SHOZY & NEO CP — 3BA IEMs, great example of delicate tuning

Couple of month ago we’ve got a chance to try SHOZY IEMs for the first time. It was SHOZY Zero — warm sounding and detailed model which we turned to every time there is a chance to relax at the evening. We’ve made a note for ourselves, subscribed to SHOZY channels and monitoring their current achievements. Lots of positive comments, additional information and posts by Shozy officials and customers since than. Seems that every model they come up with get the appropriate treatment on the R&D, production and tuning stages resulting in polished final product… Today we would give it another try with SHOZY & NEO CP — one of their latest IEMs equipped with 3 balanced armature drivers as the first outcome of their cooperation with NEO Audio brand. Not quite sure whether this cooperation would continue in future and what particular input did NEO Audio made (perhaps, it is about shell molding) but hopefully it is for better.

You can purchase SHOZY & NEO CP in PenonAudio store

SHOZY & NEO CP technical specifictions:

• Driver type: 3 x balanced armature drivers
• Bass driver: 22955 Knowles
• Mid driver: in-house design
• Treble driver: in-house design, supertweeter (UHF capable)
• Sensitivity: 107db SPL/mW
• Frequency response: 20 — 20kHz
• Impedance: 30Ω
• Noise isolation: 25dB
• 3-way crossover
• 3in1 output nozzle 
• IEMs cable connectors: MMCX
• Cable: 1.2m, OFC, silver-plated copper, braided
• Audio jack: 3.5mm, gold-plated, straight

SHOZY states that they have managed to design and develop their mid and treble range armature drivers that match perfectly with 22955 Knowles bass unit. We’d describe that in our sound quality test.

Packaging and box contents:

CP IEMs came in a small metallic-color cardboard box, with model name imprint in flurescent green at the front and product description at the back.

Something was moving inside the box when shaked… Opening it would reveal storage case with the rest of the contents inside, so no problems here.

Such simple packaging might indicate SHOZY confidence in the quality of IEMs while the box wouldn’t make much difference in building the impression of the product 

Box contents:

• SHOZY & NEO CP IEMs
• cable
• a pair of exchangeable filters (another pair is attached)
• 3 pairs of thick silicone eartips (S|M|L)
• 2 pairs of thin silicone eartips (M|L)
• 2 pairs of memory foam eartips
• 1 pair of flanged silicone eartips (M)
• storage case

Pretty good set to find the best fit and store everything in one case.

Design, build and materials:

CP shells are made of transparent special resin with few drops of pink and green paint to give it attractive look.

Such shape and design remind us of some vitamin pills from our childhood… Choice of shell materials allows to see the insides — all 3 BA drivers, crossovers, wiring and sound passages in output nozzles. No need to disassemble if you are curious enough or have a feel that you’ve been cheated 

The absence of dynamic drivers eleminates the need of additional compensation openings and using resin means filling up the entire form. Therefore, those IEMs have very stiff unibody construction. The only two openings are for inputs and outputs: aluminum MMCX connector bases sealed in resin and aluminum output nozzles sealed in resin as well. The later are covered with removable threaded filter grill.

Inner part of shells contains NEO and serial number imprints.

Another thing that we admire much is the design on output nozzles and filters in respect to the ease of exchanging eartips — very easy to remove and exchange due to curved filter edges and special flanges. No way to tear it acidently and very fast to replace.

Cable features aluminum MMCX connector housings with channel indicating rings (red for right and transparent for left), aluminum Y-splitter and 3.5mm audio jack with aluminum/carbon-fiber housing.

SHOZY & NEO CP fit is tight and comfortable. No signs of fatigue when wearing for more than four hours. Huge amount of eartip options allows to find the best combination in terms of fit and sound.

Sound quality:

Tested with Hidizs AP80, Hidizs AP200, xDuoo X3, Audiodirect BEAM

Lows and midbass:

Deep bass presence is moderate, with good texturing and warm toning. Even the best armature driver would fall short in terms of deep bass pump when compared to some capable dynamic driver IEMs but at the same time would provide more clarity and precise contouring. Adequate crossover tuning helps to keep it in a good balance with other ranges while delivering smooth and delicate sound. The main defference with dynamic models is that CP would let you listen, disclosing lots of details, rather than reaching the lowest registers that would make you feel instead…

Midbass is well articulated, rich and powerful. It is bringing good rythmic sound experience and not tending to fall into excessive crispness or brightness. Bounce effect of the midbass makes drum session sound fast and natural.  A bit of elevation in this range is obvious but it is not a problem since the toning has the necessary warmth to keep the sound neat.

Mids and vocals:

We would say that mids are the most accentuated and detailed here. Slightly brought to front, with rich vocal reproduction and emotional appeal in overall. Both, male and female vocals sound rich and engaging while having the same touch of warmth of the lower end, both show almost the same presence with very small emphasis on upper mids. Mids feel kind of mellow and smooth — good characteristics for this range. Resolution on string instruments and vocals is impressive and what is the most important  — it never leads to harsh or disturbing experience.

Treble:

Treble has excellent resolution and good amount of presence. Again, delicate tuning would not let it influence the entire sound picture too much — just the necessary amount to compensate other ranges. No evident coloration to overall tonality produced by treble, either. CP treble is more about the resolution and extension with more than average levels rather than stunning and excessively crisp delivery. It feels airy, transparent and flowing with reasonable sparkles and sharpening. It still might impress with the clarity of certain sounds but the main virtue is keeping away from uncontrolled behavior and act in smooth and weighted manner.

Soundstage:

Soundstage is great. SHOZY CP IEMs are capable of showing significant distance from the center to instrument distributed on stage in both vertical and horizontal planes. As a result, scene feels wider and taller and instruments don’t tend to mix. Binaural recording are extending this effect even further, bringing the sound much closer to the performace of open-back overheads…

Sound filters:

Unfortunately, SHOZY didn’t provide us with the information about exchangeable filters and which frequencies would it influence. Two pairs are almost similar, the only difference is the size of the holes in grills. After trying both pairs, our opinion is that the main effect is mostly about 1-8kHz range with larger holes in grills resulting into +gain and smaller openings resulting to -gain. The change is not so evident, mostly about the less or more bright peaks and extension to upper mids and treble. We like the default, less gain ones.

Sound in overall:

SHOZY & NEO CP sound could be described as balanced, highly detailed, neutral, with no evident coloration to the overall tonality. All frequency ranges are gently delivered and carefully tuned. Very universal IEMs that would be suitable for any music genre except those that require large amount of deep bass presence.

Compared to Anew U1:

Anew U1 is a great example of single dynamic driver IEMs. Very balanced and neutral. Their advantages in comparison to CP would be a better deep bass extension and a bit warmer overall represenation (if you like warmer sound). But SHOZY CP would definitely be better in terms of resolution throughout the entire range, treble extension and presence. Fit is more comfortable as well.

Compared to Kinera IDUN:

Kinera IDUN is another example of IEMs with very gentle sound and delicate tuning. Those are hybrid, with armature driver aided by dynamic one for better bass reproduction. Despite such structure, we would say that SHOZY CP clearly wins over IDUN in terms of bass presence and midbass power. The rest of the ranges sound very similar with a slight advance in CP treble extension and better midrange balance.

Conclusion:

In fact, we were doubting that 3BA IEMs would ever come to our favorite list. Potentially, there are too many problems with sound might show up while trying to incorporate such complicated combination of drivers. In addition, a choice of armature driver for bass is making this try even more uncertain… SHOZY & NEO CP eliminated most of our doubts, placing high in our own rating. Of course, its deep bass extension is not so telling as in some rivals with dedicated dynamic driver but this is compensated by the higher resolution thoughout the entire frequency range. Other than that SHOZY & NEO CP show very balanced and gentle sound with accurate tuning and rare emotional appeal. If the aim is to find universal IEMs with neutral tonality, smooth and delicate delivery we would definitely advice to look closely at those.

You can purchase SHOZY & NEO CP in PenonAudio store