Review of the final UX3000 headphones

The name final audio, or simply final, will not say much to the average user. But among connoisseurs of quality sound, this Japanese brand is quite well known for its high-quality wired in-ear headphones and large planar magnetic models. The company decided to move to a more mass segment and made a line of wireless models. Today we are going to talk about the full-size final UX3000.

Specifications of the final UX3000

Package contents

final UX3000 come in a large white box with a picture of the headphones and all the technical features.

Inside, in addition to the headphones, there is a black fabric carrying case with drawstrings, AUX cables for wired connection and Type-C cables for charging, as well as documentation. It’s quite a nice set. The case will be especially useful, given the folding design.

Design and usability

final UX3000 are quite typical in terms of design of modern full-size headphones. They have large cups with soft ear cushions and a flexible headband with adjustable size. The headphone case is made mainly of black plastic. Only on the sides there are final white logos.

But the coating is interesting. final decided not to use the standard matte and glossy options or soft touch. Instead, they used a Shibo coating that looks like small drops of water. The word Shibo in Japanese means wrinkles on paper or skin. It looks good and feels interesting. And, most likely, thanks to it, scratches on the headphones will be less noticeable. A similar coating is used in the top TWS final ZE8000 MK2.

The cups are medium-sized and do not look large on the head. However, their size is sufficient for comfortable positioning of the ears inside. The ear cushions are made of leatherette with a soft filler. Interestingly, there is a mesh around the perimeter for better air circulation.

The headband is padded with artificial leather on the outside. The design is standard, with sliding mechanisms for adjusting the size and a metal internal frame for durability. The pressing force is quite comfortable, the headphones do not press or fall off. The size adjustment range is quite wide. So the headphones should fit any head of any size.

The design allows you to turn the cups toward you to conveniently hang the headphones around your neck when not in use. The final UX3000 also folds up for transportation.

All controls and functional elements are located on the bottom of the cups. We’ll talk about the buttons a little later. Other elements include Type-C on the right earbud and a 3.5 mm jack on the left. There are LED indicators for charging, ANC, and Bluetooth connectivity.

The headphones really turned out to be surprisingly comfortable and can be used for hours without discomfort. They weigh only 260 g, so they don’t weigh you down at all.

Management

In the final UX3000, the company decided not to use touch controls. Instead, there are physical buttons on the headphones that are used to perform all the manipulations. It’s really simple and convenient, and most importantly, the whole scheme is memorized in just a couple of hours of use.

The left earbud has only an active noise canceling button. To switch, you need to hold it down for two seconds. There are only active and inactive modes. There are no additional modes such as transparency mode.

The right earbud has three buttons: power and volume. They are also responsible for controlling playback. Pause/play is the power button, and long pressing the volume buttons switches tracks. And to activate Bluetooth pairing mode, you need to hold down the power button for 5 seconds while the headphones are turned off.

There is no proprietary application or additional features. On the one hand, I would like to see, for example, a transparency mode and auto-pause when the headphones are removed. On the other hand, ease of use is also good.

Connectivity and functionality

The main connection method, of course, is Bluetooth. But, in case of a low battery, the final UX3000 also provides a wired connection using a standard cable with 3.5 mm connectors.

The final UX3000 is equipped with Bluetooth 5.0 and supports SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Low Latency codecs. The connection is stable, even at a distance of about 6 meters through 2 walls, the signal is not interrupted.

Among the useful additional features, it’s worth mentioning the Multipoint feature. The headphones can connect to two devices at the same time. To do this, after connecting a new device, reconnect to the previous one.

Sound and noise reduction

The sound quality was a pleasant surprise, especially considering the price of the headphones. Despite their closed acoustic design, the final UX3000s have a surprisingly wide imaginary stage with a great sense of space and separation of instruments. Of course, the headphones have the usual V-shaped frequency response, but unlike pop Beats or other similarly priced models, the final UX3000s do not have such an overload of low frequencies.

Low frequencies are sufficient, with a clear attack and good dynamics. The lows are in their place and do not intrude into the midrange territory. There’s enough sub-bass to add a nice warmer pad and make the sound livelier overall.

The midrange sounds natural and natural, it’s not too drowned out relative to the bass and treble, but its detail and clarity is, of course, inferior to more expensive models. However, live instruments and vocals sound very pleasant. There are enough high frequencies, they add spark and space to the sound. At the same time, they are not too sharp and do not cut.

final claims that the UX3000s have what it calls a hybrid active noise cancellation system. In short, headphones with ANC usually generate an additional sound wave in the opposite phase of the signal from external microphones. This creates an additional load on the emitters. To reduce sound distortion, low frequencies are artificially amplified.

The final UX3000 uses specially designed transducers that are designed for higher loads and have corrected high frequencies. This should minimize distortion.

In actual use, we can say that ANC works very well. It copes especially well with monotonous low-frequency noise. Like air conditioning, etc. With high-frequency and spontaneous sounds, the situation is worse. Of course, you shouldn’t expect noise reduction from headphones at the level of Sony tops. But considering the price, the ANC of the final UX3000 is very good.

As for the built-in microphones for conversations, they are quite normal and in most situations the person you are talking to will hear you well. Except maybe in the subway or in strong winds. Of course, the voice itself sounds a bit plastic, but this is typical for wireless models.

Battery life

final UX3000 is equipped with a 700 mAh battery. The manufacturer promises that the headphones will last 25 hours on a single charge with the noise canceling system activated and 35 hours without it. This usually means 50% volume. But who listens to music at 50% volume?

So the real time is expected to be less, but not significantly. With active ANC and 80% volume, the headphones work for a little over 20 hours, which is a very good indicator. Unfortunately, fast charging is not supported. A full charge takes 2.5 hours.