On paper, these well built, keenly priced over-ears tick all the boxes
Noise-cancelling headphones | £119 | whf.cm/UX3000
Final has been making good-quality headphones for years, but the UX3000 is the Japanese hi-fi brand’s first pair of wireless active noise-cancelling over-ears sporting what it claims is ‘hybrid noise-cancellation methodology’.
As far as an all-round specification goes, these headphones tick most boxes for prospective users: wireless via Bluetooth, with a wired option for emergencies; active noise-cancelling; microphones for good voice calls; physical controls on the earcups; and a foldable design so they can fit in a bag without issue, ready for the commute back home from the office.
This is a growing and extremely competitive market, of course, but most of the big hitters are fighting at a considerably higher price bracket than this, and there is rather more room to breathe at just over £100 – the Final UX3000 will set you back just £119.
Quality build and finish
The UX3000 are nicely built for the money. They come with a soft carrying pouch to help prevent scratching, and have what is known as a Shibo finish – Shibo being a wrinkle on the surface of, say, paper or leather. It makes for a slightly textured feel that adds interest to the product’s fairly bland blackness.
The feel and location of the physical buttons takes a bit of getting used to, but we have no real complaints there. And between them, they do pretty much everything you would expect in terms of operation and Bluetooth connection.
One of the headline features, of course, is the noise cancelling. Final’s so-called hybrid system here involves a pair of microphones on each earcup, one taking sound from outside the earcup, the other from the driver inside (the one that outputs the music). These are designed to work together to generate the noise-cancelling signal. It is pretty effective, and does a fine job on our commute to work, taking trains and the occasional bus comfortably in its stride.
Another useful plus is the multipoint connect feature, which allows you to link the headphones to two sources at the same time.
Fit is good, as there is a decent seal over each ear meaning that, even with the noise-cancelling turned off, the headphones provide a reasonable buffer from outside disturbances. The padding on the earcu
