The dynamic transducer is the most commonly used driver in the audio industry. It is known for its ability to produce powerful dynamic peaks and impactful bass. However, due to limitations in diaphragm stiffness and weight, it is challenging to achieve the ideal diaphragm for optimal performance.
From the packaging and accessories, it is evident that the Japanese people pay great attention to detail and have a meticulous approach, setting them apart from other brands in the market. The entire box, both on the outside and inside, is designed in a luxurious white color, adding a touch of elegance to every small aspect.
To assess the performance, I use my daily gear as a reference player - the A&K SP3000. I pair it with the Chord Hugo2 as a DAC/AMP and the Cayin C9 to explore the scalability of this IEM. An interchangeable option to explore the diversity in sound matching by source is the L&P P6 Pro 99Ti. In addition to the stock cable, I use the Crystal Cable Dream Duet as my ultimate reference cable. This cable stands out for its exceptional tonal neutrality, speed, and incredible ability to retrieve low-level details, as well as its ability to clarify the timber and nuance.
Since, Final does not enclose the detail information of the PTM, we can look at the result of their approach. It is Pure Beryllium Diaphragm.
The A8000 employs a diaphragm made from ultra-thin Beryllium foil (Truly Pure Beryllium Diaphragm), which is said to be an ideal diaphragm material due to its light weight and 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 ideal characteristics for a diaphragm material. The adoption of pure Beryllium will lead to improved time response that greatly transfigures sound into transparent. The sharpness of sound build-up and the lingering resonance of the sound can be clearly felt, as can the silence between sounds.
Among various interpretation, transparency can refers to the ability to reproduce sound without distortion in phase, time, and amplitude. It is important because the less distortion there is, the more accurately the reproduced sound reflects the source and nature of real-life instruments. However, in the audio industry, there has always been a debate on whether increasing technical factors actually make the sound less natural. Sometimes, distortion can make the sound more pleasing to the ear and get the preference of large group of people.
The brand new A8000 sound quite harsh and it change significantly after 20 hours of usage and burning in at moderate volume. It improve the smoothness and microdetail as well as the dynamic impact.
Ear tips are a sensitive matter when it comes to listening to the A8K. The Final E type, which has small tips and a soft cylinder, appears to absorb some energy and micro transients. This has the effect of reducing brightness and sharpness, but sacrificing dynamics and nuance is the trade-off. Tiefe Wasser highlight this problem, with E type the piano sound the same in dynamic, lack sparking top end and lose the piano and contrabass coherence, lead to a emotionless experience. I finally change to Alza SednaEarfit to get a more dynamic, vibrant presentation.
From the measurement it can be conclude that the tonal of A8K lean to the neutral bright side with lots of up lifting in midrange and low-treble region, boosting the clarity up-lifting the tone. With the gradually step-up from 1k to 2k region and maintain the response stable, A8K tend to emphasize the harmonics structure of human voice or violin rather than the fundamental.
The bass section have step-up response from 100Hz down to 20Hz, indicate the slightly dominance of sub bass impact over mid bass. The slightly exceed amplitude of sub bass extend the image and sound field of lowest octave while lighting fast impulse response keep it not bleeding in to the other object in the presentation. It gives A8K a strong and solid foundation of representation, regardless of what genre of music you listen to. The un-balance ratio of A8K affects the ratio between image size of each harmonics component of instrumental in this region.
A8000 give me the impression one of the most clear and transparent sound stage in IEMS ever. The image is rendered with high level of fidelity. The superb clear edge definition not only define the localization but also give the refine defining of how sound of instrumental envelop in time axis.
The edge-definition and micro transient are impressively good. They perfectly handle the movement between silent and dynamic striking passages in the track Solspill, op. 13 Trond Schau - Lasse Thoresen: Sea of Names.
It expand the sound stage width to L/R location and even stretch outer L/R boundary in extended in high quality recording, especially binaural record. There are problem with sound stage that I feel the same with a reviewer have indicate, that is the image focus is shift more on LR more than other IEM and headphone, which make me wonder about this effects. The focus on center image is somehow lacking density than L/R sight. The center plane is flat and shift the upper part of vocal and harmonics forward to the listener.