CCA FLA Earphones Review – Is It The CRA Slayer?

A Bit of History

CCA is a brand that offers multi-driver IEMs at very competitive price points – or rather this is the way I’ve gotten to know them. 

I think it’s crazy that there are multi-driver models that cost $20 but I digress. 

CCA is a sub-brand of KZ. It’s hard to find this information on the web but if you’re in the Chi-Fi community long enough, you sort of hear the buzz through all the forums. It has even been said that they share the same manufacturer. 

On the outside though, CCA seems like a better brand than KZ. 

Without knowing all the hocus pocus about their affiliation, it seems like CCA produces more substantial and budget-friendly sets. 

This might be to target specific demographics but it’s curious as to why they didn’t position themselves as KBEar did with their flagship brand Tri. 

First Impressions

As mentioned previously, the CCA FLA was disliked by two reviewers that I respect. 

This was pretty heart-rending as I’ve found the FLA to be pretty sleek and beautiful in its build quality and aesthetics. But seeing as it’s by CCA, I didn’t think the experience would be horrible. 

On first listen, it had a pleasant and quite familiar U-shaped tuning. My worries were put to ease because I didn’t hate it. 

Overall, I liked the FLA’s sound signature. I can see its potential as being my everyday carry or beater set and in the end, I’m just relieved that I didn’t hate my first IEM from CCA. 

Build Quality

The build quality of the CCA FLA is nice. 

It’s on the cheaper side of the spectrum, being a set that costs less than $20 but still feels like a substantial product. 

It’s a killer with its exquisite face plate bathed in warm gray, mixing elements of industrial and modern designs to form a sleek beautiful earpiece. 

The body has a metal faceplate and a smoked polycarbonate bottom. Meanwhile, the cable is reminiscent of higher-end QKZ sets that have copper wiring wrapped in translucent insulation.

The cable is sturdier than it looks and in terms of quality, it looks like it’ll hold out for a very long time. It’s detachable though, so if you feel like swapping it out for an upgrade cable, you can knock yourself out. 

Overall, for the asking price, the FLA satisfies with its build quality. 

Fit and Comfort

The CCA FLA’s shape is relatively ergonomic, with no protrusions or fins, so it nestles itself comfortably inside the ear. 

The nozzles on the FLA are on the shorter side though and depending on the size of your ears, you may have a hard time inserting it deeper into your ear canal. 

If you love treble and use deep insertion to improve the frequency retention, then you’ll be a little disappointed as changing tips isn’t going to help the nozzle length. 

On the subject of tips, the included silicone ear tips are made of good material and come in three different sizes. 

Oddly, the sizes increase in dome size which increases the higher frequencies. In effect, this negates the short nozzle predicament from earlier. 

The sound isolation is going to be moderate, and you’ll still hear a lot of external elements – just a tad bit muffled. The good news is that they completely disappear when the music starts playing. 

Overall, the CCA FLA is light to wear and doesn’t cause any wearing fatigue with its shape or weight. 

Sound Quality 

The CCA FLA is tuned to have that very familiar U-shaped signature. This is a bit similar to a V-shaped signature but with less midrange recession. 

To me, this means that there’s better balance as the midrange can better articulate itself and be closer to the presentation in the soundscape. 

The low end is quite refined despite its heft while the rumble is well-controlled and amply texturized, performing nicely in genres that need speed and note information in the bass. 

The midrange has a good relative position in the soundscape and it presents itself clearly.

Surprisingly, despite the generous amount of bass extension, the midrange retains good note clarity on its lower segment. There’s some minor bleed from the mid-bass but it’s a smear more than a veil. 

The upper midrange is boosted on a wide area from a slow climb at 2KHz and rounds off after 4KHz. This injects the entirety of the midrange with a good amount of energy while taming possibilities of sibilance. 

The 6k dip may have slightly affected the sound imaging, leaving it a little wispy but the timbre of the percussions remains relatively natural in their tonality. 

The treble has good extension but it starts to descend rapidly after a peak of 8KHz. There’s still information post 10k but it dies just after the 16KHz mark. 

Overall, the high-end has good resolution while remaining generally smooth sounding. 

Bass 

The sub-bass of the CCA FLA is very mature, plus the depth and level of control are impressive.

Instead of a broad garden sprinkler, the sub-bass frequencies behave more like a hose – more focused and accurate. 

The mid-bass has a good kick, plus the dynamics are sufficient and perform well without being overwhelming in delivery. 

Overall, the bass is deep, relatively tight, and clean in presentation.

Midrange

The midrange of the CCA FLA retains a good presence and positions itself a little closer to the listener. 

It has that warm overtone that gives the lower midrange good musicality and weightiness. Note clarity is good despite the mid-bass bleed. 

The midrange is an especially good performer on the microdetail front. Voice trails and breaths are audible and have a good texture. 

The upper midrange balances the lower segment by giving the midrange a good shot of energy while avoiding any erratic peaks. 

Overall, the midrange is smooth and engaging to listen to.

Treble

The treble is oddly smooth. It has a pretty spiky 8k peak yet it doesn’t sound piercing or even north of bright. 

There’s a good extension up to 16KHz but everything after that just slowly dies down.

The 6KHz dip slightly guts the imaging making it a little murkier and while I still find the stage to be spacious, it does extend inward more so than horizontally. 

All in all, the treble is articulate and airy, presenting high notes with good saturation and brilliance.

Conclusion

The CCA FLA, in terms of its tuning and overall cohesion, gets an A from me, especially when you consider how much (or little) it costs.

If you compare it with other sets, then I’d have to say that there are better options that are priced lower. 

However, if the price-to-performance ratio is negligible or even irrelevant to you, then I’d be happy to recommend the FLA. 

Overall, it can perform any genre without any hitches, plus it looks nice and you can swap out its cable for a nicer and thicker upgrade cable. Detachable cable options from KZ are still a thing to thank for. 

At the end of the day, if you can shell out $15 and you dig the CCA FLA on all the fronts I covered, then there’s no reason not to get it. 

If you’re planning on cheaping out, then skip it and go for the CRA.

This post was last updated on 2024-12-14 / Some images from Amazon Product API & some links may be affiliate links which may earn us a commission from purchases.