The Hi-Fi gods are good to me these days…
Letshouer Cadenza 12 in da house for demoing
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My impressions of Letshouer Cadenza 12
First impression: Spicy, maybe even too spicy, but the feeling of too spicy went away when I adjusted the volume.
Listening to the trebly guitar play of Nils Lofgren in “Keith don´t go” at around 3:30 was eye opening and jaw dropping.
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I never heard a more detailed and airy treble before and at the same time it was not really fatiguing (when not listening too loud)
To me there is no point in listening with these IEMs too loud anyway because everything is already there, every little detail and also in such clarity that I just did not feel like cranking up the volume too much.
The Cadenza cleary is a detail monster and made me hear things I did not notice before in some tracks.
My thoughts before applying to this demo tour were, pfff that´s waaaay to little bass in order for me to really like it but I was curious about the treble and technicalities.
But there is something magical with the tuning and it is masterfully done.
Even though there is not as much bass as I would like I really really enjoyed the overall presentation and was listening to a full hour without missing any bass…I was kinda shocked.
I must say that I mostly listened to more mellow stuff, vocals, instruments, really good mastered songs and so on…it was pure bliss.
A song that stood out a lot and really blew my mind was Crazy by Daniela Andrade
Treble tuning and detail retrieval can not be done better was what I thought
Female vocals can not become better than this was another thought I had.
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There were also a few electronic beats coming up that really had enough bass even for me hobby basshead.
When the track calls for it, it is there and is really satisfying and of very good quality.
One example was Boris Brejcha - Schwarz
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The midbass to my ears is VERY DRY, but i liked it.
It is very clear and controlled like the rest of the frequency range.
I then moved on to Techno/Hip Hop/Metal and that was where most of the time I was missing that OOOMPH, depending on track and recording quality.
So for me it would not be a good allrounder, more something that I would use for critical listening and pure audiophile eargasms with the right tracks/genres.
It would be the perfect IEM to pair with Empire Ears EVO in which I fell in love last weekend.
A match made in heaven and a perfect endgame match to leave the hobby with.
I like the idea of having two sets that complement each other like these two would because you can not have all in one Set imho.
If you raise the bass too much you will never get that openness and clarity.
Cadenza reminded me of Mest MKII and also my Kinda Lava.
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Cadenza is more gentle to my ears than Kinda Lava and I guess it must be the tuning of the upper mids that make it easier for my ears to listen to.
I posted the graph of how Kinda Lava was supposed to be (Not the retail version) That should be a little closer to my retuned KL with +3db bass.
In the midrange Cadenza and KL are very much alike but with KL having more midbass giving the lower midrange more noteweight.
Upper midrange is what sets them apart the most.
Mest MKII also seemed a little more agressive but I did not have nearly as much time with it as with my Kinda Lava and Cadenza but maybe I also turned the volume too loud when i demoed it last weekend.
Technically Cadenza and Mest MKII seem to be on par maybe with a slight advantage for MEST and I am really happy to say that my Kinda Lava really is not too far behind these two sets.
Don´t nail me down on MEST MKII comparisson though as I did not have that much time with it.
Stereo separation and layering was something that stood out for me. FANTASTIC!
Hearing Simon in one ear and Art Garfunkel in the other ear, both so clear and separated from the guitar was very enjoyable
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I am not sure about stage, I did not have the feeling that it is much wider than Kinda Lava but maybe a little deeper/higher which gives a better sense of dimension.
For me it´s hard to describe…it´s just a bit more wowy
Tomorrow I will play with my Loki mini and also X-Bass to see how it performs with more bass but today I did not feel the need to do so which is remarkable already.
If your main genres are vocal and instrumental stuff and not too bassheavy stuff you can not go wrong with Cadenza imho.
Well done Letshouer!
(Testing was done with FiiO K7 and Azla Xelastecs)
