Shozy Form 1.4 Review (2) – A Comfortable Pair of Jeans (or Sweatpants)

INTRO

Having had a good experience with the Shozy Rouge, and hearing good things about the Shozy Form 1.4 from our resident lunatic, I took a chance on the Form 1.4 during the holiday sales as it hit the ~$150 price tag. I try to refrain from reading others reviews so not to taint my own opinion, but occasionally something catches my eye like the rest of us. The Shozy Form 1.4 seemed to get pretty glowing reviews and I see why. While the majority seemed to lean toward the 1.1 due to value, I can appreciate Jurgen’s take saying the extra cost is justified to keep it from becoming just another IEM in the drawer. The Shozy Form 1.4 is a warm and forgiving yet resolving mid tier IEM that works well with a wide range of genres catapulting this to my deserted island pick.

THE UGLY

To get the negatives out of the way real quick, the cable gets a little kinky, and the tips make the bass too tubby, so unless you have extra tips at your disposal there are likely to be some extra accessory costs involved. I like the Alza Sedna Light Short tips personally and the cable is just a nuisance during the unwinding/winding process.

THE SUPERFICIAL

It is a beautifully crafted 3D printed coated resin shell, the shape fits my ears better than the Shozy Rouge, and I can wear them for hours. Combined with the Sedna tips, I don’t even have to continually adjust them to keep the seal. The case is large and roomy so they do not get crushed, but it is also too large to fit in your pants pocket. It is more of a coat or backpack sized case.

PACKAGE CONTENTS

THE GOOD …EVERYTHING ELSE?

Bass is thick and quick, never dull or flat. It’s boosted for sure in the midbass region with a slow taper in the lowest of lows. I hesitate to say it bleeds because it does not interfere, but rather just makes the bottom mids sound full and warm with good weight. It never sounds stressed or pushed to the limits, and has good decay. Very luscious. Classical music sounds thunderous, everything else sounds groovy. The percussion of the piano is drawn out easily with the Shozy Form 1.4.

Male vocals sound authoritative and female vocals have some extra weight given to them. There is a sense of air in the vocals giving it good dimensional qualities. A gentle rise towards the lower treble that allows the listener to get absorbed and enjoy the music, no offending peaks everything is nicely balanced, brass and wind instruments backup the singer and don’t steal the show. While the Shozy Form 1.4 are warm sounding, they are definitely not dark sounding.

The top end comes alive nicely with cymbals and strings giving it the lively dynamics needed to elevate the listening experience. It lacks the hyper detail of overdone treble machines like the Nicehck NX7, but it also avoids any sense of sibilance. The Shozy Form 1.4 does all this with resolution and clarity a tick below an Etymotic ER4XR, but the staging has more depth to it. Never congested, good instrument spacing and works well at low and higher volumes. Hard to believe this is a hybrid when considering the timbre is very close to highly regarded dynamic driver IEM’s and coherence is excellent. Tonality is great there are no weird crossover points, nothing sucked out too much (valleys), and no overwhelming peaks despite a resonance anomaly measured using my crude setup.

COMPARISONS

BQEYZ Spring 2 ($169)
It is a similar sounding earphone, but the bass is boosted upwards a few ticks and not as controlled with the attack and decay that the Shozy Form 1.4 comes equipped with. The bass has been the weak point of the Spring series. The clarity in the lower treble is also better on the Shozy Form 1.4, and fitment is more comfortable with a lighter weight which equates to longer listening sessions.

Moondrop Kanas Pro ($170ish out of production)
Again the bass on the Shozy Form 1.4 takes the cake with better attack and decay, while the Kanas Pro is a little lazy on the refinement. The Kanas Pro has extra energy in the treble and a valley that I don’t particularly care for that gives the tonality a little sharper edge, but at the same time sounding a little muted in comparison to the Shozy Form 1.4.

TinHifi T4 ($89)
A weird one to compare but another favorite of mine and something of good value that many might have. The bass control is not as good on the TinHifi T4. Upper mid-range/lower treble is a bit more aggressive than the Shozy Form 1.4 but still fairly tame in typical pinna gain. The Shozy Form 1.4 still comes off as clearly in another league plus the fitment is just so much better.

HAPPY ENDINGS

Concern about the “warm” description hoping it wasn’t also too dark or washed out sounding is forgotten once listening commences. What we have here is a set with good clarity and resolution, excellent bass attack and decay that plays well with a variety of genres. Leans towards Rock, Pop, electronic, big band, blues but also can add thunderous sounding bass to classical. Highly recommended and favored like a comfortable worn in pair of jeans or a pair of warm wool socks in the winter. Deserted island rank.

SPECIFICATIONS

GRAPHS

• Left vs Right
• Impedance Plot
• 30Hz square wave
• 300Hz square wave

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DISCLAIMER

I succumbed to the holiday sales and bought them from Hifigo.

Our generic standard disclaimer.

About my measurements.

You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.