Craft FOUR by Craft Ears Review

Craft Ears Craft Four

Sound Quality

 

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I did, at first, expect the Craft FOUR to have somewhat of a flat, accurate response given their stage pedigree. However, any expectations were quickly set-aside thanks to a hugely coherent and musical tuning that’s straight-up pleasurable for critical listening and enjoyment alike. The Craft FOUR serves-up a slightly warm take on neutral, with excellent treble extension, decently extended low-end, and a linear and natural mid-range. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Craft FOUR’s tuning is the way that Jedrek and team have managed to bottle a timbre that’s more akin to a dynamic driver than an all-BA design. Decay is natural and organic, and there’s a satisfying texture and weight in the lower octaves to give more than a passing hint of ‘fun’ to the Craft FOUR’s voicing. ‘Eternal Summer’ off The Strokes newest album ‘The New Abnormal’, opens to nice, weighty thumping kick-drums and a fast, agile, yet subtle bass-line that shows-off the Craft FOUR’s speed and nuance in that department. 

This is balanced with an impressively-airy and detailed treble detail, the perfectly balances detail and restraint in this reviewer’s books. I’m not a lover of dark tunings (for the most part), but I’ve found the level of shimmer in the Craft FOUR to be right in the ‘Goldilocks’ zone – there’s plenty of resolution and nuance from well-recorded music, but there’s no spoon-fed, hyper-detail that you might expect from a super-technical pair of IEMs. Comparing them to another pair of well-regarded IEM in this field in the Campfire Andromeda, the Craft FOUR has a little less ‘zing’ up-top, as well as a slightly less extended low-end. 

Craft Ears Craft Four

Craft Ears Craft FOUR

Low and high-end extensions are the immediate stand-out features of the Craft FOUR’s voicing, however further listening reveals them to be able to contend with instruments and vocals in the mid-range with finesse and incredible texture, with no worrying peaks or troughs. While it doesn’t leap-out in the first-impressions ‘drama’, The Craft FOUR’s mid-range soon establishes itself as being extremely linear and natural through the sections of music that require the most believability and textural information. But, it certainly isn’t flat or boring, however. Vocal texture and clarity is an absolute standout on the Craft FOUR – in particular, female vocals. Every inflection and detail in Laura Marling’s ‘Fortune’ (my new go-to vocal test-track – seriously check it out) can be not just heard, but believed. Moving a few notches down the frequency response graph, Father John Misty’s ‘Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow’ has an impressive ‘denseness’ to his vocal performance, accompanied by completely organic-sounding, well-separated instrumental parts.

What helps to give the Craft FOUR a real sense of ‘wow’ and flair is its noticeably diffuse staging. Combined with its terrific seal, the Craft FOUR gives you a genuine ‘out of head’ experience that transports you away from whatever you’re doing and places you in a smallish hall – this is particularly evident when listening to the reverb and decay in ‘Fool’s Errand’ by Fleet Foxes. So far, the Craft FOUR has helped to prove me dead-wrong about the limitations of IEMs and their ability to go round-for-round in the technicality-stakes with full-sized headphones. I did note that the spatial placement of individual tracks isn’t as laser-focused as the Andromeda from an imaging-sense, but the Craft FOUR has a slightly gentler and more pleasing presentation – they way in which it’s able to simultaneously interweave the bass, string and guitar section in ‘Galapagos’ by The Smashing Pumpkins with finesse, texture and dexterity is genuinely impressive – I can’t fault it

Driving and pairing

Craft Ears measure the nominal impedance of the Craft FOUR at 10 ohms but don’t provide a figure or sensitivity. Despite their low impedance, the Craft FOUR isn’t hyper-sensitive nor prone to creating hiss or noise – I heard a dead-silent noise floor on every source I tried them with, including the new Schiit Asgard 3, which outputs 5 Watts at 16 ohms. 

Pleasingly, the Craft FOUR performs strongly from lower-quality sources, including my Samsung Galaxy S9+, which provided acceptable levels of resolution and dynamics, however, the bass became slightly more sluggish and less snappy and taut. One pairing I used to great success was with the diminutive Earstudio ES100 wireless DAC/amp. Playing lossless files via LDAC Bluetooth, the Craft FOUR performed admirably, providing a super-transparent and classy-sounding playback albeit with a shade less soundstage than from more powerful sources. However, the size and form-factor of the tiny Earstudio DAC/amp meant that it quickly became my go-to daily driver with the Craft FOUR to and from work, the convenience-factor far stacking in its favour. 

Moving over to the Cowon Plenue R2, the soundstage on Dennis Wilson’s ‘River Song’ widens-up, the percussion hits with more realism and authority, and there’s a saxophone part that’s actually more individually discernable versus listening on the ES100. 

Firing-up the Schiit Asgard 3 (keep an eye out for a review coming soon!) to use the Craft FOUR in low gain mode provided surprising results. The Asgard actually proved to have plenty of play in its volume-pot, getting the Craft FOUR up to ‘loud enough’ at 9 o’clock. The Asgard provides authoritative control over the Craft FOUR’s low-end, as well as a sense of superb imaging and sound-stage width – all without a hint of noise nor channel imbalance.  

Craft Ears Craft Four

Craft Ears Craft FOUR + Astell&Kern SA700

I found the best all-round source with the Craft FOUR in terms of synergy was the recently-reviewed Astell&Kern SA700. The A&K DAP gives the Craft FOUR a wicked sense of impact and dynamics that gives the four-BA drivers even more of a dynamic-driver feel in terms of tone. Gang of Four’s ‘I Found That Essence Rare’ on this pair has terrific attack and impact, but balanced with tight transients and perfectly natural decay. It’s an overall very velvety sound and super addictive. 

Conclusions

If I’d known just how immersive and enjoyable CIEMs could be then I probably would have made the leap far, far earlier. However, I’m glad that my first experience proved to be as all-around as positive as it has been with the Craft FOUR – from the ordering and customisation process, right up to being able to pop them in every day and enjoy their ability to hop between genres masterfully with ease. One feeling I keep coming back to when summing-up its performance is its sense of balance – the way it’s able to simultaneously juggle lightness and darkness; realism and escapism;  finesse and fun. 

Craft Ears have some well-regarded company at this price-tier, and coincidentally, two of their nearest competitors also happen to be from their native Poland: the 525 CustomArt Fibae 3 (reviewed here by Lieven), and the €890 Lime Ears Model X (reviewed here by Linus) – both of which sit on our Best Custom IEM list. However, at the €550 price-point, the Craft FOUR represents tremendous value for a technically proficient and accomplished multi-BA CIEM, as well as offering a premium product and brand experience. It was a terrific first CIEM to review, and the Craft FOUR gets my nod as a rock-solid performer. Whether you’re an on-stage or in-studio professional, or an at-home music fan – these are well worth your considerations for a mid-range entry point into the exciting realm of CIEMs.

5/5 - (6 votes)
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Hailing from Sydney's eastern beaches, Matty runs his own beer business, 'Bowlo Draught', as well as working in creative advertising. When he's not enjoying his hifi and vinyl collection at home, he can probably be found rolling-up on the green at his beloved Bondi Bowling Club.

5 Comments

  • Reply May 13, 2020

    Alison

    Wow the design and look of headphone is really awesome. I wish someone will gift me these on my birthday 😉

  • Reply October 21, 2020

    Subh

    I’d love to buy these not just for listening to music but also as a showpiece. \m/

  • Reply October 23, 2020

    Venkatesh

    Aesthetic earphones… Definitely stands level ahead of other earphones interms of performance and looks

  • Reply November 17, 2020

    Suman

    OMG!!!!!!!! I swear you read my mind. My wife has been looking for it. I will gift it on her birthday! Thank you so much for sharing!

  • Reply May 12, 2021

    Simran Sharma

    Wow this is awesome post. I have bookmarked your post to read again and again. Thanks for sharing

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