After struggling quite a bit with the DIY tube-coupler and in the interest of making my graphs compatible with other graphs out there for easy comparison, I decided to get an IEC6038-4/IEC60711/IEC711 coupler. This is a Chinese knockoff which is supposed to be pretty close to the real deal.
These measurements are made on my DIY IEM measurement rig and are not accurate, and don’t necessarily represent what you might hear, especially before 60 Hz (huge sub-base roll-off) and after 10 kHz (and maybe even after 3 kHz as my ER2XR graph is very different compared to Crinacle’s post that). You can use it just to get a comparative idea, hence the comparison with ER2XR to give you a point of reference. Improving the rig is an ongoing process.
Here is Crinacle’s ER2XR graph for reference
It looks like final went with the mids to bass rise like in the E series and the highs of the A8000 on A4000.
To start with I had very high expectations from the final A4000 with some early reviews calling it a “baby A8000”, the A8000 being final’s flagship earphone that cost $2000. Given my experience with some earphones from final’s E-Series (E500 and E3000) that seemed very pleasant and maturely tuned but lacked both in quantity and quality in the highs for my preference and the fact that final is one of those few companies that seems to be very passionate about what they do, I was really hoping to find a final earphone that came close to my preference. So clearly I was going into this very biased.
Before I share my initial impressions it’s important to understand some context. At this point my reference earphone is the Etymotic ER2XR and I would classify myself as being a neutral-head. I listen to any and all types of music but I generally stay away from most forms of electronic music. I’m listening to music from Spotify (very high quality – downlaoded) on the Sony NW-A105. These impressions are OOTB (Out Of The Box) with no burn-in and I’ve listened to them for a couple of hours. final recommends 150 to 200 hours of normal-usage burn-in which according to them is primarily for the adhesive in the driver unit as it may affect the slight movement of the diaphragm and usage over time might allow it to move more freely.
With that out the way, here are my initial impressions:
The first thing I noticed is the bass. It is slightly more than on the ER2XR but the delta feels like it’s a lot more than it actually is because of the emphasis in the mid-bass on the A4000. This gives it more thump and makes it punchier compared to ER2XR (which has a sub-bass emphasis with a lot more rumble and comes across as cleaner and leaner).
Mids and vocals seem more forward on the A4000 and also very slightly cleaner.
The A4000 has a noticeable boost in the highs compared to the ER2XR but without sounding harsh to me. You can “hear the metal” of the instruments on the A4000 without any resonances that might make it sound metallic. This area might be problematic for some people as I’ve seen tolerances vary a lot when it comes to higher frequencies.
Imaging and separation seems to be slightly better on the A4000 while transient response is slightly slower compared to ER2XR.
Need to spend more time with them to say anything about resolution/detail retrieval as they seem very close.
These are power hunger with only 18 ohms of impedance but a sensitivity of 100 dB/mW and require similar power as the ER2XR which has an impedance of 15 Ohms and sensitivity of 96 dB at 0.1v (98 dB/mW [1][2])
The A4000 is super light, fits very well in my ears and is super comfortable for me, but the cable is very thin (above the y-split) and I feel like I’m going to break it every time I take them of while holding it just above the 2-pin connector.
If you prefer a dark and smooth sound, the A4000 might not be for you.
Overall I think it has a well balanced sound signature, sounds very coherent, has great timbre for most instruments and is more “fun” than the ER2XR on most tracks, which is not necessarily a good or bad thing, just different and I think they compliment each other well.
These are very early impressions so take them FWIW. My impressions might change after I spend more time with them and get some “brain burn-in”.
P.S. I haven’t heard the A8000 so can’t confirm the “baby A8000” claim.
That’s all for now. I’ll be doing a listening session post with these soon, so subscribe to the blog with your email to get notified as soon as I make future posts:
It’s the same as the previous version with the addition of back electric tape to get a better seal between the tube and the mic and improve the bass response.
Setup
Hardware: Laptop > Shanling UP4 > IEM > DIY tube coupler > Black Electric Tape > Dayton Audio iMM-6 > ddHifi TC35B > USB Audio Interface
