SeekReal Dawn Pro Review

The Dawn Pro is an update to the recently released Dawn hybrid in-ear from SeekReal. This new product retails for $249 and is available to purchase on Linsoul.com.

I will be the first to admit that I never heard the original Dawn, nor have I even heard of the SeekReal brand before I was sent this review sample. But the product specs are intriguing. The Dawn Pro, like the original Dawn, features a 14mm Planar Magnetic driver and a Knowles balanced armature. It's an interesting combination hybrid. From what I can tell from product marketing, the differences between the products are mostly in an improved smoother tuning profile on the newer Pro unit that I have here.

The product comes in a metal housing with a sea shell machined appearance on the front in a dark gray color. It has an identical look to the original Dawn from what I can tell, except for the "Pro" marking on the side of the shell. 

The cable is a 6N copper braided cable that is a dark brown color and is weaved in a rounded-style braid. The connectors are chromed silver colored and terminate in 2-pin connectors and a 3.5mm jack. There is also a matching chrome splitter and chin strap. All of these connectors, splitters, and chin strap are metal. The cable looks and feels great and you won't hear any complaints from me here.

Sound Impressions

The Dawn Pro has a balanced sound signature that is somewhere between a gentler U-Shape that I prefer, and a more dynamic V-Shape signature that is popular for typical consumer-oriented audio products. It has a bass response that is elevated with a strong kick to it, and a mid-range that is slightly recessed. The upper-mids and lower treble has a slight elevated peaky sound to it that I hear on guitar strings on songs like "Fast Car" from Tracy Chapman, and the IEM has a bit of an uneven upper treble response that is both recessed and sharp at the same time.

The bass response on the Dawn Pro has a nice quantity, and you can hear the kick of a deep kick drum or a stroke of a bass guitar with good oomph. That said, I do find the notes to be quite rounded, and lacking good definition, making the overall bass response a tad blobby, although enjoyable.

The midrange and upper treble is very uneven to my ears. Vocals sound recessed and timbre is very off and I'll use at term I hate, but is often used here -- it sounds plasticky. Vocals, no matter male or female, tenor or soprano, whatever --- they all have an unnatural halo to them, that sounds like I am being some sort of weird echo chamber that exasperates the highest parts of each sung lyric. It's not quite sibilance, but its getting there on many tracks, and some do cross the line -- as when I listen to Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood live record.

Perhaps this has to do with its upper treble frequency response too. I am writing this in my listening notes, without actually seeing the FR graph yet. (At the time of writing this section, I haven't measured the IEM yet). There sounds like there is a peak somewhere after 10KHz and below whatever my 40 year old ears frequency range is that brings some uneasy harshness and rather distracting artificial noise to everything I hear.

At first I thought it was perhaps my source. I had originally been listening to this on an Audioquest Cobalt, but then I tried it on the Eversolo DAC-Z6, and finally a warmer tuned iBasso DX240 with AMP8MK2s, and all of them gave me the same headaches listening to this IEM, and no matter the track.

Unfortunately, this is not an IEM I will recommend. It's been a while since I found something I did not like from start to finish in my review queue, and no matter the cost. IEMs have come down in price so much and you can get great quality products at a fraction of the price that was available just a few years ago. This isn't one of them.