Copplinn Alula

COPPLINN ALULA CHERRY WOOD / ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S AKA FREQUENCY FILTERING SYSTEM

Copplinn being a new player from turkey have some good things up in their sleeves. Today I am getting to try their two new iems – ALULA & ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S aka Frequency Filtering System(M+F- INSHORT)( just to make it easy to type later on haha). Their new iems are available with a different technology, something new called as F.F.S- Frequency filtering system. So, they have sent me two iems – one is ALULA with cheery wood and no F.F.S and the other is ALULA with mahogany wood and F.F.S. Now these are handmade in wood which is first time for me!!! And I am super excited.

DISCLAIMER- THIS HAS BEEN SENT BY COPPLINN FOR REVIEW AND ANYTHING POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE ABOUT THEIR IEMS IS MY OPINION AND I am not being paid anything to say positive or negative about this iem. That said i wanna thanks copplinn for arranging a review unit and wanted to thank @suman134 for considering me for the review tour
PS. The forum makes F.F.S as *** if i dont use the dots in between so if i missed somewhere it means F.F.S

SPECS-

ALULA WITH CHERRY WOOD AND NO F.F.S / ALULA WITH MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S aka FREQUENCY FILTERING SYSTEM(M+F- INSHORT)

• Body- Either cherry wood/ mahogany wood/ other custom wood (contact them before hand)
• Driver-Full Range Liquid Silicone Dynamic Driver
• Impedance- 35ohm@1kHz
• Sensitivity- 109dB@1kHz; 126dB@50mVa max. output
• Technology- F.F.S aka Frequency Filtering System patented by copplinn in ONLY THE MAHOGANY WOOD ONE
• For more info go to here

PRICE –

• ALULA WITH CHERRY WOOD AND NO F.F.S- 250$ (purchase link here not affiliated)
• ALULA WITH MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S (M+F) -300$ ( do ask them if it has F.F.S or not plus you can customise the wood ) ( purchase link here not affiliated)

FREQUENCY FILTERING SYSTEM (F.F.S)-

The resonance frequencies are 3500 hz in architectural acoustics and 13500 hz in stage acoustics. To avoid resonance frequencies, they made this Frequency filtering system. But we have got two iems- one is without F.F.S (the cherry wood one) and the other is a specialized alula with mahogany wood and F.F.S and I am so excited for these, read more about the experience below.

UNBOXING EXPERIENCE-

Now the wooden box is epic, it has some leather padding on the sides and bottom for protection and its big very big!!! It had both the Alula cherry and Alula (M+F)- the specialized one which I am more excited about.


BUILD & FIT-

Now you can have customs options here so build may vary. But for me, this has two woods – mahogany and Cherry wood and TBH they both feels sturdy yet very light. These look really good in person don’t look too much into my pictures hehe!! But they really look great!! Theres no R and L on the iems per se so use any side you want haha !!!

The mmcx connectors are solid fit with the cable but mmcx I have little faith in them. Something I found which is very odd, that the mmcx cable did 2 clicks to fit perfectly so you gotta to press it hard haha!!! Now that scared me but hey it seems easily changeable if it goes bad haha since its just screwed in to the wood!!!

Fit for me was great with the M sized tips and never fell down at all or felt loose. The fit is deep since these are barrel shaped and small enough to fit completely in the ear canal.

CABLE

Now this cable is Pure Copper 4 core cable with 2.5mm, 4.4mm. and 3.5mm connections. The one I got is 3.5mm and it does have a good termination but more balanced termination would have been better. The cable is supple, thin but doesn’t provide much confidence into the longevity but seems really good. All connectors are chrome plated which is good so they erode and the mmcx on cables can be changed which is lovely since I have 3 dead cables with mmcx and I ain’t been able to repair them at all.

Sound wise they feel really good and no complaints there, they do what they intend to do. I did try the DUNU Zen cable on this but since they are below ear, so I had to wear them just to judge them, not much difference. Rather cable rolling for them would require you to have cables with no ear hook for wearing them below ears as I found them more comfortable that way…

ACCESSORIES

• Copplinn leather carry pouch
• Leather organizer
• S,M,L sized eartips
• Solid walnut wooden box
• Collar clips

NOTE- MY SOURCE IS

1. PORTABLE -N6II WITH T01 MODULE, BTR5 AND LG G8X
2. DESKTOP- DAC- N6II WITH T01 LINEOUT
3. AMP- TOPPING A30 MODDED WITH BURSON V5I D OR TOPPING L30 OR XDUOO MT602(NOT USED HERE FOR REVIEW BUT HEY IT DOES HELP TO ADD A BIT OF TUBE TOUCH)

SOUND SIGNATURE (P.S-This is subjective and may not match with yours )

ALULA CHERRY WOOD WITH NO F.F.S

SUB-BASS-
Ohh my!!!It brings DD bass back to that top of rumble game (by quality I meant) hehe It’s not too much overdone too such that it drowns the mid-bass which is pretty great. The texture of Sub-bass is good too. It’s not much dynamic though but it goes deep which makes it a great companion to use with tracks with good amount of sub-bass, since it will make you feel it. The tonality here seems a bit warm oriented but it's great to have in such comfy bullet iems The decay is somewhat fast but this guess into this iems favour!!! What would be have been great is more width and space in between since in congested tracks this suffers…

BASS-
Bass is tasteful. I could have just ended with this single word (sorry for my poor jokes ). Then tonality is correct slightly lean, but it seems to have a bit less energy in the bass!!! The mid-bass has that punch but not too much to cause bleed into the mids. The decay is way too fast hence don't expect timbre off this. The texture is average. Notes seem to have more weight in the body and beginning of the notes are good too but seem a bit distant sounding. Edges of the notes are fast and furious . Don’t expect much room filling bass experience from this at all The bass is dynamic and resolution helps in identifying the diffuse placement of the instruments…Somehow I feel the bass is not fuller sounding too might be because the soundstage is like you are sitting in the 4th -5th of a theater and since the height is average too…

MIDS-
VOCALS-
Vocals are the really good part of this iem. It's more of mids foreword iem. Male vocalist has much of the balanced thickness, it's not too lush but rather controlled or a little lean sounding. The micro details are average with the small lip smacks and sometimes the breath comes out!!! But not too much air in the voice. The vocals have a certain weight to the beginning of the words and endings are fast decayed. There is less upper bass presence, making sometimes the vocalists with having thicker voice sounding thin, compared to other iems. But the staging is really good with the vocalists, everyone having their separate places separated by pitch black background but no air at all….

Female vocals on the other hand, love the little lean nature as it shows the high pitch voice more. The are nicely controlled with more thickened body and beginning and endings are cut off fast making them feel a little restricted. The consonants are rarely emphasized making it feel like that they are soft. Ohh!! so it feels a little compressed like the vocalists can’t extend to their fullest potential maybe it’s the fast decay…. But a good thing for those people who can’t stand sibilance, there’s not a single hint of it at all . And yeah, don't expect air in the voices and instruments since this hasn’t got any…

Instruments in the mids have got good tonality. They lack a bit of dynamism (average- here I am taking about the loudness of different notes) but make up with their imaging which is great. The notes don’t reach different heights in the stage making them feel a bit boring. The pianos have great body to them with good thick note beginnings but a very fast decay so no timbre at all it feels like. Guitars on the other hand have a thicker feel to them with no air and feel like they lack energy. Other string instruments sound similar, but violin didn’t suffer much. It feels like there’s a dip in the upper mids making the string instruments feel less energetic, compared to lower mids. Micro details are average but macro details comes up nicely. Imaging is great, but given the soundstage isn’t wide, it feels a bit congested. Flutes do come up nicely but similarly lack energy and air making them feel a little blunt. The decay is fast, so don’t expect timbre much from it. I think the resonance is filtered as such that there’s this instant decay and no air at all. There is no grain though which is excellent…

TREBLE-
The treble presence is pretty good. They all have good tonality. They have more emphasis on the upper treble more than the lower treble. Trumpets and other wind instruments really enjoy that heightened presence but sadly with fast decay and no air, their presence is like 14s we are, in the life of the universe . The bass and vocals seem to dominate more than the treble. Upper treble regions are still good, textured and have a little bit more energy than lower treble. Electric guitars seem to be less emphasized, yet the ringing sound of bells do come through. There’s not much microdetails either but it’s well extended. The notes do reach different heights and hence are well differentiated between the different instruments. The resonances are cut off, it feels such sometimes especially with crash cymbals. But its decent here.

IMAGING, SEPARATION AND SOUNDSTAGE-
The imaging is more mid, left and right but not too much in-between. The notes are more from edges to the middle. Imaging is really good though with each instruments having a particular place in the stage. Separation is decent but feels congested in instrument heavy tracks. Soundstage is taller than wide (height is rather below average but width is average if I would rate it). There’s good depth (-y axis) but minute stage depth. It’s much of L shaped signature or more of mid forwards signature depends on the recording you listening to.

Tip rolling- To provide better separation and better stage with a little more balanced coherent signature, wide bore tips will help a lot. BGVP W01 tips, Reverse KZ starline tips etc and other wide bore tips helped maintain the balanced signature with much better separation and stage. My fav being the BGVP W01 tips.

COPPLIN ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S (M+F)(Special edition they sent to try)
MOSTLY A COMPARISON TO ALULA CHERRY WOOD WITH NO F.F.S

BASS AND SUB-BASS
This has sub-bass very similar to alula with an added effect of better slower decay hence having better timbre. Plus, a rumble that goes from right to left or vice versa giving a room filling experience. The rumble definitely has more of a feel and this goes deeper than Alula

Bass on the alula(M+F) is much better with better punch and a more natural tonality. They have a deeper punch to them and much better timbre due to a slightly slower decay (still very fast though ). The texture is really good with better presence I would say than the Alula for sure!! This might be because of better resolution and imaging for sure. The bass is more dynamic too which helps to make it feel more natural. The bass sounds more fuller too! The tonality is rather more natural here. This might be because of the soundstage being more intimate and yet similarly wide as Alula. The notes resolution is way much better than Alula. You won’t be dissatisfied with this kind of fuller bass

MIDS-
The mids have more micro-details for sure (simple finger flicks, background talks etc, all come through so much better), the transparency might be a little less when compared to something like monarch. The pianos are much fuller sounding due to the inface soundstage yet wide, also the notes have much slower decay (still very fast) so much better timbre experience. Theres more to the body and beginning to the notes but now edges are much more defined but little faster ending, giving it a more natural experience. There is a certain amount of air which I would consider tiny but much better than having nothing at all. Notes have better dynamism and better difference in heights. String instruments now have better presence and not subdued with better natural tonality, they also now some amount of better space. Congested anymore nope I don’t think so anymore. Air is still less but now its much more pronounced in the vocals and slightly in guitars. Vocals feel like having more freedom now especially the male vocals. They feel fuller and reach a greater notes height plus slight reverbs added, giving them a good sense of realism. Their F.F.S is still working for sure but let’s say the drivers are much better tuned and better details and back to emphasis on the consonants are much better The drivers are working better. But the female vocals might sound a little sharp on the very edges on some recordings. But remember this still doesn’t have sibilance.

TREBLE-
The treble is much better too like super tweeters but they are not sharp for me at least. Hi-Hats and cymbals have more energy for sure and that’s really good to see. Better lower treble and upper treble presence makes them feel not so lacking in energy and feel and this is much appreciated. The bells now have more presence and feel now, even the tambourine is better too. The tweeters are really are a godsend here haha!!! Haha the trumpets ohh!!! my they are so good now plus they extend much more too, and with better notes presence and resolution its much better felt. Keeping it short, this has much more extension and much better details and better energy all around. Their F.F.S tech, idk but feels like I don’t feel any exhaustion even after 2hours of trying the iem but seems like it might be working to keep the decay fast enough so it doesn’t cause much exhaustion to my listening.

IMAGING, HEADSTAGE AND SEPARATION-
Much better imaging and resolution for sure. Its taller and similarly wide as alula. It has more stage depth too; the notes are much from edges to front as it should be than what it was with alula. The separation is excellent too which is not a complaint at all. It might feel a bit congested into too much busy passages but its minor complaint at best and is overtaken by iems which are way over this guy’s price.

COMPARISON AGAINST ALULA
IKKO OH10

PROS-
Better wider stage
Better vocals
Better separation
Better bass
Better sub-bass
Better treble with bad dynamics in notes height

ALULA CHERRY WOOD NO F.F.S
PROS
No grains in mids
Taller stage
Better dynamics
Better transparency

ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S (M+F)-
Everything is better than IKKO OH10 except wide staging

CA MAMMOTH (a bit higher on price) since around 300$ I haven’t heard much

PROS
Better Bass and sub-bass
Better transparency
Better wider stage
Better separation
More cleaner notes
More Fun signature
Better vocals

ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S (M+F)-

PROS
Better taller stage
Better timbre
Taller stage
More air

SUMMARY-
ALULA-
Guess what!!! this is their first attempt into the audiophile space and their F.F.S tech does work a lot but at the cost of very fast decay and no timbre. Now if they could do add this and increase the stage, that would be really good. This isn’t bad at all but feels like you are sitting in a completely too much sound treated room rather than a theatre. This is really good for those who want a warm iem with an L shaped signature who enjoys a lot of pop genre. But for me, the price and the deficiency are way too much. Had this been at a lower price, this would be recommended for sure. Hoping that they fix it, in the next run of their iems…

ALULA MAHOGANY WOOD WITH F.F.S (M+F)-
This iem is their saving grace pretty much!! At this price range, it’s pretty decent but much better offerings are there at just 50$ more. This would get my recommendation for sure for any genre of music except death metal and metal since I felt it was bit too much sharp. What they could improve upon is having better wide stage and a tiny bit more separation and more air, then this would be a great iem and yeah bring the price down a bit. Their F.F.S really helps to keep the sharpness down for longer listening sessions. I would recommend for sure!!!