Final is a relatively new brand to us at What Gadget, we have reviewed the Final UX300 which is a pair of overhead headphones.  In this review, we got the chance to test the Final ZE8000 which are a pair of earbuds. 

 

You might be asking who is Final? 

 

Final is a Japanese company that sells high-end audio earbuds and headphones. The company was established in 2007 and was a subsidiary of US manufacturer Molex but in 2014 it became independent. 

 

Now Final offers some appealing earbuds touting promising specifications. The ZE8000 tops the brand’s lineup of ANC true wireless earbuds. In this review, we take a deeper dig on how they work and whether they are worth buying.  

 

First Impressions 

 

The Final ZE8000 are a pair of long-stemmed earbuds with touch controls via the stem’s flat outside plane. The buds are finished with a textured plastic finish available in either black or white. 

When you unbox them along with the buds the charging case, USB-C cable and five pairs of integrated stabilizers that fit like sleeves and are easy to change to switch to a different size.  

I decided that medium size was the best fit for me the ear tips fit well and offer a good level of seal. If you struggle with the size of the stabilizer and ear tip in one. The fit will likely be a compromise this is disappointing for some users. You also get ten filters to fit over the drivers to keep dust and ear wax out. There is also a metal tool provided to help change the filter screens. 

 

The Final ZE8000 are lightweight in design but they do stick out of my ears quite a bit. The controls have a decent level of sensitivity, although you might notice removing them from the case could trigger a command by mistake.  

 

Something we did notice was there was no in-ear detection which is an oversight considering the long stem build.  Final could also have input methods to prevent you from hearing a thump of the touch control such as a button along the top or even moving the touch control up the stem. 

Moving to the case the ZE8000 feels surprisingly light and comes with the same textured plastic finish which could get a little slippery which is a concern. The case opens differently than you might expect there is no hinge it slides instead. It opens quite pleasingly and you could do this with one hand. 

At the front is 4 LED indicator lights to show battery life and to the rear is a USB-C charging port. Inside the case, there is also a circular button which allows you to factory reset the buds. 

Design/Build

Final feels their products should look just like they sound and try to make their products appealing and set them apart from the others in the industry. What they have done here with the ZE8000 they have combined sound quality with a stylish design that creates a good experience.  

Final has created a sleek and durable design with a tough exterior that feels high quality and rugged. For the fit, the ZE8000 are a stemmed earbud with Q-type tips including an outer sleeve part which is circular and you attach it to the body of the earphone. The nozzle of the ear tips goes into your ear. Final’s philosophy here is not having any contact with the ear in terms of the earphone’s plastic parts. Only the ear tips contact the ear, so it supposedly improves comfort.  

In terms of fit, it can be a mixed bag my wife could not get a good seal but I explained to her you won’t get a flush fit as the design is not intended that way. So practically no seal with the fit. You have ANC mode that works well but without the seal, you still hear some noise. Hopefully Final has adjusted this in the newer ZE8000 MK2 we hope to review it soon. 

Build quality is great if you use these for just travelling to work, however, using these for working out such as running the fit doesn’t give me a secure and flush feeling to do this exercise.  

Controls 

The Final ZE8000 controls are directly accessible via touch controls and require some setup via the Final CONNECT app such as customizing the step sizes for altering your volume. The controls unfortunately cannot be remapped. 

Below are all the controls: 

The controls are the same in mono mode except for volume or track skipping, which are absent in mono. For the most part, the touch controls are fairly sensitive.

The Final CONNECT App

You need to download the Final CONNECT app to partner with the Final ZE8000 and the apps available are Andriod or iOS. The app is basic but it’s where you access software updates and can directly control listening modes such as ANC Modes or Ambient. The app also allows you to select wind-cut and voice-through.

One of the key features is the EQ you can adjust up to four bands but Final lets you dial in the centre frequencies you want to alter. These frequencies include – 35Hz, 350Hz, 1600Hz or 10kHz. However, you can choose two other frequencies to adjust instead. Unfortunately, it’s limited to only a 3dB boost or cut.

8k sound is also only accessible in the Final CONNECT app. This is a form of digital signal processing to improve your audio. My advice is to leave this on unless you are concerned about the drain on the battery life.

Connectivity 

The ZE8000 connects using Bluetooth 5.2 with the following codecs:

  • aptX
  • aptX Adaptive
  • AAC
  • SBC

You will notice iPhone default is AAC and Android is aptX. I have an iPhone 14 and it’s not the easiest experience to connect. A way to fix this is to slide back the case lid and wait for the ZE8000 to enter pairing mode. This can take 10 seconds which is not too bad. Connect it to my wife’s Samsung and it does it faster.

Battery Life

The Final ZE8000 offers the user just under 5 hours with ANC switch on but this can be extended a little by deselecting the 8K sound feature. 

When it’s time to fully charge the ZE8000s you can do this in just two hours thanks to the 420mAh battery within the charging case. Now if you need a quick charge you have the feature of fast charging and a 5-minute charge will provide you with 45 minutes of playtime. 

Sound Quality/ANC

The most important aspect of any pair of earbuds is how they sound and I prefer my buds to have a good level of ANC. Unfortunately, the Final ZE8000 struggles a little in this department. The design of them and specialized ear tips make it tricky to get any kind of decent isolation. 

The result in audio quality means you will hear far more outside noise than you might like. This also affected us when we made calls the other person’s speech got muffled at times. A simple way to solve this is to turn up the volume as that seems to overcome the noise but at what cost? 

Moving to the overall sound you will notice the ZE8000 seems to overemphasize bass frequencies and lacks output in the upper midrange. The result is a lack of clarity a way to try and solve this is to try on a different pair of ear tips which Final provides you with several pairs to select from. 

When testing these to a wide range of tracks like “Alice Merton’s No Roots” the bass guitar came through well enough and the same can be said for the vocals and instruments. If you own the Final ZE3000 you can the ZE8000 is a step up in terms of clarity. 

Listen to something within the rock genre the ZE8000 is bright and sharp with the high frequencies while the lows are punchy and balanced. 

Verdict

The Final ZE8000 appear to be an impressive true wireless but unfortunately, the build lets them down when you consider the fit and seal. The sound is impressive if you prefer a neutral approach to music. 

The lack of ANC is also a real disappointment and the battery life does not get much better with a music lover struggling to get through one day of heavy use unless you charge them often. 

Also, consider these are not designed for long periods of use as they can get uncomfortable after long periods. I feel Final has overcomplicated the ZE8000. There are some very interesting features, especially the app but put it all together and it just does not work very well. 

I hope the new Final ZE8000 MK2 have taken in all the areas of improvement to give you what you should have here if you could explain these in two words it would be exciting and disappointing.     

Product Rating    

Design: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars

Features: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

Battery Life: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars

Sound Quality: 3.0 out of 5.0 stars

Value for Money: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars

 

Overall ranking: 3.4 out of 5.0 stars – 3.4 stars  

The Final ZE8000 is available via Amazon for £289.99 

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