# Signature Acoustics C-12 Wooden IEM review



## anirbandd (Mar 13, 2013)

*Introduction​*
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Its high time India took its stand in the international stage for producing audiophile grade sound products, and Navi Mumbai based Pristine Note [ProAudioHome] is leading the Indian bandwagon with its flagship Signature Acoustics C-12 Wooden IEM. 
The C-12s have been developed in-house by the engineers after an extensive R&D period of 18 months, while the actual manufacturing took place in China.

The result of the R&D is crystal clear sound, which will satisfy the craziest audiophile and make him/her come back for more. 

I had been one of the lucky few who had the chance of sampling the IEMs upon launch… Read to find out more. 

*Specifications*​The specs are taken straight from the C-12 manual and the site.
•	MODEL                  	: Elements C-12
•	Driver                     	: 8 mm (CCAW)
•	Impedance             	: 18 Ohms @ 1Khz
•	Frequency            	: 17 to 20 Khz         
•	Sensitivity             	: 102 dB
•	Total length            	: 1.2 mts (split length 28 cms)
•	Channel Balance   	: < 2.5% dB @ 1 Khz

_Burn-In:​_Out of the box, the C-12s sound better than most of the other IEMs in its price range. But, as with most other speakers, it is adviced to do a burn-in of atleast 30 hours for the sound to settle in. I did burn-in for approx. 24hrs, with a mix of white, pink, brown noise, frequency sweeps and an assortment of Metallica, Lamb of God and Beethoven at around 70% volume, with periodical silence. 

PM me if you want my custom Burn-In track. ​
*Packaging and Accessories​*The packaging is solid, with stencilled foam being the seating material. 

Accessories included are: 
•	Eartips (Small, Medium, Large).
•	Shirt clip.
•	Filters (180u & 250u).
•	Bronze carrying case.

The shirt clip is a nice addition for the people who move around a lot with the IEMs on. 

The bronze case, polished to give an antique feel, and engraved with the company’s logo is clearly the icing on the cake. A mighty fine piece of art!! It was small enough to fit into my jeans pocket, but a bit heavy… But hey, I am not complaining  Rest assured, your precious IEMs will forever be protected. While the IEMs were manufactured in China, the bronze case was fabricated wholly in India..

The filters provided can used to further fine tune the treble. 

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*Build quality​*
The build quality is extremely good. In spite of IEM driver case being carved from wood [duh!!], it is feather light. I wore them IEMs for up to 2hours at a time without any kind of strain on the ear. The company logo [SA] is imprinted at the outside end of the IEMs and looks elegant and beautiful. It’s guaranteed to some heads  

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There is a small hole at the base of each of the driver casings to allow air flow. 

The default eartips were very comfortable for me and provided a good degree of isolation. Turning up the volume while in a moderately noisy environment [inside public transport] can help subdue whatever noise that seeps in.

The cable seems very strong and has a ribbed design. The 3.5mm jack is gold plated and has a solid feel to it.

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*Sound​*
Excellent, fantastic, wonderful, warm, delightful. That are the adjectives that come to mind when describing the sound [burned in], and I'm falling short of adjectives  

I tested the C-12s with multi genre music, right from Beethoven and Mozart to Lamb of God and Megadeth and quite a few in between [everything in either of FLACs/WMAs/MP3@320kbps]. The vocals are clear and strong; the trebles sharp and crystal clear; the bass warm and hollow. 

The soundstage is excellent and almost equal to most other costly IEMs in the market. Multi-layered songs like in Metallica’s S&M album are a treat to listen through the C-12s. Each layer of instruments in the orchestra, guitars and drums can be “visualised” clearly. It’s the bass, mid-range and treble are extremely well balanced so that there is neither lack nor exaggeration of any of the characteristics. While loud drums, guitars, piano, etc. are well reproduced in all, it’s the subtle details that make the difference in IEMs. The C-12s reproduces each subtle detail beautifully, just to the degree that the sound engineer at the recording studio intended it to be. And the resulting experience is astounding. The C-12 does justice to the fact that it’s a monitor and gives you a feel of being in the studio [when you are relaxing and have your eyes closed  ].

For the most authentic soundstage experience I would suggest you to relax in a quiet room, close your eyes and listen to some of the holographic recording from SoundScape. The experience is awesome. You need to listen to it in order to experience it. 

The vocals are clear and warm and distinctly audible over the music.

Its best to listen to the music on a “Normal” equaliser pre-set on your player, so that one may listen to the song just as the sound engineer at the studio wanted you to listen to it  While doing this review I left my devices on Normal equaliser pre-set.

Even out-of-the-box, the IEMs are good to listen to and even some details are clearly audible. But the finer details start to come into the picture only after burn-in. 

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*Conclusion​*Poised as a perfect fusion of cutting edge sound engineering and fine art, the C-12s will give a lot of other well-known and expensive IEMs a run for their money. With the C-12s, we have a winner on our hands. The build and sound quality, coupled with the launch price tag of INR 2.7K [not to forget the stylish one-of-a-kind bronze case  ], it’s a steal. If you had been waiting for a good IEM at a cheap price, you wait is definitely over. I know mine is  

I would like to congratulate the guys at Signature Acoustics for coming out with such a ground breaking product at such a low price.

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Yes, it’s Made in India. And I’m damn proud of it. Jai Hind. ​


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## SignatureAcoustics (Mar 15, 2013)

Thank you for the review Anirbandd .We are glad that you like the Signature Acoustics C-12 so much  .  The photos are also very professional .

We will be looking forward to few more reviews / impressions from other Forum members soon.


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## anirbandd (Mar 15, 2013)

You are welcome!!


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## Desmond (Mar 19, 2013)

Any idea how this compares to the Vsonic GR02 BE? I lost mine and I am thinking about buying a new one.

Also, please provide link as to where I can get one of these.

Edit : Please tell me how does Opeth sounds on these.


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## anirbandd (Mar 21, 2013)

has very balanced [neutral/warm] sound with a great soundstage. tested with Iron Maiden/Metallica/Cadle of Filth/Lamb of God/Children of Bodom/Megadeth.

never listened to Vsonic GR02 BE... you need to fiddle with the equalizer on your device to increase bass/mid/treble on the C-12.


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## anirbandd (Mar 23, 2013)

PM me if you want my custom Burn-In track.

see below..


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## Desmond (Mar 23, 2013)

Why not share the link here? Upload it to Soundcloud and give the link if possible.


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## anirbandd (Mar 23, 2013)

alrighty.. i'll do it


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## Desmond (Mar 30, 2013)

I got mine as well. Will post my review of it as well once the burn-in is done.


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## anirbandd (Mar 30, 2013)

soundcloud.com/anirban-das-deb/burn-in

frequency sweeps, white/brown/pink noise, silence.

for IEM burn in.


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## Tenida (Apr 10, 2013)

Great looking IEM and fantastic review 10/10


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## anirbandd (Apr 10, 2013)

Thank you!!


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## Desmond (Apr 10, 2013)

I have observed that when the bass gets a but too high, there is some subtle high pitched humming. Has anyone else noticed this?


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## Faun (Apr 10, 2013)

I found that with loose seal these sound better to me. Otherwise bass is kind of overwhelming considering my preferred sound signature is close to neutral.


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## anirbandd (Apr 10, 2013)

DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> I have observed that when the bass gets a but too high, there is some subtle high pitched humming. Has anyone else noticed this?



nope...



Faun said:


> I found that with* loose seal *these sound better to me. Otherwise bass is kind of overwhelming considering my preferred sound signature is close to neutral.



loose seal??


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## Faun (Apr 10, 2013)

anirbandd said:


> loose seal??



Dont push too much creating feeling of vacuum.


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## anirbandd (Apr 10, 2013)

oh... i like it a bit bassy..


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## SignatureAcoustics (Apr 29, 2013)

These do have a subtle more tight bass and an overall warm sound which some people will love whereas some may not depending on their choice of music and sound signature they prefer.  As Faun mentioned keeping the overall fit /seal a little lose may reduce the bass .

Looking forward to Faun's review of the Signature Acoustics Elements C-12.


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## Desmond (Apr 29, 2013)

What kind of eq do you suggest to use with these? I am having a hard time separating the vocals from the overdriven/distortion lead guitars. I listen to Metal mostly.


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## anirbandd (Apr 30, 2013)

hmm.. i listen mostly on my galaxy pocket, with no eq. but i dont have any kind of problem with these. i like to leave to no eq. to rely on the proper studio mixing. as i said, C-12 has a neutral/slightly warm tone, so i listen to the music exactly as the mixing studio designed it. 

may be you could be a bit more specific as to which songs you are talking about...


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## abhidev (Apr 30, 2013)

how are these compared to SM e10?


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## anirbandd (Apr 30, 2013)

no idea.. havent used the e10.


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## Desmond (May 1, 2013)

anirbandd said:


> hmm.. i listen mostly on my galaxy pocket, with no eq. but i dont have any kind of problem with these. i like to leave to no eq. to rely on the proper studio mixing. as i said, C-12 has a neutral/slightly warm tone, so i listen to the music exactly as the mixing studio designed it.
> 
> may be you could be a bit more specific as to which songs you are talking about...



That is not possible practically that a earphone can get the sound exactly like it was recorded in the studio. It can get you closer but you need to compensate for the losses with the EQ. For this one, I think we need a more fine EQ. The EQ on my PowerAmp player does not seem to suffice.

But then again, I am an OCD junkie and I am never satisfied with any sound I get.


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## anirbandd (May 1, 2013)

DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> That is not possible practically that a earphone can get the sound exactly like it was recorded in the studio. It can get you closer but you need to compensate for the losses with the EQ. For this one, I think we need a more fine EQ. The EQ on my PowerAmp player does not seem to suffice.



true.. but the eqs and sound processors on mobile phones are bad and imprecise [compared to PC counterparts]. so i leave it on normal.



DeSmOnD dAvId said:


> But then again, I am an OCD junkie and I am never satisfied with any sound I get.



i could share my VLC eq setting if you want. thats what i use [at times] to listen to music when im on my PC. 

*Eq. Preset: Flat.

Band Gains: 9.9 10.6 9.9 6.6 10.6 9.1 6 4.3 8.1 1

Global Gain = 0.0* you could tweak this if you have a sound card. increasing this without a sound card would introduce clips in some tracks with a high built-in gain.


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## Desmond (May 1, 2013)

PowerAmp's eq is pretty robust.

Also, I never use my C-12s on the PC.


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## anirbandd (Jun 15, 2013)

*Update*

My C-12s started developing bad case of sound imbalance the last month [May]. The thing sounded like the bass was okay on the left side, and very low[almost absent] on the right side. So I contacted  SignatureAcoustics [ on TDF  ], stating the problem, and he asked me to send them over to their office in Navi Mumbai. I was somewhat busy at that time, and could only send the IEMs over on 6/6/13 through courier service. 

I was surprised to get a mail from him, on 11/6/13 that they had just received the IEMs and had already tested and replaced them. Now thats some fast action. Kudos go out to the guys at Signature Acoustics, and specially to Mr. SignatureAcoustics for such great action and reliability. 

Feels really good to see Indian companies at par with international cos in the after sales service dept. Signature Acoustics is going to be a hell of a good brand with their A-Class products and A-Grade service. 

For the people who need it, here are the contact details:

+91-22-65611833
+91 9222 997 066

sales@proaudiohome.com
support@pristinenote.com

Feel free to give them a call/drop them a mail. Those are one helpful bunch of people.


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## Desmond (Jun 17, 2013)

Well, thankfully, I haven't had any such problems with mine so far but good to know that these guys are pretty quick with the service.

I think that these are pretty underrated IEMs over here and the sound is pretty awesome. Though you need to tinker with the EQ to get a better, more punchy bass.


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## anirbandd (Jun 17, 2013)

they sound awesome out of the box, but people need to manage EQ to their own taste.


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## Desmond (Jun 17, 2013)

I did not find the bass too punchy out of the box, also the mids sounded too flat. The vocals and the guitars were almost at the same volume so I had to distinguish between them by adjusting the mids. I keep the highs low for obvious reasons.


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## anirbandd (Jun 17, 2013)

out of the box - i meant after Burn In.


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## anirbandd (Aug 14, 2013)

Been using the C-12 with the Sansa Clip Zip. [MP3@320/FLAC]

Absolute treat to the ears.


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## anirbandd (Dec 26, 2013)

Been using this item for a long time now, with my rockboxed Sansa Clip Zip. Tweaked the equaliser a and discovered that increasing the highs a bit gave a more clear sound stage, while keeping the warmness intact.


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## rajnusker (Dec 26, 2013)

Bought a pair from Snapdeal, but to my surprise my unit was faulty. Should get a replacement soon.

@anirbandd What other pairs or headphones do you own?


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## anirbandd (Dec 26, 2013)

SONY MDR-G45, and a Philips hp[forgot model number].

drop a mail at their contact id. someone will contact you at the earliest. the guys are very helpful. 

PS: also, you can drop a PM to FM SignatureAcoustics [find him in this thread]. he'll also help you out.


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## rajnusker (Dec 27, 2013)

anirbandd said:


> SONY MDR-G45, and a Philips hp[forgot model number].
> 
> drop a mail at their contact id. someone will contact you at the earliest. the guys are very helpful.
> 
> PS: also, you can drop a PM to FM SignatureAcoustics [find him in this thread]. he'll also help you out.



You haven't used anything better than the C12?


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## anirbandd (Dec 27, 2013)

i dont own any.. but loaned a Sennhieser and a Klipsch from a friend for about a week before reviewing the C-12.


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## rajnusker (Dec 27, 2013)

anirbandd said:


> i dont own any.. but loaned a Sennhieser and a Klipsch from a friend for about a week before reviewing the C-12.



S4? How is the Klipsch when directly compared to C12?


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## anirbandd (Dec 28, 2013)

i dont remember the impressions very clearly, but i'll just give the points.

i would say they dont fit the 5K price tag [from google]. 

the bass is very bright. too much for me, but good for a bass head. also, the higher end of the bass aint that clear.
mids are okayish, warm.
treble is good for some instruments, but subdued for others[thats what it felt like ]

the Klipsch S4 i used had a bit of use when i listened to them, and the i felt the wire and strain relief qualtiy were not as good as the C-12. now, my C-12 has been used continuously for over 4-5 months, and it barely has any signs of wear and tear. i go for jogging, gym, casual listening, keep them in my pockets, but no wear and tear. however, the wire has a bit of memory, and thats a negaitive, but not so serious issue with me.

oh, and i wear it over the ear. sounds better. 

hope it helps!


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## rajnusker (Jan 13, 2014)

Got a replacement finally on 9th Jan from Pristine, Snapdeal never sent their guys for replacement. Horrible. Even the replacement unit is faulty. So tired of this. Almost a month and still to hear these.


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## anirbandd (Jan 14, 2014)

you called the SignatureAcoustics guys??


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## rajnusker (Jan 14, 2014)

^Emailed the guy named Faheem. Waiting for reply.


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## sharonbava (May 29, 2014)

Hello, Can I get your headphone Burn-In playlist please. I recently bought a JVC HA-FXT90 Twin Driver IEM.


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## anirbandd (May 31, 2014)

here you go 

soundcloud.com/anirban-das-deb/burn-in


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## rajnusker (May 31, 2014)

These are wonderful earphones, just amazing clarity and bass. Glad I bought them.


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## anirbandd (Jun 1, 2014)

rajnusker said:


> These are wonderful earphones, just amazing clarity and bass. Glad I bought them.



same here..

just the one thing.. the wires. thay are VERY VERY hard. 

Hope [MENTION=157395]SignatureAcoustics[/MENTION] is listening.


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## rajnusker (Jun 13, 2014)

^Totally agreed mate, kinda annoying specially when travelling.


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## anirbandd (Jun 13, 2014)

yeah.. bad thing is the dude hasnt been online since a looong time.. so all our ranting may just be for nothing.


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## Nick007 (Jun 18, 2014)

Can I get audio you used for burn-in mate.


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## anirbandd (Sep 15, 2014)

sure you can.. 

soundcloud.com/anirban-das-deb/burn-in


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