Final E500 test: simplistic intras that hide their game well

The E500s set the tone as soon as you take them out of their little cardboard box: here we are faced with very affordable headphones, with a basic design, but which do the job all the same. These Lilliputian earphones, impressive for their thinness and featherweight, are protected by an ABS plastic frame where the various assembly points can be seen very clearly. Everything is connected by a relatively thick cable ending in a mini-jack connector. The latter is bent and a part is flexible, thus limiting the risk of breakage.

In view of their design, there is no doubt that it will be necessary to take good care of the earphones during use, in order to prevent them from being exposed to rain or, worse, to sweat, and to store them away after each use to maximize their longevity. If no carrying pouch is provided, there is however a wide variety of sizes of silicone tips (no foam or bi/tri-flange tips, however).

As we have said, the E500 opt for a particularly compact design and are amazingly light. However, this is not enough to make them paragons of comfort.

It is indeed a relatively summary wearing experience that the Final in-ear headphones offer us. The latter are held and held in place to a very large extent by their depression/intrusion at the entrance to the auditory canal, which is not really ideal, especially since the tips have a slight tendency to slip when the movement of the cable gradually unscrews them. The feeling of intrusion is marked here, bearable for those accustomed to intras but all the same a little too accentuated to really wear the headphones comfortably for several hours in a row. We appreciate that said the presence of the many sizes of tips to optimize the port of the headphones and avoid unpleasant surprises. Finally, the comfort is correct, but it is not uncommon to have to take breaks and take a moment to reposition them from time to time.

Although the phenomenon did not occur during our various tests, we also feel that the rear part of the cylinder formed by the frame of the headphones has a very strong chance of coming to rest against the concha/antitragus in the most ears. cramped, creating some discomfort.

The E500s have forged a small reputation among sound aesthetes and, even if some praise their qualities a little too much, it must be recognized that Final’s “small” headphones are of the caliber of the biggest on certain points…

Indeed, what was our surprise when we discovered the sound reproduction of the E500, of a cleanliness to rival headphones ten, twenty… even a hundred times more expensive. The small 6.2 mm driver demonstrates excellent control, distilling a very good level of detail across the entire spectrum: the bass is perfectly chiselled, the mids and highs clear, fine. We can say that the treatment provided is almost surgical.

The headphones also provide good definition on these frequency bands, especially on the second part of the spectrum, with an extension in the highest frequencies allowing us to enjoy a nicely open and airy sound stage, wide, where the nuances reach us without difficulty. The conditions are perfectly met in order to appreciate with great accuracy the timbres of the instruments (in particular some of their components which are sometimes difficult to discern at first listen) and, to a certain extent, the dynamics.

Although this is a critical point, the level of precision is not everything. The E500s reveal another specificity that prevents them from aiming for the heights: their signature is the embodiment of the term “sharp”. It is advisable here to scrutinize the rendering as a whole, because, if we find a good balance for them by analyzing band by band, the headphones show an overall clear preference for high-mids. This sharp aspect, very lively and cutting edge, is already highlighted by the timidity of the headphones in the lowest frequencies. We can appreciate the perfectly neutral bass, but the behavior of the E500s being objectively too timid, this ultimately results in particularly “dry” bass, lacking a little too much depth, impact and weight. This is also a point that is felt in nomadic listening due to the relatively light sound insulation of the headphones. After all, there is no active noise reduction here to best protect against surrounding noise.

This overweight in the high-mids exacerbates the notion of clarity and acts as a “sound magnifying glass” to more easily perceive the details while highlighting certain sources, often soloists, in particular the voices. We can appreciate such a choice, moreover relatively measured compared to other excessively generous models, but it nevertheless has two consequences. The first relates to auditory fatigue: since we are right in the zone of maximum sensitivity of the human ear, the additional energy deployed can become stressful in the long run, especially if we push the level of listening. , something that we can tend to do with headphones that are not extremely insulating. It will therefore be necessary to remain wise on the volume to comfortably enjoy its contents. To a much lesser extent, this “frontal” sound also has the effect of slightly crushing the soundstage forwards, which may therefore lack a bit of depth and therefore of naturalness. A softer treatment would also have made it possible to enjoy to the maximum the very natural response of the headphones in the treble, here a bit hidden.