Japan Piano Forte VIII In-Ear Headphones Evaluation Report

Final audio design is a brand of audio products from Japan. Currently, it is mainly based on earphones. Their product positioning is special. For example, this "Piano Forte VIII" in-ear earphone is to be evaluated today. Its shape and traditional in-ear style. The earphones are obviously different, using copper as the material of the whole earphone casing, and using metal as the outer casing of the earphone product and distinguishing the earphone model with different metal materials is a major feature of the headphones of Final audio design. Due to its special design and special positioning, Final Audio design's "Piano Forte VIII" is also expensive, and is said to be priced at around 4,000 yuan.

"Piano Forte VIII" [hereinafter abbreviated as PF VIII] is an in-ear dynamic earphone, and Piano Forte is also a major series in the Final audio design dynamic earphone product line. From the product name, VIII represents the number. "8", while Piano Forte IX, X [9, 10] are two similar products released in the same period as VIII, their appearance is almost the same, but the Piano Forte IX and X headphones are made of stainless steel and chrome. Copper alloy. Copper material is used for PF VIII. Since the metal shell is completely used for the design of the outer casing of the earphone, its shape is also easier to realize the unique sense of design and uniqueness due to the different metal materials. On the headphone body, the word "final" is also engraved. However, PF VIII weighs 38 grams and is relatively heavy in small earplugs.

Piano Forte VIII looks like a connector from the shape of the connector, it is a completely axisymmetric shape, the headset should stand up like a gyro [with a headphone cable so it can't actually...]. The metal body is divided into upper and lower parts at the time of production, and the 16mm diameter speaker unit is placed at the largest diameter. In the second half we can see that there are three small holes of different sizes, and there is a similar hole on the front side. They are all designed for tuning. According to official sources, Piano Forte VIII also uses a coating that reduces the work resonance and uses special materials.

Although the shape of this earphone is unique and the absolute symmetry is concerned, the ergonomics of the human ear canal and the outer ear can be better taken when actually wearing it. It should be noted that the ear part of this earphone is also the same. The copper material of the earphone body is integrated. The curvature of the inward depression of the ear portion can also be better matched to the human ear structure. But compared to ordinary in-ear headphones or earphones that are comfortable to wear, the Piano Forte VIII is more comfortable to wear. Its in-ear portion has a large opening and may cause some discomfort. The trouble is that to make its sounds optimal, it may be necessary to adjust the angle and position of the wear from person to person. A more casual wear may make the earphones not fit tightly with the ear, and the mid-low frequency feel is less; but the over-tightening angle of the plug is not positive enough, which may cause high frequency loss.

Although the shape of the Piano Forte VIII is not small, the 16mm speaker unit is not particularly large in the moving coil earplugs. The official 16 ohm impedance and 108dB sensitivity indicators are not special. Since Piano Forte is the name used in the Final Audio earphones, perhaps it will be more emphasis on the performance of the piano as it is named. Since there is no contact with other products in this series, it cannot be completely determined. But from Final Audio Design's dynamic earplugs, another series of Adagio [slow board, soft board], at least their dynamic earplugs are used to name the sound style. So how does it sound?

In the test, we used the commonly used portable audio equipment as the main reference, including iPhone 5, iPod Classic and vivo Xplay mobile phones. In addition, the integrated sound card of Monitor 03 US, Serenade USE and Macbook Pro is also used as a reference. We don't know much about the sound style of Piano Forte VIII. The test compares several commonly used in-ear headphones, including Vsonic GR07 MKII, VSD1S, and innovative Aurvana Air.

Overall impression: If you are a new user of this headset, you may need to take a little time to adjust the posture of it. In the case of wearing loose, its side and the concave part of the ear of the human ear can be a good fit, but it varies from person to person, and the sound at this time is not necessarily the best. For example, if I use this personally, I feel that the low frequency in the sound is obviously less. You need to rotate a little angle or press it inward with the best comfort, it is easy to get a full and thick intermediate frequency, but it is likely to feel a bit boring. Indeed... it is a relatively dull sound, but you should also carefully adjust the angle. When the whole sound is full and thick, it is likely that the plug is too tight and the angle is not good, which affects the performance of high frequency.

High-frequency performance: The high-frequency of the PF VIII headphones is relatively dim, and the resolving power is relatively general. This is even worse than the high-frequency headphones such as the Vsonic VSD1, which is almost in the extremely high frequency. No performance, but also in the middle and high frequency part is more conservative. Its sound is darker than VSD1 and VSD1S, and the resolution is even worse. This makes the overall sound of PF VIII sound more boring, and the highlights of various high-frequency parts of music are difficult to reflect on this earphone.

IF performance: The high frequency performance of PF VIII is not ideal, but the IF part is the biggest highlight of its sound style. The PF VIII's mid-range is full, soft and solid, with good image and good dynamics. The resolution is not particularly good, but it also has good performance. Compared with the Vsonic GR07 MKII, the PF VIII's IF resolution and dynamics are slightly weaker, but the overall shape is more balanced and solid, especially in the performance of instrumental music. The sound of the IF part is softer and thicker. In the big dynamics, the IF of the PF VIII still appears to be more cautious, but the whole level has been maintained well, especially the low-frequency part has good transient and control, and this part is better than GR07 MKII. However, in the mid-frequency bias, the high-frequency connection part is still a very short board of PF VIII, which also causes the sound to be obviously boring when expressing human voice, which is not a problem that can be solved by improving the sound source. The mid-frequency partial high-frequency part of the large-scale recess in the frequency band, so that its overall style is more emphasis on the intermediate frequency and the middle and low frequency, the sound is thick, but not loose, the level is clean. In the performance of instrumental music, the dim of high frequency and medium and high frequency will bring a clear and restrained style, and there is obviously a lack of tension, almost saying goodbye to adjectives such as "bright"; while the above specifically talks about vocal problems, because of this The performance will be vocal, and even the effect of the bass is greater. Compared with almost all headphones, we are a bit boring.

Low-frequency performance: PF VIII's low-frequency mid-low frequency also has a good performance, which is much better than the VSD1S headphones, mainly in the dynamic, analytical and other details, the whole sound is clean, calm, and stretch. In the sense of volume, the thickness of the low frequency is slightly stronger than that of the GR07 MKII. The PF VIII is softer in the performance of the cello and male voice, and the restrained style is just right, and has its own characteristics. But the resolution is still slightly worse than headphones like the GR07 MKII. Especially with the sound card level sound source, the gap is even bigger. At low frequency dive depth, PF VIII also shows the level of medium and high-end earplugs. The resolution and dynamics are slightly worse than GR07 MKII, but it is also the heavy but lacking detail of E10 and VSD1S.

Summary: The sound of the PF VIII headphones is too rigid, which has a lot to do with its high frequency and high frequency limits, but maybe this is the style that Final Audio Design's Piano Forte series has always insisted on? It can really maintain the sound level under large dynamics when expressing the piano, so that the whole sound is relatively clean, and the weakening of the high frequency can avoid the burr feeling in the big dynamic, and will not make the whole sound have a relatively hard feeling [GR07 Although the resolution of MKII is excellent, compared with more advanced headphones, the high frequency is indeed a short board]. However, the IF VIII has a good mid-range thickness, and the mid-low frequency resolution is close to the level of GR07 MKII, but the whole headphone sound can't be opened, it's rather rigid, you can even think of it as a PF VIII. Compared to the rigid VSD1], it is difficult to find a headset that is as mellow as PF VIII [including GR07 MKII] in the IF section. On the whole, this style does not really please a lot of music content, but in the music that is not dominated by the high-pitched part, its performance is still very distinctive. The Piano Forte VIII alone is not surprisingly good in terms of sound performance, but it is not too disappointing. Of course, its high price and sound quality are not particularly large.

The final audio design design is very interesting and the shape is different. They even have a headphone MURAMASA with stainless steel material, and its weight is as heavy as 850 grams. Such design concepts and manufacturing processes may determine that Final audio design is not likely to become a mass brand, at least for now. This is an alternative brand and product. It exhibits unique exquisiteness and certain temperament. It is difficult for ordinary users to get close, but there are many elements worth learning from their peers.