Final UX2000 headphones review: Comfort on a budget

Final’s latest headphones, the UX2000, offer decent audio and noise cancelation for a very tempting price point.

Out of Japan, Final has certainly been busy. The newest additions to their hardware roster include the UX2000. It looks like a traditional pair of headphones, with a great look, but with a gaming focus. More brands are trying to get into the gaming segment, like JBL and Skullcandy, so can this non-endemic brand really hang with the likes of Razer and Steelseries?

In a highly competitive market, does the UX2000 manage to impress, or are they just another pair of gaming headphones you should scroll past on Amazon? I’ve tested them for weeks, and am ready to deliver the verdict on whether or not you should pick them up.

Key specs

• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3, 3.5mm jack
• Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
• Battery life:
  • ANC on: 45 hours.
  • ANC off: 60 hours
  • Maximum Standby Time: Max 200 hours (ANC OFF)
  • Charging Time: 2.5 hours
  • Battery Capacity: 700mAh

Design

The pair I received from Final came in a luscious cream color. It reminds me of my grandma’s couch from when we were kids. Rather than a sleek black, or exuberant color scheme, Final has opted to keep these as low-key as possible.

In doing so, the color is what has been most complimented whenever I’ve had them on around friends and family. There’s something neat about seeing such an understated color applied to tech. It’s not that it renders them invisible, but it keeps them sensible in a world filled with flashy headphones.

Final has also opted to use matte plastic, which is much preferred over finger-print magnet glossy plastic. Buttons are easily accessible too, with the ANC control on the front of the device.

My head is fairly large, and thankfully, there’s enough give and stretch on the headphone arms to reach around almost any shaped dome. You can swivel the headphones themselves inwards for easier packing, but outside of this, there’s not much to talk about.

Unless of course, we’re going to talk about how comfortable these things are. Final has made earcups that are like marshmallows on the ears. There’s something comforting about being hugged by two cushions in this way. Sometimes, some companies forget about the comfort factor, even on the most expensive of headphones. When I used something like the AceZone A-Rise, or the wider team using the Audeze Maxwell, uncomfortably strong clamping force comes up more than you’d think.

Here, Final has struck a perfect balance of comfort and onboard tech. It’s why when I saw them priced at $120, my eyebrows were raised, especially when I saw the headphone’s featureset.

Features

Final’s ANC included with the UX2000 is fine. It works indoors, better than outdoors. Perhaps this is by design, so that vehicles and awareness aren’t completely removed. However, I’ve been using these a lot on dog walks, and if you step too hard, you can hear the headphones “rattling”. It’s not a rattle of poor build quality, it’s the frame shaking about and disrupting the ANC a little.

I’m fairly heavy-footed, and doubt that Final ever intended for it to be this way, but it does become an irritant after a while.

Meanwhile, the sound itself is pretty decent. It’s a step above the budget level, but you can tell the difference once you’ve experienced higher quality with more expensive cans. The UX2000 is fairly bass-heavy, with some of the audio lost at certain volumes. Reducing the bass through equalizers or using lossless audio didn’t fix much either. This can be felt in podcasts the most, as certain hosts become much more – and unintentionally – impactful.

Then there’s the gaming mode. This utilizes Bluetooth 5.3’s bigger bandwidth to stream audio. It’s nearly a 1:1 experience in what I’ve found, although, comparing it to 2.4GHz and honing in on the flaws does leave a little to be desired.

However, using them on Super Mario Wonder and Path of Exile, games that often rely on sound cues, I was able to hold my own without any issues.

Where I was incredibly impressed was the 45-hour battery life on the headphones. I left them on for roughly that length of time and having used them for two weeks, have only had to charge them twice.

Even if you did run out of battery, if the device you’re using supports the headphone jack, you can simply hop on that route too. I love it when headphones include both, really cementing them as a flexible go-to.

Verdict: 4/5

These headphones have become my go-to dog-walking headphones. The combination of its comfortable cushions and good audio have cemented the Final UX2000 as my new recommendation for those reaching out of the budget headphone range.

While not entirely groundbreaking in terms of gaming performance, much like the subtle color scheme and design, it functions as needed. At $120, these are going to be around my neck for some time.

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