CCA CRA

Dubbed as the king of budget V shaped IEM, the 15SUD CCA CRA definitely has its name being mentioned constantly by people when people were mentioning about budget friendly headphones. Originally released at the start of 2022, how does it fare now since the year's coming to a close and already been flooded with a ton more of budget selections?

Foreword

1. I bought the CCA CRA pre-owned, hence no unboxing will be done for this review.
2. I will be using DACs relative to the price of the IEM to review them. This is because using high end stuff like the Questyle M15 over-exaggerates the capabilities of the CRA itself.
3. My review will be solely based on my personal impressions on the unit itself after already using it for months.

BUILD AND FIT
The build of the head units is of a plastic build, with slightly black tint to the plastic, complemented with a metal faceplate. Nothing much that I wanted to say other than it looks simple and standard, as with most resin/plastic type shelled IEMs.



The fit of the CRA, complemented by its light weight allows me to wear it for extended periods of hours without any fatigue, and does not cause and discomfort to my ear canals as well, with its standard sized nozzle


SOUND
Foobar2000 -> JCally JM20 Dongle DAC (CS43131) -> S.M.S.L. SH-6 Amplifier -> CCA CRA with Final Audio Type E eartips

Foobar2000 -> VE Avani -> S.M.S.L. SH-6 Amplifier -> CCA CRA with Final Audio Type E eartips

JM20C being the more dry and analytical dongle it does not deter the quality of the bass from the CRA, only often times making the highs and vocals sound slightly more harsh and sibilant. Hence, tested this pair on 2 dongles.



Overall CCA CRA sounds like a standard V-shaped IEM with overall good balance between bass presence and treble prominence. No signs of warmth, it sounds more neutral in terms of this

BASS
Rap, Hip-Hop and R&B would probably get the most out of this for this part

• Subbass region has good amount of presence and rumble, sometimes even bringing out those faint subbass that you never noticed before in tracks
• 808s sound clear with their own taste depending on the mix's own
• Kick drums having a combination of thumpiness and airyness, making it feel impactful but still having a sense of liveliness
• Slow bass lines sound more rounded with no hint of muddiness
• Fast bass lines where players pluck strings will have that metallic string detail accompanying it ( your preference may vary, I personally like it )
• In certain cases synth bass might sound a little too bloaty but overall not noticable in most tracks
• Suprisingly, the CRA has very very little bass bleed, having good seperation from the mids

MIDS

Vocals :
Overall, Less amount of being "recessed" than I was expecting for a V-shaped

• Male vocals
• Tyler, The Creator, Mac Miller, would have that organic raspy sound which I personally prefer a lot
• Strong sounding albeit sometimes might sound hollow
• Female vocals
• Deeper vocals such as Lana Del Ray, Adele would sound full and have more body to it
• Higher vocals such as J-pop would sometimes have some risk of feeling slightly thin, veiled, and also sibilance for the esses (but might be more mix dependent as said with previous reviews)

Instruments :
tl;dr :
everything sounds good but might sound bland due to subpar dynamics. Fast notes sound staccato, your preference may vary.

• Strings such as guitar sound true to the mix, but somehow sounds a little too simple, most likely due to lack of details accompanying notes (Polyphia Discography)
• Piano sounds soft yet powerful for simple songs with less stuff going on or instrumentals when piano is the main part of the song (FKJ - Way Out, Ylang Ylang; Joji - Glimpse of Us)
• Synths have good note definition with each note sounding staccato, maybe slight hard sounding

TREBLE/UPPER-MIDS

• Piano notes at the higher octaves sound full and accompanied with microdetails, yet does not sound harsh
• Rides and hi hats sound crisp and clear with some extension towards it
• Guitars shreds sound staccato - every note can be heard clearly
• Digital synths with very high notes sound sharp, yet does not sound sibilant
• Hi hats might have very slight metallic characteristic but not noticeable unless you try to
• Details in this part also shine, from shakers in the side, quick piano licks, and wind chime sounds
• Foleys on tracks (Joji - In Tongues ) are brought out well

TECHNICALITIES
Honestly, for the price, you are getting what you paid for. Dynamics on this pair is above average.
BUT, when tracks get too busy and since most of the stuff lives in the midrange, you can feel it start to suffer and lump everything into the same plane. But of course,
But, do not let this deter you from this pair as listening to simple songs from the realms of lofi, or from FKJ's, Tom Misch's, Masego's discography, it certainly did not had this problem and brings out every single aspect to you.

Imaging & separation on this pair for some reason is very good for its price. Despite it not being able to fully tank very busy tracks (Hoshimachi Suisei - Stellar Stellar being my standard), it still shows its capability to seperate everything to at least some degree. But again, owing back to the dynamics problem, its really hard to say since these are so interrelated.

Soundstage on this pair is suprisingly wider than certain pairs I've tried that are more expensive than this.

Detail Retrieval wise, again, taking the BL-01 out of the picture, it definitely exceeds most pairs at this price range.




FINAL THOUGHTS
All in all, I am quite content with using the CCA CRA, as this thing is still one of my personal guilty pleasures to come back to, despite already constantly listening to high-end IEMs. There's just something about this pair's tuning that makes you come back for some reason.

And as for recommending this pair, if you're not listening to overly busy songs, this thing is an easy recommendation for something that's only 15USD.

Hip hop? The 808s be good.
Lofi? Yes.
Songs with piano? Please do. Thundercat? Dragonball Durag's bass never sounded more tasty


M15 Shennanigans
Overall the CRA gets pushed to be a more U-shaped IEM, improving the midrange further and boosting technicalities by a significant margin
Quick comments :

• guitar notes finally sound like they have more characteristic to it
• Detail retrieval is just abysmally amazing. Every track sounds more full yet does not feel busy or congested
• Stellar Stellar still sounds a little muddy because of the amount of things going on but the dynamics have improved significantly; at the chorus part, the midrange and uppermids are emphasized more and you can hear every element more clearly
• Soundstage has also widened (well, obviously)

Source: Magni 3+ / Modi 3+. No DSP used. No EQ used.
*Note* - With the stock cable, there is background hiss present when plugged into my PC and tablet, but not the phone or amp.

Tone: Large quantity of clean bass. Less bass bleed into the mids than expected. The mids are quite hollow and distant. They can be described as cold or lean. The treble is fine: good extension.

Tech: Staging width is pretty average. Depth is subpar. Imaging and separation is not that great. The space between the instruments is small. The detail is pretty good.

Song Tests (CRA vs ER2SE):
Kevin Penkin - Nanachi In The Dark

(0:32-1:04) The sub-bass can be felt. The rumble is present and there is a good amount of vibration. With the ER2SE, the bass could still be felt, but it isn't as strong as the CRA. The instruments in this song do not sound right.
(1:20-1:36) The instrument sounds hollow and not natural. On the ER2SE, it has good tone.
(2:00-2:15) the mechanical sound in the background doesn't sound correct. The main instrument sounds too cold. On the ER2SE, the mechanical sounds has more dynamics and the main instrument doesn't sound wrong. The staging does not go outside the head. On the ER2SE, the stage width is less but the depth is a little better.

Hiroyuki Sawano - Blumenkranz

(0:47 - 1:00): The whispers are barely audible and the bass actually interferes with the mids. On the ER2SE, the whispers are there.
(1:12 - 1:36): The vocals are cold. The instrument separation isn't good. On the ER2SE the vocals are fairly cold as well. Instruments and vocals are better separated. Not a lot of stage width on the ER2SE.
(4:00 - 4:18): Main instrument doesn't sound warm enough and it is missing the "hazy" sound.

Evan Call - Back in Business

(0:33 - 0:40): Again, the piano tones do not sound warm enough.
(0:50 - 1:05): There is a "tap-dancing beat" in the background (that also begins at the start of the song) that is barely audible. On the ER2SE, it is slightly more audible with the tones being more defined.
(1:18 - 1:21): This short, stringed part in the song doesn't sound natural. On the ER2SE, the tones of the strings are more dynamic.

Conclusion: While the detail and air is pretty exceptional at this price point (and even compared to the ER2SE), the recessed mids plus the pretty bad separation and stage depth prevents me from rating these highly. The cons are apparent in nearly every song that I listen to. The rating is 3/5 because while it does detail exceptionally well for its package: I don't gravitate towards wanting to listen to it.

CCA and KZ have one of the widest collections of IEMs in the industry. CRA from CCA has got an amazing rep in my country for both its excellent sound performance and its pocket-friendly price tag. The pair is available for a mere 14$ in the international market. I have also heard some good praise for the set from fellow audiophiles in my country. CRA packs a 10mm dynamic driver unit on each side that is said to deliver a quality performance. It is widely recommended as a pretty solid set that can be recommended to people who are looking for anything around a 25$-30$ price bracket. So, I got to check it out. I am late to the party, but I have enjoyed the pair well enough. Let’s begin without wasting any more time.

A Short Disclaimer:-

CRA here came to me as a review sample provided by HiFiGo alongside a few other purchases made by me. But that doesn’t affect my judgment on the set, all the impressions, and comments made in this blog are completely my own based on my own experience with the pair. You can check out more information about CCA CRA on the HiFiGo store from the link below.

https://hifigo.com/products/cca-cra

Design & Build Quality:-

One might expect cheap plasticky ear shells under the 20$ price tag. But considering that, the CRA has got pretty-looking ear cavities. CCA has designed it with transparent resin material ear shells that have a glossy finished metal covering half of their face cover area. The shells are lightweight and have a universal fit-like shape. The pair adopts standard 2-pin connectors like every other CCA/KZ IEM. Overall, a pretty-looking set that also fits nicely. CRA actually fits perfectly with me, the shell shape is good for me and its lightweight design works in its favor. It covers my entire ear canal and provides me with a good level of isolation from the surrounding noises as well.

The included cable is what you get with most KZ/CCA IEMs. It’s a two-core flat cable with a 3.5mm termination.

Driving the CRA:-

Super easy peasy. You don’t need any kind of special gear or audio players for the CRA. It has a fairly low impedance rating of 34Ω and a high sensitivity of 105dB. CRA can be driven straight off a smartphone without any trouble. I used it with my Redmi Note 10 Pro, HiBy RS2, and Shanling M7. Runs pretty well straight off my phone with no issues.

Sound Impressions:-

What does one expect from an IEM priced at 20$? I personally expect an IEM with a fun, bass-oriented sound signature that I can use roughly on a daily basis. Well, that’s exactly what the CRA delivers. It packs a punchy bass response. What makes the CRA stand apart from IEMs in this price range is its clean midrange presentation. Even with such a punchy lower end, the midrange sounds clean and precise. It reproduces some actually good vocals in my favorite tracks. Instruments are well-separated and the stage presentation is decently wide. I won’t call it super wide or anything like that, but it creates an immersive experience for me by captivating me with its presence.

Lower-end shows some prominence in the mid-bass region. It sounds slamming and deep-hitting in bass-heavy tracks. But it doesn’t lose its character and its tone. Sub-bass has a clean and rumbling presentation. Overall, I would say the bass response is pretty clean and well-textured. There is no muddiness or graininess introduced with such a heavy bass response.

The midrange sounds a bit recessed to me. Lower mids are pushed back while the upper mids are more expressive with the CRA. This expressive upper midrange presentation gives the set its immersive feel. The vocals sound crisp and well-textured. The midrange is complemented very well by a punchy bass response for an engaging presentation.

CRA surprises with its treble performance as well. It delivers quite an inoffensive presentation with a smooth treble frequency region. Percussions and Cymbal Crashes sound pronounced with the set, but at the same time, the CRA sounds quite smooth. It goes a little peaky at times when listening to heavy metal or rock genres with a lot of treble details.

Dynamically, CRA sounds decent with average imaging and layering presentation. Personally, I find the set good enough for regular day-to-day rough usage with a fun, engaging sound tuning but lacks a bit of dynamics.

Final Words:-

CCA CRA lives up to my expectations. It delivers quite an amazing sound with good punchy bass and a clean midrange. Treble region is also mostly inoffensive and delivers a decent amount of details for the price point. If you are looking for a set for day-to-day rough usage, CRA delivers a pretty good performance!!