Disclaimer
I got this unit as part of Australia/New Zealand tour arranged by @d marc0, thank you very much for including me in this tour
Introduction
I am just another music fans in this world, I love listening to music, and that made me stumble into head-fi around 8 years ago when looking for the best way to listen to my music. I am not in anyway an audiophile, heck not even close, so please forgive any lack of details in my review. Most importantly this is my personal impression on the unit, most likely i heard things differently than you, my ears, my preferences, my brain
I listened to the CA Orion daily in my commuting from home to work and in the office for about 10 days.
Build Quality and Design.
Build quality of Orion is top notch, when you hold them in your hand you know that they are very sturdy and can take some beatings, they are rock solid. At first I thought they were bit big and chunky, don't think it will fit on my ears, but I am wrong, they actually fit nicely with my ears. In addition to that I personally like the design as well, less curvy and more edgy.
Pair that with the silver plated copper cable (ALO call them the Tinsel cable) just complete the whole package for me.
Sound Quality
Ok the most important part for me, sound quality, so how do they sound? For me they sounded natural and easy to listen to, there is no enhancement in the whole spectrum of sound, nothing offensive, quite relaxing and laid back. I do find them quite a bit mid-centric, with just enough warmth to make them pleasant. Detail and instrument separation is also quite good. This is one of the earphones that don't need a lot of EQ to sound right, in fact I kind of happy listening to them as they were without any adjustment on any spectrum at all. One thing that I notice is they do really well with female vocal, listening to Ana Caram & Astrud Gilberto is just magic, very sweet sounding and mesmerizing.
Having said that, since I am a guy who prefer a bright sound signature, I do wish the Orion to have a bit more sparkle to the treble segment.
For me the biggest weakness of Orion is the amount of bass, don't get me wrong they got some bass, but it's light in quantity, so instead of "OOMPH" you get "oomph". I find that this take out the pleasure a bit when listening to music with some bass kick (obviously YMMV as you might prefer light bass).
Comparison
I think I find the perfect comparison for Orion, Phonak PFE 012. Ok maybe not perfect, but they both share a single BA design so I think it's quite fair to compare them side by side, strictly from sound quality, not including accessories, build and cable quality (in which the Orion totally destroy PFE 012).
Note: I only have the green filter for PFE 012, without EQ they sounded too bassy/muddy for me, so I applied some EQ to lift the Mids and Trebles.
Bass: While the Orion is light on bass, PFE is the complete opposite, with the green filter there is too much bass! With a bit of EQ they sounded really nice. So hands down to PFE for bass.
Mids: Mids is still dominated by Orion, they mids on PFE is pretty good but not as full sounding and rich as the Orion.
Treble: It is bit brighter on the PFE, but this is pretty much due to EQ, without EQ they're just dull. I tried applying EQ to Orion but I find that the PFE is more respoding to EQ compare to Orion.
Noise Isolation: Due to the shape of the PFE, they didnt really cover my ears as much as Orion, so for me the Orion does better passive noise isolation compare to the PFE.
Comfort: The PFE is lighter than the Orion, this is due to the build material and size, but they are equal in comfort for me.
Efficiency: I can drive the Orion comfortably loud using only 50% of my phone volume, however I have to use almost 90% to reach a loud enough sound with the PFE, the Orion is the winner here.
After listening and comparing them side by side, my personal conclusion is they are quite equal in sound quality, just different tuning and sound signature.
Summary
If you listen to a lot of vocal music, I think you will enjoy the Orion. They deliver the complete package, high quality build, cable, accessories, natural sounding that will fit with majority of music genre.
Basshead and people who like bright sound signature? this might not be the earphone you're looking for.
I got this unit as part of Australia/New Zealand tour arranged by @d marc0, thank you very much for including me in this tour
Introduction
I am just another music fans in this world, I love listening to music, and that made me stumble into head-fi around 8 years ago when looking for the best way to listen to my music. I am not in anyway an audiophile, heck not even close, so please forgive any lack of details in my review. Most importantly this is my personal impression on the unit, most likely i heard things differently than you, my ears, my preferences, my brain
I listened to the CA Orion daily in my commuting from home to work and in the office for about 10 days.
Build Quality and Design.
Build quality of Orion is top notch, when you hold them in your hand you know that they are very sturdy and can take some beatings, they are rock solid. At first I thought they were bit big and chunky, don't think it will fit on my ears, but I am wrong, they actually fit nicely with my ears. In addition to that I personally like the design as well, less curvy and more edgy.
Pair that with the silver plated copper cable (ALO call them the Tinsel cable) just complete the whole package for me.
Sound Quality
Ok the most important part for me, sound quality, so how do they sound? For me they sounded natural and easy to listen to, there is no enhancement in the whole spectrum of sound, nothing offensive, quite relaxing and laid back. I do find them quite a bit mid-centric, with just enough warmth to make them pleasant. Detail and instrument separation is also quite good. This is one of the earphones that don't need a lot of EQ to sound right, in fact I kind of happy listening to them as they were without any adjustment on any spectrum at all. One thing that I notice is they do really well with female vocal, listening to Ana Caram & Astrud Gilberto is just magic, very sweet sounding and mesmerizing.
Having said that, since I am a guy who prefer a bright sound signature, I do wish the Orion to have a bit more sparkle to the treble segment.
For me the biggest weakness of Orion is the amount of bass, don't get me wrong they got some bass, but it's light in quantity, so instead of "OOMPH" you get "oomph". I find that this take out the pleasure a bit when listening to music with some bass kick (obviously YMMV as you might prefer light bass).
Comparison
I think I find the perfect comparison for Orion, Phonak PFE 012. Ok maybe not perfect, but they both share a single BA design so I think it's quite fair to compare them side by side, strictly from sound quality, not including accessories, build and cable quality (in which the Orion totally destroy PFE 012).
Note: I only have the green filter for PFE 012, without EQ they sounded too bassy/muddy for me, so I applied some EQ to lift the Mids and Trebles.
Bass: While the Orion is light on bass, PFE is the complete opposite, with the green filter there is too much bass! With a bit of EQ they sounded really nice. So hands down to PFE for bass.
Mids: Mids is still dominated by Orion, they mids on PFE is pretty good but not as full sounding and rich as the Orion.
Treble: It is bit brighter on the PFE, but this is pretty much due to EQ, without EQ they're just dull. I tried applying EQ to Orion but I find that the PFE is more respoding to EQ compare to Orion.
Noise Isolation: Due to the shape of the PFE, they didnt really cover my ears as much as Orion, so for me the Orion does better passive noise isolation compare to the PFE.
Comfort: The PFE is lighter than the Orion, this is due to the build material and size, but they are equal in comfort for me.
Efficiency: I can drive the Orion comfortably loud using only 50% of my phone volume, however I have to use almost 90% to reach a loud enough sound with the PFE, the Orion is the winner here.
After listening and comparing them side by side, my personal conclusion is they are quite equal in sound quality, just different tuning and sound signature.
Summary
If you listen to a lot of vocal music, I think you will enjoy the Orion. They deliver the complete package, high quality build, cable, accessories, natural sounding that will fit with majority of music genre.
Basshead and people who like bright sound signature? this might not be the earphone you're looking for.