Fit and Comfort

Seen above is the final UX3000 on a headphone stand that is actually a set of two artificial ears complete with soft-molded human ears and a couple of different adapters acting as the top of the head. This has been mounted on a tripod, which showcases how headphones would look on a human head, with the artificial ears spaced ~20 cm apart. As with all headphones, getting a good fit and seal is crucial, so make sure to properly use the various pivot points, and the height adjustability of the headband and ear cups. This section is mostly a summary of the points expanded upon in more detail on the previous page, but I will point out that the UX3000 weighs just 260 g, making it easy to wear without any physical discomfort. Issues may arise if the ear pads don't fit your ears properly, in which case it can be something between an over-ear and on-ear set instead. The thin headband also doesn't help properly spread the weight across the top of your head, and you are left with an average clamp force to keep these on your ears. It's not the most comfortable or secure set necessarily, but those with average or smaller ears will hardly have any of these issues in practice. I was fine, but am admittedly spoiled by having access to some of the world's best headphones alongside.

Audio Performance

Audio and Tech Hardware

We don't get a lot of information from final on the drivers, only that these are dynamic, as confirmed on the previous page. The company does state that these are brand-new drivers designed to resist high amounts of applied stress, and have EQ applied via DSP on top of the driver tuning. As such, wireless and wired performance could be different if the DSP is on the Qualcomm chipset, although differences should be minimal since final mentions that the EQ corrections are primarily in the treble frequencies. The Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity works flawlessly, and the UX3000 supports two-device multi-point support. Codec support is fairly good with SBC, AAC, aptX, and aptX Low Latency, and the included ANC feature can be turned on irrespective of whether any music is playing or not. This means the UX3000 can be used as a set of noise-canceling earmuffs on public transportation or an airplane, for example. Battery life is pretty good too, with a rated life of 35 hours without ANC and 25 hours with ANC, which I came close to hitting with the headphones at just under maximum volume and with the aptX codec—these don't get very loud! Charging time is 2.5 to 3 hours depending on your USB source, and the microphones are alright in a pinch if you have nothing else to go with. I have certainly had better microphone quality on even some IEMs, so this is another cost-cutting measure.

Frequency Response Measurement and Listening

I will mention that I have a general preference for a warm-neutral signature emphasizing a slightly elevated bass and smooth treble range with detailed mids and good tonal separation. I also generally prefer instrumental music over vocals, with favored genres including jazz and classical music.


Our current headphones test setup uses a set of two custom in-ear microphones for the two channels. These microphones closely adhere to the IEC711 class, but have been tweaked to be more reliable in the >10 kHz frequency range that was the issue with my previous setup, which is still very good and will continue to be used for IEMs and earphones. Two soft silicone pinnae are installed on the sides, separated by a distance matching my head, and multiple "height" adapters have been 3D-printed for further customization based on fit and head size and shape. Each set of microphones has an XLR output I separately adapted to 3.5 mm. These Bluetooth headphones were first connected wirelessly to my laptop using aptX and Bluetooth 5.0, and I used a transparent source, the JDS Labs Element II, for wired listening and measurements.

This artificial head simulator feeds the microphone lines into a reference USB sound card, which in turn goes to the same laptop that has ARTA and REW running. I begin with an impulse measurement to test for signal fidelity, calibrate the sound card and channel output, account for floor noise, and finally test the frequency response of each channel separately. Octave smoothing is at the 1/12th setting, which nets a good balance of detail and noise not being identified as useful data. Also, the default tuning was used for testing, and no external EQ settings were used unless specifically mentioned. Each sample of interest is tested thrice with separate mounts to account for any fit issues, and an average is taken of the three individual measurements for statistical accuracy. The raw data is then compensated based on a custom curve created after having worked with Crinacle from In-Ear Fidelity to get measurements with this setup on par with a GRAS 043AG industry-standard measurement rig, especially by accounting for the slightly different pinna gain here compared to the KEMAR anthropometric pinna there.


As per usual, you can find my headphone frequency response measurements on VSG.squig.link, along with all the earphone measurements. Scroll to the bottom and choose different targets there, including two from Harman Kardon developed after years of R&D. The Harman 2018 over-ear target in particular is a reference curve many headphone makers aim for now, but I find it too bass-boosted. As such, I am opting for the Harman 2018 curve with the bass target from the Harman 2013 curve, which is what is being referred to as the "Harman Combined" target there.

Given this is my first review of a set of Bluetooth headphones, I did not go in with high expectations concerning sound quality. While that may have played a role, I did come out thinking the final UX3000 is pretty good for what it is. It displays typical closed-back dynamic driver qualities with a bass shelf build-up from ~200 Hz and down, and the graphs above perhaps show more than you will actually hear in person. The channel imbalance in the low and mid frequencies in particular is a non-factor, and I wasn't getting that big jump in SPL at ~100 Hz, either. The only place I felt it was off somehow was with bass guitar tones, and perhaps it is due to the limitations of the built-in amplifier and chipset. Bass is somewhat boomy, but still retains detail, although the dynamic range is compressed here. This is followed through with warmer mids that can work favorably for general media consumption courtesy forward-facing vocals, but instrument separation is poor, which affects imaging too, and the set has a narrow soundstage as-is.

Suffice it to say that the technical performance is lacking, but tonality was fine until the upper mids, where there is no pinna gain at all. I found female vocals very lacking, and whatever DSP or EQ corrections final implemented in the treble region should have been implemented here, too. In fact, this is where the frequency response measurements were spot on. On the plus side, there is no sibilance, but mostly because there's not much of anything to be appreciated until you get to the mid treble and onward, where DSP is at play. It can be somewhat jarring and even feel slightly bright before your brain adjusts. Following this, I thought the treble response was well done for orchestral jazz in particular, in addition to classic rock music. Second-order harmonics are a general weakness of the drivers, making it hard to buy the final UX3000 if you prefer detailed, complex instrumental pieces.


I didn't want to go too deep on my listening experience because different operating modes are available, including of course wired mode, which does seem to be the worst overall compared to the DSP filters that seem to be wireless only. Bass extension and execution is superior with the cable and a proper DAC/amplifier, but the upper mids are even hollower, which immediately had me add EQ filters. Once in place, things were much better, but I acknowledge that no one is going to predominantly use the UX3000 wired. Funnily enough, this is a set that seems to be built with ANC in mind since ANC doesn't suffer from the typical low pressure experience, and the tuning in ANC mode is actually the most mature of the lot. Bass is slightly boosted in practice compared to the graph because the lower frequencies are "throttled" for the noise cancellation, and compensated for otherwise. ANC itself is mediocre though, boosting isolation by around 4–5 dB over the passive isolation if I had to put a number on it in the absence of quantitative testing, but I do like the ability to turn it on independently of anything playing through the headphones.


I had mentioned that this is my first proper review of Bluetooth headphones, so not much in the way of comparisons is to be had. Thankfully, I had a few other Bluetooth headphones on hand, and I quickly listened to and measured two that won't be getting dedicated reviews because they are either discontinued or have been supplanted by newer and better ones taking up that review slot. In the case of the Audio-Technica ATH-ANC900BT, it is the company's flagship ANC set from a couple of years ago, which continues the trend of poorly tuned wireless audio solutions from Audio-Technica. If you can find one, it'll cost far more than the final UX3000 and is of worse build quality, but does come with a carry case and a few other accessories. I would pick the final UX3000 over the ATH-ANC900BT every single time, especially considering the ANC implementation and microphones are worse there. The Cleer Flow II is a much tougher fight, though. It's slightly larger and more comfortable than the UX3000, comes in multiple color options, and has better technological features, but a couple of wonky implementations with touch controls and no standard operating mode without ANC or ambient sound at all. I would go with the final UX3000 here too since the tonality of the Cleer Flow II in default mode is heavily treble-enhanced and V-shaped, which isn't a very pleasant listen.