JUZEAR X VIVIR DIGITAL FIESTA: A Vibrant One?

Fiesta is a form of a vibrant public celebration that is prevalent in Spain and its former colonies from Central to South America and also in the Philippines. Here in the Philippines, we actually have many fiestas here, like we have them on every month, and every town, city and province here in my country will host this important event to honour our cultural heritages, patron saints and other religious holidays and a simply grand parties by means of food sharing to the communities, celebrating family reunions, entertainment like marching bands and street dancing, or just a simply religious observance to the town’s Catholic patron saint.

JUZEAR which is previously known as JUNEAR is a decade-old audio company from China, and they have their own R&D to develop their products that will cater audio enthusiast around the globe as they firmly believe that a truly exceptional musical experience should not be the privilege of a selected few, and they will the bridge to music enjoyment.  The last model that I’ve reviewed from them was from last year, and it was their model, DEFIANT, and now what I have here is their latest entry-level model, the FIESTA, and this one is a collaboration with Vivir Digital, a Mexican audio reviewer in YouTube, and the naming model itself has a strong bond between the former Spanish colonies ( Well, we are even jokingly called in online as the “Mexicans of Asia” and it also happens that one of my antecedents on my paternal side of my family line actually from this part of Central America).

Like the previous model, the DEFIANT, the FIESTA also employs a hybrid driver configuration with two different driver technologies inside, a single dynamic driver and three (3) balanced armature drivers. The dynamic driver is of a latest generation with a 10mm diameter size and it has composite diaphragm made of carbon and PU (polyurethane), that it will improve its acoustic performance through a deeper, punchier and faster bass response with less distortion, while it was supported by three custom-made balanced armature drivers with composite materials inside that handles the rest of the frequency response it will deliver a full, clear and detailed sound from vocals and instruments. These drivers were integrated into an active and passive crossover system, as the former will deliver a good separation of its frequency range with less distortion, while the latter is three-way acoustic conduits that will improve that acoustic performance for each driver assigned to specific frequency. And also, this one has its own air pressure balanced system to improve the bass quality of this earphone and allows to release excess build-up air pressure for less ear fatigue.

The drivers along its other components were encapsulated in a 3D-print moulded high quality resin shell in a UIEM-type resin shell. The faceplate has a lively yet warm aesthetic on its overall design with a vibrant colourway consisting of orange, red and brown hues with Piñata-inspired pattern on it, and Piñata is one of the decorated centerpieces in a typical fiesta celebration and it is made of either cardboard, papier-mache or a pottery made of clay which is usual material here in the Philippines, in which a player will be blind-folded and try to break it via a bat or stick as the container is filled with some small gift inside like toys, candies, sweets or coins. The cavity base on this one has a stabilising fin for better grip, a vent hole that was connected to the air pressure balanced system and a medium-length nozzle made of metal alloy. The FIESTA’s interlocking mechanism for attaching/detaching with its removable cable utilises a 0.78mm bi-pin connector.

In regards to its stock cable, just like all previous JUZEAR products, the FIESTA’s stock cable also has an excellent build quality with a balanced texture. The cable is made of two different wire materials, a mono-crystalline copper and an oxygen-free silver-plated copper that were braided and sheathed in a clear PU insulator as it improves its durability, flexibility and less microphonics. Its materials will ensure a seamless transmission of audio signal for a pure and cleaner sound output.

Another thing that while most IEMs only includes a single stock cable with a modular termination feature, this one takes a different path as it includes not one but two cables with different termination output, and the 3.5mm single-ended variant has a built-in HD microphone that allows it to receive calls or basic audio media control.

When it comes to wearability, with a UIEM-type shell structure, its contours will have a comfortable fitting to almost all ear sizes without any discomfort as it rests well into our lugholes. It also offers an excellent sealing that is able to block some unwanted noises from the outside surround that the stock ear tips that were included inserts well on my outer ear canal.

The JUZEAR FIESTA's product packaging is quite exceptional just like their previous models as it was packed in a medium-sized packaging box. The contents inside of its box were pretty organised and the IEM transducer earpieces were placed in a foam.

These are following contents inside of its packaging box:

• Pair of JUZEAR FIESTA IEM transducer earpieces
• Stock cable with a 3.5mm single-ended termination along with in-line microphone
• Stock cable with a 4.4mm balanced termination
• Hard-bound PU-leather storage case
• Three (3) pairs of balanced bore silicone ear tips in different standard sizes
• Three (3) pairs of wide bore silicone ear tips in different standard sizes
• Pair of memory foam ear tips
• Cleaning cloth
• Paperwork like warrant card/user manual and quality control stub

As for its driveability, the FIESTA's basic specification on for its operation has an impedance of 32 ohms and sensitivity of 109dB that make this set fairly easy to drive with adequate power even in a standard gain of amplification will be enough. Even if this earphone is paired with sources with a decent power output, it will sound engaging, very dynamic on its full frequency range.

The FIESTA has that irregular U-shaped sound signature with a balanced-warmish tonality (I might consider it as uneven L-shaped sounding). It has a noticeable more emphasis on the low frequency, a neutral midrange and a gentle boost on the high frequencies.

Note: I also noticed that the FIESTA is one of the few IEMs that I've tested that its sound profile will be somehow influenced by its particular source pairing. Like if I paired this one with a device that has a balanced-neutral sound, it will sound less impactful and it has a bit bright treble response, but if I paired it with warmish-neutral sound DAPs or portable headphone amplifiers, it sounds rich and full with more impactful bass. The majority of this testing will be done with iFi GO link Max, iFi Go Bar Kensei, HIBY R8II and my latest addition, HIDIZS AP30 MUSIC BOY.

LOWS/BASS:

The bass response of this one is pretty balanced as it has that sub bass presence and a well-textured mid bass section. If it was paired with a balanced-warmish or possibly a coloured sounding DAP or portable headphone amplifier, it will deliver that rumbly, impactful and full sounding bass response, but if paired with a neutral sounding source, it sounds a bit hollow with more sub bass rumble.

• The sub bass section on this one is able to convey a deep and reverberating feedback as the sound energy generated from sub bass-focused instruments like bass guitars, double-basses, synthesisers can be clearly felt.
• The mid bass texture has a rich, warmth and full-bodied that will add some weight and slam on some bass-clef instruments and low octave vocals, although it tend to bleed a bit across the lower midrange.
• On the bass-clef instruments, bass kick drum sound dull yet thunderous, bass guitars have a resonant and mellow sound, and double-basses have a weighty and sombre sound, while on those male vocal-type known for their low register like bass and bass-baritones, they have rich, resonating dark tonal colour that gives the woolly and dusky sound.

MIDRANGE:

While this particular frequency response has a noticeable dipped but with some mild emphasis on the lower mids in connection with the slight mid bass smearing, it has warmth that gives more lush and rich on some vocals and instruments that they will sound realistic and organic, while on it upper mids, it has a rather gentle boost as it won’t give that exciting, airy and vivid given that this IEM’s theme is supposedly  about vibrant and liveliness. Overall, the midrange quality of this one is well-bodied, smooth and clean with a less energetic sound that will affect some vocal types, mostly on female ones and some instruments.

• The warmth and well-bodied on its lower midrange will give that steel-y, plush and smooth sound on baritones, a powerful, weighty and juicy sound on tenors which are more ideal to heldentenor, dramatic and spinto ones, a tender and a bit coppery sound on countertenors from their falsettos and also on a female vocals, especially the contraltos have a husky and strong sound from their chesty vocals.
• With just a mild elevation on the upper mids, it doesn't give that much liveliness, shimmer and openness that doesn't live up to its name, that on the female vocals, the mezzo-sopranos sound velvety and musky, and then sopranos doesn't have that shimmery and silvery but rather more a rich and robust which are more ideal to spintos and dramatic rather than coloraturas.
• Some instrument families like the brasses and woodwinds, on the brasses, trumpets sound dark, trombones have a full and round sound, and the horns sound sonorous mellow, whereas the woodwinds like the concert flutes, piccolos, clarinets and saxophone, they sound less brilliant and airy as they should be but rather, it sound pleasant, warm and mellow.
• The other remaining classes of instruments, with the strings ones, guitars sound buttery and warm, violins have solemn and full sound but not to point that they sound too austere, and cellos have a weighty and veiled sound, while on the percussions, snare drums sound hard with some hint of rustling, tom-toms seems to have a warm resonance on every beat, and kettledrums have a velvety and heavy sound.
• The pianos appear to sound warmer, fuller and richer on every press with its note keys and pedals.

HIGHS/TREBLE:

The treble presentation that this set has is pretty smooth, balanced and pleasant that treble sensitive folk will enjoy. It has a gentle boost on the presence just to highlight some vocals and instruments, and on the brilliance section, it has enough sparkle with a modest airy extension.

• That slight elevation on the presence section on the treble region is just enough to give clarity and definition on the attack on instruments and the articulation of vocals.
• I don't hear any tinniness, sharpness and piercing sound on this one that are the usual characteristics of artificial boosting that treble-sensitive folk will somehow enjoy. (unless they will use some bright-neutral sources as I mentioned a while ago)
• It has an adequate sparkle with a limited treble air extension on its brilliance section that will affect the timbre of the treble-clef instruments that they sound less brighter.
• On the treble-notated clef instruments, cymbals sound lustrous and undulating, hi-hats have warm, crisp and resonant sound, glockenspiels sound more mellow than brilliant, and celestas have a lustrous and smooth sound.

SOUNDSTAGE, IMAGING & OTHER TECHNICALITIES:

The overall technical performance of this one isn't particularly stellar but rather acceptable in my standard. It is just like it enough to cover all angles that this set was able to execute on this aspect of its overall performance.

• The perceived soundstage is just fairly roomy as it has a bit narrower lateral span from its left to right channel, and a moderate height ceiling reach, but it has excellent depth that we are able to immerse in its distance from front to rear.
• On its stereo imaging, it projects as a concave-like stereo presentation, with a pretty layered soundscape and a good separation of musical notes and elements that I was able to locate their arranged placement within in sonic canvas but not the most accurate and it somewhat struggles a bit on some orchestral recordings.
• As for the cohesiveness of its multi-driver set-up, the dynamic driver on this one doesn't have that fast transient response as its speed is rather moderate which is a bit sluggish compared to the same driver technology with different diaphragm material, while the complemented balanced armature drivers are able to deliver a clear and detail sound.
• The resolution capabilities of this one have a contrasting performance between its macrodynamics and microdynamics as the former is able to distinguish the varying degree of its volume dynamic range from its quietest section up to its loudest level on both chorale lines and instrumental passages to give a sufficient slam definition, while the latter have a reasonably sharp definition on retrieving fine details and other nuances from an audio track like notation attacks, vocal delays, and instrumental reverb tails.

PEER COMPARISONS:

AFUL EXPLORER

• An old entry-level model from AFUL and like the FIESTA, it also has a hybrid driver configuration.
• Its driver set-up consists of a single dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers inside of its UIEM-type resin shell chassis.
• It is fully-packed with quality accessories, but its cable doesn't have any modular termination feature.
• This one has a bass-boost balanced-neutral or should I say a  proper L-shaped sound signature as compared to the FIESTA, it also has potent and impactful bass response, a neutral yet well-balanced midrange and a smooth yet a bit more airy treble response.
• On its overall technical capabilities, it has almost similar performance with the FIESTA with the exception of its stereo imaging in which this one projects a more stereoscopic presentation.

JUZEAR DEFIANT

• This model is somewhat a likely predecessor of the FIESTA and it also has a multi-driver configuration.
• This one has one dynamic driver and two balanced armature drivers encapsulated in a UIEM-type resin shell chassis.
• Just like its successor, this set is loaded with a quantifying amount of accessories, but it only has one stock cable with modular termination options.
• The sound signature of this IEM is a U-shaped sound signature with a balanced-warmish tonality just like the FIESTA, but it has less punchy bass.
• As for its overall technicalities, it has almost similar performance with the FIESTA, from the perceived soundstage up to its resolution capabilities, but the it has a fast transient response on its bass definition

KOTORI AUDIO ZEPHYR

• An entry-level model from KOTORI AUDIO and this one is also a hybrid driver IEM.
• This one features a single dynamic driver and a full range Knowles balanced armature driver housed in a composite shell structure.
• When it comes to product packaging, this one is pretty stuffed with quality accessories inside but it only has a single stock cable with no modular termination feature.
• This IEM has a balanced-neutral sound signature and if compared to the FIESTA, this one has a less pronounced bass response as it sounds more tighter, a neutral but less warm and a tad energetic midrange and a balanced but a bit dry treble response.
• When it comes to technical performance, like the FIESTA, it also has an average soundstage size with an adequately layered soundscape, but its dynamic driver delivers a faster transient speed.

As I conclude this product assessment, all I can say that JUZEAR with the cooperation of Vivir Digital, did a straightforward job on delivering this product for us in the audio community, a warm, bassy, coloured and engaging sounding IEM while retaining that natural sound on most vocals and instruments that will be pleasurable and enjoyable listening experience. There are some substantial drawbacks that I observe regarding about this IEM, particularly on its technical and some of its tonal performance but with a good quality bass response, solidly-built resin shells and high quality accessories especially the inclusion of two cables, this one indeed has a good price to performance with its sensible affordable pricing.

The JUZEAR FIESTA is now available at HIFIGO, and I just provided a non-affiliated link below if you are interested.

LINK:

https://hifigo.com/products/juzear-x-vivir-digital-fiesta

More JUZEAR product reviews?

■ JUZEAR 61T BUTTERFLY

■ JUZEAR 81T DRAGONFLY

■ JUZEAR DEFIANT

SPECIFICATION:

MODEL: JUZEAR X VIVIR DIGITAL FIESTA

IMPEDANCE: 32Ω

SENSITIVITY: 109dB

FREQUENCY RESPONSE: 20Hz – 20KHz

CABLE LENGTH: 1.2m

PIN TYPE: 0.78mm 2-PIN CONNECTOR

PLUG TYPE:  3.5mm, 4.4mm Balanced

DRIVER UNIT(S):  (1) DYNAMIC DRIVER + (3) BALANCED ARMATURE DRIVER(S)

MICROPHONE SUPPORT: YES

PROS:

● Firm and solid resin shell chassis.

● UIEM-type shell structure will ensure a comfortable fitting to almost ear sizes.

● Vibrant colour scheme as its theme fits perfectly with its model name.

● Fully-packed with quality accessories inside of its packaging box.

● Inclusion of two high quality cables with different termination.

● Fun, coloured and engaging sounding set that will be enjoyable for casual listening.

● Rumbly, punchy and potent bass response.

● A warm, rich and lush midrange presentation.

● Natural and almost realistic tonal colours on male vocals and instruments, particularly on brasses and percussions.

● Smooth and balanced treble presentation.

● Not a hint of sibilance nor harshness.

● Excellent soundstage depth.

● Firm and impactful episodic transients on its macrodynamics.

CONS:

● It needs some proper source paring to sound more dynamic.

● Too warm and coloured for neutral heads. 

● Less technical sounding for a hybrid driver set, like average-size soundstage projection, it struggles a bit on the layering and separation which is distinguishable to complex tracks, particularly philharmonic orchestra recordings and a bit blunted definition of its microdynamics.

● Recessed midrange.

● A bit lethargic and less exciting on some vocals and instruments given that this set  was named after a vibrant and lively event.

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 **

Three Tenors - Nessum Dorma *

Mercyful Fate - Witches' Dance *

P.S.

I am not affiliated to JUZEAR 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 HIFIGO REP for providing this review unit. I truly appreciate her generosity and trust towards me and other reviewers.