Some gain success in a short way. Probably it’s called luck, probably — a result of hard labor and precise aims, experience and being dedicated to the job. Magic. Or everything. If we speak about magic, we should say there are not to many magicians in audio world. One of brands built around such magician is Shozy, or Cozoy. The magician has required two names for some reason, so be it.
Everyone who has listened to the products of these brands, couldn’t stay indifferent.
One of such products’ examples is Cozoy Rei. We can measure its success simply by the fact that second hand device costs more than its regular price when the sales have begun. And the price has been 550 USD. This price tag is comparable not only to many portable solutions, but desktop ones as well. As far as I know the device is not produced anymore, but you can still occasionally find it in some shops and it makes the desire to obtain it even higher.
Cozoy Rei is packed into square white cardboard box with silhouette and name of the device. Inside there is, of course, device itself. The accessories are not abundant and include couple of cables to connect to different devices. That’s all. However, I don’t know what else to expect when you buy external dac/amp in such small form.
Design screams of tech and can be called strange. It reminds both a spaceship and a bottle opener. However, the company seems to be dedicated to such design and we have just to thank them that the IEMs the brand releases are ergonomic and lack those sharp edges.
The dimensions are striking in their smallness, it’s like holding a box of matches or a lighter, but slightly bigger and thinner — just 6 mm thick. The body is fully made of aluminum and is solid, so you won’t be able to open it. It makes sense, you have to keep magic inside. On the upper part there is a play/pause button, if your source supports such option, on the sides there are microUSB input and 3.5mm output. There is no internal battery so the device will drain power of connected device.
Usage scenario is plain and straightforward as much as possible. There is input. There is output. Let’s go. But stop. Make sure the volume level is minimal before you proceed. There is 1 Vrms/23 Ohms, but still.
Sound
This is where being less powerful becomes a plus. The device is dead silent even with the most sensitive IEMs. Solaris, Andromeda? No problems. We get totally black background that is sometimes not achievable in other devices, and great dynamic range.
The lows have perfect control, nothing booms, it’s very precise. Instruments sound real in terms of timbre and texture. Great length and strike variability — you can hear the size and positioning of each drum, bass guitar or contra-bass. Instruments, falling into this range, are not lost in overall palette, but rather stay distinctive, natural, realistic and very convincing.
Mids deserve praise as well. The neutrality and lack of any coloring do not deprive the device of emotions. Great musicality and consistency also does not hide micro details. As a result the sound is very natural, lively and precise. The vocals sound whole and smooth and you can easily tell the technique used for guitar playing. Timbre-rich instruments shine to their most, full of reverberations and decays. At the same time the sound is not bulky and massive. On the contrary, it copes with technically difficult parts well.
Highs are of good quality as well. They are detailed, technical and do not sound smooth. The control is great, so treble sound neat and with great dynamic range that brings all those bells and whistles to the recording. Quick attacks and neat decays — you will hear all that.
The sound stage is one of the best. It may be maximally wide and close to maximum in terms of depth, but in the end many things depend on source and recording. Rei, however, can reach unachievable heights in this regard. The positioning and interaction of the instruments, air between them, great separation and layering — you won’t find any faults.
The device is moderately critical to recording quality, but of course bad quality recordings are not very welcome. But if the quality is good, it’s pure magic.
Cozoy Rei is universal in terms of pairing. It won’t work good with something overly hard-to-drive, but most of IEMs and some of sensitive over ears will play well.
You should also care about the source — there are variants not only in terms of convenience, but in terms of sound as well.
To sum up, Rei is a very good device and deserve the opinion of being the magical artifact. If you don’t mind using external DAC, it’s a good idea to find it new or second-hand.
Translated by: Vadim Kolchev
