CCZ Plume

disclaimer:  The CCZ Plume was sent by a company representative for review.  I have no financial interest in CCZ or any of its suppliers, distributors, or subsidiaries.   If you have an interest in the Plume, see the Keephifi facebook page or their store for more details and to purchase.

 

Unboxing / Packaging:

From the moment you open the shipping box, the Plume announces its presence with bold color choices and graphics throughout the packaging.  The rear of the package has the specs for the unit while the front is the CCZ logo In gold leaf over a gold and pale blue graphic design.  Upon opening the box, the experience is equally bold with the earpieces and tips displayed in a foam surround which gives a presentation case aesthetic.   Beneath the foam tray is a leather hard-shell case, the cable, cleaner, additional tips, cleaning cloth, and adapters.  it is a very complete kit as it includes eight sets of tips, 3.5, 4.4, and 2.5mm jacks, and both a case and cleaning kit.   It is hard to find fault with the accessories provided as many at this price have far lesser kits.   CCZ obviously wanted to create a premium experience from the first look and the kit shows that attention to detail.

 

Build/Fit:

The Shell of the Plume certainly is eye catching with its gold and gray metal finish.   Most of the shell is bright gold with an inlay that has a mesh over the bright gold to give it a grey/black appearance when turned directly into the light and an antiqued gold when looked at from an angle.    Shells are indeed all metal with the semi-custom shape we have become used to but construction is a departure from average with a four part design using an outer faceplate, a mid shell, an inner shell and a nozzle.   The nozzle has a more orange tint than the other three parts which are very closely matched and well mated.   There are two vents both on the under surface with one on the inner shell near the nozzle and the other on the mid shell directly behind the first.   Nozzles have a slightly forward rake when in ear and offer fairly deep insertion.      The only issue with the Plume is they are larger than average so those with small ears may be wise to try them on before purchase as they may cause some fitment issues.   I was able to wear them comfortably for extended periods but my daughter complained of discomfort when using them for more than 30-40 minutes.

 

Internals:

The Plume is a 5 driver hybrid using a 10mm dynamic driver for lows and a pair of custom balanced armatures for the mids and another pair for highs.  The armatures are designed and built in house and are refereed to in the notes as the CCZ-IF-A (intermediate frequency) and the CCZ-HI-A (High frequency) models respectively.     All wiring inside and out is 6N OCC as well.   Nominal specs are 16Ω impedance and 110dB/mW ±2dB measured at 1Khz.    I found the Plume easy to drive using a phone/dongle or tablet but that it does scale some with both better dacs and more potent sources.    The plume is well suited for mid-potency dongles and phones as it performs well with moderate power and really doesn’t scale much beyond that point without introducing some audible noise when the music isn’t playing.    With this high a sensitivity hiss is to be expected if paired with sources designed for large planar magnetic headphones or high impedance dynamics.

I was not able to find any exploded diagrams or internals views of the Plume but understand that Delta Fyre will be doing a tear down of the Plume on his site so those interested may want to head that direction.

 

Cable:

As previously mentioned the cable is 6N OCC single crystal copper wrapped rubber casing and a cloth overlay.   The jack is a 2.5mm straight type with a short strain relief and a 2 tone (chrome and black) barrel housing.  The cable leaves the jack as a tight 2 strand twist up to the splitter (matching chrome and black carbon fiber barrel) and then exits as single strands.  A black bead chin slider is provided and functioned well in my use.   At the north end, the Plume has pre-formed hooks and 0.78mm bi-pin connectors using a short square hood to cover the connector on the shell and reinforce the connection.  Non-hooded model cables will work, but may look slightly odd with the connector extending the length of the connector slightly.   Also included are two adapters that convert the 2.5mm to 4.4mm balanced and 3.5mm single ended respectively.     These both worked well in my trials but I much prefer a 90º version of the adapters as these do provide a long lever that can put a lot of force on a jack in your source if not handled with care.   the provided adapters will work fine when using desktop equipment in quiet/safe environments, but for travel and mobile application purchasing an aftermarket 90º adapter may be a bit more prudent.

 

Sound:

Bass:

Sub-bass has good presence but is somewhat source dependent as it gains or loses a bit of impact and clarity depending on source in use.  I found that something with a bit more power than a standard phone was necessary to get the best out of it as with a bit of extra power the bass tightens up nicely.     The sub-bass is probably the most prominent feature of the sound landscape here with the mid-bass gradually stepping back but still emphasized from pretty much the entire range.   Bass textures are good for the price point and detail is more than honestly expected in a tuning this warm.   The lows can get a little thickened with extremely fast passages and source pairing is important in getting the most from the Plume.

 

Mids:

There is some mid-bass bleed here, no way around it, the lower mids are at times obscured by the bass and when combined with a V shape tuning, the mids do sound a bit recessed.  Detail is good once you get above the bleed but the warmth carries through all the way to the upper-mids and gives them a bit thicker vocal presentation than average and dulls the transients so guitar growl isn’t as sharp as some others in its class.  True mids have good texture and detail but again lack a bit of energy needed for strings to be entirely realistic.   There is a push forward of the upper-mids that give female vocals a step forward in the mix and enough energy to sound realistic.   By comparison their male counterparts are a step back into the mix and have a thicker heavier tonality that at times is welcome and at others is a bit too much.

 

Treble:

Treble has good energy, clarity, and detail without becoming too far forward or harsh.  Snare rattle has good crisp edges and is notable sharper than the guitar growl below it.  Cymbals are not metallic but could use a touch more sustain and decay as they drop back out a bit more quickly than entirely realistic.    There is some air and space at the top but sparkle is somewhat limited by the tuning and rolloff is pretty steep above about 11kHz to my ear which keeps the Plume from sounding entirely open and spacious at the top.

 

Soundstage / Imaging:

Soundstage has good dimension with slightly greater depth than width and a limited sense of height.   Closed back in-ears as a class are generally not known for large stages and the Plume very much falls into this description as while there is good instrument separation and seating the orchestra is fairly straight forward the resulting stage seems both somewhat narrow and a little shallow when compared open back models that allow the sound to stretch a bit more.    Movement is easily tracked but positions are not as precise in lower tones as they are in higher voices so imaging while generally good lacks a little bit of precision when low pitched sounds are tracked.     There is a good bit of compression of the lows on fast paced complex tracks and the result is that it does get thicker as pieces get more complex.     Again, not unexpected on a bass forward model, but may influence a purchasing decision for some.

 

Thoughts / Conclusion:

I like the Plume a good bit.  For a freshman effort by a new company it shows that CCZ put a lot of thought and effort into this release.  I’m not a huge fan of blinged out stuff, but the aesthetic definitely sets the Plume apart from the crowd and gets it noticed.    The tuning is also a departure from the average with big bass and an overall warm tonality that departs from the standard deep V with a lot of treble push.    The minus side of the argument is size may be too large for some, the Plume does exhibit some source dependence, and a bit of micro-detail lost to the tuning.   The Plume does not play nice with poor recordings and will reveal them as poor quality fairly abruptly so be forewarned, it may not be the Plume that sounds bad, it may well be what you are feeding it.      I find the plume adds an option to the market that has been somewhat overlooked as it has bold lows, a warm overall tone, and a polite treble that will appeal to those looking for an earphone for things like Electronic music ,dub-step, and hip-hop.