Canpur CP74E Review: Compilation of Fun + Reference + Vivid ESTs
A fresh, new audio wind blowing from Western Europe, the Netherlands In-Ear Builder, Canpur quickly gained great attention and a solid fanbase across global communities with their flagship IEM CP622B. Continuing the community demands and positive feedback, Canpur also recently announced their first-ever limited-edition model, the CP622B Titanium Edition (News link).
While the CP622B may seem to be doing all the heavy lifting, their lower tier models have also contributed significantly as Canpur offers a wide range of products that differ in price (from sub $100 to over $4k), and especially more when we’re talking about their follow-up products after the CP622B. Yes, today we’re going to review and talk about the CP74E: the ‘almost-twin brother’ flagship model that goes along with the CP622B, as well as the most recent release from Canpur. The CP74E is a 7BA+4EST IEM priced at $2,899, which is still a flagship level price but sits noticeably lower than the CP622B (retail at $3,499). Let’s see how/what the CP74E features, sounds, and compares with its competing models – including its own co-flagship brother CP622B.
Canpur is founded by Hans Japm Witjes, “a white-haired old man from the Netherlands” as he describes himself. He’s also been a professional band drummer from the 1980s with about 30 years of live performances and sound tuning experiences. After retiring from his live music scene 10 years ago, his passion and love for music continued by providing cost-effective music equipment, eventually leading to his own IEM business. sparking the establishment of Canpur in 2019.
Canpur explains that its brand name was inspired by the concept of combining the words ‘Can’ and ‘Pure’, representing restoration, purity, and the auditory pleasure of music listening. Hans and his old friends, all of whom are professional music producers, mix engineers, band leaders, and audiophiles have gathered to research how to create a sound that would satisfy both the professionals and music lovers, and a sound that they could afford, easy to use, and last but not least, looks good. Products that are high-end yet not expensive.
Today, Canpur offers a variety of products that range from sub $100 (Joyful Series) to premium-level IEMs (CP Series) that go over $1k. We recently reviewed the Canpur CP622B, Canpur’s flagship product, which brought their brand awareness and reputation to explode globally. The CP74E is the following model but with stepped-down pricing with a different sound signature and tuning, being priced at $2899. Since the flagship CP622B is $3499 and the price differences aren’t ‘significant-significant’, the CP74E would still be considered a twin-flagship with the CP622B – which I agree with based upon extensive listening and direct comparison with the CP622B.
Well, that’s enough talk for the intro. Let’s jump into the review and check the highlights of the CP74E, the in-depth sound impressions, and the differences with its competing summit-fi IEMs!
Generous, Premium Packaging
The CP74E comes in with a beautifully presented packaging. Removing the black paper sleeve unveils the leather-finished box. Once opened, Canpur greets you with a leather earphone display stand, a leather carrying case, 3 pairs of Symbio W eartips, 3 pairs of Canpur eartips, a plastic eartip case, a cleaning tool, a microfiber cleaning cloth, and a 4.4mm stock cable.
It’s nice to have a lush earphone stand that you can keep in display mode and a carrying case when you have to use them on the go. The included case is roomy enough with thick cushioning on the top and smooth linen-like padding for the rest, preventing the earphones from getting scratched. However, it would’ve been nice to have an earpiece mesh pouch, which is a common accessory found easily from high-end IEMs, to protect the earphones from rattling around the case. Well, nonetheless, the included cleaning cloth serves that purpose fairly well.
Beautifully Built & Engineered Earpieces
While the product naming may be confusing to memorize at first, Canpur names their product with full practicality to keep things straightforward. For those who haven’t noticed yet, CP stands for “Canpur”, and the “74E” stands for 7BA and 4EST, and with highlighting the IEM uses electrostatic drivers (“E“), the CP74E naming is made. The same goes for the rest of the Canpur IEM family (CP32E, CP54E, CPBA7…)
Design-wise, CP74E has an opaque black resin body with a profound, unique faceplate design with different colors of glitters spread across the faceplate that changes in color depending on light and viewing angles.
For the Ultimate Dynamic Range
CP74E fully consists of Sonion drivers, and interestingly, Canpur clearly states the driver models used for the IEM and specifications as the following:
Canpur CP74E
- 7BA+4EST
- Receiver model: Sonion 38D2XJ007Mi-8c, Sonion 28UAP01, Sonion2389, Sonion E500T0005/0, SonionEST650B01
- Assembly form: Conduit type
- Impedance：9.4Q@1khz
- Sensitivity：107.7db@1khz
However, tuning an IEM doesn’t happen simply by stacking “Lego blocks”, especially if we’re talking about creating a pristine, flagship IEM. The CP74E utilizes an 11-driver & 4-way configuration (there’s 1 more driver than CP622B!), dividing the sound into 4 spectrums. There’s a 2BA woofer assigned to ultra lows, 1BA for lows, 2BA for mids, another 2BA for highs, and lastly, 4EST super-tweeters for the ultra highs.
Special Inside Out: Special Vent Chamber & Glowing Faceplates
There are more features of CP74E to point out, inside out. The 3D-printed inner chamber features a meticulously designed inverting tube for the vent pathway, which deepens the bass and widens the bass presentation. For the outside, the resin faceplate consists of luminous art paint that glows in the dark once it absorbs UV rays.
Cable: Proprietary Eletech Cable
The CP74E’s stock cable would be no stranger to those interested in IEM custom cables. Canpur shook hands with Eletech for perfecting CP74E, including an exclusive cable manufactured and tuned for CP74E. This proprietary cable is a hybrid blend comprised of OCC Copper & OCC Silver. This Eletech cable comes with a 2pin-4.4mm termination, and the wires are soft and slim, causing barely any microphonics, and are easy to handle.
Below are the detailed specifications of the Eletech CP74E Cable:
Cable Specifications
- 24 AWG, 4-Braid
- Hybrid Blend of OCC Copper and OCC Silver
- Cryogenically Treated
- Eletech Bespoke Solder
- Eletech/Canpur Customised Y-Split and Connectors
- FlexiMax Insulation
The CP74E Eletech cable provides a very neutral yet sweet timbre that is overall rich with dynamics and both-end extensions. Canpur tuned and polished with the sound of CP74E in consideration of the pairing with this cable and vice versa. While we’ll be further discussing the sound profile of CP74E on the next page, Socrates matches nicely with CP74E, both sonically and visually.
Next Page: Sound Impressions of CP74E – How’s the Performance?