Final ZE3000 TWS Earphone Review

Introduction:

Final is a Japanese audio brand established in 1974 that sells high-end audio earphones and headphones under its own brand final as well as conducting component technology development, product planning, design, planning, manufacturing and sales of other companies’ brands.

The ZE3000 is a TWS Earphone that features a the company’s Newly Designed 6mm Diameter “f-Core for Wireless” Driver, which is integrated in to a special an acoustic chamber design that has also a unique damping system that is called “f-Link Damping Structure”. The ZE3000 has the Latest Bluetooth Version 5.2 that supports AAC, SBC, aptX, aptX Adaptive Codec’s. Moreover, it is IPX4 Water Resistant Certified and offers a sensitive touch control surface.

Disclaimer: 

I would like to thank Final for providing me the ZE3000 TWS Earphone as review sample. I am not affiliated with Final beyond this review and these words reflect my true and unaltered, opinions about the product.

Price & Availability:

The actual price of the Final ZE3000 TWS Earphone is about 149,00 US$. More information’s can be found under the link below;

• Final ZE3000 TWS Earphone

Package and Accessories:

The Final ZE3000 came inside a white cardboard box that sports the product illustration and some product related brandings and details on its surface.

Inside the box are the following items/accessories:

• 1 x Final ZE3000 TWS Earphone
• 5 x pairs of Final “TYPE E Truly Wireless Exclusive Edition” (SS / S / M / L / LL)
• 1 x Charging Case
• 1 x USB Type C Charging Cable,
• 1 x Print Material

Design and Build Quality:

The Final ZE3000 is a very elegant looking TWS Earphone with an irregular shape that reminds me slightly to those of the B and A series In-Ear Monitors of the company. It is made of lightweight resin material that features a “Premium Shibo” finish, which is a coating that is normally applied on high-end camera with a metal surface. Shibo is an old Japanese word meaning a wrinkle on the surface of paper or leather.

The ZE3000 is available in two colour options that are white and black like my review unit.

ZE3000 is a TWS Earphone that features a the company’s Newly Designed 6mm Diameter “f-Core for Wireless” Driver, which is integrated in to a special an acoustic chamber design that has also a unique damping system that is called “f-Link Damping Structure”.

On the front of the earbuds is the Final brand logo and a small opening that shares the microphone for voice conversations and a small LED indicator that gives information’s about the current status, such like pairing, battery, etc.

Here is also a pretty sensitive touch interface that supports touch operation such like play / pause / volume up / volume down / next track / previous track and call / end call / power on/off.

At the inner surface of the ZE3000 is the slightly angled sound nozzle, the battery charging interface, the L (Left) or R (Right) markings and the Final ZE3000 branding.

The sound nozzle has a fine filter on the top that prevents the insertion of small particles such like dust or ear-wax, which could dame the internal parts of the ZE3000.

The overall build quality of the earbuds is decent like any product that I have reviewed of the company. It doesn’t shows any imperfections such like small gaps/openings or resin/plastic residue.

Comfort, Noise Isolation & IPX4 Weather Resistance:

The Final ZE3000 is not the smallest TWS earphone on the market, but has a pretty comfortable shape that fits perfectly in o my moderate sized ear concha. This makes it ideal for the use on the go and for longer listening periods.

The ZE3000 is not equipped with any Active Noise Cancelling feature. However, the passive noise isolation of the TWS earphone is above average, which is pretty efficient for relative noisy environments such like a bus, metro or train.

The ZE3000 offers an IPX4 Water Resistance rating, which makes it suitable for the use like sports and active lifestyles.

Pairing, Signal Strength, Call Quality & Latency:

The Final ZE300 is equipped with an “Auto Pairing” function that connects automatically to the paired device just by opening the lid of the charging case. You can listen to music as soon as you wear the earbuds. Also, when the earbud is stored in the charging case and the lid is closed, the power is automatically turned off, so you can rest assured that you will not forget to turn off the power.

A female voice is announcing the status of your ZE3000 like power on/off or pairing.

The operating distance of the Final ZE300 is about 10 meters, which is quite stable. The ZE3000 offers also a pretty good performance in terms of call quality and voice transmission.

The Final ZE3000 performs also pretty well in terms of latency thanks to the aptX adaptive support. I didn’t have notice any significant lip sync issue, while I have watched some TV Shows on YouTube and movies on Netflix, paired with my Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ and Apple iPad Air2 tablet.

The ZE3000 supports also “Single Ear Mode”. In order to activate this feature, simply put one pf the earbuds in to the charging case and the music will automatically switch to this mode without interruption. In “Single Ear Mode”, stereo playback is switched to monaural playback so you can enjoy music with one ear without any discomfort.

Navigation:

The ZE3000 supports touch operation, so you can easily operate music play / stop / volume up / volume down / next track / previous track and call / end call. The touch point is on the triangle-like surface on the faceplate of the earbuds (the side where the logo is not printed), and this design is to avoid erroneous operation when wearing it.

Charging Case & Battery Life: 

The ZE3000 come with a pretty small and stylish looking charging case that features the same “Premium Shibo finish” like the earphones itself. It has a capacity of 300mAh and offers a maximum playback time up to 35 hours, while the charging process takes about 2 hours. On the top of the case is the final branding that looks pretty fancy.

On the rear surface is the hinge mechanism and some product related brandings, technical details and industrial certifications.

When you open the case you will see the seats with a magnetic surface and the charging ports.

On the front surface of the charging case is a small LED light indicator that gives information about the charging status of the case and earphones.

Each ZE3000 TWS Earphone is equipped with a build in battery with a capacity of 35mAh. The ZE3000 offers a decent battery life of about 7 hours when I use it with the AAC codec (Volume %70), while the playback time drops only slightly when I switch to the aptX codec (volume %70) that is about 6 hours.

Specifications:

• Product Name            : ZE3000
• Driver Configuration   : 6mm diameter “f-Core for Wireless” Dynamic Driver
• Bluetooth Standard    : Bluetooth Ver. 5.2
• Supported Codec       : SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX Adaptive
• Battery Life                 : 7 Hours (Earphones), Maximum 35 hours with Charging Case
• Charging Time            : 1.5 Hours Earphones / 2.0 Hours Charging Case
• Battery Capacity         : 35mAH Earphones / 300mAh Charging Case
• IPX Rating                  : IPX4 Water Resistant

Equipment’s used for this review:

• TWS Earphones        : Final ZE3000, Nuarl N6 Pro
• Sources                      : Samsung Galaxy Note10+, Apple iPad Air2, iBasso DX240

Albums & Tracks used for this review:

• Yosi Horikawa – Bubbles (Spotify)
• Liquid Tension Experiment 2 – Acid Rain (Spotify)
• Charly Antolini – Duwadjuwandadu (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Ferit Odman – Look, Stop & Listen (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Chopin – Nocturn No. 20 In C-Sharp Minor (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Fazıl Say – Nazım Oratoryosu (Live) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Vivaldi – Le QuarttroStagioni “The Four Season” (Deezer HiFi)
• Otto Liebert& Luna Negra – The River (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Lunatic Soul – The Passage (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Adele – My Little Love (Spotify)
• Randy Crawford – On Day I Will Fly Away (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Hayley Westenra – Odyssey Album (Dezzer HiFi)
• Dionne Warwick – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Sarah McLachlan – Angel (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Sertap Erener – Aşk (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Edith Piaf – Non Je Ne Regrette Rien (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Diana Krall – So Wonderful (DSF)
• Aretha Franklin – I Say A Little Payer (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• David Bowie – Heroes (Flac 24bit/192kHz)
• Elton John – Rocket Man ((Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Barry White – Just The Way You Are (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Isaac Hayes – Walk On By (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Sting – Englishman in New York – (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Eric Clapton – Wonderful Tonight (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• B.B. King – Riding With The King (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Dave Gahan – Kingdom (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• U2 – Sunday Bloody Sunday (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Bro Safari, UFO! – Drama (Deezer HiFi)
• Armin Van Buuren – Vini Vici (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Really Slow Motion – Deadwood (Deezer HiFi)
• Jo Blankenburg – Meraki (Spotify)
• Lorde – Royal (Flac 24bit/48kHz)
• Toutant – Rebirth (Deezer HiFi)
• Portishead – It Could Be Sweet (Spotify)
• Deftones – My Own Summer (Shove it) (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Metallica – Sad but True (Flac 24bit/96kHz)
• Opeth – Windowpane (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Megadeth – Sweating Bullets (Tidal Hi-Fi)
• Rush’s – Leave That Thing Alone (Flac 16bit/44.1kHz)
• Slayer – Angel of Death (Spotify)

The Sound:

The Final ZE3000 shows a mildly V shaped sound signature with a slightly warmer than neutral tonality. The bass of the ZE3000 sounds deep, full bodied and powerful, the midrange is clear, pretty detailed and musical, while the treble area is fairly bright but not sharp, which offer also a quite good sense of extension for a TWS earphone in this area.

This review has been written after a burn-in period of approx. 60 hours. My sound impressions below are based on my pairings with the Samsung Galaxy Note10+, Apple iPad Air2 and iBasso DX240. I have used the stock Final Ear Tips that are included to the package.

Bass:

The Final ZE3000 offers a decent low end performance with its powerful, pretty fast and well textured bass that shows also a good level of authority for a product TWS earphone, especially at this price range. The general tonality of the lower frequency region is warm and soft, while the sense of clarity and resolution is pretty good that is produced by the 6mm diameter “f-Core for Wireless” Dynamic Driver.

The subbass region of the ZE3000 reaches pretty low, shows a decent sense of rumble when I do listen to songs like Massive Attack’s “Angel”, Lorde’s “Royals” or Really Slow Motion’s “Deadwood”. The midbass region of the ZE3000 shows a good level of depth, impact and intensity when I do listen to instruments like the cross drum, bass guitars up to trumpets.

The general presentation bass presentation of the ZE3000 is quite musical and entertaining and offers a decent performance for a TWS earphone while listen to some complex bass passages such like Gogo Penguin’s “Raven” or Photek’s “The Hidden Camera”.

Midrange:

The Final ZE3000 has a mildly warm midrange tonality and shows a pretty musical and lush overall tuning. Here are no negative conditions such as sibilance or harshness, while the level of airiness and clarity is decent for a TWS earphone especially for this price tag.

The ZE3000 offers a decent vocals performance while listen to both female and male voices. The lower midrange depth and body is on an efficient level that was pretty audible when I did listen to vocals like Dave Gahan, B.B. King of Barry White. Female voices on the other hand such like Edith Piaf, Sertap Erener, Diana Krall or Adele did sound pretty natural, lively and transparent without to show any remarkable sibilance and harshness.

The ZE3000 shows a moderately warm instrument tonality, while it offers a pretty musical and lush presentation in this area. Instruments such like acoustic guitars are slightly bassy and do have fairly realistic timbre, while violas do sound pretty emotional. The upper midrange is nicely pronounced that makes it is possible to hear some details and fine nuances from instruments like mandolins, clarinets or trumpets, while the extension is quite sufficient for a TWS earphone.

The ZE3000 offers in general a pretty good midrange performance when I do listen vocals and instruments in terms of clarity, tonality and resolution, which fulfils my expectations from a TWS earphone at this price level.

Treble:

The Final ZE3000 offers a pretty accented and energetic treble response with efficient level of extension and resolution. One of the plus points of ZE3000’s treble range is that the lower treble range (presence) doesn’t comes too upfront, which could make the general treble presentation a bit harsh.

The lower treble region shows an adequate sense of clarity and definition when I do listen to instrument like cellos, cymbals or violins, while the extension and resolution is on a decent level for a TWS earphone.

The upper treble area of the ZE3000 shows in general pretty airy and lively atmosphere, with sufficient grade of resolution. Instruments like hi-hat in metal music are fairly pronounced, while the extension of snare drums and ride cymbals is on a sufficient level.

The treble performance and tuning is pretty suitable for a wide range of genres, that will satisfy while listen to form jazz to acoustic music, from electronic up to rock music, which is a decent ability for a TWS product at this price range.

Soundstage & Imaging:

The Final ZE3000 shows a soundstage atmosphere with a good level of separation and positioning of both vocals and instruments. The soundstage has a good sense of wideness and depth, along with a sufficient grade of neutral air between instruments.

The sense of separation between the right and the left channels is pretty audible and shows also a smooth progression, which makes the ZE3000 to a pretty successful TWS earphone at this price category.

Comparison:

Final ZE3000 versus Nuarl N6 Pro:

The Nuarl N6 Pro shows a warmer tonality and a more forward oriented presentation compared to the Final ZE3000 that has a slightly more neutral, airy and transparent tuning.

The subbass region of the ZE3000 shows slightly less depth and rumble, however it has the slightly edge when it comes to the speed and control in this region. The midbass region of the N6 Pro shows more depth and impact, while both are pretty controlled in this area. The ZE3000 has the upper hand when it comes to the general resolution, clarity and authority in the lower frequency region.

The midrange of the Nuarl N6 Pro has a warmer tonality with higher sense of body/fullness compared to the Final ZE3000, which offers a better lever of transparency, airiness and realism. The N6 Pro has the slightly edge for male vocals and instruments like violas and acoustic guitars due to its lower midrange tuning. However, the ZE3000 is superior in terms of resolution, extension and control of female voices and instruments like clarinets, violins or pianos due to the better tuned upper midrange area.

The treble range of the ZE3000 has a more natural timbre compared to the N6 Pro that sounds a bit too enerrgetic and dry in this are. The Final ZE3000 has the upper hand in terms of treble extension especially in the upper treble region that offer more sparkle and air without to be fatigue.

Both TWS earphones are pretty successful when it comes to the separation and positioning of instruments and vocals. However, the ZE3000 offers a more open and airy soundstage atmosphere with better sense of depth and wideness.

Conclusion:

The ZE3000 is a decent sounding TWS earphone from Final that offers a very high price to performance ratio with its clean, entertaining and pretty detailed sound signature, which is ideal for a wide variety of genres. What I also really like about the ZE3000 is the shell design that looks and fits perfect. Moreover, it has a very responsive touch control system, stable connection and comes with a case that you can put in to your smallest pockets.

Pros and Cons:

• + Dynamic & Controlled Bass Response
• + Midrange Tonality, Clarity and Resolution
• + Well Rounded/Balanced Treble Tuning
• + Design and Build Quality
• + Stabile Connection
• + Responsive Touch Control

• – Limited BT Codec Support
• – No Active Noise Cancellation
• – No APP for FW Updates or Adjustments

Thank you for the Read!