“Three stars portraying the bear
figure in the constellation Ursa
Major; Alula, Tania, Talitha. These
are the footprints of the first,
second and third leaps of a
gazelle.
Here is Alula. Discover the natural
and the soft sound of ALULA that is
renewed by the acoustic strong
bodied of the famous Sweet
Cherry Wood, which has long
production time and heat
processing.“
Copplinn is an IEM manufacturer based here in my country. This may sound like a regular sentence for some but for me, it’s very exciting indeed. Because they are the very first and as a music lover this makes me very happy and proud. Proud because they came up with their own unique design and didn’t bother to inspire from another maker’s design and try to copy it. They all are handmade.
“Wood” is the center of the design, which makes sense. Comes from our culture, we Turks are very good at wood craftsmanship.
“In order to hear the detailed and accurate sound, it is necessary to be free from environmental noise and ambient sound. That’s why we used space titanium in the nozzle section, which provides superior passive insulation,” says Copplinn, is it working as promoted? Later on this in sound analysis.
Copplinn Alula (258$) comes with a stylish package, there is no card box, comes in a rather big (comparing to the tiny wooden shell of the Alula) round walnut wood box, opens your eyes in first sight that smells quality and naturality. That kind of wood box may cost you a lot in some countries but you get it as a gift from Copplinn, a nice touch.
Opening the wood box you see a thank you note, some stickers, and a real leather carrying bag in which you will find the Alula IEM. Again it smells quality and naturality until you reach the earphones. A very unique presentation for sure.
I was told by Copplinn that they will include Sony hybrid ear-tips in the box, but this may change maybe. You see I tried every possible ear-tip with Alula’s including Sony’s, Final E’s, Comply Foam’s but I ended up with Spinfit’s CP100+. Fits the best as reaching the real potential of the IEM and fit. You know a good seal is a must for small IEMs like this (any IEM in that matter). So I used CP100+ for testing and a balanced cable from my collection because even though they are tiny, Alula loves power to shine.
The wood shell is small as hazelnut, a micro (6mm) dynamic driver, and one of the smallest opening holes of the nozzle (2.1 mm), you may wonder what kind of a sound will come from Alula. To be honest I thought the same and I was skeptical at first. You will be shocked how big these will sound, both soundstage and 3D imaging. It’s like the big bang happening inside.
As for the comfort and ergonomics, you already may guess, being so small and lightweight you immediately forget that you are wearing them.
Specification
Body:
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Titanium Nozzle
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Heat process Sweet Cherry Wood housing
Driver:
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6mm Full Range Liquid Silicone Dynamic Driver
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20 – 20000 Hz frequency range
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35ohm@1kHz
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109dB@1kHz
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126dB@50mVa max. output
Cable:
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%99.9 Pure Copper 4 core braided cable
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Mmcx plugs with 2.5, 3.5, 4.4 mm connectors options
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Silver wiring and soldering interior mechanics
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All connectors and Y-split made with chrome-plated
Technology:
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Frequency Filtering System patented by Copplinn
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3.5 and 13.5 kHz resonance blocking
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Custom sound design options for customers
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Absorb harsh and redundant frequencies
Accessories:
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Copplinn Leather Case
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Leather Organizer
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S,M,L size ear-tips
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Solid Walnut Wooden Box
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Collar Clips
Sound
Liquid Silicone is the latest trend going on in dynamic drivers after beryllium and DLC (Diamond-Like Carbon). Liquid Silicone diaphragms are known for low distortion, stable output, and insensitivity to temperature differences.
Lows
Above you can see the low frequency performance of Liquid Silicone diaphragms in general. Sadly I don’t have the frequency response graph of the Copplinn Alula, this is the first time that I wish I had the gears for measuring it.
TLDR; Alula’s bass performance is the best that I’ve heard on an IEM so far, including the bass cannons BGVP NS9 which shares the same technology in the dynamic driver unit, and my trusted reference IEM the IMR R2 RED (13.5mm beryllium-composite dynamic driver ). It’s just amazing, a bullseye to my taste, couldn’t ask for more.
When I first started listening to Alula I couldn’t take them out of my ears for a couple of hours, because of the joy of course. Just like I said in my latest review of BQEYZ summer, “I personally like bass that can go deeper than strong kick, and more texture than being faster”. This is just the case with the Alula, very well textured both in sub-bass and mid-bass. Plus the quality, the tonality, rumble, just perfect, right in the spot. And interestingly stops where it should stop, no bleeding on mid frequencies the transition is so smooth and warm. Bass guitars, cellos never sounded so good before. In summary, Alula stops just before bass-head territory, let’s you enjoy low frequencies and is very well controlled.
Mids
I must start with instruments. Copplinn Alula shines with acoustic and instrumental tracks. As you will see in my tracklist I listen mostly to rock, blues, acoustic tracks (also to other genres of course). Timbre we say, to define the quality of the musical notes both instrumental and vocal-human notes. I have lots of tracks in my library with the longest electro guitar solos (Freebird – Lynyrd Skynyrd, In the Name of God – Dream Theater, Say Goodbye To The Blues – Walter Trout, etc). All sounded so good with the Alula, so lifelike, no fatigue ever (which can be a problem for many IEMs, they just can’t handle high pitch solos, this is a fact). Piano, which is also one of my favorite instruments, feels like listening to a live concert (Satie: Gnossiennes No.1 – Michel CamiloTomatito for example, amazing guitar-piano duet). Female vocals sound like they are singing in front of you, takes into the track, even high octave ones, again no harshness of any kind, like butter. Male vocals are very slightly recessed than the female vocals, unlike many V-shape IEMs, so enjoyable, nothing wrong here too. In summary here, timbre is on a high level on Copplinn Alula
Treble
Remember the graph I shared under the lows section? It says: “Low frequency performance of Liquid Silicone diaphragms is better than PET/PEN, while high frequency is lower, but can be improved by modifying the shape and front cavity.” This is exactly what Copplinn achieved with the Alula. It’s even better than some company’s multi-BA solutions. Not the best technical sounding highs, but you definitely get the detail level and extension you want, not if you are treble-head of course.
Copplinn, being a Turkish brand, I decided to share some of my Turkish tracks with you.
This is the mosaic of our country, be prepared, you will be shocked by the energy and the richness of both vocals and instruments.
One the best acoustic performances. Yavuz Çetin, one of the best guitarists ever lived, yes he passed away in 2001, 30 years old. This track is called “Earth”, an instrumental duet with Erkan Oğur (a worldwide famous composer).
Yavuz Çetin again. After 3:43, this is one of the best electro guitar solos ever! Never gets old.
Another acoustic performance. Famous folk song from the legend Aşık Veysel (blind), many covers been made, but I think this is the best of them.
The best female vocal of Turqia, Sertap Erener, performing with Izmir Big Band orhestra.
This song is written in 1981, 40 years! Barış Manço, maybe the most intellectual composer of Turqia ever, been loved from age 7 to 70, he is a legend, passed away in 1999, 56 years old. One of the best samples of funk-rock.
Soundstage/Imaging
This is one of the aspects that also shocked me the most. You put this tiny earphone in your ears and it feels like you put your head in a little concert hall. This may be the 3D effect of the wood chamber and the titanium nozzles that are used, which puts a very big fun factor to your listening. As for the imaging, in short, very good. You really can hear, pinpoint every instrument in the track, or feel the distances between them and the vocalist. In long, very very good.
Conclusion
You see, my journey with testing (not reviewing) IEMs started about 2 years ago. From the price range of 30$ to 400$. I listened to almost 30-40 IEMs ( I know it’s not much) till now, with different driver configurations like DD+BA, DD+Piezo, DD+BA+Piezzo, DD+2BA, 4BA, etc. I can easily say Coplinn Alula gave me the most pleasure of listening to music and the biggest fun factor. I know this can sound suspicious to some, a Turkish reviewer praising a Turkish brand. But trust me this is not the case. First, it’s against my character, secondly, Alula really is that good. Even compressed Youtube videos sound very nice with them, and having a nice 3D staging you can also use them for gaming.
Disclaimer: Copplinn Alula IEM is sent to me for review purposes only, it will be sent back after. And I’m not affiliated in any way including sales.