A4000

I have been into critical listening with headphones for some time, generally with a preference for open back cans. I own a number of higher end Grado's and regard myself as relatively critical of what I hear. Understanding the A4000 before a purchase can be tough given the number of widely differing You Tube opinions. They range from comments such as the A4000 are wonderous mini A-8000 's (Joshua Valour)to a well known audiophile reviewer (Currawong) simply declining to listen to them anymore as they found the 'sibilance' too strident. My opinion, which is probably of limited worth, is that these are truly stellar if you listen to music within certain parameters: classical, or acoustic based with high quality recordings on reasonably good equipment. They do work from a phone directly but definitely benefit from a Dac/Amp combo - even a simple one like the Fiio KA3 that I use. If your into bass dominated tracks like EDM or mainstream pop from compressed file sources then these will be bordering on unlistenable. I went from audio nirvana listening to Beethoven's violin concerto, to shouting out 'WTF' and switiching off my track when I tried Superheroes by Daft Punk. This track sounded extremely thin and sibilant, almost as if you were listening on a pair of free bundled ear buds. The clarity and separation between instruments on the Beethoven was however breathtaking. You could literally hear the bow hair gliding across the string along with other nuances that I have never heard even with my Grado's. Creaking of stools, a subtle percussion instrument, an intake of breath, woodwind keys as they hit their pads. Its all rather uncanny. Their spatial positioning is also extremely accurate with you knowing exactly where each instrument is positioned. With the right music the A4000 are superb, although I would say even under perfect music conditions they stray close at times to becoming a tad sibilant. They never quite get there, but you occasionally sense their at risk of over stepping the mark. These are not mini A8000's, as I suspect the A8000 can pull off their magic with every genre of music played through it without any risk of sibilance. The A4000 does however give you a little flavour, under the right conditions, of what higher end audio can achieve. Unfortunately for £120 (as you would expect) their is a massive compromise and that is for many genres of music they just wont sit right (e.g. EDM, bass driven stuff, mainstream pop). If like me you are into a wide range of musical genre's then this cannot happily be used as the only 'go-to' headphone. However if funds allow then possibly consider this as a second pair. The only issue is that when these work their brilliance, you will feel aggrieved that your other headphones (which may be more costly) don't sound as good!

Final in the UK has been known for their Sonorous range. In 2020, i discovered their earphone range. My first Final Earphone was the impressive E5000' A4000 is equally impressive. Final has been in my top 2 brands for a wired earphones. As most of my music is Hi res.Bluetooth has not evolved to give to deliver true Hi Res. Capable Earphones with DAC's are needed. With or without, the A4000 is brilliant A detail rich sound. Having had opportunity to audition the flagship Final A8000, the sound DNA is present in the A4000. This Paired with a good portable DAC/ Headphone amp, sound is way better than wired earphones double the price. Depending upon source a DAC is only necessary for high res playback. Caution, increasing the sound to an unacceptable level the detail is lost and sibilance (especially on mids and high increases Comfort is great. Noise cancelling is acceptable for a wired earphoned with silicon tips. In summary, a gem of an earphone. Bags of detail. Comfortable, Well priced. Well done Final. N

I like these - I have 5 IEMs now and wanted to try these - grabbed them on sale and have been wearing them since - not the best for volume or bass but it's there - they reveal parts of songs I'd never heard or noticed before so they have some tricks up their sleave. At first you will think they cheaped out on the cable, it feels like any regular rubbery headphone cable - but after days of use you'll appreciate that it works and doesn't get tangle or feel heavy like other over-the-top mulit-core/multi-strand IEM cables, these are much nicer to wear outdoors. Look cool too these IEMs, very discreet.

I had a lot of earbuds top rated ones like Onemore Sennheiser Klipsch Sony etc but these ones just blow my mind soundstage and image absolutely magnificent I have krk 7 studio monitors and 3 dac amp combo using it for gaming as well like Call of duty (I know this game audio not great but) and these a4000 is just next level I could hear a more detail and I could hear clean sound where enemy's are I was thinking that earbuds never would match headphones or studio monitors and I was wrong 100% worth buying for gaming and for music its not bad but only in specific area where soundstage is main thing. One more thing using topping a50 with a4000 I think amp with definitely increase it capabilities and give it time till your ears fully adjust to the sound you will be surprised what these a4000 are capable

1. Impeccable deep fit. Lightweight shells. The included final type e tips that are narrow bore with a thicker silicone, marginalize sibilant low frequencies whilst reinforcing midbass. 2. Detachable 2 pin cable is lightweight amd never tangles. 3. Sound signature. The presentation is not neutral but impeccably tuned. Vocals are instruments are pushed slightly back in the mix and thus invoking space and clarity. Thus is more preferable to Harmon curve tuned IEMs from Moondrop. The soundstage is industry leading. These are the Sennheiser HD800S of the IEM world. Lateral width and height are out of head, un-naturally wide due to low in ear compensation gain. 4. Very easy to drive. Low impedance and high SPL. A balanced 4.4mm cable is not necessary.

I got these initially amd was not impressed but I did compare them to Fiio Fh5s which is alot more expensive. After using them a while it seems like they got alot better.Also amp pairing makes a big difference. I got a new Hidiz S9 pro dongke and it seems to love it. They are higher impenence at 150ohm so you need to put alot of power through these to get best result. I can honestly say you probaby better off with Moondrop Aria's for half the price. Firstly these are plastic and look extremely cheap where Aria is steel and look significantly more premium.

A very balanced In-Ear headphone. Very good price, and very well made. These headphones are giant killers. The final brand are very underrated.

Un IEM fuera de lo común. Enorme transparencia y respeto a la tímbrica. Escucho principalmente música clásica y se agradece su neutralidad. Aunque tiende hacia el lado brillante del espectro sonoro frecuencias, no carece de profundidad. Con todo, para que aparezcan los bajos hay que aumentar el volumen, como es habitual. No apto, sin embargo, para amantes del hip-hop y variantes. La separación entre instrumentos es asombrosa, sin que ello le haga perder coherencia. De entrada, puede parecer un tanto seco (no colorea en absoluto el sonido) e incluso “nervioso” en los forte. Pero es cuestión de rodarlos y, sobre todo, de encontrar un buen DAC con el que emparejarlos. Al menos, funcionan muy bien con los Apogee Groove (¡un DAC brutal!) y el Fiio Q3. También hay que elegir las puntas adecuadas (como sucede con cualquier IEM): la firma del sonido varía notablemente dependiendo de las que uses. Lo dicho: muy recomendable, sobre todo, si tenemos en cuenta su relación calidad-precio. Para música clásica (y me atrevería a decir que, preferiblemente, de cámara).

I ordered these based on a couple of YouTube reviews, none of which brought up a frequency response graph. I wanted a taste of what good soundstage sounds like from an IEM without spending big money, so I got them. They immediately sounded like they had a V-shaped signature, and while I don't typically aim for that sound signature, I had no problem with these. Treble: I liked these much more than my OH10s because while the frequency response graphs show a huge hump in the upper mids/treble for the A4000s, the OH10s sound much sharper. The A4000s certainly don't lack detail, but they come across as much smoother. If I had looked at the frequency response of the treble before buying these, I would not have bought them. Mids: They exist, just a little thin. Bass: This was the most surprising aspect of the sound for me. I wasn't expecting much coming from solid metal IEMs like the OH10s, Arias, and Tin T2s, but the bass is punchy, smooth, and round (in a pleasing way). It doesn't sound particularly fast, but it has great tonality. The sub-bass is slightly forward, but the mid-bass tapers well into the mids. Soundstage/imaging Just like everybody else says, very good. I don't have much else to say other than that it feels like the A4000s push everything away. It rarely feels intimate, even when it feels like it should. I've heard their more expensive model can do both intimacy and width, whereas it feels like these focus purely on width. Something to note is that I like to bring these to the gym because of 1, the comfort and fit; and 2, they scale extremely well with volume; they never sound crowded, the bass hits hard, and the treble never becomes too sharp. That being said, the filter on my right bud got soiled from what I am assuming was sweat, but after a couple days of drying, it appears that the filter is back to normal. I really began to appreciate this product after looking at the frequency response graph on Crinacle's website. While the mids are most definitely recessed, the graph tracks extremely well with the target between 500-2k after which the hump begins. The treble hump encroaches a little bit on the upper mids which leads to the mids sounding a little thin in general, but they avoided making any mistakes in the gain region and so vocals still generally sound natural enough. The treble is emphasized, but even, and returns back to the target after 10k which prevents them from sounding too sharp. I don't know why they don't sound sharp, but it's pretty cool. If I ever go into kilobuck range, the A8000 is definitely one of the options I'm looking at.

As a total package, these are very much worth the money. However, I've decided to return my pair as they don't meet my needs. I'll explain why after first going through what I like about them. PROS: - Great build. The materials are light, yet feel durable and fit together coherently. The included case is one of the best IEM cases ever made IMO, and the earhooks are a huge improvement over the thinner, less helpful E series hooks (though I didn't find myself using them as the cable sits over the back of my ear well enough without them). I don't typically factor build quality into my opinions unless it's particularly bad or impractical, but all the design choices here come together to make an IEM I that is easy to carry around, that you don't have to worry about treating particularly kindly, and that looks sleek to boot. - PERFECT fit. Obviously, this is highly subjective, but these are possibly THE best fitting IEMs I've worn, and I've worn a lot. The lightness is a big plus here, as the shell doesn't pull down on the nozzle while it's in your ear like many "premium" feeling, metal-shelled IEMs do, nor does the cable apply any weight. I believe the main two reasons these fit so well, though, are the shell shape and short nozzle. Like Sennheiser's IE lineup, these primarily sit against the bottom of your concha, and the eartips don't protrude far enough to contend with the contours of the ear canal. I think people who have issues with the fit of other IEMs will find relief with these! - Above average tuning. While I'll get to my gripes with the sound in a second, it definitely isn't bad. It's pretty balanced and avoids the large pinna gain hump in the upper mids that most people have accepted as part of a “neutral” or “accurate” tuning, and I think this makes for a safer, more relaxed listen for people that are sensitive to upper-mid “bite” or “shout.” The treble is inoffensive yet clear enough. They have ample mid-bass. The mids are smooth and fairly detailed. Unless you’re looking for something that feels more textured for music like metal or that has greater sub-bass impact for bass-heavy genres like EDM, these are good all-rounders for anything you throw at them, which isn’t a quality IEMs earn easily. If you’re coming from an average set of earbuds, these will definitely be an improvement in terms of detail and tonality regardless of what you listen to. - Soundstage! The reason anyone gets these. Their imaging is very circular, placing instruments around your head with plenty of room. I didn’t find the actual size of the “stage” it creates in your head to be particularly wide, largely due to poor dynamics hampering the illusion, but I don’t expect other people will feel the same way. Voices in particular feel stretched out in a pleasant way. CONS: - Dynamics - I think these perform poorly in every sense of this vague audiophile term. The dynamic range is bad in that there isn’t a very good sense of contrast between quiet and loud sounds, which COULD be a positive for me (it can make listening at low volumes easier) if these weren’t also so smeary (again, I’ll get to this in a second). The bass and treble are tuned in a way that eliminates any sense of impact, and while they’re more detailed than the average earbud, the microdetails simply aren’t there. They just sound a little flat. - Bass - to go into more detail, the bass is a little weird. Not overemphasized, but proportionally out of whack. The mid-bass bleeds into the mids not in a way that obscures detail but in a way that makes both sections less satisfying to listen to. The sub-bass is very weak, and when paired with this humpy mid-bass makes for a sensation more like being slapped with a towel than being punched when kick drums hit. In this context, I prefer getting punched. - Smeariness/Smogginess? Not looking to invent new vague audiophile terms, but this feels most appropriate. Just a little dirty and unclear compared to others in the price range. The ends of sounds smear into one another, and the beginnings lack speed or excitement. To me, it’s the audio equivalent of peering at a city skyline through a thin layer of smog. You can make things out, and the obstruction might not be as hard to see through as a thick cloud of fog, but it’s dirtier, pollutes the colors, makes things kind of blurry and less detailed and not so fun to look at. Together, these qualities make for an earphone that lets me hear my music pretty well but never feel like I’m “in” it. Perhaps the best thing about these is that they’re very safe. If someone gifted these to me, or if they were my first pair of good IEMs, or if I didn’t have a bit more flexibility with my budget and had to settle on a *single* sub-$100 IEM to fit all my use cases, I definitely wouldn’t be unhappy with these–they check all the right boxes for the money. They just aren’t what I’m looking for. They don’t deliver the satisfying sub-bass rumble or more controlled mid-bass punch that I like, they’re smeary, they’re not as detailed as some cheaper offerings like Tin Hifi or Moondrop’s products, etc. I’m in a weird spot where they’re easy to recommend and difficult to keep.

Arrived on time and really happy with the quality of the in ear. Also very comfortable as well

Crystal clear, but lack depth