TONALITY: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 9.5/10
TIMBRE: 8/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 9/10
IMAGING: 9/10
VERSATILITY: 8.5/10 (tx to ear tips you can go from warm to crisp tonality)
CONSTRUCTION: 9/10
ACCESSORIES: 10/10
SOUND BENEFIT RETURN: Excellent


Intro

TANGZU is an IEM company from China, their brand name is inspired by Tang dynasty, a golden age of Chinese culture. This company is proud to be Chinese and show it with their art work and aesthetic choice that play tribute to cultural heritage.

I have followed them since their beginning, under the name of T-Force Audio, and remember their very first release to be quite impressive already, showing a desire to push sound boundaries at an accessible price.

Yet, today it’s the opposite of their humble beginning, after 5 years of experience they finally become confident enough to release a high end flagship IEM that I'm proud to review today.

This IEM is an 11 drivers tribrid called Tangzu The King Wukong.

This is based on Sun Wukong (Monkey king)literary and religious figure that is still celebrated today in Chinese culture after the novel that relates its history was published more than 500 years ago.

‘’Sun Wukong (Chinese: 孫悟空, Mandarin pronunciation: [swə́n ûkʰʊ́ŋ]), also known as the Monkey King, is a literary and religious figure best known as one of the main characters in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West.[1] In the novel, Sun Wukong is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven, he is imprisoned under a mountain by the Buddha. Five hundred years later, he accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang riding on the White Dragon Horse and two other disciples, Zhu Bajie and Sha Heshang, on a journey to obtain Buddhist sutras, known as the West or Western Paradise, where Buddha and his followers dwell.[2]
Sun Wukong possesses many abilities. He has supernatural strength and is able to support the weight of two heavy mountains on his shoulders while running "with the speed of a meteor".[3] He is extremely fast, able to travel 108,000 li (54,000 km, 34,000 mi) in one somersault. He has vast memorization skills and can remember every monkey ever born. As king of the monkeys, it is his duty to keep track of and protect every monkey. Sun Wukong acquires the 72 Earthly Transformations, which allow him to access 72 unique powers, including the ability to transform into animals and objects. He is a skilled fighter, capable of defeating the best warriors of heaven. His hair has magical properties, capable of making copies of himself or transforming into various weapons, animals and other things. He has partial weather manipulation skills, can freeze people in place, and can become invisible.[4]
The supernatural abilities displayed by Wukong and some other characters were widely thought of as "magic powers" by readers at the time of Journey to the West's writing,[5] without much differentiation between them despite the various religious traditions that inspired them and their different and varied functions, and were often translated as such in non-Chinese versions of the book.’’ (source-wikipedia)


Priced 1950$, the Wukong uses 1x 10mm polycrystalline diamond dynamic driver, 6 knowel balanced armature and 4 sonion electrostatic drivers. As well, the whole shell is made of high grade thick titanium which is known for it's anti resonance acoustic property.

With such high ends drivers did the King Wukong will hold it's promise of delivering a sound that is ''both thunderous and precise'' and technical performance that can rival with the competition in it's price bracket?

Let see in this very detailed review if Tangzu have the skill to play in high end audio market and will offer an impressive enough value for your big investment.



CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES

The Wukong aesthetic is utterly unique and eye-catching with its all CNC machined grade 4 titanium shell that has beautifully carved design backplated. The brushed finish has its own strong persona that mixes with the elegance of its gold medal in the middle of it, the goal being to evoke a mix of ‘’strength and refined artistry’’ as a tribute to Sun Wukong's powerful and fearless character.

This is a very big IEM, very chunky and the titanium is thick and dense too, but it’s lighter than one might think. Still, if you have very small ears, I'm worried this will not fit properly.
The nozzle is short, so this is better for shallow fit than deeply inserted one. The finish is smooth and not easy to scratch unlike mirror finish. The 2pin female connectors are perfectly flat, so it’s third-party cable friendly too.
Those are comfortable to me, but I have big ears, as well those IEM need cable with ear hook since it's still heavy and bulky.

The cable included is excellent, this is an high end Flash Acoustic crafted from a complex blend of high-quality wires, including a Furukawa silver-plated copper alloy, gold plating, silver palladium, and single-crystal silver and copper with silver plating. It have 148 core inside to thick strands that are very soft and flexible. It's not too heavy and each part of craftmanship scream high quality from metal splitter to artsy meet futuristic aesthetic of solid 4.4mm termination.
If you go look Flash Acoustic cables price, their none under 500$usd, so this cable is very costy and Tangzu don't go rubbish at all, in fact they collab with Flash to create perfect cable for the Wukong, it does add flesh and warmth to mid range and extend soundstage in tallness and widht. If you wanna go crisper and cleaner sound transmission, good silver plated cable with low resistance would be a good option too.

The unboxing experience is a whole experience to live that won't let anybody indifferent. It's now you, the King Wukong, since your treat like royal consumer with prime luxurious wooden box that can use to store your IEMs and Cables collection (or anything you want). But this would mean nothing if accessories were sub-par which happen too much with kilobucks IEM brands. Thanksfully, it's not the case here, everything is highest quality possible from big leather carrying case to 19 pairs of prime ear tips in 6 models, which include whole Tangzu sancai serie, Azla Origin and Divinus Prism.
Then, the cherry on top is the magnificent Flash aoustic cable.
You can see my unboxing video HERE.



SOUND IMPRESSIONS

The Tangzu Wukong sounds everything but boring, its musicality has a sense of urgency to it since all the drivers used are maximized in transient speed to match it with the fabulous dynamic driver using a lightning fast diamond diaphragm. Not only that, but the sense of immersivity too is boosted due to the vastly wide and deep soundstage that it offers, giving space to all instruments and percussion to properly be defined in space and free in their singular attack pace.

The Wukong is a King of transient agility, from the clean elastic and agile bass that never struggle to project both bass line and kick drum as if it use one dedicated driver for each to mix that flow freely, transparently and with proper bite within clean airy wide center stage to stereophonic multi layered micro dynamic of vivid but not harsh and even less splashy highs handled by both balanced armature and 4 electrostatic drivers.

Yes, the Wukong is generous in wow effect and it’s not just about it’s ultimate bass performance, i would say star of the show are bass and treble but mid range is so vast and rich in sound info that it sure is captivating too, just less lively and physically engaging than zealous deep punchy bass and majestic treble.

The overall tonal balance lean toward an expressive W shape where sub bass to mid bass-lower midrange is smoothly boosted, mids to upper mids leanly boosted and upper treble delicately boosted, this is 3 main dynamically energetic frequency spots.There hint of warmth but it’s not sliding much into mid range due to 10 drivers implementation that unlock micro dynamic articulation and cancel sound layers stepping on each other and sharing their attack sustain-release. So, it’s not a warm, sirupy, all glued together with same color tonality, it’s too transparent in layering as well as too talentedly controlled in multi transient response to go organically colorful. If you seek an intimate mid-centric IEM that favors a lower harmonic tone, the Wukong might be too technical for you.

This doesn’t mean it’s not musical, just that emotional side of instrument and vocal is less boosted than clarity of their presence, some might perceive the balance as U shape in fact since at they end it’s sub bass and lower to ultra high treble that offer most forwards dynamic loudness.Without this very deep bass boost, the Wukong would be a contemplative and crisp neutral sounding IEM, even more so with the (included) ear tips I use for this review which is the Divinus Prism, a long wide bore with sticky silicon. These eartips permit cleanest, most open spatiality and offer best micro dynamic rendering as well as bass control that is free of unwanted inner eartips nozzle resonance reflection.

It’s now time to extrapolate more about this utterly special bass performance and flavor: the diamond diaphragm used to promise the speediest transient response based on anatomical property of polycrystalline material. It’s about 4 times faster in vibration speed than very capable ceramic material and one quarter faster than pure beryllium which already blows my mind (i own Final A8000 and bass is slower, less transparent and more euphonic in sub bass release).
But all this is on sheet, so let’s begin by stating their more sub bass than mid bass boost but extension feel linear enough even if boosted in energy, then the mid bass has this textured attack edge that permit fine definition of presence, it punch well but acoustic kick don,t gain in slam energy that sub bass can help to boost, it’s hard punching but not super loudly and the attack speed is very impressive, the resolution of kick drum is nuanced in texture and their no invasive warmth to it’s attack lead and release, in fact it’s super tight and agile, it will keep up even with double bass pedal of metal band or fast kick rolling without loosing it’s transient edge to each stroke, their this fine details around presence that never go micro distorted, so we don't have this euphony that is common with near all IEM but those with scooped mid bass. The mid bass sustain is fast, it doesn't slow and thicken the impact which is clean and natural in resonance, not boosted in warmth release.
Even complex speedy toms hitting will not mix their resonance release, it will pile up in a transparent layer like in real life (in wide acoustic space), again texture of drum surface will be detailed and unforced, uncolored.
When it comes to sub bass, the fun factor meets technical prowess is even more euphoric. If slightly less boosted, low end performance and tone would be the highest fidelity I’ve ever heard and this is because of how finely resolved and fulfilled with vibrant moving air is the sub bass release.
Even if the lowest hearable frequencies range might feel slow, 20 hertz is still 20 vibrations per second! So, not that slow afterall and this can induce interphasing distortion if driver lack speed or flexibility, the crazy talented driver used here permit the listener to perceive movement of those vibrations within sub bass release presence, even it’s textured step, i can literally count the number of air modulation in long sub bass line and this make me rediscover some of it that were thick and muddied due to complex transient work it can’t achieve. So, the rumble here is dense with sound info more than foggy euphony, it’s not thin, it’s airy and digs extremely deep.
This means it’s very well layered too and shines precisely and clearly to extract bass lines even in complex busy tracks. It’s not scared of speedy electric bass or even double bass.
For electric bass, the attack grunt will be hyper detailed and abrasive in texture as it should for proper attack bite and presence energy, the layering will gain in tactility like the record intends, not like the IEM color.
For double bass, attack lead will be clean and snappy, sustain will not go slowed or boomy, and release will go confidently as deep as 20hz, with firm resolution to its extended presence.
And as said, due to extremely agile and even edgy PRaT (Pace, rhythm and timing) that can deal with tremendous amount of sound info and movement in millisecond, their no muddyness possible (with right eartips) in term of multilayering of lower range instrument, so for once i’m not grumpy about my kick drum being swallow or darken-warmed by bass line or other bass impact, both kick and bass line have their own transparent sound layer and while near each other, they don’t over step on each other whatever the speed or loudness of impact they deliver in their recording.
Simply put, this is the best bass performance I have ever heard, second one would be Final A8000 which I suddenly find super colored compared to more articulate and naturally textured Wukong. We got extreme bass quality, with balanced but consequent boost that doesn't overshadow other parts of the spectrum because it doesn't hit too hard and even less go out of control veiling or warming mid range clarity.
All in all, this is excellent bass quality with no compression in both attack sustain and release, yet clean extension with natural reverberance that titanium anti-resonance material don’t boost, it’s not an euphonic meaty bass, it’s fulfilled with air, not mud and the transient clarity permit to discover sound info in bass line and kick i’ve never heard before, i can perceive air flow release modulation like never before, this diamond dynamic driver is a true highlight of the WUkong and if you check around, similar driver is used in new Final A10000 and TXN Diamond, single DD way, for 3k$ and 2K$ respectively.

Now with such bass performance and energy one would think their big trade off in term of mid range clarity and articulation, but be reassure, the bass impact release is minimal and when it occur it’s will just flow naturally in the back of transparent multi-layered mids, with clean limpid natural reverberance from toms and kick mostly, or sub bass rumble that go wider with Divinus Prism.
This mean we have an open and contemplative mid range that is more laid back in macro dynamic and attack weight than bass and treble, it’s highly resolved without going loud in presence boost, upper mids are tamed in energy and never go shouty, some might want more forwards higher harmonic instrument or vocal projection but the fact center stage is wide and clean make presence of each instrument well define and position.
Male vocals are notch warmer and thicker than female vocals that are more textured and brighten in presence, this boost elocution intelligibility and add attack edge not only too vocal but violin too which is vividly agile in attack, something very useful for staccato and speedy playing. The Wukong don’t struggle to handle speedy attack and have enough accent to it so each timing step doesn't go sloppy or euphonic in sustain-release which is clean in decay.
This is great because it follows a similar tone as well as transient immediacy as the DD, which permits cohesive balance between 11 drivers used, only ESTs can be perceived as slightly sharper in transient but this is for the upper treble part which I'll extrapolate later in this review.
It got just a notch of warmth sliding into lower mid range, which is more boosted with stock cable that densifies a bit of vocal and instrument timbre but cream attack edge too, all very subtle.
If you use a pristine clean and clear sounding cable like Zikman Tiber, the true technical prowess of the Wukong is revealed.
The multi-layered instrument is excellent, though not the most lively as said, it’s highly readable for symphonic classical as well as jazz big band, yet percussions and drum parts will be more energetic and articulated, less flat in dynamic than mid range.
The lower harmonic of piano has more weight than saxo, trumpet and violin which sound airier and lighter, I would have loved a bit more density and wideness of presence for saxo and female vocal but this is personal taste.
I did find that the track ‘’Everything all the time’’ from Wildbirds&Peacedrums was more dominant in drum macro and micro dynamic than centered female vocalist energy, this is very intense big band drummer with slamming bass drum and toms and very busy percussions that where all clearly show and while i find it distracting (captivating), vocal was still clear and easy to perceive, just a bit too lean, which very mastering of this track in fact made more tamed than other tracks of this album which sound fabulous with Wukong.
As for male vocalist like Son Lux singer in track ‘’The fool you need’’, this time it was properly forwards, clear and bodied, with rich texture and high level on intelligibility even with hard hitting kick, multiple snare rolling and peculiar percussions line that all were perfectly articulated and weighty in attack without stepping on lush vocalist presence within a vast holographic soundstage.
As seen, this is versatile mid range but not ultra warm, thick and colored, nor vividly forwards like we are used to with shouty harman tuned IEM flooding the market in 2024 (less so in 2025, which is great-tx to meta tuning balance).
It’s a clear, clean and open one with crisp presence, prime attack control and agility as well as relaxed loudness that don’t make it sound dark or dull at all.

The treble is a true maestro of micro dynamics which is able to deliver brilliance and sparkle effortlessly, the ESTs here aren’t overly damped, it’s confidently energetic yet keeps proper delicacy that avoid trebly harshness. We have plenty of crisp air on top, and highs feel full because it’s not just handled by ESTs, we have 2 knowle balanced armature to deal with lower to mid treble as well.
So, overall treble extension is lean and full, but slightly louder than mid range so this adds extra stereophony to the soundscape. It’s very rich with sound info and you will indeed find some you weren’t aware off, but good news is that it’s not background noise artefact you don't want to hear, i mean, you’ll be able to if you ears are super curious and digging far in background, but it won’t be forced on you.
The percussions rendering is insanely detailed and well articulated in PRaT, each instrument and percussions has their own space to deliver independent rhythmic pace with prime timing, even speediest snare rolling with not miss a step and keep it’s timing sharply articulated, we have proper crisp snap to each hit of cymbals and loudness of impact differentiation is possible for critical listening enjoyment.
Then, their no attack sustain-release boost and euphony, it all flows fastly without being slowed by attack imbalance, from clap, to snap, to click, to wooden-ribbon-metal percussion, each color of instrument is clear and textured. I go analytical listening of snare flavor, perceiving fine vibrancy details in each stroke that fascinate me, snare has vivid energy to attack which makes crazy drum solos in jazz tracks from bands like Phronesis so incredibly captivating….even exhausting mentally, not acoustically. You feel like being stuck in a vortex of insane velocity, since the highs are so well defined even for the speediest track, this means you can lose your breath trying to catch all that vividly perceivable sound info!
And this is what induces a wow effect, this is what boosts a sense of engagement and captivation for demanding audiophiles.
The good news is that this prime attack control avoids splashyness, it’s tight attack with lean natural decay-echo.
As said for the albums of artist like Wildbirds&Peacedrums vocal might not be most highlighted in energy yet whole drum part which is tribal and very varied in percussions type just is too talented, its so open, lively and crisp, the micro rendering of each percussion's rhythmic layers never mix their presence together which boost 3D rendering as well as multiple pacing of all those clearly sharpen and texture sound info, level of macro expressivity is boosted and this mean Wukong is legit monitoring material for drummer too, it specialize in full drum and percussions range. But not only that.
It can go delicate, airy, sparkly and contemplative too, with appropriate instruments like classical guitar, mandoline and harp which all sound sumptuously clean and snappy in attack lead with relaxed shimmer that don’t over step each of note stroke.

The Soundstage is another highlight of the Wukong, it will depend of ear tips choice but with included Prism it's very open and vast, very tall and wide and it don't lack sens of depth too so you got it all with plenty of air around instruments. In fact, it can feel like a big concert hall with symphonic or choral music. It seem Tangzu don't use gigantic housing for nothing, it truely expend spatial acoustic in all axis. Big soundstage lover like me are well serve here.

Then, Imaging is excellent too, even with big bass release in the back the multi layering will not go mushy and keep each layers well define in the space. As noted above, we have plenty of this space so their enough of it between instrument for precise positioning. I still find percussions line easier to pin point than more static piano and violin that are more centered, less stereophonic, but their transparency permit proper spatial cue. I can see drummer using this for monitoring but not for mastering due to non neutral balance of bassy Wukong.

SIDE NOTES:

There a lot of eartips included with Wukong and this can be overwhelming for a reviewer but very welcome for the consumer since it do inflict greatly on tonally balance as well as macro-micro dynamic and attack release resonance flavor (extra sustain warmth will make mid bass weightier but darker while extra release clarity will make sub bass longer and wider in rumble in different way)

For this review I mostly stick to the Divinus Prism which offer cleaner, wider and deeper sound stage, stole a bit of mid bass leading impact and density but clean it’s transition from overly sloppy warmth so mid range sound notably more open and crisp as well as imaging and treble better in multi layering, definition sharpness etc, without getting extra presence loudness boost that smaller nozzle eartips can induce.

The worst one was ironically the priciest eartips, the Sancai Noble, it compresses soundstage and makes transient way sharper and even induce sibilance to vocal which isn’t present with any other ear tips. Simply put: it’s just not a logical pairing in terms of Wukong notably bigger nozzle size.

Short wide bore Sancai is a good match, you get the warmth and soundstage wideness, yet bass is more muddy and micro dynamic more backward.

Then Azla Origin, which I love with smaller nozzle IEM, boost soundstage but sub bass to, as well, it seems upper mids go louder harsher, which isn’t normal. We have wide and tall soundstage but not as deep and clean as Prism which is without any doubt the true best one for anything technical and tonal balance, mids are crisper but more relaxed in loudness while bass quality is supreme, not messed with any eartips nozzle resonance reflection.

I don’t even care about testing the Sancai Tang. Ok I just did and indeed. It’s nonsense pairing. It’s all upper mids and pinna gain boost, so it goes bright mid centric with lighter more distant bass, this ear tips are for masochists when it comes to WUkong. To avoid at all cost.

Then the included cable, which I find excellent, in fact adds a notch of warmth-euphony to transient response, which benefits mids naturalness (denser lower mids) but not micro dynamic goodness and sparkle capacity of EST drivers. I suggest you play with cable, this kind of multi driver tribrid are sensitive to both source and cable and scale up to your personal audiophile need. A cable that impress me alot is Zikman Tiber, while it doesn't add note weight and bass impact, fact Wukong has plenty compensate it’s slight lack of macro dynamic energy, yet clarity-imagin-subtle transient timing all improve without affecting vast soundstage size, in fact, it add depth to it.





COMPARISONS

VS LETSHUOER CADENZA 12 (2024) (1DD11BA-2000$)

This is a very interesting comparison since while C12 doesn't use ESTs, it's the most sparkly multi-BA treble I've ever heard so now we will know if it truly achieves this special delicate attack sharpness with proper sparkle release. As well, it’s a hybrid using speedy kevlar DD, both are priced 2K$ too.

C12 is less bassy, leaning more towards neutral to U shape tonality, it’s brighter and edgier and overall less balanced in macro meet micro dynamic energy, it favors more micro rendering than Wukong that have extra bass weight and slam and density C12 don’t express as energetically.

The bass is leaner in attack and more rolled off in rumble release, it’s not as wide in sub bass attack release, nor as rich and tactile and vibrant for bass line which are dryer. The transient isn’t as flexible and speedy, so the sense of impact of kick will be more tamed when bass line occurs while layering of both is superior with Wukong, In busy track, it will be harder to track bass line and kick too. So lighter bass dynamic, not inducing headbang joy like Wukong nor making cello, double bass, electric bass presence as bodied and wide in presence.

The mids are louder and edgier, female vocals are more forward but not as wide nor as transparent in presence, the texture is more boosted and risk of sibilance or shoutyness (for sensitive people) is higher. Male vocals are thinner and dryer, but it’s opposite for female vocals, it’s thicker and more opacify with texture grain. Less smooth mids overall, less relaxed, more boosted and energetic in upper mids.

The treble is near on par but not as open and airy in terms of stereophony, we have less air around each percussion and while sparkly, the attack lead is just a notch less crisp and release of sparkle not as lean and long in decay. It’s more aggressive too, the BA ultra highs are louder and the track I use is full of clap, snap and wooden block hitting percussions which was spikier and more fatiguing with C12 so I need to lower volume which was at same level for both. As for micro dynamics, it’s as capable, but a mix of BA and EST permit greater multi layering due to different attack sharpness.

The soundstage of both these IEM are very wide and tall, but Wukong is even wider, yet C12 can go a bit deeper, especially when sub bass rumbles occur for Wukong.

Imaging is on par here, whith upper hands to Cadenza12 when it come to very bassy track since their less rumble release in the back ground that can mitiged precision of instrument positioning.

All in all, Wukong feel like a Cadenza12 with more bass quantity and quality as well as more sparkle on top and bigger soundstage, it complement it wonderfully.




VS UNIQUE MELODY JET BLACK (1DD2BC4BA2EST-2000$)

Ok, this is rare that I compare IEM with bone conduction against other IEMs that have none since sound experience is very different, but Jet Black has DD, BAs and 2EST so let’s see.

The jet is more neutral and mid range is more boosted without any hearing fatigue since it’s the BC job. It doesn't sound as open and makes Wukong feel more V shape due to mids not being as full and forwards.

The bass is slower and warmer, it doesn't have as deep extension nor as long rumble-resonance release. It’s more fleshy since BC had extra texture density, so bass line are brighter and more tactile, yet kick is warmer, less well defined and less clean in transient, whole bass is notably less impactful, their no big slam even with bassy track you won’t headbang with the Jet.

Mids are fuller sounding, more forwards, with richer timbre and wider, notably closer presence since it sounds more in your head (BC oblige). This makes center stage more intimate, less widely open, oddly less clean too since there is less air around instruments which are closer to each other. Note weight is heavier, both male and female vocals are less thin. Micro dynamics isn’t as lively and well articulated as if sonion BC added a notch of euphony in instruments presence so we have more lower mids richness, tone is more colorfly, less dry. Attack is less edgy. All in all, since it’s more mid centric i prefer mid range expressivity of Jet, i like to be close to the vocal and main instruments.

The treble is dryer, less airy and sparkly, very talented in micro dynamics but not as cleanly nor as sharply, EST benefit is more minimal. Percussions sound rounder-fuller and attack is more tamed in release, while the lead isn’t as snappy. As well, we can say treble is more congested since more concentrated in center stage, less spacious in multi layering, less air and less stereophonic and open.

The soundstage can’t compete here since Jet black is all in your head plus minimal extra width, sense of depth isn’t there so Wukong is wider-taller and deeper all the way, cleaner and crisper too.

Imaging is excellent with both, but sound layers has less space and air between them, so positioning is more precise with Wukong.

All in all, those 2 are so different it's hard to choose a winner, if you seek bassy musicality with vast airy soundstage the Wukong is a better choice, it's more fun and engaging, morre physical too while Jet Black is more cerebral, more neutral and mid focused.




VS HIBY ZETA (1DD4BA4EST-1300$)

Zeta is more V shaper, notch warmer, notch bassier too as well as more aggressive sounding upper mids to upper treble wise.

The bass is slower, less flexible in transients so notch boomier, the sub bass warm and mixes with kick drum and mixes their energy for bigger, weightier, thicker slam with slower sustain-release. It’s less clean and textured, less good in multi layering of low range sound info, so more quantity but less quality. Overall bass is more punchy and thicker in rumble but not as well resolved and clearly layered.

Mids are more energetic and upper mids presence is more boosted, their more risk of sibilance and shoutyness, BA used aren’t as clean, it’s more euphonic and loose in transient. Their more dominant higher harmonic in presence which makes violin more compressed and forwards, again attack sustain is more boosted and euphonic and the release as less natural echo, texture isn’t as clean and detailed too. Mids sound less open in spatiality, more centered and less snappy and speedy in attack control.

The treble is less sparkly and extended, even less so than Cadenza 12 which underline ESTs aren’t very awakened here. It’s darker too, there are less micro details and sound info, as if there is a gap in mid treble region, this might explain more textured mids and highs of Wukong too. So, attack is less clean, airy and snappy too, micro dynamic isn’t as lively and rich, more subdued. Highs are less open sounding, less expressive, safer we can say but upper mids-lower treble isn’t and extra crunch to attack can go harsh, more splashy with cymbals crash, this is due to inferior BA attack control.

The soundstage is nearly as wide but again Wukong is wider-taller and notably deeper here and I use very same Divinus Prism eartips on both to be fair (can’t with C12 cause it fits badly).

Imaging is way superior with Wukong, more transparent layering, more spacious positioning, better instrument definition, notably more extracted full range percussions etc.

All in all, Wukong is superior in all department from tonal balance to drivers cohesion to bass quality to imaging, attack speed and control and sibilance-shoutyness free upper mids. It's the logical upgrade to Zeta bassy crispness.

CONCLUSION