Disclaimer: I would like to formally thank Ash from Dita Audio for providing us with a unit in exchange for an impartial and honest review. On behalf of the team at the Headphone List, we thank her for her generosity and trust in THL.
Summary:
The Mecha symbolises Dita Audio’s return to its roots. Despite its single-driver topology, the Mecha trades technical blows against hybrids and tri-brids.
Coherent and expansive, the Mecha’s detail-rich and gritty bass, paired with a bright sheen in the upper-midrange results in an expressive and larger-than-life sound that preferences excitement over groundedness. However, expect some level of uncanniness in odd-harmonic biased songs/recordings.
Pros:
+ Bomb-proof titanium chassis with sensational theming
+ Linear coherency, flagship level L-R stereo separation and staging/panning
+ Exciting contrast between a gratifyingly, boisterous low-end and exuberant upper midrange
– Over-exaggerated sheen to female voicings can present as shouty.
– Deeply emphasised W-shaped frequency band results in a few tonal aberrations
– Single dynamic drivers are still a niche.
Introduction
I’ve previously done a deep dive into the Dita Audio’s storied history (which spans two decades) in my review of the Project M, which can be found here. However, here’s the skinny for the uninitiated:
Dita Audio is one of founding fathers (brands) of Singapore’s now-booming audiophile scene. Witnessing every single baby step the fledgling industry took, Dita Audio walked so that Symphonium Audio and FatFreq could run.
Founded in 1971, its parent company, Packagers Pte Ltd has its roots grounded in humble origins. With 50+ years of cumulative experience in precision engineering, it’s no wonder that that every Dita IEM is an aesthetic marvel, a blank canvas for their unmatched finishing and machining.
Dita’s principle is simple: single dynamic drivers. From ‘Truth’ to ‘Dream’ to ‘Dream XLS’ and ‘Perpetua’, almost every iterative release never belies that simple rule (sans the Project M). Any improvements made are structural or material, focusing on maximising driver efficiencies.
In the late 2000s, the ‘driver arms-race’ was in full force, with high-end brands keen to capitalise on this emergent dogma with driver-stuffed IEMs beyond the kilo-buck realm. Dita Audio was attempting to swim against that rising tide.
In a bitter twist of fate, it seems that trend-of-yore is starting to take root again. In a market saturated by hybrids, tri-brids and even quad-brids, it appears that driver-count is still being used as a yardstick for gauging performance.
The Mecha is a throwback to its single-driver origins, hosting a novel 10mm lithium-magnesium membrane driver with a carbide surround. Priced at $899, it should come as no surprise that it has attracted its fair share of naysayers, repulsed by its price and apparent lack of drivers.
Therein lies the confronting question: does the Mecha’s performance prove or disprove the scathing critiques of the naysayers?
As a corollary, the Sennheiser’s successful IE lineup (IE200, IE600, IE900) has proven that there is marketplace for top-level single dynamic driver IEMs. Whether or not the Mecha revels in that level of success, is what we’re investigating today.
The Mecha can be purchased for $899 on Dita Audio’s official website.
Technology
CNC-machined Chassis
The Mecha, like the Dream and Dream XLS, comprises of two precision-machined pieces of titanium billet with a lustrous, pitted-like finish that showcases its cold hue.
10mm LiMa-Carbide Dynamic Driver
The Mecha showcases Dita’s latest innovation: a 10mm dynamic driver fabricated from an alloy of magnesium and lithium; materials that are notoriously difficult to manipulate. To exert as much control, a dual-magnet system, a 1mm wide carbide surround and dual acoustic vents are incorporated to enhance sonic performance, power handling and linearity.
Churro Cable
As its adorkable name implies, the ‘Churro’ is a novel cable with pleated ridges parallel to the length of the cable, reminiscent of the beloved Spanish dessert. At its core, the Churro is strewn from a monofilament, single crystal, high-purity copper-silver plated conductor.
Like every cable since the Dream, the Churro comes equipped with Dita’s suite of interchangeable Awesome plugs (3.5mm, 4.4mm, USB-C).
Unboxing
In terms of unboxings, there only exist a handful of brands that have impressed upon me a sense of awe and amazement. When products inch their way closer to the kilo buck price-tag, I believe it is only fair we expect a premier package befitting a steep ask.
I am happy to announce that the Mecha’s entire package definitely lives up to the brand’s prior successes. The Mecha’s packaging spins of the Project M’s technical/blueprint marketing. However, the Mecha’s neon-green outer sleeve, replete with cutting-mat-styled pips symbolises the Mecha’s bolder and eye-catching aesthetic. Inside you’ll be greeted by a familiar suite of accessories:
- Dita Mecha Earphones
- Mini Tanos Systainer3 (Custom) Carry Case
- Final Audio ‘E’ Ear tips (with Luminescence)
- 2-pin Churro Cable with 4.4mm, 3.5mm and USB-C swappable terminations
- Warranty Card
- Instruction Manual (in the form of a fold-out poster)
- Miscellaneous Dita Audio Stickers and Decals.
The Mecha’s and the Project M’s packages are near-identical, like-for-like. However, what was once a separate accessory (and still is for Project M owners for the fair price of 28 USD), the USB-C Awesome Plug Termination is now a standard inclusion in the Mecha’s package.
The Mecha’s entire package lives up to the towering expectations set by Dita’s prolific history in packaging and manufacturing.
Design
The mere mention of the word ‘Mecha’ is likely to conjure up images of ‘Evangelion Genesis’ or ‘Pacific Rim’, with a comically-large Japanese Mecha pummelling a Kaiju into the Earth’s stratosphere. To be even more specific, we would expect a battle-scarred, scuffed shell with military serialization and an industrial design.
Dita’s interpretation of that ‘sort of’ hits that target, albeit in a more abstract manner. The Mecha is meticulously machined and fashioned from Grade 5 Titanium billet using CNC-machining to achieve its organic, conch-like silhouette. Borrowing design cues from its ancestor, the original ‘Dream’, the Mecha’s surface is finished in coarse, pebble-stone like finish – reminiscent of Cerrakote.
Impressively, the two-piece shell is forged and styled in manner that shows off soft, organic contours instead of stepped ridges or planes. Historically, Dita’s designs have remain conservatively wedded to the ‘coin-shaped’ form factor illustrated by their line-up of single DD IEMs. What’s even cooler is how the seam between both pieces is barely visible to the naked eye. Dita’s marvellous machine expertise reflects their ironclad, watertight tolerances.
But, if I’m being honest, the Mecha’s stark-grey colourway and coarse surfaces is more evocative of grainy concrete textures and brutalist sculptures splintered across rural Russia instead of the post-apocalyptic stylings of our beloved Mecha-centric manga. This is my subjective assessment, but YMMV.
Apart from that, the Mecha is beautifully finished and built like a br*ck shithouse.
Comfort and Ergonomics
The Dita’s natural curves and tapers sits comfortably and flush against my counter helix and outer-ear. The only niggle that I personally have is the Mecha’s heft. Grade 5 titanium is typically renowned for its anti-corrosive and lightweight characteristics. I reckon the sheer density of the oblong shells results in a counterintuitively heavy profile.
The spouts on the Mecha are also oddly stout. However, I had zero problems securing a taut fit with the correct adjustments in my average-sized ears. There exists a tiny pin-hole sized vent on the Mecha’s shells, but during my existence listening sessions outdoors, extraneous noise did little to interrupt my music playback, with little noise ingress (save for wind noise).
Cable Quality
Dita Audio is a devout and staunch cable believer (as am I). In every successive IEM release, the intrepid team at Dita Audio invests just as much time and energy in sourcing and building a cable that synergizes well with their own products.
The endearingly-named ‘Churro’ cable is a cable strewn from monofilament single crystal high purity copper silver-plated conductors, with internal TPE shielding. The Churro cable’s sheathing features pleats running length-wise – comparable to the Spanish dessert’s signature ridges. The choice-of-sheathing is thicker-than-average, with a decent pliability. However, it does have a predilection for memory, which can problematize the process of stowing it away in the already-petite mini Tanos Systainer3 carrying case.
The termination end features the tried-and-tested Awesome Plug V2, with a treaded cap/collar and 4-pin mini XLR end for ease-of-swapping between the accompanying terminations.
The Churro is a beefy cable with a ingenious name and design, fashioned from high-quality components. However, physical improvements to the cable’s malleability could be made.
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