CCA CX4 Wireless TWS Hybrid In-Ear Monitors Review – I Dream of Wires
CCA CX4—A purist at heart, I confess to being underwhelmed by most of the wireless IEMs I’ve experienced, and I had meager expectations for the $29 CX4 from CCA, whose offerings have definitely been hit-or-miss. My prejudices were unjustified—the CX4 is actually a very credible bit of kit.
SPECIFICATIONS
Drivers: 7 mm dual magnetic + 30019 Balanced Armature
Impedance: 24 Ω
Sensitivity: 93 dB/mW
Frequency Range: 20 – 40,000 Hz
Connection: Bluetooth 5.0 (20 m range)
Other: active noise cancelling
Tested at: $26
Purchase Link: Wooeasy Earphones Store
Teardrop shaped resin earpieces are solidly built, lightweight and quite comfortable; long nozzles provide for deep insertion and good isolation and fit is very stable. The compact charging/carrying case is well designed. Functionality, however, is counter-intuitive (the tiny, barely legible operating instructions are essentially useless) and touch controls are over-sensitive, though bluetooth connectivity is simple. Call and microphone quality is very good, and ability to connect either earpiece separately is a nice touch. The claimed 22h battery life may be optimistic, but they are resilient nonetheless.
Sonically, the CCA CX4 hews very close to CCA’s house sound, which is to say a warm, rich- textured tonality presented across a wide, holographic stage. Instrument placement is very accurate. The CCA CX4 have a balanced signature, which is not to say bass-shy—low end is throbbing and voluminous (though like the CCA C10 rather loose, with considerable bloom and bleed into the lower mids). Mids are forward and meaty; male vocals are very forcefully presented, if a bit chesty. Treble isn’t hyper-extended or detailed (it has a smoothish quality and some snap and nuance is missing from cymbals and drumheads) and tend to be slightly overshadowed by the prominent subbass, though overall clarity is pretty good and these do a very good job with lower-quality files. I hear these as quite coherent overall, without conspicuous peaks or dips in the spectrum, and they are free from the shrillness or splashy high end of many budget hybrids. Unless you listen solely to bass-heavy genres (where the wooly low end becomes an issue) they are not tiring during extended listening sessions.
Where the CCA CX4 trail wired brethren like the C10 or KZ ZS10 (as well as comparably-priced Blon) is in their timbral quality—they have a slightly dark, colored sound which isn’t exactly artificial, but more like listening to cassette tape as opposed to vinyl; it’s not clear whether this is intrinsic in the Bluetooth or a function of the drivers. That said, these are surprisingly musical phones which hold up well to their price peers; their clever technology and ergonomics are a bonus. At this price, an absolute no-brainer.
MY VERDICT
DISCLAIMER
The CCA CX4 were provided by Echo at Wooeasy for review purposes.
Get the CCA CX4 from Wooeasy Earphones Store!
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