Japan-based premium headphone and earphone producer Final places a strong emphasis on technological advancement, primarily for the home market. Their products have longer shelf life than most of their rivals, setting them apart from most of them. The company only provides samples to reliable sources since it values content over style and does not believe in sensational marketing.
At least three of us are die-hard fans of Final since we have bought a lot of their goods, including expensive items that we had to obtain through shipping companies from Japan. Kazi has lined up the Final E-series and Alberto has reviewed the Sonorous II and III headphones, among other things.
Price
There is more leeway to maneuver around the £100, $100, or AU$200 mark, which is the entry price point for this type of headphone, despite the fact that this industry is expanding and fiercely competitive and that the majority of the major players are competing in a much higher price range.
The Final UX3000 costs £119, $149, or $200, which is a tempting price for a pair of Bluetooth headphones with noise cancellation.
Design and features
For the price, the UX3000 are well constructed. At first sight, it appeared like someone may have accidentally removed a layer of shiner with the cleaning cloth. Upon closer inspection, it appears that this is the Shibo finish, which is a wrinkle on materials like paper or leather. Also, it results in a slightly textured finish that breaks up the relatively boring black of the headphones. The Final logo on each earcup is the only thing that breaks up the black material.
While not in use, the earcups may be folded inside and swiveled out by 90 degrees to fit comfortably around the neck. There is also a soft carrying case to assist prevent scratching.
When the headphones are on, the physical buttons and inputs aren’t particularly obvious to the touch or easy to locate, but it doesn’t take much practice to get things down, so there aren’t any serious issues there. And between the two of them, they essentially do everything you would anticipate. The USB-C charging connector and a button for activating and deactivating noise cancellation are both located on the left earcup. Three multipurpose buttons are located on the right earcup: one for power, one for pairing with Bluetooth, one for playing and stopping a track, and one for taking calls; and two more for volume control and track skipping in either direction.
Active noise suppression is, of course, one of the highlights. The UX3000 has what Final refers to as a hybrid active noise-cancelling system; each earcup has two microphones, one of which picks up sound from the outside and the other from the speaker within (the one that outputs the music). Together, they are intended to produce the noise-cancelling signal. The noise canceling on the UX3000 is reasonably effective and does a good job throughout our daily journey to work, easily adjusting to trains, the London Tube, and the occasional bus.
The ability to simultaneously connect the headphones to two sources thanks to the multipoint connect capability is another helpful perk. This is very helpful at work when, for example, you need to be able to answer a phone call and are listening to something on your laptop. With the exception of the occasional tiny signal hiccup and fallout, switching between the two sources works rather well. There are no serious or persistent drop-outs.
Call quality and ANC
To test how the Final UX3000 handles the demands of a typical commute and workday, we pair it with our MacBook Pro and iPhone over Bluetooth. For the most part, they show themselves to be dependable workhorses. The noise cancellation is adequate for the price; it falls short of the excellent Sony WH-1000XM4 (and consequently the more recent WH-1000XM5), but those multi-award winners cost more than twice as much. Yet, these headphones provide excellent noise cancellation for the price you spend.
Also, when a phone call is received, both parties can hear clearly and there are no dropouts in the dialogue. In fact, dropouts are really uncommon overall; we stray from our source frequently and over significant distances without experiencing any problems.
Price and availability
For $149 / £119, you can purchase the Final Audio UX3000 wireless active noise-cancelling over-ear headphones right now. Pricing for Australia has not yet been determined, but it amounts to about $200.
Although the UX3000 are not yet at the top of the market for wireless headphones with active noise-cancellation circuitry, they are getting close. Check out our review of the Jabra Elite 85h for a similar set of headphones that cost a bit more. Alternatively check out our review of the Urbanista Miami for a pair that costs a little less.
Conclusion
The UX3000 are a very fantastic-sounding pair of headphones from Final, who has previously produced affordable models that have greatly impressed us. They quickly rise to the top of the list of the best couples to listen to at this price due to their warmth and melodic quality.
They lack intelligence but provide high comfort levels, effective noise control for the money, and an easy way to operate. This makes them a reliable, straightforward, and easy to use pair of headphones. Cheap once meant sacrificing quality, but the Final UX3000 proves that isn’t always the case.
