CCA CA10: Up To Par Performance

Oi! mates, Welcome to my another IEM review article. What we have here right now is a product from CCA…again. I previously do a review on some of their  products, The CCA CA16 Pro and The CCA CRA.

We already know the reputation the CCA as they are the sister company of super popular brand and the “king” of entry-levels IEMs, Knowledge Zenith (KZ). Like its sister, CCA also offer some decently-tuned IEMs in the market at very competitive price that will be affordable to the starters of this audio hobby.

I have here their latest product, The CCA CA10. The CCA CA10 is an all- balanced armature driver set-up, this is not the first all-BA set-up that CCA produce as they release before the CCA A10 with 5 BA’s at each side and CCA AS16 with 8 BA’s respectively.

 The CCA CA10 are encapsulated in a good quality, large-sized, clear polycarbonate shells. It's face plate design aesthetics shares the same cues with their previous models with the likes of CCA CA16 pro albeit it has an opaque, emerald colour at the front of faceplate. There are also two (2) vents at the bottom part of the faceplate. The cavity base of the CCA CA10 consists of five (5) custom Balanced Armatures that each of them were connected individually to a sound tube towards a metal alloy nozzle. This particular set-up promises the users to have a satisfactory listening experience as  they will hear every nuances and details of each section of audio frequency spectrum. As expected, CCA still implemented a QDC-type connector on this item like most of their products.

 Like most CCA products, their packaging box and its included accessories are a bit on austere manner as they included pretty basic accessories.

The contents are:

·        A pair of CCA CA10 IEMs

·        Three (3) pairs of white ear tips of different standard sizes.

·        A white parallel SPC cable in a L-shape 3.5mm termination jack.

·        A small metal plaque

·        Some paperworks like instruction manual and Q.C. stub.

When it comes to scalability to sources. CCA CA10 is an easy to drive one as it has a low impedance rating and sufficient sensitivity marking that even a decent smartphone can properly drive it effortlessly.

 

As for tonality, CCA has an U-shape, bright sound signature as it has a noticeable bass elevation, a slightly recessed mids and a more emphasis of treble.

 

Here's my take on its respective sound characteristics of each section on its frequency spectrum.

 

LOWS/BASS

As an all-BA set, a more engaging and dynamic sounding bass isn’t one of its strengths but there are few IEMs with the same driver set-up that are exceptional that have almost replicate the sound quality of a dynamic driver. And alas, CCA CA10 isn’t one of them as it has a typical BA timbre which is a tight, a bit insufficient body texture and lack of depth.

It has a very minimal presence of sub bass at it barely reach that depth that I absolutely hear some rumbling faintly. Mid bass is a bit more prominent on this one but it has the a texture that I rate it as inadequate in my liking but the good thing is that it is well-controlled and clean that it doesn't bleed towards the midrange that ruin the whole frequency range spectrum.

Due to the insufficient amount of mid bass in my liking, The bass kick are a bit hollow, the bass guitars lack of growling characteristic and dull and bass-baritone vocals are less guttural. Despite of these limitations, I find them pleasant enough but bassheads will not adhere these kind of tuning on lows as they will absolutely dislike it.

 

MIDS:

The mids are surely on a notch in the overall tuning of CCA CA10 but they remain transparent, clean and lean sounding. Vocals presented here in towards a bit dry and more focus on clarity and female vocals are more benefited on this one rather the male vocals. Captivating, crisp and tremulous are characteristics that I describe on a female voice as they are quite contrast to a sullen and a bit warbling on male vocals due that noticeable lack of dense and note weight.

 

Instruments from percussive to winds has perceptively a more bright timbre. The piano sounds bright and vivid, the violins are vibrant and metallic, guitars has crispy and edgy presented sound and lastly a shrilly and sharp snare strikes. In general, if I give a rating on how the mids are presented, I will give them a passing mark as they have a sufficient detail and clarity.

 

HIGHS/TREBLE:

Clearly that this treble is propound on being a bright one as it has a shimmer, crisp and yet a less airy extension. The uppermids/lower treble has an obvious peak as it gives more of an energetic and clarity on some vocals' (especially female ones) and instrument's endpoint harmonics. There are some hint of sibilance especially on most sibilant-laden tracks on how hissy extends a smidge.

Cymbals strikes has a sufficient glistening and sizzle, or in some case it is a tad piercing but it has a subdued extension that it will contribute the lack of airiness on the brilliance part of treble.

 

I expected a more airiness on treble on this set as it is a strongest asset of all-BA set but CCA CA10 fall short a bit on this one.

 

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

Soundstage-wise, it is more on an average width, a natural sense of depth and more emphasis of the height as I perceived them has an odd proportion in a spatial dimension. Separation ans layering of instruments has an enough spacing and placement but in some complex instrumental tracks, its feels congested and enclose. Imaging isn’t the most accurate one just a decent to perceive directional cues on a spatial field but a tinge of being hazy.

For an all-BA  driver set, it has a good coherency as it performs very well and sounds very cohesive and resolving as possible. As for timbre, it has that metallic and tinny sounding as you expected on most cheap BA drivers.

 

To put up my conclusion on this review. To whom that I can recommend this set, Certainly not on bassheads as I mention before I’m surely that its bass quantitative aspect will not qualify on them. Vocal-centrics? Plausible, but mostly leaning towards on female voices. Trebleheads? Most likely as how the CCA CA10's tuning concentrated more on definition of its treble quality.

 

The CCA CA10 is currently price at $45/£34. I hope that you enjoy to read my content.

 

SPECIFICATION:

 MODEL: CCA CA10

IMPEDANCE: 25Ω

SENSITIVITY: 105dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE:  20Hz - 40KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.25M

PIN TYPE: QDC-TYPE 2-PIN CONNECTOR

PLUG TYPE: 3.5mm

DRIVER UNITS: Ten (10) BALANCED ARMATURES DRIVERS.

PROS:

·         Currently one of the cheapest multi-BA driver IEM in the market.

·        Good clarity especially on mids and treble.

·        Reasonably well-tuned IEM for an all BA driver setup.

·        Good build quality.

·        This is a bit different tuning compare to most of CCA products.

·        Acceptable cohesive sounding for an all-BA IEM.

 

CONS:

 ·        Definitely not for bass heads.

·        A concern for treble-sensitives who can’t tolerate upper-mids peaks.

·        QDC-type connector (Subjective)

·        Uninspiring technicalities.

Some Tracks Tested: ( * = 16-bit FLAC, ** = 24-bit FLAC, *'* = MQA, '*' = DSD, *'= .WAV)

 

Alison Krauss -When You Say Nothing At All *

Jade Wiedlin - Blue Kiss**

Led Zeppelin - When The Levee Breaks **

Mountain - Mississippi Queen *

Queen - Killer Queen **

Guns N' Roses - Patience *'*

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven '*'

Sergio Mendes- Never Gonna Let You Go '*'

Pearl Jam - Daughter **

Roselia - Hidamari Rhodonite *

Assassin - Fight (To Stop The Tyranny)*

Celtic Frost- Visual Aggression *

New Order - Blue Monday *

The Corrs- What Can I do (unplugged version) *

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child *

The Madness- Buggy Trousers *

Metallica - Motorbreath **

Mariah Carey- Always Be My Baby *

Destiny's Child - Say My Name *

Malice Mizer- Au Revoir *

Mozart - Lacrimosa *

New York Philharmonic Orchestra - Dvorak- Symphony 9 " From the New World." *

Eva Cassidy - Fields of Gold (Sting cover)*

Michael Jackson - Give In To Me *

Exciter - Violence and Force *

Diana Krall - Stop This World **

Debbie Gibson - Foolish Beat *'*

 

P.S.

I am not affiliated to CCA nor receive monetary incentives and financial gains as they provide me a review unit for an exchange of factual and sincere feedback from yours truly.

 

 Once again, I would like to thank Jeff Yang for providing this review unit, I truly appreciate on his generosity towards me and other reviewers.