DITA MECHA: Lush, Rich and Coloured Sound Flagship Set

Mecha is a subgenre of a Japanese anime/manga culture that became one of the most popular type of entertainment literature among international audiences as this one pertains to a sci-fi context that revolves around humanoid-like piloted machines or robots with advanced weaponry that are used on combat on mostly terrestrial, aerial or in the space. There are some titles on this type of subgenre that were used on other tasks like construction. The Gundam Series are the prime examples and probably the most popular media franchise in the Mecha genre. 

The star of this product review article has something to do with the aforementioned genre as  some of the design elements take some inspiration from a certain part of humanoid robot. And it happens that this my second product review from a Singaporean-based audio company, DITA AUDIO which is also one of the well-renowned on its locality as their reputation and legacy in the audio industry traces back to the 70s.

This is DITA MECHA and unlike the previous DITA product that I've previously reviewed last year, this one has a different driver set-up and priced in a high midrange category that makes it one of the most expensive sets in this type of driver configuration. This one has a single driver set-up just like their previous models, the DREAM and PERPETUA, and also it was encased in a solid lump of metal frame.

The driver that was implemented here is a 10mm dynamic driver with a thin diaphragm   made of lithium-magnesium supported with a carbide suspension in high grade neodymium magnets in a dual-chambered configuration. Those materials ensure an uncompromising audio quality performance for an enhanced efficiency, better handling on its impedance output and clarity as it delivers a deeper bass quality, a vivid and rich midrange and an effulgence quality on its treble response.

And then, the driver was housed in a solid metal shell made of titanium which are known for its light density yield for having strength-to-weight ratio, temperature resistance, better elasticity and ductility, good resistance against corrosion and biocompatibility due to its non-toxic nature. It has a dual vent hole to optimise the inner designs of its acoustic chamber and also it was used as an outlet to release excessive air pressure from its high performance dynamic driver. And also, titanium also possesses a good resonating acoustic properties too with a good damping efficiency. The sizes of the shell chassis are quite huge but its ergonomically-designed shape fits well into my lugholes despite a bit heft on it, and it offers an excellent passive noise isolation as it was able to block some unwanted external noises.

The quality of its stock cable is somewhat thick, stocky and well-built yet flexible, supple and less prone to entanglement. DITA called this cable “Churro” as it has a distinctive ridges on its sheath insulator similar to fried dough snack that is quite popular in Spain, Portugal, Latin American countries and even here in the Philippines. The cable itself is composed of a monocrystalline high purity silver-plated copper which is also have a sleeve insulator made of PE (Polyethylene) and then it was sheathed with an outer insulating jacket made of TPE (Thermoplastic Elastomers) which has that distinctive rubbery texture on its surface and it also known for its less microphonic effects.And also, it has a modular termination feature that it can be interchanged with three types of termination adapters; a 3.5mm single ended, a 4.4mm and a USB type-C with a built-in Hi-Fi DAC/Amp chip.

The interlocking mechanism that DITA MECHA uses for its detachable system is a 0.78mm bi-pin connector which is known for its reliability and stability with an ease to detach/detach mode.

The DITA MECHA product packaging is indeed an indication of its status as a high midrange set as it has pretty well-accessorised quality contents inside of its medium-size packaging box.

Here are the following contents that were included on its packaging box:

• Pair of DITA MECHA IEM transducer pieces.
• Stock cable with modular termination functionality - Churro
• Small Systainer Tanos carrying case
• 3.5mm termination plug adapter
• 4.4mm termination plug adapter
• USB type-C with Hi-Fi DAC chip adapter.
• Three (3) pairs of Luminous Final Audio ear tips of different standard sizes.
• Paperwork like warranty card, user’s manual and stickers.
• DITA Eco-bag

With an impedance of 32 ohms and with a sensitivity rating of 113dB, The DITA MECHA is sensitive enough to be powered up by devices with a standard gain output but it can even scale well on higher gain output without any clippings or distortion at moderate volume level. Even with normal gain mode, this one is already fairly dynamic sounding as it encompasses a full range of audio spectrum.

As for its sound profile, the DITA MECHA has a U-shaped sound signature with a balanced-warmish tonality as it has warm, textured, coloured and richness on its major sonic aspects.

(FR graph was provided by [USER=554565]@kesobie[/USER] a.k.a OBIODIO, credits to him)

LOWS/BASS: 

Well-bodied and quite physical…that’s my initial impression on its bass quality. I’m pretty sure that it has more dominant mid bass than its sub bass part although the latter could still deliver that deep and reverberating response. Overall, the bass quality of this one is punchy, tactile, impactful and dense as it makes some vocals and instruments sound more enunciative and authoritative.

The sub bass presence has a deep and lingering presence as this section was generated from the after reverberation effects from electronic, percussive and string instruments like  synthesisers, drum machines, bass guitars and double-basses. As for its mid bass texture, it has a full and rich tone on its note weight that will be beneficial for bass-clef instruments and deep male vocals.

Instruments and its sound characteristics:

Bass guitars -  weighty and resonant

Double-basses - heavy and sombre

Bass kick drums - full and sonorous

Male vocals and its sound characteristics:

Basses - gravelly, woolly and dense

Bass-baritones - weighty, resonant and dusky

Bassline Testing Tracks:

The Romantics - Talking In Your Sleep (bass guitar and bass kick drum)

Sister Of Mercy - Lucretia, My Reflection (bass guitar and bass vocal)

Metallica - Motorbreath (bass guitars)

Joseph Haydn - Concerto in C (1.mov) (double-basses)

Georg Handel - Concerti Grossi (double-basses)

The Police - Every Breath You Take (double-bass)

Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks (kick bass drum)

Marduk - The Blond Beast (kick bass drum)

Slayer - Raining Blood (kick bass drum)

Type O Negative - Black Number One (bass vocal and bass guitar)

Barry White - Never Never Gonna Give You Up (bass-baritones)

Bryn Terfel - Boris Godunov (bass-baritones)

MIDRANGE:

It seems the midrange presentation is just slightly recessed on its overall frequency spectrum but it has that warm, rich and and just right enough of energy that makes the vocals and instruments sound more natural with their almost accurate timbral traits, and not to sound too lean and sterile. Despite its warm nature, it has the clear and ample bright tone that will showcase the tonal qualities on female vocals and instruments like strings and woodwinds.

The male vocals have a rich, voluminous and well-textured sound on their note weight as the MECHA’s tuning curve is an ideal for these vocal types. As for female vocals, they sound full-bodied with intensity and vibrancy albeit there are some instances of timbral oddities as it exaggerates a bit particularly on high-pitched, high octave ones.

Vocal types with their sound characteristics:

Baritones - warm, plush and smooth

Tenors - ringing, brassy and spicy

Countertenors - tender and emotive

Contraltos - rich, strong and smoky

Mezzo-Sopranos - coppery, intense and velvety

Sopranos - silky, crystalline and shimmering

Vocal Testing Tracks:

Tom Warrior/Celtic Frost - Visual Aggression (baritone)

Eddie Vedder/Pearl Jam - Daughter (baritone)

Dimitri Hvorostovsky/Handel - Ombra mai fu (kavalier baritone)

Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Placido Domingo/Three Tenors - Nessun Dorma (tenor)

Robert Plant/Led Zeppelin - The Rover (tenor)

King Diamond/Mercyful Fate - Witches’ Dance (countertenor)  

Andreas Scholl/Handel - Ombra mai fu (countertenor)

Tracy Chapman - Fast Cars (contralto)

Annie Lennox - No More I Love You’s (contralto)

Marian Anderson - Ave Maria (contralto)

Cecilia Bartoli/Handel - Ombra mai fu (mezzo-soprano)

Andrea Corr/The Corrs - What Can I Do (mezzo-soprano)

Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac - Dreams (mezzo-soprano)

Alison Krauss and the Union Station - A Living Prayer (dramatic soprano)

Tarja Turunen/Nightwish - Sleeping Sun (lyric soprano)

Diana Damrau/Mozart - Der Hölle Rache: Queen of the Night Aria: Die Zauberflöte (coloratura soprano)

When it comes to instruments, they sound organic with excellent level of details as it gives more brassy sound characteristics on brasses, a striking and more potent percussive hits, a sufficient airiness on woodwinds and a lively and crisper sound on strings instruments. Therefore, the sound quality of instruments will deliver the fun and engaging sound that both casual listeners and audio enthusiasts will enjoy upon.

Instruments and its sound characteristics:

Guitars - meaty, buttery and with some added crispness

Cellos - lustrous, thick and sensuous

Violins - full, rounded and lustrous

Concert Flutes - rich, mellow and clear

Piccolos - delicate, sweet and brilliant

Clarinets - warm, rich and lively

Saxophones - sonorous, mild and a tad reedy

Trumpets - full, brilliant and metallic

Trombones - solid, full and rounded

Horns-  warm, full and brilliant

Tom-toms - warm and resonant

Snare drums - hard, bright and rustling

Field drums - sonorous and full

Kettledrums - heavy, deep and resonant

Pianos - strong, sweet and rich

Instrumental Testing Tracks:

Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain (guitars)

Eric Clapton - Tears in Heaven (guitar)

Jimi Hendrix Experience - Voodoo Child (guitars, snare drums)

The Specials - A Message To You, Rudy (trombones, snare, tom-toms)

Malice Mizer - Au Revoir (guitars, snares, tom-toms, violins, pianos)

Exciter - Violence and Force (guitars, snares, tom-toms)

Sodom - Exhibition Bout (guitars, snares, tom-toms)

The Eagles - Hotel California (unplugged live) (guitars)

Felix Ayo/Vivaldi - The Four Season: Summer - presto (strings section)

Jethro Tull - Locomotive (flute)

Berliner Philharmoniker/Bach - Badinerie BWV 1067 (flute)

Ottoman Mehter - Hucum Marsi (brasses, percussives, woodwinds)

New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Dvorak - Symphony No.9 : New World (kettledrums)

Berliner Philharmoniker/Wagner - Der Ring des Nibelungen: Die Walkure (kettledrums, strings, brasses)

Berliner Philharmoniker/Mozart - Lacrimosa: Requiem in D Minor

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Mozart - Symphony No.40 in G. Minor: I. Molto Allegro (string, woodwinds)

Yiruma - River Flows In You (piano)

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble quality of this one on the brighter side of tuning as it has crisp, lustrous and sufficiently airy for a single dynamic driver set. That emphasis on the upper-mids up to presence part of the treble region will highlight the clarity and definition on the articulation on vocal quality and the substantiality of attack on instruments and despite of that accentuated parts of frequency sections, it doesn't sound strident and the sibilance was kept under control in most cases but there are some instances of a little bit of piercing and shrill that treble-sensitive folk should take caution on doing some volume level adjustment.

The brilliance section of this one has a good amount of airy extension which is quite impressive for a single dynamic driver. It has an intense sparkle to give that more brilliance character on treble-clef instruments.

Instruments and its sound characteristic:

Cymbals - bright, sizzling and a bit metallic

Hi-hats - dull, dry and resonant

Glockenspiels - shimmering, silvery and a little bit piercing

Celestas - sweet, shimmering and silvery

Instrumental Testing Tracks:

Celtic Frost - Visual Aggression (cymbals, hi-hats)

Mayhem - Buried By Time And Dust (Alive Version) (cymbals, hi-hats) 

Aura Noir - Son of Hades (cymbals, hi-hats)

Led Zeppelin - Achilles Last Stand (cymbals, hi-hats)

Wiener Philharmoniker/Strauss - Salome (celesta)

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra/Tchaikovsky - Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (celesta)

Estonian Festival Orchestra/Shostakovich- Symphony No.6 (mallet-type glockenspiel)

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING & OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

The sound/speaker stage projection of this one is quite moderately roomy in terms of dimension as it has an above-average to wide lateral span, good height reach and exceptional depth as it gives that illusory perceived soundstage depth distance from front to back. Its stereo imaging presents a concave-like presentation with a well-layered soundscape with good separation although not the most accurate on pinpointing the placements of vocals and instruments in an audio spatiality.

Driver coherency of this one is pretty responsive on how it delivers that fast transient response on the bass speed and the rest of the frequencies to sound more cleaner, vivid and detailed. As for its resolution capability, it has a very solid macro-dynamics as it is capable on highlighting the varying degree of dynamic expression from the quietest up to loudness level on the musical elements either on chorale section or instrumental passage, on the other hand, its micro-dynamics is more an average, enough to pronounce those grains, details and subtleties from the sonic background of a played audio track like vocal ends, notational attacks and reverb tails.

PEER COMPARISONS:

All of the sets will be featured here as part of this segment will be from SOFTEARS. Might do some revisions of this review if I will be able to test the Senny IE900 or some Final flagship sets in the future. Right now, this is the most ideal product comparison that I could ever do.

SOFTEARS TWILIGHT(DEMO)

• Like the MECHA, it has a single dynamic driver configuration and it was also encased in a metal alloy chassis.
• It has a rather unusual IEM shell design as it has a rectangular shape and its ergonomic design will be a bit more questionable in terms of fitting to someone’s lugholes.
• It has a premium cable with a thick 4-core structured oxygen-free copper although it doesn't have a modular termination feature as far as I remembered but rather an adaptor-type one which you can insert a 3.5mm adapter on it (correct me if I’m wrong)
• This one has a more balanced-neutral type of sound profile as this one is quite of a mid-centric which truly aligns with one of my preferred tonal profiles.
• It has a more balanced bass quality as it has sound punchy and rumbly, while midrange has quite well-textured, rich and clear while maintaining that neutral presentation as both of male vocals and female vocals have their warmth and spacious sound respectively and an organic timbre sound on almost types of instruments, along with a smooth and an even treble response with rather enough brilliance air on it.
• This set possesses some of the best performance in regards to technicalities as it is capable on projecting a spacious head stage in a well-layered atmospheric soundscape with a well-layered and an excellent separation of musical elements with a more lucid resolution aspect particularly on micro-dynamics on which its micro-detail capability is more well-defined and sharper, although the MECHA still has a better soundstage depth in my opinion.

SOFTEARS TURII TI (DEMO)

• This is currently the most expensive single dynamic driver IEM that I've tested so far as it cost around two grand at the time of its release.
• It has a rectangular shaped shell chassis made of titanium alloy and it is somehow a bit lighter than the MECHA.
• It also has a premium quality cable with modular features which is also thick but not that beefy as the Churro cable of the MECHA.
• This set has a more balanced-neutral tonal profile with some emphasis on the high frequency that makes it less coloured sounding compared to MECHA.
• It has a more balanced bass response as it has still quite sound punchy yet incisive with almost the same level of texture and presence of its midrange as it sound balanced, neutral and well-bodied with a tad of zestiness that gives more fuller male vocals, more expressive female vocals and natural yet delineating instruments along with a tad shimmering, crisper and airier treble response.
• This one has a impeccable technical performance that was it was to able match some of the best hybrid driver flagship sets as it projects even wider sound/speaker stage, 3D-like stereo presentation with a well-layered soundscape with better accuracy on pointing out the positioning of musical elements and a sharper micro-detail definition that makes it more resolving although the MECHA has a better sound/speaker stage depth in my opinion.

The finale of this review article, the DITA AUDIO absolutely nailed it on interpreting this product as a matured, well-done tuned and solid high midrange single dynamic driver set  that offers a coloured tuning that will be highly agreeable for both casual listeners and audio enthusiast alike as they appreciate their almost natural timbre on both vocals and instruments. It is also well-packed with quality accessories that a high midranger set should have and along with its sturdy solidly structured shells that can take some punishment from wear and tear usage that assured a long lasting build quality.

For sure that is way too coloured sounding that neutral heads will look somewhere else but DITA AUDIO has a different perspective on this product as they want this one as versatile, engaging and fun sounding as possible that listeners will simply enjoys their favourite music tracks without worrying about too much sterility and clinical approach that analytical-type of tuning will be stale and monotonous in long run of listening session. Overall, that’s how the DITA MECHA truly defines itself as it stands shoulder to shoulder with some of the best flagship single dynamic driver sets in the market right now.

DITA MECHA is now available at DITA’s official online store, just check out the link below if you are interested.

LINK:

https://ditaaudio.com/products/mecha

More DITA product review?

■ DITA PROJECT M

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: DITA MECHA

IMPEDANCE: 32Ω

SENSITIVITY: 113dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 20KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2m

PIN TYPE: 0.78mm 2-PIN CONNECTOR (0.75MM)

PLUG TYPE: (MODULAR) 3.5mm, 4.4mm, USB TYPE-C

DRIVER UNIT(S): (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER

PROS:

● Durable build on its shells as it signifies its premium build quality.

● Even with its rather chunky size, it still offers an excellent fitting and a good passive noise isolation.

● The shells’ surface appears to undergo some sandblasting process to achieve its matte-like texture for fingerprint mark resistance and less susceptible to scratches.

● Abundant of quality accessories inside of its packaging box.

● Inclusion of a high quality stock cable with a modular termination plug feature.

● A USB-C termination which is a nice addition and also uncommon.

● Systainer storage case and Final “Luminous” eartips as it stock ear tips.

● A coloured and all-rounder type of tuning which will give a more engaging tonal factor to all types of listeners, even to an experienced audio enthusiast.

● Impactful and authoritative bass response.

● Rich, lush and well-bodied midrange.

● Full, warm and smooth male vocals

● Shimmering and beautifully-rendered female vocals.

● Almost natural sounding on the majority type of instruments.

● Good for tracking on percussive and brass elements.

● Lustrous treble quality with sufficient amount of air for its driver configuration.

● Superb sound/speaker stage depth with a fairly spacious width and good height ceiling reach.

● Solid macro-dynamics.

CONS:

● Might be a bit weighty to some ear sizes.

● Absolutely not a neutral sounding one.

● Less precise on pinpointing the exact placements of vocals and instruments in a well-layered soundscape.

● Wishing for a better micro-dynamics aspect.

● Instances of perceivable sharpness and piercing sound on some recordings.

P.S.

I am not affiliated to DITA AUDIO 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 KENNETH KOH of DITA AUDIO for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate his generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.