SeeAudio Anou - A new Vision for Music

SeeAudio has entered the international market with a gorgeous set of IEMs. Anou truly showcases the effort SeeAudio has put-in in its introductory product.

This IEM is an eye catcher in the first glance and an enjoyable listening experience afterwards. The first time I laid my eyes on its faceplate it got me bewitched, the logo first reminded me of “The eye of the Ra” and later moment it start resembling “The third eye of Lord Shiva”, The glitter all around it gave an impression of the aura of the IEM and thus it created a bit of spiritual moment for me. But while monitoring a bit extensively it showed its true form – The logo is a cleverly designed “S” alphabet in shape of an eye, thus representing the brand name “SeeAudio”. The other faceplate has beautifully autographed “Anou” over it. To me it is one of the most beautiful looking IEMs out there.

It has a translucent cavity that shows intricate placement driver units at work. A very sophisticated looking bass vent can be seen near the wire connectors. The earpieces came with 3 strand braided stock cable with 2 pin connectors. Cable's main connector is a textured cylinder with 3.5 mm jack. These IEMs have claimed to Low-Frequency Filter Conversion technology in designing inner acoustic structure along with Specific Harmon Target Curve Design and a 9.2mm Liquid Silicone Diaphragm DD Unit along with two custom-tuned BA drivers which I think would be exciting to discover in my further listening experience.

Coming towards the fit of this IEM, the shells are quite small with small nozzle that sits firmly over the outer side of ear canal and are quite lightweight that they have given me the best fit till now from any IEM that almost felt like they are custom designed as per my ear. Passive noise isolation is also very good, if one is planning to buy it for travels.

Disclaimer:

I have received SeeAudio Anou as part of review circle sent from the brand itself in exchange of honest reviews. All impressions of sound are subjective to my own listening and my sources and is based on my experience with IEMs of similar hardware configurations and price range.

Sources:

For this review the unit has been paired to A&K SE100 (ES9038 Pro) and Fiio Q5 (AK4490) and LG V30+ and Vivo X50pro

Pros:

1. A little Bright yet Natural Tonality following Harman Curve
2. Good Dynamics and Soundstage capabilities
3. Adequate bass slam
4. An attractive design and good fit
5. Good Price to Performance Ratio

Cons:

1. Source Picky
2. Sound lacks body in overall presentation
3. Sub bass can be little shy at times

Highs:

Anou has sparkly highs which at times feels bit rolled off giving a relaxed upper mid texture. There is no sibilance or harsh tones at any point of time. Treble response is quite nice and brings out details in instruments like violins and cymbals. There is an overall airiness is all around the headroom with crisp details and overall gives a relaxed natural tuning at this spectrum range. At some tracks it does feel bit elevation of treble response. Overall listening to Jazz music is fun over this with bit elevation in sounds of trumpets and saxophones.

Mids:

There is uniformity throughput the mids section and a feel of airiness specially when listening to guitars, cymbals and trumpets. I felt bit inclination towards bright tonality but overall textured is natural and relaxing in this region as well. But only downside I felt is the absence of sound body in most of instruments. This is something of personal preference I would say and not at all a deal breaker unless you enjoy certain kind of music. Male vocals felt bit supressed by music in some cases. Even powerful tracks like “Jùrame by Julio Iglesias” felt bit underwhelmed if considering only vocal representation but once combined with nice dynamics and soundstage it too became enjoyable.

Female vocals sound perfect on Anou I must say and have a representation just above the instruments. Listening to “Doing to Me – Cavego Remix by Astrid S” was indeed a very enjoyable experience with this pair of IEMs with all sweet relaxing vocals and electronic music flowing liquidly all over the headroom. Same was experience with many other tracks.

Lows:

Bass response is punchy and is quite detailed and textured. I find the sub-bass region bit shy even after turning on Bass boost setting on my Q5 DAC/AMP. Although, I enjoyed listening to my favourite bass-oriented track - “Tokyo Drift Remix by KVSH”, the bass was tight and precise and well textured but will not impress any basshead I must say. But if you are not a basshead and want a relaxing pair of IEMs for use in long duration then in that the bass response will not disappoint you at all.

Detailing/Imaging/Soundstage:

The dynamics, micro detailing and soundstage are very good as per price point of view and kind of hard to find in this price bucket. It brings out all the technicality nicely. This by far the best feature of Anou I would say and gives really value for money in this aspect.

Fine example of this is “A million Dreams cover by Peter Hollens” – perfect crisp female vocal and crisp yet relaxing upfront notes with a soundstage that immediately let gave me a theatrical experience as soon as I closed my eyes.

Final Verdict:

SeeAudio Anou is a beautiful, rugged and fun to use IEM with nice fit and relaxed sound signature its ideal for a daily use and as per my observation not at all meant for monitoring purpose but solemnly just to enjoy the music. The overall tonality is towards bit bright yet natural side, not harsh or sibilant at any point of time. The female vocals are lush on this one and if one is a fan of fine Jazz then this is perfect IEM for them in budget range. The bass slam is also detailed and punchy, but I will honestly not recommend to a bass-head. The micro detailing and soundstage are quite good for an IEM of this price range and is one of the strong points here. Overall, it’s a value packed IEM that offers one of the best price to performance ratio.

Anou Vs Fiio FH3

I have been using FH3 as my daily driver for quite some time now, Both Anou and FH3 share similar hardware configuration and have similar price bracket as well. Let’s see how they compare to each other in various aspects:

Design:

Coming towards design part, Fiio FH3 and Anou both are very attractive looking IEMs, with Anou having a glittery faceplate with nice logos and writings and Fh3 having a wavy pattern in matte finish black paint. FH3 is bit smaller in size as compared to Anou but I would say that to me the fit of Anou is still on better side as compared to my FH3. Stock Cable of FH3 is bit stiff but with an L-Shape connector where as Anou comes with a nice braided wire with straight cylindrical connector.

Technicalities:

SeeAudio has mentioned about new features such as Low-Frequency Filter Conversion Technology in which they have added a precisely designed 33.91 cubic millimetre front cavity between the DD and the sound guide capillary and claims that It improves the overall consistency of the output and ensures that there is no multi-driver distortion. Apart from this they have added a 9.2mm Liquid Silicone Diaphragm dynamic driver unit to handle the lower end of the spectrum along with two custom tuned 2 BA drivers. Whereas, FH3 has a 10mm beryllium-plated diaphragm dynamic driver along with 2 Knowles BA drivers with FiiO’s patented S.TURBO Acoustic Design with 41.5mm tube in form of physical and electronic three-way crossover.

Sound:

Coming to sound, I would say that FH3 sound is bit on warmish tone with a lot emphasis on bass response where as Anou is bit towards brighter side. Anou lacks in overall instrument body and does not stand any ground in front of FH3 in terms of Bass quality and quantity. FH3 on other hand lacks in soundstage as well as dynamics and micro detail retrieval as compared to Anou. Both pairs have quite relaxing signature talking in terms of treble regions. So at the end I would say its all about personal preference if one is confused in choosing between these two pairs, in a nutshell if you are a bass head and enjoy good imaging then go for FH3 but if you want to experience a theatrical experience in budget with good micro detailing then Anou is the one for you.