Final Audio ZE3000 Review

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Sound

The Final Audio ZE3000 not only looks great but also offers solid performance when it comes to sound. Straight out of the box, the ZE3000 sounds balanced with a good body. The instruments sound natural and the tonality feels right. The ZE3000 does not emphasize any frequency range over another and offers a good balance throughout the spectrum. The clarity is also impressive, the IEMs have good detail retrieval and resolution for the price. The ZE3000 sounds dynamic and vivid while staying true to the genres that you throw at it. I especially liked its reproduction of natural instruments. Strings and woodwinds sound quite gentle and airy. The ZE3000’s technical side is impressive too and we will talk about that soon. Let’s dissect this section into a few sub-sections to get a better understanding of how it sounds.

Low

The Final ZE3000 has a good amount of bass and impact. The bass is dynamic, rounded, and well-textured. The ZE3000 is not a basshead’s delight, it is not bass shy either. The quantity is perfectly suitable for many genres, which makes it a great all-rounder for the price. The mid-bass is controlled, the subs go deep and overall we have quite good low reproduction. The ZE3000 soundstage and percussion performance can be easily evaluated while listening to Anne Bisson’s “September in Montreal” track. The bass has good quantity, is impactful, and is really well controlled. The attack and decay are also quite good, the percussion blends in perfectly fine with the rest of the instruments and the velvety vocal of Anne’s. 

Final Audio ZE3000

Mid

The midrange of the ZE3000 sounds sweet and detailed with a good note weight. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I quite liked the ZE’s reproduction of natural instruments. The guitars, the woodwinds and brass instruments sound absolutely fantastic for a TWS and I believe Final took their time with the R&D process of the ZE3000. It is not a rushed product to take a bite from the wireless industry, it is a properly engineered piece of equipment with a solid sound foundation. 

The tonality of the instruments feels accurate and combining this with a relatively wide soundstage, you get precise imaging and that’s not an easy feat to conquer in wireless audio. The vocals are perfectly centered, detailed, and transparent with an added sweetness, they sound vivid and articulate. It feels great to listen to artists like Johnny Cash, Steve Strauss, Diana Krall with the ZE3000. The upper mids are controlled, clean and transparent. They carry good detail and hi-hats, cymbals have good attack/decay. There is no sibilance or unwanted sharpness anywhere near the ZE3000. 

High

The treble of the ZE3000 follows the midrange. It is clean and transparent tonality-wise. The quantity is just right and it successfully reaches the top octave without being sharp or thin. The quality is impressive for a TWS. The treble blends in with the coherent nature of the ZE3000. The resolution and transparency are good also. The delivery recipe is similar to the midrange as well. Plenty of details are being carried to the ear with a gentle tone, not light or particularly thick. 

Final Audio ZE3000

Technical Performance

The ZE3000’s presentation feels airy and spacious, especially for a TWS earphone that is around the 150 USD mark. The instrument positioning feels accurate as well. The instruments have plenty of air between them and the relatively wide soundstage enhances the imaging. The depth is not too shabby either, overall, the IEMs punches above their weight class from a technical standpoint. The PRaT question is a hard one when it comes to the ZE3000. The IEMs have a good attack, bite, and decay, but it is majorly dependent on the track. Poorly mastered tracks pull down the technical capabilities of the ZE3000 and that’s most felt while listening to pieces from “Rise Against”, for example. We can say that it is a bit picky when it comes to the genres and tracks. The driver scales very well and responds brilliantly to good source/mastering and it will most definitely surprise you.

Comparisons

vs. Lypertek Z7

The Z7 is one of the great TWS earphones of 2021 and it was at the top of my tier list before the Noble FoKus Pro. It is a technically capable wireless earphone with a balanced sound signature. It utilizes 3 driver hybrid design with 2BA and a DD. Pitting the ZE3000 against the Z7 has yielded some interesting results. First of all, both of the earphones have good bass quantity, good body, and control. The Z7 has slightly more sub-bass and slightly less mid-bass compared to the ZE3000. The ZE3000’s bass has slightly more impact, especially felt during quick percussion attacks. The Z7 has a slightly airier presentation, probably due to the difference in the mid-bass tuning. Apart from that, the upper mids of the Z7 are a little more bodied compared to the ZE3000. With congestion-prone genres such as rock & metal, the Z7 outperforms the ZE3000 by a small margin. Both of the earphones have great resolution and you can’t go wrong with either. Build-wise, the ZE3000 has the upper hand when it comes to earphone build material but both of the cases are well-built and I personally like the fabric texture of Z7’s case a lot. Overall, with both of the earphones, you get a solid sound performance, good build quality, and good connection stability.

Lypertek Z3 2.0

The Z3 is a great TWS that punches above its weight class so that’s why I am including it here. The Z3 has less bass quantity compared to ZE3000, especially in the mid-bass area. Overall, the sound signature of Z3 is more linear and flatter compared to ZE3000 but that’s not always good news. The Z3 2.0 lacks the instrument body that I really liked on the ZE3000. Apart from that, both of the IEMs have an airy soundstage and good imaging. The ZE3000 feels more realistic overall, compared to the Z3 due to the better tonality and slightly wider stage. The extra body and rounder, bigger bass response helps with the dynamism and result in a more engaging, exciting but also high-fidelity experience. If you’re mainly listening to congestion-prone genres such as metal, rock, etc, I would recommend getting the Z3. Everything else sounds amazing with the ZE3000 and in my opinion, totally worth the extra cash. Apart from sound, there is also design and build quality differences between the two units. Unfortunately, although the Z3 2.0 outperforms its price in terms of sound quality, the same cannot be said for its build quality. The ZE3000 feels much better build-wise, with its Shibo coating and overall better material, tips, and case. On the other hand, the Z3 offers a much better battery life but comes with a much larger carrying case. I think this wraps up the main differences between two good products.

Final Audio ZE3000

Berkhan‘s Impressions

My experience with Final Audio had already been positive even before their new TWS IEM. For me, Final Audio means great design, great build quality and good sound for the money. Well, that’s exactly what the new ZE3000 offers.

Adding to the Yağız’s impressions, I can also say that the case and the earphones have excellent build quality with the ”Shibo” finish mentioned above. The feeling is excellent when you handle the units, and the angular design not only retains the brand image from the company’s conventional IEMs, it also boasts quality and style.

The battery life is quite good and delivers what is expected from this type of TWS IEM. The earphones themselves provide around 5-6 hours of time, and when everything is charged up including the case, you get at least 20-25 hours. This of course depends on the BT codec. More quality means less battery, but either way, you get good battery life for sure.

One of the best things about the new ZE3000 is the fit. Despite the sharp design, the comfort is excellent with the right tips. It almost disappears in my ears, and it doesn’t protrude much so one can say this is a low profile unit. The white coloured version looks great on ears too. Apart from that, the fit is always a personal thing of course, but in my case, I absolutely loved this one.

One complaint I have is that when you open the lid, the case falls on itself. Most other TWS units have upright sitting cases, so this one is definitely unusual on that part.

Sound-wise the new ZE3000’s sound is very coherent, balanced and close to neutral and linear. Only the mid-bass area has a small lift, but I’m glad that it’s not one of those heavily v-shaped, sub-bass monsters. The ZE3000 is as close as it gets to a neutral TWS IEM in its own price range.

The bass is nicely defined yet very controlled, and the mid-range is liquid and smooth. The transition from mid-bass to the mids is very good, and the mids overall have good tonality. The timbre is also good for a TWS IEM, meaning you’ll get a realistic presentation of instruments and vocals. So everything from bass to the mids is great for the price.

The treble however is not sufficiently defined in some cases, so you’ll hear some roll off and smoothed out phases. I would’ve liked to hear a bit more bite, energy and definition in the treble. The extension could’ve been a bit better as well. I only say this because except for the slight mid-bass fatness, I absolutely have no negative points to bring up about the ZE3000, but the treble could’ve been better.

Even so, it’s a very balanced and coherent TWS and that alone makes it one of the rare audiophile sounding TWSs on the market. The technical performance regarding staging, imaging and separation is very good too, although it sometimes struggles to cope with fast and complex tracks. That’s not unfamiliar with TWS models though.

Final Audio ZE3000

Conclusion

It was really interesting for me to see what a 6mm full-range dynamic driver can do when tuned well. Combining good sound with great materials and good design, you get a successful product. The Final Audio ZE3000 did not let me down and it was quite nice to see Final’s first entry to the TWS field. Now I am much more excited about the future and I am very curious about what the Final will bring to this ever-growing industry.

 

 

Page 1: Final Audio, ZE3000, Packaging & Accessories, Design, Fit & Build Quality

Page 2: Connection Stability, Controls & Layout, Call Quality, Battery Life

Page 3: Sound Signature, Low, Mid, High, Technical Performance, Comparisons, Berkhan’s Impressions, Conclusion

4.4/5 - (240 votes)
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Long time Tech Enthusiast, an ambitious petrol-head, Yagiz likes his gadgets and always finds new ways into the tinkerer's world. He tries to improve anything and everything he gets his hands onto. Loves an occasional shine on the rocks.

8 Comments

  • Reply March 8, 2022

    Jonathan

    It’s technically not their first foray into the true wireless world, they also had their collab with Evangelion.

  • Reply March 8, 2022

    Mason

    Thank you for the review, but I would’ve really liked to have seen a comparison with some more mainstream TWS earbuds such as the Galaxy Buds 2, which retail for the exact same price and also have good sound quality according to audiophiles and average users alike. I also would have liked to have seen more discussion about the available features, such as whether there’s ANC, a transparency mode, or an app for changing settings/tuning. I had to look at other reviews to find out that these do *not* have a transparency mode, which might be a dealbreaker for me.

    • Reply March 9, 2022

      Yagiz

      Mason, thanks for your comment. Companies like Samsung, Apple do not send products for review.
      About the available features, I didn’t talk about them because there are nothing to talk about. If there was an app, a hearthrough feature, or something similar, I’d talk about it. The ZE3000 is a product focused entirely on sound and performance. If features are important to you, you may need to look elsewhere.

      All the best out there.

  • Reply August 4, 2022

    kishore

    between Airpods pro and final ze 3000 which is better (only audio matters) for mostly streaming movies and series for ios devices????

    • Reply September 6, 2022

      HuKhakis

      I had two of them, if you want to use for most of situations, I would like to vote for Airpods pro

  • Reply August 12, 2022

    Kat

    Nice review. Do they support multipoint? The ux 3000 does.

  • Reply November 17, 2022

    John

    How do the ze3000 and Z7 compare to the Fokus Pro?

  • Reply October 10, 2023

    Octavius

    Thank you for your nice review. I am between Ze3000 and Sennheiser Momentum True Wireless 3. Which is, in your opinion, best, in terms of sound performance?

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