The subtlety of precision.
Non-sound stuff: Driver setup, driveability, fit, aesthetics, price etc.
SoftEars Studio4. Release date March 2023. Retail price $449. 4 customised balanced armatures with a 3-way crossover.
Sturdy black medical grade resin shell. Not showy but durable. I dropped them from a height onto a tiled floor and did not curl up in a foetal position crying which is testament to their resilience. Shell is thick but not too big. Nozzles are of medium width and length and shouldn’t cause anyone fit issues. I experienced slight pressure build up once or twice as these aren’t vented but generally not a problem.
Moderately easy to drive, but they sound better with volume so a bit of extra power won’t go amiss.
Packaging is compact and functional. The unboxing isn’t much of an experience but it keeps everything from falling out. Extras are minimal. Not many eartips but those included suit the set and I used them for all my listening. Perfectly fine 2-pin cable with standard 3.5 termination. Case is good. Being for studio use you get a fun extension cable as well. Is there a cloth? Yes. And a little pouch for each earphone so they can go to bed separately as if they’d had a row.
The preamble: Tuning, what is it and where am I going with this review?
SoftEars is the posh side of Moondrop with a whole bunch of acclaimed IEMs to their name. As the name gives away the Studio4 are designed for studio use. As you’d expect they’re technically strong with neutral tuning, leaning toward a warm neutral. Not conventionally warm though. I’m not a studio engineer so can’t give an opinion on how effective a mixing tool they are. I won’t try to second guess how these should functionally sound. Well I might.
For some reason the Studio4 didn’t want to be reviewed. At low volumes it’s a coherent compact sound which lulled me into passive casual listening. Surprising effect for a studio use set which I’d guess requires focus and concentration. So me drifting off into thoughts of sandwiches, cricket and yet more sandwiches isn’t ideal. I suppose, by design, the set doesn’t have a particular emphasis which is easy to latch on to. They’re designed to replicate with accuracy. And what it does add it does subtly. But with higher volume it brought things to life more and took me away from my sandwich considerations. And so here we are. And this is my set. I bought it. I can say what I like.
The low end: Bass and lower mids.
The bass is clear and present but not huge. There’s no discernible sub bass emphasis and as it moves along it’s fairly linear and restrained. The bass follows the mix. If there’s emphasis in the song you’ll get it. If there isn’t you won’t. By default it’s not a heavy or impactful bass response. However bass tones do have a bit of grit and texture, and force when provoked. The Studio4 seems to bring up some atmospherics in the low mid area which gives a feel and form of warmth to the overall sound.
The body of the music: Mids and vocals.
The mids is where the Studio4 does its thing. There’s something happening from the midbass up into the mids that enhances artefacts of the recording process. You get a hum and buzz of amps, some physicality of the playing, an ambience of the recording. It compounds to give a bit of thickness and warmth to the sound. Don’t get me wrong it’s not a big hot bubble bath of mids, but it isn’t coldly clinical. Richer recordings sound very musical. Guitars and natural instrumentation are vivid and physical. Vocals don’t seem forward but are deceptively clear. You can decipher even pretty garbled lyrics. Layering of voices and backing vocals do seem to push out a bit for extra clarity. Fundamentally though throughout the ranges the Studio4 will give what it gets and respond differently to different recordings. It has a texture and atypical warmth in the mids so not an entirely blank canvass, but it’s still neutral and won’t apply any bold characteristics to the sound.
The top end: Treble and air.
The treble does the same as the bass. It follows the mix. It’s not emphasised but when called upon is excellent. It’s like a secret weapon. Good balance between natural and sharpness. It’s a shame it isn’t given more leeway to sparkle and fizz but then I guess it wouldn’t be a studio tuning. There’s not a wealth of atmospheric air that I noticed but you do get the very occasional thing in the top highs that surprises. Reproduces the high patter of rainfall surprisingly well. I’ve no idea why. As a rule though the treble is restrained and mitigates any fatigue or sibilance.
Technicalities: Detail, separation, imaging and stage.
Surprisingly complicated to unravel. Staging is relatively compact and close. It’s not claustrophobic but it is intimate. It took me a while to recognise this as there’s a lot going on within the stage. Detail is deceptively good. There’s clarity in vocals and instruments, nuances of playing, artefacts embedded in the recording. The details are suffused into the sound. It’s not explicit. It doesn’t shout, “DETAILS! BE IMPRESSED!”. It’s more subtle, in part because it isn’t in a big expansive space. You get the detail and the layering but not pushed apart and keenly separated. Things are close. And that makes the sound a touch warmer (somehow) and presents the music as complete rather than a collection of elements to be explored and considered. Which brings us back to the sandwich problem. It will happily release your attention and let your thoughts meander elsewhere. Not through boredom but through understatement. Imaging is decent. Space is a bit tight to feel like sounds have a lot of movement. I’d have thought that’s a drawback in the studio but what do I know.
Artistry: Tone, timbre and dynamics.
The tonality is neutral. It does bring out a nice bit of gnarl and atmosphere in the sound and isn’t a clinical balanced armature presentation. Decay seems pleasingly slow at times. Tones linger. The main instrumentation in the mids all sound natural. Amplified guitars in particular are rendered full bodied and accurate. It’s not a vocal speciality set but it’s good. Vocals don’t quite achieve a rich physicality, nor a pure and pristine beauty. They fall somewhere in between.
I don’t think the Studio4 is as effective with synthesised music and digital noise. It’s better at getting across the sound of the instrument being played and the sound of the space it’s played in.
Dynamics improve with volume. At low volume soft and loud all gets a bit samey and lack tension. Volume reveals more of the subtleties and variation and heightens the drama. Repetitive caveat again that with these sound reproduction will adhere pretty strongly to the recording and the mix.
The epilogue: Summary and anything else I can think of.
Watching YouTube coverage post writing these impressions I found I’d managed a polar opposite experience to some of those heralded reviewers. So someone’s got it wrong. It could also reflect different music libraries and the Studio4’s cipher like qualities to present music untarnished and “as is”. It’s hard to really describe anything as sounding “correct” or “as intended”. But here at least nothing is out of place, hyped or back. It’s a coherent whole within which you get a fair few macro details. It’s an unobtrusively quality IEM.
For purist neutrality I gravitate toward the Etymotic ER series. Maybe even the TinHi P1Max planar at a push. Cheaper alternatives to the Studio4. The Etymotics and P1Max are more consistently clean and bright while the S4 adapts to a smoother mellow neutrality. As a listening reference I prefer that clean reproduction. Though as a studio tool the Studio4 is likely more versatile.
It is expensive and hard to contextualise the value. You’re not getting something designed to pander purely to enjoyment. It’s no V shaped thrill ride. It is musical and engaging and ticks a lot of “audiophile” boxes but not entirely captivating for me. If staging were fuller and treble more forward I’d get more joy from it. Maybe eartips could accentuate those qualities. But that’s like saying if dogs were more like cats they’d be improved. Just get a cat if that’s what you like. Or one of them little French Papillons which are basically cosplay cats. If it’s worth $450 really comes down to the needs of the end user. You can certainly spend less and get an excellent earphone but maybe not a like for like cheaper alternative that does what this does. So there you go.
For more professional impressions of the SoftEars Studio4 check out Obie’s coverage on this very website.
Thanks for your time. Long wasn’t it? Take care and smile at passing dogs. Even the ugly ones. Especially the ugly ones.
