems to be a Penon house trait from reports from owners of other Penon IEMs), and also much improved over the E3000. The Final X Massdrop Heaven III was a great budget "lush" set that I consider superior to the E3000. The Heaven III is not made anymore.

I think I might just get another pair of E3000 in the end. Not that I have any issues with the sound in the first place. Plus I really like the E series design because of the straight fit. I only thought adding an MMCX option might be good.

 

[InvisibleInk]

I think I might just get another pair of E3000 in the end. Not that I have any issues with the sound in the first place. Plus I really like the E series design because of the straight fit. I only thought adding an MMCX option might be good.

Yeah, just because these guys don't like something doesn't automatically mean you won't. I loved my E3000, so I bought an E4000. Didn't like it much. Waited a couple of years and bought an E5000. Now it's pretty much my favorite IEM for enjoying music. So opinion are going to vary.

If you can buy it from a dealer with the understanding you may have to return it, then don't hesitate to do that. You may find, like me, that you absolutely love it.

Cheers!

 

[dakanao]

My pair of E3000 has the same amount of bass as my E5000, but the bass of my E5000 is way tighter.

I must say, out of 3 different pairs of E3000 I got, all 3 sounded different, with 1 pair almost having no bass at all in the left earpiece. Quality control of the E3000 is horrible.

My current piece also has channel imbalance (right channel leaking into left channel, when I only let the left channel play)

 

[PopZeus]

Loving the E5000 with the Jot 2. Balanced on low gain is the perfect amount of power.

 

[McArooni]

Is there are balanced cable that fits the A4000 ? I find it a bit annoying that I have a balanced cable that I use for all my iems.....BUT not the A4000 -__-'

 

[MundoHiFiOz]

Is there are balanced cable that fits the A4000 ? I find it a bit annoying that I have a balanced cable that I use for all my iems.....BUT not the A4000 -__-'

https://m.es.aliexpress.com/item/10...&terminal_id=c02ef3d33f444ebe9cb29b2d17a8dd35

This cable works

 

[dounuts97]

Just got a E1000 in red today.
Sound wise OOTB sounds like a mix between a Audio Technica CKB-50 and one of my first in-ears CKN50.

 

[Infoseeker]

You're not alone on this. The A series plastic shells hurt my ears after sometime. I suspect the metal shells of the A8000 or B series might do better as they don't look so "sharp" along the outside? So far only the E series style fit me best, not that they are perfect but at least no pain or constant adjusting.

Yeah, I find no problem in terms of pinching with my A8000 fit and the metal material. Really smooth.

Also for those that want an EQ preset to try for the Final Audio A8000. I have been using this, but remember this is subjective to me and may need modifications for yourselves.

Oh and I am using Azla Sednafit Light eartips, which i find significant to get the iem's treble to respond to the EQ.

And source is an Ibasso dx220MAX which is a more nuetral source; it is not warm, but has no ESS treble glaring.

 

[MetalLaserSteel]

Question, does the "difficult to drive" stuff mentioned in reviews mean I shouldn't get a E3000? Since I just use a Galaxy S7 phone and have never had a portable amp or anything like that.

Also, is E500 a good $25 pick? And does that one sound good on just a phone? Thanks.

 

[baskingshark]

Question, does the "difficult to drive" stuff mentioned in reviews mean I shouldn't get a E3000? Since I just use a Galaxy S7 phone and have never had a portable amp or anything like that.

Also, is E500 a good $25 pick? And does that one sound good on just a phone? Thanks.

Yes, Final E3000 needs amping ideally due to its lowish sensitivity (100 dB/mW). It sounds very meh from a low powered smart phone, but scales beautifully when amped.

Amping is not about volume. If that were so, it would be easy to drive a planar type headphone with just jacking up the volume to the max on a low powered non LGV smartphone. It is more that you lose dynamics, soundstage, microdetails when a low sensitivity/high impedance gear is underpowered. Plus sometimes the FR is skewed when something is underpowered, you might get shouty upper mids or bloated bass.

If you ain't intending to get an amp, best to look elsewhere from the Final E3000, E4000 and E5000. You won't be doing them justice; there's other IEMs that sound good out of smartphones!

 

[RikudouGoku]

I found a major discovery, using micropore tape to cover this vent on the E1000:

E1000 (micropore mod) VS E3000:

Cleaner bass on the E1000 due to it being tighter and maybe a tiny bit faster as well. Mids and treble tonality are better as well due to the overall sound being cleaner and less warm/thick. Better imaging and instrument separation due to the cleaner bass on the E1000. Similar soundstage, details and timbre (both bottlenecked on the E3000 due to the mid-bass focus causing it to have bloated bass).

Overall, the E1000 with the micropore mod is actually better than the E3000. Not only does it sound better (for my library at least), it fits better (a bit longer and bigger body) but most importantly it is easier to drive. So if you wanted an E3000 but couldn’t because of lack of power (smartphone or PC for example) then the E1000 with the micropore mod is a great alternative that’s also cheaper.

Final Audio E1000: Rank up from C (in stock) to B+ (micropore mod)


I cant take credit for this mod though, as I saw it over here:
https://iems.audiodiscourse.com/?share=E1000,E1000 (Vent Mod)



Ironically, @baskingshark just talked about the E3000 being hard to drive in the post above. Well, I found the solution to that. The E1000 with micropore tape mod.

 

[dakanao]

I found a major discovery, using micropore tape to cover this vent on the E1000:

E1000 (micropore mod) VS E3000:

Cleaner bass on the E1000 due to it being tighter and maybe a tiny bit faster as well. Mids and treble tonality are better as well due to the overall sound being cleaner and less warm/thick. Better imaging and instrument separation due to the cleaner bass on the E1000. Similar soundstage, details and timbre (both bottlenecked on the E3000 due to the mid-bass focus causing it to have bloated bass).

Overall, the E1000 with the micropore mod is actually better than the E3000. Not only does it sound better (for my library at least), it fits better (a bit longer and bigger body) but most importantly it is easier to drive. So if you wanted an E3000 but couldn’t because of lack of power (smartphone or PC for example) then the E1000 with the micropore mod is a great alternative that’s also cheaper.

Final Audio E1000: Rank up from C (in stock) to B+ (micropore mod)


I cant take credit for this mod though, as I saw it over here:
https://iems.audiodiscourse.com/?share=E1000,E1000 (Vent Mod)



Ironically, @baskingshark just talked about the E3000 being hard to drive in the post above. Well, I found the solution to that. The E1000 with micropore tape mod.

Doesn’t covering that vent increase distortion though, because the sound breathes less?

 

[RikudouGoku]

Doesn’t covering that vent increase distortion though, because the sound breathes less?

No I didn't notice I and I did use micropore tape instead of normal tape to allow some breathing.

 

[dakanao]

No I didn't notice I and I did use micropore tape instead of normal tape to allow some breathing.

Hmm alright. I did the same with micropore tape on my iBasso IT00 and Blon BL-03, and both became a bit more distorted in the bass and treble

 

[RikudouGoku]

Hmm alright. I did the same with micropore tape on my iBasso IT00 and Blon BL-03, and both became a bit more distorted in the bass and treble

I mean, both of them are already bassy so its not a big surprise that would affect them negatively.