Pros
Awesome Elvin Faceplate
Very full bottom end
Great pass, rhythm and attack
Solid build, heavy and feels like quality
Great budget friendly price
Would make great gifts
Shines on all genres
Very upgradable
Cons
Not for treble heads or those seeking neutral or thin sound
CVJ Night Elf review
I am an audiophile smack down in the center of sunny South Africa and these CVJ Night Elf in ear monitors were sent to me by CVJ as part of a review tour in my country. I do not receive any incentive from the company in exchange for this review. I do these reviews to further the hobby in my country as it is very underrepresented in our audio scene and people like me can make a difference to help spread the coolness of these little giant killer iem’s and get more especially future audiophiles involved.
Look & Build
These CVJ Monitors totally buries the Audiophile and wakes the Audio Geek in me. These Night Elf monitors sell for R598-00 in my country and that is with the optional Night Elf acrylic stand which my review set does not have but I have ordered it separate and I think is a must have for any Audio Geek. I have big ears and my personal preferences regarding fit is I like a heavy monitor because in my mind and psychoacoustics weight = class. These feels nice and heavy just how I prefer it. The cable is a bit thin for my liking and if you read my part of the review on the sound you will understand why I would want to upgrade the cable to maybe a beautiful, thicker and purple color balanced cable by a company like Nicehck. That faceplate is so Audio Geek and I love it.
Unboxing
The packaging vs price ratio I am very happy with. The box with an anime picture of two Night Elves in purple is so geeky I love it. Opening the box with a big smile from that nice picture on the front packaging you are greeted with a sponge housing those little monitors with beautiful Elf faceplates and a circle Carrying case peeking through. On closer inspection the case is Aluminum and the lid screws on. Me being a guy who appreciate steel & glass in all my tube amplifiers this metal case struck a chord with me. At the bottom is your set of tips in the normal three sizes and the usual manual and guarantee card. I really commend CVJ on the great packaging for the price.
Specs
Drivers: 6mm + 10mm double compound dynamic driver, 8mm dynamic driver
● Frequency Response: 20Hz–20kHz
● Impedance: 16Ω
● Sensitivity: 105 dB/mW
● Cable: 1.25m silver-plated OFC copper
● Connector type: Detachable, 2 Pin-S (0.75mm)
● Plug: 3.5mm
Connectivity
The Night Elf comes standard with a 3.5mm connection and as a suggestion to CVJ I would have liked the choice of 3.5mm or 4.4mm balanced cable and would have been willing to pay more for it. I connected these to my laptop via Dac\amp for the most of this review as it gave me such great listening pleasure streaming Tidal High-res I did not feel the need to test it with any other sources. I did however just for the sake of this review also tested it on my Oppo Cellphone and it had ample power to drive these loud and clear.
Sound
I had this same moment when I heard my first NAD3020 amplifier on a pair of Mordant Short bookshelf speakers when I plugged these Elves of the Night into a Dac/amp connected to my laptop which in turn streams Tidal High res. I pondered on what genre I would test them with first and not having audiophile expectations because of the great affordable price I decided on a suggested Tidal playlist, and it started with Behind Blue Eyes by Limp Bizkit and just like those years ago with the little NAD my mouth made an ‘O’ and I said, “Stop this can’t sound this good”. Ever heard a monitor which does not lack anything or over emphasize anything? Well, these little purple things will set the cat amongst the pigeons Blon Bl-03 style if you know what I mean.
Next up Foolish Games by artist Jewel and the female voice blends in so perfectly with the piano that I can’t believe this type of synergy exists at this price range. There is a certain ease with which the music is produced and how her velvety voice floats in the air amongst the other instruments. I closed my eyes through the entire presentation of beautiful feminine voice, violin and piano and man what a treat it was.
Making it three in a row the next song had me admiring the nice way the Elves reproduced male and female voices together and as luck would have it, Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and feat Allison Krauss with both voices complimenting each other beautifully and at the non-vocal passages a thick baseline can be heard and I am glad I could experience this level of audio quality at an entry level price.
I wanted to use that thick bottom end and I have never heard Orinoco Flow by Enya with some bass that sounds like a very deep organ on the track. That is a first and so enjoyable. In my quest to see if these were the perfect little all-rounders, I switched to a soundtrack to get the feel for how they would do with Movies and the orchestra sounded so full bodied and the instrument separation very satisfying on The Gladiator soundtrack and the song Honor Him.
I know by me mentioning the thick bottom end bass the whole-time people will want to be knowing about the bass and to satisfy my own cravings I hopped on over to my EDM playlist to put the lower end of the three drivers to a bit of a test. On the Hedegaard song Ratchets my little bones in my ears rattled so sub bass is extremely done well and like I mentioned earlier because nothing is over emphasized the sound is so balanced. This is the type of set you can listen to for hours on loud volume without any fatigue. On Are you Ready by Bad Ninja the bass felt as if it was playing ping pong inside my ear canal. I really think these are intended to be listened to loud. I sat upright and listened carefully to something that sounded like electronic bongo drums on Highland Tribe- Free Tibet. The bass driver really hits hard.
The tips provided looks like narrow bore and if the treble on these was not so good I would recommend them for bass heads, having said that I recommend these to anybody as in from High end audiophiles to students looking to get into the hobby. As per my Audiophile playlist Six Blade Knife sounded like Mark Knopfler sounded like he was pulling those guitar strings very hot through butter and the emotion in his voice could be felt. Small technicalities on the guitar with his fingers jumping around I could clearly perceive. Who ever does the tuning at CVJ I want to say well freaking done man. Listening to Youth by Adrian Berengeur it sounded as if someone switch on some spatial switch or tuning because the whole presentation was very spatial. From high dynamic range passages to small, intrigued details these purple Elves kept on giving the gift of beautiful reproduction.
Just wanting to reaffirm my thoughts on well these sound with an acoustic guitar on tracks and being from Africa I just had to indulge in this African masterpiece Ifrikya by Labess and it is guaranteed to have you nodding your head in enjoyment and smile.
The timbre between the three drivers is magnificent and you would think that you are listening to full range speaker so well they blend in with each other.
Conclusion
These CVJ Night Elf monitors truly set the cat amongst the pigeons for me, and I wish that everybody can get a chance to listen to these and heard what I heard. This is a set I am keeping in my personal collection as soon as I get a purple balanced cable and some purple ear tips I ordered. Thank you kindly for setting aside your time and reading my review.
