Dotts M - Bluetooth headphones with ANC, Aptx HD etc.

[Lrasanen]

Hi!

I came across an Indiegogo crowdfund for a pair of rather nicely customizable BT headphones called Dotts M:
https://igg.me/at/dotts-m/x/19081082

Spec-wise these seem very interesting with ANC, AptX HD (plus AAC, AptX and AptX LL) and 40 hour battery life on board, just to name a few.

Here the spec-sheet from the Indiegogo page:

The crowdfunding is on for another 5 days or so. I already pulled the trigger and backed them up. Please, use the link above in case you're interested in backing this up, thank you!



P.S. I have no associations with the Dotts M, other than that I backed the Indiegogo fund.

 

[Sonic Defender]

I have to be honest and say that a 36mm driver is certainly going a little smallish (but not a huge problem) and the graph has a few areas that worry me a little. Still, I will certainly follow this and hope that for backers it gets produced and we eventually get some listening impressions. Thanks for posting this.

 

[Lrasanen]

I have to be honest and say that a 36mm driver is certainly going a little smallish (but not a huge problem) and the graph has a few areas that worry me a little. Still, I will certainly follow this and hope that for backers it gets produced and we eventually get some listening impressions. Thanks for posting this.

Yup, honestly, I absolutely missed the driver size (somehow, I expect all of them to be at least 40 mm these days)... Well, I'm keen on seeing how this turns out. Like I said, the specs (aside from the drivers) got me intrigued.

 

[iagoxmm]

Specs speaking looks nice, comparing to other bluetooth headphone. It has a great battery, very light and very flexible, and for around 100 Euros... I just don't know if it folds, which would be a very nice feature to have.

What would be the problems with this driver?

 

[Sonic Defender]

Smaller drivers have distortion characteristics unique to size. That isn't to say that the distortion is always problematic or that it can't be significantly mitigated, but it can't be ignored either. I look at the frequency plot and see what may be loss of deeper bass, which wouldn't be surprising, a suck out at about 5kHz followed by a pretty large spike (relative to the adjacent frequencies anyway). In general it may mean that (but not for sure) that the bass will be mid-bass focused which may lead to a boomy and congested sound, again, not guaranteed, and with a somewhat uneven and peaky response up top.

Again, measurements aren't everything, they are important, but there are many examples of a headphone that doesn't measure that well, and yet it still can sound good. It also looks like it will have a romantic midrange (lush) which can be great for certain preferences and musical styles. It will really depend on how well integrated and coherent the signature is. That is how I'm interpreting the frequency plot, but I don't pretend to be an expert and I most certainly have seen worse. This will also be an affordable and highly portable Bluetooth headphone if it reaches production so one also needs to be realistic in what you expect and what compromises are made. All headphones have strengths and weaknesses and I would most certainly be interested in hearing this headphone.

 

[trellus]

These look interesting -- specs seem pretty solid except 36mm does seem strangely small these days -- Sennheiser HD 600/650 have 38 mm drivers, but totally different kind of headphone, obviously, and the newer 660S have 40mm drivers -- hell, even my diminutive little on-ear Audio Technica wireless SR5BT have 45mm drivers and weigh in at 185 g, virtually the same as these (180 g).

Still, a very interesting feature set, for sure, and I'm hoping @Lrasanen definitely posts his impressions as soon as they arrive!

I really like that you can choose ear pad size -- I suspect ear pads will change sound signature, of course.

 

[Lrasanen]

Still, a very interesting feature set, for sure, and I'm hoping @Lrasanen definitely posts his impressions as soon as they arrive!

I`ll certainly post my impression on these once they arrive

 

[Lrasanen]

Specs speaking looks nice, comparing to other bluetooth headphone. It has a great battery, very light and very flexible, and for around 100 Euros... I just don't know if it folds, which would be a very nice feature to have.

We are on the same page here, unfortunately it seems that these don`t fold.

Smaller drivers have distortion characteristics unique to size. That isn't to say that the distortion is always problematic or that it can't be significantly mitigated, but it can't be ignored either. I look at the frequency plot and see what may be loss of deeper bass, which wouldn't be surprising, a suck out at about 5kHz followed by a pretty large spike (relative to the adjacent frequencies anyway). In general it may mean that (but not for sure) that the bass will be mid-bass focused which may lead to a boomy and congested sound, again, not guaranteed, and with a somewhat uneven and peaky response up top.

Again, measurements aren't everything, they are important, but there are many examples of a headphone that doesn't measure that well, and yet it still can sound good. It also looks like it will have a romantic midrange (lush) which can be great for certain preferences and musical styles. It will really depend on how well integrated and coherent the signature is. That is how I'm interpreting the frequency plot, but I don't pretend to be an expert and I most certainly have seen worse. This will also be an affordable and highly portable Bluetooth headphone if it reaches production so one also needs to be realistic in what you expect and what compromises are made. All headphones have strengths and weaknesses and I would most certainly be interested in hearing this headphone.

Thank you for the comprehensive description about the driver size! It`s always nice to learn something new

Regarding the frequency profile and sound in general. I personally enjoy tight, kicking, bass (mid-bass) with a bit push from the sub-bass (e.g. AKG Y50bt) and overall a clear presentation from mids and treble. Indeed the graph of the Dotts M show a bit bloated mid-bass, hope it doesn’t translate to soundin boomy. Anyhow, weather it sounds good or not is vastly subjective.

 

[Sonic Defender]

Yes, sound is subjective for sure and the only thing that matters is what you feel about what you hear.