Final are a Japanese hi‑fi company who’ve been around, in one form or another, since 1974. In that time, they’ve produced record player cartridges, amplifiers and loudspeakers, but their principal focus these days is headphones and earbuds. There’s a strong emphasis on innovation and on in‑house manufacturing, and Final have been early adopters of technology such as 3D printing in metal. Most of their current product range is aimed at hi‑fi rather than studio users, but there are certainly models that will interest recording and mix engineers, and the DX4000CL is one such.
It’s part of a small family of closed‑back headphones that use proprietary moving‑coil drivers made from paper and carbon fibre. These are housed in very large, round earcups constructed from resin that’s reinforced with glass fibre. Generously proportioned pads ensure that the drivers remain some distance from the ear. The earcups are mounted on gimbals that permit a significant degree of rotation in all three axes, and which accommodate different head sizes by sliding up or down the metal strip that runs through the headband. Although it’s reasonably well damped and doesn’t ring, this strip does transmit mechanical noise to the earcups a little more efficiently than I’d like. I found the DX4000CL only moderately comfortable to wear; although the earcups are huge, the cushions are so wide that they tend to sit on top of my outer ear rather than outside it. Isolation from outside sources is quite good.
The DX4000CL is a conventional passive design, with no Bluetooth connectivity, active noise‑cancelling or other digital malarkey. Both earcups have mini‑jack sockets for connecting the supplied 2m (6’6”) Y cable, which is made of an eye‑catching braided silver cord. The specifications are relatively conventional, with sensitivity given as 96dB/mW and nominal impedance as 37Ω. As you’d expect from these numbers, the DX4000CLs are easy to drive from any headphone amp.
Final’s UK distributors say that the DX4000CL “delivers a surprisingly open and spacious presentation while maintaining the control and isolation buyers expect from closed phones”. If by that they mean that the stereo image is unusually wide than I would agree, and I think that’s a mixed blessing: on some material, the impression of width is almost cartoonish, and auditioning LCR mixes can make you feel like you’re listening to two entirely different mono recordings rather than a single stereo recording.
The DX4000CLs sound clear and free from obvious resonances or distortions.
In terms of tonality, the DX4000CLs sound clear and free from obvious resonances or distortions. Their voicing is perhaps typical of headphones marketed at the hi‑fi world, with a broad treble emphasis and a slight bump in the ‘upper bass’ region. In conjunction with the very wide sound stage, this gives them a slightly hyped sound, but no more so than many other closed‑back models. There’s no doubt in my mind that the DX4000CL is a very decent product that’s fully capable of fulfilling all the roles that fall to closed‑back headphones in the studio. However, I have tested other models that seem to me to do so just as well at a considerably lower price.