See, if I were a rock lover I would probably not choose any of the A series in the first place – their note weight being all too “slim” to pair coherently with that genre’s “nature”, at least for my history, culture and therefore expectation.

For acoustic rock / progrock (say… Genesis) I’d gladly accept some compromise on layering in exchange for a more “rock-resonating” timbre so I would probably go for final E4000, tanchjim Oxygen, Intime ShoDD. E5000 an option ONLY IF you can afford – both from the economic and logistic standpoints – a suitable source.

Hard(er) rock (grunge, punk, metal) is where it gets tricky as the mess those authors do with apriori overexhalted bass kinda segment the audience. Who wants to enjoy them “as they hear it at one of their concerts” (where _distortion_ is king…) by definition will NOT want an audiophile solution, which is why they often keep sticking on “classical DD tuning” in the lowends etc. Viceversa, those who dig for good separation and layering even in those situations will want faster transients in the low end, and a non-excessive presence treble while still keeping high octave up (otherwise the whole stage collapses to room size).
That’s a situation where some would go for final A3000 (not A4000 – too ethereal – nor A5000 – treble would go shouty), and I would also consider an alternative I recently assessed – that being Simgot EA1000. Should money not object, however, I would probably settle onto final B3.

Hope this helps 🙂

Really a good review. I am stuck in between which one to between A3K vs A4K. I mostly listen all genres of rock starting from acoustic to metal. I care more about timbre and musicality of an IEM. Which one do you think should I choose

Ciao Vasarely
it’s all very much subjective of course but for rock & progressive I would dare suggest E5000. But mind you: finding the right source for those is *not* easy, and when the source is not appropriate they sound (too) dark. Example of superb portable sources for those: Questyle QP1R or (by trusted rec) Cowon Plenue R2. Example of above decent portable source: Sony NW-A55. Example of near-superb desktop or semi-mobile source: Apogee Groove.
Fusion – meaning jazz rock I presume – can be subject to wider preference alternatives: if you like the “rockier” part of it, I’d still say E5000, or E4000 (mellower), or B1 (more expensive). If you like to push the “jazzier” part of it I’d say B3 blind-eyed, or even A3000 why not.
Heavy metal / prog metal is not my cup of tea so I won’t be able to seriously help there 🙂
Enjoy!

Hey Don what can I say… thanks to you, indeed! 🙂
Final (caps here, as it’s at the beginning of the paragraph 😉 ) is definitely trying a “different way” – both in terms of marketing and engineering.
Until now I auditioned a total of 12 different final IEMs and HPs, 9 of those I actually own and 5 are part of my (ir)regular rotation.
Talking about those three I tried and did not keep, A4000 is the sole one that – although spectacular – doesnt match my taste: its timbre is definitely toooooo clear for me.
B1 and B3 are both glorious each in its own field, I just happen not to have available budget (for now!…).