Closer Examination

By now, I had figured out that the final UX3000 is not very expensive. That having been said, it still punches above its weight and price. There have been far too many times where I was left with haphazardly put together, rickety, poor-feeling plastic parts, some even squeaking or misaligned, but there are no such issues here; in fact, I thought everything felt quite solid. It's the headband I would have liked to be more substantial, with final using a thin one-piece solution that isn't the most comfortable. It has some foam filling on either side of a steel band, which has a faux leather cover that is stitched on the sides. The headband meets articulating joints on either side, which makes the UX3000 completely foldable for easier transportation and means it can be laid down flat on your desk. This is otherwise a clean and minimalist design with the final logo on the outside, as well as dots on one side to easily identify the sides if visually impaired. Everyone else will find the "L" or "R" marking below the "UX3000" on the inside handy since the ear cups are quite similar to each other.


Headband sizing happens courtesy the inner steel band. Simply push it up and down from the ear cups as seen above. I wish there were markings to indicate the discrete steps, but final has integrated minor clicks to help identify them and balance both sides when sizing the UX3000 on your head. A minor issue I have is that anything other than the shortest, fully closed setting results in exposed steel, which affects the aesthetics of these headphones. Sizing options are aplenty, however, so these may be used with heads small and large alike.


I mentioned the articulating joints before, and these allow for plenty of horizontal ear cup swivel. Combined with the vertical sizing and some rotating ear cup movement on the third axis around the c-clamp securing them in place, most end users will easily fit the final UX3000 over their heads and ears. As such, I am happy to see final going with a working design that gets the basics right.


The Shibo coating on the final UX3000 is what makes this seem more premium in the hands, and nowhere is it better appreciated than on the ear cups themselves. As is usually the case with Bluetooth headphones, these are closed-back, and the plastic covers get a coating with a grippy texture that makes them resistant to fingerprints and natural elements. The coating is on all the exposed plastic components, including the joints and connectors. Notice the vents on the back and front that are channels for airflow through to the drivers and relieve any pressure build-up over your ears.


There are two subtle indicator LEDs on the ear cups; one handles battery status and charging (red while charging, green when fully charged) and the other ANC status (green when ANC is on, and off otherwise). I was also happy to see final go with physical buttons rather than touch controls, and these are all placed on the underside of the ear cups. We get dedicated volume controls, a power button, and an ANC mode button. Alongside those are openings for the integrated microphones to pick up your voice and ambient noise, a 3.5 mm port for wired connectivity, and Type-C port for charging the battery. Note that these don't accept digital input for data—the Type-C cable is not for wired connectivity, just charging.


Tell you what, though—removing the ear pads is easy, but putting them back on is quite tough. The ear pads are held in place by the plastic support pressed into the tiny gap in the ear cup housing and several small brackets, so you have to pull back and squeeze those in as you go around. This can hurt the longevity of the final UX3000 because of the lack of first-party replacement pads and this more involved mechanism. Removing one of the ear pads reveals an oval foam insert on the inside, which is what your ears may touch. A filter screen on the ear pad prevents dust from entering the drivers and is part of any acoustic damping final has incorporated here. The ear pad opening is not very large. Those with larger or taller ears may struggle to fit these over the ears as intended. As with the headband, these have a pleather surface with a memory foam filling, which does alright.


The inner surfaces also have the same Shibo coating, showing that all of these were done separately in a bulk volume phenomenon before the parts were assembled. Removing the ear pads also gives us a closer look at the dynamic drivers, which final does not go into much detail about. We also see the electronics for the technological side of things, including the Qualcomm QCC3005 entry-level Bluetooth 5.0 SoC that is a clear cost-saving measure. Solder quality is otherwise decent enough, and all disassembly was done after testing. Disassembly will likely void the warranty, so keep that in mind before you taking these apart as I have for whatever reason.