After 3 weeks with Craft Ears Six (Universal) I just wanted to share some toughts with you guys. For this past time I almost went as far as to make them my daily and not only because I've got them for limited period of time. CE Four are pretty outstanding but Six represent something of a much higher - in my opinion - sound quality and performance. And these have just 2 extra BA's per side and some in-house tech.
Before I'll get into details, something about the whole "ecosystem" they we're listened in. First of all, Jed sent me these with 3 pair of Azla Sedna Short eartips and Rhapsodio OCC Mk2 3,5mm cable. Because of the deep, almost custo-like insertion, I've stayed with the S-size. My main DAPs are iBasso DX221 (AMP1 mk2) and Sony WM1A @DMP-Z1 1.02 software. I've also tried them with Effect Audio Ares II 2,5mm to go balanced with WM1A and Aune S6 Pro
Overall signature is a little warm, very lifelike, natural and organic, quite smooth, with excelent dynamics.
Bass: My first tought - Is there a dynamic driver and Jed went with a hybrid design? I called him personaly to confirm that and he laughed saying that Six are all-BA design and that it's all because of the RASEN tech inside which is 3D-printed, carefully calculated sound tube. The low notes go deep into the sub-region with a feeling of physical rumble. The last time I've got such a feeling from BA-bass was with Unique Melody Mentor v3 and we are talking a 2100$ earphones here. The bass has an excellent body with a little longer decay than you could expect from armature drivers. I found it to be suitable all across the genres but what excites me the most are the drums. The thump of a double bass drum. The hard-hitting and precise snare and toms. The deep, full sound of floor toms. All is in place and gives a really life-like presentation that exictes me after almost three weeks of daily listening.
Midrange: in comparision to Four the newest Craft Ears definitely has more body especially in the lower region which blends well with elevated upper-bass. Because of that change, the guitars doesn't sound lean yet retain lots of energy. This also gives the male vocals the necessary thickness. Female vocals feel very natural, sweet and smooth without any fatiguing sharpness but also without making them dull or nasal for my taste. For example Lana del Rey, Agnes Obel or Susanne Sundfor sound just so, so amazing it's hard to express how much I loved listening to them on CESix. The vocals are still pushed a little closer to the listener and elevated giving them the prominence but without overshadowing the instruments behind them. The resolution of midrange is one of the strongest feats of Sixes and it litteraly made my jaw drop a few times. The ability to separate lead and rhythm guitars all while giving the ability to listen to them both at the same time completely effortlessly was stunning. Listening to "Trivium - Shogun" left me shocked and amazed. Something beautiful.
Highs: higher notes weren't overdone. They are quite well extended, but smooth, sweet with an accent on the lower part. Once again the drums - all the cymbals have near-perfect timbre and sound amazingly lifelike. I haven't had any problems with distinguishing different types of cymbals. You won't experience here a lot of brightness, no sharpness, nor a huge amount of shininess as the Six take different approach. Thanks to that while still being quite detailed and precise, they are rather polite and musical and I have never had a tought that they sound tiresome. Also higher notes ten do sound a little bit behind vocals on some tracks but without being overshadowed or pushed too much to the back of the soundstage.
Soundstage, separation etc: That is the part that didn't throw me to my knees at the beginning but I've quickly saw how much goodness Jed concluded in that part of their technical aspects. First of all, there is no feeling off an amazing wideness and airiness you probably got with Fours. All because the Six have much bigger, thicker sound notes. There is still decent amount of air between them but most of all they have well defined edges. The soundstage is well extended in both width and depth and the stereo effect is outstanding, but the height is just very good. What is the most jaw-dropping is the ability to discern many different layers of soundstage, the precise placement of sound notes and the ability to make it sound very fluent. Those sound notes aren't fixed in place but when the record allows it, they can change their position coming closer of further away in different parts of the track which I loved. Also they are really detailed earphones but without the tendency to bring the microdetails up-front and mixing them with the main sounds. Instead the micro-details stay in the background where is their place, which further compliments that great depth layering. And I've found Six to be almosty as detailed as... AKG N5005. Not a joke. the AKG which I find insanely detailed for their price range sounded only a touch clearer due to their brighter, more reference-like signature.
There is one thing which can make Craft Ears Six sound either very good or very amazing. The records. I've found them to be a bit picky when it comes to the records quality and those with worse mastering sometimes sounded a little odd especially when it comes to midrange. For example "Orbit Culture - The Shadowing" - the midrange on this track sounds dull and completely without focus. The guitars are blurry and while I love this track, it sounded just bad on Six. So... that's that.
The Six are great. Few days prior to getting CE Six from Jed I had an opportunity to listen to CA Andromeda v3 and while I consder Andro to be really outstanding earphones... I think I would go with the CE Six for that price.
Before I'll get into details, something about the whole "ecosystem" they we're listened in. First of all, Jed sent me these with 3 pair of Azla Sedna Short eartips and Rhapsodio OCC Mk2 3,5mm cable. Because of the deep, almost custo-like insertion, I've stayed with the S-size. My main DAPs are iBasso DX221 (AMP1 mk2) and Sony WM1A @DMP-Z1 1.02 software. I've also tried them with Effect Audio Ares II 2,5mm to go balanced with WM1A and Aune S6 Pro
Overall signature is a little warm, very lifelike, natural and organic, quite smooth, with excelent dynamics.
Bass: My first tought - Is there a dynamic driver and Jed went with a hybrid design? I called him personaly to confirm that and he laughed saying that Six are all-BA design and that it's all because of the RASEN tech inside which is 3D-printed, carefully calculated sound tube. The low notes go deep into the sub-region with a feeling of physical rumble. The last time I've got such a feeling from BA-bass was with Unique Melody Mentor v3 and we are talking a 2100$ earphones here. The bass has an excellent body with a little longer decay than you could expect from armature drivers. I found it to be suitable all across the genres but what excites me the most are the drums. The thump of a double bass drum. The hard-hitting and precise snare and toms. The deep, full sound of floor toms. All is in place and gives a really life-like presentation that exictes me after almost three weeks of daily listening.
Midrange: in comparision to Four the newest Craft Ears definitely has more body especially in the lower region which blends well with elevated upper-bass. Because of that change, the guitars doesn't sound lean yet retain lots of energy. This also gives the male vocals the necessary thickness. Female vocals feel very natural, sweet and smooth without any fatiguing sharpness but also without making them dull or nasal for my taste. For example Lana del Rey, Agnes Obel or Susanne Sundfor sound just so, so amazing it's hard to express how much I loved listening to them on CESix. The vocals are still pushed a little closer to the listener and elevated giving them the prominence but without overshadowing the instruments behind them. The resolution of midrange is one of the strongest feats of Sixes and it litteraly made my jaw drop a few times. The ability to separate lead and rhythm guitars all while giving the ability to listen to them both at the same time completely effortlessly was stunning. Listening to "Trivium - Shogun" left me shocked and amazed. Something beautiful.
Highs: higher notes weren't overdone. They are quite well extended, but smooth, sweet with an accent on the lower part. Once again the drums - all the cymbals have near-perfect timbre and sound amazingly lifelike. I haven't had any problems with distinguishing different types of cymbals. You won't experience here a lot of brightness, no sharpness, nor a huge amount of shininess as the Six take different approach. Thanks to that while still being quite detailed and precise, they are rather polite and musical and I have never had a tought that they sound tiresome. Also higher notes ten do sound a little bit behind vocals on some tracks but without being overshadowed or pushed too much to the back of the soundstage.
Soundstage, separation etc: That is the part that didn't throw me to my knees at the beginning but I've quickly saw how much goodness Jed concluded in that part of their technical aspects. First of all, there is no feeling off an amazing wideness and airiness you probably got with Fours. All because the Six have much bigger, thicker sound notes. There is still decent amount of air between them but most of all they have well defined edges. The soundstage is well extended in both width and depth and the stereo effect is outstanding, but the height is just very good. What is the most jaw-dropping is the ability to discern many different layers of soundstage, the precise placement of sound notes and the ability to make it sound very fluent. Those sound notes aren't fixed in place but when the record allows it, they can change their position coming closer of further away in different parts of the track which I loved. Also they are really detailed earphones but without the tendency to bring the microdetails up-front and mixing them with the main sounds. Instead the micro-details stay in the background where is their place, which further compliments that great depth layering. And I've found Six to be almosty as detailed as... AKG N5005. Not a joke. the AKG which I find insanely detailed for their price range sounded only a touch clearer due to their brighter, more reference-like signature.
There is one thing which can make Craft Ears Six sound either very good or very amazing. The records. I've found them to be a bit picky when it comes to the records quality and those with worse mastering sometimes sounded a little odd especially when it comes to midrange. For example "Orbit Culture - The Shadowing" - the midrange on this track sounds dull and completely without focus. The guitars are blurry and while I love this track, it sounded just bad on Six. So... that's that.
The Six are great. Few days prior to getting CE Six from Jed I had an opportunity to listen to CA Andromeda v3 and while I consder Andro to be really outstanding earphones... I think I would go with the CE Six for that price.
