The CCA CA16 is a definite recommendation by me. For the advertised price of $59.00 you can’t really go wrong with these. I like high end IEM’s and have some very expensive ones in my stable. But I really love finding an IEM that is “inexpensive” but still sounds expensive (just like anyone else I guess). These fit that bill.
These have 1 Dynamic Driver and 7 Balanced Armatures. The shell is well made and attractive. It fits well in my ears and is comfortable. The cable is thin and “janky” (is that really a word) but did not tangle easily and sounded just fine, no need to change it unless your a cable monger like me.
I did find out that these are very amplifier specific. My initial listening and testing was on the Monoprice Monolith Portable THX amp. And all that was great, clear, clean, excellent bass, good imaging decent stage and generally good timber. But when I switched to the FiiO M11 Pro they changed. The sound was “veiled” and not as clear. Some of the “emotional” connection I had with some of the testing songs was lost. Weird? I also heard the sound change with the FiiO BTR 5 and the EarStudio. I understand these are different devices and different circuitry so for sure there will be slight differences but the difference between the FiiO and the Monoprice was huge. I can only guess that the Monoprice has significantly more power output and this affected the driving of these IEM’s. I have not tested on a phone so I can’t tell you how that sounded.
So on the FiiO I would change my review to “good buy at $59.00 but does not play up against more expensive IEM’s”. On the Monoprice, the same except “definitely is worth more and plays up to more expensive IEM’s”.
Leave a Comment