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Rank #15: Perfect Seal Deca

Bass
As mentioned, its bass can be considered neutral – but it’s lighter than average. Most manufacturers choose a slight emphasis on the low end to add a bit of energy and rhythmicity. It’s an unobtrusive bass, performing steadily in the background. It isn’t necessarily the most engaging bass, but it’s relatively fast and airy. In addition, its hits are tight and well controlled – there isn’t much weight to carry around.

Rather, it’s an audiophile tuning of the bass, focusing on tone and quality, rather than sheer impact. Its low-end extension is good, as is its definition. But there are also important advantages resulting from Deca’s attenuated bass: specifically, the airiness of the stage and the midrange transparency.

Midrange
Deca’s midrange is primarily characterized by an upper midrange peak, providing a clear and open sound. There’s a certain lightness to it as it’s only slightly warm, but natural in tone. The upper bass and lower midrange however are laidback in the presentation, resulting in a leaner structure of midrange notes. Cellos or heavier electric guitars for instance might miss a bit of weight, that extra bit of power to make them sound more impressive.

But what the lower midrange might lack in body, it more than makes up for in the upper midrange’s tone. For this truly is one of the finest upper midranges money can buy. It’s both remarkably clear, as well as accurate in timbre. Aether’s upper midrange is a bit warmer, but Deca’s is simply purer; whether the pluck of an acoustic guitar, or stroke of a violin – they resonate with a magnificent beauty. It’s a very transparent sound, succeeding in its ability to sound clear without sounding bright.


This returns in the vocal presentation. The forwardness of the vocals tends to fluctuate a bit, shifting between neutral to slightly forward depending on the track. But especially deeper male vocals miss a bit of body – it’s not a very dense or powerful vocal presentation. Their tone however is good, with just the right amount of warmth for them to sound realistic. Female vocals on the other hand truly flourish – there’s a certain sweetness to their song, balancing clarity with tone and enough solidity.

Treble
Deca’s signature is finished off with an attenuated treble, resulting in an overall natural timbre. This is a very smooth, yet sufficiently clear and detailed treble. In addition, Deca retains a safe margin when it comes to sibilance. It isn’t an overly sparkly monitor – the treble won’t jump out to catch your attention. And as Deca’s resolution is about average and its lower treble is attenuated, it isn’t particularly upfront in its detail retrieval. Especially finer treble details relying on the higher frequencies can be more of a musical side note; but they’re nevertheless part of the flow, just less prominent – there’s sufficient clarity on the stage for all the detail to emerge.

Within its tuning, dipping the lower treble is a necessity for the overall naturalness of the presentation. Accordingly, it gives notes a softer attack, and the general focus shifts away from analytical precision. The downside is that its imaging misses a bit of the pinpoint precision you’ll find with monitors like the EarSonics S-EM9 or NT6pro. Clearly, there’s a tradeoff off of smooth musical flow and naturalness, for that final bit of accuracy. In addition, its treble extension is only around the iem average of 10-11 KHz, as is its speed. However, as both its definition and tone are quite good, it’s overall an enjoyable treble to listen to.

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ABOUT AUTHOR

flinkenick

flinkenick

Nic is currently in pursuit of a PhD degree in social neuropsychology, while trying not to get too distracted by this hobby. In pursuit of theoretical knowledge by day, and audiophile excellence at night. Luckily for him, both activities are not mutually exclusive which helps to lighten the workload. Always on the go, Nic's enthusiasm for hi-fi is focused on all chains of the portable system: iems, cables and daps.

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4 Responses

  1. For a second I thought you were Mike from Perfect Seal, lol. Yes Vega’s bass can be polarising, and if you like Deca’s tuning Vega will def be too much. Andromeda is a combination of a sort of versatile, fun-oriented tuning. It’s sub-bass reaches deep and has a nice modest punch, slightly more than Deca, but it has more mid- and upper bass presence so it’s warmer. The lower and center mids are also more forward, where Deca has its main presence in the upper mids. This gives Andro a slightly forward and warmer midrange, where Deca is a bit leaner, but more transparent. The focus is more on the purity of the upper mids and the tone, its more of an audiophile tuning if you will. Andro in turn has a boost in its treble to add some sparkle up top. This completes its allround, fun tuning, where Deca is more instrument-oriented if that makes sense.

  2. How does the Deca comapre to the CA Andromeda? I just demoed the CA Vega (I own the Deca and love it) – and the bass was just silly sounding.

  3. I do feel a difference though, when going from a copper cable to a silver one.

    I was against cables at first too, till I tried it. Although, the difference is quite minor compared to the price IMO

    I buy cables for ergonomics and colors mostly, that’s my priority

  4. Utter and total rubbish!
    “Cable has warm tonality” – cables just transport electrical signals, it doesn’t matter what they are made of.
    You drink the snake oil, you start hearing nonsense.
    Sorry to say but it’s the truth, unlike your “reviews”…/sigh.

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