Shozy Rouge Review (1) – O You Pretty Things
Minimally packaged (just the Shozy Rouge phones, a few silicon tips and a large case); lightweight headshells are beautifully finished in hand-painted resin. Long nozzles do, as advertised, provide for deep insertion and good seal (also some mild driver flex), but shells protrude from the pinna and long-term comfort is only fair. Isolation is very good, however.
I confess to have been underwhelmed by these Shozy Rouge initially; if they cost $30 instead of $179 and weren’t so pretty I’d probably have dashed off a snarky review and given these to my 20-year old (which is the equivalent of throwing ‘em out). However, since they are so visually striking that I put them through their paces until their not-inconsiderable virtues emerged.
First and foremost, although their specs suggest otherwise, the Shozy Rouge are hard to drive and definitely need power to shine—through my usually serviceable LG G8 they sounded anemic unless cranked up to near-discomfort. Amping with a Cozoy or Topping NX3 made a night-and-day difference and made them sound much richer and fuller, with far more low end impact and better instrument separation.
Second, with the included silicon tips these sounded bass-shy, with a noticeable suck-out in the midbass region. Switching to foams improved matters markedly; although the transition from subbass to midbass isn’t quite seamless, the foam-tipped Rouge had more audible, even low-end presence.
Thus amped and shod, the Shozy Rouge are a neutral-to-warm-sounding phone with a “reverse L-shape”, which is to say generally balanced with some emphasis on a well extended high end. Note texture is meaty (tho not artificially boosted) and soundstage is deep and spacious, with a wide stereo spread, although height is limited—the effect is like listening in a large, low-ceilinged auditorium. Instrument placement is accurate and there’s considerable air between the performers. Simply stated, these sound like an expensive phone.
Low end isn’t seismic in depth, but well-shaped and more than adequate in quantity, with enough subass boom-and-bloom to keep these from sounding sterile. Mids are full, forward and free from artifiacts; female vocals in particular are expressive and rich. Treble, as noted, is the emphasis here, and it is extremely detailed and transparent—hard-to-capture nuances like piano sustain and plucked violin strings are reproduced very accurately, without sibilance or harshness—the Rouge deftly pulls off the trick of sounding smooth without sacrificing resolution. Drums, however, lacked a bit of snap and realism, perhaps because of the overall warmth of the signature
So how’s the timbre? Well, compared to single DD price peers like the Moondrop KPE or the BQEYZ Spring, somewhat less “analog” sounding and closer to a well recorded HDCD; despite (or perhaps because of) its hyper-revealing high end, the Rouge doesn’t let you forget that you’re listening to a recording as opposed to a live performance. However the Rouge has better-tuned bass and better overall clarity—I’d go so far as to call the Rouge’s clarity class-leading. (They’re actually a logical upgrade from the similarly-tuned KBear Diamond, which also show a highly revealing high end but have a smaller stage and less oomph). To use the old cliché, I found myself hearing new revelations in familiar recordings.
All things being equal, I like phones which don’t require accoutrement. However, if you have a suitable amp or DAP, the Rouge are a considerable step up in class and well worth the fare, both aesthetically and sonically. Highly recommended.
SPECIFICATIONS
Drivers: Proprietary Dynamic Driver + Dual Knowles Balanced Armatures
Impedance: 32 Ω
Sensitivity: 113 dB/mW
Frequency Range: 20 – 20,000 Y Hz
Cable/Connector:
Tested at: $179
Product Page: http://www.shozy-hk.com/rouge
Purchase Link: HifiGo
MY VERDICT
You find an INDEX of all our earphone reviews HERE.
DISCLAIMER
We received these as a free review copy from Hifigo—I’ll be passing them on Durwood et. al. for their better-informed opinions.
Get the Shozy Rouge from HifiGo.
Our generic standard disclaimer.
You find an INDEX of our most relevant technical articles HERE.
