Intro
It’s time to examine another highly anticipated IEM, the Defiant, a collaboration between Juzear and Z Reviews that’s currently generating all the buzz. Is the Defiant truly worthy of all this praise? In short, mostly, but it does come with a few drawbacks.
Tech Specs
Driver Configuration: 1 Dynamic Driver, 3 Balanced Armatures
Sensitivity: 109±1 db
Impedance: 32Ω
Frequency Response: 20 – 20 kHz
Connector: .078mm 2 pin
Price: $99.99
Sound
Overall
Let’s get straight to the point: the tuning on the Defiant is excellent and truly makes this IEM special. It skillfully balances a fun and engaging sound with a relatively balanced presentation. Nothing in the frequency range truly stands out or overshadows another element. The tuning resembles a mature or tasteful light U-shaped signature, making it an absolute jack-of-all-trades for musical genres. I couldn’t find a single genre – from classical and jazz to pop, rock, and electronic – that didn’t sound great on the Defiant.
However, it’s crucial to remember that this is a $99 IEM. Every aspect of the Defiant must be viewed through that lens. For its price, the tuning is exceptional. Still, it won’t dethrone giants costing twice as much or more; that simply isn’t its purpose.
Bass
The Defiant isn’t tuned with a typical Harman-style, “tucked” bass. Instead, it employs a “glide-style” bass, featuring emphasized sub-bass that gently transitions into the lower midrange. This results in a healthy sub-bass, punchy and natural mid-bass, and a lower midrange with a hint of warmth. This bass tuning style has interesting effects. While the sub-bass is emphasized, it doesn’t feel overly strong because the ample mid-bass glides into it, creating less contrast and a more natural sound for instruments like bass guitars and kick drums. As of this review, this is my personal favorite style of bass tuning, so my bias is showing here.
Overall, the bass tuning is quite excellent; however, detail retrieval and decay are subpar, even for this price bracket. The decay on notes is a bit “pillowy” and slow, which, combined with the tuning, creates a “bloomy” effect on the mid-bass, making it feel a bit sloppy. A slightly faster driver would have easily resolved this issue.
Mids
The midrange is also very well-tuned. It’s smooth, unobtrusive, and vocals are forward enough without being “in your face.” Thanks to the glide-style bass, the midrange sounds full but not thick. Both male and female vocals sound natural and lifelike, avoiding any harshness or sharpness, with just a hint of warmth.
That being said, if you’re looking for a vocal-forward set, this likely isn’t your cup of tea. The Defiant strikes a good balance, offering vocal clarity without being overly emphasized or recessed – it sits comfortably in between.
One notable aspect of the Defiant’s midrange became apparent while watching videos. On many IEMs, spoken words can sound harsh and thin. The Defiant, however, makes this type of content natural and smooth, without harshness or unnatural timbre.
Treble
Overall, the treble on the Defiant is easygoing and very smooth, with the exception of a 13kHz peak. Cymbals present themselves as slightly energetic and exciting without being splashy or overly metallic. While the 13kHz peak is sizable, it contributes to the Defiant’s airiness, with the trade-off being some sharpness in that region. Given that there isn’t that much sound information at that frequency, it’s excusable and adds a touch more excitement to an otherwise smooth sound signature.
Technicalities
With such impressive tuning, one might assume that detail retrieval and instrument separation would be equally good. This isn’t the case, and these aspects feel somewhat disappointing in comparison. The Defiant certainly doesn’t punch above its price point and are, in fact, a bit below average.
In terms of detail retrieval, the Defiant isn’t top of its class. The Truthear Hexa and Pure slightly edge it out, and the Simgot EW300 takes it to another level entirely. The same applies to staging and instrument separation. For the most part, instruments sound smashed together, with only occasional glimpses of sound emanating from the width of a crowded and small soundstage.
Where the Defiant truly excels is its overall timbre. It sounds remarkably smooth and natural across the board, almost as if you’re in the room where the tracks were being recorded. The attack on the balanced armatures isn’t overly sharp, contributing to the Defiant’s overall smoothness and easy-listening nature.
How to Get the Most from Defiant
I typically don’t struggle with IEM comfort; most are comfortable enough. However, the Defiant genuinely hurt my ears and required tip rolling through dozens of eartips to make it only slightly uncomfortable. Of course, your ears are shaped differently than mine, so this might not be an issue for you, but it could be a significant one.
On the subject of tip rolling, I haven’t encountered an IEM quite as sensitive to eartips as the Defiant. If the sound is boomy and the midrange and treble sound dull and lifeless, try more eartips. I found it very challenging to find eartips that offered both good sound and comfort. It often felt like an either/or situation: comfortable with terrible sound, or uncomfortable with good sound.
Finally, I found the Defiant to be sensitive to different sources. I’m not usually one to claim that different DACs sound vastly different from each other. However, cheap dongles sounded poor (Fiio KA3 & Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini), good dongles were average (Qudelix 5k), and great sources still sounded great (Fiio K11). Be sure to pair the Defiant with a good source.
Conclusion
Throughout this review, I’ve offered considerable praise for the Defiant’s tuning, alongside some critiques. If Juzear reads this, I would suggest swapping the interchangeable cable for a generic one in exchange for better drivers and improved technical performance. Offering the interchangeable cable as a $20 upgrade (a $20 discount on the cable itself) alongside better drivers would have been a more strategic move.
The fantastic tuning alone would place the Defiant firmly in the $100 price range, but its poor technicalities and terrible fit push it squarely into the sub-$30–50 range. That being said, the Defiant truly confuses me as to where it fits in the market. I don’t believe it’s competitive at $100 and isn’t worth that much.
Upon further reflection, Juzear offers the cable as a standalone product for $40. Subtracting that from the $100 price tag puts the Defiant in the $60 range. I believe this is exactly where it should be. If you can acquire a Defiant at $60, it’s a no-brainer for that tuning. If you desire a decent interchangeable cable and want to experience the tuning as well, then $100 might be worth it to you. Personally, I didn’t love the cable enough to justify that added cost. Again, it’s confusing where this product fits – it’s not a bad IEM, but in terms of sound, it’s not competitive at $100, as there are cheaper options with much better technical performance and great, albeit different, tuning styles.