Introducing Final latest flagship IEM A8000 featuring Truly Pure Beryllium Dynamic Driver
Feb 14, 2020 at 5:04 AM Post #46 of 96
I have the itch to get another IEM and just happen to stumble upon this thread.

How does it fit compared to Z1R and FW10000 for those that have tried all three? @Jalo

I find the Z1R very comfortable. The FW10000, although sometimes it kinda hurts my ears during insertion (the bottom most pointy part always gets me), I find it comfortable as well when it's all the way in.
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 5:22 AM Post #47 of 96
I have the itch to get another IEM and just happen to stumble upon this thread.

How does it fit compared to Z1R and FW10000 for those that have tried all three? @Jalo

I find the Z1R very comfortable. The FW10000, although sometimes it kinda hurts my ears during insertion (the bottom most pointy part always gets me), I find it comfortable as well when it's all the way in.
Its cheaper than this
20200214_181602.jpg
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 9:35 AM Post #48 of 96
I have the itch to get another IEM and just happen to stumble upon this thread.

How does it fit compared to Z1R and FW10000 for those that have tried all three? @Jalo

I find the Z1R very comfortable. The FW10000, although sometimes it kinda hurts my ears during insertion (the bottom most pointy part always gets me), I find it comfortable as well when it's all the way in.
I find I have to use Triple flange tips for good seal with the Z1R, I do not have any problem with the FW10000, but the A8000 is much smaller than both and can seat inside the ears very comfortably with relatively good seal.
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 10:43 AM Post #49 of 96
Its cheaper than this

If you understand woman, by carrying a Hermès handbag in her hand, she will feel like floating in cloud and her satisfaction level cannot be matched by anyone of us regardless of what totl gears we listen to.
 
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Feb 14, 2020 at 10:52 AM Post #50 of 96
During my high school I put on Classical Music everyday when I got home. It always put me to sleep for my afternoon nap. 100% effective.

Old gen ASMR for sleeping. XD
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 11:20 AM Post #51 of 96
I was brought up with my father always listening to classical music.



I recall that statistic, but while that is probably generally true, I can remember particular things that stand out to me when listening to specific pieces of music. For example, if I pick an excellent piano recording, and pick a section where I can clearly hear the harmonics of the notes decaying, I can pick out whether or not different earphones, headphones or other components render that, or it is more "one note" in the decay. That is going to extremes though.

Back to the A8000 though, I was listening to Dire Straights, and I noticed something on one track I hadn't noticed before. That was a surprise, as it was a track I'd listened to a great many times. As I'm cautious of my own impressions, I will assemble tracks where I noticed something significant, then play them back with other headphones or earphones to see if what I perceived was really a one-off or not.

Hearing new details on albums I’m quite familiar with is one of the fun happenings with the A8000. It’s like rediscovering one’s music collection.

Regarding burn-in, I am one who believes there are changes that occur unrelated to our brain adapting to the sound characteristics. I worked in High End audio for my career, and many of my vendors (Krell, Levinson, dCS, Wilson, and other similar quality brands) recommended prolonged burn-in periods for their products, especially digital gear. I would experience these changes whenever new demo gear was put on display. Additionally, my obsession with this hobby led me to own scores of top end products, and since I had a dedicated music room for my system, a very controlled and familiar environment, I observed sonic changes in this gear with extended play time. Now, with that said, I‘m not invalidating the notion that our brains adjust, rather, it’s likely that both stated phenomena occur.
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 7:08 PM Post #52 of 96
I find I have to use Triple flange tips for good seal with the Z1R, I do not have any problem with the FW10000, but the A8000 is much smaller than both and can seat inside the ears very comfortably with relatively good seal.

Much smaller??? I thought they're around the same such just by looking at the picture.

Do you mind taking a picture of all 3 next to each other for reference? Can't find anything on Google yet.
 
Feb 14, 2020 at 8:54 PM Post #53 of 96
Much smaller??? I thought they're around the same such just by looking at the picture.

Do you mind taking a picture of all 3 next to each other for reference? Can't find anything on Google yet.
I'll do that when I have a moment in a few hours. Regardless of the physical size, the A8000 just feels small in the ears.
 
Feb 15, 2020 at 5:52 AM Post #55 of 96
Regarding burn-in, I am one who believes there are changes that occur unrelated to our brain adapting to the sound characteristics. I worked in High End audio for my career, and many of my vendors (Krell, Levinson, dCS, Wilson, and other similar quality brands) recommended prolonged burn-in periods for their products, especially digital gear. I would experience these changes whenever new demo gear was put on display. Additionally, my obsession with this hobby led me to own scores of top end products, and since I had a dedicated music room for my system, a very controlled and familiar environment, I observed sonic changes in this gear with extended play time. Now, with that said, I‘m not invalidating the notion that our brains adjust, rather, it’s likely that both stated phenomena occur.
Hi Jwbrent, thank you for sharing your experience with us. We completely agree that physical burn-in does occur.
It is interesting that since you have mentioned speakers' burn-in, please allow me to share my personal thought regarding the difference between the physical burn-in of speaker and IEM. Just a very simple comparison between speaker's driver and IEM's dynamic driver.

1. Speaker's driver is way bigger than an IEM dynamic driver. Therefore more materials involved.
2. Most speakers have multiple drivers which are fed with different frequencies and they are also designed in different shape/size/material to be excel in the frequencies they are assigned to. Therefore the time for physical burn-in of all of them is different. So basically the users are listening to the combined outcomes of the changes through time, therefore it would be more noticeable for the changes of sound quality through time.
3. The sound-producing part of a speaker driver and an IEM driver is completely different. For speakers, the surround is the major sound-producing part while for IEM dynamic driver, the center cone (equivalent to speaker driver's dust cap) is the major sound-producing part

Of course, there are more factors, and I completely believe that these differences are bringing us a totally different experience with the physical burn-in.

My first experience of a beryllium driver. UK Tour is now well underway. These are my first few days with the loaner model.

Thank you Takeanidea for doing an honest review for our Final A8000.

Since you have mentioned about the 4 ports at the sound tube, I would like to provide some information regarding them.

For multiple BA drivers earphones, it is quite a common practice that sound produced by lows, mids, highs BAs are separated with the different sound tubes. Therefore you would find multiple ports on the earphones.

For A8000, we have no intention of separating the sound into different ports because it is a single driver IEM. If you look into the accessories of the A8000, there are replacement dust filters provided and there are also the same dust filters being applied at the exit of the sound tubes. The dust filter is important to prevent dust or dirt from entering the IEM which would alter the sound quality.

If it is a filter, of course, the tiny little holes of the filter will eventually be clogged by tiny little particles including dust or earwax after a long period of use. For user's hygiene, we have decided to provide 8 pairs of spare dust filters for the users. However, if the exit of the sound tube is a big hole, it is going to be very difficult for the user to apply the filters on, therefore our engineer has decided to add a platform at the exit, and added 4 holes onto it. Of course, the sizes of the 4 holes are well calculated for the best sonic performance.

Extra notes: Final is based in Japan :)
 
Feb 15, 2020 at 12:00 PM Post #57 of 96
@Takeanidea, thank you for your review of the A8000 and your straightforward manner with your thoughts on them. It is true for most people myself included who initially listened to the A8000 what grap their attention are the tight and well defined bass and the seemingly slightly bright treble. But after living with the A8000 for two weeks, I am finding the A8000 really has excellent “technicality”.

In your review you mentioned the A8000 is a little thin and not as full sounding as the JH Roxanes. I cannot comment on the Roxane as I have not listen to them, but I do have iems that are more full sounding than the A8000, for instance the JVC FW10000, however, with fuller sounding usually comes the boomier sound or at least to me. I find the A8000 is very discrete with each instrument and note and that may contribute to your sense of ”thin”. For instance, I noticed within the sound field, each instrument and note produces their own decay. Each instrument and note expresses their own timbre, texture, inflection, holographic imaging and sound moving through space etc, these are signs of very capable phone with high technicality. I did not really notice these attributes initially until I got pass and accustomed to the more salient features of the phone.

It may be just my personal bias or preference, but opposing to casual listening, the ability to study or look deep into each individual instrument and music expressions by the musician is very important to my listening and I find the A8000 can do that without any difficulty.
 
Feb 16, 2020 at 9:33 AM Post #58 of 96
@Takeanidea, thank you for your review of the A8000 and your straightforward manner with your thoughts on them. It is true for most people myself included who initially listened to the A8000 what grasp their attention are the tight and well defined bass and the seemingly slightly bright treble. But after living with the A8000 for two weeks, I am finding the A8000 really has excellent “technicality”.

In your review you mentioned the A8000 is a little thin and not as full sounding as the JH Roxanne. I cannot comment on the Roxanne as I have not listen to them, but I do have iems that are more full sounding than the A8000, for instance the JVC FW10000, however, with fuller sounding usually comes the boomier sound or at least to me. I find the A8000 is very discrete with each instrument and note and that may contribute to your sense of ”thin”. For instance, I noticed within the sound field, each instrument and note produces their own decay. Each instrument and note expresses their own timbre, texture, inflection, holographic imaging and sound moving through space etc, these are signs of very capable phone with high technicality. I did not really notice these attributes initially until I got pass and accustomed to the more salient features of the phone.

It may be just my personal bias or preference, but opposing to casual listening, the ability to study or look deep into each individual instrument and music expressions by the musician is very important to my listening and I find the A8000 can do that without any difficulty.
Hi Jalo,
thank you for your perspective on it as an owner. That is always going to be valuable within this community. I am from the perspective of being a reviewer, and as such, with no disrespect to owners who have fallen in love with their A8000's (which I can fully empathise with) I will be forever sat on the fence and look for perfection. If I find it, I wouldn't have much to say I suppose
 
Feb 16, 2020 at 11:59 PM Post #60 of 96
@Final Audio - I'd like to volunteer to be on the US tour if/when that happens :wink:
Thank you very much, trust me, it will happen very soon. Please keep a close eye on this thread for updates.

Sorry! I can't believe I stated that! I am in the process of editing that out, thank you for bringing it to my attention
The apology is not necessary. We really appreciate your generosity in making a review for us. It is a 25min video and I can imagine how many hours have been spent on the editing, video taking, and many other processes. We truly appreciate that.

Personal experience, I have been seeing a lot of people are confused between China and Japan. Some people thought of Japan when they see a panda, and some people thought of China when they see sakura. :)
 

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