Final Audio A5000: an excellent single driver iem, but just not special enough.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ต.ค. 2024
- Amazing sonic performance from a single micro dynamic driver iem…but just not special enough to displace anything I already own. Both the Aful Performer 8 at $100 more and the Kiwi Ears Quintet at $50 less are superior to my ears, not only in balance and timber, but also in sound stage and spacial fidelity.
Stephen your review style is excellent!!! Please keep it up!
Much appreciated! I have a few more in store.
Good work on your review. Always great to share passion and opinions. I agree with some of your replies that much of this comes down to music preferences when reviewing. Maybe you can get some different tracks into the testing mix so you can expand on your critque. Keep it up! :)
Thanks for sharing!
Excellent review! Even though I prefer the A5000 to the Quintet, I agree with the conclusion here. I guess Rock/Pop lovers will prefer the A5000 because of the natural timbre of the vocals on it, which(i.e. the vocals) sounds noticeably artificial on many songs in the Quintet. Whereas if you listen to a lot of orchestral/classical music, the table turns contrariwise. That said, there is little doubt that both of these are blockbuster IEMs! Right now, the A5000 is priced lower than the Quintet here in India. So, you can’t go wrong with any of these. Thanks for the clean and crisp review!
Thank you.
Final is so good I want own one
:)
excellent review Stephen. I have both the Quintet and the P8 which are both awesome!
Yes they are!
Instant Sub. Great review Stephen!
Thanks for the sub!
Glad to see your “aging ears” and different review style now have a 1k subscribers, well done! I hope you have an opportunity to review the Simgot Em6l and compare them to the Kiwi Ears Quartet…
I would love to review them and actually asked for a sample for review. I am too small apparently to get samples and my budget will not stretch to many more items unless I am confident they will be something really special. ☺️
Done subscribe
A5000 is superior to the Quintet is all aspects of sound fidelity and comfort. The back catalogs of Axis, Tresor, Death Row, Mo Wax, 70s Soul, 60s Blues, 70s Dub/Ska/Roots, reproduced with excitement and engagement on the A5000. Personally, I feel the A4000 are better than tfe A5000.
Sorry. I just did not hear that. Different ears, maybe different tastes? Maybe I will give the A4000 a try. :)
Testing the A5000s with reference grade systems produces dramatically different results than those you got. The A5000 is neutral, transparent, detailed and highly accurate. They faithfully and musically reproduce the signals they are fed. If you are hearing harshness, or any other issues, that's probably the sonic profile of the system or source, not the A5000s.
All amps and DACs sound differently. Your devices might have good chips in them, but the chip alone is not reflective of the actual sonic profile of the device. Good news for you, you found two IEMs which you like and which match well with your Shanling M1S and SMSL C200. This could be helpful for other M1S/C2000 owners, but you need to disclose your test setup, because your results wont translate to other systems. As pointed out by other commenters, we know this to be true from other reviews which contraindicate your findings.
The Shanling and SMSL are not reference grade systems. If you were using a Benchmark, Chord, or Yggdrasil, your sonic experiences would have been vastly different and had relevance to other systems.
The truth is, the A5000s exceed the resolving and dynamic capabilities of most consumer grade systems such as the ones you are using. It would be helpful, and more transparent, if you provided information about your test setup, allowing others to understand if your opinions and experiences are likely to be similar to their own - or not.
For anyone who wants accurate, detailed and transparent sound, the A5000s offer a staggeringly good deal. I tested and purchased mine AFTER reading your review. I used several different reference grade systems and I got consistently excellent results. When I used less good systems, that affected the sound - it was closer to your experience. (Avoid the DragonFly Cobalt!).
The A5000s have become one of my top favourite headphones. They offer performance which puts them close to that of flagship IEMs and full-sized audiophile headphones costing hundreds, or thousands, of dollars more. Most people don't have source/DAC/amplification systems refined enough to hear the full capabilities of these brilliant IEMs. If you listen to the A5000s and you don't like the sound, put your money into upgrading your system.
Thanks for your detailed response. I dare to say that most iem users listen on equipment much like mine. I don’t even aspire to own a reference grade system.
I completely agree with you. But since I am considering buying the A5000, will my iBasso DC03 Pro suffice or do I need a new DAC?
Thanks for your honest review, Can you kindly post the balanced cable you mentioned in the review? Thanks
Very nice review you saved me 250 ,$..Which iem has the best timber and separation for classical music in your opinion??? (even better than quintet..)
I don’t know, in my limited experience, of anything has better separation than the Quintet which as, to my ear, and almost unnatural amount of separation. As for timber, I really like the Aful Magic One.
@@StephenIngraham I just received Zero 2..Very nice timber I'm impressed.Thanks for the answer..!Keep up the nice work 👍
May I ask what dac/amp you were using with these?
I have a Shanling M1S DAP for mobile listening, and a SMSL C200 on my desk. Both have top of the line Saber DAC chips and independent op-amps. The SMSL has dual op-amps. Both have excellent specs. :)
The first negative review I have come across. I wish I had known you do not listen to rock, blues, or electronic music before wasting eight minutes.
I don’t consider it a negative review…the A5000 is special…just not special enough to justify the price…at least for my listening tastes. :) Sorry about the 8 minutes.
Don’t think the review was negative