FinalAudioDesign has a short history in the earphone industry, and it is even a little strange to most consumers in Taiwan Province Province. However, it is an old-fashioned fever-class audio manufacturer, and it will soon enter its 40th anniversary next year. Mr. Takai Jinsheng, President of FinalAudioDesign, visited the 34th Taipei International High-end Audio Exhibition. The author also took this opportunity to interview Mr. Takai, who described the trend of earphone market and the characteristics of his products.
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FinalAudioDesign was originally a company specializing in fever audio, and decided to enter the earphone market in 2009. Mr. Takai said that they have accumulated long-term experience in fever-grade audio, and they want to transfer their experience to headphones and explore the possibility of headphones. They learned a very important thing from designing fever audio, that is, audio is closely related to air, which is the decisive difference between FinalAudioDesign headphones and most headphones on the market.
They learned from the feverish stereo that the vibration of the monomer will produce huge air vibration energy, but if these energies are not suppressed, the sound quality will be degraded. A 200mm monomer can even generate 1000kg air vibration. How to suppress excessive vibration is the biggest insistence of FinalAudioDesign when designing headphones.
Therefore, FinalAudioDesign decided that both ear canal headphones and earmuffs should be introduced at the beginning, but at the beginning, it chose ear canal headphones with smaller monomer, because Mr. Takai thought that the small monomer of ear canal headphones was easier to control than earmuffs.
When most people first see FinalAudioDesign's high-end headphones, they will be attracted by the unique shape of the metal integrated cutting frame, but many people will be scared by its weight after wearing it. Mr. Takai said that the simple and beautiful shape is decorated by stylists who have cooperated for a long time. FinalAudioDesign's earphone products are finished first, and then entrusted to him for decoration, but the necessary structure and metal thickness cannot be compromised.
At present, PianoFortexX, IX and VIII of FinalAudioDesign high-end moving ear headphones are made of chrome copper, stainless steel and brass respectively. The reason why these three metal materials are matched into three models is that they do not really represent chrome, copper or flagship, and the performance of brass is poor. These three metals represent different tuning personalities and are the flagship of PianoForte, but they are arranged in order according to Mr. Takai's personal preference. (Note: The Roman numerals behind the earphone series of FinalAudioDesign represent product-level positioning, and some missing numerals may be introduced in the future. )
For example, the copper tube used in PianoFortexVIII pays more attention to the aftertaste of the sound, that is, it renders a heavier timbre; PianoFortexIX's stainless steel timbre is the most correct, suitable for listeners who like the original flavor; As for PianoForteX, it has the best ability to restore the sound of musical instruments, and listening to a musical performance feels like an anesthetic. Feel the different charms brought by different materials, which is also the reason for providing a variety of metal materials.
In addition to the common moving-coil headphones, FinalDesignAudio will also contact a company with patents and technology of balanced armature, hoping that FinalAudioDesign can acquire it. Mr. Takai thinks that the balance armature of this company can show the strength that the general balance armature monomer lacks, so he decides to buy this company. Therefore, FinalAudioDesign has become one of the few earphone companies that independently produce balanced armatures in the market.
For ordinary people's cognition, the moving coil unit needs to vibrate through the frame, so it is understandable to use the heavy metal frame of FinalAudioDesign, but why does the flagship earphone FI-BA-SS also use light metal as the vibrating unit? Mr. Takai said that in fact, they have a patent pending, which is about balancing armature tuning through a metal shell, but some business secrets are not convenient to disclose details.
As for the moving coils and balance armatures of various sizes, which one does Mr. Takai like? Mr. Takai said with a smile that FinalAudioDesign is not limited to the use of large-size moving coils, small-size moving coils or balanced armatures, but chooses suitable monomer types according to different product needs, even like the brand-new earmuffs PandoraHopeVI launched this time, and even the world's first mixed iron earmuffs.
Mr. Takai also mysteriously took out the prototype of the ear canal hoop-iron hybrid earphone that they had listened to for a week. This prototype only contains the existing materials, and the shell and circuit are temporarily configured and may be disintegrated at any time. But it surprised the author, not only with attractive rendering sound, but also hardly felt the interference of two different characteristics of general hoop-iron headphones.
Mr. Takai emphasized that this is also because the essence of FinalAudioDesign is a high-end audio manufacturer with technology. In addition, they also mastered the monomer technology and the principle of controlling air vibration. He is quite confident that he can make a hoop-iron mixed ear canal earphone without interference and surpass the hoop-iron mixed ear canal earphone on the market. Mr. Takai said that at present, they are still adjusting their sound, hoping to launch hoop headphones next year.
As for the first batch of commercial hoop-iron mixed earmuffs, PandoraHopeVI is also the crystallization of FinalAudioDesign. Although it is not the first earmuff of FinalAudioDesign (there was a MuramasaVIII before), this product, which took two years from prototype to tuning, was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Mr. Takai.
Named after PadoraHope, this series is dissatisfied with the earphone market and confident in its own products. Everyone should be familiar with the story of Pandora's Box. In short, Mr. Takai thinks that the earphone market is full of all kinds of poisonous snakes and beasts, such as brand products that don't understand acoustic principles, products led by crazy scientists, or products that are helpless under the compromise of big companies. He hopes that this series of headphones can be as dazzling as the last hope of the headset industry.
The name PandoraHopeVI also means that this product still belongs to the middle and high grade. It is made of integrated cutting frame and ABS material, and has the same scratch-resistant coating as monocular camera. With the patented balanced armature and 50mm moving coil monomer, FinalAudioDesign expects to launch more earmuffs and headphones next year.
The poster behind Mr. Takai in the first picture is PandoraHope, the flagship of Pandora Hope series. In addition to the all-metal structure and metal diaphragm, the golden part of the side is real gold foil; PandoraHopeX is not only the pinnacle of this series, but also a top-quality earphone. At present, the final weight adjustment and price evaluation are still in progress, but he said with a smile that he is grateful to a competitor for launching a product with a price as high as NT$ 6.5438+0.5 million, so that he can set the price with confidence.
Regarding the next product planning, Mr. Takai said that FinalAudioDesign has seen the upsurge of interchangeable wires in ear canal headphones, and they do have the possibility to evaluate the design of interchangeable wires. However, unlike earmuffs, which can choose a stable and durable connector, Mr. Takai thinks that the durability of two-pin or MMCX ear-canal headphones on the market is questionable, and he is still looking for a reliable connection method. He will not rashly introduce interchangeable wire products before.
A group of enthusiasts in the portable earphone market began to pursue high-level information sources or connect portable power amplifiers, and even demanded a balanced amp. Mr. Takai expressed doubts about this. He thinks that a good information source should have a better voice. However, he believes that it is very strange that most consumers blame the lack of equipment and need to add portable amplifiers before they find that headphones, mobile phones and portable players can't produce good sound.
He thinks that since it's called a portable earphone, shouldn't it be possible to make good sound with various portable sources? He believes that if headphones used with mobile phones are accompanied by bad sound, the company that designs headphones should bear considerable responsibility. Listening to music with headphones means enjoying music, and front-end equipment should not blame headphones. Therefore, the headphones of FinalAudioDesign will be required to match with portable devices to make good sound.
He can't understand that the headset company has introduced a portable amplifier. FinalAudioDesign is not without technology, but he personally questioned the necessity of portable amplifier. After all, portable headphones should be able to get good sound easily, especially many manufacturers lack audio design and can't even be called manufacturers with audio technology. Can such a product really get a good applause when used?
Mr. Takai also has reservations about the behavior of portable devices with portable amplifiers and balanced output. Hi-End sound is also an endless scientific exploration. The foundation of science is Simpleisthebest, and so is audio equipment. The more connected devices, the more serious the sound will be. It is difficult to explain scientifically that the sound quality will be better after connecting such a large string of devices, let alone connecting a bunch of devices.
FinalAudioDesign not only introduces high-priced products, but also applies the experience gained from high-end product lines to low-priced earphone products. For example, PianoForteII and III are transplanted from the experience of PianoFortexX, IX and VIII, and he is personally confident in the competitiveness of his products at the same price. Mr. Takai once again stressed that headphones are used to enjoy the pleasure brought by music. Don't be influenced by the myth of pursuing equipment and forget the original intention of enjoying music.