Final Audio E4000 Review – Musically Magic

Final Audio E4000 Review – Musically Magic

We reviewed Final Audio E2000 and E3000 before and found out they were quite amazing for their price point. While E4000 is more expensive, it has detachable cables, and Final Audio promises a much better sound, so we’re going to put that to test today. 

 

Introduction

Final Audio is a luxury Audio company from Japan, really well known for their innovation in the Audio Industry, especially when it comes to designing alternative IEM shells, and single-dynamic-driver IEMs with unique sonic abilities and properties. While they never flaunt the tech used inside their IEMs too much, music lovers listening to their products sure speak a lot about how amazing the sound is, and how unbelievably large Final Audio IEMs (In-Ear Monitors) sound for such tiny and nimble bodies. 

It should be noted that I have absolutely no affiliation with Final Audio, I am not receiving any incentive for this review or to sweeten things out. This review is not sponsored nor has been paid for by Final Audio or anyone else. I’d like to thank Final Audio for providing the sample for this review. The sample was provided along with Final Audio’s request for an honest and unbiased review. This review will be as objective as it is humanly possible, and it reflects my personal experience with Final Audio E4000. Every opinion expressed is mine and I stand by it, the purpose of this review is to help those interested in Final Audio E4000 find their next music companion. 

 

Product Link

You can purchase the Final E4000 from www.amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/Re-Cable-Compatible-Earphone-E4000%E3%80%90Japan-Products%E3%80%91/dp/B07CNJB8DV

 

Packaging

First things first, let’s get the packaging out of the way:

 

 

 

The packaging for E4000 is quite different from that of E3000 and E2000, as they now come in a larger package, with a carrying case included. The IEM is seated inside the carrying box, which is made out of rubber, which can be found inside the cardboard box they come in. 

 

 

Final treats the technical details of E4000 with good care, and you can find everything you need about them by reading the package. One could say that E4000 is presented like a lively flower.

Final Audio also includes a large amount of tips with E4000, thing which is quite welcome since they are using a somewhat more specific tip. Final Audio tips tend to be some of the highest quality tips around, rivaling those from Spinfit which we always recommend, and some of our members even prefer Final Audio tips for usage with other in-ears, some of them being above 1000USD IEMs. 

 

 

The package includes a carrying box made of rubber, which is quite different from the typical carrying box out there, since most carrying boxes nowadays are either hard plastic, round metal, or soft textile pouches, this one being a rather interesting alternative option. While it doesn’t offer quite the same amount of protection against pressure, as a hard carrying box does, it does offer some of the best impact protection, since the rubber will absorb most of the impact. 


Technical Specifications

Product code FI-E4DALD
Housing Aluminum black alumite finish
Driver 6.4mmΦ dynamic driver
Connector MMCX
Cable OFC cable
Sensitivity 97dB
Impedance 15Ω
Weight 18g
Cord length 1.2m



Build Quality/Aesthetics/Fit/Comfort

Final Audio is known for providing some of the smallest IEMs out there, and this is something quite welcome, as this means they are also some of the most comfortable IEMs, a smaller IEM being able to fit a larger number of ears than a larger one. 

E4000 looks a little like E2000, which we reviewed before here 

E4000 has a small black body, they are bullet type, and they can be worn both over-the-ear and straight-down, being rather well adapted for multiple usage styles. The cables are detachable and based on the MMCX plugs, so you can also use a large number of aftermarket cables if you wish to. 

 

 

The cables they come with is a black cable, looking rather normal and not giving much frills about the aesthetic aspect, this being rather welcome if you’d prefer people around you not knowing the value of the IEMs you’re wearing. 

 

 

The IEM body is made out of metal, the MMCX connectors are tight and high-quality, and the IEMs themselves feel very light and nimble. 

Everything feels well made within E4000, and since the bodies are made of metal, have good meshes protecting the drivers, and those MMCX connectors, we can consider the build quality to reach a golden level of quality. 

 

The fit and comfort is also quite excellent. 

The isolation from the outside noise is fairly good, but Final Audio IEMs tend to leak quite a bit of sound. People around you can hear what you’re listening to, even if you’re listening at moderate levels, so if you need something with minimal or no leakage, there are other options you can choose from. 



Sound Quality

Final Audio’s general tuning is pretty consistent across their offerings, most of them being tweaks of the same headline, a clarity and detail that is way above what the price dictates, a huge soundstage, excellent instrument separation and versatility that is unmatched, Final Audio IEMs working excellent with anything, from the smoothest jazz, to the most rouch death or black metal, and everything in between. 

The main signature is warm, thick, full of life, excitement and adventure, an enhanced bass, especially in the 100Hz area, giving it a really authentic thickness and impact, a slightly recessed midrange, with a clarity and tonality that is really life-like, without any dips or peaks, being honest to the voices recorded in the original, and a treble that is on the smoother side, but very present and energetic, with a nice sparkle, but with less quantity than what we’d consider a V-shaped, U-shaped or bright, being enough present to be interesting, but not a bright or a treble-happy IEM. 

The bass is really deep and thick, it goes as deep as one’s heart could ever desire, reaching the lowest depths with a natural decay, speed and detail. Each note is clearly articulated, although the presentation is slightly thick, which makes things a bit more natural than most flat or neutral IEMs. The bass also has a special kind of life to it, and so does the midrange. 

The midrange is slightly recessed compared to the bass, but it is very life-like in its tonality, every male voice and female voice being natural and honest, without a trace of exaggeration and without dips or any other distraction. The thickness from the bass is extended a little to the midrange, but this isn’t bad at all, giving it that life we were talking about. It is a little complicated to explain how this sounds, but basically, it sounds like the artists interpreting the music have a good amount of energy, force, life in them. Direct and vivid, E4000 is quite good at providing an interesting insight into the midrange of the music they are playing. The textures are on the natural side, without too much texturization, but enough to keep things interesting and funky. The instrument separation is something else that we need to write about, as on E4000 it is simply out-of-this-world amazing, everything having a very well intended space and location, without instruments crossing each other or other issues. 

The treble of E4000 compliments the bass and the midrange quite well, being present enough to be interesting, having enough sparkle to make things exciting, but being below what we’d typically consider a treble happy-IEM, leading E4000 to be a IEM that can be considered by both treble-lovers, bass-lovers and just everyone out there. The treble also has a really smooth texture without grain, so even slamming brutal death metal has the cymbal crashes rendered enjoyable, being quite the delight with Jazz and other smooth music. 



Soundstage

The soundstage size of E4000 is impressive, to the point where it is unbelievable. Especially, looking at their tiny bodies, you’d expect those to be some constricted IEMs when it comes to their soundstage, but instead, they sound huge, large, natural and open. They really do the soundstage a favor, and especially when this is combined with the excellent instrument separation we talked about earlier, it all sums up to a very enjoyable experience. 



ADSR / PRaT

The ADSR and PRaT (Texturization) is natural in most places, a little slower in the bass, and a little quicker in the midrange, but overall it is natural. This means that textures sound natural, guitars are juicy and have enough detail in their chords to be interesting, with enough crunch to be fun, but nothing more than what the artist intended. The bass is quick enough to be fun and interesting, and technical death metal is resolved well enough to be fun, while slower bass like that found in house music is large and smooth, everything being in its right place. The treble textures are mostly smooth, there is very little grain, which makes E4000 enjoyable with almost any kind of music. 

Portable Usage

The portable usage is excellent. 

We’re talking about a small IEM with a nimble cable, excellent fit with any ear size and shape, and with no microphonics in the cables. You can take a walk through the noisy streets of Bucharest without having to worry about the ongoing constructions or the rowdy college students worrying about their exams, and you can even enjoy music while doing a little walk. 

 

 

As we said, the cables are not microphonic at all, they are nimble, flexible, and they hide the price of E4000 fairly well, looking like any other IEM on the market. The IEM bodies are also small and allow for wearing them both over-the-ear and straight-down, leading to a really fun and interesting experience. 

 

 

There is no driver flex, and Final Audio made sure that those are great for travels. The cables are dead silent and don’t make a noise, so E4000 is also free of cable microphonics. 

The only thing that would hinder their portable usage is that they leak music to the outside world, which means that you can’t really use them in a really silent place, like a library, but otherwise, E4000 makes a really nice portable IEM. 



Comparisons 

The price range of E4000 isn’t exactly an open one, and the fight for the best there is quite fierce, those being priced at 150USD, and having to fight with FiiO F9Pro, iBasso IT01, and Dunu Falcon-C, among other well-known IEMs, so they can have their place in this market.

 

 

E4000 also has to be compared with E5000, their bigger brothers for you to know if investing almost double the price of E4000 is worth the effort, although we’ll prepare an in-depth comparison in the E5000 review for this.

Final Audio E4000 vs iBasso IT01 – We generally recommended IT01 as being one of the best 100 USD IEMs, and we need to also compare it to something 50% more expensive to make up for our assertion back then. The package is similar, with the biggest difference being the carrying case, which is a round metallic case for IT01, and a flexible rubber case for Final E4000. E4000 also comes with ear hooks, but we consider those to be less relevant to most people, as even wearing those over-the-ear is simpler and more comfortable without the ear hooks. The IEMs themselves are very comfortable, for both of them, but E4000 is more comfortable and versatile, allowing them to be worn straight-down as well as over-the-ear, while IT01 can only be work over-the-ear. The IEM shells are made of plastic for IT-01, and aluminium for E4000. There is some driver flex for some users with IT01, at least judging from what others reported over forums like Head-Fi, even though we haven’t had any. There is no driver flex with Final Audio E4000 in our tests, and not a single user reported any, meaning that E4000 is truly safe from driver flex. The cables are excellent with both IEMS, both having OFC (Oxygen Free Copper) cables, but the cables on IT01 look thicker and a bit moe flexible, while E4000 has more nimble and more incognito cables if you don’t want to get unwanted attention. The sound is quite different between the two, the largest difference being that IT01 has more mid-bass emphasis, especially around 100Hz, along with more treble sparkle and bite, being more focused on acoustic, metal, rock and electronic music, while E4000 is more versatile in the long run. This doesn’t mean that IT01 doesn’t work with Jazz or other smooth music, but E4000 tends to work better with all music, where IT01 tends to be better suited for more energetic music, like Electronic, Metal, Grindcore, Acoustic, and Pop. The detail levels are better on E4000, but then again, we consider that E4000 has the performance of a 300USD IEM in general, besting even New Primacy, and they do cost about 50% more than IT01, so if you mean to invest a little more in an In Ear Monitor, E4000 makes an excellent choice, while if you want to get an affordable IEM with an amazing performance as well, IT01 is still one of our favorite, and makes an even better price/performance ratio. All in all, if you want more versatility, and if you want to spend a little more, E4000 makes an excellent choice, while if you want something more focused on rock, electronic, metal and energetic music, and if you want to spend a little less, IT01 still makes a very compelling choice. 

Final Audio E4000 vs FiiO F9Pro – If you’ve read our FiiO F9Pro review, you know that we are in love with those IEMs, and that we consider them worthy of considering, especially if you’re in the market for something amazing at that price range, and that they are comfortable, but those are things we said about E4000 as well. We feel that the comfort, driver flex free nature, accessories, and build quality of both E4000 and F9Pro is similar enough (outstanding on both) to skip the comparison straight to the sonic comparison. Starting with the bass, F9Pro is tuned to be much more linear in the bass, more neutral. This means that they have much less bass quantity, less bass impact, although the percussion especially tends to be more articulate. This works well for music styles that don’t require the bass to be overly large or explosive, and this works quite excellent for technical music styles, like technical death metal, or math metal, but for jazz, electronic, or pop, E4000’s bass tends to make for a more natural experience. The midrange is quite similar between the two, with an excellent definition, spot-on timbre and tonality, outstanding detail and clarity, and just a fun overall experience, the largest difference being that E4000 has a slightly larger soundstage, while F9Pro has a slight advantage when it comes to their drivers, technically being the better, more revealing IEM with an edge in the texture presentation. The treble is fairly similar in texture between the two, but the treble presentation is quite a bit different, F9Pro being considerably brighter, with more treble sparkle and bite, being better for acoustic and music which relies heavily on a strong treble presentation. If you’re looking for a IEM with a more detailed texture presentation, slightly more overall detail, more linear sound, and with an over-the-ear wearing style only, FiiO F9Pro holds its place as one of our favorite IEMs at its price and technical performance, but if you’re looking for something with a thicker bass, larger bass amounts, with a wider soundstage, more instrument separation, and a sound that’s generally full of life, E4000 from Final Audio is an excellent choice no one can ever contest.  

Final Audio E4000 vs Dunu Falcon-C – We can’t quite make an outrageous statement, like the fact that E4000 sounds pretty much as good as most 300 USD IEMs, without comparing it with an IEM that is also performing really well, but which is more expensive. We picked Dunu Falcon-C for this task because it is one of our favorite IEMs priced a bit above E4000, and which we consider to also prive performance above its price. The package is excellent for both IEMs, both come with their own unique sets of tips, Falcon-C with spinfit tips, while E4000 has Final Audio’s own brand of tips. The carrying solutions are slightly different, E4000 having a rubber case, while Falcon-C has a Rectangular parallelepipedic metallic case. The sound is quite different between the two, Falcon-C has a more V-shaped sound with more treble sparkle, and with the midrange pushed a little back compared to E4000. The percussion tends to be similarly articulate between them, although Falcon-C’s driver is a little faster, resolving finer bass quicker, thing which is quite important for Metal music in general, the midrange is presented with excellent detail and vividness on both, although it is thicker on E4000, while it is slightly more natural on Falcon-C. The detail level is quite good on both, Falcon-C having a technically faster driver and resolving more details in textures, E4000 being more fit for a smoother / natural texture. All in all, each is an excellent choice, E4000 making a statement when it comes to the price/performance ratio and naturalness. 


Recommended Pairings

Final Audio E4000 is slightly hard to drive, it doesn’t get loud enough from the typical smartphone, and a better source does make it sound better. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t possible to enjoy them even from a lower powered source, but you’re better off with a DAP or DAC/AMP rather than a computer / smartphone powering them as far as how much juice you’re squeezing from them goes. 

Final Audio E4000 + Opus #1s – Opus #1s is also really lush and organic, making an excellent pairing with E4000. They simply sing together, and the large amounts of power that #1s has really helps with E4000, as they are quite power-hungry and require a little bit of juice to sing their best. 

Final Audio E4000 + FiiO M7 – FiiO M7 is the one DAP we wrote about quite a bit in the pairings part of our reviews, and we have a feeling we will continue doing that, as it is one heck of a little DAP. It can drive well most portables, has all the bells and whistles in connectivity one could desire for, and its neutral signature will pair with anything out there, as it doesn’t really alter the signature of the IEM / Headphone it is connected to. 

Final Audio E4000 + iFi xDSD – iFi xDSD is a DAC/AMP from iFi we are going to review in the future. It has a lot of bells and whistles, and for the last few weeks, we found we have been using it far more than we’d have expected. The main headlines for xDSD are its portability and versatility. Where iFi’s iDSD Micro was a little too big to be truly portable, xDSD is really nimble, and even smaller than our test smartphone, Xiaomi Mi Max 2. In fact, at audiophile Heaven, we all have either Xiaomi Mi Max 2 or Xiaomi Mi Max, simply due to their large display and ease of work / multimedia consumption. xDSD is a nice pair with those smartphones, as well as other smartphones, and the best part is that its signature also works well with almost any IEM, it has a slight warm tint, but otherwise, it is also really colorless and gives a nice touch to E4000’s sound. 



Value and Conclusion

We’ve been talking quite a bit about this little jewel of technology from Final Audio, and we feel we did so for a good reason. Final E4000 is an excellent example of what a great company can do for the right price. 

Starting with the package, Final Audio made sure they included everything you could require in that little package, from a large number of excellent proprietary tips, all the way to an ingenious carrying solution, a rubber carrying case. Although this may seem a little strange to those used to more classical plastic or metallic carrying cases, Final Audio’s solution is quite delightful and we actually like seeing something new now and then. 

 

 

The build quality of E4000 is just as great, a little black IEM with the body made of Aluminium, for enhanced acoustic properties, along with an excellent build quality, you’d have a hard time breaking the IEM body regardless of what you’d place it through. In fact, our unit even took one or two falls during our photo shoot, but it got out unharmed. The MMCX connectors are of the highest quality, and the IEM is simply too comfortable to be true, a small IEM body, versatile, offering both over-the-ear and straight-down wearing styles, and with a nice cable included with it. 

 

 

The sound is one you’ll immediately fall in love with, thicc, deep, lively, full of passion, but not overly bright, so it is also gentle. The texture levels are not quite as expressed as other performers which are more technical, but E4000 is one of the most natural you can hear, with their deep bass, natural tonality to their midrange, lush and organic presentation, ad smoothly textured, yet present and enjoyable treble, making a signature that is not only very versatile, but also really easy to listen to. They work great with music from the smoothest Jazz, to technical death metal, so pretty much anything you can throw at them, they will play nicely. 

If you’re in the market for an IEM based on versatility, you surely have to check out Final Audio E4000, and the only thing that should be holding you back, if you like what you’ve read so far, is that there is an Final Audio E5000, which we will be reviewing very soon, but otherwise, if this is your budget, there’s no other IEM with this signature and comfort, at least that we know of. We’re really happy that Final Audio also has outstanding customer support, and they’re known for excellent build qualities, so don’t hesitate in getting a pair of E4000, if the sound fits your needs. 

 

Product Link

You can purchase the Final E4000 from www.amazon.com here: https://www.amazon.com/Re-Cable-Compatible-Earphone-E4000%E3%80%90Japan-Products%E3%80%91/dp/B07CNJB8DV

---

--- Please remember to stay safe, and always have fun while listening to music!---

 - If you have a dime to spare, please donate, and help us! It would make the day brighter for me and my wife- 

---

Full Playlist used for this review

We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature.  I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7

https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5

--- Contact Us ---

---