Final Audio Sonorous III Headphones

I haven't heard a Sonorous IV but this headphone is quite capable, it punches above its price point. First off though, the stock pads are garbage. Don't even bother listening to it with the stock headphones because when the driver is this close to your ear, all sounds will be sharp. Its basically an on ear earpad like the Fostex t50rp earpads. I tested 3 different sets of earpads including the ZMF cowhides on this headphone and settled on a 95mm $15 sheepskin aliexpress earpad which matched it perfectly. After the pad change, bass is strong with good texture and impact but rolls off at the sub bass frequencies with a little midbass bleed, not too bad though, signature is warm with a dip in the upper mids and a 11k treble peak with pretty good treble extension. Imaging is a little lacking. The dip in the mids causes some vocals to sound a bit too far in the background as well as a tiny touch of graininess, it is a little bit on the bright side but not too bad. The 11k treble peak is a little sharp for some songs but with the aftermarket pads, the distance created from your ear makes it bearable and it also brings along with it a really addictive sparkle and shimmer in the highs. This is where it makes up all its faults, piano, guitar, cymbals sound amazing along with the largest soundstage of any headphone in my collection. It also has a nice holographic effect with a soft echo and reverb in the highs. The highs are really nice on this headphone, the sparkle, shimmer, air and soundstage are something that my Sony Z7m2 and Pioneer SE-monitor5 can't reproduce. The quality of the plastic, I will say could be better. The outer ring of the earcup creaks when I squeeze it but other than that everything else feels pretty sturdy and well built. And although its big and maybe hefty for some people, it is very comfortable. Very unusual sound signature but the shimmer and sparkle always brings me back to it.

I purchased a pair of these through Amazon. After breaking them in, their most notable trait was an open soundstage. But they weren't impressive enough for me to keep, so I returned them.