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Oh no worries, I'll still post mine up and hopefully someone else can chime in with the relevant information.
Dita Audio Flagship - "The Dream"
- Thread starter Edric Li
- Start date
Oh no worries, I'll still post mine up and hopefully someone else can chime in with the relevant information.
Imissroro
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Anyone compared The Dream to the Vega at canjam singapore?
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(1,000 posts WHOO!!)
I listened to the Vega yesterday, just a quick listen. Sound signature is totally different from the Dream. More warmth, very enjoyable and musical but not really what I'm looking for.
I listened to the Vega yesterday, just a quick listen. Sound signature is totally different from the Dream. More warmth, very enjoyable and musical but not really what I'm looking for.
Rei87
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A very, very brief and in no way comprehensive review, that is targeted towards giving a crash course into what the what you get for your money, what I feel about its sound sig (with input from some other people) and some thoughts after playing around with it for a day.
First up, here are the pics of what you get for your money
I apologise for not opening up and showing the dream, as I was busy burning it in ( a contentious topic, but I will come to that later), and didnt want to pause the run track.
Anyway, you will get a
1) set of tips (small bore (highs), mid bore (reference) and large bores (lively)) in small, medium and large size each.
2)airplane adapter (abit dated in this day and age), but still good to have. That said, altitudes do mess with your hearing so ...oh well
3)leather pouch to store the Dream
4) instructional manual
5) metal card with serial number (Yay, lucky unit number 02, aka, the first production unit for public consumption as they kept 01 for themselves)
Sound impression
I will agree with the assessment, as noted by several people, that the dream is a step away from DITA's usual dark and bassy sound signature (which, while nice, isnt my cup of tea). But it is because of this, that I bought into the DITA. Dita, was as the team behind put it, their way of trying to capture the hi-fi sense of space within a small iem. When you listen to it, you sort of get what they mean, when the music is presented in a manner that seems to come to you from a speaker set up away from you, as opposed to two little iems in your ear.
However, I do believe that people who love the DITA brass, will find themselves disappointed with the dream. The dream is by no means thin or anemic in its bass quantity, but it does seem a little lean to its brass siblings. That said, if you can look away from the slightly reduced bass and focus on the presentation, note separation, and the nice sparkly highs, you will find that that sacrifice was made to bring the aforementioned characteristics one tier above its previous siblings. The dream is, in their words, the cumulation of their expertise over the years casted in titanium form.
Do note, I will state that the DITA is picky in its source. It needs, in short, power, or it will not perform at its intended potential. On the 1Z, the dream sang and the bass hit with the force of a typhoon whilst retaining what seemed like an infinitely layered bass texturing. Female vocals, sang with authority and body and a lushness I never expected.
Then, strap on a CU and that sound signature takes a slight step backwards. Without proper power, it immediately loses that sound authority. Without mentioning any specific names (to protect their/his/her integrity), a rather prominent iem maker commented that while the dream (1Z with aftermarket cable strapped on during a post canjam dinner celebration) was impeccable in its sense of coherence and layering details (by virtue of a single dynamic as opposed to multiple BAs), it lacked the bass slam he/she/they could easily achieve on a BA even with less power. Similarly, it lacked the dynamic range a multi BA set up was capable of. SO do take note of your source when demoing the unit. Remember, that DD and BAs each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and hybrids too which seek to blend these two characteristics tgt also come with its own problems.
Build quality
I believe that now would be a good time to give some credit to the build. The body is CNCed from a titanium block in a collaboration between Dita and K2Craft, a jeweller by trade who has extensive experience working with intricate parts and metal housings, which also means that the body design and material deliberate, the crafting precise, to meet exact standards. Despite the 2.5mm shell thickness, no flex in the housing was detected.
However, I did find issue with the removable cable socket. The socket, is unacceptable lose, and the dream feels prone to disconnecting itself from the cable and ending up on the floor with a painful 'thunk'. For the moment, I am using lining black tape as extra security (and peace of mind), but I do hope that I can contact DITA to work out a more elegant solution that sticky tape on an elegant iem.
Components rolling
Components rolling, yes, the dita many have been waiting for. An earlier use commented that the dita dreams wire polarity is deliberately swapped from the norms to discourage cable swapping. However, I have yet to measure it on a multimeter, so no confirmation as of now. In addition, the dream is somewhat sensitive to tip rolling. None of the provided bore matched was a perfect representation of my ideal sound (bass texture cut off, too V shaped and so on). However, I found much success with spiral dots tips, which not only added more lower mids, but also improved that overall sense of space. The extended highs contributed to that hi-fi sense of space, while the lows remained exposed in its full glory.
Summary
In a nutshell. 1) it needs a powerful player, or a powerful amp 2)excellent build quality, less than ideal socket retention. No an issue if you are careful in handling it. 3) Cable rolling possible, but need to check polarity. Tip rolling may make or break the dream's status as a single DD with the least compromise in the market.
First up, here are the pics of what you get for your money
I apologise for not opening up and showing the dream, as I was busy burning it in ( a contentious topic, but I will come to that later), and didnt want to pause the run track.
Anyway, you will get a
1) set of tips (small bore (highs), mid bore (reference) and large bores (lively)) in small, medium and large size each.
2)airplane adapter (abit dated in this day and age), but still good to have. That said, altitudes do mess with your hearing so ...oh well
3)leather pouch to store the Dream
4) instructional manual
5) metal card with serial number (Yay, lucky unit number 02, aka, the first production unit for public consumption as they kept 01 for themselves)
Sound impression
I will agree with the assessment, as noted by several people, that the dream is a step away from DITA's usual dark and bassy sound signature (which, while nice, isnt my cup of tea). But it is because of this, that I bought into the DITA. Dita, was as the team behind put it, their way of trying to capture the hi-fi sense of space within a small iem. When you listen to it, you sort of get what they mean, when the music is presented in a manner that seems to come to you from a speaker set up away from you, as opposed to two little iems in your ear.
However, I do believe that people who love the DITA brass, will find themselves disappointed with the dream. The dream is by no means thin or anemic in its bass quantity, but it does seem a little lean to its brass siblings. That said, if you can look away from the slightly reduced bass and focus on the presentation, note separation, and the nice sparkly highs, you will find that that sacrifice was made to bring the aforementioned characteristics one tier above its previous siblings. The dream is, in their words, the cumulation of their expertise over the years casted in titanium form.
Do note, I will state that the DITA is picky in its source. It needs, in short, power, or it will not perform at its intended potential. On the 1Z, the dream sang and the bass hit with the force of a typhoon whilst retaining what seemed like an infinitely layered bass texturing. Female vocals, sang with authority and body and a lushness I never expected.
Then, strap on a CU and that sound signature takes a slight step backwards. Without proper power, it immediately loses that sound authority. Without mentioning any specific names (to protect their/his/her integrity), a rather prominent iem maker commented that while the dream (1Z with aftermarket cable strapped on during a post canjam dinner celebration) was impeccable in its sense of coherence and layering details (by virtue of a single dynamic as opposed to multiple BAs), it lacked the bass slam he/she/they could easily achieve on a BA even with less power. Similarly, it lacked the dynamic range a multi BA set up was capable of. SO do take note of your source when demoing the unit. Remember, that DD and BAs each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and hybrids too which seek to blend these two characteristics tgt also come with its own problems.
Build quality
I believe that now would be a good time to give some credit to the build. The body is CNCed from a titanium block in a collaboration between Dita and K2Craft, a jeweller by trade who has extensive experience working with intricate parts and metal housings, which also means that the body design and material deliberate, the crafting precise, to meet exact standards. Despite the 2.5mm shell thickness, no flex in the housing was detected.
However, I did find issue with the removable cable socket. The socket, is unacceptable lose, and the dream feels prone to disconnecting itself from the cable and ending up on the floor with a painful 'thunk'. For the moment, I am using lining black tape as extra security (and peace of mind), but I do hope that I can contact DITA to work out a more elegant solution that sticky tape on an elegant iem.
Components rolling
Components rolling, yes, the dita many have been waiting for. An earlier use commented that the dita dreams wire polarity is deliberately swapped from the norms to discourage cable swapping. However, I have yet to measure it on a multimeter, so no confirmation as of now. In addition, the dream is somewhat sensitive to tip rolling. None of the provided bore matched was a perfect representation of my ideal sound (bass texture cut off, too V shaped and so on). However, I found much success with spiral dots tips, which not only added more lower mids, but also improved that overall sense of space. The extended highs contributed to that hi-fi sense of space, while the lows remained exposed in its full glory.
Summary
In a nutshell. 1) it needs a powerful player, or a powerful amp 2)excellent build quality, less than ideal socket retention. No an issue if you are careful in handling it. 3) Cable rolling possible, but need to check polarity. Tip rolling may make or break the dream's status as a single DD with the least compromise in the market.
WCDchee
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A very, very brief and in no way comprehensive review, that is targeted towards giving a crash course into what the what you get for your money, what I feel about its sound sig (with input from some other people) and some thoughts after playing around with it for a day.
First up, here are the pics of what you get for your money
I apologise for not opening up and showing the dream, as I was busy burning it in ( a contentious topic, but I will come to that later), and didnt want to pause the run track.
Anyway, you will get a
1) set of tips (small bore (highs), mid bore (reference) and large bores (lively)) in small, medium and large size each.
2)airplane adapter (abit dated in this day and age), but still good to have. That said, altitudes do mess with your hearing so ...oh well
3)leather pouch to store the Dream
4) instructional manual
5) metal card with serial number (Yay, lucky unit number 02, aka, the first production unit for public consumption as they kept 01 for themselves)
Sound impression
I will agree with the assessment, as noted by several people, that the dream is a step away from DITA's usual dark and bassy sound signature (which, while nice, isnt my cup of tea). But it is because of this, that I bought into the DITA. Dita, was as the team behind put it, their way of trying to capture the hi-fi sense of space within a small iem. When you listen to it, you sort of get what they mean, when the music is presented in a manner that seems to come to you from a speaker set up away from you, as opposed to two little iems in your ear.
However, I do believe that people who love the DITA brass, will find themselves disappointed with the dream. The dream is by no means thin or anemic in its bass quantity, but it does seem a little lean to its brass siblings. That said, if you can look away from the slightly reduced bass and focus on the presentation, note separation, and the nice sparkly highs, you will find that that sacrifice was made to bring the aforementioned characteristics one tier above its previous siblings. The dream is, in their words, the cumulation of their expertise over the years casted in titanium form.
Do note, I will state that the DITA is picky in its source. It needs, in short, power, or it will not perform at its intended potential. On the 1Z, the dream sang and the bass hit with the force of a typhoon whilst retaining what seemed like an infinitely layered bass texturing. Female vocals, sang with authority and body and a lushness I never expected.
Then, strap on a CU and that sound signature takes a slight step backwards. Without proper power, it immediately loses that sound authority. Without mentioning any specific names (to protect their/his/her integrity), a rather prominent iem maker commented that while the dream (1Z with aftermarket cable strapped on during a post canjam dinner celebration) was impeccable in its sense of coherence and layering details (by virtue of a single dynamic as opposed to multiple BAs), it lacked the bass slam he/she/they could easily achieve on a BA even with less power. Similarly, it lacked the dynamic range a multi BA set up was capable of. SO do take note of your source when demoing the unit. Remember, that DD and BAs each have their own strengths and weaknesses, and hybrids too which seek to blend these two characteristics tgt also come with its own problems.
Build quality
I believe that now would be a good time to give some credit to the build. The body is CNCed from a titanium block in a collaboration between Dita and K2Craft, a jeweller by trade who has extensive experience working with intricate parts and metal housings, which also means that the body design and material deliberate, the crafting precise, to meet exact standards. Despite the 2.5mm shell thickness, no flex in the housing was detected.
However, I did find issue with the removable cable socket. The socket, is unacceptable lose, and the dream feels prone to disconnecting itself from the cable and ending up on the floor with a painful 'thunk'. For the moment, I am using lining black tape as extra security (and peace of mind), but I do hope that I can contact DITA to work out a more elegant solution that sticky tape on an elegant iem.
Components rolling
Components rolling, yes, the dita many have been waiting for. An earlier use commented that the dita dreams wire polarity is deliberately swapped from the norms to discourage cable swapping. However, I have yet to measure it on a multimeter, so no confirmation as of now. In addition, the dream is somewhat sensitive to tip rolling. None of the provided bore matched was a perfect representation of my ideal sound (bass texture cut off, too V shaped and so on). However, I found much success with spiral dots tips, which not only added more lower mids, but also improved that overall sense of space. The extended highs contributed to that hi-fi sense of space, while the lows remained exposed in its full glory.
Summary
In a nutshell. 1) it needs a powerful player, or a powerful amp 2)excellent build quality, less than ideal socket retention. No an issue if you are careful in handling it. 3) Cable rolling possible, but need to check polarity. Tip rolling may make or break the dream's status as a single DD with the least compromise in the market.
Hey Aaron Doug here, Glad to see you liked the dream so much
Unity
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Unit 03 owner here. Gotta find some time to sit down and cable roll with these bad boys!
jayboy76
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Perfect synergy. Lucky 06 here.
soundblast75
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Fantastic review, thank you Rei,it is impossible for me to hear them anytime soon unless i buy emm, so as an ex Truth owner and current Vega and Oriolus big fan, not really needing any more iems(collection is large
) i nevertheless am massively tempted to get these, but your description seems very clear and accurate from what i've read till now. Point number one of a DD to me is bass, not even the biggest slam, but whole character is different to any BA, then the ability of a DD to beat top ba's in most other aspects is a real winner in my book. The Truth has to be one of the best speaker like iems despite some minor shortcomings. To hear the Dream sounds so different is both good and bad,so considering price and how ridiculously amazing Vega is out of 1A especially balanced i don't think I'll be moving on just yet
) i nevertheless am massively tempted to get these, but your description seems very clear and accurate from what i've read till now. Point number one of a DD to me is bass, not even the biggest slam, but whole character is different to any BA, then the ability of a DD to beat top ba's in most other aspects is a real winner in my book. The Truth has to be one of the best speaker like iems despite some minor shortcomings. To hear the Dream sounds so different is both good and bad,so considering price and how ridiculously amazing Vega is out of 1A especially balanced i don't think I'll be moving on just yet
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Oh wow! All 5 sets accounted for I think! Any one of you guys the middle-aged gentleman who bought the 2nd set on Day 1 of Canjam? So far only #4 not reporting in.
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Perfect synergy. Lucky 06 here.
May I know what amp that is below the hugo?
davidmolliere
Headphoneus Supremus
Great thanks for the review @Rei87, you all got them at CanJam?
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The regular retail price is $2,000, the regular retail price for the Singapore market is 2,500SGD, which is about $1,750.
The Canjam promotion is a free Opus 1 with case.
Mimouille
Headphoneus Supremus
@Rei87
Thanks for the impressions. Does it include the Awesome plug with both 3.5 and 2.5 jacks? 4.4?
Without wanting to focus on the negative, the socket issue is really unacceptable at this price, all the more so after Dita said they postponed this product because they had small issues and wanted it to be percect.
Thanks for the impressions. Does it include the Awesome plug with both 3.5 and 2.5 jacks? 4.4?
Without wanting to focus on the negative, the socket issue is really unacceptable at this price, all the more so after Dita said they postponed this product because they had small issues and wanted it to be percect.
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The Dream comes with both 3.5 SE and 2.5 Bal jacks. The 4.4 Bal jack will eventually be made available.
Actually, I have the same issue with the loose socket too. I plan to show it to Desmond whenever I meet him since he usually spend his Saturday touring the various audio stores in Singapore.
I'm not too worried about it, i'm sure Dita will do what needed to be done.
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