Joined in 2023 
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63 About this deal
Final Audio has gained a lot of appreciation from me over recent months. The EVA 2020 really convinced me that Final has a lot of show for, and their interesting library of products present a wide array of quality gear. A new Final model has now reached my desk, the VR3000. This is a set of earphones tailored toward gaming which you don’t see a lot of. Most game audio paraphernalia is catered to over-ear headphones with attachable mics and 3D audio. However, not everyone is going to gravitate towards over-ear, and most of the time they can end up being pricier than IEMs. The VR3000 wants to make your game audio simple and affordable, so let’s see how well they accomplish that. Desktops, Monitors, Pen drives, Hard drives, Memory cards, Computer accessories, Graphic cards, CPU, Power supplies, Motherboards, Cooling devices, TV cards & Computing Components 15 Days Returnable One of the basic prospects of game audio is putting the listener right at the center of the action. IEMs have the advantage of potentially creating a more involved headspace, where the soundstage makes you feel like a more active participant in the soundstage, rather than a spectator. However, in my experience, earphones rarely achieve this goal in their soundstage. More times than not, the stage set on most IEMs present a boxed-in, interior that restricts the sound when it wants to naturally expand. I wasn’t expecting much from an earphone at this price range, but Final really brings the goods here. All the above made clear that Beryllium was not an option for the driver of A4000 and A3000. So, what was the solution? Final engineers had the idea to start from a humble and underestimated material, such as PET (Polyethylene terephthalate), which many manufacturers use, but in this case Final engineers tried to get the most out of it! How do you do that? By making changes to the voice coil, magnet and housing. The idea behind it is that if we want a driver to have a performance as close to perfect as possible, then all its parts must work as a single unit; if one (or more) of the driver parts has a flaw, then the driver ecosystem as a whole suffers. Furthermore, Final eartips are very nicely designed, providing a high level of sound isolation, so ambient noise with A4000 or A3000 was never a problem.
The VR3000 has a well balanced sound with a surprisingly big soundstage and accurate imaging. Designed for gaming, these aren’t the most musical sounding IEMs. While the tuning is mostly neutral, the timbre seems a little unnatural, and there’s a definite sense of veiled highs, but the technical strengths make them stand out. The imaging and separation are on par with IEMs that cost five times as much. Overall, these are really strong performers that have a strong appeal for audiophiles looking for inexpensive earphones that value technical prowess over a “fun” tuning. The VR3000 is also the only one in this group to feature a built in mic or have a removable cable. Comparison
Specifications and Features
A far more suitable use, though, and the reason most people will be looking for in-ear headphones, is mobile gaming and VR. As the name suggests, the VR3000 are very well suited to VR gaming because of the excellent positional audio. They are lightweight and the 1.2m cable and the behind-the-ear wire positioning helps keep them neat, tidy and out of the way of your motion controllers. One of the highlights of this sound signature, the mid-range offers some crisp details for a full spectrum of resonance. I mentioned how well dialogue comes across in the VR3000, and the mids do most of the job lifting vocal ranges with textural flavor and detailed flourishes. Sound effects bounce around the sound field with mid-band boosts and clarity. As I mentioned in the intro, the final A3000 are, identical in design to that of the final VR3000. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Their angular design is quirky and modern, whilst not affecting the functional aspects of the product. The exterior box of A4000 and A3000 is nicely minimal and inside it the user will find, besides the IEM and cable:
With IEMs, I always do the usual burn-in of about 50 hours; it’s not that without this the IEMs do not sound right, but rather that the burn-in helps them to reach their full potential. Now, much more important than the technical burn-in, I consider the so-called phycological burn-in, which helps the listener to get acquainted with the IEM; in that sense, the phycological burn-in does not actually have a limit, and the more you listen the better you get to know the IEM. Final Audio Design (typically referred to as simply “Final Audio” or even more simply as “Final”) is a bit of a weird brand in the context of the current IEM market. I’d consider them as your standard-fare “quirky Japanese company” making some oddball IEMs, but they’re also pretty much the only Japanese brand that have managed to retain some form of relevancy in the modern mainstream-ish market. I’m impressed despite these not being aimed at me at all. I’m not a huge gamer anymore, and it isn’t important for me to eke out every tactical advantage. At my age, I just want to play and enjoy the game. For those looking to up their game though, I believe the final VR3000 could provide that edge. Are they going to make you a tactical genius in Overwatch? Absolutely not. Those gentle footsteps or reloading sounds you might otherwise have missed might be a little clearer with the final VR3000 though. They are incredibly well balanced. Car Parts and Accessories, Bike Parts and Accessories, Helmets and other Protective Gear, Vehicle Electronics 30 Days Returnable Guess what? I was wrong in both! Just a few months ago, Final presented A4000 and A3000, two lower, actually way too lower, value IEMs than A8000. While, on April 26, 2021, Final launched SHICHIKU.KANGEN, which is the next big thing after A8000. Typically, SHICHIKU.KANGEN belongs to the Collaboration series, because it was developed in collaboration with the DITA Audio company; in reality though, it is of the same breed as A8000, at least in regard to its construction, and it costs almost 50% more than the latter.
Conclusion
Aging refers to the phenomenon whereby the sound produced by the earphones changes over time as they are used. There is a small driver unit – what could be called a speaker – inside the earphones; a diaphragm of extremely thin film is attached to this using a coil and an adhesive agent. With aural signals, the diaphragm moves in micronic increments while the coil moves, giving off sound. While it can’t be proven, we believe that in this situation, the adhesive section may possibly influence these infinitesimal movements. Using the product over a set period of time, the diaphragm moves more easily, and sound quality approaches the original design intent. This product has a small aperture, and so an extended period of time is necessary for changes through aging to become indecipherable. In general, if the product is used in a normal way over a period of 150 ~ 200 hours, it should feel that sound has become more subtle. A more favorable outcome can be obtained through aging of the product by listening to the music you normally listen to at a volume you usually listen at, rather than expediting aging through very high volumes or aging through noise. While not an accurate metaphor, when you make unnecessary movements to break in a pair of shoes, you’re bound to cause wrinkles different to those that occur when you walk normally. In the same way, rather than having the diaphragm move unnecessarily, it is better to think that it is more natural to break it in in the environment in which it is used. They are made for gaming, it’s even in the product name, so gives you some idea. But they perform very well for music too. Good bass levels, perhaps a slightly different soundstage compared to other earphones but overall excellent quality. With gaming they performed very well with an excellent sense of direction and 3D sound, especially in FPS titles and capturing the atmospheric world in the likes of Cyberpunk 2077. The soundstage is the key attraction here and is amazingly big & deep. It gives a true surround feel and movies just sound awesome. Weird notch inside 2 pin that doesn’t work with every 2 pin cable. Very comfy, excellent build and fit.
Final has done a lot of research and development to create a bespoke audio driver for the VR3000. The 6mm drivers were designed specifically for gaming, with the goal of providing a balanced audio profile and increasing spatial positioning. Simply put, the immersion when using the VR3000 is superb. They really put you in the middle of the action with pinpoint accuracy. Being mainly a BF V player, these really make you feel as if you are in the battlefield. With Planes flying overhead, bullets flying past you and even the ability to hear people sneak up behind you. Not only does this immersion give you a slight edge, it makes gaming all the more worthwhile. For an earphone, the VR3000 offer up an impressive gaming performance, no matter what game / genre you play. The high end is also really nicely done with these. It definitely feels slightly treble heavy, which gives the sense of increased details. However, this does not appear to become fatiguing, for normal listening durations. For an IEM worn for gaming, this is a big plus, as it means they can be work for extended periods, with neither physical nor sonic fatigue. If you read my review of A8000, I explain why forged Beryllium is the most appropriate material for a driver diaphragm: Beryllium is very stiff compared, e.g., to Aluminium and Magnesium, and this ensures low distortion, i.e., it is not deformed throughout the whole frequency range; it is also very light, and this reduces the effect of inertia and allows the diaphragm to change direction as fast as possible. So, based on its stiffness and lightness, Beryllium is the ideal material for a diaphragm. The only weakness of Beryllium is that it is very brittle, so it has to be forged, and thismakes the diaphragm making process even more time- and money-consuming.
Product Support
Digital Cameras, camera lenses, Headsets, Speakers, Projectors, Home Entertainment (new and certified refurbished) 15 Days Returnable Almost clinical and perfect in their sound reproduction at the cost of losing some musicality and sounding sterile at times
Comfort - These are fairly comfortable but I think being ruined by using mostly Sennheiser IEMs, nothing can beat the comfort of those and I believe that anyone who has tried them before will state the same. The PET, as diaphragm material, is quite light; this means that it has lower inertia and it can therefore move precisely according to the electric signal it is fed with. However, the diaphragm is always attached to the voice coil. If the diaphragm is light, but the voice coil is heavy, the overall movement of the two, which move as one piece, would be slowed down. For f-CORE DU, Final is using a 30μ diameter Copper-clad Aluminum Wire (CCAW) instead of the commonly used copper wire. CCAW is made from aluminum inside with a copper coating (copper cladding) outside. The density of copper is three times that of aluminum, so a CCAW voice coil is almost three times lighter than a copper voice coil, and as a result of this the couple diaphragm-voice coil has a really fast and accurate reaction to the feeding electric signal. On the other hand, thinner wire, like CCAW, means more turnsin the same space, so higher impedance, and therefore more powerful amplification is needed to drive the IEM, but the sound is definitely more accurate. This is the case with f-CORE DU. IEM Body - The shape and structure of the IEM itself is ergonomic but I think for my ear there is a corner that could be removed and these would fit much better. They also made it as light as possible as gamers tend to wear them for long periods of time with little or no breaks, this is actually quite nice. However, that’s not where the VR3000 is really targeted. Instead, this is a pair of in-ear headphones that enhance your VR experience by adding realism through the way audio is represented. There’s no bespoke virtual surround sound here, and it will rely on the quality of a game’s audio design and any spatial audio provided by the system. When paired with an immersive VR game like Jurassic World Aftermath, the VR3000’s exceptional definition and flat EQ setting helps to bring out the sensation that you really are experiencing what your eyes are telling you.Although these are very light headphones, weighing just 20g, the construction is solid. There are no visible gaps, and they feel durable. Although there is no official IP rating for water or dust resistance, I would imagine these will withstand sweat or a medium rain shower with no risk of water ingress (though to limit liability I still advise you not to get them wet, as I accept no responsibility for any water damage).
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