I decided to buy the Final A4000 over the Moondrop Starfields as my first iem. Seeing the hype and limited availability, I thought I would give them a go. Plus I was supporting a local retailer in the process, which was a bonus.
Build:
The first thing that jumped out to me was the build and how well these fit and how quickly you forget they are in your ear. They weigh nothing and are a really soft touch plastic that doesn’t get grubby easily. The iem’s feel sturdy but not bomb-proof. The cable feels alright, nothing really stands out in this regard.
Sound:
I have been testing these iem’s all week and I’m at the 50hr mark so the characteristics could change if Finals own website is anything to go by. The iem’s perform really well to my ears, with only a couple areas I wish were better. soundstage is very nice, dynamics are good and imaging seems decent. Bass is pretty good, you can get some sub-bass rumble out of these and bass is tight.
Mids seem fine. Ever so slightly lacking in energy for a couple tracks where only the midrange is present, at least to my ears.
Treble is bright possibly too bright at times with female vocals, otherwise resolves well to my ears
I have noticed that these iem’s don’t run to there best on mobile, missing out on the lower frequencies where as they are present on the MacBook and atom amp.
Gaming:
I haven’t tested these enough but my initial impressions are pretty good. In non competitive settings gunshots and explosions have grunt and rumble, ambient sounds really immerse you into the space.
Overall, im pretty pleased with these iem’s. They compliment my HD650’s nicely, are infinitely wearable due to their weight and fit and sound great, especially listening to the Tron legacy soundtrack where the orchestra and electronic elements sound grand, energetic and fills my head. (please Disney we need a Tron 3 with another daft punk score)
I would love to see what a more experienced listener has to say and how the A4000’s compare to Starfields, legacy 3’s etc due to the similar price point.
I would be curious to hear your view of this set at this point. I remember both of these sets looking interesting when they came out, but Final rarely ever seems to get much attention beyond people loving the ear tips.
I always thought the 4000 would catch on for the sound stage. If the 8000 has been bigger, it would have been the budget version of that, but I don’t know enough about their top tier, since I am not shopping in that price bracket.
Sadly unlikely at this point, since they broke up shortly after your post.
Its almost 1 year of ownership and I have daily driven these for music and gaming. A few characteristics have changed.
The bass isnt as punchy as it once was, and the treble isnt as hot and fatiguing. My unit seems to enjoy more power than before in order to achieve the out of the box sound, so if you enjoyed the slightly punchy bass you will have to endure the bright treble(interesting trade-off)
The soundstage has tightened up a little but is still plenty wide and the imaging seems better as a trade off. Cymbals really showcase the width this set can achieve frequently leaving headspace on tracks like Take Five or Stranglehold.
These are decent for games too, due to the soundstage and natural timbre although gunshots may still be fatiguing. Imaging also lets you down slightly if something is directly overhead or slightly behind you.
In closing, some more bass would be nice but increasing the volume introduces the fatiguing treble again:(
Also, at times vocals leave you wanting more, sounding dull in the mix.
Cleaning is also an itch as the nozzle cover doesn’t hold up well to a q-tip.
Overall the hours of use has made these iems more enjoyable for longer periods, and they are versatile for different content. They are still weak when it comes to some vocal presentation, but for £100 these are great kit for soundstage. If nothing else, you get a set of final tips and a fun item to go with it.
Thanks for long term review. I have gone to a small brush for cleaning the nozzle covers. The one I use came with a set of mechanical keyboard o-rings, but it is basically for cleaning between keys.
Having lived with the final A4000 as my only iem for the past week due to in camp training I can say they are still every bit as good as when I first impuse bought them.
The main complains out of the way first. The bass is very old school BA esque and you get this plane like bass that doesnt have much accuracy to the imaging.
Now to the good stuff:
Its a mild V shape that doesnt sacrifice male vocals but female vocals are clearly slightly more forward.Digs deep into the vocals assuming you run it off a desktop amp. Microdetail is quite dependent on how much clean a signal you can supply it. For example The Brave and the Her by Thuatha de Danann the lead vocalist has a slightly gravelly voice that isnt really picked up on my DX120 but on my Fiio K9 pro its clear as day.
Upper mids/lower treble is about the smoothest in the price range that doesn’t suffer from overdamping(or any damping at all strangely) and everything is crisp and sharp. What I like to test this on is on REOL in general as her voice w/ and w/o autotune is lower in the transitional mids area along with a barage of edm syth in the lower treble area and the A4000 has no issue with both.
One thing the A4000 also kind of falls short but not as egregously as the bass is the upper treble/air. As little infomation is there its pretty lowfi on the A4000 as things like trailing ends of crystal bells kind of blend together. Because of that the edge of the sound sphere is very well defined as well which might be a good thing for gaming as it makes its much easier to tell relative distance. On movies/ anime though it can be annoying as there is no precursor before the object comes into the sound field.
All in all would rec for more high intensity music as the driver is built for speed and while it does well with slow music it trives in the chaos of 300bpm and up music.
