> Sensitivity: 102dB
> THD: 0.63%
> Impedance: 12Ω
Total Score
Introduction
Greetings to all Hifitopia readers from the sunny days of autumn. Today I am going to review the new iem from Ziigaat, a company that produces products with great performance for the price. Here is the Ziigaat Crescent. We all know that competition in the iem market has increased a lot in recent years. Let’s see how prepared Crescent is for this battle.
The product in my hand was sponsored by Linsoul. I would like to thank them for providing an independent, honest and reliable review.
I listened to the product for about 120 hours without burning.
Design & Build
Ziigaat Crescent comes in a standard but satisfying box. The quality of the contents is surprisingly good in some places. And this is exactly what comes out of the box:
- 6 × Pairs of silicone ear tips (S/M/L, black and transparent)
- 1 × High-purity braided audio cable (2-pin 0.78mm to 3.5mm)
- 1 × Premium carrying case
- 1 × 3.5mm adapter
- 1 x 4.4mm adapter
- 1 × Warranty card
- 1 × Wearing diagram/user instruction card
Shells & Cable, Case, Tips…
Solid resin shells and medium sized nozzle. I call this shell shape a joker. These shells wouldn’t be bad even if Crescent was a thousand dollars. The workmanship of the shells is excellent, no roughness or missed areas. The fit of the shells is great and the isolation performance is slightly above average.
Except for the metal ports, the cable looks very simple and thin on the outside, but of course it’s what’s inside that counts. I didn’t see any information about it. On the other hand, it’s great, if not surprising, that this cable has an interchangeable jack. The quality is excellent, but the jack is a bit long for me.
I LOVE IT! I’m talking about the hard case, it’s hard enough, it’s big, it has a mesh compartment and a cable collector. I really don’t see such a good carrying case even in very expensive iems. I really appreciate it.
Another great detail: the liquid silicone type, which is very trendy right now! Ziigaat is very good with the box contents. In addition to these good tips they have included two pairs of spare nozzle grids. That’s a plus point.
Technology (Drivers)
I don’t normally mention this in my reviews. Because you know: it’s the sound that matters. And acoustics are also very important.
But Ziigaat Crescent offers a great configuration that is hard to get at this price:
- 1× 10mm PET Dynamic Driver
- 1× 10mm LCP Dynamic Driver
- 1× Knowles 30262-163
- 1× Knowles 33518
This partly explains why it is so technically good. Oops! Spoiler.
Synergy
Ziigaat Crescent & FiiO JA11
Let’s start small. The main reason I tried Ja11 and Ziigaat Crescent is that I see JA11 as the new “10usd dongle” standard. This is one of the cheapest solutions for listening to music outside.
Tonally, the sound is warm, a little bit pitched but balanced. Does it rest when you’re out? Yes. But the Crescent is saying “this is not me, I want more!” Without utilizing the technical capacity, this pairing resulted in a tonally stable sound with a narrower dynamic range.
Ziigaat Crescent & Roseselsa RS9039
It was a great idea to pair the RS9039, the most affordable 9039 dac, with the Crescent. The Ziigaat Crescent X Roseselsa RS9039 pairing is one of the best price-performance pairings I’ve heard in a long time.
The neutral and slightly midcentric sound of the RS9039 matched perfectly with the U-shape sound profile and transparent mids of the Ziigaat Crescent. The RS9039 played a bit dry in comparison, but the Crescent’s more exciting tonality made it more expressive. Technically, the resulting sound promises a lot. Resolution is high, there is plenty of detail and texture. And the separation is great. My score for this pairing is 9.6/10!
Ziigaat Crescent With Hiby RS8, the end of the game…
I don’t need to tell you that this match-up is fantasy. But of course I was curious about Crescent’s upper limit.
The result? ahaha pure pleasure from an iem at this price.
The RS8 is an R2R DAP. I’m listening in OS mode, A class amp stage and medium gain. The volume level is about 35/100. Resolution, detail, separation are at full potential. Layering and positioning are more pronounced, achieving a superior imaging achievement. Textures, accuracy, satisfaction… I hear more than 280 dollars.
Let’s talk about tonality. The Hiby RS8 produces a sound that is natural and neutral to slightly colored with a tiny bit of warmth. Combine this with the Ziigaat Crescent and the result is a sound that is both fun and acoustically accomplished. Warm enough and analytical enough. At the end of the day I’m not going to rate this pairing because it’s neither fair nor logical.
Sound
Ziigaat Crescent’s sound has a U-shape tonal profile arranged with very well balanced character.
Bass
Striking and detailed. The Crescent has a rumbling bass response that comes from a moderate depth in the lower frequencies and expands sufficiently to rumble. The sub-bass is tuned to be slightly in front of the mid-bass. The amount of extension is just right, but the position could have been a little further back. I love the electronic performance, it hits but doesn’t crush. As for the speed, I would say it’s a bit average, there are a few places where it skips a little bit, but nothing major. But the drums are the real surprise; before listening to the drums specifically, I thought the midbass would be insufficient, but it wasn’t. Both at the beginning of Ne Obliviscaris – Equus and throughout Sepultra – Refuse / Resist the drums were incredible. They weren’t very heavy, but I found them very good at conveying a sense of tension. On the other hand, the bass guitar and the contrabass are of the same quality: the note weight is not perfect, but the tension is exquisite. I felt this most when listening to the double bass in La voce del silensio from Musica Nuda. The amount of texture and structure is noticeably above average.
Mid
Ziigaat Crescent has instrument-oriented mids. This shouldn’t scare off vocal lovers. Female vocals stay where they are, but they are not thrown forward with extra brilliance as most do. I like this, the instrument body and realism are very good. The overall profile is U-shaped, but the strummings are at the extremes so there’s plenty of room for mids. The overall mid presentation is transparent and refreshingly empty around them, with a very good breathing space ratio. I turn on Santana – Maria Maria first to hear something from every frequency. The guitar and tenor male vocals are especially great on this track where blues and R&B dance. Afterwards, I turn on Haggard’s In a Fullmoon Procession to listen to something with more instruments and complexity. Crescent’s performance is quite good in this progressive metal track with multiple instruments and various vocals. At the same time, it distinguishes different male and female vocals, close-voiced strings and other instruments without losing texture. That’s admirable.
Treble
Trebles are balanced both with the rest of the spectrum and within themselves. I hear centrally positioned cymbals at a moderate distance. The upper treble and air frequencies slightly dominate the rest of the treble. This adds a little more extension than usual. This is good because it covers up a bit of the quietness in the lower treble and makes for a more total sound. Still, the SS SS sounds are slightly dominant. No hiss, not that much. The highs approach the edge of dissipation as they go up, but there’s no problem. In the overall presentation, the highs go from soft to sharp. The amount of texture is not very high here, especially in the cymbals, but the cymbals sound quite detailed and grainy. Vocals and instruments climbing into the highs sound soft and smooth. This softness and smoothness increases the listenability a lot on hard metal tracks, especially on Synestia – The Poetic Edda album.
Technique
For its price, Ziigaat Crescent has high resolution and a richly detailed sound. It has a well-organized presentation, so much so that the name I would attribute to this iem would be the opposite of chaotic. Separation is great, layering is good. Positioning is very good in places and average in some other places. The overall imaging capability is impressive. Textures across the spectrum are above average, accuracy and coherence are outstanding.
Last Words
Ziigaat Crescent is modern and has a well-tuned tonality. However, it currently has a great technical capacity. This technical capacity is close to homogeneous but not exactly homogeneous. But looking at the big picture, I see an iem that will heat up the competition. It’s also an all-rounder iem with great overall performance for its price.
