I frankly don’t know why Senfer as a company and consequently all its product are severely banned from Head Fi. And I don’t care. DT6 is a jewel product per se, and a monster of performance if I consider its price…
At-a-glance Card
| PROs | CONs |
| Spectacular soundstage and imaging. | Sub-bass could be (even) better. |
| Well balanced signature. | Lean female vocals and low trebles. |
| Great bass and low mids. | Tangly cable (quite forgivable given the price) |
| Vivid trebles. | |
| Good male vocals. | |
Full Device Card
Test setup
Tempotec V1 + Fiio BTR5/USB / Fiio X3 MK-III / Hiby R5 – Single Ended ports – Stock transparent-grey tips – Lossless 16/44.1 – 24/96 – 24/192 FLAC tracks.
Signature analysis
| Tonality | Warm L-shape, with a very well balanced overall presentation |
| Sub-Bass | Very extended, textured, not particularly fast, more elevated than mid-bass but leaner so sometimes a bit succumbing |
| Mid Bass | Present, punchy, quite fast, unloated, meatier than the sub-bass. Very lightly bleeding on low mids. |
| Mids | A very good balance between warmth and clarity |
| Male Vocals | Detailed, not recessed but not really forward either. Warmened and slightly veiled by the midbass |
| Female Vocals | Detailed and more forward than Males, benefit from added clarity coming from low trebles, making them a bit too lean at times, although never really thin. |
| Highs | Bright-ish and sparkly, very fast, almost crispy, not harsh. Snares come accross somewhat too dry. |
Technicalities
| Soundstage | Very extended, panoramic |
| Imaging | Very good, almost superb (actually superb if I factor price in) |
| Details | Quite a lot in the highs, much less but still more than average in the bass |
| Instrument separation | Very good layering |
| Driveability | A phone is OK |
Physicals
| Build | Very solid full metal housings with a retro shape |
| Fit | Very easy fit if worn cable-down, once the right tips are selected |
| Comfort | Quite comfortable in spite of the relatively high weight |
| Isolation | Poor, mainly due to openback design |
| Cable | Just passable considering the price, to be swapped for a continued use |
Specifications (declared)
| Housing | Fullmetal, open back |
| Driver(s) | 1BA + 1DD + Ceramic Piezoelectric |
| Connector | MMCX |
| Cable | Silicone-coated, 1.21m, 3.5mm single ended terminated |
| Sensitivity | 110dB/mW |
| Impedance | 16 Ω |
| Frequency Range | 5-40000Hz |
| Package / Accessories | 1 pair of M-size proprietary silicone tips, 3 pairs of black softer silicone tips, 3 pairs of transparent/grey stiffer silicone tips, shirt clip |
| MSRP at this post time | $ 19,00 |
Subjective opinion & considerations
[Haughty mode ON]
They look aesthetically bad (to me at least). The cable’s silicone sheath is just tragic. And they cost less than a pizza and a beer. So when I got them a few months ago, as a owner – and a very satisfied one at that – of much more expensive IEMs I admit my attitude was that of the uplift-nosed, preopinionated individual (“alright let’s see what this hyped kids’ toy sounds like…”, or thereabouts).
Well much of the hype was grounded I must say but hey, after auditioning them well I really must not agree with all this shouting at a miracle product, or even louder stuff.
Let’s forget all the cheap corollary elements (cable, accessories, no carry case… details) and go for the sound.
Yes bass is just great. Better than E3000 to my ears, did I say enough?
Male vocals are also very good.
Treble is also just so great: fast, crispy, sparkling at times even.
But cmon those female vocals… The lowtreble segment is just bad cmon. It digs too much meat out, depriving singing ladies of their correct contralto tonalities. A sort of metallic halo also sometimes appears around snare drums, which come accress kinda similar to timbrels instead.
That’s bad.
Also: treble extension is nice and all, but that sneak peak at 18K – that’s such an obvious mistak cmon. I do get (faint) sibilance to some female sssss and (even more rarely) some very light zing elsewhere, which forced me into another one of those painful tip rolling sessions, which I eventually gave up with (just for boredom), and solved the problem thanks to good ol’ MSEB “Air” slider: 5 ticks to the left cancels all unwanted treble extras for good without apparently compromising anything else.
Yet, that’s also annoying isn’t it.
And let me be frank: this is basic stuff. I’m sick and tired of finding these elementary “defects” in a product costing … 😮
…oh well…
[Haughty mode OFF]
DT6 is incredibly good. Just that. And darn cheap. The rest is written above.
A few quick ones:
- The cable does not need to be changed really. It’s just tangly, not bad soundwise. But why not changing it?
- Those iconic proprietary pyramid-shaped tips are purely useless – to my ears at least. Inside the box I found a set (S/M/L) of ordinary black silicone ones. Outside the box, I received a further small bag with a set (S/M/L) of stiffer grey-transparent silicone tips, more or less the same length as the black ones. As always, softer ones ofter a tad less bass and more treble – which is already on the verge of being too much on DT6 so I preferred the stiffer ones.
- Neither stock tips are actually perfect to tame that little sibilance DT6 puts out every now and then. Getting a deeper insertion would be key for that, but as I mentioned above I did not roll enough of my other models for that (or I didn’t just yet), and I applied a different solution.
Comparisons
| | Senfer DT6 | final E3000 | BGVP DMG | Shuoer Tape |
| Driver(s) | 1BA + 1DD + Ceramic Piezoelectric | Single Dynamic Driver | 4 BA + 2 DD | Single DD + Electret tweeter |
| Tonality | Warm L-shape, well balanced overall presentation | Warm open-V shaped, mildly bass-centered. Personal timbre. | V-shape, with midbass emphasis. 3-filter system offers modest, undecisive signature variations | Warmish V-shape |
| Bass | Extended, textured, not particularly fast sub-bass and present, punchy, fast, relatively lean mid-bass. Very light bleeding on low mids. | Clean, fast, rolledoff sub-bass. Less fast, mildly punchy, elevated midbass, quite invasive vs sub-bass and lower mids | Extended, rumbly, very good sub-bass. Exhalted, slow, almost boomy, mid-bass veiling sub-bass but surprisingly not the mids | Very elevated, fast, clean sub. Less elevated, clean, fast, lean mid. |
| Mids | Balanced warm clarity. Unrecessed, good, slightly veiled male vocals and good, forward, somewhat lean females. | Full, not excessive, detailed but rounded. Great vocals | Recessed and a bit lean. Unbodied male but decent male, too lean almost thin and often sibilant female vocals. | Recessed but well detailed. Female better than male vocals. EQ correction is well received. |
| Highs | Bright and sparkly, very fast, almost crispy, never harsh. Low trebles like snares are too lean at times. | Average extension, relaxed, lightly airy. Efficiently counterbalances lows in a greatly calibrated ensemble. | Extended, present, detailed, not piercing. Actually very good. | Elevated, almost bright, high texture, quality and details. Sibilance tameable by tips selection. Zing on top octave reduced by cable selection, removed by EQing. |
| Soundstage | Panoramic | Quite extended, wider than deeper | Above average | Big, around the head |
| Imaging | Very good, almost superb | Precise and consistent | Accurate and consistent | Very well distributed, and consistent |
| Details | Quite a lot in the highs, and above average in the bass | Quite good considering the overall warmth | Very good in the mids and highs, lacking in the bass | Top notch both for quantity and quality, both in trebles and sub-bass |
| Separation | Very good layering | Quite good in all sections. | Very good when and where midbass-timbred instruments are not involved, otherwise shadowed | Very good layering and separation |
| Driveability | A phone is OK | Light amping recommended | A phone is OK in spite of the 4BAs | A phone is hardly enough. Amping required if EQing is applied. |
| Fit & Comfort | Easy fit (cable down) and very good comfort | Extremely easy fit, subjective comfort | Very easy fit and comfort | Fit is a win or lose. Comfort is OK when fit is easy. |
| Other notes | Spectacular soundstage and imaging, well balanced signature, great sound quality at a supercheap price | Warm, musical, almost lushy strong identity in a vast soundstage | Uncontrolled invasive midbass on one end, remarkably good trebles on the opposite of a typical V-shaped chifi IEM | Spectacular and hyperdetailed bass and treble rendering |
| Economics | $ 19,00 | $ 53,00 | $ 99,00 | $ 128,00 |