TONALITY: 8.2/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9/10
TIMBRE: 7.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8/10
IMAGING: 8.5/10
MUSICALITY (subjective): 7.8/10
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
ACCESSORIES: 10/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.2/10
INTRO
Sound Rhyme is an IEM company from Xiamen, China that began as an OEMaudio products maker for Hifi brands in 2017 to finally launch its own brand in 2019.
Since then they have launched a wide array of earphones from single dynamic driver budget IEM like SR1 to fabulous 7 drivers hybrid like SR7 to extremely competitive tribrid with EST like the DTE500. I’ve reviewed both SR7 and DTE500 in the past and now it’s time to test their higher range tribrid the DTE900.
Priced 750$, the DTE900 is a 9 drivers tribrid using 1 9.2mm dual magnetic dynamic driver+4 knowles Balanced armature+quad sonion electrostatics (EST) drivers. While the price might seem high, it isn’t in terms of quality of drivers used and you would be hard pressed to find similar IEMs under 1000$.
As well, the DTE900 has 2 switches that promise 4 tuning choices for ultimate versatility, which raise sound benefit return even more.
But let's see in this review if the 9 drivers of this IEM sound cohesive, musical and deliver high technical performance which should be expected at this price range.
CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES
As expected, the construction of DTE900 is pristine, made of high grade smooth and thick semi translucent resin plastic with a glossy sparkly faceplate that captivates the eyes with its galactical starry colorful pattern.
Sound Rhyme specializes in this type of IEM shell, and the ergonomic is based on 3D ear data which explain the organic near custom like shape, it’s the type of IEM that can be worn both deep and shallow fit.
The size is chunky but the overall nozzle isn’t too big, so this IEM should fit most ears. Since it's lightweight and it does go hot or cold like metal, the comfort is excellent.
The 2 pin connector isn't recessed, it’s fully embedded in the shell so we just have 2 holes and less risk of water damage. Yet, you need to be cautious and align the 2pin perfectly when pushing to avoid damaging the pin. This type of connector is versatile for a wide range of cables.
In terms of cable, we are spoiled by Sound Rhyme, since it’s an excellent modular cable that has 3 changeable termination: 3.5 single ended, 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced ends.
The braided cable is made of 8 strands 7N crystal-copper silver plated wire. This is a clean and crisp ‘’sounding’’ cable that doesn't justify an urgent upgrade at all, which will be a relief for demanding consumers.
When it comes to packaging, it’s all compacted in a minimalist black box that is generously filled with accessories. Unlike big fancy boxes with underwhelming accessories number or quality, Sound Rhyme is more concerned about spoiling the consumer with seriously good accessories. We have 2 carrying cases, one is round and made of sturdy metal, the other is made of leather. We have this excellent multi purpose cable. We have 6 pairs of good quality silicone eartips in 2 models and 2 pairs of memory foam ear tips. This is more than enough and a big plus. The eartips choice is appropriate for the IEM nozzle, which is a sign of professionalism.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
The DTE900 is an overall energetic, technical and bright sounding set that offer 2 different sounds that you can spice up even more by mixing the 2 switch possibilities for a total of 4 musical flavors.
Yet, what you get is mostly a bright(12-wwide sound field mode) to darkish V shape headbanger (10-deep bass mode) with extra sub bass boom and vibrancy or crisp balanced W shape (02-clear voice mode) to bright neutral with slight mid bass boost (00-Pop music mode).
Whatever switch choice you made, the DTE900 are not for treble sensitive people especially in terms of upper mids since you get whole highs section putted forward with the bass taking second lead here, and mids third row. Those are anti-boring sounding IEM and aim for both bassy fun that benefit electronic music and more monitor like tuning that put forwards clear presence of instrument as well as upper highs percussions effortless way, thanks to those 4EST that are implemented humbly, in the sense it’s not the most awaken electrostat dynamic and vividity i’ve heard, the ultra highs take fourth lead here after low, mids and highs.
Coming from warmer sounding Sound Rhyme DTE500 and SR7, the DTE900 take me a bit by surprise, it remind me a bassier and less analytical BGVP DM9, at first it feel plain V shape with bass switch up then when you don’t hadd bass boost, it become way less bassy and awaken in macro dynamic.
DTE900 aren’t for mid centric lovers nor for soft docile lush mids or laid back musicality seekers, it’s for those seeking high resolution with a switch trick that can inject a lot of bass fun to cover a wider music style diversity.
Switch 1 UP:
The bass slam is hard and wide, it has a sub bass dominance that has rumble headroom and vibrancy, it’s not a thick and opaque bass. The point of impact is just before mid bass roundness, so it can feel a bit loose and warmed with extra attack to sustain that widen presence envelope but don’t have extra texture info or density definition.
This is guilty pleasure done right because bass stays in the back and stretched soundstage, yet blur the background clarity, which will steal clean silence around instruments.
The bass line is very well extracted, with boosted grunt, oomph and rumble depending on instruments.
Electric bass instruments sound better than double bass or cello which feel a bit boomy and blurry, lacking this fine presence fullness and harmonic corpulence.
Acoustic kick drum will be a bit blurred by the bass line if loud, kick isn’t thigh, round and edgy.
Fast but a bit excited and not the heaviest in attack, the bass boost is more aggressive in rumble than hard punching mid bass.
Switch 1 DOWN
Bass is leaner and more textured and suddenly has cleaner and more rounded mid bass, sub bass is less vibrant and more controlled.
Now I struggle a bit to differentiate cello and violin, both are bright and textured, quite crisp and well layered, plain neutral with boosted clarity.
The acoustic kick drum has a brighter and more rounded presence too.
With the switch down, DTE900 is all about upper mids and treble focus. I do enjoy mid bass more, it feels more speedy and controlled, we have notably cleaner background too due to less bass impact resonance release.
This time the double bass has more controlled attack and leaner extension, but it's not as dynamic sounding, it’s dryer and more monitor and cold like in terms of tone.
The overall mids of DTE900 are bright and forwards in presence, it can go more edgy and crisp when you boost lower and mid treble with the switch 2. Then when switch 1 is down, midds are a bit more open and clean.
Those are energetic and well sharpen mids, and people sensitive to high pina gain might find female vocal and high pitched instruments like sax and trumpet a bit surprising in loudness gain when intensity of playing is higher. But we aren’t into screamy shouty fest, the attack control is too good for this, it doesn't go distorted or harsh but makes the main instrument and vocal pop up.
This means you don’t struggle to find your vocal or instruments too, and they offer pristine macro layering in a centered and intimate spatiality.
The center stage is filled with sound info, the instrument has boosted timbre texture yet keeps good transparency. The definition edge is sharpened with EST but it’s not the cleanest nor most transparent mids.. Note weight is on the light side, the lower mids aren’t feeding a sense of lushness here.The piano feels more distant than saxo or vocal even if recorded at same level, but it’s well resolved and layered, it doesn't get lost in bass warmth which stays behind.
While not the thickest, those aren't thin or plain cold mids at all, piano has speedy and tapping attack with enough weight, it isn't slowed in sustain. Even if vocal and wind instrument asre loud and fowards, they have a notch of lushness in their timbre too, so like with the SR7, but in a more energic way, the DTE900 offer natural tone enough with just a slightly BA edge to it that add definition and bite to sounds presence.
Switch 2 UP:
When up, it mostly adds upper mids and treble presence, it doesn't boost EST treble above 10khz. And this is the thing for ESTs lovers like me: ultra highs aren’t the most upfront, airy and sparkly. Here we have good crispness on top but the thicker treble crunchiness stole the air and clean snap of ultra highs. So, in that regard it’s hard to find the advantage of using 4 ESTs instead of 2 even if it sharpen the presence clarity of instrument which are fully restitute and rounded, not half cook like it could be if we tame texture info region and raise sharply ultra highs to add ‘’fake air’’ to the detriment of percussions or high pitch instrument corpulency.
So we have a speedy crunchy treble that delivers a lot of sound info which densifies the air with numerous sound layers cohabiting in a lively macro dynamic that feel like a complex patchwork that closely surrounds the listener.
It’s not ultra open and holographic highs, percussions are close to center stage yet speedy and tight in attack release, their no splashing boosted sustain nor poking harsh spike.
The violin is agile and edgy in attack and superbly layered in quartet and symphony, the presence is brighten with timbre fine details, it’s zero colored with warmth so i prefer listening to fast virtuoso like Hiraly Hann than slow contemplative violin that will focus more on mid range harmony with longer strings brushing that would benefit extra lushness and less dryness.
I find the DTE900 quite good with rock music, this was a surprise and mostly due to the electric guitar sound ultra realist and full in presence, with proper attack bite and non harmonic distortion density that is very revealing in terms of amp filters the guitarist uses.
The Soundstage is above average in wideness, which goes more stretched when sub bass releases occur. When it comes to depth, it’s very limited though since there is a lack of air around the background instrument.
Imaging is quite good though greatly centered on middle stage and not the most spacious in instrument separation, so it’s mostly about layering capacity here that avoid instrument to mix and blur each other, percussions as well as bass line and vocal or main instrument are easiest to track sound due to bright well define presence, when bass boost is off, the DTE900 become near monitor IEM.
SIDENOTES
At 21ohm of impedance and 110db of sensitivity the DTE900 are easy to drive and do well with all my source in terms of dynamic and headroom. They don’t seem very sensitive to impedance gain either. And unlike some other tribrid with ESTs, more power doesn't awaken the ESTs more. Yet, a clean and smooth source like the Hiby R6pro 2 or Aune Yuki is a great match with those, i'll not choose too bright or upper mids energetic source with those. R6pro2 is among the most sparkly pairing i try, again a very good match.
Ear tips wise, I use stock wide bore and it’s OK, but for better comfort Tangzu Sancai is a good match too (wide bore but smoother less hard silicone). I don't suggest small hole ear tips because it will make DTE900 even brighter and more compressed in spatiality.
Cable wise, you don’t want to use all copper cable that will add warmth, nor all silver that will go all treble sharpness, stock cable is good enough but I prefer more dynamic bass and notch thicker mids and more articulated macro dynamic of Simgot LC7.
COMPARISONS
VS BGVP DM9 (1dd4BA4EST-700$)
The DM9 is more similar to DTE900 without bass boost and with a speedier and cleaner mid bass as well as more W shape tuning due to more vividly snappy and sparkly upper treble.
Bass quality is superior yet less deep and rumbly in extension, it's rounder and higher in attack as well as less reverberant in release which keep mids crisper and cleaner.
Those mids are very similar to DTE900 but a notch edgier in definition and we have more air around the instrument, their presence isn’t as wide and vocals are more prompt to sibilance though not as loud for vocal release gain. Both those IEMs don’t deliver lush or very creamed with warmth vocal and instruments. DM9 has a bit thinner and colder mids tone and timbre.
The treble is notably more sparkly, sharp and snappy with DM9, I tend to prefer tribrid that boost dynamic and energy of ESTs and DTE900 is a bit underwhelming in that regard, or too well balanced? DM9 delivers cleaner micro details, airier highs that are a bit thinner and less full in presence than DTE900, percussions has more crunch and texture info with DTE900 but not as well sharpen presence envelope which has crisper edge with DM9.
Soundstage is wider and taller with DTE900 but DM9 has upper hands when it comes to depth, since center stage is more open and clean we can dig deeper in cleaner spatiality.
This means imaging is superior too with DM9, which is more monitor analytical.
Ok, the DM9 are a notch superior in technical performance due to more upfront and vivid upper treble which fully take advantage of its 4 ESTs while the DTE900 make them a bit overly docile to unleash as dynamic W shape balance.
Yet, the musicality is less treble centric with DTE900, which i prefer due to less thin mids and less compressed center stage, as well, its bassier and less spiky sounding. But if you seek for proper electrostat ultra highs, DM9 has them more upfront, for some it will feel unbalanced but the sense of excitement and immediacy is more boosted too…..as well as sparkle!
VS HIBY ZETA (1DD4BA4EST-1400$)
The Zeta are quite similar to DTE900 with bass boost ON, yet Zeta are smoother with notch warmer lower mids as well as wider W shape balance that squeeze up more crispness, air and sparkle from its 4 ESTs.
The Bass is a bit more boosted in rumble and sub bass with Zeta, the slam is more mellow while DTE900 is more hard punchy in mid bass, with edgier punch and more texture bass line. Zeta has thicker but a notch warmer and less well resolved bass, it seems slower too which makes the bass line harder to follow in speedy busy tracks like jazz rock. Tone can be perceived as lusher and more natural with Zeta since bass is thicker and more tactile than more resonant hard hitting DTE900.
Mids are less aggressive and upfront with the Zeta, it’s more open and leaner in dynamic, timbre is lusher and definition is creamier, less edgy. Instrument and vocal presence is wider too. DTE900 have clearer mids, more technical and bright, a bit more compressed and centered in presence, upper mids are louder and texture is more boosted. Smoother, darker and airier are Zeta mids, a notch thicker too and the center stage is wider as well.
The treble is more airy and sparkly yet again darker with Zeta, it's more softed in attack bite, more tweaked to get extra sense of air and macro openness. DTE900 has edgier and sharper highs, not as detached and holographic, not as brilliant so while electric guitar sound more abrasive and texture and well rounded the acoustic guitar lack this crispness and sparkly decay and clean attack accent of Zeta which do better with harp too, as well, percussions are cleaner and crisper, less mixed with other sound info.
The soundstage is notably wider, taller and deeper with Zeta.
Imaging while more centered and compressed in terms of spatiality is notably superior with DTE900, this is evident with busy track, i can track all instruments more accurately even if their less wide space between them. Both these IEMs will have bass resonance spoiling background silence so overall Zeta is more foggy in terms of positioning precision.
All in all, while I do prefer the more laid back and sparkly musicality of 2 times pricier Zeta, the technical performance is evidently superior with DTE900, from imaging to macro resolution to attack control, everything but the ESTs call superiority. It's a bit sad that those ESTs are tamed here.
CONCLUSION
The Sound Rhyme DTE900 are very competitive flagship tribrid IEM that boost its sound value with the switch which permit to deliver near basshead fun musicality as well as bright neutral that can find its use for monitoring purpose.
Sure, I would not say no for more awake ESTs drivers since even if they use 4 of them, it’s quite understated in energy and vivid sparkle when it comes to ultra highs. But to some extent, this is a statement of refined balance to not be distracted with detached and too upfront micro details and percussions, but some extra air on top would sure make the DTE900 be closer to end game territory and achieving this at sub-1000$ would be incredible.
Because as seen with the Hiby Zeta comparison, the DTE900 has nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to high end sound benefit, it's on the very competitive side.
I’m truly impressed by the Sound Rhyme IEMs catalog, which offers a very wide variety of musical pleasure. The DTE900 is the polar opposite of the DTE500 which is more mid centric and warmer with slower and thicker bass.
If you seek for a technical monster that can go both headbanger bassy and analytical bright neutral, the Sound Rhyme DTE900 is a good bet for sure.
VERY RECOMMENDED!
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PS: I want to thanks Penon for sending me this review sample. I have no official affiliation nor gain any $ writing this review. The DTE900 will take part of my high end IEMs collection, being the 12th tribrid with EST that I proundly own.
You can order the Sound Rhyme DTE900 for 750$ here:
https://penonaudio.com/Sound-Rhyme-DTE900.html
Official Soundrhyme website here:
https://sound-rhyme.myshopify.com/en