Remastering Your Music Listening Experience with 8K Sound

Throughout the journey of pursuing true high-quality sound, by thoroughly exploring our creativity and innovation, and subsequently performing intensive R&D in audio, acoustic, psychoacoustic, and material engineering, we came up with the Air Film Damping System (AFDS) planar magnetic flagship headphones model, the D8000, in 2017 and introduced the Truly Pure Beryllium diaphragm-driven flagship IEM (In-Ear Monitor) model, the A8000, in 2019. Both flagship models deliver the highest level of “Transparency” in music playback and have achieved a breakthrough in hi-fi audio, presenting a completely new perception of and experience in discovering music. The code “8000” represents the milestones of final in our relentless pursuit of new and innovative ideas, challenging limits, and realizing the impossible.

Now, in 2022, we proudly introduce another new model into our 8000 flagship lineup, the ZE8000. ZE8000 is a pair of Truly Wireless Stereo (TWS) earbuds that has been delicately designed in both its hardware and software so as to manifest the acoustic properties — 8K SOUND — newly discovered by final. Utterly different from conventional sound design approaches, this brand new 8K SOUND technology exceeds the achievement of “Transparency” accomplished by the D8000 and A8000, and delivers an unprecedented level of clarity, with the true identity of every bit of sound revealed in full force, promising a whole new level of music enjoyment.

Final Audio ZE8000 Highlights

• Flagship Truly Wireless Stereo Earbuds featuring revolutionary 8K SOUND.
• Featuring 2 colors: Black and White.
• Smaller fitting division design to fit all ears. Newly designed TYPE Q ear tips offer dual-layered noise reduction and supreme comfort.
• TYPE Q ear tips come in 5 different sizes (SS,S,M,L,LL) for best sealing.
• Serene and stress-free active noise canceling feature that does not bring negative influence onto sound quality.
• Natural-like Ambient Sound that accurately delivers surrounding sound to the user.
• Easily switchable 4 different modes, Noise Canceling, Wind-cut, Ambient Sound, and Voice Through.
• Touch control for basic playback control and mode switching.
• Dedicated mobile application to unlock more unique features.
• Volume Step Optimizer upgrades the smartphone volume control and offers a finer volume adjustment at higher precision around the user’s preferred volume.
• 13mm equivalent ultra-low distortion dynamic driver specially designed for 8K SOUND.
• Employed digital signal processing to deliver an overall exquisite sound presentation at a level of distinction, detail, separation, and speed that has never been accomplished before.
• Featuring Class-AB amplifiers and PML CAP capacitors to realize a low-noise electronic system.
• Compatible with Qualcomm® Snapdragon Sound™, and Qualcomm® aptX™ Adaptive audio to deliver an advanced listening experience.
• Proprietary beamforming algorithm empowered by MEMS microphones for crystal clear phone calls.
• IPX4 Water Resistance Rating for sport and active lifestyles.
• Flexible dual- or single-ear usability
• Approximately 5 hours of continuous playback with up to 15 hours of extended use.
• Earbuds featuring quick charge. Charging for 5 min provides up to 45 min of music playback.
• Extra dust filters are provided for replacement when build-up becomes unremovable.

8K Sound

In visual technology, the 8K UHD (Ultra-High Definition) standard utilizes 16× more pixels than the general standard to deliver 16× more information and allow smoother color gradient between pixels, resulting in crisper imaging, more natural color toning and smoother motion presentation.

Meanwhile, in audio technology, delivering all the information residing inside a piece of music with utmost accuracy has always been a great challenge. Due to the physical limitations of products, a lot of the aforementioned information is left out. Methods used to address this problem include employing hardware varying in shape, size, and material, and performing sound tuning insofar as a particular frequency range is focused upon to improve the overall clarity.

The 8K SOUND technology newly developed by Final Audio offers an innovative breakthrough. Instead of focusing only on fine-tuning frequencies, the time element of every single bit of sound is also carefully calibrated with digital signal processing. In so doing, all the information residing inside a piece of music is distinctly revealed in the best quality and esthetic. 8K SOUND delivers an overall exquisite sound presentation at a level of distinction, detail, separation, and speed that has never been accomplished before.

Designed for Best-Fitting Comfort

Many of the true wireless earbuds on the market are designed to cram all the components into the concha area, which may result in a size that does not fit people with small ears.

For the ZE8000, Final Audio creating a dedicated ear-fitting division do design a solution small enough to fit all ear conchas.

Complemented by the newly designed dual-layered TYPE Q ear tips, the ZE8000 stays fit in the concha by mainly utilizing the interlocking mechanism contributed by the round-shaped division and the ear concha. The part that fits into the ear canal has been designed to be softer, providing a comfortable fit with a soft touch. Additionally, different from most typical TWS where the hard surface of the housing is directly in contact with the ears, the dual-layered TYPE Q ear tips offer a soft silicone contact surface for supreme comfort as a TWS.

Noise Cancellation with Sound Quality Prioritized

With many headphones and earphones, turning on the ANC degrades sound quality and can cause users to feel oppressed, stressed, and discomfort (especially when no sound is playing).

To solve this problem, our engineers conducted numerous experiments with customized equipment and evaluations with actual humans. As a result, we succeeded in designing a noise-canceling algorithm that effectively eliminates annoying ambient noise in the ear, creating a quiet virtual environment ideal for listening to music, while remaining faithful to the original sound and enabling a stress-free listening experience.

To enhance the accuracy and performance of the ANC algorithm, high-quality Knowles MEMS microphones are used.

4 Modes of Convenience

The ZE8000 can switch between four modes for convenient use at any time via touch control or mobile apps.

• Noise Canceling Mode: Eliminates ambient noise and allows you to concentrate on the music
• Wind-Cut Mode: Significantly eliminates wind noise captured by the microphones when there is a lot of ambient air movement
• Ambient Sound Mode: Seamlessly blends music and ambient sound, allowing users to be aware of their surroundings while listening to music
• Voice Through Mode: Ambient sound is prioritized over music, allowing for clear conversations without removing the earphones from the ears

Volume Step Optimizer

Volume is one of the most important factors affecting music listening experience. Due to the short distance between the eardrum and earphones, earphones are more sensitive to changes in volume than speakers or headphones.

Unlike dedicated HiFi devices, however, smartphones often vary greatly each time the volume is turned up or down, making it difficult to set the volume precisely to one's liking.

Volume Step Optimizer is an innovative feature designed for the ZE8000 to solve this problem. By referring to the regular music listening volume level set by the users (reference volume), Volume Step Optimizer transforms the smartphone’s standard volume control to offer a finer volume adjustment at higher precision around the reference volume. This allows users to easily pinpoint volume control with the volume control button on their smartphone.

Ultra-Low Distortion Driver, F-Core for 8K Sound

8K SOUND can only be realized when hardware and software are designed in parallel and the two complement each other. In order to realize the full potential of digital signal processing technology, the driver unit must be highly accurate and have extremely low distortion.

The ZE8000 features the newly developed "f-CORE for 8K SOUND" ultra-low distortion driver with a large 13mm equivalent* diaphragm, unprecedented for TWS earbuds. A lightweight aluminum-magnesium dome in the center is injection molded onto a highly flexible special silicone surround, and a floating mechanism is used for the CCAW voice coil leads. These designs have resulted in a significantly lighter diaphragm and, because no common adhesive is used, stable piston motion during vibration is achieved. The "f-CORE for 8K SOUND" is said to be the dynamic driver with the lowest THD+N (Total Harmonic Distortion Plus Noise) in wireless earphones and IEMs.

This superior physical characteristic of "f-CORE for 8K SOUND" not only provides the highest precision in digital signal processing results but also allows for the fullest possible portrayal of sound texture and detail.

8K Sound Dedicated Digital Signal Processing

8K SOUND is a revolutionary way of expressing sound that could not be achieved with conventional IEMs due to hardware limitations and unpredictable choices by users of other hardware such as music players and amplifiers.

As a TWS earbud, the ZE8000 combines all the important parts of - power supply, Bluetooth receiver, microprocessor, DAC (Digital-to-Analog Converter), amplifier, and drivers - into a single ecosystem, allowing us to carefully master all specifications and characteristics and understand the limitations and areas for improvement of each part.

Conventional sound tuning focuses primarily on altering the frequency response, with little freedom to master the time response. Taking advantage of the computing power of the ZE8000's microprocessor, a series of algorithms using FIR filters were designed and applied to rectify both the frequency and time response. In addition, multiple digital signal processing techniques are applied to each other to enhance the overall system performance and meet the requirements of 8K SOUND.

Noise Suppressing System with AB Class Amplifier & PML Cap

To complement the ultra-low distortion driver "f-CORE for 8K SOUND" and the digital signal processing dedicated to the ZE8000, high-quality electronic hardware components are used to minimize electronic distortion and noise in the music signal generation circuitry.

The ZE8000 uses a Class-AB amplifier, which is known for its excellent balance between sound quality and power efficiency, rather than the power-efficient class-D amplifier used in many TWS. Class-AB amplifiers contribute to more faithful music reproduction because of their lower distortion.

The decoupling capacitors of the microchip for digital signal processing are high-performance, low- distortion PML CAPs (Polymer Multilayer Capacitors) designed by Rubycon, a renowned Japanese manufacturer. Designed using the latest manufacturing technology, the PML CAP has achieved significantly lower distortion than a typical MLCC (Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor). This makes the output of digital signal processing, which is essential for 8K SOUND, cleaner and more accurate.

aptX Adaptive™ and Snapdragon™ Sound Compatible

In addition to SBC and AAC codecs, the ZE8000 supports the uninterrupted, high-quality Qualcomm® aptX™ and aptX™ Adaptive codecs for wireless transmission at up to 24bit/96Hz.

Users of Snapdragon Sound™ enabled devices can now upgrade their wireless connectivity even further with Snapdragon Sound™ technology, designed to give listeners the best possible audio experience for gaming, music streaming, voice and video calls, and more. Snapdragon Sound™ is designed to deliver lossless music and ensure industry-leading low-latency connections.

Snapdragon Sound™ is optimized to work with a variety of devices and is designed to provide a robust connection with minimal dropouts and audio glitching, even in environments where users may experience interference from many other devices, such as at home, at work, or on the road.

Beamforming For Crystal Clear Calls

Final's proprietary beamforming algorithm has been introduced into the ZE8000 to improve call quality. Two high-performance microphones are placed at the top and bottom of the ZE8000 at calculated distances in between.

During a phone call, the two microphones simultaneously capture the user's voice and ambient sound, and their signals are spontaneously calculated by the beamforming algorithm. The ZE8000 effectively extracts only the user's voice by calculating the time difference between when both microphones pick up all the sound, resulting in a clear call.

Dedicated Mobile App

By installing the dedicated mobile application "final CONNECT" on the device paired with the ZE8000, the following functions unique to the ZE8000 are opened up in addition to basic functions such as checking the battery level of the earphones.

• Switch between 4 modes: Noise Canceling, Wind-Cut, Ambient Sound, and Voice Through.
• PRO Equalizer allows users to make adjustments onto the sound presentation in the most effective way without causing degradation of sound quality
• Setting up the Volume Step Optimizer to upgrade the smartphone's volume control, allowing for finer volume adjustment near the preferred volume with greater precision.
• Switching the voice guidance language (Japanese/English)
• Activating 8K SOUND+

*New functions are scheduled to be added through firmware updates.