The Build Up:
Its been quite awhile since I reviewed anything. In fact, quite a while since I have written one too, more than a year. So when Faheem, asked me if I wanted to review a pair of earphones, I hesitated, just a tiny bit. After all, work, girlfriend, gaming, sleeping, and voila - I have no spare time left!
But upon hearing that the unit in question was "made in India", and designed for foreign markets as well, I was admittedly curious. Of course, if I wrote a review, and I really liked em enough to want to buy em, Faheem would sweeten the deal with a discount on a pair. Good marketing, because it worked. BTW, the discount was for an unbiased review, not an ass-kissingly good one.
So a pair was shipped to me early Jan, and Faheem has been super patient unsurreptiously enquiring politely whether I was done or not, every fortnight or so. Even better marketing, especially with cranky, ageing audio enthusiasts.
Some Pics:
In the Box:
The C-12 looks quite the part of an audiophile IEM, or simply earplugs as I like to call them. The mock wooden veneer, as well as the thin, but rather dense feeling cable is also good quality. The earphones themselves come in a really sweet, thick metal carry case. If you're travelling really light, this case would feel heavy - and that's the only criticism you'll hear from me about the case. It's brilliant! Extremely well built, with a beautiful burnished finish, with the company name, website and logo boldly embossed on the lid. This really sets the C-12 apart from IEMs even twice, or thrice its price. I think presentation is extremely important, and SA has done a tremendous job.
Oh and that's not the end. There's a very nice little detachable clip to fasten the cable to your collar, Tshirt - whatever, and it has quite a robust spring for a good grip. This is really a great addition for people who work out, or commute to work plugged in, as it ensures you don't have to keep fiddling with the length adjustment of your IEM cable. 3 extra pairs of eartips - small, normal (duplicate set) and large. I found the normal ones to fit well, but the larger ones isolated slightly better. I have largish ears, what else can I say?There are also 2 sets of filters (the cloth mesh grill on the nose of the driver enclosure, where the eartip fits). One is an extra piece for the default set, and one is a thicker set that will apparently reduce the higher frequencies aka give you a thicker veil over your musical experience.
Justifications for a job imperfectly done:
What follows then is a review of the C-12. The only stone unturned is, I am yet to try them out with both my headphone amps. This is expected to be done really soon, as I am awaiting tubes for both amps (ones tube only, the others a hybrid SS/tube). However, do not consider this review incomplete, as Faheem assured me these are fairly easy to drive to their fullest.
Even without my amps, I have pretty modest sources, so I feel this will serve adequately, till I put them on some real power. For those who don't know, in-ear earphones, or earplugs as they are called, typically, do not require a lot of juice, and sometimes overpowering them can kill the drivers. However, some of the higher end stuff (read 400$+ usually needs some amping).
Sources used:
These are the sources I used:
1) Apple iPod Touch 1st Gen
2) Apple iPod Touch 4th Gen
3) 2009 Macbook Pro 15"
4) Samsung Galaxy S3
5) ASUS Z77 Sabertooth (yes, I sat on the floor, with these plugged in, for a whole hour)!
I am not going to present the sound characteristics of each source by describing the sound on each of them, however, whereever I notice something good/bad, it will be highlighted.
Music Used:
A very wide variety of genres were used. I listened to these for more than 150 hours, with over half of that time spent on critical listening. I listened to songs mainly from the following albums:
Black Sabbath - Tyr
Deep Purple - Slaves & Masters, Platinum Collection
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Bucket Head - Electric Tears
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, Pulse, Division Bell
Led Zeppelin - Presence, Physical Graffiti
Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
Massive Attack - Mezzanine, Heligoland
Scorpions - Blackout
Sweet Smoke - Just A Poke
The Eagles - Selected Works
Joe Satriani - Strange Beautiful Music
Dream Theatre -A Change Of Seasons, Falling Into Infinity
Besides this, I also listened to a number of other performers, but for shorter periods of time.
Aural Findings:
Firstly, one thing about the C-12 is that is it extremely source dependent. Out of a bad source, they can sound very ordinary and too warm. The mid-range becomes exaggerated and the bass guitar becomes overpowering on most rock tracks. On Dream Theatre's Hollow Years, the cymbals sound weak, almost as if added as an afterthought. Bass is impactful, but not tight, and sounds wooly. For metal fans this can be a drag, literally.
Even thinner female voices take on warm tones, as if they were performing with a congestion. Not very nice.
But add a competent source, and things change quite a bit. The cymbals get more definition, and more importantly can sizzle and ring, if the tracks determines they should. The bass guitar becomes less obtrusive, and fades into the rest of the music, resurfacing only when it is needed. In fact, the bass guitar still sounds slightly stronger on some tracks leading me to believe the C-12 is a little bit of a bass lover.
The mid-range is quite sweet. Most vocals, especially under genres like rock, pop and country will sound just a bit more lush, with a hint of extra texture clinging to some notes. This sounds amazing with Country Music as well as Folk Rock. However, some Pop singers tend to have very unique voices, and these can sound a bit off. For example, I was listening to Prince (Little Red Corvette) and I noticed that Prince sounded like he was singing through a veil on his lower notes. The higher notes sound fine. I suspect this has to do with the frequency response of the C-12.
But listen to Pink Floyd's Time, and you will love the sharpness of the clock chimes - no warmth here. And the bass guitar notes in the beginning along with the low frequency drum hits are fabulous. You don't have to be a basshead to appreciate a good bottom end. These aren't the final word on fine details, as some of the finer nuances of Roger Waters' golden vocal chords are missing, but it is certainly acceptable.
Lstening to Surfing With The Alien, the lead guitar is fast and musical, very rhythmic, and you catch yourself foot-tapping. Similarly, you'll find a lot of punch in the lead guitar of No More Tears. Listen to this too loud, and you'll get an ear-bleed! In fact Ozzy sounds pretty darn good, about as good as I remember him sounding on my Grado SR225. The only difference is that the bass guitar loses it, and becomes a little overbearing. The drum beats are quite frankly a little wooly - not enough impact, just a loose thud/thump.
So the mid-range is very nice, with a few exceptions - music that doesn't necessarily have a lot going on in the middle frequencies. I put on a bit of slower stuff again, this time Mark Lanegan, and was pleased to find his voice sounding every bit as grainy and filled with gritty texture as I remember. Only the RS1i gets his voice as mellow as I like it, and the C-12 is not very far off - highly enjoyable.
I went on a bit of Janis Joplin. The C-12 does good things to her voice, giving it that careless urgency that really summed up this great lady.
I noticed the Macbook Pro really drives the C-12 well, better than my iPods. The difference is subtle, mostly in the tone of the vocals, and in the separation between the notes of the bass guitar. I would say the difference is as much as 5%, not much right, but even 1% is noticeable when it comes to sound.
So to sum it up -
1) The C-12 is a warm earphone, though not overly so. Warm works better than brittle for most genres
2) People think warm headphones mix well with bass heavy music. Quite the contrary, on bassier tracks a warm headphone will just thump. This is what happens to the C-12 on very bassy stuff. This is why it sounded so good with Pink Floyd - they didn't produce too much bass on their recordings
3) Both male and female vocals sound a little lusher. Females sound fuller, with more body, while male vocals sound a little more gritty and textural. This works well for Country, some Rock and Folk Rock. Some performers who have characteristically different voices will sound a bit different. You'll either like it, or you won't
4) I suspect there is a nice bump in the freq. response of the C-12 somewhere in the mid-range. This is why sometimes vocals with higher notes are unaffected, while the lower notes are. Of course this depends on the performer, and will differ
5) I found the bass to be wooly on some music. The drum beats can get unfocussed and sound like a random thump rather than a defined beat
6) Higher frequencies are a little undefined. This is because the C-12 has been designed to roll off - it has not been designed for very high frequency music - opera lovers beware
7) You ought to invest in a decent source. Not a DAC/Amp, I'd not go that far, but definitely something clean, like a Macbook, or a decent soundcard from Creative/ASUS.
Non Aural Findings:
1) Well designed, do not need to be positioned exactly inside ear canal to sound their best. Some earphones, when fiddled with, will sound different. These do not - nice!
2) The driver enclosure is a little thick, and untapered around the portion closest to the ears. Due to this, if pressed into the ears for better sealing, this part of the enclosure puts pressure on the cartilage of the outer ear canal, causing pain/soreness if used even for a shorter time. This is part of a design flaw, and maybe this can be worked out of newer versions, or even corrected. The enclosure needs to basically taper off into a thinner section that is more rounded, and not ridged.
3) Cable is quite nice, and does not tangle easily - quite a boon. However, it is also quite thin.
4) Personally, am not a fan of the angled 3.5mm jacks. This turns in ones pocket and usually snags on the material when removing. Also, while it does put less pressure on the 3.5mm jack in case it is yanked, it puts extra pressure on the cable joint to the jack.
5) Drivers have a wooden look that is very cool. While it is difficult to tell if they're not, I suspect they aren't. However, they look "expensive".
6) Chamber isolates outside sound quite well
7) These also do not leak sound. Of course, most earplugs don't, but this does warrant mention
8) The carry case is to die for. Metal, and extremely well built. C-12 owners now have some protection, as the case would likely stop a bullet
Wrap up:
For a price of Rs. 3,000/- the C-12 are a good sounding set of earphones. They are much better than the likes of the Creative EP-630, and others like the Soundmagic PL-11. They produce good clean sound, that tends to be warm and lush. Bass is good, but not the most authoritative. The mid-range is rich, and lush. These do not really like fast, complex music, with lots of instruments. The treble is rolled off, and any higher frequency sounds tend to jar, and strain.
This might sound like a list of complaints, but its not. For Rs. 3K, I would be perfectly satisfied. The sound signature errs on the warm side, but not unpleasantly so, and there is enough mid-range to keep me happy 95% of the time.
Perhaps the biggest complaint is, that like most in-ears, soundstage is absent. However, given that even some 400$ cans struggle to produce a good, well separated soundstage, the C-12 can easily be forgiven.
They are simply a very nice set of earphones for the price. If you do not want to spend as much, and your ears do not know better, get something else for under 1.5K. Conversely, If you've heard good 30,000 rupee headphones, these will not really make you swoon. But for the asking price, they're quite sweet, and easily at par with some of the pricier models from well known brands like Klipsch. Which is saying a lot to the team at SA, for whom this is a 1st time product. In that context alone the C-12 is a winner...
Note: I will add some notes to this review once I hear the C-12 via an amp and my Audio GD DAC 19 DSP. However, that will be more of an addendum and this review can be considered complete even without those notes.
Its been quite awhile since I reviewed anything. In fact, quite a while since I have written one too, more than a year. So when Faheem, asked me if I wanted to review a pair of earphones, I hesitated, just a tiny bit. After all, work, girlfriend, gaming, sleeping, and voila - I have no spare time left!
But upon hearing that the unit in question was "made in India", and designed for foreign markets as well, I was admittedly curious. Of course, if I wrote a review, and I really liked em enough to want to buy em, Faheem would sweeten the deal with a discount on a pair. Good marketing, because it worked. BTW, the discount was for an unbiased review, not an ass-kissingly good one.
So a pair was shipped to me early Jan, and Faheem has been super patient unsurreptiously enquiring politely whether I was done or not, every fortnight or so. Even better marketing, especially with cranky, ageing audio enthusiasts.
Some Pics:
In the Box:
The C-12 looks quite the part of an audiophile IEM, or simply earplugs as I like to call them. The mock wooden veneer, as well as the thin, but rather dense feeling cable is also good quality. The earphones themselves come in a really sweet, thick metal carry case. If you're travelling really light, this case would feel heavy - and that's the only criticism you'll hear from me about the case. It's brilliant! Extremely well built, with a beautiful burnished finish, with the company name, website and logo boldly embossed on the lid. This really sets the C-12 apart from IEMs even twice, or thrice its price. I think presentation is extremely important, and SA has done a tremendous job.
Oh and that's not the end. There's a very nice little detachable clip to fasten the cable to your collar, Tshirt - whatever, and it has quite a robust spring for a good grip. This is really a great addition for people who work out, or commute to work plugged in, as it ensures you don't have to keep fiddling with the length adjustment of your IEM cable. 3 extra pairs of eartips - small, normal (duplicate set) and large. I found the normal ones to fit well, but the larger ones isolated slightly better. I have largish ears, what else can I say?There are also 2 sets of filters (the cloth mesh grill on the nose of the driver enclosure, where the eartip fits). One is an extra piece for the default set, and one is a thicker set that will apparently reduce the higher frequencies aka give you a thicker veil over your musical experience.
Justifications for a job imperfectly done:
What follows then is a review of the C-12. The only stone unturned is, I am yet to try them out with both my headphone amps. This is expected to be done really soon, as I am awaiting tubes for both amps (ones tube only, the others a hybrid SS/tube). However, do not consider this review incomplete, as Faheem assured me these are fairly easy to drive to their fullest.
Even without my amps, I have pretty modest sources, so I feel this will serve adequately, till I put them on some real power. For those who don't know, in-ear earphones, or earplugs as they are called, typically, do not require a lot of juice, and sometimes overpowering them can kill the drivers. However, some of the higher end stuff (read 400$+ usually needs some amping).
Sources used:
These are the sources I used:
1) Apple iPod Touch 1st Gen
2) Apple iPod Touch 4th Gen
3) 2009 Macbook Pro 15"
4) Samsung Galaxy S3
5) ASUS Z77 Sabertooth (yes, I sat on the floor, with these plugged in, for a whole hour)!
I am not going to present the sound characteristics of each source by describing the sound on each of them, however, whereever I notice something good/bad, it will be highlighted.
Music Used:
A very wide variety of genres were used. I listened to these for more than 150 hours, with over half of that time spent on critical listening. I listened to songs mainly from the following albums:
Black Sabbath - Tyr
Deep Purple - Slaves & Masters, Platinum Collection
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
Bucket Head - Electric Tears
Pink Floyd - Dark Side Of The Moon, Pulse, Division Bell
Led Zeppelin - Presence, Physical Graffiti
Isobell Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad Of The Broken Seas
Massive Attack - Mezzanine, Heligoland
Scorpions - Blackout
Sweet Smoke - Just A Poke
The Eagles - Selected Works
Joe Satriani - Strange Beautiful Music
Dream Theatre -A Change Of Seasons, Falling Into Infinity
Besides this, I also listened to a number of other performers, but for shorter periods of time.
Aural Findings:
Firstly, one thing about the C-12 is that is it extremely source dependent. Out of a bad source, they can sound very ordinary and too warm. The mid-range becomes exaggerated and the bass guitar becomes overpowering on most rock tracks. On Dream Theatre's Hollow Years, the cymbals sound weak, almost as if added as an afterthought. Bass is impactful, but not tight, and sounds wooly. For metal fans this can be a drag, literally.
Even thinner female voices take on warm tones, as if they were performing with a congestion. Not very nice.
But add a competent source, and things change quite a bit. The cymbals get more definition, and more importantly can sizzle and ring, if the tracks determines they should. The bass guitar becomes less obtrusive, and fades into the rest of the music, resurfacing only when it is needed. In fact, the bass guitar still sounds slightly stronger on some tracks leading me to believe the C-12 is a little bit of a bass lover.
The mid-range is quite sweet. Most vocals, especially under genres like rock, pop and country will sound just a bit more lush, with a hint of extra texture clinging to some notes. This sounds amazing with Country Music as well as Folk Rock. However, some Pop singers tend to have very unique voices, and these can sound a bit off. For example, I was listening to Prince (Little Red Corvette) and I noticed that Prince sounded like he was singing through a veil on his lower notes. The higher notes sound fine. I suspect this has to do with the frequency response of the C-12.
But listen to Pink Floyd's Time, and you will love the sharpness of the clock chimes - no warmth here. And the bass guitar notes in the beginning along with the low frequency drum hits are fabulous. You don't have to be a basshead to appreciate a good bottom end. These aren't the final word on fine details, as some of the finer nuances of Roger Waters' golden vocal chords are missing, but it is certainly acceptable.
Lstening to Surfing With The Alien, the lead guitar is fast and musical, very rhythmic, and you catch yourself foot-tapping. Similarly, you'll find a lot of punch in the lead guitar of No More Tears. Listen to this too loud, and you'll get an ear-bleed! In fact Ozzy sounds pretty darn good, about as good as I remember him sounding on my Grado SR225. The only difference is that the bass guitar loses it, and becomes a little overbearing. The drum beats are quite frankly a little wooly - not enough impact, just a loose thud/thump.
So the mid-range is very nice, with a few exceptions - music that doesn't necessarily have a lot going on in the middle frequencies. I put on a bit of slower stuff again, this time Mark Lanegan, and was pleased to find his voice sounding every bit as grainy and filled with gritty texture as I remember. Only the RS1i gets his voice as mellow as I like it, and the C-12 is not very far off - highly enjoyable.
I went on a bit of Janis Joplin. The C-12 does good things to her voice, giving it that careless urgency that really summed up this great lady.
I noticed the Macbook Pro really drives the C-12 well, better than my iPods. The difference is subtle, mostly in the tone of the vocals, and in the separation between the notes of the bass guitar. I would say the difference is as much as 5%, not much right, but even 1% is noticeable when it comes to sound.
So to sum it up -
1) The C-12 is a warm earphone, though not overly so. Warm works better than brittle for most genres
2) People think warm headphones mix well with bass heavy music. Quite the contrary, on bassier tracks a warm headphone will just thump. This is what happens to the C-12 on very bassy stuff. This is why it sounded so good with Pink Floyd - they didn't produce too much bass on their recordings
3) Both male and female vocals sound a little lusher. Females sound fuller, with more body, while male vocals sound a little more gritty and textural. This works well for Country, some Rock and Folk Rock. Some performers who have characteristically different voices will sound a bit different. You'll either like it, or you won't
4) I suspect there is a nice bump in the freq. response of the C-12 somewhere in the mid-range. This is why sometimes vocals with higher notes are unaffected, while the lower notes are. Of course this depends on the performer, and will differ
5) I found the bass to be wooly on some music. The drum beats can get unfocussed and sound like a random thump rather than a defined beat
6) Higher frequencies are a little undefined. This is because the C-12 has been designed to roll off - it has not been designed for very high frequency music - opera lovers beware
7) You ought to invest in a decent source. Not a DAC/Amp, I'd not go that far, but definitely something clean, like a Macbook, or a decent soundcard from Creative/ASUS.
Non Aural Findings:
1) Well designed, do not need to be positioned exactly inside ear canal to sound their best. Some earphones, when fiddled with, will sound different. These do not - nice!
2) The driver enclosure is a little thick, and untapered around the portion closest to the ears. Due to this, if pressed into the ears for better sealing, this part of the enclosure puts pressure on the cartilage of the outer ear canal, causing pain/soreness if used even for a shorter time. This is part of a design flaw, and maybe this can be worked out of newer versions, or even corrected. The enclosure needs to basically taper off into a thinner section that is more rounded, and not ridged.
3) Cable is quite nice, and does not tangle easily - quite a boon. However, it is also quite thin.
4) Personally, am not a fan of the angled 3.5mm jacks. This turns in ones pocket and usually snags on the material when removing. Also, while it does put less pressure on the 3.5mm jack in case it is yanked, it puts extra pressure on the cable joint to the jack.
5) Drivers have a wooden look that is very cool. While it is difficult to tell if they're not, I suspect they aren't. However, they look "expensive".
6) Chamber isolates outside sound quite well
7) These also do not leak sound. Of course, most earplugs don't, but this does warrant mention
8) The carry case is to die for. Metal, and extremely well built. C-12 owners now have some protection, as the case would likely stop a bullet
Wrap up:
For a price of Rs. 3,000/- the C-12 are a good sounding set of earphones. They are much better than the likes of the Creative EP-630, and others like the Soundmagic PL-11. They produce good clean sound, that tends to be warm and lush. Bass is good, but not the most authoritative. The mid-range is rich, and lush. These do not really like fast, complex music, with lots of instruments. The treble is rolled off, and any higher frequency sounds tend to jar, and strain.
This might sound like a list of complaints, but its not. For Rs. 3K, I would be perfectly satisfied. The sound signature errs on the warm side, but not unpleasantly so, and there is enough mid-range to keep me happy 95% of the time.
Perhaps the biggest complaint is, that like most in-ears, soundstage is absent. However, given that even some 400$ cans struggle to produce a good, well separated soundstage, the C-12 can easily be forgiven.
They are simply a very nice set of earphones for the price. If you do not want to spend as much, and your ears do not know better, get something else for under 1.5K. Conversely, If you've heard good 30,000 rupee headphones, these will not really make you swoon. But for the asking price, they're quite sweet, and easily at par with some of the pricier models from well known brands like Klipsch. Which is saying a lot to the team at SA, for whom this is a 1st time product. In that context alone the C-12 is a winner...
Note: I will add some notes to this review once I hear the C-12 via an amp and my Audio GD DAC 19 DSP. However, that will be more of an addendum and this review can be considered complete even without those notes.
