Final Audio D8000 Pro - Out of the Dark Ages of Ortho Tech!

i don’t think so. My chain is really great for orthos. It’s probably different preferences plus you using eq plus me having a ton of experience with orthos and evaluating these with that knowledge - knowing what is possible - not just as a headphone compared to electrodynamics. (Side note - I’m not trying to brag about my modded orthos here, I have yet to realize what I know is possible)

Also I only heard the Clears for like 10 minutes at a meet with a friend so I could be wrong about that. But I usually get a good sense about headphones pretty quick.

I don’t want to post my test track because I have issues. It’s complicated.

 

Traditionally, what type of driver has the lowest distortion through the mid range?- even & odd / good & evil

 

I was able to spend some time with the d8000 pro thanks to Crenca. I was comparing it to the Utopia. It turned out not to be the sound that was best for me. It has great bass and slam, sometimes to much and I felt it overpowered the sound. The mids and highs were fairly clear with good retrieval of information. When compared to the Utopia It was dark and seemed some what muted. I did not feel like the detail was missing just that the presentation was darker (hard to find the words for this) and denser. I really enjoyed it with rock and hard electronic dance. I listen to mostly ambient, trio jazz (ecm and Scandinavian) some folk and world music.

 

Reviving this thread because I have heard that Final Audio will be releasing a limited edition (200 pcs) version of these. Slightly different driver, different pads, supposedly warmer, smoother, more resolving , but with less peaky treble. Not sure if that justifies the price premium though.

My issue with the D8kPro is the upper midrange depression. Just very senisitive to a depressed response in this area. Good for long term, higher level listening, but takes some bite out of the music and subtly messes with tonality IMO.

 

Get non pro version if you want warmer and smoother tone

 

I never heard the Pro, but love the sound of my D8000 with the Pro's "G" pads (swapping those pads made a real difference). The sound is only slightly warm...it's very close to neutral, top to bottom The resolution and accuracy are very high here, more than I've heard in the planars I've owned previously. Bass is level, uninflected, but powerful in the manner of planar drivers. This headphone manages to be both musical and very resolving, not a combo one runs into often.

I went through a number of open-back planars to get to this point (pre-fazor LCD-2.1; pf LCD-3; Empyrean; Kennerton Odin "Thridi"; AFO; Hifiman Edition X v2), but the D8000 is the keeper.

 

Had the chance to finally have extended time with the D8000 Pro at a local meet. Chain was off the Holo May KTE > Luxman P750 > D8000 Pro

I won't get too rambly about this, but amongst planars, I found the D8000 Pro to have some of my favorite note deliveries; maybe on par or just below Caldera. One thing I always look for in headphones is a sense of tactility and solidity in how notes are presented. The D8000 Pro has that, which immediately caught my attention. Things like resolution and speed (the usual audiophile technicalities) were behind that of Susvara. which was also present at the meet, but it wasn't a clear cut win for the Sus. The D8000 had that strong foundation in the lows and a more believable note weight. In the words of another local enthusiast: "I like this one better than the Sus. The Sus sounds like it's trying to do that electrostat ethereal wispy thing at times. This one has more meat"

I did find the mids a bit depressed, but not to the extent of being boring or unengaging. Air was a bit elevated, but not enough to bother me. I was surprised by how the D8000 Pro wasn't weirdly tuned compared to other Japanese headphones like the disappointing Yamaha YH-5000SE. I mean, sure it has its quirks, but for the most parts, they weren't a disaster.