Reviews + impressions thread: Final Audio Design Pandora Hope VI (interesting dynamic + BA full size headphones)

[vlenbo]

   
way to go man...enjoy your Xmas !!

Thank you good sir. 

 
I will compare them to mikros90 which is still the best headphone in my inventory. I'm glad I didn't buy any other headphone for a while. 

 

[BearMonster]

Just found these info
 
http://stereoikolorowo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/suchawki-dokanaowe-final-audio-design.html
 
This shows a picture of the Pandora X & Pandora VIII from a magazine. Next to the name of the headphone you can see "scheduled to go on sale Summer 2014"
 
https://twitter.com/digitalaudiorvw/status/468037195170082816
 
This twitter claims VIII will be around $3000
 
http://www.lesnumeriques.com/casque-audio/final-audio-pandora-hope-viii-p20638/high-end-pandora-hope-viii-coup-coeur-indecent-n34423.html
 
This french site got to try out the Final Audio Pandora VIII
 
It should be noted that these were schedule for Summer release 2014.

 

[AlterSack]

I can confirm the info on the VIII.
 
Final Audio had them at the Munich High End in May  and I could listen to them for some minutes - it was pure pleasure with my Ak100 as a DAP.
Here are my pics - sorry fro teh quality, I took them with my old phone.
 
 
 
The lady from FAD said it would cost around 3.000 Euro.
 

 

[moriez]

€3000 ey? Well, that won't happen in this household here.. but I may want a backup VI pair though! It's been a while since I sat down and spend some time with it but boy, it's the best thing I've heard for electronic music. Anyone into the genre should do himself a favour and try to listen with this headphone. Perhaps just a little too much treble presence for my taste but that line of too much/too little is so thin I'm not even sure. It could also be the Yulong D200's presentation. Anyway, this is headphone listening at it's finest.

 

[Beagle]

So 3000 Euro is about $5000? Must be pure gold in those housings

 

[BearMonster]

According to this site one of the headphones will launch in September, the other in October. The prices on the headphones are in Hong Kong Dollar.
 
http://cn.on.cc/hk/bkn/cnt/lifestyle/20140812/bkn-20140812140450570-0812_00982_001_cn.html?section=all

 

[ericp10]

Listening to blues (Gary Clark Jr.), and these babies are shining! By far the best headphone I've ever heard, and the favorite in my collection. We shall never part. 

 

[moriez]

  the best headphone I've ever heard

 
Goes for me too eventhough it's quite likely temporary. Started going somewhere with the D5000, then stepped up to TH600. Both are no competition to these ears but what's good today, can be mediocre tomorrow.

 

[Beagle]

  Listening to blues (Gary Clark Jr.), and these babies are shining! By far the best headphone I've ever heard, and the favorite in my collection. We shall never part.

 
It nails the most difficult of tasks....creating space but staying musical.

 

[ericp10]

   
It nails the most difficult of tasks....creating space but staying musical.

 
 
I totally agree, Beagle.

 

[Lorspeaker]

u two guys nailed the difficult task of describing the sound !! 

 

[jellofund]

Only have about 50 hours on the clock but fast coming to the same conclusion as you guys.
 
I have a feeling these are going to be keepers so went on the hunt for a longer cable and another pair of pads.
 
A google search brought up a dealer in the Netherlands who had the items I wanted in stock and unlike the other places I found (all 2 or so lol) were willing to ship to the UK.
 
http://finalaudio.nl/en/home.html
 
Thought I’d share my experiences of both FAD NL and the items I ordered.....
 
Prior to ordering I exchanged a few e-mails with one of their team, Michael, who proved to be a very helpful and friendly guy to deal with. Replies were always prompt, usually within 30 mins or so during business hours, and my order shipped the same day it was placed.
 
The package arrived this morning (took 5 days from the Netherlands to UK). Top packaging job with the items individually foam wrapped, surrounded by air pillows and placed in a sturdy box. No complaints at all.
 
On to the good stuff:
 
3 metre cable
Same good quality flexible cable as the stock 1.5m cable that comes with the VI so as you'd expect they sound identical.
 
One thing to mention is that this cable is fitted with a 3.5mm jack rather than a 6.3mm as indicated in the description on Final Audio NL’s site. With such a long cable a larger jack might have been preferable for some but easily rectified with an adapter (not supplied).  Edit: just checked with FAD NL and it seems the cable should come with a 3.5 to 6.3mm jack adapter, so they're sending me one out.
 
A couple of minor cosmetic differences to note too – no ‘Final’ wording etched onto the chrome part of the 3.5mm jack plug and the L/R indicators have moved from the Y split onto the chrome housing of the L/R jacks which makes life easier when plugging them in.
 
The area where FAD does seem to have cut corners slightly is by replacing the gold plated locking bars on the jacks with black plastic ones as seen here. Makes no difference in terms of functionality but feels a bit less premium all the same – might also be a potential weak point if you’re the kind of person who likes to regularly remove and re-insert cables.
 
Hope IV pads
Compared to the Hope VI pads these are a little deeper (0.5cm perhaps), feel quite a bit firmer to the touch and the pleather seems heavier duty than that used on the VI pads, which in comparison feel incredibly supple and soft to the touch.  They also seem a tad more fiddly to fit and remove the rings due to their more rigid nature.
 
Unlike a pair of 3^rd party DT770 pleather pads I tried recently, these definitely don’t kill the treble though. If anything they emphasise it and the upper mids somewhat giving the overall sig a more energetic, rawer and dare I say it less refined sound. Bass doesn’t seem affected much in terms of quantity although the lower mids do to my ears sound a bit further back in the mix. I also feel like there is a bit less detail than I’m accustomed to with the stock pads, but my ears could be playing tricks on me.
 
I should point out that I’ve not tried the Hope IV but impressions I've read suggest they do have a bit more of a treble emphasis than the VI, so perhaps the pads play some part in the overall sig. *Pure conjecture on my part of course*.
 
The one thing that does seem to be almost universal from people who've tried both is that the IV pads are the more comfortable of the two and I’m not going to buck that trend, although I don’t find the VI pads all that bad if I’m honest …..but you can never have too much comfort, right?
 
My ears do still make very slight contact with the driver cover with these but it’s minimal in comparison to the stock pads and certainly not in any way bothersome. I’d imagine you could wear them for hours without them getting uncomfortable or your ears feeling like they’d gone 10 rounds with the driver grills.
 
SQ > comfort for me, so the stock pads get my vote and these will be up in the Classifieds in the next day or so (at a decent discount).
 
Hope these impressions help

 

 

[Beagle]

Originally Posted by jellofund /img/forum/go_quote.gif
 
Hope IV pads
 
Compared to the Hope VI pads these are a little deeper (0.5cm perhaps), feel quite a bit firmer to the touch and the pleather seems heavier duty than that used on the VI pads, which in comparison feel incredibly supple and soft to the touch.  They also seem a tad more fiddly to fit and remove the rings due to their more rigid nature.
 
Unlike a pair of 3^rd party DT770 pleather pads I tried recently, these definitely don’t kill the treble though. If anything they emphasise it and the upper mids somewhat giving the overall sig a more energetic, rawer and dare I say it less refined sound. Bass doesn’t seem affected much in terms of quantity although the lower mids do to my ears sound a bit further back in the mix. I also feel like there is a bit less detail than I’m accustomed to with the stock pads, but my ears could be playing tricks on me.

 
This is what my IV sounds like...so it must be the pads that make the difference.

 

[jellofund]

   
This is what my IV sounds like...so it must be the pads that make the difference.

Cheers Beagle. Does sound like that's the case.
 
Dale Thorn mentioned in his Hope IV review that a FAD distributor had said the VI pads tame the IV's treble some, so it sounds like the same thing happens (albeit in reverse) with the VI.
 
I'm guessing that ear cup and damping materials will also influence the sound but wouldn't be surprised if there isn't a whole lot between the pair when they're rocking the same pads.

 

[Beagle]

I will examine the pads more closely, and I will spring for a set of VI pads to put on the IV, then A/B the two phones and see what's what..