Beyerdynamic DP100

The first time I heard of Rene Liu wasn’t because of her songs.

That was probably middle school. Star Chinese Channel was airing April Rhapsody, and Rene Liu played the rather tragic lead — but it was that role that stuck with me.

I don’t know if I liked the frail woman she played or liked Rene Liu herself, but I think it was the former. At least later, when Pink Ladies came on, I took one look and ignored it.

Luckily I later heard her songs. Most of them have the shadow of cover versions, but her distinctive voice still left that first impression: a frail woman, quietly singing those slightly sad stories.

Rene Liu’s voice isn’t like Fish Leong’s, isn’t like Sandy Lam’s, isn’t like Zhou Hui’s, and isn’t like Akiko Okawa’s either. Her voice is a bit thick — to put it in mystical audiophile terms, higher density. These past few days I’ve been listening to old songs, Rene Liu’s included. After swapping through several earbuds trying to find the best match for her voice, I finally picked something called the DP100 earbud…

The Beyerdynamic DP100 is a new product, and the price really isn’t all that reasonable, but if you catch it on sale it’s OK — after all, they throw in a teddy bear. As for the sound, I don’t want to say much, and there’s no need to. This earbud doesn’t really have any other strength; it has exactly one characteristic: an extremely dense midrange.

Rene Liu’s extremely dense midrange paired with this thing brings out a certain lethal quality completely.

Whether the highs are a bit floaty doesn’t matter anymore. Whether there’s too little bass doesn’t matter anymore either.

That’s why, once I put on the DP100, the double dose of poison hit me hard — and I got back a little of that old feeling.

Sometimes you stupidly go hunting for high-end earbuds chasing soundstage, resolution, and all that crap, when it’d be better to just nail one aspect — like the DP100’s thick midrange. Actually the DP100 isn’t useless in other respects either: at least the metal build has some swagger, and in hand it has a fundamental build-quality advantage over past earbuds, especially the Qianqian family series.

Listen closely and the DP100’s sound fits a voice like Rene Liu’s perfectly. I only learned later that Rene Liu’s other name is “Milk Tea.” Wearing the DP100 and listening to voices from the past, thinking back on the little moments of my school days, it really is like drinking a cup of milk tea.

Maybe in my heart, I’ve already tasted that milk tea flavor.