The Evangelion Earbuds – Final Audio EVA 2020 Review

Is this…a Neon Genesis Evangelion true wireless? It took me a minute as I was examining the box, excited to try out Final Audio’s first wireless earbud. I noticed a small logo on the back of the box and I honestly thought it was a joke. So yeah, this earbud is a collaborative effort between Final Audio and the celebrated anime “Neon Genesis Evangelion.” I can’t believe that was a sentence I actually had to type. Well, let’s try to focus and talk about Final Audio’s first true wireless system, with the dark blue variation called the EVATW06. That name sounds like a mouthful so I’ll just refer to it as the TW06. Let’s find out if the TW06 is more than its gimmick.

What You Get

Final Audio gives the TW06 a fitting packaging presentation. Depending on which color you buy determines the number displayed on the box. Purple representing Unit-01, Red representing Unit-02, and the one I’m reviewing, the blue Mark.06. If you’re familiar with the series, you might notice the Synchro rate waveform on the front of the box. The dark blue and orange box unfolds to reveal the charging case with earbuds inside. In a separate orange box, you’ll find the rest of the contents, which include a USB-C charging cable and 5 pairs of ear tips. That isn’t including the tips that are already on the earbuds themselves, making for a total of 6 tip selections. 

Look and Feel

What connects these earbuds to Evangelion is all in the design. Both the charging case and the buds themselves take the appearance of the patterns found on the giant mechs the characters in the series pilot. The charging case takes the side helmet architecture of the Eva unit, with its dark blue color and yellow outline. It’s a rather big case, with the rounded shaping extending wide. It’s maybe not the best fit in your pocket, but all around this is an original design that will make fans of the anime happy. It’s more of a novelty to show off to your friends than a sleek, pocket-fitting case, and that’s okay.

The earpieces on the other hand are actually rather small in comparison. The housing takes its design from the eye of the Eva units from the show, with the eyeglass being a center button. The chassis also has the imprint of the unit number you’ve purchased. The whole piece itself is pretty small for a true wireless, but the fit is quite seamless. It’s lightweight, snug, and all-around inconspicuous. 

Design and Functionality

Being that appearance might be one of the bigger selling points of the EVA true wireless, you might think much attention would be given to the interior design. However, this is Final Audio, and they’ve built a strong reputation with their quality headphones and IEMs. So Final has designed these true wireless buds with crafty precision. The small dynamic driver unit is made using an ultra-thin film diaphragm suspended by a brass ring. They also implement a neodymium magnet and an acoustic adjustment filter to achieve more balance. 

While a lot of recent true wireless systems feature touch-sensitive controls, each earbud on the TW06 has a sizable yellow button that is hard to miss. Each button is multi-functional and uses multiple presses to access its functions. A single button press on either side will play/pause your track, or it can pick up/hang up a call, or press twice to refuse. Pressing twice on each bud will either raise or decrease the volume, and if music is already paused, voice control will be activated. Using these controls is easy, responsive, and simple, and as a treat for the fans, the voice guidance is performed by Nagasawa Miki, who played Operator Ibuki Maya in the original series(Japanese). The English voice can be toggled while in pairing mode.

Bluetooth

The TW06 supports Bluetooth 5.0 and uses SBC, AAC, and aptX CODECs. Even though I would have like to have seen more encoding options, but the easy pairing makes up for it. 

Battery Life

For a true wireless system, the TW06 boasts a massive charge. You’ll get 6 hours of continuous playback for aptX, and 9 hours for SBC and AAC. It’s not substantial, but it’s the charging case that really turns things up a notch. The case can reach a maximum of 63 hours in total. I’ve never seen a charging case reach that power yet, and with charging time being 2 hours, you’ll get a lot of use out of a single charge.

Soundstage

The amount of width the TW06 succeeds in portraying was quite surprising. The imaging takes on a linear oval shape that extended to the shell of the earbud. I was also surprised by the amount of depth and layering on display, as aural images were properly showcased using accurate spatiality. Instrumentations appear in order of front to back, with an adequate amount of separation. Percussion elements properly appear behind some of the more forward-facing elements like vocals, giving this true wireless a nice sense of immersion in a heady space. Tracks like “In Between Days” from The Cure present a bed of instrumentals for Robert Smith’s vocals to lay on top of, giving you a fine sense of balance in the output.

Low End 

This true wireless features some solid, impactful bass that can pack some serious punch. It achieves a sub-bass response that feels deep and can sometimes really pick you up off of your feet. The track “Up and Atom” by Astronid has these head pounding double bass kicks that really get into your head on the TW06. Smooth textures keep the bass from falling into a boomy mess and makes for some clear and present grooves.

Mids

Of course, the mid-range is more low-mid focused, but it doesn’t distract too much from the more upper bands. Some of the imaging can appear thin at times, but the low-mid focus does a good enough job lifting the mids to a more natural timbre. The upper mids also do a pretty good job of providing some fullness to the sound field. They keep the timbre from heading into a warmer territory, which isn’t what Final was going for. As I mentioned in the soundstage, the vocal range exhibits some strong clarity, with lower and upper mid emphasis. Some more aggressive instruments have the potential of muddying some details, but it was rare.

Highs

Some nice airy highs stick out in a more dwindling range of mixed impressions. In contrast to big low-end percussion sounds, the higher end lacks the same impact. However, top-end energy isn’t entirely lost. As I said, the highs still present some airy textures, but clarity is the only part that becomes the issue. Female vocals especially showcase some needed treble presence, expanding on some much-needed presence. 

Summary

I found a lot to like about the EVATW06 from Final Audio. The correlation to Evangelion is a neat concept for aesthetic design and could prove to be a valuable collector’s item. It doesn’t let up in the sound quality department either. The thick bass will please some, and the soundstage expansion will definitely shake things up. The EVATW06 proves to be more than its gimmick and turns out to be a solid all-around true wireless from Final Audio.

Because of the rare nature of this product, you should get it sooner rather than later. Prices are already soaring on Amazon.

Pros and Cons

Pros: Bass, comfort, functionality, design

Cons: Language toggling

Specs

Final Audio EVA 2020 is available in limited supply at Audio 46.

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