These headphones feel like two cushions strapped to my ears (and they sound pretty cushy too)

Final is a Japanese audio company with a reputation for beautifully-built, uniquely-tuned, eye-wateringly expensive headphones. And though its planar driver D series – led by the $4,499 D8000 Pro – strikes fear into the wallets of audiophiles around the world, in 2025 they pivoted into the dynamic driver DX series, with its 'affordable' $600 DX3000CL (still no chance of it making my list of the best budget audiophile headphones.)

It's the first closed-back set in the DX series, and the marketing material tells us it offers a more open sound to other closed-back headphones. And while I must politely, strongly disagree to this, what's not up for debate is the DX3000CL shares the same 40mm paper–carbon composite diaphragm with its more expensive $999 DX4000CL sibling. It also looks exactly the same – that is, bloody marvellous.

So, with the DX3000CL we're getting similar parts to a more expensive model, and a beautiful design that features super comfortable cushion-like ear cups? What's the catch? Well, as long as you like the bassy sound the DX3000CL is laying down, there isn't one... until you consider the competition.

Sound profile

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Overall, the DX3000CL is a whole lot of fun to listen to. Yes there's a bunch of bass, and yes some of that bass trails into the lower mids, so if you're after a super neutral sound with clean mids, you should look elsewhere. However, the mids are forward and smooth, and the treble is the definition of chilled. The DX3000CL's overall sound profile is warm, lush and intimate, if not a little congested.

Bass: This is definitely a bassy boy, and though on some tracks the DX3000CL sounds a little bloated, on the whole the sub bass rumbles and the mid bass kicks, and it's satisfying and fun.

Playing string bass test tracks, Erykah Badu's Other Side of the Game and Sade's No Ordinary Love, and there's texture and weight behind every pluck and ring of the notes. I say it's 'fun' because it's not particularly fast or clear. The lower end frequencies mix with the lower mids, and so there's a slightly sloppy joy to all things low end here. If you want surgical precision, look elsewhere.

Having said that, when I get to Kendrick Lamar's HUMBLE and Outcast's The Way You Move, the 808 drops sound a little tame in comparison to string bass. It's all together more polite. So, just to be clear, the DX3000CL is not a basshead set. It offers fairly well articulated, warm bass – for really well articulated bass, skip to the Competition section below.

Mids: The magic trick that the DX3000CL performs is that although there is a slightly boomy bass here, which absolutely treads on the toes of the lower mids, the midrange as a whole is still pretty clear. There is a fairly natural presentation of mids here, and vocals and most instruments don't sound weird or compressed.

They do sound very close, though, and here is where I have to push back on the marketing material that comes with the DX3000CL. Unlike early promises of an open sound from a closed-back design, in reality the DX3000CL is a closed-back headphone with a slightly less than usual closed-back sound. I know, not as sexy is it?!

With the bass and mids as they are, especially with a bit of extra upper mid energy, vocals and instruments are presented very close to your head. Sure, I've heard more intimate, but an open-back sound presentation this is not.

Treble: Think laid back, with a potential problem peak in the lower treble, and a lack of super high 'air'.

The higher 'air' region definitely rolls off, and I miss those micro details that you'd get with more action around the 10kHz+ area. But the DX3000CL's treble isn't overly dark. Having a play with EQ, I think that's thanks to a peak in the lower treble, making vocals a touch edgy. Taking 4kHz down by a couple dB and things get smoother without loosing detail.

This isn't a problem area or anything, and might actually be a preference to some listeners. It just goes to show that if you're willing to download a free EQ app, the DX3000CL definitely has room to improve with a little care.

Otherwise, I think Final has done a good job to balance the treble with a decent midrange and a Large and In Charge bass region. This is not a V-shape, with a piercing treble trying to compete with a forward bass. But I wouldn't describe the treble as recessed either. It's laid back, and compliments the lush, intimate lower frequencies. It's a little too horizontal for my tastes, but I can totally see someone clicking with this sound profile.

Price & value

Price, value & build: At $599, talking about the value of the DX3000 CL is a delicate exercise. I rated its value by looking at its materials; its serviceability; its parts (such as its driver); its design; and finally its sound.

At first site, the materials of the DX3000CL do not scream ‘luxury’. While the glass fibre-reinforced resin of the ear cups may provide good acoustic housing, they don’t have the bling appeal of other cans at this price (see the Focal Azurys below). This is a functional, industrial design, and I like it a lot. The materials are lightweight, don’t pick up finger prints (even through it’s jet black), and most importantly eschew glue for screws and replaceable parts.

That means that your $599 will go towards a pair of headphones that could realistically last you many, many years. The DX3000CL is an investment, not an expensive splurge.

Final builds its drivers in-house using Japanese washi paper infused with carbon fibre, and the idea is you get the organic sound quality of the driver’s paper cone, and the transient speed of the carbon fibre. If you believe the marketing literature, that means music sounds organic, realistic and open (see above for my take). With the driver’s cone, it can start and stop incredibly quickly, so there’s a ‘speed’ and immediacy to the sound as well. This driver treatment is expensive and labour-intensive, and that's a point of difference.

So, your $600 is not going into a set of headphones that scream 'expensive', but instead into the Japanese engineering team’s time and expertise. And the sound…

To fully judge the value of the DX3000CL’s sound, it’s important to combine my thoughts on the full profile, above, with comparisons to three headphones, below.

Competition

FiiO FT1: Released in 2024 and selling for $160, these are the budget headphones that continue to crash the party of more expensive cans. And for good reason.

• Check out my detailed FiiO FT1 review

The FT1 sounds far more spacious than the DX3000CL. The vocals are more forward with the DX3000CL, but they're also more congested, thanks to that blurring of bass and lower mids. The FT1 may offer too much treble for some, but for me the air frequencies add more dimensionality to teh midrange, so vocals and instruments have more impact. The treble serves to clear up the frequencies below it, and because of that clarity the mid-bass hits much harder than the more expensive DX3000CL.

The DX3000CL doesn't have the very high airy treble of the FT1, and combined with the forward upper mids and the lower bass bleed, vocals seem tethered to the bass. This isn't 'bad' – I really enjoy it on a lot of the more busily-mixed tracks, like Donald Fagen's The Goodbye Look, or pared back jazz, such as Bill Evans' When I Fall in Love. It's an intimate sound that I imagine lots of people will love – but I prefer the FT1's approach.

I'd choose the DX3000CL if you value warm intimacy, with lush vocals and instruments closer to you, with bass acting as the glue holding it all together. And the FT1 if you like buckets of bass that's punchier and a little more textured, with a little more rumble, and a clearer midrange, and airy treble.

Again, one is not inherently 'better' than the other, and when you factor in the far superior build quality of the DX3000CL, I can see that headphone winning out for many listeners. But I personally prefer the FT1's sound profile. And did I mention it's under a third of the price!

The Denon AH-D5200 was released in 2018 at $700, and is a mixed bag. I'm going to keep this short, as I've returned this headphone to Denon, and I only have my notes to go on. The DX3000CL has more pronounced bass than the D5200, and yet I definitely miss the creamy smooth midrange of the Denon cans. However, none of that really matters as I couldn't use the AH-D5200 for long due to a hot-spot-making headband. The comfort and design of the DX3000CL is far superior to the AH-D5200, and they're a $100 cheaper, so I would recommend the DX3000CL over the Denons.

The Focal Azurys were released in 2024 and retail at $550, so they're the most like-for-like competitor here. I haven't heard these yet, but they are very highly regarded, so it's worth comparing, even if it's only on paper.

Like the DX3000CL, the Azurys is a premium closed-back that looks beautiful, and also features a proprietary 40mm dynamic drivers. Unlike Final's cans, the Azurys use aluminium/magnesium M dome drivers, which – the marketing tells us – offers a sharper, more aggressive transient snap compared to the DX3000CL's softer paper-carbon composite.

So, choose the Azurys for more bite in the treble and a punchier sub-bass, or go for the DX3000CL for a more intimate overall sound profile, and a more natural midrange timbre for vocals.

Comfort & build

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Comfort: These headphones are like no other headphone I have (and I have around 20). Final went for Comfort By Cushion with the DX3000CL, and though on paper this approach of massive, thick, soft ear pads sounds lovely, it brings up a couple of issues.

The headband, although being a standard wide band as opposed to the suspension strap favoured by many brands for superior comfort, does a great job. I didn’t notice it over hours of use, and there were no hot spots on my head. This problem is weirdly common, no matter how expensive the headphone, so great work Final.

The big pillowy ear cups are a little crazy. It’s like putting two cushions over your ears, and as the ear cup apertures aren’t particularly big, they wear more like an on-ear headphone than an over-ear headphone. Now, I hate on-ear headphones, but I don’t hate these. Because these pillows-I-mean-ear-cups are incredibly soft. However, unless you have the ears of a toddler, these are on-ear headphones, not over-ear, and they should be advertised as such.

A down side of the luxuriously big ear cups are they get warm, and that gets uncomfortable. Swapping the DX3000CL with the FiiO FT 1, and my ears thanked me. Depending on the environment you listen to your music in, and how warm you get with mini-duvets strapped on your head, this extra warmth is definitely worth considering before you buy the DX3000CL.

Finally, wearing glasses gave me problems with achieving a proper seal with the right ear cup. I could get around this by taking my glasses off, setting the headphones on my head, and then putting my glasses back on, but that’s a bit of a faff. Now, this will definitely depend on what glasses you wear, how ridged the arms, etc. But an incomplete seal will also definitely alter the frequency response, so it's worth noting.

That brings me to the circular foam discs that reside in the ear cup, when you take the DX3000CL out of the box. These discs have a shiny, almost waterproof material on one side – the side that faces, and touches, your ears. With the narrow ear aperture, that means your ear is surrounded by a synthetic material that gets warm and sweaty quickly.

Now, with a dearth of reviews and information on these cans at the time of reviewing, I was led to believe that they were either there for dampening, and affecting the sound or to stop sweat from getting to the drivers. However, after a few hours of balmy listening, I had enough, and took them out and everything got a lot less warm, more comfortable and, most importantly, I didn't notice a difference to the sound.

It's only right at the end of my reviewing process that Final's PR agency told me that they are in fact of no use at all, and should be discarded! Now, I have no idea what's going in here, but it's definitely a game of mystery that anyone spending $600 on headphones could do without.

Should you buy it?

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I've given the Final DX3000CL three and a half stars out of five because they are far above average in comfort, design and sound. Yet they cost $600, and for that you can buy three FiiO FT1, which offer another take on Big Bass, but with a more spacious experience.

I'm not saying that the FT1 is a 'better' headphone than the DX3000CL. Final's headphone is pure class, and eschews FT1's DIY charm for exceptionally built Japanese craftsmanship. But they're not perfect. They heat up your ears more than the FT1, and there might be some issues with achieving a seal with the ear cups if you wear particularly rigid glasses.

The DX3000CL offers a stunning, modular design, so parts can be replaced over time. It also gives you supreme (if a little warm) comfort, and an equally warm, intimate, bass-forward sound profile that will be perfect for some listeners. You've just got to be OK with knowing that there are more balanced closed-backs out there, at far better value.

For me, if the DX3000CL dip to around $450, I'd snap them up. Until then, only those that love this sound profile, and dislike the cheaper FT1, should consider buying at $600.