Cardersound Nina's underwhelming...


I read a handful of reviews, and took note of the specs, before purchasing a pair of Cardersound Nina's.

The specs are as follows:

- EnABLE'd Fostex 126en drivers
- 93dB sensitivity
- 40Hz-25kHz (from Cardersound; 45Hz from the seller)

My rig is as follows:

- MacBook Pro / Amarra / ALAC
- Oyaide neo d+ Firewire
- Weiss DAC2
- Blue Jeans Cable LC-1
- Red Wine Audio Signature 15 (JJ 6922)
- Canare StarQuad

I don't know if the "EnABLE" process has fouled the drivers (it's obviously *supposed* to make them better) or if, as in the case of some Moth Audio Cicada's I had, there was a resister (or something) in the path to keep them calm as they broke in, meant to be removed after X number of hours, but these are some seriously underwhelming speakers. There are no dynamics to speak of, next to no bass response, and the highs seem muted. I'm baffled at the positive reviews they've received.

I will say that solo guitar, lute, piano and vocals sounds pretty damn good; the midrange sounds quite nice...but that's where it ends.

Now, trust me, I understand that a single 4.5" driver is not going to be able to compete - all things considered - with the Tekton Lores (real 30Hz-30kHz @ 98dB) I had before them, but again, given the specs, I would expect far more than what I'm hearing.

Can anyone out there possibly shed some light on what might be going on here?

Thanks a ton for your time, in advance.
- Mark
ballywho
This should (and will) be my last post to this thread, that I now wish I could remove in it's entirety...

I titled it "Turn it up, man!" for a reason. You see, I've been listening to these things at low to medium volumes (more, than less, of my listening is not at very high volumes). Well, it seems that these little horns do just fine (all things considered) with more volume [than I had been listening to them at]. I'm playing some of The Detroit Escalator Co.'s "Black Buildings" album while on lunch break, at about 11:00 on my Sig15's volume knob, and what do you know? Bass: it's actually there. I've dubbed this album (and others by them) driver killers because of the low frequencies and electronic drum attacks scattered throughout their tracks. On true full frequency speakers it's some pretty neat stuff to hear. And on these, it's really just isn't bad at all. Again, the bass that I thought was *almost completely* absent is absolutely there.

My apologies to Mr. Carder and anyone else I may have offended with such a hasty thread.
And let me add that the highs are there as well. I initially stated that the highs seemed muted. Well, it must've been whatever tracks I was auditioning them with, right out of the box (for me), and again and fairly low volumes: There's plenty of treble to go around, and with the perfect mids and the now-realized bass, I'm flip-flopping entirely. I obviously need to think twice (or more) before starting threads about products I've given next to no time auditioning. Again, anyone who was offended or puzzled at my initial post, my apologies.
Wonder if you can speak about these in comparison to say Zu Omen speakers???Am considering the two for a 300b integrated I use ...and would like to know if there is similar quality in bass and mid-range? thanks