Posted by Pros: Authoritative Sub-Bass
Beautiful shells when they catch the light
Good unboxing and accessories
Midrange Boost makes for entertaining listening to almost all genres
Cons: Can be sibilant to some treblets (!)
That BA timbre creeps in on some voices
I don’t care too much but staging and imaging could be better
Drivers 2DDs+4BAs(Custom Co-design Bellsing 28Useries- 800Hz-3Khz Specific Working Range)+4Knowles (SWFK)
Configuration 2Low +4Mids+4Highs
Tuning 3Ways(Passive)/ Triple-Bores
Freq Response 10Hz-40Khz
Sensitivity 113dB/mW
Impedance 15Ω
Isolation -20db
THD Distortion 0.5%±0.1%
Cable 3in1 Modular Cable(4.4/3.5/2.5mm)
So there’s this river in Colombia that turns every colour of the rainbow (at least the pink, blue, red, orange, yellow, green end) a few months in the year due the growth of a plant called Rhyncholacis and a blue algae. Interestingly there’s a bunch of silly musical references that one can make with this river. It arises from a mountain range called Serrania de la … wait for it Macarena. It’s also a tributary of a river that forms part of the Orinoco Basin (Enya face!!!)
That bit of fun info out the way, the Hisenior Cano Cristales is an interesting thing that came by my way via a generous friend for trial and review and appears to be the third in the list of fat bottomed IEMs to come my way after the Dunu Davinci and Simgot EM10.
Now the IEM itself is beautiful. Semitransparent purple resin with a stained wood faceplate which in turn is purple, blue and gold. Each piece again, like nature and the river itself is unique. The set being a multidriver hybrid is a largish set which makes it hard for me to wear it for a long time but it comes with a nicely sized metal nozzle with a mesh and a hole for pressure relief with a small metal grommet around it. I tried it with Velvet standard, Velvet wide bore. Sancai and Candy, S&S tips. S & S and Sancai gave me the best fit. Note I have a small pinna with a cavernous ear canal.
The box comes with the iems, a Manatee case with a magnetic and button closure, modular cable with 2.5, 3.5, and 4.4 terminations. It also comes with like a dozen pairs of silicone tips (bass (why??), balanced and soft balanced and finally 2 pairs of foam tips.
The set is a multidriver with 2 DD and 8 BA split into 2 arrays of 4 each for mids and highs. This leads to a solid authoritative low end with a warm overall signature but preserved details and energy. Best of all worlds? Maybe let’s see.
Bass
This is undoubtedly a bass head IEM. The Subbass rumble fills one’s ears and yet has control and decay and does not bloat or spread beyond the limits of the frequency band. There is a little midbass muddiness in tracks like Angel (Massive Attack) and Doing It Right (Daft Punk) but on Makeba by Jain, the subbass, bass, and kicks work in unison to create a solid foundation for Jain’s voice and synths.
On Didi, the live version, the bass kicking in at 35 seconds, brought a smile to my face and got me grooving remembering the first time this song turned up on MTV India. On Wanna be Startin’ Somethin’ by Michael Jackson, the bass notes that form the entire groove are pleasing to hear and at the same time authoritative enough to get the head bopping. The bass does not bloat or bleed and is thoroughly enjoyable across genres. If a track has been mastered well and the source is neutral the IEM seems to know how much to throw in on the low end. Daft Punk in particular, their entire repertoire, has been such fun!
Mids
The mids are similar to the other Hisenior offerings (for eg Mega5est). They are natural, slightly pushed forward. They take advantage of the low end so the lower mids have weight but are not overpowered. There is a slight shoutiness that creeps in on Take Me to Church when Hozier belts it out, but this seems to both ear tip and volume dependent. Separation of voices and instruments is excellent on wider bore eartips with every voice on Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes by Paul Simon and Helplessly Hoping (both the CSNY original and my beloved Girl Named Tom) is clearly enunciated. Female vocals have a natural timbre and are melodious without being fatiguing or shouty.
Guitars, synths and organs sound natural and slightly boosted on tracks like Lingus by Snarky Puppy.
Highs
There’s a slight sibilance that can creep in with some (not all tracks) that again can be sorted out with tip rolling or even source rolling. On Dreams by Fleetwood Mac, every component sounds perfect except for the crash which raises an eyebrow when it first gets into the track on the intro and then before and in the middle of every chorus. Don Henley’s vocals on Hotel California is surprisingly not too shabby in the sibilance department. Snares and claps on Holler by the Spice Girls are also borderline painfully sharp. I’m beginning to believe this is a BA problem rather than a treble issue. The BA implementation lacks air and shimmer but does give out the details as they are meant to.
Staging
This leads to a slightly contracted stage. More a room than a hall or hangar. Definitely not in your face, small box, TVA torture type situation but definitely not like Simgot EM10. The imaging also could be better, both on Bubbles and Hotel California while the general direction of the instruments was fairly clear, their exact placement could be better.
This is the IEM I think the Dunu Davinci wanted to be but ended up being the bloated bass monster instead. The details the Cano Cristales reproduces while also doing full justice and more to the bass makes it a clear choice for me. The Davinci takes a more laid back approach to the entire spectrum focussing on the low end and being safe in the treble and slightly messy in between. Between EM10 and this, I think it would boil down to fit and personal preference. I would pick this since I don’t game and don’t care as much about imaging as I do about the treble and that piezo worries me slightly. This set could do with tip rolling and EQ to get the sound signature where most people would find it engaging and fun and thoroughly enjoyable.