Final Audio Design Sonorous III Headphones

Excellent, warm sounding, musical headphone. Everything Final produces is great, although not flashy.

These headphones were quite a surprise for me. First off, the stock earpads are extremely thin and worthless, I was about to return them because of the discomfort and sharp treble. BUT, the earpads can be easily changed on these headphones, about 95mm diameter round earpads fit perfectly. Once thicker earpads are installed, they are excellent. They are V shaped, warm with a bit of mid bass bleed, strong bass with sub bass roll off, mids are bit recessed, lower tone male vocals will suffer the most. The highs are very good, not bright or sibiliant but there is a treble peak around 10-11k which surprisingly brings alot of sparkle, with thicker aftermarket earpads it helps to soften this peak and make it enjoyable. Build quality is good except the earcups, it does not seem flimsy though, earcups creak when I squeeze them with some pressure. Proprietary jacks on the headphone force you to use their cables only but could most likely be dremeled off.

These are really nice, and outclass anything in the same price range, and especially power requirements. The only competitor would be the Drop DT17xx which is the 32 ohm DT1770 and even then it's close. These are comfortable, light, and the cable is a 3.5mm TS (single barrel) so you can get the Faael 4.4mm balanced cable for it for a DAP or amplifier. I did that and they sound great on an SMSL M300SE which has the 4.4mm connector with more current available. I don't think they need equalizing, and they're the only headphones with protein leather pads I really like the sound of.

Note: these are the closed back versionExtrasYou get nothing but the headphones, not even a caseAppearanceThey’re a bit spacey looking but the materials all feel premiumComfortEffortless to adjustComfortable for wearers of glassesMedium clamping and heavily padded earpadsSmaller heads may feel some pressure at the topIsolationThese isolate quite well so they are suitable for use in noisy environmentsThey do leak noise quite a bit so maybe not as office-friendly as someAmplificationThese are very sensitive headphones and don’t need much amplification so they are optimal for use with phones, computers or tablets.When used with headphone amplifiers, they tended to pick up some hiss from tube amplifiers and vintage equipment so they need to be paired with very quiet equipmentSound - BassBass is articulate and present, but doesn’t extend forcefully into the lower octavesLacks bodySound - MidsFinal Audio products are very relaxed and tuneful in the mids, with great realism and air. Vocals are very realistic and slightly forward.These are excellent headphones if you like vocalsSound - TrebleNice sparkle and evenly extended top endTreble rolls off naturallyTreble can lack detail at timesOverall sound notesVery natural and enjoyable headphonesBest for those who prioritize vocals in their musicNot as impactful or fully extended in the bassComparisons: Sennheiser Momentum 2The Momentums are tuned for a loud, rollicking bass, and the mids are more recessed in comparisonThe Sonorous are pretty much the opposite, with a beautiful mid range presentation and a more controlled and less extended bassThese two excellent and similarly priced headphones are clearly targeted for different customersComparisons: Final Audio F4100As earphones the design of these is completely different, but they share the Final Audio tuning and are a similar price.The F4100 have the same realism in the vocals as the Sonorous.Overall, the F4100 have a little more detail, especially in the treble. Bass has a bit more body.Surprisingly, the F4100 are less sensitive than the Sonorous, so they need more power to drive them. It shows how much the Sonorous are designed for mobile use, rather than any fault of the F4100s.ConclusionsThese are good headphones, although the lack of a case or any extras at all is disappointing at this price rangeoptimized for use with mobile devices, although they don’t fold or rotate, so I guess you are supposed to wear them all the timewill satisfy lovers of vocal-centric music most, and bassheads leasteveryone will enjoy their engaging sound and realistic presentation of vocals

Kinda outdated product in 2020. Sound is okay. Not bad, Not great. mid and lower treble are probably the best thing here but even then it's nothing too special. The earcups are tiny so the comfort is just bad. Cable set up is nice though.