The Juzear Dragonfly 81T was kindly provided free of charge in exchange for an honest review. I didn’t receive monetary or any other kind of compensation and I don’t use affiliate links. The price of the Juzear Dragonfly 81T is $249.99 and you can buy it from HiFiGo.
Juzear Dragonfly 81T
Juzear is a small earphones manufacturer from China, a brand that became widely known with the Butterfly 61T earphones that combined good sound at an affordable price and made a huge success.
Building upon the success of the Butterfly, Juzear is back with the Dragonfly 81T, a brand new set of hybrid, multi-driver earphones.
The Juzear Dragonfly 81T has a 9-driver array per side, featuring a customized 10mm dynamic driver with eight high-performance customized BA drivers. Juzear has implemented four custom BA drivers for the high-frequencies and four custom BA drivers for the mid-range that are combined together with the aid of both a physical and an electronic crossover.
In order to get the best out of each driver unit, Juzear has designed a high-precision acoustic chamber. Crafted with 3D printing technology, the acoustic cavity includes a smooth lead-pipe that ensures ultra-low distortion and improves sound transmission efficiency and coherency.
The Dragonfly 81T adopts Juzear’s self-developed micro-perforated pressure relief system. Each ear bud has a small vent that maintains the air pressure buildup inside the cavity as well as in the ear canal, enhancing sound performance and ensuring a comfortable wearing experience.
Design and wearing experience
The outer appearance of the Dragonfly 81T is supposedly inspired by the graceful beauty of the dragonflies but it reminds more of the classic Burberry fashion style. Dragonflies or not, the beautiful faceplates are designed like jewels that are a pleasure to wear and look at them.
The lightweight ear-shells have a custom-like ergonomic shape and are made from a skin-friendly resin compound. Their fit is stable and exceptionally comfortable while they isolate pretty well. The Juzear Dragonfly 81T is amongst the best looking and most comfortable earphones that I have tested thus far.
Cable and accessories
The detachable cable is made from 18 AWG multi-core 6N silver-plated OFC wires in a braided structure. The cable has 2-pin connectors and an interchangeable termination plug that is 90⁰ angled, 3.5mm and 4.4mm plugs are included in the package. The plugs, the connectors and the splitter are made of high quality aluminum and are reinforced with strain reliefs. The cable is well made, it is soft and bends easily, it is relatively lightweight and doesn’t produce friction noise.
The package also includes a hard carrying case with a side zipper, two sets of different silicone ear-tips in three sizes each and two pairs of memory foam ear-tips.
Drivability
The earphones have an impedance rating of 32Ω with 117dB of sensitivity so they are easy to drive without being sensitive to source noise. Listening tests suggested that they scale pretty well and respond to higher quality sources. They are fine to drive with USB DAC dongles like the iBasso DC07PRO but the performance gets better with sources like the Cayin N3Ultra or the FiiO M23.
Listening impressions
The text includes comparison notes with the Juzear Butterfly 61T.
The Dragonfly 81T builds upon the successful tuning of the Butterfly 61T but then follows a slightly different path with a more reference tonal approach, however without sacrificing the 61T’s renowned musicality.
The Butterfly 61T is known for its warmish and smooth sound profile with emphasized bass and good overall tonal balance that makes it ideal for casual listening without excluding more critical applications.
The Dragonfly 81T is tuned the other way around with an overall tonal balance that is better suited for critical listening without excluding casual moments. The most notable differences are to be found in the low-end and the treble. The bass of the Dragonfly 81T is more neutrally tuned but without losing the great sub-bass extension of the 61T, while the treble is a bit emphasized to become more energetic and luminous without venturing into brightness and sharpness territory.
The low-end of the 81T has a less prominent mid-bass, a practice that results in improved tonal accuracy and completely avoids any mid-range masking effects. The 81T extends well down to the first octave and has a precise enough turning that makes it a much better option for attentive listening. The low-pitched instruments are faithfully reproduced without significant tonal deviations from neutrality. Strictly speaking, there is still a touch of pleasing mid-bass coloration but while you can definitely find more neutrally tuned earphones, the Dragonfly sounds convincingly close to reference.
More listening impressions
The bass is bold and impactful, punchy and dynamic, fast and controlled without audible reflections. Tight and precise with much better definition and layering than someone would expect for the category. The bass of the 81T is quite elastic and not too lean or dry while staying technically competitive.
The transition to the midrange is seamless thanks for the excellent alignment of the drivers and the absence of mid-bass bleeding. The 81T is slightly more balanced and neutrally tuned than the 61T without lacking in midrange presence while it shows improved clarity and articulation on a technical level. The upper mid-range has some extra sparkle that was missing from the 61T, giving it a more energetic character without becoming fatiguing or sibilant.
The Dragonfly 81T is a more resolving and refined version of the 61T while it maintains a natural and organic timbre that makes both instruments and voices sound realistic and lifelike enough without much audible artificiality. The Dragonfly is a harmonious, melodic and engaging earphone that can bond the listener with the music.
The treble is mostly smooth without aggressive peaks but definitely brighter and more energetic than the 61T, however it doesn’t sound detached thanks to the well implemented crossovers. The Dragonfly is a more sparkling and luminous sounding earphone compared to the Butterfly while it surpasses it in clarity, definition and detail retrieval.
And some more
The overall technical performance of the Dragonfly is better than the Butterfly but this doesn’t happen at the expense of timbre quality and musicality. The Dragonfly is still a pleasing sounding earphone that is not clinical or sterile and its timbre doesn’t suffer much from metallic or the so called “balanced armature” artificiality.
The soundstage doesn’t break new ground in the category but the truth is that it is wide and spacious enough with decent depth layering and better than expected imaging. So while not spectacular, it is more than enough to faithfully reproduce large scale works without any congestion and with a sufficient sense of immersion.
In the end
The Juzear Dragonfly 81T is a more neutral and technically advanced version of the Butterfly while staying musical and engaging. Pitted against the vast competition it can stand its own ground as it is a well crafted, beautiful looking and comfortable set of earphones with a sound signature that ideally balances critical and casual elements in perfect harmony, thus making it an easy recommendation for people who seek a true all-rounder performer.
Copyright – Petros Laskis 2024.
+ Neutral and balanced tuning without exaggerations
+ Musical and engaging with natural timbre
+ Not much artificiality and great sonic cohesion
+ End to end extension
+ Resolving and transparent
+ Very competitive technical performance
+ Good positioning accuracy
+ Well made and beautiful looking
+ Lightweight and comfortable to wear
+ Easy to drive and scales well
+ High quality cable with interchangeable plugs
+ Plenty of accessories
+ Rightfully priced
- Not a reference neutral tuning
- Some mid-bass coloration and lack of tonal accuracy
- Medium soundstage width and depth
- Not that full bodied textures
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