CCA Lyra

disclaimer:  The CCA Lyra was sent for review by CCA.  I have no financial interest in CCA, or KZ (sister company) or any of their partners or distributors.  I have received no guidance or incentives for this review.    To purchase the CCA Lyra see CCA’s official store on Aliexpress.

 

Unboxing / Packaging:

Those who have seen CCA packaging before (or many of the other budget brands for that matter) will recognize the package immediately.  On the front of the slip-cover is a line drawing of the earpieces.  The reverse has the specifications in Chinese and  English.  Removing the slip-cover reveals the earpieces in a foam surround with a clear plastic shield as a box lid.   Beneath the foam support hide the cable, two more sets of tips, and the manual.  There is no carrying case or foams provided but with a retail asking price of $18 USD its hardly surprising that the kit is kept to the bare minimum.

 

Build/Fit:

My first thought when opening the box was “Oh look, a blinged out CRA”  as size and shape are similar but with the faceted portion of the face-plates reflecting light, they look a little bit like the outer portion has been coated in rhinestones.   Shell color choices are listed as blue and white but are more correctly a transparent blue or clear polymer shell with a metal ring around the outer portion of the face-plates.  Nozzles are also polished metal with a pronounced lip.    One interesting thing for a budget model is the raised 0.75mm bi-pin jack is partially on the inner shell and partially on the face-plate meaning the metal has to be relieved around the connector which is an added cost operation and usually not seen at this price.   Inner shells are the typical semi-custom shape and size is small-medium despite the 10mm dynamic driver hiding inside.   There is a vent just slightly off-center from the middle of the driver on the underside of the shell and the back venting is  by a port at the point of the teardrop outer shell again cut through the side-wall of the metal face.    I found the Lyra quite comfortable for extended wear and think all but the smallest ears will have no issue with them.

 

Internals:

The heart of the Lyra is a dual magnet 10mm dynamic driver with a polymer composite diaphragm.    This new diaphragm material is was patented as part of the development process and CCA is proud of the engineering done in-house on the Lyra driver.   The driver has a nominal impedance of 28Ω with a sensitivity of 113 dB/mW making it very easy to drive and while it does scale some with higher potency sources there is also some hiss that creeps in when power goes above its comfort zone.  I found the Lyra paired well with smartphone dongles like the Hidizs S9 and Xduoo Link2 or lower powered sources like hiby R2 and Cayin N3.

 

Cable:

Again, if you own a couple of CCA or KZ in-ears, you’ll likely recognize the cable as it is the standard model used with most of their in-ears.   It starts out with a 3.5mm jack in a 90• housing with a good strain relief.  Two strands of wire in a side by side arrangement exit the jack and run to the splitter which is just a clear ring glued in place with the two strands split above that point and run to the two connectors at the northern ends.   There are ear-hooks and clear 0.75mm hooded bi-pin connectors at the north end.  They are marked L/R but due to the clear material it can be difficult to pickout.  A red or blue dot on one or the other would be appreciated for ease of indexing.   Cable material is silver plated oxygen free copper.

 

Sound:

Bass:

Sub-bass has good emphasis and brings some rumble to the sound without a lot of bleed or bloat.   The emphasis centers at 50Hz and gradually drops back to either side with roll-off only present below about 25Hz at which point notes are perceived more as vibration than sounds.    The mid-bass has good tonality and texture and the driver is fast enough that the sound is cleaner than expected.   There is a hint of warmth brought from the mid-bass into the lower-mids but no perceptible bleed or obstruction.   This is one of the better bass presentations in the CCA/KZ line-up and my hope is they will continue to use this tuning going forward.

Mids:

As mentioned above, lower-mids are a touch recessed but still have solid presence in the mix and good tonality and texture.  This gives lower vocals good weight and tone and the speed of the driver helps with guitar growl which has good rasp and edge to the sound.   There is a push in the upper-mids that helps add the energy needed for strings, but it is mild enough to keep them fromt getting harsh.    Higher vocals do stand a bit forward in the mix but not so much so as to sound unnatural and again the lift helps bring focus to upper vocals but stops short of becoming nasal or fatiguing.

Treble:

The lower-treble shares the push with the upper-mids and stays elevated until it crosses over into the true treble at somewhere around the 5kHz mark.   True treble drops back and helps with preventing some harshness but also makes the treble sound a bit uneven.  There is a 2nd push at about 8kHz to add back some top-end energy before final roll-off which becomes evident at about 13kHz to my ear.   Percussion has good snare rattle with a nice crisp snap, but cymbals lack enough energy in the 5-8kHz range to sound wholly natural.   I’d prefer a bit more treble energy as it does limit air and sparkle at the top and while the treble shy may prefer the current tuning, I find it limits dynamics and detail in the treble range.

Soundstage / Imaging:

I generally don’t have high expectations for stage when reviewing in-ears, especially budget models as most in-ears struggle here.   The Lyra is about average in that respect with the stage being a bit wider than deep and a limited sense of height.   Seating the orchestra is fairly straight forward with instrument separation and layering being a bit above average (considering budget) but even with that the resultant picture is a bit shallow and wide compared to reality.     Imaging is solid with movements easily tracked and positions in space reasonably tightly defined.   There is some minor compression evident as tracks get faster and more complex but it takes a lot to make it noteworthy.

 

Thoughts / Conclusion:

The CCA Lyra is a good looking in-ear and at <$20 USD it is hard to find too much fault with it.  There are more models available today in this price range than ever before though so while it doesn’t do anything as egregious as the Demon to lose listeners, it doesn’t do a lot to jump the the head of the class either.    Its signature has enough bass to keep the rhythmic foundation solid and the mids and lower-treble enough energy to help vocals stick out cleanly above the instruments and build the 1st floor on our sonic house.  Unfortunately, its early treble roll-off prevents it from sounding open and airy at the top and results in the stage feeling pretty closed in which doesn’t help build the top floor.   What we end up with is a house with a great lower floor with a nice organic sound and enough warmth to make for a pleasant listen and a 2nd floor that somehow feels like it hasn’t been completed yet and some of the rooms are still missing drywall and finish.    I like what CCA has done with the low-end and hope they’ll build on that foundation and add a bit more top-end clarity and detail in the next generation.