Juzear x Z Reviews Defiant's Review

 

General/Packaging/Comfort/Build

Juzear is a brand which is sold by HifiGo exclusively it seems. The brand has released several IEMs and some of them are well received by the reviewers as well as general consumers based on the discussion from several audiophile groups in the social media. This is my first time reviewing Juzear’s IEM, the Defiant, which is a collaboration between Juzear and Z Reviews. While, the general perception is that Z review favours bass and the IEM will probably be bassy. We will find out in the later part. The overall packaging is very nice, and for the asking price, I think it is very good, the stock cable is modular cable (3.5 and 4.4), it is also being sold separately hence i think the overall bundled accessories is very good, faux leather kind of storage case. Eartips are quite generic but work fine so not complaining. 

The shell is resin based and features very nice faceplate (mine is green colorway) and very comfortable, no driver flex for me personally. Very comfortable listening to the Defiant for 2-3 hours straight

Equipment and Software used

• Aune S9C

• Fiio M23

• Apple Music/Tidal/foobar2k

• Questyle M18i

Foreword

My review is solely based on what I hear via my equipment and I never consider my reviews to be objective in any way rather a subjective approach. Do take into consideration that everyone’s ear anatomy is not the same, so the psychoacoustics perception might be different as well, but i believe it will not stray too far

Sound Impression

The defiant has gone through 20 hours+ of burn in period prior to this review.

Upon first listening impression, I must say I am rather surprised with the sound, in a good way of course. Defiant’s sound signature is fun, but at the same time i feel it is quite balanced, the tonality is leaning towards slightly warm with a U shaped sound profile which is evident with a lift on both the highs and lows. Timbre sounds fairly natural to my ears with a slight BA tinge if you pay real hard attention to it

Bass

• Fairly good speed and doesn’t sound bloated or muddy when listening to busy tracks such as Slipknot’s People’s = Shit!, Duality, Metallica’s Lux Aeterna, it handled the speed drumming and kick flawlessly, without sounding muddy nor bleeding into the mids

• Sub bass has good extension and does rumbly when the track calls for it, it does sounds fun based on my preference but i wouldn’t say this is something for bass head, the bass does not overpower everything else

• The transition from sub to mid bass is very good, the mid bass doesn’t lack punch and the sub and mid bass complement each other very well

• The bass has good texture and doesn’t sound “loose”, it is tight and controlled which is why i said it came as a surprised being a collab with Z Reviews

• Despite having only 1 DD, the bass does have plenty of impact and watching videos or gaming with it is pretty fun

Mids

• The mids are neither too forward nor recessed, just right to my ears, 

• Vocal positioning is just nice, just imagine the artist is probably 5-6 steps away from you

• Male and female vocal has good texture to it and doesn’t sound thin, i would prefer the female vocal to have a little bit more bite 

• The bass doesn’t bleed into this range which is good

• Pinna gain is rather safe and never shouty even when the volume is being cranked up

• It is overall quite clean sounding and natural in this range

Treble

• Treble is quite energetic but nowhere near what i would describe as the preference of a treble head

• It is not harsh nor grainy and has plenty of air throughout the region

• Treble extension is also quite good for this set depending on your personal preference, if you are someone who wants to hear every single detail in the track, Defiant might not be the one for you, but at the asking price, it is definitely offering a lot of bang for bucks!

Soundstage/Imaging

• Soundstage is slightly out of your head with good width, depth and height perception is good

• Separation is good for the asking price

• Imaging is good as the instruments can be pinpointed easily even during busy track, certain complex orchestral track might not perform that well

Driveability

• Defiant is not hard to drive, most of the dongles will do just fine

• It does not really benefit much from amplification based on my listening experience

• However, different source does somehow will add a certain degree of coloration to the sound signature, iFi’s Zen Dac and Hip Dac 3 for example, made the overall note weight slightly thicker

Comparison (ZiiGaat Lush) 

• In terms of pricing, much higher compared Defiant and does not come with modular cable

• Lush and Defiant shares the same driver config and in terms of sonic performance, they are quite different

• Lush is going for the meta kind of tuning, hence it sounds a little more neutral and slight lift on the sub bass, whereas Defiant is more on the fun side of the spectrum

• In terms of technicalities, Lush is slightly better compared to the Defiant

• Value proposition, Defiant definitely walks away with the crown

Final Thoughts

As this is my first time trying out Juzear’s IEM, it definitely gave me a very positive experience, at the same time, being a Z Reviews collab, i am really surprised that the Defiant is actually quite balanced sounding yet remains as fun. At the asking price of 99$, it is very hard not to recommend it to anyone, be it the newcomer or even seasoned audiophile alike.

*A big thanks to Hifigo for sending this over for the purpose of this review. Thanks for the support and opportunity

Head over to their store if you are interested in getting a pair:

Juzear x Z Reviews Defiant - Non affiliated