Mr.HiAudio
Member of the Trade: RIOBuds
you can just take KZ EDX Pro and add a cloth filter - aaaaaand you have CCA CRA
I had huge expectations, I thought it would be better than EDX Pro/EDS, but no, the same level
CCA in ear monitors Impressions Thread
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I had huge expectations, I thought it would be better than EDX Pro/EDS, but no, the same level
RikudouGoku
Member of the Trade: RikuBuds
you can just take KZ EDX Pro and add a cloth filter - aaaaaand you have CCA CRA
I doubt that, adding a filter that dampens the treble should NOT decrease the bass as well, it should be a low-shelf boost or at least no changes. CRA has less bass than the EDX Pro, so the differences between them is not only due to the filter.
Mr.HiAudio
Member of the Trade: RIOBuds
KZ EDX Pro a bit louder, maybe on graf a little different in bass.
I doubt that, adding a filter that dampens the treble should NOT decrease the bass as well, it should be a low-shelf boost or at least no changes. CRA has less bass than the EDX Pro, so the differences between them is not only due to the filter.
Well, in general, the filter significantly affects the low frequency - in Blon BL03 I changed the stock filter and the bass changed.
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dimazbaik
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It use 3.5 mm filter ?
seanwee
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Just tried the Moondrop KXXS filter, made the CRA sound soft but the peak remains. Double stacking the stock and KXXS filter wasn't any better but now the CRA also loses its crispness making it sound muddy and bloated.
RikudouGoku
Member of the Trade: RikuBuds
AFAIK, tuning filters usually affect the 2-4k area. CRA has a peak at 4,5k (and hopefully 8k is not real on it).
SpaceOperaVillain
100+ Head-Fier
First 24 hours with the CRA, zero burn-in.
Let's talk about guilty pleasure. Midnight chocolate. A 14 year scotch hidden in the living room cabinet. A certain someone listed under an alias in your contacts. You won't talk about it, but your thoughts give way to a craving, summoning you back, back for another taste.
CRA isn't here to impress others. It was built to indulge. Thick bass. Dreamy treble. Ethereal mids. I'm loving everything about it, but it's like a private affair: if you think about it too much, the magic disappears.
Let's talk about guilty pleasure. Midnight chocolate. A 14 year scotch hidden in the living room cabinet. A certain someone listed under an alias in your contacts. You won't talk about it, but your thoughts give way to a craving, summoning you back, back for another taste.
CRA isn't here to impress others. It was built to indulge. Thick bass. Dreamy treble. Ethereal mids. I'm loving everything about it, but it's like a private affair: if you think about it too much, the magic disappears.
seanwee
Headphoneus Supremus
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My CRA are nearing the 75 hour mark for burn in and there hasn't been any significant development in sound compared to an overnight burn in.
After more time with the CRA i feel like while the CRA has the makings of greatness, it is marred by the 5khz peak which makes vocals unnatural, nasally and brittle, even sharp in some instances. And the 5khz peak also creates a sort of "treble veil" as it overpowers detail in the upper treble with a brittle almost sibilant tone.
After trying several filters to no avail, I remembered the stock FDX1 also had a filter system designed to reduce the upper treble. So i took the stuffing from the medium (green) FDX1 nozzle and inserted them into the CRA.
And voila, most of the brittleness in the upper mids is gone but there are some drawbacks, now the bass is more prominent now relative to the upper frequencies so it can be a bit too strong in some bassy songs. Overall it is a much more pleasant iem while still retaining its clear BA like mids and treble.
To be clear, this mod doesn't fully rectify the brittle upper mids completely. I'd say it makes it less of a problem in 80% of songs compared to around 50% before.
Edit: this is what the material looks like. It feels like the same cloth used to make wet wipes/alcohol wipes. Insert it in a way that it basically lines the walls of the nozzle while keeping a hole the center.
Feel free to experiment with different lengths of damping material and see if it works better.
After more time with the CRA i feel like while the CRA has the makings of greatness, it is marred by the 5khz peak which makes vocals unnatural, nasally and brittle, even sharp in some instances. And the 5khz peak also creates a sort of "treble veil" as it overpowers detail in the upper treble with a brittle almost sibilant tone.
After trying several filters to no avail, I remembered the stock FDX1 also had a filter system designed to reduce the upper treble. So i took the stuffing from the medium (green) FDX1 nozzle and inserted them into the CRA.
And voila, most of the brittleness in the upper mids is gone but there are some drawbacks, now the bass is more prominent now relative to the upper frequencies so it can be a bit too strong in some bassy songs. Overall it is a much more pleasant iem while still retaining its clear BA like mids and treble.
To be clear, this mod doesn't fully rectify the brittle upper mids completely. I'd say it makes it less of a problem in 80% of songs compared to around 50% before.
Edit: this is what the material looks like. It feels like the same cloth used to make wet wipes/alcohol wipes. Insert it in a way that it basically lines the walls of the nozzle while keeping a hole the center.
Feel free to experiment with different lengths of damping material and see if it works better.
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I just listened to the cra for a few hours now with youtube music and mkv movies They sound much better in movies than music. The sound signature reminds me of one graphene earbud I had before . A bit of artificiality to vocals and timbre is not so good compared to C10 and qt5 .. cra sounds does different to the C10 and qt5. overall they are not musically inclined but if u are after movie ethereal atmospheric experience then the CRA nailed it.it could be because when listening to music your ears is constantly picking up sound vs watching a movie with various sounds and with music if u think too much about like comparison with other iems u have , u will not enjoy it. However cra had better imaging and details and separation than c10 and qt5. I could hear sounds i have never heard before with the other 2
Note: I did not test them with ultra high res stuff. Just the mainstream lossy stuff like mkv and YouTube. I can't conclude them yet as they are not even broken in.
Note: I did not test them with ultra high res stuff. Just the mainstream lossy stuff like mkv and YouTube. I can't conclude them yet as they are not even broken in.
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Unolord
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seanwee
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Did some more tinkering with the CRA. There are two holes on the body of the iem. Sealing the one on the transparent part reduces the midbass while sealing the one near the driver reduces the subbass. Sealing both just reduces the bass overall but now you'll have driver flex when putting in the iems. Its helpful for reducing the extra bass resulting from the nozzle filter mod.
There seems to be another hole on the nozzle of the iem but its sealed with plastic. Haven't tried fiddling with that yet
There seems to be another hole on the nozzle of the iem but its sealed with plastic. Haven't tried fiddling with that yet
dharmasteve
Headphoneus Supremus
Have had my CCA CRAs a few days. Immediately put Spiral Dot L on them. The CRA has very narrow bore barrels so the Spiral Dot's can come off. Out of the box treble clear, crisp, but a little forwards. After using to listen both to music, then to TV, non stop for a couple of days, the rough edges have smoothed out. Definitely a treble centric IEM....in a good way. Hard to fathom they cost me £9.10 pence. Personally I like the bass which is good on the Double Bass on Ornette Coleman, Tears Inside, maybe a tad lacking in firmness and forwardness. Guitars stand out very forwards in the mix of tracks. Staging has width and height, imaging good too, but not much depth. 2D rather than 3D. Very quick Bass, perhaps too quick in decay, so the fullness and mood of Tom Petty's, The Trip to Pirates Cove has a little more of a reserved atmosphere compared to the best. They are crystal clear and not harsh for me after a few days. They are fairly lean but natural in presentation and a really good listen. They do not portray the 'mood' and timbre of music as well as they present the precision and speed and decay of music. Nevertheless so far a really good listen. They must be the best £9.10p IEM ever. There are better out there but not for £9.10p. Now to properly burn in. Really attractive and solid build. I've now put on the KZ 8 core 3.5mm OFC Upgrade cable, which costs about £5.00. Listening done on HiBy R5, Sony Xperia 5ii. From TV, a small Bluetooth APTX (HD) Transmitter from the TV to a FiiO BTR3.
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+ mic cable, and you can rock CRA and your other treasures on Zoom calls
courierdriver
Headphoneus Supremus
Recently took possession of a couple of CCA iems; first was NRA a couple of months ago; then CRA just before Christmas. Immediately loved the CRA but initially thought that the NRA wasn't my cup of tea. Tonight I gave the NRA another listen and I was impressed. NRA works great with older metal, imho. Was listening to some Queesrhych and it sounded killer. No Sanctuary and Take Hold Of the Flame.
Mithrandir1980
100+ Head-Fier
Can you recommend a good and cheap pure copper cable for CCA CRAs?
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