BGVP W-01, which are also wide bore tips, have worked very well for me. Unlike Spiraldots they hold better on narrow nozles.The CRA+ pairs very well with Spiral Dots.
I'm impressed with the CRA+'s need for very little EQ to be enjoyable. I'm running the CRA+ on my new DAC without Peace and Parametric EQ for testing, and I can see the CRA+ being an easy recommendation for a daily driver where PEQ isn't available or if you don't use EQ in general.
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CCA in ear monitors Impressions Thread
- Thread starter FastAndClean
- Start date
Redcarmoose
Headphoneus Supremus
Carpet
Headphoneus Supremus
I'm waiting on CCA C10, it was on sale for the same price as CRA. Warmer than KZ ZS10 Pro and less aggressive top end. Sounds like my preferred tuning. Only KZ/CCA I can ever recall Crin saying something good about (other than CRA). I figure I can use it as a beater if I'm out of the house or pass it on to a friend.
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DynamicEars
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2019
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I'm waiting on CCA C10, it was on sale for the same price as CRA. Warmer than KZ ZS10 Pro and less aggressive top end. Sounds like my preferred tuning. Only KZ/CCA I can ever recall Crin saying something good about (other than CRA). I figure I can use it as a beater if I'm out of the house or pass it on to a friend.
They are nice set even to date, have great treble extension, and not so aggressive upper mids (for KZ/CCA IEMs). Biggest flaws for me is too much upper and mid bass, and not so good dynamic driver compared to modern KZ / CCA (DQ6, CRA)
Carpet
Headphoneus Supremus
They are nice set even to date, have great treble extension, and not so aggressive upper mids (for KZ/CCA IEMs). Biggest flaws for me is too much upper and mid bass, and not so good dynamic driver compared to modern KZ / CCA (DQ6, CRA)
I admit to being fascinated by the technology that had gone into IEMs, so I am occasionally buying older models (classic or obscure) to compare them to more recent releases.
Usually when they get heavily discounted. The CVJ Mirror was so good I ordered the CSA to try out. A lot of very good IEMs fly under the radar, they are fun to find. We have a fair sprinkling of snobs in this hobby who are quick to use terms like "basshead", "Immature" and "non-audiophile" to disparage anything that doesn't fit their own preference. Everybody listens through their own unique ears to music they find enjoyable. I even ordered KZ ASF when they were giving it away for $11, rolled off treble and forward mid-bass, might actually be fun. It's a warm all BA set, not exactly common. If we ever have any audio conventions locally , I would be tempted to wear those, playing off an SR25 with the stock cable!
northernsound
Head-Fier
I bought the CCA CRA and I really enjoy them. I was afraid that the bass would be too heavy but it´s juuuust under that limit and they are great fun. Highly recommend it for EDM and rock. Not for neutral listening in any genre, but as I said, great fun for EDM and rock! I´m very pleasantly surprised. I have not yet evaluated the mic-quality. I´ve EQ:d them a bit in the upper frequencies since I´m not a teenager anymore. These must be a great recommendation for most people asking for a good budget-IEM since my impression is that most people like a bit bass-heavy IEM/Headphones and these combine it with greater clarity/detail retreival than many other a bit more expensive alternatives. A reminder is that I as I said EQd the higher frequencies a bit in correlation with my age and the loss of as good higher frequency-hearing as younger people generally have. They don't seem to fatigue me either.
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Carpet
Headphoneus Supremus
I bought the CCA CRA and I really enjoy them. I was afraid that the bass would be too heavy but it´s juuuust under that limit and they are great fun. Highly recommend it for EDM and rock. Not for neutral listening in any genre, but as I said, great fun for EDM and rock! I´m very pleasantly surprised. I have not yet evaluated the mic-quality. I´ve EQ:d them a bit in the upper frequencies since I´m not a teenager anymore. These must be a great recommendation for most people asking for a good budget-IEM since my impression is that most people like a bit bass-heavy IEM/Headphones and these combine it with greater clarity/detail retreival than many other a bit more expensive alternatives. A reminder is that I as I said EQd the higher frequencies a bit in correlation with my age and the loss of as good higher frequency-hearing as younger people generally have. They don't seem to fatigue me either.
I've given away a couple of sets of the CRA to friends. They are a way better introduction to IEMs than something under $10. I could have got myself a Lea for that. If I did the same thing with CRA+, I could have bought an SG-01 OVA or TRN TA1 Max. Less likely to happen. That's where I think CCA/KZ lost the plot, they gained their market share by offering good introductory products. People then stayed within that ecosystem (QDC connectors helped too). Realizing that other offerings in the $50-100 market were offering better options was a hurdle. So part of the return on investment, by selling the CRA at a cheap price, was sales of other products. Figuring that the CRA was actually competing with higher priced products and repricing the successor higher, without increasing build quality to cater to a market with higher expectations, was a mistake. The KZ ZES offered a big step up with it's metal shell but hasn't been as well received (inclusion of an electret after the CRN debacle didn't help). I am really hoping that the KZ ESX has had the same tuning effort put into it as the EDA, EDX Ultra and CRA+. All of these are now having to compete with Moondrop Chu at the same price point. Their real entry level options are now KZ EDX pro, KZ EDS and original CCA CRA (yes, there are cheaper models, but not at the same level of SQ).
All of these are now having to compete with Moondrop Chu at the same price point.
Interestingly the more I listen to the CRA+ the more I think it performs better across the board than the Chu. Now, obviously it should given the price difference but still, there is some very stiff competition, in the past month or so, at this end of the market.