Dita Audio Dream

http://www.ditaaudio.com/index.php/

http://www.ditaaudio.com/index.php/products/dream.html

A Little Technical Stuff:

· DRIVERS: 1 Newly-Developed Ultra-wide Bandwidth 10mm Transducer
· SENSITIVITY: 102dB
· IMPEDANCE: 16 Ohm
· FIT: Universal

Dita Audio Dream
-MRSP: Universal fit $1800

I want to thank Desmond for all of his patience in answering all of my questions. My experience with Dita Audio has been exceptional. They are proud of their product, rightfully so, and quickly respond to your needs. I also want to thank Desmond for allowing me to hear the Truth Copper cable as well. The guy even responded to me when he was on vacation…unnecessary but first class all of the way!

I try to open with a brief opening statement about my experience and this review is no different. The Dream is only available in universal which works great for me, I am not the CIEM guy yet. The shells are small, titanium and black. I love the look of the Dream and I love the sound, these are truly TOTL.

Whether you believe that burn-in has any effect on sound is up to you to decide. I will say that Dita recommends at least 200 hours of burn-in and I know each time I finished listening to them I left them running with pink noise. All told I have between 400-450 hours burn-in presently.

The price of admission for the Dream is high but let’s get into this thing and take a look at what you receive. Not an unboxing, this segment is more designed to discuss the one major addition to the Dream package and that is the stock SPC cable that you receive. To my knowledge, this is one of the more premium stock cables included with an IEM package. The cable is manufactured by Van den Hul a Dutch company established in 1980. You can learn more about the company below. Also, the second link is about the Dita cable. It is a premium cable that retails for 499.00, great job Dita for providing such an awesome stock cable. The cable is well built and sturdy. The sound it delivers when used with the Dream is airy, detailed, precise and creates an incredible separation and gives you the aura of a 3-D stage. Sounds are precise and almost surgical in delivery. The tones are not sharp but very clear and the SPC cable helps to create the overall signature. Very clean indeed!

The Truth Copper seems to smooth things out ever so slightly while still maintaining the positive attributes of the Dream’s signature such as clarity, stage and separation. I really enjoy the Truth Copper cable, especially when paired with the Dream. I have tried it with other TOTL IEM’s and my overall impression is positive. The only negative with the Truth SPC and Truth Copper are the ergonomics. They are stiff and uncooperative at times. Well built, very sturdy, but very stiff.

http://www.vandenhul.com/
http://www.ditaaudio.com/index.php/technology/cables.html

The Dream includes:

· 3 Pairs Small Bore Tips S/M/L (sweeter highs)

· 3 Pairs Medium Bore Tips S/M/L (reference tuning)

· 3 Pairs Large Bore Tips S/M/L (airier highs)

· 1 Custom Flight Adapter

· 1 Premium Leather Pouch

Also included is a card with a serial number and the additional connectors for the cable (2.5mm and 3.5mm). When using the cable, you have the ability to switch connectors from 2.5mm to 3.5mm and 4.4mm (available). It is a cool design allowing you to switch sources without disconnecting the cable from the IEM shell. Only unscrew, snap on the connector you wish to use, and screw it tight again. They coin this design the Awesome Plug. I felt the entire retail package I received was appropriate for the price and first rate.

http://www.ditaaudio.com/index.php/products/truth-replacement-cable.html

A little of the marketing hype from the Dita Audio website:

“The latest and flagship model, Dream. A new custom dynamic driver powers the Dream with a smoother mid-band and bass that reaches even lower with greater control. Dream is also equipped with the Awesome Plug for a multitude of new features.”

“Dream, the latest and flagship model of Dita’s 3-model lineup.

The Titanium Black Dream is made in Japan and is equipped with cables sourced from the venerable Dutch cable company, Van Den Hul. A new custom dynamic driver powers the Dream with a smoother mid-band and bass that reaches even lower with greater control. Dream is also equipped with the Awesome Plug for a multitude of new features.”

The build quality of the Dream is great. They feel durable as well they should as they are a cast Titanium, unique to say the least. They are lightweight and feel as they will be durable over the long haul which would characterize the properties of Titanium. The overall comfort allows the listener to have long listening sessions without pain or annoyance. The nozzles are angled and a little short which can make for a shallow insertion. The nozzles are notched so the tips stay on the nozzle and not in your ear when you remove them. Due to the shallow insertion, you may want to use one size larger on the tips. I used my favorite JVC Spiral Dot tips and my new favorite narrow bore Final Audio ear tips. It is tossup which I use more, I enjoy the sound of the Dream with both.

Let us review the sound, shall we?

For the review, I paired the Dream with the A&K Kann, Opus #2 and the LG G6(American). The Dream really enjoy some power or they can sound a bit thin and anemic, therefore the Kann would be my DAP of choice for the Dream. I used the stock SPC cable as well as briefly testing the Truth Copper cable.

I already highlighted a little of what you could expect from the sound above but let just a take a little deeper dive and discuss the joy my ears have had over the past few weeks of listening. Reference tilted IEM’s without being analytical and stale. I am not sure what that classification conjures up in your mind but the Dream has energy and allows the listener to hear many of the nuances in your music. Classical and Jazz lovers will appreciate this. It is important to remember that these are Dynamic Drivers and have some of the finest bass available. The reason I mention that now is with all of this talk of airy, clear and detailed you may have the impressions these are a bright IEM, they are not bright but clear in delivery. It is important to remember the DD bass really fills in the body. I would characterize the stage as very broad and very deep. As mentioned earlier, it is a 3D holographic stage. The various instruments come at you from the fringes of the soundstage. Notes sound separated by air and instrument placement is very obvious. Overall the stage and separation are excellent, a notch above.

Bass

The Dream’s bass is not bloomy or obtrusive it is only a bit right of neutral with ample sub bass. You can feel the low rumble of the bass. It never takes center stage but the bass knows it’s place in the spectrum. The sub rumbles and the mid bass is punchy and has an excellent overall tone providing an excellent bass synergy. To my ears it is the finest bass I have heard. It may not stack up to the speed of say BA bass but it doesn’t detract from the overall experience in the least. As mentioned it is never bloomy and never bleeds into the other ranges. It actually fills in the gaps in the other ranges with the addition of controlled body. Controlled, rich and punchy and deep. Awesome bass!

The bass likes a little power so a bright, underpowered source might not be the best choice for these. Kann does a wonderful job with driving these through its powerful balanced output. The Opus #2 delivers an exceptional sound experience from the quality perspective and it is a sublime pairing. However, I think the Kann drives them with the authority needed. Lg G6 was okay but it required max volume and they sounded a little thin. For comparison, the Dream certainly doesn’t have the quantity of bass as say a 64 Audio U12 but it has a better quality of bass.

Mids

The midrange of the Dream is delivered to you with a high level of detail and clarity. The overall impression of the midrange is revealing and clear. The midrange does not have warmth or any darkness in its tone, it relies on the ample bass quality for that. Again, I feel I am being redundant but the sound is very clean without being bright. The notes are separated by air and there is a certain quality of attack in the midrange. At times, I find the midrange a little forward, not in a negative way but in a way that might be what you might hear from a home stereo system with the speakers facing you. You may actually think the upper mids might touch their toe over the line toward edginess, or harshness but it never happens. This is why these are great for stringed instruments, Classical and Jazz. Reference sound offering nice detail. In keeping with the trend, vocals tend to be clear and forward. Crisp female vocals and smooth male vocals.

Treble

The treble description is probably the most difficult to articulate with words for me. The treble is certainly in the mix and is to be saluted for the large part it plays in the detail and clarity. The treble notes aren’t sharp, harsh or sibilant. The treble tones follow suit in the clarity game of the midrange. There is some treble twinkle but it isn’t overly bright, again I would avoid an overly bright source. I think the treble blends in nicely with the rest of the spectrum. There is a fair amount of extension in the treble but the fact that it meshes so nicely with the midrange rounds out this wonderful package.

In Closing

The sexy design, excellent Titanium shell, incredible stock cable and overall fantastic sound. There really aren’t many negatives that pop out at me. I would say the price could cause pause to some and the ergonomics of the cable could be better. It is not the most expensive IEM I own but for a single driver, in this age of more is better, it is expensive. To Classical and Jazz listeners it could be end game which could factor into your decision to purchase. I actually enjoyed these with EDM also, that genre made good use of the DD bass. I think the overall tone of this review, my apologies for the redundancy, is the clarity. These are a fantastic reference IEM with a detailed presentation. The soundstage needs to be heard to be appreciated, it is incredible. The air cradling the notes and width of the stage to go along with the holographic qualities make for a WOW listening experience that appears to mature with burn-in, in my opinion. Achieving a good seal is critical and a using a neutral or mildly warm source would be the best pairing.

I have posted some of my correspondence from Desmond of Dita:

“The Dream casing is made from 100% cast Titanium, after that is is machined down and finally finished by hand. It’s a crazy time consuming process that makes it impossible to mass produce, therefore we will only do a very small run of it. Actually we are almost sold out already, we are now just fulfilling back orders to distributors. Hopefully those lucky few that have them will see an appreciation in prices in the future.”

Next sit back, take in the experience and don’t forget to occasionally pinch yourself as this all may be a Dream. With Dita Dream your dream can become a reality.