Japanese high-end audio brand Final has announced a new set of flagship true wireless earphones, the Final ZE8000.
Influenced by the brand’s previous efforts with the D8000 high-end headphones and the A8000 wired earphones, the Final ZE8000 joins the flagship 8000 series as a premium set of true wireless earphones.
To that end, the ZE8000 features what Final is calling “f-CORE for 8K Sound”, which is an ultra-low distortion driver with a large 13mm diaphragm. Featuring a unique aluminium-magnesium dome and a floating mechanism for the voice coils, it’s extremely light and precise.
Class-AB amplifiers provide a superior balance of sound quality and power efficiency, with many true wireless earphones using inferior Class-D amplifier technology. Polymer Multilayer Capacitors from Rubicon complete the ‘8K Sound’ picture.
Hardware is only part of the picture of course. Final has implemented its own Active Noise Cancelling system which apparently doesn’t degrade the audio in any way. Besides a regular Noise Cancelling mode, you can also activate a Wind-Cut Mode to help with those blustery voice calls.
Ambient Sound Mode blends music and ambient sound, while Voice Through Mode cranks up the ambient sound further for clear conversations.
Final has also included a Volume Step Optimizer, which apparently enables finer control over volume. High quality Codec incorporates Qualcomm aptX and aptX Adaptive.
Battery life runs to a claimed 5 hours, and up to 15 hours with the charging case.
In terms of design, the Final ZE8000 packs all its components into a distinctive stick configuration. The buds are IPX4 certified.
The Final ZE8000 goes on sale today, February 23, in the UK, EU & US. It’s priced at £299/€329/$349, which is well above the AirPads Pro 2 and the Sony WF1000XM4. They’re aiming high.
For those unfamiliar, Final started out in 2007 as a subsidiary of American connector manufacturer Molex, before going independent under Japanese management in 2014.
We were big fans of the Final UX3000 over-ear headphones last year, giving it 4.5 stars in our review and awarding it Best Affordable Headphones 2022 at our end of year awards.
We’re intrigued to see what this brand can do with a pricier and more compact set of earphones in 2023.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
