final ZE3000

I've tried Sennheiser Momentum TW3, Sony WF-1000XM4, and Apple 3rd gen earbuds, and these Final ZE3000 are superior in every respect with the possible exception of noise cancellation and accompanying phone app. They do what earbuds are supposed to do: provide a steady connection with what I consider to be excellent sound -- on a par with and perhaps better than the Sennheisers. Especially vocals and midrange sound unmuddled and alive. High tenors are sometimes a little tinny, but you can adjust that with a third-part equalizer. I might have been happy with the Sennheisers, but they simply sill not stay connected. I've been using the Final ZE3000s for almost a week solid now, and I haven't had a single disconnection. The range is very ample, too. I wish the case top weren't so quick to shut, and the buds don't quite slip into their storage slots as cleanly as the Sennies or the Sonys, but I can easily live with that given the superb sound and the steady connections. Don't buy another earbud until you've tried this model. I think you'll be pleased, and you may have saved a hundred bucks or more, too. UPDATE AFTER 2+ MONTHS: These continue to be my go-to earbuds. Sound is excellent, perfectly suitable for high-quality Tidal streaming and ProStudio Masters purchases played through my MacBook Pro and my iPhone. Only rarely with there be a connectivity problem. Ninety-five percent of the time, they "just work," with I believe must be unusual with Bluetooth earbuds.

This is my first pair of wireless earbuds and my 4th set of Final. The sound quality of these lives up to Final's reputation. The form factor is, I don't know, unusual? They're kind of large and chunky, and getting them positioned means touching them which sets off the touch controls every time. I kind of wish there was a switch or something to disable the touchpads because every time I reach up to reposition them I'm inadvertently skipping tracks or pausing. Maybe if the touch area was smaller. It's also kind of hard to tell Left from Right without really squinting (this is a frequent issue with Final's products). I may end up painting red and white dots on these like I did with another pair.

Excellent mids and highs. For fans of metal and complex electronic music, the low frequencies may feel insufficient — subjectively (I’m not a basshead).

Great fit for my small ears. Excellent audiophile sound quality that only needed minor adjustments with an EQ. The case is plastic and not amazing but gets the job done and is small enough for pocket carry. Battey life seems to hold up well. Connectivity hasn't been an issue either. Great pair of TWS for a reasonable price!

Wireless earbuds features in this comparison: Final Audio ZE3000 (top left) Google PIxelbuds Pro (top right) OnePlus Buds Pro 2 (bottom left) Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds II (bottom right) Sony Linkbuds S (not pictured) Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro (not pictured) Oppo Enco X2 (not pictured) Final ZE3000: The best stock sound quality out of this group, but worst for features (and no noise canceling). Since there is no app, absolutely nothing can be adjusted, EQ’d, or customized. Luckily, the stock sound is great, but the fit wasn’t the best for me and the shape of them is kinda strange. The case is rather thin and lightweight, but still feels relatively sturdy and has a unique pattern. They are kinda difficult to remove from the case. I also had some glitches with volume starting very quiet and then getting very loud as well as some unpredictable pairing woes (sometimes only one earbud would pair). Overall I cannot recommend these, but at least they are unique and I applaud Final for going straight for sound quality. Google Pixelbuds Pro: Surprisingly good fit once you learn how to “twist” them into place. Excellent touch controls, responsive, and tied with Enco X2 for my favorite charging case (love the egg shape!). Stock sound is decent, although quite mellow and sub-bassy. I greatly preferred using the balanced setting in the EQ to lower the bass some, but settled on a custom one. Sound is not the most technical/detailed, but gets the job done without glaring flaws. Surprisingly good noise canceling, MUCH better than the Sony or Oneplus, and preferred over the Bose in less noisy environments. A bit glitchy if you have to pause often, as sometimes it’ll register as a double tap and skip the song, or the volume is a few notches higher for no reason. All things considered, these are my favorite of the group and are still my daily drivers. Although, I’d like to see even more customizability with the app in the future. Very little touch control modification and the 5 band EQ are sliders and not stepped or numbered. OnePlus Buds Pro 2: Best sound quality of the bunch after EQ (namely decreasing bass -6db which is the lowest allowed). I’m actually shocked at how good these can sound, even after the hundreds of IEMs and headphones I’ve heard! I occasionally struggle with the initial fit in my left ear, but once dialed in, they are incredibly comfortable with their oval tips (wish more companies used oval tips). I really like the look and feel of their low(er) profile charging case and their app is surprisingly great! Not a huge fan of pinch controls and there is more of a delay compared to say the Pixelbuds Pro. And while their noise canceling is an absolute joke (I don’t use it anyway), their sound capabilities, long term comfort, and overall package make up for it. This and the Enco X2 are the sleeper hits on this list for sure! Bose Quietcomfort Earbuds II: You are only buying these if you want the best noise canceling. In that regard, they are truly impressive. Although, I found the Pixelbuds Pro is my preferred choice when using the noise canceling in a quieter environment, as there is more of an idle “hiss” from the Bose making it not as peaceful if not listening to something. The app and connectivity are both garbage and the 3-band EQ is a joke. These easily had the worst stock sound of the group and are absolute bass cannons. I adjusted the bass to the lowest -10db for them to be listenable, then they were just okay. Their fit was shockingly good though and were the most consistent to achieve this. Another thing worthy of note is the major design flaw that noise canceling must remain on. There is no way to disable this, so one cannot just use passive noise isolation (like I always prefer). This alone was a dealbreaker for me. Also, I strongly disliked hearing the obnoxiously loud “orchestra sound” every time you put them in your ears, another thing you cannot disable since it's apparently a “feature” to measure your ear for optimal noise canceling. The charging case is the cheapest feeling and bulkiest of the lot too. Overall, this was my least favorite set and the worst value, even with the excellent noise cancellation and great comfort. Bose prides themselves in noise canceling and forgets everything else. Sony Linkbuds S: Very, very good fit due to excellent size and ergonomics. Passively canceled out the most noise out of all due to deeper fit, but may sacrifice some long term comfort. Noise canceling was surprisingly bad, about on par with the Oneplus (guess they didn’t want to cannibalize sales from WF-1000XM4). The app is feature rich with the superb addition of the decibel level you’re listening at! Speak-to-chat is another incredible feature not found on the others, but I wish you could customize it to just pause music and not turn on transparency mode. Stock sound was pretty good and they aren’t overly bassy like some of the others, but there are more ways to tweak the sound to your liking in the app. Case feels a little cheap and I’m not the biggest fan of its shape for a pants pocket. Still, all that being said, I’d say these just might be the safest pick for most people (along with the Pixelbuds Pro) and represent an excellent value for a solid, all-around wireless earbud. Samsung Galaxy Buds 2 Pro: These fit the worst for me and were extremely difficult to get a consistent seal with. I was also surprised to find these were the only ones that had fatiguing treble. This type of tuning was an odd choice, as there is a treble spike that is very unpleasant to listen to. Case was similar to the OnePlus but a little bulkier. I didn’t play around with the app too much, as I knew very quickly I wouldn’t be keeping these, but I got the impression that you aren’t getting the full experience unless you have a Samsung device. Regardless, these seemed overpriced compared to the others, even had they fit nicely. Oppo Enco X2: Jack of all trades. They do everything well. Second best stock sound of the bunch. Comfort is right there with the Oneplus Buds Pro 2, but I think these fit even a bit better. And finally, something that goes toe-to-toe with the Pixelbuds Pro for the best charging case! LDAC another huge win. Noise canceling is a step above the Linkbuds S and Oneplus Buds 2 Pro but a little worse than the Pixelbuds Pro. App unfortunately does not have an EQ, but there are a few presets to choose from, and the “golden ear” sound profiling is kinda cool! Squeeze controls are a bit difficult and must be done half way up the stem. Sliding for volume is nice though, just like with the Pixelbuds Pro! Pound for pound, these bring a lot to the table and have a little of everything. Shame they are not available in the US! Wrapping up, most of if not all of these products could be so much better with updates to the app enabling more customizability. It’s clear to me that sound quality was a complete afterthought to some of these companies while others have very generic/minimal options for adjustments (Google didn’t even launch with an EQ… what?). Some have features that are half baked while others are so close to perfection. Another obvious, yet common attribute shared between some of these is an overly bassy sound that can completely overwhelm the rest of the frequency spectrum. Lastly, noise canceling in general is a completely overrated and often useless feature unless you are going straight to the top IMO and even then I’ve always been one for passive isolation only (all noise canceling gives me the plugged ear/head sensation and sometimes nausea). For those reasons, I applaud Final Audio for forgoing that feature and attempting good sound only. That also keeps the price down and improves battery life. Summary: (excludes ranking mic, call quality, battery, or transparency mode) Fit consistency: Sony = Bose = Oppo > Google = Oneplus > Final > Samsung Long-term Comfort: Oppo = Oneplus > Google > Sony = Bose > Final > Samsung Stock sound: Final > Oppo > Sony > Oneplus > Google > Samsung > Bose Case quality/design: Google = Oppo > Oneplus > Samsung > Sony > Final > Bose App/features: Sony > Samsung > Oneplus = Oppo > Google > Bose Noise canceling: Bose > Google > Samsung = Oppo > Sony = Oneplusl Overall value: Google > Oppo > Sony > Oneplus > Final > Samsung > Bose

I have owned a number of buds including JVC and Audio Technica in the 100 - 150 range. So far all have been wired and I was reluctant to get Bluetooth wireless since I figured there would be some loss of fidelity transmitting the audio wirelessly. Well, apparently BT technology has overcome virtually all possible sound degradation! Overall these are the best sounding earbuds I have owned or heard. They even rival my dedicated headphone amp/over-the-ear full-size headphone setup that I have. Yes these are not cheap, but you get very excellent sound quality for this price point. I think because they focused on sound quality and not other features like noise cancelling. They are not lacking in any band, bass, mids and highs. They are very detailed and revealing while not being etched or sibilant. Voices sound rich and and I noticed background vocals sound more like real people singing back there and not just noise or texture. Bass is detailed and slightly on the warmer side of neutral, but you're a basshead these might not have quite enough for you. Battery life has been about 6 hours and you get about 5 charges out of the case before that needs changing. They fit fine and are good for running and working out at the gym, which is where I mainly use these.

I read several reviews saying that Final makes good products, so I thought I'd give these a try. First off they sound very muddy. There's so much low end, and it's not the nice punchy bass, that the mix is difficult to hear properly. There's no app for these, so don't expect any kind of software upgrades for these to fix any issues. Though Final says they are working on an "English" version. That's been in the works for a couple of years now. I would think that they should have been able to translate an app in a few months. Pairing has been spotty. It's works sometimes. Because of the lack of support and muddy sound I would not recommend these.

I love these earbuds. So much so that I bought two! I love the lightness and the sound quality. The only issue I have is you have to bury these pretty deep in your ears to get optimal fullness of sound. It's fine most days, but on some days, they do hurt my ears. If these don't hurt your ears, I would put them above the everything in its class, even without noise cancelation. ANC isn't as important to me with IEMs as the passive noise blocking works just fine.