7Hz Legato Review

The Legato is a new in-ear monitor from 7Hz, the brand most famous for the Timeless planar magnetic in-ear that was a hit success for this Chinese brand. Since then, I have tried their interesting dynamic driver take on a similar tuning (with mixed results) with the Eternal, the Crinacle reviewer collaboration, Dioko, and the Harman Target tuned budget wonder Salnotes Zero. The Legato takes on a totally different approach than the previous U-Shaped balanced tonality. This one is a bass bonanza.

First off, the Legato was sent to me by Linsoul Audio and the item comes in at $109 and can be found here: https://www.linsoul.com/products/7hz-legato

7Hz chose to use two dynamic drivers, a larger 12mm and a smaller 6mm driver, to produce the sound for this unit. The two drivers are stored in each of the metal housings that are more normal looking than the previous Timeless, Eternal, and Dioko. I welcome this change as this newer shell fits my ears a lot better and does not look quite as awkward as the previous sets.

The cable included terminates in 2-pin connectors at the shells, and a 3.5mm jack on the source end. The dark brown braided cable features 4-wires wound in a round pattern and is quite light, easy to handle and attractive. The connectors have a matching dark silver color to the Legato shells.

The normal set of accessories are included with the Legato, however with one big caveat. And I mean big.... the maroon-colored carrying case is HUGE. It's a large rectangular case that has a zipper, and opens up with a large pocket on one side, and a removable cloth plate that can store the IEM in a specific orientation. To imagine how large this case is, I removed the plate, and then put my iBasso DX240 digital audio player in it, and it fit very easily with room on every side and it didn't even fill the height of the ONE side. Ya, you can easily fit a medium-sized DAP in this with your IEMs and accessories if you wanted to -- Kind of handy to be honest, but overly large for just IEMs.

Sound Impressions

The Legato is a bassy set. It has a big bass bump that extends well into the mids, and a very smooth and actually quite pleasant upper-midrange and treble that I find very nicely tuned. This IEM offers a sound that is fun, but lacks definition.

The low end is the main attraction on the Legato. It is big and boosted and it knows it. It has a 15 dB bass shelf that reaches to 500Hz, which is deep into the mid-range. Because of this, there is definitely many opportunities for muddy mid-ranges, and the Legato is something I classify as dirty bass. It's not very defined, the decay lingers, and it is just big and sometimes overwhelming. But, it is fun and steers a different direction than a lot of other IEMs I've heard in this price range lately.

The mid-range is bothered quite a bit by the bassy lows, and occasionally becomes a bit soft. But that said, the upper-midrange is nearly spot on how I like it in-terms of tonality and just the right amount of treble to make it very smooth and perhaps too gentle for the amount of bass it pushes out. Some folks may prefer more dynamics with a larger treble boost, and to create a proper V-Shaped IEM, not this sort of cross between U and V shape. I totally get that too. Perhaps a little more treble would help balance the bass out, but I do like how smooth it sounds.

When I first listened to it, there was a very specific IEM that came to mind -- the CCA CRA. This ultra-budget IEM is one of my favorites because it provides a punch that is fun and enjoyable. This Legato has a similar big bass and decently smooth upper end that I liked with the CRA, but it improves on imaging and slightly better resolution. Only slightly though. The CRA is also a tad more harsh with its treble peaks, but it's bass slope is more clean and it lacks the muddiness that the Legato has. If somehow these two IEMs could merge, it would be a really nice budget tier unit.

I let one of my colleagues at work try out the Legato, and his immediate first impression was to compare it to his trusty Sony XBA-N3. So we both listened to both, and I measured his unit, and they are quite similar in both sound and FR with the Sony being slightly less muddy, and smoother overall. The Sony is quite a ways better in natural timbre, and just overall gentleness in the mids and treble.

Overall

The Legato, for all its bass, isn't a bad IEM. Where products with this much bass can be totally ruined by an overly obnoxious treble response. The Legato, instead, has a nicely tuned upper-mid range and treble that is smooth and appealing. If it had a slightly reduced bass shelf, or perhaps less intrusiveness into the lower mids, it would be, could be, a really nicely tuned fun IEM. 

I enjoyed the overall look, and accessories of the Legato, and for the most part, the tuning is decent. It is just a tad too overwhelming in its bass response that it can be too dominant to the rest of the frequency response.