Pandora Hope VI

The Japanese firm Final Audio Design has been creating high-end audio products since 1974, and has—for the past two decades—been actively working to produce extremely high-performance earphones and headphones. For this review, we will focus on Final’s recently released, mid-priced Pandora Hope VI headphone (£699.99), which, relative to earlier and more costly Pandora models, stands as something of a Pandora for Everyman.

What’s in a name? According to myth, Pandora (whose name means ‘the one who bears all gifts’) was the first woman on earth, created by the Gods to be the bride of Prometheus’s brother, Epimetheus. The irony is that the Gods created Pandora as both an irresistible gift but also an instrument of punishment for mankind. The Gods, angry that Prometheus had given man the gift of fire, sought to punish mankind by sending with Pandora a special box (Pandora’s Box)—which supposedly contained gifts from the Gods, but that came with a solemn warning that the box was never to be opened. Despite the warning, Pandora, who was innately curious, eventually opened the box and out flew all the woes, illnesses, and evils that presently afflict mankind. In the end, only one gift remained in the box and the name of that gift was Hope.