As for the brand Dayinke, older audiophiles must know this brand. As one of the earliest HiFi headphone brands in China, Dayinke has a history of nearly 20 years. The product has also gone through many iterations, from the first domestic moving iron earplugs to hoop earplugs and now to the current moving iron, moving coil, and electrostatic units with a rich product line. Although Dayinke has a long history , but it is also one of the fastest growing Chinese headphone brands in the international market in recent years.
We can generally call Dayinke’s current product line “third generation” products, but Dayinke’s sound style has always been something I don’t like very much. Of course, just because I don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s not good. Dayenko’s previous sound style has always focused on the characterization of mid-to-high frequencies and transparency. For me, I preferred the energy distribution of the pyramid, until Dayenko launched a new model "Zen" two years ago.
At that time, many of our friends who were similar to Tingyinguan joked that we thought Zen, a mid-to-high-end product, sounded better than the flagship product "Yue" of the same brand. And just this year, Dayin Ke has updated this product. The appearance has not changed much, but the overall progress has been considerable. In my mind, Zen is a product that cannot be broken and cannot be established for Dayinke. However, the Zen PRO, which I just got and couldn’t put it down after listening to it for a few days, is more like a product that is broken and then established.
Exquisite appearance style
For Dayinko’s Zen PRO, the first impression of this product must be very “hand-holding”. Although it is a small earplug, But the texture and weight are still very online. This feeling comes more from its five-axis CNC-cut stainless steel cavity. The rounded mirror effect is extremely textured. Although it is easier to collect fingerprints, in terms of feel and texture, it is really at the level of flagship earplugs.
The cavity adopts MMCX interface standard connection, and the original headphone cable of the headset can be seen that it is also made of very strong material. It is equipped with 8-core Furukawa single crystal copper silver-plated wire, and is connected One section of the audio source uses Dayinco's patented Q-Lock Plus interchangeable plug system. The package also comes with three connectors: 3.5mm, 2.5mm balanced and 4.4mm balanced. It is convenient for users no matter what type of audio source they are. of use. In addition to the three interchangeable plugs, the accessories also come with a 6.35mm adapter and an aircraft adapter, so users can use the headphones conveniently in any scenario.
In terms of other accessories, it also comes with a leather headphone storage bag, 10 pairs of headphone covers in four materials, cleaning brushes and cord clips. The luxurious accessories lineup allows users to better store and use this mid-to-high-end headphone product.
Introduction to reference equipment
For this mid-to-high-end dynamic earplugs, there are three main reference sound sources, namely FiiO’s M15 flagship player and AUNE’s S6 All-in-one desktop decoder and headphone amplifier and SSL2 sound card at home.
The tracks I listen to are mainly classical music tracks that I have listened to most recently, as well as some pop music and vocal records that I am very familiar with and often use as a reference. However, the main listening experience of this article is mainly explained from the perspective of classical music, which the author is more accustomed to evaluating equipment.
The main reference for the interface comes from the 4.4mm balanced plug, which is the sound performance under balanced driving. The earmuffs use the official standard of "balanced" earmuffs, which should also be the official official reference for sound adjustment.
The best interpretation of energy and atmosphere
As for the Zen PRO product, the impression left on me in terms of sound is actually not as good as that of Yinke. Of course, this does not That doesn’t stop me from liking this product very much. As mentioned before, my previous impression of Dayinke was that it was an "upward" style interpretation that focused more on mid- and high-frequency transparency and detail characterization in terms of sound style.
In the Zen product line, they don't have such a sound style at all, but focus more on the thickness of the sound in the mid-low frequency. What I can't put down is that Dayinko has not given up on their mid-to-high frequency on this product. A high-quality pursuit. So it became a more well-rounded product that was more in line with my preferences.
First of all, we have to admit that for the current earplug market, more details and brighter and clearer mid- and high-frequency. In a sense, this is the general direction of the development of current headphone products. This is not No problem. It's just that for many users who have more requirements for low frequencies, or who value more low-frequency performance, choosing a product has not become so easy. Dayinke Zen PRO undoubtedly fills the gap in this price range or becomes one of the new choices.
Regarding the performance of music, the overall style of Zen PRO is more balanced compared to its predecessor. The overall style of Zen PRO was still a little warmer and lower. Zen PRO has become more balanced, the distribution of the three frequencies is more balanced, but the low-frequency atmosphere and dynamic energy are well maintained.
Whether it is a piano solo, or a large-scale symphony or concerto, the low-frequency atmosphere can be fully expressed and highlighted, and the clear and beautiful timbre of the mid- and high-frequency string groups and wind instruments can also be heard. It can also be restored beautifully. This kind of balance has a well-extended feeling on both ends. Compared with the previous generation of Zen, the progress is very obvious. As for the performance of the imaging, the positions of the instruments are also clearly visible, and the user can still feel the position of each group of instruments. Although the imaging is not extremely accurate to the point of a needle, this does not prevent it from showing natural and Realism.
For the interpretation of pop music, the huge low frequency of the synthesizer in modern pop music will not "collapse" the excellent low frequency performance of Zen PRO. It can still bombard users with low frequencies. At the same time, it controls the low-frequency masking of the mid- and high-frequency parts, maintains excellent mid- and high-frequency transparency, and still maintains a high level of vocal imaging.
Summary:
For fans and followers of Dayinko, Zen PRO may not be the kind of new product that you will continue to fall in love with once you hear it. But for many people who didn’t know much about Dayenko before, or were not interested in their previous products like me, then Zen PRO may be a product worth listening to and buying. After all, in this era of increasingly homogeneous aesthetics, Zen PRO is one of the few outstanding products that stands out to me.