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An audible anomaly: Little Dot CU-Rad

Project A³by Project A³0 comments
Sound Review by Kzw

Disclaimer: Little Dot has graciously provided us with this sample unit in exchange for an honest review. The views discussed below are a reflection of Project A3's thoughts surrounding the product. The sample has been run-in for at least 50 hours prior to reviewing in order to achieve an accurate representation of the product.



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TL;DR
Not Recommended if you like:
  • A smooth, non-fatiguing sound signature
  • A rolled-off treble
  • A voluminous, cascading bass-response
Recommended if you like:
  • A treble-heavy, upper-mid focused sound signature
  • Sparkly and shimmery high section
  • A light bass-response




Introduction:
Little Dot is an unknown brand that is comfortably sequestered itself as a “domestic product” in the Chi-fi market, only available for purchase from official Taobao retailers.

Little is known about the brand, apart from the fact that Little Dot specializes in the manufacture of DAC/Amps. Being their first foray into the heavily contested IEM-space, which is getting exponentially larger by the day (with factories churning IEM after IEM), the Little Dot CU-Rad is hoping to gain the attention of impassioned audiophiles.

Featuring a composite, single dynamic driver and priced competitively at $70 USD, the CU-Rad will face stiff competition from other established brands like Ikko and Shuoer. Nevertheless, will the CU-Rad be good enough to stand out from the rest of the crowd? Available at Taobao.*



ProsCons
  • Clean treble
  • Forward and Detailed Highs
  • Upper-mid Clarity
  • Good soundstage, excellent imaging capabilities
  • Generic shells with little to no strain relief
  • No detachable cable
  • Strange and unnatural timbre
  • Thin-midrange



Specification:
  • Product Name: CU-Rad In-ear Earphones
  • Driver Type: 10mm Composite Diaphragm
  • Impedance: 18 Ohms
  • Senstivity: 103+/- 3dB
  • Frequency Range: 15Hz- 20Khz
  • Distortion: <1% @ 1000hz
  • Plug: 3.5mm Gold-Plated



Gear Used & Tracklist:
 Sony NW-A105|  Aune X1S|  Periodic Audio Nickel (Ni)| Venture Electronics Odyssey | Google Pixel 2XL |
Genres Artist Songs
Live Recordings Diana Krall Desperado (Live)

Natalia Lafourcade Soledad y El Mar

Case Lang Veirs Atomic Number

Depeche Mode Question of Lust (Live 1998)
Instrumentals Max Richter On the Nature of Daylight

Santa Esmeralda Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Nils Frahm Toilet Brushes (Live)
Jazz Bill Evans A Waltz for Debbie

Chet Baker I'm a Fool to Want You

Sons of Kemet Your Queen is Harriet Tubman

Ryo Fukui Scenery
Rock Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare

The Stooges Down On The Street

Avenged Sevenfold Unbound (The Wild Ride)

Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine

Ozzy Osbourne Crazy Train

Green Day 21 Guns
Classical Niccolò Paganini La Campanella (From Violin Concerto No.2 In B Minor)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Year 1812 Solemn Overture

David Arnold Independence Day
Pop Hu Yang-Lin (胡楊林) Perfume is poisonous (香水有毒)

Fish Leong (梁靜茹) Love Song (情歌)
Western Pop Anamanaguchi MEOW

Iamamiwhoami Chasing Kites

Algiers Dispossession

New Order Bizzare Love Triangle (Extended Mix)

Marian Hill Breathe Into Me

Tyler, The Creator EARFQUAKE

Tones and I Never Seen the Rain

Red Hot Chili Peppers Around the World
ACG Saori Hayami オレンジミント (Orange Mint)

RADWIMPS 前前前世 (Zenzenzenzense)

RADWIMPS スパークル(Sparkle)

DAOKO Cinderella Step

Kana Hanazawa 恋愛サーキュレーション (Renai Circulation)



 
Unboxing:
The Little Dot CU-Rad comes with a small, cardboard box with a giant sticker plastered across its lid, featuring the brand’s logo and a hi-res image of the earphones themselves. Lifting the lid, you’ll be greeted by a large plastic hard case that occupies the entire interior of the box. The specifications of the CU-Rad are directly printed onto the case; quite an ingenious way of reducing the need for paper manuals. Apart from some spare silicon tips, the CU-Rad IEM themselves and a cable tie that comes attached, nothing else is included inside the package.

While the package itself is pretty sparse, I like the plastic, clamshell case that was included; it looks fantastic, with the text directly imprinted on the top flap. A solid offering, overall.



Scalability:
The Little Red Dot, given its below-average impedance input at 18 ohms vs 32 ohms, and its high sensitivity, is easily powered by portable sources. A dedicated DAC/Amp is unnecessary; the CU-Rad wasn’t designed to be a power or current hungry monster.It sounds just as good on the Venture Electronics Odyssey Dongle and on the Sony Walkman NW-A105; the differences are barely noticed and difficult to identify.

On the Aune X1S, the volume knob barely inches its way out of the 6 O’clock mark before reaching “ideal listening volumes”.

This is an “out and about” earphone; it doesn’t scale much, and the improvements reaped simply aren’t there.




Fit:
The hot-red shells themselves are made out of aluminium. The moulds in which they are casted look vaguely reminiscent of the 1More Triple Driver earphones, except scaled by half. It is important to note that like the 1More, the earphones were designed to be worn down like traditional consumer earphones.

The bead-blasted finish is cold to the touch, and the lightweight shells fit nicely in the ear canal. My “headshake test” failed to budge it at all, which is a good start. Nozzle length is adequate, the spout rests well in my ear canals. The shells meld into foreground of my day-to-day activities because of its ultra-light shells, resulting in a session that is unperturbed by any long-term discomfort or soreness in the ears.

Unfortunately, because the CU-Rad was designed with the intention of being worn downwards, there is significant microphonics when walking. The pin-hole sized vent just below the spout of each shell also picks up significant wind noise, compromising its ability to isolate well from audible disturbances. In addition, it would’ve been a value-add, if the earphones themselves were equipped with detachable MMCX connectors to increase the longevity of the product, and give consumers the options of cable-rolling.

The cables are supple and soft, with a rough texture on the cable sleeving, making it easier to grip. It doesn’t retain much memory, making it easy to unravel when its dumped straight into a pocket. The strain relief at the end of the 3.5mm gold-plated jack is also reinforced well and has great flexibility.

Overall, it’s a great EDC earphone, but there is certainly room for improvement.




Sound Signature


Aggressive V-shape sound signature, with a noticeable scoop in the mid-range  

In all honesty, this is a strange earphone. The CU-Rad has an incredibly engaging upper-mid section that transitions well into the highs, with an enthusiastic treble response. Bass is nice and taut, with both body and depth in the sub-bass registers. However, there is a large valley in the lower-mids which results in a “thinny” signature.



Lows
Pros
  • Taut, and quick mid-bass
  • Long sustain on the lower-registers is perfect for modern tracks
  • Deeply engaging bass response
Cons
  • Too much of the sub-bass rumble and "wobble"
  • Bleeds and clouds the lower-mids

Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Slowthai- Doorman
Tyler the Creator- Earfquake

The CU-Rad has good mid-bass depth, but is drowned out by thick wall of sub-bass. Because of this, the mids are slightly clouded and the lower-mids are nowhere to be found. On Slowthai’s Doorman, the wobbly, trap bassline is realized through a thick, bloated mid-bass punch, followed by a slubby sub-bass rumble. Because of its loose sub-bass, the sustain on the bass frequency is very fun sounding, complementing modern trap-rap flavoured songs.



Mids
Pros
  • Upper-mids are crystal clear
  • Instruments are given alot of room to breathe
  • Diffuse and porous sounding
Cons
  • Too aggressive on the upper-mids
  • Thinny sound from the lack of lower-mids
  • Unnatural timbre
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Allah Las- Busman's Holiday
Benjamin Booker- Violent Shiver

The upper-mids are clear, unperturbed by the overly enthusiastic bass line. However, there’s a clear upper-mid boost which results in an aggressive V-shaped sound signature that transitions well into the highs.

But, the lack of lower-mids; that of which gives the mids life, falls flat and is missing. The mids are the frequency that people first pick up on, and the lower-mids add depth and body to the entirety of the mix.



Highs
Pros
  • Great extension in the upper-registers
  • Airy, porous and life-like
  • Incredibly clear, undisturbed by the mids or the lows
Cons
  • Can be sibilant on certain tracks
  • The upper-mids and highs thin out the entire sound signature
  • -
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
The Comet is Coming: Summon the Fire
Sufjan Stevens- The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is out to get us!

Sonically, the Cu- Rad's allows the highs to extend liberally and extensively. But because of its daring character, it pushes the highs far too much at times, pushing the boundaries of what I would consider "coarse and harsh" at times, especially with shrill instruments like baritone saxophones that can really gnaw at the eardrums. This is not for the faint of heart.

However, what the Cu-Rad lives us with is a unique signature is unashamedly forward, resulting in a "larger than life" pairing with acoustic tracks.



Soundstage
Pros
  • Decent lateral width between L-R channels
  • Decently expansive
  • Coherent soundstage
Cons
  • Run of the mill
  • Doesn't stand out from the competition
  • -
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Sufjan Stevens- Chicago

Don't expect flagship levels of sound-staging here, but the experience I had with the Cu-Rad is still a pleasant one. But as one would expect with earphones, it can't compete with the massive headroom a pair of headphones creates for the listener. The Cu-Rad performs decently well, but it doesn't differentiate itself from the rest of its similarly-priced competitors.



Separation
Pros
  • Good separation between instrumental and vocal cues
  • Expansive soundstage
  • Copes well with busier tracks
Cons
  • Lacks the width and intense separation of its pricier counterparts
  • -
  • -
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Santa Esmaralda- Please don't let me be misunderstood

The con is somewhat unfair, considering the Cu-Rad is only $70 USD. But, the fact that I included that as a con shows that there is nothing much to be critiqued here. The Cu-Rad does a good job, handling my favorite "busy test track", please don't let me misunderstood. It manages to decipher the cacophony of blaring instruments; the Cu-Rad gets a seal of approval from me.



Musicality
Pros
  • Perfect complement to female and male vocals in the mezzo-soprano to soprano ranges
  • Airy and spacious with acoustic guitars and classical instruments
  • Incisive and speedy delivery with synthesizers
Cons
  • Tonally inaccurate with electric guitars
  • Bad reverb reproduction
  • Can be razor sharp with brass instruments
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Sons of Kemet: Your Queen is Harriet Tubman
The Raconteurs- Born and Razed

The chart speaks itself! But be warned, if you enjoy classic rock or anything of that ilk, the Cu-Rad doesn't do it justice. That, and the painfully dissonant highs can melt your eardrums, especially with tracks going heavy with the sax.




Comparison Chart
How we compare: We chose other similarly priced earphones or similar offerings from the same brand that Project A3 has reviewed in the past, to ensure that we remain as impartial as possible in our comparisons.
Little Dot CU-Rad Urbanfun ISS014 TinHifi T4 Pro
Suggested Retail Price $70 USD $50 USD $99 USD
Driver Configuration 10mm Composite Diaphragm 10mm Beryllium Driver 1 Carbon Nanotube Dynamic driver
Scalability Mobile/Dongle friendly Mobile/Dongle friendly Mobile/Dongle friendly
Fitting Snug and Lightweight Snug and Lightweight Snug and Lightweight
Comfort Very Good Very Good Excellent
Sound Signature Aggressive V-Shape, with thick bass and forward mids Gentle V-Shape, with a fun mid-bass punch Fairly Linear, slight bass lift
Lows Punchy mid-bass, elevated sub-bass rumble with a draggy signature Punchy Midbass, followed by a speedy sub-bass rumble Speedy mid-bass, faint sub bass. Overall linear bass response
Mids Incredibly forward and detailed in the upper mids, lacking in the lower mids Organic sounding, with good lower-mid warmth but is placed slightly behind in the mix Clear and Neutral, zero emphasis on either lower or upper mids
Highs Highs are well extended, with good detail. Little harshness Highs show good detail and extension, zero harshness and sounds smooth on many tracks Pristine highs, good extension with little colouration
Soundstage Above average horizontal width Above average horizontal width Above average horizontal width
Separation Great imaging, vocals and instruments sound distinct and separate Good imaging, vocals and instruments are distinguishable Above average imaging, easy to distinguish between vocals and instruments
Remarks For the clarity-drven listeners that enjoy an aggressive signature For the consumer that enjoys a “consumer-focused” sound that doesn’t lose out on detail Perfect for a flat/reference signature or as an “everyday carry” IEM.


Conclusion:
The Little Dot CU-Rad is an oddity; it carries a signature that not many brands there to push out. It is unabashedly forward; it shows off an in-your-face signature that doesn’t pair well with all genres of music. But when it is paired right, it sounds truly wonderful. The composite driver clearly carries so much promise, given its impeccable staging qualities.

While there are some changes that could be made to make the CU-Rad truly shine, this is a breath of fresh air that is much needed from the same “safe” signatures that we’ve come across over the past 2 years.
Be sure to follow Project A3 on Facebook for more reviews*.





*All ratings are accurate as of date of publication. Changes in price, newer models may affect Project A3's views on the performance and value of the reviewed product.


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Project A³ is a collection of individuals that are passionate and dedicated to consumer and enthusiast audiophile products. Originating from various countries and involved in different fields what they all have in common is an appreciation for listening to music in the best way possible.
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