INTERLUDE: THE SECOND
My Impressions of Juzear 41T or Maybe I Don’t Have to Spend Thousands of Dollars to Be Satisfied With My Sound After All?
So before I get to the Dunu SA6 Ultra, we need to make one more stop because we need to talk about where ChiFi is at in 2023. The biggest thing I’ve picked up the last 6 months is that the market has moved incredibly fast to make quality IEMs available at any price bracket. Now are you getting all the best tech, cutting edge tuning, or the greatest build quality below $500, $1000…$5000? Not really, no. But you can find lots of goodness even for cheap prices. Case in point, the Elysian Diva is an amazing sounding IEM. The $20 KBear Xuanwu has a better shell. Period.
Where this existential quandary pops up is when ChiFi offers up a 1DD + 4BA hybrid with a graph that is compared to the Softears Cerberus for $110. Considering the level of cheapskate I am (ahem value hunter), I decided to take this one for the team and try them out. If you follow along on the journey, you already know I’m not disappointed…by the sound. So why haven’t I been screaming about these and trying to stir up a hype train? Well it’s not because of:
THE SOUND
Like I said in the Up impressions, the 41T hits in the same family of sound as the Penon Serial and the Ups themselves. This is a warm, easy-listening signature. It’s not going to pop details like IE600 or Diva, and it won’t go as deep and hard as a Rosefinch or (I’m guessing at this point) Legato. But if you want a set that plays everything well enough to be satisfying, this will be your boy.
The bass is well articulated, with good (but not great) sub-bass replay but great midbass. It is heavy, impactful bass with a little bit of bleed (that would make @VIVIDICI_111 a sad boy. Sorry to pick on you but I was watching your videos this morning). But the warmth and body are so on point. You feel like you’re getting a hug. In stock form, the biggest nitpick I had with the sound was in the upper midrange.
While vocals sounded exactly how I’d want them to be, there was a bit of grain, bordering on harshness, that could pop up. Especially when trying to volume scale (because this signature should scale well), I was picking up a hot spot that made me pull back. Once I put a low-density foam inside the nozzles (more on that later), the hot spot went away and the scaling was immaculate. Which means the treble is on point too. There is no peakiness to be found and once I pulled the upper-mids down just a little, the treble came unblocked and there was a better sense of air to be found.
The ONLY caveat to the foams is that in putting them in, I ended up taking away one of the shocking strengths of this set: In stock form it is IMMERSIVE in how it utilizes the soundstage. I played some Polyphia early on and was pulled out of the song by how the different elements bounced around, circled, and enveloped my headspace. That said, I was still willing to give up that special sauce for a little bit more consistency from the playback. If you don’t find yourself having the same hotspot, then consider yourself warned: you’ll get an amazing experience there.
THE GOOD
- Price to performance champ: I think this set is neck and neck with Xenns Up. Wanna save $X00? These are your boys
- An all-arounder set that is right in my wheelhouse. If you like midbass emphasis, these are your boys
- Great technicalities that compete with the big boys
- Have you seen this shell? This is a BEAUTIFUL clear shell
THE BAD
- This is ChiFi at it’s best and it’s worst
- All of the positives, at the price point we’re at make ChiFi great. ChiFi quality is what makes ChiFi terrifying
- Build issues and the corresponding customer service to alleviate issues
- I had a left nozzle cover that came completely off. I glued it down after inserting the low-density foam, so it was nice from a DIY perspective. But I should not be getting that out of the box
- I also have heard of driver rattling issues, and some less than stellar customer service in dealing with issues.
- Volume scaling, in stock form, didn’t go as well as it could because of a hotspot in the upper end.
- In stock form, the upper-mids are just a TOUCH too elevated and they mask the treble, giving a little bit of a scratchy tonality to the set at times
WHO IS THIS SET FOR?
- The bold and adventurous:
- This isn’t even “early adopter” adventurous. This is “setting your money on fire might be a better investment” adventurous.
- Price to performance kings (and queens):
- If you hit the unit lottery, this competes with (and beats many) sets at 4,5,6X the price in sheer sound quality
- People wanting a balanced sound, with mid-to-high level technical chops
WHO IS THIS SET NOT FOR?
- The prudent and cautious
- Anyone who would prefer to wait out a company and see their reputation grow before adopting is wise to sit this out
- Anyone who doesn’t like what I like or thinks I’m an idiot
- Fair play: If you don’t agree with my tastes, this isn’t a look for you
What Does It All Mean???
What it means is if this came out as the Moondrop Blessing 3: Dusk for $350, or Thieaudio threw some ESTs in there and charged $500, or Penon dropped this for $399, the various fanboys of each company would nut on the spot.
This IEM is that good…
If you hit the lottery.
But I cannot, will not, tell you to trust a company we don’t know. I said this deal was too good for me to pass on, and I hit the jackpot. Will you do the same if you take the shot? The hell do I know. That’s why all I can do is lay out the facts, and leave it to you to make your own decisions. Good luck and Godspeed.
Okay, next time (for real) we’re doing the Dunu SA6 Ultra. We’re done for now, so see you next time!
Grade For Juzear 41T (Stock): B+
Grade For Juzear 41T (Filter Mod): A
Grade With Personal Bias: A
Grade As a Food: That Last Slammin’ Jamaican Beef Patty You Know Has Been Sitting Out Way Too Long And Might Make You Sick But You’re Gonna Eat It Anyway. YOLO~!
but we appreciate it 
….no way I could be without my Z1R’s for that amount of time lol
Great write-up man. If it’s that close to the UP then I might think of grabbing one for myself since I do want a bassier set for hiphop and stuff, but also looking at the Dunu Vulkan 
!