Japanese headphones specialist Final has announced its flagship true wireless earbuds, the Final ZE8000.
Costing £299 / $349, the premium pricing puts the new earbuds up against the class-leaders Apple AirPods Pro 2, Bose QuietComfort Earbuds II and Sony WF-1000XM4 in this highly competitive market – but Final has made some bold claims when it comes to its sound technology.
In terms of active noise cancelling, Final has promised that sound quality will "always be the focus of the ZE8000" and that ANC "does not degrade the audio in any way." That's certainly music to our ears.
The ZE8000 has four listening modes: noise cancelling (full ANC), wind-cut (eliminates wind noise captured by the microphones), ambient (lets you be aware of surroundings) and voice through (lets you have conversations without removing the earbuds).
You can cycle through these modes using the Final Connect app, which also has a Volume Step Optimizer – this lets you fine-tune the volume at a higher precision than a smartphone's standard control will allow.
The earbuds each hold four hours of charge, going up to a total of 15 hours with the charging case. It's decent, but not the class-leading numbers we're used to seeing, with rivals Apple and Sony respectively offering six and eight hours in the buds, and totals of 30 and 24 hours with their cases.
The buds themselves sport an unusual "division" design, which Final says is "shaped in a way to suit all ear shapes and sizes" for comfort and stability. The earbuds are available in black or white finishes and, from the press images, it seems they have the same speckly texture we found in the UX3000 over-ear headphones.
The Final ZE8000 wireless earbuds will be available from today, priced at £299 / €329 / $349 from selected retailers, including Amazon, Selfridges, Harrods, and Audio46.
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