Shozy Rouge Review

Today we’re reviewing the Shozy Rouge for you. See how it performs for a tiny price of $179.

 

Disclaimer: The Shozy Rouge review sample was arranged directly with Shozy. I covered the customs taxes only. The review reflects my sincere opinions as always. The sound impressions were taken using the Dethonray DTR1, A&K SP2000, and Oriolus DP100 DAPs. I received the sample without packaging.

Intro

Once upon a time, a hybrid IEM was something that could only be purchased by big pocket audiophiles. Well, not anymore. As technology became cheaper, we started to see hybrid IEMs popping up in the market everywhere. The Shozy Rouge is such an example of an affordable hybrid technology IEM.

About Shozy

We have reviewed several Shozy products from different budget levels already. For the premium segment, Lieven reviewed their hybrid electrostatic offering, the Pola39 as below:

Me? I reviewed a couple of Shozy products. Perhaps one of the most popular IEMs was their BG model, and it remains as one of our choices for the Best Universal IEMs, as well as Form 1.1, which was my last Shozy review before this.

In fact, almost all of their products have made it to our recommended list such as the Hibiki MK2, V33, and Pola39. Why? It’s simple. They offer great value for money. Shozy is quite sensitive about keeping the prices low. Even their premium Pola39 model is below the market average when you check out similar items.

Based in Hong Kong, Shozy’s offerings stand out with distinctive design language. They offer very good build quality with their products at the same time. They also want to change and influence the market with very competitive price tags.

About Rouge

The Shozy Rouge is a universal hybrid IEM, consisting of a Dynamic and two Balanced Armature drivers together. The Dynamic driver here is a custom one and there’s not much information about that one. The other two Balanced Armature drivers are from Knowles. However, Shozy shares some information regarding the cable of this IEM. The cable is made by the wires of the Daikoku Electric Wire company. It’s always nice to see this kind of transparency from companies.

The IEM features hand-made paintwork on a resin body. This immediately reminded me of the Kinera Freya. I suppose these new “hand-painted” shells will become quite popular.  Well, no objections from me.

Design & Build Quality

When you take a first look at the Rouge, the design reminds you of the Shozy BG and Form series. Shozy certainly continues to bring good build quality for lower budgets and I hope they keep to do so. The Rouge feels very solid and there are no flaws in its build. The resin shell leaves a very nice uni-body impression.

Design-wise I think it is a bit too feminine, to be honest, and it looks like it’s targeted for women. That of course depends on your taste. Some men like to wear pink clothes for example. The face-plate certainly looks impressive nevertheless. There’s an artistic touch there, with a combination of different colors such as red, green, blue and white. The base color is still pink though.

The cable is the same one from the V33 series. Build-wise it feels safe with good tensile strength and good quality materials for the chin slider and 3.5mm jack. However, the color of the cable is the worst part of the overall design. It simply doesn’t match with the pink shells. It doesn’t look good to me.

Fit

The fit is very very good with the Rouge and the shells sit quite tight. It has a semi-custom like design with a compact footprint so I don’t think you’ll have any problems with the fit. The IEM has a very friendly fit and good comfort overall. Once you find the correct tips for you, you won’t look back. A great job from Shozy here.

The review continues on PAGE 2 with sound performance.

4.7/5 - (28 votes)
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A keen audiophile and hobby photographer, Berkhan is after absolute perfection. Whether it is a full-frame camera or a custom in-ear, his standpoint persists. He tries to keep his photography enthusiasm at the same level as audio. Sometimes photography wins, sometimes his love for music takes over and he puts that camera aside. Simplistic expressions of sound in his reviews are the way to go for him. He enjoys a fine single malt along with his favourite Jazz recordings.

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