Introduction

The Japanese outfit Final Audio (stylized as "final audio") is best known for its wired and wireless Hi-fi headphones, but the company couldn't resist dipping its toes into the mobile and VR gaming market. Final offers three in-ear monitors with attached in-line microphones and groups them together within the VR product line. They're priced from $40 (VR500) to $80 (VR3000), so all of them can definitely be considered affordable. Now we only have to figure out if they're worth their cost.

Final was kind enough to send me all three of their gaming IEMs (VR500, VR2000, and VR3000), and I've decided to cover them all in a short series of quick-look articles. With that in mind, we're starting with the $40 VR500, a pair of gaming IEMs that were introduced to me as "affordable all-arounders."



IEMs are a popular choice for mobile and VR gaming primarily because of their superior portability compared to traditional over-ear (or on-ear) headphones, as well as high efficiency, making them easy to drive even by smartphones, portable gaming consoles, or your VR headset's 3.5-mm audio output. They're also much more comfortable to wear in hot weather. Gamers like them for their great passive noise isolation, too, which helps with spatial awareness, in the sense that you're better immersed in whatever you're playing simply because of a lack of external distractions. The marketing materials for the VR500 lean into this heavily, pointing out not only that the VR500 IEMs are inherently good at delivering subtle in-game cues, but also tuned for excellent spatial awareness.

With the Final Audio VR500 being wired IEMs, it goes without saying that they provide a lag-free experience; the in-game visuals and sound are always in perfect sync. This is of particular interest to anyone who's into online shooters, rhythm games, and other titles where wireless headphones could cause latency-related issues.

Specifications

• Drivers: Dynamic (diameter not specified)
• Impedance: 18 Ω @ 1 kHz
• Sensitivity: 98 dB/mW
• Frequency response: Not specified
• Design: In-ear
• Microphone: Omnidirectional (in-line)
• Connectivity: 3.5 mm
• Cable length: 1.2 m
• Weight: 15 g
• Accessories: 5x E-Type eartips (SS/S/M/L/LL), in-line one-button controller

Packaging and Accessories

The simple box depicts the IEMs and mentions features such as an in-line controller with a microphone, dynamic speaker drivers, and color. As far as I'm aware, the VR500 currently isn't produced in any color other than matte gray. Aside from the IEMs attached to a 1.2-meter rubberized cable, the only other items you'll find inside the box are replacement ear tips. There's a total of four extra pairs to choose from, with sizes specified as SS, S, L, and LL, so you should be able to find a variant that suits your ear canals best with ease. There are no differences in materials – all supplied ear tips are made of silicone.

Closer Look and Comfort

The design of the Final Audio VR500 is very simple. The IEM casings and speaker tubes are entirely made of ABS plastic resin. The tubes are completely straight; there were no attempts to influence the sound performance by angling them in any way. The brand name and logo, as well as the product name, are printed on the IEMs. The left and right channel markings are next to impossible to see anywhere other than outside, as they're the same color as earphones themselves. I've ended up differentiating them by looking for the in-line controller, which is attached to the right IEM, rather than searching for the nearly invisible markings. That's a workaround to an issue that shouldn't exist.


The nozzles aren't particularly thick and the ear tip bores slide over them easily, meaning it takes very little effort to fit a different set of ear tips, which is good as you won't be demotivated to try them all out. I ended up sticking with the default ear tip variant (M), which provided me with the best combination of seal and comfort. I don't find the VR500 superbly comfortable, as I was never able to forget that I have the IEMs inserted in my ear canals. At the same time, they didn't cause significant discomfort even in longer listening sessions.


The in-line controller has a single multipurpose button on the front, and a pinhole microphone on the rear. The button is used to play and pause music (single click), skip songs (double and triple click), and answer phone calls (single click when receiving a call). The controller is so small and light that it requires no clothes clip.

Sound and Microphone Quality

Final doesn't reveal much in terms of the VR500's technical specifications. We do know that each IEM has a single dynamic driver with 18 Ω impedance and 98 dB/mW sensitivity, but that's about it. They don't disclose the speaker driver size, although some web-shops have their diameter listed as 6.4 mm, which is probably correct. The specified 98 dB/mW sensitivity isn't insanely high in the IEM universe, but the VR500 can still be declared as easy to drive. Just about any USB-C audio dongle or a handheld console's 3.5 mm output will provide Final's earphones with plenty of driving power, allowing you to listen to them as loud as you could possibly want. The same goes for PC sound cards. I'm pointing that out because some PC gamers prefer the convenience and minimalism of IEMs over traditional gaming headsets. If you're one of those, just keep in mind you'll likely need a longer cable, as well as a Y-splitter, that's going to separate a combined 4-pole (TRRS) audio input/output into two 3-pole (TRS) connectors, one for your sound card's microphone input, and another one for the headphone output. An audio extension cable is cheap and easily obtainable, and Final isn't marketing the VR500 to PC gamers anyway, so I can't take its absence in the factory packaging as a downside.

I've measured the frequency response of the Final Audio VR500 with the miniDSP EARS headphone test fixture, probably the least expensive such device on the market. It consists of two miniDSP UMIK-1 microphones placed inside a pair of silicone ears and affixed to a steel headphone stand. It's a USB-powered device, perfectly integrated with the fantastic Room EQ Wizard (REW) software, which is used for headphone and microphone calibration, as well as doing the measurements themselves. Every single miniDSP EARS unit comes with its own microphone calibration files, which are loaded into REW before doing the measurements. The miniDSP EARS certainly has its quirks. The most important one in this case is the fact that the artificial ear canals aren't particularly deep, and that makes the fixture less-than-ideal for IEM testing.

With that in mind, here's what I got after fitting the miniDSP EARS with the Final Audio VR500 and running a frequency sweep 10 times.



The frequency response graph completely coincides with my subjective listening impressions in the midrange region. The mids have an underlying presence, one that directly translates into a sense of a surprisingly detailed sound reproduction, where you're able to easily make sense of what's happening even in complex in-game scenes or music pieces. If good spatial awareness is what you're after, the VR500 definitely delivers in that regard, thus making its main promise. In games like Battlefield 2042, PUBG (Mobile), and Counter-Strike 2 you'll be able to easily keep track of your targets and pick up on very subtle clues, such as distant footsteps. This sort of tuning works well for VR, too, as such hyper-awareness improves immersion, which is what VR gamers are all about anyway.

The bass seems a bit on the lean side on the frequency response graph, but that's definitely not how I'd describe it from my actual listening experience. In practice, it has a decent snap and surprising thickness. There's not much texture and details to be heard in the lower registers – if anything, I'd call them slightly stuffy – but if you find the VR500 sounding lean, that only means you have to switch to a larger set of ear tips.

The upper part of the frequency range is completely inoffensive while staying open enough to provide a decent sense of spaciousness. That's pretty much all you can expect from a budget pair of gaming IEMs. Initially, I was afraid Final would chase extreme openness of the sound by severely boosting the treble, which would inevitably result in shrillness and listening fatigue, but that's not the case at all. Quite the opposite; it's the thick bass that I sometimes found overwhelming.

Here's a sample of the omnidirectional pinhole microphone, attached to the rear side of the in-line controller.




The quality of the Final Audio VR500's microphone is disappointing. It's too quiet to be used comfortably, and boosting it (assuming your recording device even supports such a feature) introduces annoying background noise and distortion. It can be used to bark orders to your teammates if no other options are available, but do manage your expectations. You won't have much fun using it for endless late-night Discord chats with your friends.

Overall, considering the modest $40 price tag, the Final Audio VR500 performs better than expected, especially in the sound quality department. I believe its owners will feel like they're getting their money's worth – and then some.