Cross-posted from Dita Project 71 thread.
Time for my yearly cleaning of the original P71 with Autosol. Hit by a wave of nostalgia and decided to have a good long listen to them.
They've been with me since 2019, and 6 years owning the same IEMs is rare in this hobby. It's an extremely likeable signature. Remembered the first time I listened to them in Canjam Singapore 2019 and was totally enamoured by the presentation. The tone is superbly coherent and awash with an analogue, lush tuning, immersive as hell, and set against a wide soundstage.
Bass is subbass dominant, so it's not shy in bringing the rumble, and the thick notes do tend to linger. Midbass is gentler and flatter, bringing some levelness and preventing congestion. Utterly free of bloat or bleed, allowing the mids to shine.
The mids are the showstoppers. Arresting, timbre-correct, at times wistful and dreamy, at times syrupy and full of emotion, organic and lush, in shades of sepia and amber. Vocals, especially female, are lovely and haunting. I love every second of it.
The treble is airy, extended, most times clear and detailed, yet gentle to the ears. Some parts of the treble seem subdued to prevent harshness but owing to this some edges are blunted. It's consistent with the analog-sounding, nostalgia-inducing theme of Project 71, making you think of the choices you made while life relentlessly marches by.
Soundstage is wider then deep, and height is not too obvious. Imaging is good, quite precise, you get the mental image of sitting in the front row of a performance. But it falls short of projecting a holographic, 3D experience.
Where does it stand in today's world of multi-driver quadbrids? Technically it's a step or two behind, especially in terms of imaging, stage size, prat and absolute resolution. But there's no faulting a good tuning. I'd be proud to take this for a spin even today. In fact, I bought Project 71 knowing one day it'll make way for an all-conquering, all-powerful flagship single DD.
A8000 was too intense, FW10000 was good but not that much better than P71, and Luna was missing a good chunk of the subbass.
So here we are today. P71 still standing strong.
Time for my yearly cleaning of the original P71 with Autosol. Hit by a wave of nostalgia and decided to have a good long listen to them.
They've been with me since 2019, and 6 years owning the same IEMs is rare in this hobby. It's an extremely likeable signature. Remembered the first time I listened to them in Canjam Singapore 2019 and was totally enamoured by the presentation. The tone is superbly coherent and awash with an analogue, lush tuning, immersive as hell, and set against a wide soundstage.
Bass is subbass dominant, so it's not shy in bringing the rumble, and the thick notes do tend to linger. Midbass is gentler and flatter, bringing some levelness and preventing congestion. Utterly free of bloat or bleed, allowing the mids to shine.
The mids are the showstoppers. Arresting, timbre-correct, at times wistful and dreamy, at times syrupy and full of emotion, organic and lush, in shades of sepia and amber. Vocals, especially female, are lovely and haunting. I love every second of it.
The treble is airy, extended, most times clear and detailed, yet gentle to the ears. Some parts of the treble seem subdued to prevent harshness but owing to this some edges are blunted. It's consistent with the analog-sounding, nostalgia-inducing theme of Project 71, making you think of the choices you made while life relentlessly marches by.
Soundstage is wider then deep, and height is not too obvious. Imaging is good, quite precise, you get the mental image of sitting in the front row of a performance. But it falls short of projecting a holographic, 3D experience.
Where does it stand in today's world of multi-driver quadbrids? Technically it's a step or two behind, especially in terms of imaging, stage size, prat and absolute resolution. But there's no faulting a good tuning. I'd be proud to take this for a spin even today. In fact, I bought Project 71 knowing one day it'll make way for an all-conquering, all-powerful flagship single DD.
A8000 was too intense, FW10000 was good but not that much better than P71, and Luna was missing a good chunk of the subbass.
So here we are today. P71 still standing strong.
BTW my source is A&K SP3kT.
