CVJ FREEDOM: Freethoughts On Its Tonal Aspects
"I prefer liberty with danger than peace with slavery."
~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Swiss-French political philosopher, Father of French Revolution.
It seems that CVJ are now in freedom mode as they finally break their shackle of mediocrity this year as they keep releasing new products on a monthly basis. Since the release of the CVJ Mei that receive a majority of positive feedback from its users and some reviewers, CVJ looks like they are good path on how they deliver their recent products in ultra-budget to entry-level segment
This is their latest product, CVJ Freedom. This set seems to follow the footsteps of Mei as it has the same driver system and also has a tuning switches. CVJ Freedom is an IEM with hybrid driver set-up consist of 1 dynamic driver and 4 custom balanced armature drivers. The dynamic driver has new type of material, a nanophase ceramic on its diaphragm which has better fracture resistance, high ductility rating and good hardness to deliver a more rumbling and deeper pitch on the low frequencies while the 4 custom balanced armature drivers that handles the midrange up to the ultra-high frequencies to give a more texture, clarity and detail across its respective frequency ranges. All drivers are connected to a tiny electronic crossover board to adjust electrical waves to deliver a constant and seamless sonic performance with less chance of distortion issues.
The internal components are encapsulated in a shell chassis made of composite materials, an aluminium alloy and acrylic resin. The shell chassis seems to take a CIEM-style shape that will be more versatile when it comes to fitting in almost ear sizes and its aluminium alloy faceplate looks like it undergoes a sandblasting process to give that matte-finish look. At the top of its cavity base, there we can find two toggle switches for different tuning modes. Its interlocking mechanism has an improved QDC-type 2-pin connector.
CVJ finally upped the quality of their stock cable on their flagships as it introduced a new type of cable, a 4-core, 5N rated OFC copper wire insulated with PU coating. That quality of new stock cable is somehow sturdy, stiff yet malleable enough and less prone to entangling. It is also noted this one has also a modular termination where you interchange it with three types of different plugs either its a 3.5mm single ended, 2.5mm balanced or 4.4mm balanced for various output jacks in desktop audio interfaces, USB dongles or DAPs.
As for fitting and comfort, CVJ Freedom seems to fit pretty well on my lugholes and I can wear them for long listening sessions without any feeling of listening fatigue. It has good isolation as it able to block a substantial amount of external noise from the outside surroundings.
When it comes to product packaging, CVJ Freedom appears to even level up its product presentation on how it compartmentalises its inclusions. It has a rubber-like surface on its navy blue-coloured medium-size rectangular box and at the bottom, there's even a drawer type compartment where you find other accessories that were put there.
Here are the following contents inside from the box:
■ a pair of emerald-coloured CVJ IEMs.
■ modular stock cable with 4.4mm balanced termination plug.
■ three (3) pairs of white-coloured balanced bore ear tips in different standard sizes.
■ 2.5mm balanced termination plug.
■ 3.5mm SE termination plug.
■ Tuning pin.
■ IEM velvet cloth pouch.
■ Some paperwork like instruction manual, Q.C. card and warranty card.
CVJ Freedom is easy to drive as it scale well even on devices with decent power output like smartphones, tablets and laptops. It is even quite loud enough even at 30-40% volume level on my LG phones with good DACs.
Due to its tuning switches that gives more flavour on its sonic profiles that makes CVJ Freedom an even more versatile set. Here are its tuning settings with specific tuning.
Legend: ■ = Switch up, □ = Switch down
□□ = a warmer, U-shaped sound signature.
■■ = similar to □□ with some emphasis on the treble region.
■□ = a brighter V-shaped due to more accentuated upper mids to presence treble region.
□■ = a tad warmer V-shaped, more emphasis on bass.
LOWS/BASS:
This is one of the most prominent parts of the CVJ Freedom's frequency range as it is quite potent, impactful and authoritative bass response but depending on tuning setting, the bass quality sounds either punchy or boomy to the point they are way too boosted in my liking.
Sub bass shows a good rumbling and as I was able to discerningly feel it when I hear some synth-pop, hip-hop and RnB tracks with instruments like synthesisers, low tone bass guitar or octabass and drum machines. Mid-bass is well-textured as it even give more density and weight on its notes and pitches particularly on bass kick drums, bass guitars and bass-baritone vocals.
□□ & □■ = too boosted and exaggerated to the point that it smudges across the midrange frequency. Bass guitars sounds broad and weighty as it roars while bass kick drums have a thunderous and authoritative sound, and then it give more dark and guttural sound on bass-baritone vocals.
■■ & ■□ = It has a punchy bass presentation as it somehow lessens the bass smearing that might muddle the overall frequency range but it still remains a vigorous sounding. Bass guitars sound more resonant and sonorous then the bass kick drums have a thudding and less boomy sound. Bass-baritone vocals sound almost the same as I don't notice changes in its characteristic.
MIDRANGE
In all tuning settings, the CVJ Freedom somehow recessed and was a tad leaner in overall presentation but it depends on the tuning mode. The settings □□ and □■ has an added warmth on it that will be favourable on vocals like baritone, tenor and contraltos, then on instruments like some brasses and percussives. And then ■■ and ■□ mode gives a more transparent, brighter and crisper which is beneficial on vocals like mezzo-sopranos, sopranos and countertenors but at the expense of having that shrilly, screech and hoot sound that will certainly be problematic to some listeners who are particularly sensitive on these peaks.
□□ & □■ - It gives a substantial note weight on vocals to have a sufficient depth and texture on its tone. Baritones have a velvety and warm sound, tenors have that dazzling tone from them particularly on dramatic and lyric types like Jose Carrera and Placido Domingo but on Luciano Pavarotti, it seems that there's a lacking of depth on his vocal especially on his performance on "La Donna E Mobile" in my opinion. Contraltos seems to sound fine here as it has sufficient strength, chesty vocal registers from the voices of Annie Lennox and Anggun. On instruments, It gives a more a tad warmer and rounded tone on brasses like trumpets, trombones and horns, a bit booming sound on both field and tom drums, a velvety sound on marimbas and rustling and hard sound on snare drums. On strings like acoustic guitars and violins, they have a warmer sound to give the guitars a throaty to a balanced sound and an eloquent yet solemn sound on violins.
■■ & ■□ - this setting gives a more brighter, energetic and sharper tone in vocals particularly on female ones and some instruments like woodwinds and strings. On mezzo-sopranos, it gives a more fiery and gleaming tone on the vocal qualities of Andrea Corr and Stevie Nicks which I think in my opinion is a bit unnatural. Surprisingly, that countertenors sound good on this one, as I listened to operatic types like Andreas Scholl or from King Diamond on the heavy metal side as they sound similar to a castrato that is coppery and has that tingly smooth vocals. Sopranos have those gleaming, shimmering and metallic tones to the point that it is somewhat overdone particularly on lyrical and coloratura types that might be too jarring and scratchy as I listen to Diana Damrau and Cecilia Bartoli. On instruments, concert flutes have penetrating and shrill sound from them while saxophones and clarinets have this reedy and forceful tone. String instruments likes acoustic guitars have bright and crisper tone while violins sound lively albeit tad shrilly and metallic tone from it. Celestas have a bell-like and glistening sound while pianos have a brighter and ceiling tone from them due to the boosted mids to treble region.
HIGHS/TREBLE:
This is definitely accentuated and elevated as it sound really bright, sparkly and crisp but adjusting its switches into ■■ or ■□ mode will even boost the upper-mids to the brilliance to have more sheen, edgy and airier but the at expense of being sibilant as it has excessive hissing on some consonants and instances of being strident and added by the tinny and metallic nature of its BA.
□□ & □■ - These settings have a "balanced" treble with sufficient brightness and sufficiently detailed. The airy extension of its brilliance treble region is somehow subdued and cymbals sound soughing and undulating while it captures a realistic tone of hi hats to have a distinctive shortened buzzing sound.
■■ & ■□ - Overly bright in my opinion, it overemphasis the tone and timbre of vocals and percussives like cymbals, triangle, and bells. Cymbals and triangles have these piercing and splashy sounds while bells have too many overtones that it sounds too metallic and bright in my opinion. Although it has a more airy on its brilliance treble region.
SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING AND OTHER TECHNICALITIES:
It has an average to above average sound/speaker stage in sidewise, a good height reach and good depth from front to rear to give me an adequate headroom and yet and immersive within my aural sphere.
On imaging, this quite interesting as it presents a concave, two-dimensional stereo panning as I was able to locate the placement of instruments and vocals with good separation and decent layering although it presents a two layer arrangement rather than a multi-layered presentation in a sonic canvass but it was able to render on more complex tracks.
It has a good cohesive performance of its multi-driver set up as it was able to deliver a moderate transient along with its gradual decay. On resolution capability, they perform pretty well on both macro-dynamics and micro-detail retrieval as it has solid texture and emotive notation attacks on macro-dynamics and a sharper and delineated definition on extracting details and nuances of infos from audio tracks. The tonal and timbre is much on brighter side of the tonal spectrum, a less organic in my opinion.
PEER COMPARISONS:
CVJ MEI
● Both have similar driver set-up and a toggle switch on their features with its erstwhile elder sister but difference was that the MEI has an all aluminium alloy built on its shell chassis and it has lesser numbers of BA drivers but it has a Knowles BA inside. When it comes product packaging, Mei has simpler approach and the stock cable is rather plain and average that there's to say about it.
● The MEI has still more balanced, more refined and probably even more natural tonality particularly on DD + Knowles BA setting as I don't hear even a hint of harshness nor sibilance. Although its DD mode setting was one of worst tuning that I've ever encountered in my audio review hobby experience as it is too subdued and too low-res sounding. They have similar technical performance albeit MEI has a typical two-dimensional stereo presentation and less sharper micro-detail retrieval.
KIWI EARS QUARTET
● They have similar hybrid driver set-up but QUARTET has a different layout as it has a dual dynamic and two BAs inside. Like FREEDOM, it has two toggle switches but its shells are made of high quality medical-grade resin in a more familiar UIEM form factor. It has a decent stock cable although it's not modular unlike the FREEDOM's stock cable but the product packaging is somehow decent with some quantified amount of inclusions included inside the box.
● The QUARTET has a warmer U-shaped sound signature despite the presence of tuning switches as it only marginally boosts some parts of its frequency spectrum. Tonally-wise it has a more analogue-ish feel on its sonic profile compared to a more digital and "hi-res" tuning approach of the FREEDOM. On technical performance, compared to FREEDOM in a mano-a-mano fashion. It has less capability and underperform in all aspect from sound/speaker stage size up to resolution-capability, but one thing that QUARTET has that it has less BA timbre.
To sum up my review on this one, CVJ again steamrolled its way to the ever competitive audio market as it tries to be more compelling and valuable enough to be purchased. Its tuning isn't really my cup of tea as it doesn't suit well and aligned with my preferred tonal choice. But its technical capabilities, newly introduced modular cable along with its impressive product presentation will somehow mitigate its tonal shortcomings and it should be taken into consideration to try it out. Remember, as its tuning is not my alley but it might be a eureka moment to other audio enthusiasts. Just keep improving and always keep listening to its product feedback, Good job CVJ in this one.
CVJ FREEDOM is now both available on Shopee and Aliexpress, you can check them out in the provided unaffiliated links below.
Here are my previous reviews of some CVJ products before:
SPECIFICATION:
MODEL: CVJ FREEDOM
IMPEDANCE: 22Ω
SENSITIVITY: 116dB
FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 20KHz
CABLE LENGTH: 1.2M
PIN TYPE: QDC-TYPE 2-PIN CONNECTOR
PLUG TYPE: MODULAR 3.5MM, 2.5MM, 4.4MM
DRIVER UNIT(S): 1 DYNAMIC DRIVER + 4 BALANCED ARMATURE DRIVERS
PROS:
△ Solid built quality of its composite shell chassis
△ Finally, a newly improved stock cable with better materials and a thicker profile.
△ Modular and detachable termination plugs for versatility on output sources
△ Three types of termination plugs to choose from, a 3.5mm SE, a 4.4mm balanced and a 2.5mm balanced output.
△ Remarkable product presentation.
△ Working toggle switches for different types of sonic profiles.
△ Authoritative bass.
△ Sufficiently clean and detail sounding.
△ Above-average technical capabilities.
CONS:
▽ Recessed and lean midrange.
▽ Noticeable bass bleeds on some tuning settings.
▽ Overwhelming too bright on some tuning settings.
▽ Instances of having a jarring, sibilant and tinny sound especially on upper-mids and treble boosts setting modes. Undoubtedly, not for treble sensitive blokes out there.
▽ Sorry neutral heads, this set is definitely not for you.
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 *'*
The Sisters of Mercy – Lucretia My Reflection**
Suzanne Vega – Luka **
Lauren Christy – Steep *
Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi *
Diana Damrau - Mozart: Die Zauberflöte*
Type O Negative - Black No.1 *
Felix Ayo - Vivaldi: Presto **
P.S.
I am not affiliated to CVJ HIFI 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 send my gratitude to the CVJ team especially to CVJ LOVE for sending this review unit. I truly appreciate their generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.
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