BGVP DM9

Boutique dyed wood shells with a vibrant signature.

PROS: Attractive dyed wood shells, very comfortable and snug fitting semi-custom shells, vibrant, energetic and detailed sound signature, engaging with good technical performance, very good stock cable with swappable jacks, really good variety in stock ear tips, VFM package.

CONS: The bright leaning signature could irk the treble sensitive.

About BGVP.

BGVP is based out of Dongguan, China. They manufacture and sell a wide range of products like in-ear monitors, earbuds, cables, cases, etc. They initially came into prominence with successful products like DMG and DM6. Since then they’ve launched a wide range of products with us having reviewed their EST hybrids EST12 and EST8, ArtMagic V12, DM7, DM8, ArtMagic VG4, ArtMagic DH3, NE5 and Melody here on our website.

Official Store – BGVP DM9 ($629)

Technical Specifications.

Drivers – 1DD + 4BA + 4EST
Impedance: 30Ω
Sensitivity: ≥110dB SPL/mW
Frequency : 10Hz-40kHz
Distortion: ＜0.5%
Channel Matching: ±1dB
Rated Power: 179mW
Cavity Material: Stable Wood
Cable: 4 core OCC silver-plated graphene mixed cable with swappable 2.5mm, 4.4mm and 3.5mm jacks.

Included in the box.

BGVP DM9
MMCX cable with swappable 2.5mm, 3.5mm & 4.4mm jacks
Silicone ear tips (1 Pink bore, SML Vocal, SML Balanced & SML Bass)
Memory Foam ear tips – 1 pair
Carry case
Cleaning tool
Warranty card

Build quality.

DM9 has dyed wood shells with 2 colour options – Purple and Green. The finishing on the DM9 is significantly better than the DM8. It looks more premium, something that can compete in a league or two above its price segment in terms of build quality. High-end manufacturers like Noble Audio and JH Audio offer stable wood shells but the thing is that most of Noble’s Prestige series of IEMs are above $2000 and JH Audio’s wood shells come as a custom options with a substantial premium as well. Sure, Noble and JH’s overall construction and finishing are really good but DM9’s shells look much more premium for their sub-$500 pricing. One hardly comes across such stable wood shells under $1000. The wood shells are carved by 5-axis CNC machines and are dyed to highlight the wood grain, figuring and colours. It is then lacquered with clear coats and polished for high shine. DM9 has MMCX sockets, BGVP logo on the faceplate, a vent on top and 4 sound bores. The shells overall are quite small in size considering it is a tri-brid and houses 9 drivers (1DD + 4BA + 4EST). Quite a feat I must say.

Cable – DM9’s stock cable is a 4 core OCC silver-plated graphene mixed cable with swappable 2.5mm, 3.5mm and 4.4mm jacks. The jack, MMCX connectors and y-split are all made of metal and are high quality. It’s a nice premium cable which is very supple with minimal downward pull and I much prefer it over the DM8’s stock cable. The swappable jacks are so convenient and I’m so happy to see BGVP trying to offer cables with swappable jacks with most of their IEMs, even their cheaper sub-$200 IEMs.

Case – Very roomy case that easily fits the IEM and cable and a nice long netted pouch inside that fits all the nozzle filters and swappable jack terminations.

Fit, Comfort and Isolation.

DM9’s shells are so small that I’m intrigued to see how they’ve managed to fit 9 drivers, especially the DD and 4ESTs with their transformer inside such a small shell. They have a semi-custom shell shape and are an extremely snug and comfortable fit for my ears. You can further tweak the snugness and fit to your preferences using the different stock ear tips. Even though it has a vent on top for the DD, noise isolation is particularly impressive.

Sound Analysis.

Graphs are measured using an IEC60318-4 (IEC711) setup. You can compare all the graphs on my IEM Graph Database here – Animagus Squiglink.

Summary – DM9 has a bright leaning W-shaped signature that goes for a vibrant and vivid presentation of music with high levels of resolution and detail retrieval. It has about 5dB of bass shelf, emphasis in the 125-250Hz region of mid-bass, slightly leaner lower-midrange presentation, a forward upper-midrange of about 9dB ear gain with sparkly and airy treble that adds some good energy and vibrancy to make for a more exciting, energetic and micro-detailed listen that demands you attention. BGVP has included a lot of ear tips in the package for one to not only customise fit but also the sound as per one’s liking. I quite liked DM9 with the stock A07, Foam tips, Bass tips as well as 3rd party tips like Softears Foam tips, Symbio W and Azla Sedna Short. I highly recommend tip rolling as DM9 takes a multitude of tips well and you really can fine tune DM9’s sound nicely as per your preferences.

Let’s dig in deeper…

Bass – DM9’s overall signature tills towards treble but when it comes to bass, it performs as per the song. It comes off more on the neutral side but still has a nice boost to balance out the EST treble. It has a micro-detailed approach to bass but with DD tonality and timbre to support. It has quick and detailed transient presentation without coming across dry or lifeless like some old generation bass BAs can come across. Listening to Dua Lipa’s bass driven ‘Future Nostalgia’ album, the stringed instruments and cymbals are definitely highlighted but bass occupies good space in the centre, always in control and never overpowers the song. If the bass is mixed a bit louder like in the track ‘Pretty Please’, it shows it so and if the bass performance is more in the pocket like the song ‘Don’t Start Now’, that’s exactly how it sounds with the DM9.

Midrange – DM9 has a slightly coloured midrange presentation. The boosted mid-bass region does add some warmth and instrument body to an otherwise sparkly signature but then the slight dip around 600Hz adds some leanness to the signature. So, instruments with more body emphasis in the mid-bass region get some extra weight and others with prominent presence in the 400-700Hz region, a slight scoop. I personally like my lower-midrange region from 250-1kHz to be absolutely flat/neutral, so I’m not the biggest fan when there are boosts or cuts in the region. Luckily DM9 doesn’t stray too far; the cut is perceivable but extremely minor. It has a forward upper-midrange presentation with twin peaks at 2.5kHz and 5kHz than a natural, single ear gain peak at 3kHz. It’s mainly the primary peak shifting to 2.5kHz than being at 3kHz. The slight elevation around 5kHz above neutral adds to instrument attack, particularly percussion stick attack, which is one of the reasons for DM9’s added sense of detail retrieval. The transients sound sharper and stronger than usual, which adds on to the vibrant and energetic presentation. Overall, DM9’s midrange presentation leads to very slightly different tonality and timbre than reference; it doesn’t sound perfectly accurate to an audio engineer/reference head like me but doesn’t take it too far either and is within the confinements of fair accuracy.

Treble – Treble here is a double edged sword. On one hand it is the highlight and MVP in DM9’s tuning but on the other hand, can also come off slightly brighter, sparklier and sizzlier than comfortable for the treble sensitive, especially with the wrong ear tips. It has north of neutral boosts in lower-treble and mid-treble while the air region is fairly neutral. I’d recommend trying the foam tips for the most balanced tonality if you’re treble sensitive. If you’re a treble-head and a sucker for details, it shouldn’t be a problem at all. DM9’s kind of presentation not only enables very good micro-detail retrieval but also makes for an energetic and exciting listen, presenting the music in a more vivid and vibrant way.

Technical Performance – DM9 is a micro-detailed IEM because of its bright leaning tuning as well as choice of drivers as a tri-brid. It has very good detail retrieval, layering and imaging. It has a clean, open and airy soundstage with good left to right separation for its price. The boundaries are fairly wide and deep but more in line with sub-$1000 price segment than giving the post kilobuck stalwarts a run for their money.

Comparisons.

BGVP DM8.

DM9 is BGVP’s 9 driver unit, a step above DM8’s 8BA but with a tri-brid configuration of 1DD+4BA+4EST instead of an all BA configuration like the DM8 was. Both have wood shells (DM8 was also offered in a resin shell) but DM9’s wood shell finishing is a step or two above DM8’s. Where I complained about DM8’s nozzle bores and MMCX not being finished as nicely, there isn’t anything to complain about with the DM9. It’s one of the nicest looking and finished monitors at its price. Sound wise, DM9 is a significantly different sounding monitor compared to DM8. DM8 has a more warm V-shaped signature whereas DM9, a colder, detail oriented vibrant signature. Even though DM8 is no slouch, DM9 comes across much more resolving with much better micro-detail due to the nature of its tuning. DM9 has slightly better extension down low but DM8 has more bass quantity, particularly mid-bass. DM8 has a slighlty fuller lower-midrange presentation whereas DM9’s is leaner. Both have a forward upper-midrange tuning but DM8 has a natural peak with more neutral ear gain. When it comes to treble, both are sparkly with their lower-treble tuning but DM9 has a bit more sizzle and air up top, making it the brighter of the two. DM8 has a more natural, well rounded soundstage whereas DM9’s is slightly airier with a bit more width.

Symphonium Meteor.

Meteor is a 3BA IEM and has aluminium alloy shells whereas DM9 is a tri-brid with 1DD+4BA+4EST with wood shells. Meteor has a bass heavy U-shaped signature compared to DM9’s bright leaning W-shape. Meteor has significantly more bass quantity than DM9; more sub-bass rumble as well as mid-bass punch and slam, which even though fun for bass lovers, can come across a little boomy and bloomy to reference heads who like a very clean bass shelf. Meteor has slightly fuller lower-midrange and slightly recessed upper-midrange which leads to DM9 coming across as the IEM that has stronger instrument definition (due to it having a bit more ear gain) but with slightly leaner tonality. DM9 is sparklier in lower-treble and mid-treble whereas Meteor is airier post 12.5kHz. Meteor has a natural sounding IEM-like soundstage whereas DM9 sounds slightly more open and has better left to right separation. Meteor is a warmer, bass oriented fun IEM which presents music in a fun and lively way with the bass taking centre stage; it is a very nice IEM for easy long listening sessions. DM9 on the other hand has a slightly clinical approach to music while presenting it all with energy and vibrancy that demands your attention, with detail retrieval as its moto.

Softears RSV.

Softears RSV is a 5BA IEM with well finished resin shells that are significantly bigger in size compared to DM9’s. RSV has a very natural, warm reference-neutral signature. Musical, extremely pleasing natural timbre and a very accurate comfortable listen are what RSV is all about. On the other hand, DM9 goes for micro-detailed, resolving, vibrant presentation of music that demands your attention at all times. RSV has more bass presence, especially sub-bass rumble, and a more neutral lower-midrange which comes across fuller compared to DM9’s. Both have a forward upper-midrange presentation but RSV has a more natural ear gain, peaking at 3kHz, which is more accurate and one of the primary reasons for RSV’s natural sound timbre. Post that, DM9 is sparklier as well as airier whereas RSV goes for a slightly warmer than neutral listen. DM9 has better imaging, micro-detail retrieval as well as layering but at the cost of coming off a little bright. DM9 also has the more open sounding soundstage with better left to right separation but RSV has more natural placement and presentation of instruments due to its pleasing, lifelike timbre, which keeps winning the heart over the technical feats of other IEMs. If you like vibrant and detailed presentation of music with good technical performance, DM9 is the IEM for you. If it’s accurate reference-ish tuning with very natural tonality and timbre and fairly decent technical performance to support, it’ll be the RSV.

Conclusion.

BGVP is a company that knows how to create a VFM package and keep innovating without using the same age old formula. They come up with interesting signatures that are different from the previous IEMs they’ve done, do attractive full dyed wood shells in budget pricing, provide a really good stock cable with swappable jacks, provide high quality variety in ear tips and yet price the whole thing the lowest they can compared to all their competitors. They’ve upped their quality and finishing standards to a higher standard since the DM6-DM7 days and there is hardly anything to fault in the DM9 when it comes to build quality. DM9’s bright leaning W-shaped signature makes for an energetic, vibrant and fun listen with high levels of resolution and detail retrieval – very competent technical performance for the price in general. One of my main nitpicks is that I’d advise the treble sensitive to be wary as the vibrant tuning could tickle their sensitivity but the included foam tips should sort it out even for them. Besides that, there is not much to fault with the DM9 and the dyed shells with the vibrant signature makes for an attractive combo that I see myself picking up frequently to admire and give more music a listen. If you’re a treble-head, sucker for details or like energetic-vibrant signatures, DM9 could be the IEM for you. So, do give it a shot if you fall under any of those categories!

Gear used for testing and review.

DAPs – HiBy R6 Pro II | iBasso DX240 + AMP1MK3
Laptop – Apple Macbook Pro 15″ + Tanchjim Space Dongle / iBasso DC04
Phone – OnePlus 7 Pro + Tanchjim Space Dongle / iBasso DC04

Artists I like and listen to.

Rock – Foo Fighters, Linkin Park, Switchfoot, Imagine Dragons, Daughtry, Green Day, MuteMath, X Ambassadors, Dave Matthews Band, Vertical Horizon, Our Lady Peace, Lifehouse, Fall Out Boy, Breaking Benjamin, Muse, ACDC, Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine, Biffy Clyro, I Am Giant, Normandie, Paramore, Slash & Guns N Roses, 3 Doors Down.
Pop Rock – John Mayer, Coldplay, Paul McCartney, James Bay, Hunter Hayes, Niall Horan, Keith Urban, The Bros Landreth, Bryan Adams.
Progressive Rock/Metal – Porcupine Tree/Steven Wilson, Karnivool, Tool, Dead Letter Circus, Periphery, Lamb of God.
Pop/Soft Rock – Ed Sheeran, Adele, Taylor Swift, OneRepublic, The Script, Gavin James, Magic Man, Maroon 5, Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, Dua Lipa, The Weeknd, Oasis, Panic! At the Disco, TwentyOne Pilots.
EDM – Chainsmokers, Zedd.