notaris
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Review: Final in-ear monitors A8000
Almost perfect!
Final is a young company; its history in IEM and headphone design spans a little over ten years, however, the Company’s progress during this, rather short, period has been truly amazing. It is not an exaggeration to say that where others did steps ahead, Final did jumps.
This past November, I reviewed Final E2000C and E3000C, and I was quite impressed from the sound quality of both sets, given their humble price of $53.00 and $63.00, respectively. To this day, I cannot understand how Final succeeded to give listeners so much (musical) enjoyment for such little money.
In December, I had a chance to audition E4000 and E5000, and I have to admit that, although their MSRP is much higher, $149.00 and $279.00, respectively, their performance is raised to a substantially higher level, which again is very impressive.
Very recently, Final presented its new design, A8000, with an MSRP of $1999.00! Now, I am sure that what immediately crosses one’s mind is:
Design of A8000
All IEM and headphone designers in their flagship models try to do one thing: To make you feel that you are in the concert hall with the orchestra in front of you. Now, this is easy to say, but damn hard to implement. First of all, let’s try to think what we perceive when we are in the concert hall. Even if we close our eyes, we can hear each instrument with extreme clarity, and at the same time we have a pretty good idea of where each instrument is situated. The analogue in photography is a photo where each object is sharp, and the photo has sufficient depth that allows you to recognize where each object is. A good term for this combination of extreme clarity and precise spatial impression in both sound and photography is transparency. Transparency fails to exist if the sound of an instrument appears to be unclear (like a blurred image), or you have a hard time to realize where an instrument lies (like a flat image); or of course if both things happen at the same time.
Another important factor in the design of an IEM is dynamic range, which is essentially the difference between the loudest and the quietest signal you can hear. Now, depending on the type of music you are listening to, there is an interplay between clarity, spaciousness and dynamic range. With classical and jazz music spatial impression and dynamic range are more important than clarity; with pop and rock music clarity is more important than spaciousness and dynamic range. So, all these factors, clarity and spaciousness, which together is what we call transparency, as well as dynamic range should be taken into account when designing a top class IEM.
What the engineers at Final wanted to do was to create an IEM capable of performing at its best with every type of music, i.e., a top class universal IEM. It was then not difficult to realize that if the new IEM failed to be characterized by top transparency and the right dynamic range, then it would be just another IEM that, although nice sounding, would sooner or later be forgotten. Now, it turned out that in order to solve the problem of transparency, they had to answer two questions:
Final engineers realized that where they should, mostly, concentrate was the time response issue, and therefore they started studying CSD curves all over again. The theory says that if CSD is minimized, then more transparent sound would be achieved. Now, in doing that they discover something truly unexpected: Minimizing CSD resulted in a sound more transparent, but at the same time less natural than normal. And this was a real problem.
It was then clear to Final engineers that they had to find another method, which measured how much transparent and natural was a sound, and this led them to develop, in collaboration with a multi award-winning expert in spatial audio and music recording, the Perceptual Transparency Measurement (PTM). As there is a patent pending, Final did not provide much information about PTM, besides the mention that “the method involves conveying countless analysis and evaluation through mathematical calculation approaches” together with the figure given below. (Final promised that detailed information about PTM and the multi award-winning expert will be provided after this patent is awarded.)
The results of the PTM analysis were used by Final engineers in order to create from scratch an (entirely) new driver. First, they had to decide whether the driver would be dynamic or balanced armature (BA). For a few years now, BA drivers are “in fashion” and they are used by many IEM makers. However, a single BA driver cannot reproduce the low end in a natural way, at least not as naturally as a dynamic driver can, and a designer has to resort to various techniques in order to improve the driver’s low end performance. A few years ago, Final designed a flagship model with a single BA driver, the FI-BA-SS, which by means of the specially designed balancing air movement (BAM) mechanism produces bass tones in a natural way (see the comparison below between A8000 and FI-BA-SS). So, Final engineers decided that this time the (new) A8000 model would use a dynamic driver.
Based on the PTM analysis, the engineers chose pure Beryllium (not Beryllium coating) for the diaphragm of the driver. Beryllium is known to be very hard, its Young’s modulus of stiffness being 276 N/m2, and quite light, its density being 1.82 g/cm3. As a result, its speed of sound propagation, 12,900 m/s, is outstanding compared to both Aluminium and Magnesium and it is second only to that of diamond (the speed of sound propagation is calculated as the square root of stiffness over density). The stiffness of a diaphragm, even if this is as thin as possible in order to be light, ensures low distortion, i.e., it is not deformed throughout the whole frequency range, while its lightness reduces the effect of inertia and allows the diaphragm to change direction as fast as possible. So, pure Beryllium, due to its stiffness, lightness and particularly speed of sound properties, is the perfect material for a diaphragm. The only weakness of Beryllium is that it is very brittle, so for the diaphragm to have the perfect thickness, Beryllium had to be forged by a recent high-end yet extremely time-consuming process.
The next problem that Final engineers had to solve was the mounting of the new driver on the A8000 housing. This is usually done by elastic adhesive, which, unfortunately, works as a cushion, allowing the driver to vibrate, thus creating unwanted resonances that affect sound quality. The solution to that was a new technology called “Anti-Resonance Direct Mounting”: Ultra strong adhesive was applied to the side of the driver through a small gap. The tricky part? The size of the gap! If this was too small, then the adhesive could not be applied properly in order to form a perfect seal; and if it was too big, then the shear strength of the adhesive would become too weak to suppress the driver vibration. Therefore, the size of the gap had to be controlled with the utmost accuracy by a high precision CNC milling.
Now that a premium driver had been designed and the problem of mounting it on A8000’s housing had been successfully solved, Final engineers realized that in order to take full advantage of it, they had to carefully study the “topology” of the housing, as the latter plays a critical role in the final outcome. They finally came up with a design called “Tetra Chamber Construction”, which divides the A8000 housing in four separate chambers meticulously designed for optimal sound quality.
Chamber 1 is apparently crucial in the overall sound quality, as it is through this opening that the sound enters the listener’s ear drum. Many shapes had to be designed and several prototypes had to be actually made and tested, before the right shape was chosen. Chambers 2 and 3 contribute to the driver’s low frequencies, and thus they are quite important for a dynamic driver. Chamber 2 is built at the back of the driver to smooth the pressure and thus maintain a stable driver response. Chamber 3, on the other hand, is equipped with a vent which “communicates” information from the listener’s environment to the driver. Chamber 4 was used for the MMCX connector, and as the soldering point of MMCX was affecting sound quality, a separator between Chambers 3 and 4 was adopted, equipped with a tiny, carefully calculated, vent ensuring the coherency of the driver.
All the interior design of A8000 shows the meticulous care that was undertaken at every stage of development. The same was the case with the exterior design, which has taken into account the Tetra Chamber Construction shape, while following the elegant design for which Final IEM’s are known for. This was a rather difficult task and the final design, both successful and appealing, at least for my taste, was based on mere imagination rather than using a CAD design.
In the previous paragraphs, I tried to give a detailed description of the A8000 overall design in order to show to the reader the attention that Final engineers devoted to each and every step of the IEM’s creating process. Of course everything is judged by the final result, i.e., by the A8000’s sound signature, and it is this factor that determines whether all this designing effort was actually justified.
Sound quality
I would start by simply saying that there many things that A8000 does almost perfectly, and there is nothing that it does wrong, which that alone is a very big accomplishment.
To be more specific, the bass, mid and tremble are all in the right quantity, and they are almost in perfect balance. Nonetheless, the strong point of A8000, which makes it stand out among IEMs of the same price range, is that the whole of the audio spectrum, from deep lows to extreme highs, is delivered at a completely natural and effortless way. There is not even the slightest overlap between the various frequencies. The listener is under the impression that the bass, mid and tremble, initially, come separately, and then, by some magical power, they are all connected together and delivered in almost perfect balance, with no overlap whatsoever and without each one of the them loosing its own particular character. So much transparent is the sound of A8000.
Undoubtedly, transparency is the strong point of A8000. But this is not all; another impressive characteristic of it is its extended dynamic range. It is well known that different types of music require from an IEM to put forward different characteristics: In Classical and Jazz music, the spatial orientation of each instrument as well as the differences in dynamic range among the various instruments are more important than clarity, as this retains the balance of the orchestra; clarity, on the other hand, is critical in Pop and Rock music, for bringing all instruments and vocals to the front. Now, A8000’s transparency, which is translated to spatial impression and clarity, combined with its extended dynamic range make this exquisite IEM a top class performer for all kinds of music.
Furthermore, A8000 has a huge soundstage for an IEM set (earphones live in the limited space of the ear canal, while headphones can use all the space around the ear, thus, usually, the latter have a better soundstage than the former). Also, A8000 has a very nice holographic image, which, together with its soundstage, contributes to the IEM’s unique transparency.
If you read my A8000 description of the previous section, you might think that Final engineers went too far with the design of it; and of course you have every right to wonder whether you really need a special driver and a so scholastic design of the housing in order to have a sound signature that stands out. After having spent many hours with A8000 on many different types of music, I am absolutely convinced that one would not enjoy the exquisite performance of this marvellous IEM if A8000 had not been designed with meticulous care in every little detail.
Listening to “O Vazio” of Jim Brock & Doug Hawthorne, by the Jim Brock Ensemble, from the album Tropic Affair, RR-31, a really complex piece varying from “test” tones at various frequencies to some very powerful parts with a lot of alternations, I realized that never before I experienced such a thriving performance of this unusual piece. Even more important is that, although I thought I knew this piece well, I heard details which apparently I was missing before, with a timbre that was very realistic. Quite different is Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dance #3” from Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, by Eiji Que / Minnesota Orchestra, RR-96 HDCD. On this very authoritative piece, A8000’s performance was transparent and precise, yet powerful and full bodied. In Diana Krall’s beautiful “Fly Me To The Moon”, from the album The Very Best of Diana Krall, Verve, I simply felt that I was in Diana Krall’s concert. And in “Sultans of Swing” from the Very Best of Dire Straits, Vertigo, it was like all the members of the group were playing in front of me with Mark Knopfler’s guitar standing out.
Now, I have to admit that the exquisite performance of A8000 has an implication, which is not always pleasant, certainly not to all: It is unforgiving. If you have a bad or mediocre recording, A8000 will show all the recording’s limitations and weaknesses; this was, for example, the case with “Sultans of Swing” above. Some people would say that this is a disadvantage, which I think is an unfair judgement. When someone spends $1999.00 for an IEM set, he expects that the set performs as close to perfect as possible, and A8000 does precisely that; so, if there is one to blame for the unpleasant state of things that must be the recording and/or the audio source and not the A8000.
Selected comparisons
Obviously, there are (very) few IEMs that can be compared to A8000.
I first chose Sennheiser IE 800, which is a top class IEM and it costs about half the price of A8000. Sennheiser, starting from scratch, spent several years to develop it, and IE 800 is an IEM which, like A8000, incorporates many innovations: It is equipped with a specially designed 7 mm driver that can go from really low to extremely high frequencies; it incorporates a damped two chamber absorber used to minimize unwanted resonances; and it has a ceramic housing whose rigidness improves sound. Now, although IE 800’s performance is exceptionally nice, it is by no means at the level of A8000. IE 800 has sufficient bass and it is overall very well balanced, but, if you put IE 800 side by side to A8000, somehow you feel that the IE 800 mids and highs are somewhat “veiled” by its lows. Obviously, this is due to the transparent and airy presentation of A8000, which is missing from the otherwise excellent performance of IE 800. Also, A8000 has clearly a better soundstage and image than that of IE 800. All in all, IE 800 is a great IEM performer among those in the top tier category, but A8000 just stands out in that group.
Then, I compared A8000 to Final FI-BA-SS. The later has a single balanced armature (BA) driver. BA drivers are known for producing sound that is detailed and analytical, but it is also lacking bass. To overcome this deficiency, Final engineers equipped FI-BA-SS with the “Balancing Air Movement” (BAM) mechanism, which is specially designed such that the air movement is optimized inside the IEM’s housing, thus allowing FI-BA-SS to enhance bass tones in a natural way. Does this happen in reality, i.e., is the BAM mechanism successful? First of all, FI-BA-SS is truly detailed and has a lot of finesse; it reminds me of the wonderful Ortofon e-Q8, which has a single magnetic pole BA driver with a silver coil, thus producing unrivalled high frequencies. On top of it, FI-BA-SS reproduces the low end in a way that might even impress you, until the moment you put it next to A8000. Then, you realize that nothing can beat the nature of things or Physics if you want to. The low end of FI-BA-SS seems a bit artificial compared to the natural and effortless low end of A8000. Also, A8000 has a better soundstage and image than that of FI-BA-SS. So, although FI-BA-SS might be, overall, one of the best IEMs with a BA driver, it cannot reach the level of performance of A8000.
Accessories and fit
The exterior box of A8000 is nicely minimal and inside it the user will find, besides the IEM:
A8000 is rather heavy, weighting 41gr, however, assuming that you found the right size of eartips (which is not difficult given that there are 5 different sizes provided), they do fit in your eardrum like a charm. In fact, during the three months that I am living with them, I was so overwhelmed by their sound that I never thought I had them on my ears.
Furthermore, Final eartips are very nicely designed, providing a high level of sound isolation, so ambient noise with A8000 was never a problem.
Special attention was given to the A8000’s MMCX connector, which was developed in house, and to the IEM’s cable, which is high purity OFC silver coated, thus improving the A8000’s soundstage. Final engineers collaborated with the well-renowned Junkosha corporation, and this resulted in using a cable usually employed in “Kei” supercomputer due to its fast signal transmission speed. Furthermore, the cable was protected by JUNFLON Fluoropolymer (PFA), which was also developed by Junkosha and it represents the ultimate in cable insulation.
Finally, I should point out that the housing is made of two pieces, the front and the rear, which are hold in place by a single screw with epoxy at its head. This has the advantage of an easy repair, if that need arises, for a lifetime enjoyment. However, the user must be warned that whatever attempt to remove the screws will break the epoxy, and this will void the warranty.
A8000 price
If you reached that far in my review, you might be tempted to try out A8000, but maybe one thing that holds you back is this IEM’s price. There is no doubt that $1999.00 is a lot of money, and I am not going to argue against that. However, think for a moment what you get for that premium price you pay:
In conclusion
Final A8000 does pretty much everything almost perfect, while I cannot think of something that it does wrong, and that alone is a big accomplishment. The whole of the audio spectrum is reproduced with top clarity and depth in an extremely natural and effortless way; you feel that you hear lows, mids and highs in an absolutely perfect balance without loosing the slightest information whatsoever, this is how high is the transparency of A8000. On top of it, A8000’s speed is maximal, whenever needed; its dynamic range is extremely broad, which makes it a top class universal performer; its soundstage is huge and its holographic image beautiful. In the past, I have been impressed by certain IEM models, like the Sennheiser IE 800 or the Ortofon e-Q8, but I never felt so much excitement as with A8000. One has to strive extremely hard in order to find an IEM which, overall, performs better than A8000.
If you feel that you can spend $1999.00 on an IEM set, then go ahead and buy A8000 and give yourself the chance to enjoy pure audio pleasure. Life is short, and one should enjoy the most out of it. But even if you cannot afford A8000, you have to audition it; it might change your perspective of listening to music.
Is A8000 absolutely perfect? No, as there is no IEM that can be characterized as such, and there will never be one. However, the A8000 stands out among top class IEMs, and although it is not perfect, it is damn close to being one!
Specifications and price
Product code: FI-A8DSSD
Housing: Stainless steel
Driver: Dynamic driver (Truly pure Beryllium diaphragm)
Sensitivity: 102dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Connector: MMCX
Cable: OFC silver coated cable
Cord length: 1.2m
Weight: 41gr
Price: $1999.00
https://snext-final.com
Almost perfect!
Final is a young company; its history in IEM and headphone design spans a little over ten years, however, the Company’s progress during this, rather short, period has been truly amazing. It is not an exaggeration to say that where others did steps ahead, Final did jumps.
This past November, I reviewed Final E2000C and E3000C, and I was quite impressed from the sound quality of both sets, given their humble price of $53.00 and $63.00, respectively. To this day, I cannot understand how Final succeeded to give listeners so much (musical) enjoyment for such little money.
In December, I had a chance to audition E4000 and E5000, and I have to admit that, although their MSRP is much higher, $149.00 and $279.00, respectively, their performance is raised to a substantially higher level, which again is very impressive.
Very recently, Final presented its new design, A8000, with an MSRP of $1999.00! Now, I am sure that what immediately crosses one’s mind is:
- What Final changed from previous designs, and
- what is this IEM’s performance,
- Final changed everything, and
- the performance of A8000 blows up your mind.
Design of A8000
All IEM and headphone designers in their flagship models try to do one thing: To make you feel that you are in the concert hall with the orchestra in front of you. Now, this is easy to say, but damn hard to implement. First of all, let’s try to think what we perceive when we are in the concert hall. Even if we close our eyes, we can hear each instrument with extreme clarity, and at the same time we have a pretty good idea of where each instrument is situated. The analogue in photography is a photo where each object is sharp, and the photo has sufficient depth that allows you to recognize where each object is. A good term for this combination of extreme clarity and precise spatial impression in both sound and photography is transparency. Transparency fails to exist if the sound of an instrument appears to be unclear (like a blurred image), or you have a hard time to realize where an instrument lies (like a flat image); or of course if both things happen at the same time.
Another important factor in the design of an IEM is dynamic range, which is essentially the difference between the loudest and the quietest signal you can hear. Now, depending on the type of music you are listening to, there is an interplay between clarity, spaciousness and dynamic range. With classical and jazz music spatial impression and dynamic range are more important than clarity; with pop and rock music clarity is more important than spaciousness and dynamic range. So, all these factors, clarity and spaciousness, which together is what we call transparency, as well as dynamic range should be taken into account when designing a top class IEM.
What the engineers at Final wanted to do was to create an IEM capable of performing at its best with every type of music, i.e., a top class universal IEM. It was then not difficult to realize that if the new IEM failed to be characterized by top transparency and the right dynamic range, then it would be just another IEM that, although nice sounding, would sooner or later be forgotten. Now, it turned out that in order to solve the problem of transparency, they had to answer two questions:
- What is the right way to measure transparency, i.e., what are the factors to which one should pay particular attention while measuring transparency?
- How would one implement the findings of the previous question, i.e., what are the changes that should be made in an IEM for achieving top transparency?
Final engineers realized that where they should, mostly, concentrate was the time response issue, and therefore they started studying CSD curves all over again. The theory says that if CSD is minimized, then more transparent sound would be achieved. Now, in doing that they discover something truly unexpected: Minimizing CSD resulted in a sound more transparent, but at the same time less natural than normal. And this was a real problem.
It was then clear to Final engineers that they had to find another method, which measured how much transparent and natural was a sound, and this led them to develop, in collaboration with a multi award-winning expert in spatial audio and music recording, the Perceptual Transparency Measurement (PTM). As there is a patent pending, Final did not provide much information about PTM, besides the mention that “the method involves conveying countless analysis and evaluation through mathematical calculation approaches” together with the figure given below. (Final promised that detailed information about PTM and the multi award-winning expert will be provided after this patent is awarded.)
The results of the PTM analysis were used by Final engineers in order to create from scratch an (entirely) new driver. First, they had to decide whether the driver would be dynamic or balanced armature (BA). For a few years now, BA drivers are “in fashion” and they are used by many IEM makers. However, a single BA driver cannot reproduce the low end in a natural way, at least not as naturally as a dynamic driver can, and a designer has to resort to various techniques in order to improve the driver’s low end performance. A few years ago, Final designed a flagship model with a single BA driver, the FI-BA-SS, which by means of the specially designed balancing air movement (BAM) mechanism produces bass tones in a natural way (see the comparison below between A8000 and FI-BA-SS). So, Final engineers decided that this time the (new) A8000 model would use a dynamic driver.
Based on the PTM analysis, the engineers chose pure Beryllium (not Beryllium coating) for the diaphragm of the driver. Beryllium is known to be very hard, its Young’s modulus of stiffness being 276 N/m2, and quite light, its density being 1.82 g/cm3. As a result, its speed of sound propagation, 12,900 m/s, is outstanding compared to both Aluminium and Magnesium and it is second only to that of diamond (the speed of sound propagation is calculated as the square root of stiffness over density). The stiffness of a diaphragm, even if this is as thin as possible in order to be light, ensures low distortion, i.e., it is not deformed throughout the whole frequency range, while its lightness reduces the effect of inertia and allows the diaphragm to change direction as fast as possible. So, pure Beryllium, due to its stiffness, lightness and particularly speed of sound properties, is the perfect material for a diaphragm. The only weakness of Beryllium is that it is very brittle, so for the diaphragm to have the perfect thickness, Beryllium had to be forged by a recent high-end yet extremely time-consuming process.
The next problem that Final engineers had to solve was the mounting of the new driver on the A8000 housing. This is usually done by elastic adhesive, which, unfortunately, works as a cushion, allowing the driver to vibrate, thus creating unwanted resonances that affect sound quality. The solution to that was a new technology called “Anti-Resonance Direct Mounting”: Ultra strong adhesive was applied to the side of the driver through a small gap. The tricky part? The size of the gap! If this was too small, then the adhesive could not be applied properly in order to form a perfect seal; and if it was too big, then the shear strength of the adhesive would become too weak to suppress the driver vibration. Therefore, the size of the gap had to be controlled with the utmost accuracy by a high precision CNC milling.
Now that a premium driver had been designed and the problem of mounting it on A8000’s housing had been successfully solved, Final engineers realized that in order to take full advantage of it, they had to carefully study the “topology” of the housing, as the latter plays a critical role in the final outcome. They finally came up with a design called “Tetra Chamber Construction”, which divides the A8000 housing in four separate chambers meticulously designed for optimal sound quality.
Chamber 1 is apparently crucial in the overall sound quality, as it is through this opening that the sound enters the listener’s ear drum. Many shapes had to be designed and several prototypes had to be actually made and tested, before the right shape was chosen. Chambers 2 and 3 contribute to the driver’s low frequencies, and thus they are quite important for a dynamic driver. Chamber 2 is built at the back of the driver to smooth the pressure and thus maintain a stable driver response. Chamber 3, on the other hand, is equipped with a vent which “communicates” information from the listener’s environment to the driver. Chamber 4 was used for the MMCX connector, and as the soldering point of MMCX was affecting sound quality, a separator between Chambers 3 and 4 was adopted, equipped with a tiny, carefully calculated, vent ensuring the coherency of the driver.
All the interior design of A8000 shows the meticulous care that was undertaken at every stage of development. The same was the case with the exterior design, which has taken into account the Tetra Chamber Construction shape, while following the elegant design for which Final IEM’s are known for. This was a rather difficult task and the final design, both successful and appealing, at least for my taste, was based on mere imagination rather than using a CAD design.
In the previous paragraphs, I tried to give a detailed description of the A8000 overall design in order to show to the reader the attention that Final engineers devoted to each and every step of the IEM’s creating process. Of course everything is judged by the final result, i.e., by the A8000’s sound signature, and it is this factor that determines whether all this designing effort was actually justified.
Sound quality
I would start by simply saying that there many things that A8000 does almost perfectly, and there is nothing that it does wrong, which that alone is a very big accomplishment.
To be more specific, the bass, mid and tremble are all in the right quantity, and they are almost in perfect balance. Nonetheless, the strong point of A8000, which makes it stand out among IEMs of the same price range, is that the whole of the audio spectrum, from deep lows to extreme highs, is delivered at a completely natural and effortless way. There is not even the slightest overlap between the various frequencies. The listener is under the impression that the bass, mid and tremble, initially, come separately, and then, by some magical power, they are all connected together and delivered in almost perfect balance, with no overlap whatsoever and without each one of the them loosing its own particular character. So much transparent is the sound of A8000.
Undoubtedly, transparency is the strong point of A8000. But this is not all; another impressive characteristic of it is its extended dynamic range. It is well known that different types of music require from an IEM to put forward different characteristics: In Classical and Jazz music, the spatial orientation of each instrument as well as the differences in dynamic range among the various instruments are more important than clarity, as this retains the balance of the orchestra; clarity, on the other hand, is critical in Pop and Rock music, for bringing all instruments and vocals to the front. Now, A8000’s transparency, which is translated to spatial impression and clarity, combined with its extended dynamic range make this exquisite IEM a top class performer for all kinds of music.
Furthermore, A8000 has a huge soundstage for an IEM set (earphones live in the limited space of the ear canal, while headphones can use all the space around the ear, thus, usually, the latter have a better soundstage than the former). Also, A8000 has a very nice holographic image, which, together with its soundstage, contributes to the IEM’s unique transparency.
If you read my A8000 description of the previous section, you might think that Final engineers went too far with the design of it; and of course you have every right to wonder whether you really need a special driver and a so scholastic design of the housing in order to have a sound signature that stands out. After having spent many hours with A8000 on many different types of music, I am absolutely convinced that one would not enjoy the exquisite performance of this marvellous IEM if A8000 had not been designed with meticulous care in every little detail.
Listening to “O Vazio” of Jim Brock & Doug Hawthorne, by the Jim Brock Ensemble, from the album Tropic Affair, RR-31, a really complex piece varying from “test” tones at various frequencies to some very powerful parts with a lot of alternations, I realized that never before I experienced such a thriving performance of this unusual piece. Even more important is that, although I thought I knew this piece well, I heard details which apparently I was missing before, with a timbre that was very realistic. Quite different is Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dance #3” from Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, by Eiji Que / Minnesota Orchestra, RR-96 HDCD. On this very authoritative piece, A8000’s performance was transparent and precise, yet powerful and full bodied. In Diana Krall’s beautiful “Fly Me To The Moon”, from the album The Very Best of Diana Krall, Verve, I simply felt that I was in Diana Krall’s concert. And in “Sultans of Swing” from the Very Best of Dire Straits, Vertigo, it was like all the members of the group were playing in front of me with Mark Knopfler’s guitar standing out.
Now, I have to admit that the exquisite performance of A8000 has an implication, which is not always pleasant, certainly not to all: It is unforgiving. If you have a bad or mediocre recording, A8000 will show all the recording’s limitations and weaknesses; this was, for example, the case with “Sultans of Swing” above. Some people would say that this is a disadvantage, which I think is an unfair judgement. When someone spends $1999.00 for an IEM set, he expects that the set performs as close to perfect as possible, and A8000 does precisely that; so, if there is one to blame for the unpleasant state of things that must be the recording and/or the audio source and not the A8000.
Selected comparisons
Obviously, there are (very) few IEMs that can be compared to A8000.
I first chose Sennheiser IE 800, which is a top class IEM and it costs about half the price of A8000. Sennheiser, starting from scratch, spent several years to develop it, and IE 800 is an IEM which, like A8000, incorporates many innovations: It is equipped with a specially designed 7 mm driver that can go from really low to extremely high frequencies; it incorporates a damped two chamber absorber used to minimize unwanted resonances; and it has a ceramic housing whose rigidness improves sound. Now, although IE 800’s performance is exceptionally nice, it is by no means at the level of A8000. IE 800 has sufficient bass and it is overall very well balanced, but, if you put IE 800 side by side to A8000, somehow you feel that the IE 800 mids and highs are somewhat “veiled” by its lows. Obviously, this is due to the transparent and airy presentation of A8000, which is missing from the otherwise excellent performance of IE 800. Also, A8000 has clearly a better soundstage and image than that of IE 800. All in all, IE 800 is a great IEM performer among those in the top tier category, but A8000 just stands out in that group.
Then, I compared A8000 to Final FI-BA-SS. The later has a single balanced armature (BA) driver. BA drivers are known for producing sound that is detailed and analytical, but it is also lacking bass. To overcome this deficiency, Final engineers equipped FI-BA-SS with the “Balancing Air Movement” (BAM) mechanism, which is specially designed such that the air movement is optimized inside the IEM’s housing, thus allowing FI-BA-SS to enhance bass tones in a natural way. Does this happen in reality, i.e., is the BAM mechanism successful? First of all, FI-BA-SS is truly detailed and has a lot of finesse; it reminds me of the wonderful Ortofon e-Q8, which has a single magnetic pole BA driver with a silver coil, thus producing unrivalled high frequencies. On top of it, FI-BA-SS reproduces the low end in a way that might even impress you, until the moment you put it next to A8000. Then, you realize that nothing can beat the nature of things or Physics if you want to. The low end of FI-BA-SS seems a bit artificial compared to the natural and effortless low end of A8000. Also, A8000 has a better soundstage and image than that of FI-BA-SS. So, although FI-BA-SS might be, overall, one of the best IEMs with a BA driver, it cannot reach the level of performance of A8000.
Accessories and fit
The exterior box of A8000 is nicely minimal and inside it the user will find, besides the IEM:
- 5 silicon type eartips (SS,S,M,L,LL), each having a soft part for a comfortable fit in the user’s ear drum and a more rigid and groovy part for the sound conduit. This combination ensures a high level of sound insulation, which I enjoyed the past three months that I am living with A8000.
- A set of upgraded earhooks, which offer more comfort and have a locking mechanism, so one enjoys reduced microphonics from the A8000 cable without being afraid that he will loose the earhooks.
- An MMCX assist in order to easily detach the MMCX connector from the A8000 housing.
- Swappable dust filters for avoiding earwax deposition.
- A hybrid case, made of CNC aluminum, with black anti-fingering finishing, and silicone, for storing A8000. Furthermore, the case has a separator inside for more secure storage.
A8000 is rather heavy, weighting 41gr, however, assuming that you found the right size of eartips (which is not difficult given that there are 5 different sizes provided), they do fit in your eardrum like a charm. In fact, during the three months that I am living with them, I was so overwhelmed by their sound that I never thought I had them on my ears.
Furthermore, Final eartips are very nicely designed, providing a high level of sound isolation, so ambient noise with A8000 was never a problem.
Special attention was given to the A8000’s MMCX connector, which was developed in house, and to the IEM’s cable, which is high purity OFC silver coated, thus improving the A8000’s soundstage. Final engineers collaborated with the well-renowned Junkosha corporation, and this resulted in using a cable usually employed in “Kei” supercomputer due to its fast signal transmission speed. Furthermore, the cable was protected by JUNFLON Fluoropolymer (PFA), which was also developed by Junkosha and it represents the ultimate in cable insulation.
Finally, I should point out that the housing is made of two pieces, the front and the rear, which are hold in place by a single screw with epoxy at its head. This has the advantage of an easy repair, if that need arises, for a lifetime enjoyment. However, the user must be warned that whatever attempt to remove the screws will break the epoxy, and this will void the warranty.
A8000 price
If you reached that far in my review, you might be tempted to try out A8000, but maybe one thing that holds you back is this IEM’s price. There is no doubt that $1999.00 is a lot of money, and I am not going to argue against that. However, think for a moment what you get for that premium price you pay:
- An IEM that took 5 years of research and development to reach the market, and this shows what this IEM is all about.
- A construction of absolutely top quality in and out. Rare and expensive materials were used (like the pure Beryllium driver) and extremely meticulous and costly construction processes were applied (like the “Tetra Chamber Construction” housing).
- A sound signature you have to hear in order to believe, which makes this IEM to stand out among IEMs of the same price category.
- A design that will last forever.
- An IEM made in Japan. There is no doubt that A8000 would be cheaper if it was made in China, however, Final decided to make it in Japan in order to control every little manufacture detail. Furthermore, “Made in Japan” has always an added value.
In conclusion
Final A8000 does pretty much everything almost perfect, while I cannot think of something that it does wrong, and that alone is a big accomplishment. The whole of the audio spectrum is reproduced with top clarity and depth in an extremely natural and effortless way; you feel that you hear lows, mids and highs in an absolutely perfect balance without loosing the slightest information whatsoever, this is how high is the transparency of A8000. On top of it, A8000’s speed is maximal, whenever needed; its dynamic range is extremely broad, which makes it a top class universal performer; its soundstage is huge and its holographic image beautiful. In the past, I have been impressed by certain IEM models, like the Sennheiser IE 800 or the Ortofon e-Q8, but I never felt so much excitement as with A8000. One has to strive extremely hard in order to find an IEM which, overall, performs better than A8000.
If you feel that you can spend $1999.00 on an IEM set, then go ahead and buy A8000 and give yourself the chance to enjoy pure audio pleasure. Life is short, and one should enjoy the most out of it. But even if you cannot afford A8000, you have to audition it; it might change your perspective of listening to music.
Is A8000 absolutely perfect? No, as there is no IEM that can be characterized as such, and there will never be one. However, the A8000 stands out among top class IEMs, and although it is not perfect, it is damn close to being one!
Specifications and price
Product code: FI-A8DSSD
Housing: Stainless steel
Driver: Dynamic driver (Truly pure Beryllium diaphragm)
Sensitivity: 102dB
Impedance: 16Ω
Connector: MMCX
Cable: OFC silver coated cable
Cord length: 1.2m
Weight: 41gr
Price: $1999.00
https://snext-final.com
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