Final Audio A8000 Flagship In-Ear Headphones

Final A8000

Flagship Earphones with Detachable Junkosha Silver-Coated Cable

Final’s flagship model reproduces impeccably transparent sound, recreating an emotional experience that can only be achieved through listening to music.

Development of the A8000 was grounded in both physical measurement and subjective evaluation methodologies, with learning taken from the flagship D8000 headphones. Until now, we have employed modification of the amplitude frequency response, known as tuning, to modify the sound of our earphones. But since tuning alone cannot make a great change to time response, it became difficult to achieve the transparent sound we were seeking.

So, with the aim of achieving a transformational transparent sound for earphones, Final has developed its own proprietary Perceptual Transparency Measurement (PTM) evaluation methodology. As a result of evaluation — both subjective listening and data analysis of impulse responses that could not be gleaned from typical frequency response measurements — and improvement of interrelations between principal components, we created a new ideal diaphragm material for the A8000. Extremely light and possessing high sound speed, the ultra-thin Truly Pure Beryllium Diaphragm is Final Audio's best earphone driver ever created.

Truly Pure Beryllium Diaphragm

The A8000 employs a diaphragm made from ultra-thin Beryllium foil, which is an ideal diaphragm material due to its light weight, high rigidity, and the resulting high sound speed. With a specific gravity of 1.85 and a sound propagation velocity of 12,900 m/s — second only to that of diamond — Beryllium has the perfect characteristics for a diaphragm material.

The adoption of pure Beryllium leads improved time response that greatly improves the transparency of sound. Both the sharpness of sound build-up and the lingering resonance of the sound can be clearly felt, as can the silence between sounds. Crafting thin pure Beryllium foil is difficult. Our engineers worked tirelessly to make it stable enough for the A8000, but the hard work paid off.

In order to realize transparent sound through such superior materials, the same high quality has been incorporated into all other components of the drive unit as well as the design and manufacturing technology. We have succeeded in leveraging the experience of developing and manufacturing our own dynamic drive unit to draw forth the advantages of pure Beryllium. In the past, a Beryllium diaphragm was created by vacuum deposition of a thin coat of Beryllium onto a resin film. This was effective as an end to improving sound slightly, but the characteristics of the film still remained predominant. When pure Beryllium is used as the only material for the sound producing part of the diaphragm, the sound and characteristics are completely different — this is Final Audio's breakthrough with the A8000.

Sound for All Genres

Sound design for A8000 was undertaken with attention to the relationship between spatial impression and dynamic range of music, and the physical characteristics of earphones and headphones. We have categorized sound creation on music recording onto these two axes: spatial impression and dynamic range.

One way of thinking regards the distance perception. Classical and jazz recordings are thought to be performed with emphasis on aspects of spaciousness, such as sense of distance, broadness and reverberation. On the other hand, in rock, pop, and many other modern recordings, spaciousness is not as highly emphasized. There is thought to be greater emphasis on clarity, which brings the various instruments and vocals to the front. Another approach is dynamic range - in other words, changes in loudness over time. If the dynamic range is wide, naturally it is possible to use the change in loudness over time to achieve a more dynamic expression of music. But, there are some types of music for which narrower dynamic range recordings are preferable to allow each of the instruments and vocals to ordinarily appear before the listener’s eyes.

The difference between these two ways of thinking pertains not to which is superior but rather differences in how music is composed and what is demanded of it. With regard to classical music, and that played by orchestra in particular, the spatial orientation of instruments is particularly important. Stringed instruments are positioned nearest to the audience with wind and percussion placed behind them. Should the balance between the spatial orientation and volume of each group of instruments collapse, the music would disintegrate. For that reason, uniform clarity of sound that allows each instrument to appear before the eyes of the listener is not demanded of this type of music. Even for classical music, a string quartet, for example, would have a narrow dynamic range and the clarity of each instrument would be more prominent. For rock and pop on the other hand, spaciousness is not as necessary as for classical music, and so there is greater emphasis on clarity than spaciousness.

The superior time response of the A8000 imparts it with  asound quality that is capable of enhancing a wide range of music, from the clarity of pop and rock music with a narrow dynamic range all the way to the spatial impression of classical and jazz music with a wide dynamic range. The most distinct characteristic of the A8000 is that it realizes such sound quality not by its ability to create sound capable of attracting a small number of fans through its strong individuality, but rather sound aimed at greater universality.