And Bass is tunable the Treble switch doesnt seem to do much wonder what the point was. Maybe after for listening?
2 Likes
You don’t get much sense of extra air in the treble-up setting?
If it’s not doing much, could’ve just made it a bass boost switch like a SA6/Neon Pro and called it a day
2 Likes
They are pretty tame up top , I wouldn’t change anything.
1 Like
Spending some more time after one night burn in. With the Sound Rhyme SR7
Threw on the Penon Vocal Cable and JVC Spiral Dots
Some quick observations
I started yesterday with Bass and Treble Swich On.
Spent the day in that position and was finding the bass over powers the vocals on certian tracks. Mostly on some Female vocal tracks.
Bass was also effecting the stage.
Today: Bass Switch OFF Treble ON
Highs balanced out a bit more.
DD playing lower into sub bass.
No dought the bass switch adds more weight to Vocals but a tad too much for female vocals .
Without Bass switch ON, The Bass is very balanced in the mix enough to add great micro details and fast with the Mid Bass slam.
Stage is realy wide and deep and has great height. 
This is the ultimate setting for me for Vocals and rock.
Now compared to the PENON FAN2 as I was going back and forth.
- Bass goes lower on the SR7 tho the graph shows otherwise probable because the added weight and slightly less speedy drivers. I thonk overall the SR7 is better quality than F2.
Vocals vs F2 you get more information, with better clarity 1Mid BA vs 4 no surprise here. So more quantity and quality sound more natural in the overall mix. The SR7 sounds more natural and smooth.
More Balanced than F2 Bass/Mids/Highs mix
F2 has a funner 3D stage but the SR7 keeps you more focused on Vocals.
I am having a really hard time trying to figure out what switch position is my favorite?
Going to try a different cable my favorite from XINHS to add some note wait with Bass switch off and see I have a sneaky Suspicion that will be the winning combo. And will report back in my full review this weekend.
Bass ON Definitely FUN
Bass OFF laser focused Vocals
Thats it for now.
(UPDATE:) Later that evening…
Bass Switch back on!
That Penon Vocal Cable not a good pairing too much of a good thing is not a good thing.
A Simple SPC much smoother. For thoose that just said that was alot of whooey for cables thats ok if you dont believe or cant hear a difference you save yourself some money and the stock cable is great. (Not Pictured)
Love this $20 baller 2 core SPC.
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mOxlGu8
5 Likes
Written review here:
SOUND RHYME SR7 - I CANT DECIDE HOW MUCH TO CHILL
“PROBABLY FIRST TIME EVER I COULD NOT PICK A CLEAR CHOICE IN THE TUNING SWITCH CONFIG THAT WAS MY FAVORITE THEY ARE ALL EXCELENT”
Now let’s get into it: The Techy Stuff
1DD + 6BA
1x 9.2mm Dynamic Driver ?
4x SONION 2600 series Balanced Armatures for the mids.
2x Knowles 33518 Balanced Armatures for the Highs
2 Tuning Switches with 4 Kinds of Tunings ( Sort Of )
3 Way Crossover
Impedance shows 12ohm on website 17ohm on the box?
The shell is a ENVISIONTEC 3D Printed shell using German Tech.
Cable is 8 Strand Silver Plated Copper Cable that you get a choice of 3.5mm SE or 4.4 Pentaconn Balanced Option 0.78 2 pin termination.
More information can be found here and non-affiliated link: https://penonaudio.com/sound-rhyme-sr7.html
Purchased from Penon Directly w a discount . THANK YOU!
Subjective Part of my Audio Review -
(TDM - me) was able to obtain a transcript of the actual conversation with the engineer and a test Audiophile Guineapig and it went like this:
Audiophile GP; " Make me something crazy musical with killer vocals ok"….
Engineer; " Try this sample I put 2 Knowles BA in for the mids to give you some great vocals"….
Audiophile GP; " Sounds nice, but the bass is overpowering the mids and highs"….
Engineer; " let me try this…. Ok we reduced the bass by -8db"….
Audiophile GP; " Noice very balanced almost there still wishing for more organic mids"….
Engineer; “Here you go try this version I added 2 more BA and switch to some very highly regarded Sonion 2600 series for a total of 4!”….
Audiophile; Taking a quick listen "Yeah man that’s what I was talking about JUST WOW!'….
- Bean Counter Steps In; " EXCUSE ME THAT’S GOING TO COST TOO MUCH LETS GO FOR BELLSING BA!, NOBAODY CAN HEAR THE DIIFERENCE!'….
At this point the Audiophile walked over to bean counter and said; " Listen I don’t condone physical violence but the Sonion BA are staying! Make this work at a affordable price or I will tell your mom you don’t eat you veggies at lunch!“….
Back on point ….
Audiophile GP; “Sweet vocals my man; but when I crank it up the highs make me want to turn it down can you do something?”….
Engineer; “Ok re-tuned it where I made the BA Highs a lot more relaxed you should be able to play it louder.”….
Audiophile; “Wow that’s better but”….
Engineer; “BUT WHAT!”….
Audiophile; “Sorry but I kind of miss that big bottom end now that I can dial it to 11 , EDM sounds a bit ….weak.”
Engineer; “Came up with a great idea nobody has thought of before, Going to put a few switches on the side to attenuate the bass for the Vocal tuning and when you flick the switch BIG BOOTY BASS as you asked for!”….
Audiophile; " Dude you are a genius that’s amazing two completely different tuning’s! One for sweet Vocals and the Other for Big Booty Bass and Vocals you really outdid yourself on this one!”…
Audiophile GP; “What’s the other switch do I flicked it but didn’t really hear a difference?”…
Engineer; “I had a extra spot so I told the Bean Counter It adds value for the pricing to make him happy …. also attenuate the highs a tad so its not fluff but it is mostly just for show.”
Audiophile GP; " Outstanding! Excuse me while I just take these for a 8 hours zone out session… My brother from another mother I LOVE YOU! And these IEM’s"….
Engineer; " Ok my … Dude RIGHT ON! ROCK ON!"
Audiophile GP; " What are you calling these ones?“….
Engineer; " THE SR7 - Stands for Sound Rhyme and has 7 Drivers on each side!”….
Audiophile; " OK that really makes some other companies just throw out some weird ZXYZ name."
Engineer; “WE ARE SOUND RHYME AND ARE PLAYERS!”
Disclaimer: (Some of this I translated and may or may have not got the exact wording correct and improvised a bit because I could not read Chinese but I am pretty sure it went like that)
What I Liked:
- Included Accessories are top notch , 2 cases a serious metal one and a pleather carry case , really nice soft SPC cable available in 4.4 BAL! , nice tips, all with minimal packaging
- ENVISIONTEC 3D Printed shell with a semi transparent medium size shell with hand painted tops.
- 0.78 2 Pin termination for easy cable swapping embedded directly into the resin shell
- Relaxed highs great for treble sensitive people and great for people who like it listen to their music at higher volumes.
- A few different tuning but keeping the core soul an vocals on point goes from Ultimate smooth vocals to bassy and smooth vocals
- Focal forward always to keep you engaged regardless of bass switch.
- Fantastic bottom end that goes low and hits hard while blending into the mix with minimum bass bleed into vocals (Switch Dependant) for a more fun IEM vs a neutral tuned
- Vocals in both Male & Female are silky smooth in a organic and lush musical way.
- Bass is also a real standout the 9.2mm driver being used is a real quality driver you can hear.
- Sub Bass and Mid Bass in spades with UU switches made the SR7 a bass monster that the vocals keep up to with ease.
- With Down Up switches the bass drops by -8db and brings the vocals to center stage to even greater effect
- Great Stage width, and height presents a more intimate stage without huge depth or 3D effects perfect again for vocals and keeping you front and center my favorite kind.
- Bass switch will make Bass-Heads Happy. I was!
- A unbashful Vocal-Centric IEM Very smooth vinyl in nature.
What I Thought I was wishing for more of (Subjective)
- Micro Nuances because of the tamed upper treble the SR7 is not going to be a super detailed set.
- Detail retrieval, layering of instruments suffer a bit with the relaxed tuning on the top end.
- Relaxed Highs are relaxed so not for treble heads
- Treble Switch for me had little effect and I left it in the ON position UP.
- Micro and Macro Dynamics are also tamed more so with the bass switch off because of the more neutral tuning.
- Female vocals with the bass switch on presented a tad, a smidge to thick on a few tracks that also had lots of bass - not really a knock here as it never made the vocals un-natural just sounded like the voice your lover gives you after a week away and lowers her voice to let you know it’s nooky time!
I share my impressions as I hear them with my ears.
As all our ears are different shapes & size so what I hear as bright or bass heavy -you might hear as dull and Vise-Versa; just something to be mindful of.
What makes my ears happy as a sound signature is a slightly more aggressive L shape. I love my Bass Sub and Mid Bass slam, love it all actually; and in balanced quantity. With the Bass, I prefer a faster decay the faster the better so as to not bleed into the mids., I am treble sensitive and prefer a slightly darker warmer replay with good treble extension.
I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Beryllium Coated Driver of my Xenns Mangird UP with a Beryllium Coated Driver. Of course, there are exceptions in the market - as I also find the bass of the Bio Diaphragm used in the Yanyin Canon special - has some special sauce like an 8" subwoofer that feels like a 12" Has the slam and some serious sub-bass! And the super cool Copper Alloy Shell IKKO Obsidian OH10 does some magic to the bass.
My music Library is widely varied from; Metallica, Great White, Cowboy Junkies, Pink Floyd, Adelle, Melisa Ethridge, Fleetwood Mac, Five for Fighting, Manskin, Poncho Sanchez, Jimmy Smith, Chopin, The Crystal Method just to name a few. When not listening to my test tracks the majority is Jazz or Alternative Rock especially Female Rock. Lorde, Halsey, Alanis Morrisette, Evanescence. All depends on my mood.
Sources: E1DA SG3, Shanling UP5, Geshelli JNOG J2 with AKM4493 chip. Truthear SHIO (Dual Cirrus Logic 43198 DAC Chips) ifi ZENDACII and iFi ZENCAN
DAP/TRASPORT: From Lenovo Laptop with Tidal, Hiby R6iii ( ES9038Q2M ), Samsung S22 Ultra with DSD Files.
Amps: LoxjiP20 & XDUOO MT-604 tube hybrid amps and Topping A90D Amp 4.4 Pentagon Balanced Out - Unless stated
Tips Used for the Hola were the JVC FX10 SPIRAL DOTS Tips I found for Best Result and subjective: Short Wide Bore are recommended to maximize stage my preference at the expense of perceived bass enhancement with narrow bore tips.
iFi Stack with the Burr Brown DA not a good pairing. I found it too warm and preferred the A90D/ Geshelli J2 combo worlds better. Strait off the Hiby R6iii also fantastic.
My Format has changed with community feedback. So now I will list the music tracks I used & why with my musical impressions of the playback using that track. I hope this will give you some context for my library and give you some contexts to compare using the same tracks.
SOME STANDOUT TRACK IMPRESSIONS:
Let’s Begin: Most Impressions done with Bass Switch ON and Treble Switch ON unless noted.
#1 “Arsonist Lullaby” by Hozier
- No base bleed and just excellent bass notes, male vocals are outstanding.
#2 “Poem Of Chinese Drum” Yim Hok-Man
- OKAY this track is over 10 minutes long just solid drumming. I hear well the subtleties of the attack and the decay were so nice you can hear the drumskins resonate and trail off very musically done this is a very good dynamic driver. I listen to all 10 minutes multiple times and at high volumes it certainly tickles your ear hairs.
#3 “All My Friends Are Here” by Joe Satriani
- The SR7 is not a resolution monster. Because of the relaxed highs instruments don’t lack the tonality but what you’re missing is some of the sharpness or crispness that you would get in an IEM that have more high frequency energy if you’re looking for that kind of tuning the SR7 might disappoint.
- The ascending a major also sounded a bit monotone not that it didn’t scale it correctly it I’ve just heard better presentations of this track and again here because of the relaxed highs electric guitar riffs lack a bit of energy.
#4 “I Need A Man To Love” by Janice Joplin
- In the up up position it had perfect female vocals and the extra base made it even more fun on this track I didn’t find it made female vocals too thick it was a great listen.
#5 "Marvin Gaye " by Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor
- Both the male and female vocals sounded perfect so much fun base doesn’t wash out the vocals again and it’s just a really fun and bassy track good one to showcase how the SR7 can do outstanding vocals and still keep the bass in the mix.
#6 “All My Friends Are Here” by Joe Satriani
The Mixing of this multi layered track gives you a good sense of a IEM’s ability to present stage depth and Micro Dynamics again.
The replay was excellent great layering of instruments, guitar sounded bang on. Well done PENON
#7 “Medellin” by Madonna
- Vinyl the only word to describe the playback BASS OMG and vocals!
#8 “I want It All” by Queen
- I will say on this track that the stage that the SR7 can belt out is nothing short of amazing. Ohh and you can also get the volume to about 13!
#9 “Check It Out” by Nicki Manaj
- Another track I was kind of gravitating to with the up up position just because the sub base has so much great extension and fast musical mid bass here on this track the vocals by Nikki were perfect spot on but also the male and female vocals throw in some crazy stage and what’s really even more amazing is the vocals can keep up with the base it was a wow presentation!
#10 “Thriller” by Michael Jackson
- The pan from right to left stage is so cool nice rumble Michaels vocals had a certain edge and it sounded perfect it’s actually very balanced and so incredibly smooth
#11 “Give” by Nils Lofgren
- The guitar and vocals what a combo of OMG replay and such wicked fun.
#12 “Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove (LIVE)” by Dead Can Dance
The stage is massive clearly impresses with the 10th’s ability to convey a real sense of the live recording and the size of the venue, quite excellent.
#13 “Nie Pokonasz Milosci (Remastered)” by Hania Rani
- Not all roses of course on the SR7 with the up up position the piano sounded great on the down up position I thought the piano was missing some note weight and dynamics in the overall song I certainly preferred it more with the up-up position.
#14 “J.S Bach Cello Suite No1 in G major” by Tina Gau
- So here again with the Jekyll Hyde personality of the SR7 with cello if you put it in the up up position it sounded very nice instruments that play in the lower octaves play really well in this position but in the down up position again I found that was missing some note weight
#15 “Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto Mvt#1” by Tina Guo
- A real standout track for multi-layers instrument separation. Here I find some of the shortcomings of the SR7 with the relaxed treble is that you find some instruments won’t be stand out perfect tonality and the timber because they’re missing some of that energy that you would get if you had more in the upper mid and highs.
#16 “Chemical Mentalist” by The Crystal Method
- EDM SLAM No sibilance or harshness present just massive amounts of fun that makes you turn it up very- very loud.
OK that was jus some tracks that gave me a good sense of what the SR7 was all about.
OVERALL SOUND IMPRESSIONS:
Upon first listen I found with the up up position in my first listen and initial thoughts that the bass was a bit boomy and it would bleed into the vocals enough to affect it quite a bit. So ongoing 20+ hours later and even more so now as I keep listening to the SR7 at 80+ hours that impression has mitigated almost entirely the bass actually starts playing lower and it seemed that the BA’s have caught up enough to make that a non-issue. There is still on occasion a few tracks where it is quite base heavy and you have female vocals that you do find that the vocals are a tad thick but you listen to a track right after that and it will sound perfect so I think this is really track dependent and probably genre specific as well as source dependent on a more resolving less warm replay.
OK let’s talk switches so firstly there are two switches on the side the first switch affects the base when the unit gets shipped mine came with the up up position that means that it has the full bass and the full treble.
DD + UD Position I found the treble does not change much and maybe I should have spent more time critically listening to the SR7 in this form, after seeing the changes when I graphed the SR7, I decided to leave the switch to the UP position permanently.
UU- 80+ Hours
OK in my journey with the SR7 I put on wide-bore tips with the JVC spiral dots and left them there, because they’re my favorite tip and I know what they do to stage. Now the cables this was an interesting one. Where sometimes IEM’s are completely unaffected by cables, I found the SR7 was a different case. I tried one afternoon with the PENON vocal cable as I love what this cable does to certain IEM’s but it was definitely not the right pairing for this one.
What I found was it did do was added too much of a good thing and it muddied up the bottom end bass made it bloated and just brought the vocals to forward where it sounded too unbalanced. After I switched out to the stock cable I found things cleaned up a whole lot and in the end I ended up just using a SPC cable for the rest of the entire impressions and I think that’s a great combination. The Stock cable was a good choice.
Now with the extra base and mid base because it adds quite a bit into there as well with the up up position I find that the stage also is affected compared to the down up position where it was better. Base heavy tracks put out some serious bass at the expense of some resolution and details that get rolled over.
The UU position adds quite a bit of note weight to the overall presentation but there was only a few tracks I ever found where female vocals added or changed the tonality but not really enough to throw out the experience on most tracks.
Overall with this setting I was just enamored with the quality of the base and kind of wowed that the SR7 could keep up vocal wise when belting out some serious low frequencies simultaneously it’s quite a interesting presentation and when I haven’t heard before. This Sound Rhyme did it so well.
DU-80+ Hours
OK the DOWN UP position here mid base is still excellent and I just love the energy and the speed I love this kind of base glide and it is definitely my favorite.
You could say that this is by far the most vocal forward setting and you would be correct you get a great sense of height and depth and width in the staging with this setting so if you prioritize vocals and stage then this would be the setting for you.
Bass heads might not prefer this setting because well it’s more of a balanced one and still very vocal forward it has great organic base but here on this position the vocals are definitely taking center stage.
Final Thoughts:
The SR7 with the relaxed treble just allows you to play this IEM loud - crazy loud, loud as you want, louder than you would normally if you had one with more treble it’s definitely non fatiguing and for that is dangerous and addictive.
The Sound Rhyme’s tuning won’t be for everyone and doesn’t play all kinds of libraries, classical, instrumental and highly detailed music wont be the the Sr7’s strong suite. EDM, Rock, Reggae and Vocals and big bass you will love it.
I found the SR7 took a little while for it to actually burn in. For those of you that don’t believe it well it’s OK just stick it on a burning rack please for at least 20 hours before you give your final impressions please.
With the base switch on The Sound Rhyme SR7 goes from a hyper vocal centric IEM to a seriously bassy vocal centric IEM.
Compared to: PENON FAN2, I really wanted to compare it against the FAN2 another vocal goddess! , because it’s one of my all-time favorites IEM’s. Some of the things that I thought that the SR7 did differently than the F2 was of course with the up up position the bass overall sub bass especially is in a great deal more quantity that the fan two only dreams of doing. Where the fan two is very vocal centric as well the mid base and the base is considerably tamer compared against the SR7. So if you ever loved the vocals and the vocal forwardness of the F2 too but thought maybe I want a little bit or a whole lot more bass here is the SR7.
Something to note is in the Down Up position the bass between the two is very comparable but what the SR7 adds is so much more information in the mids. Vocals seem more effortless and natural, not as forced if that makes sense.
Also what I found was that the vocals are just as forward with the SR7 as they are with the F2 but with the four Sonion balanced armatures I found it brought an extra level of depth and smoothness that the fan 2 didn’t quite get.
Lastly the F2 is more top end energetic so for loud listening and longer chill our sessions the SR7 has the F2 beat. Both are great and kind-of complement each other especially if you like vocal centric sound signatures. I feel blessed to have both and can pick up one or the other depending on my mood.
IN CONCLUSION:
I really have enjoyed the SR7 I think it’s unique I don’t have another IEM that does quite what this one does in such a special way you could sit and enjoy your favorite vocals with the base switch off and just get lost in the music. I loved the Bass switch off tuning just as much as with it ON. The tuning is so well done.
The SR7 will be in my daily rotation.
Yeah with the bass switch on all I can say is that I’m kind of shocked that this IEM can really just do that kind of tuning and pull it off. Where you still get this lush warm crazy vocal forward presentation while getting simultaneously slammed with sub bass and a great amount of fast speedy mid bass that just adds a musicality and dynamic replay that is worth hearing.
I can honestly say I’ve never experienced another IEM like the SR7 that also tuning switches or swappable nozzles - where I couldn’t decide what tuning I like best most times you flick the switches and listen and flick the switches some more and flick the switches some more and do some more listening and in the end you come to a conclusion where yeah for sure this is your preferred tuning and you leave it there.
Not This Sound Rhyme! I love this one in all positions, feel grateful that I can truly enjoy the different tunings. The switches were implemented nicely, bring real value to my listening experience and for once not a gimmick.
Really great value in today’s very competitive market and will appeal to those who enjoy a relaxed treble, a fatigue free replay and a IEM with quality solid low end without sacrificing your love for vocals.
Did I mention the Big Booty Bass!
WELL DONE SOUND RHYME - I LOVE YOU SR7
Thank you for taking the time to read my review.
My Video review is here: TO BE DONE LATER
My QuBuz Playlist:
Listen to the playlist Test Tracks by [email protected] on Qobuz Open Qobuz
My SQUIG:
My YouTube Chan:
My Discord:
7 Likes
Man these sound fantastic. Thanks for the fun review! I’m blessed to already have the Fan 2 which should do me right. Also explains why you love these so much as a big Fan 2 fan!
2 Likes
If you have the F2 dont get the SR7 not leaps and bounds better and the F2 code I was allowed to share still works i believe for 1/2 price.
2 Likes
Sound Rhyme SR7 Video is live.
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Hisenior Mega5P and T2U from @kingnubian in my house thanks for the loaners and a chance to listen to theese very well regarded gems!.
IMO, they’re good. It’s the kind of tuning where I didn’t expect the low end to deliver enough but it did where called for. For me energetic but not sibilant, engaging listen.
2 Likes
I am hearing them the same after the bass heavy SR7 switch on its like a breath of fresh air.
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How would P8 compare to SR7 in DU mode, as the bass emphases are wildly different there?
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I have to listen more put both on the burn rack till weekend. But easy to tell the SR7 definitely worlds more vocal forward and has more bottom end on DU.
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I’ll wait. It’s worth getting the comparison from actual A/Bing so I’ll be patient 
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Remind me later this week and I will spend a few hours a/b with DU .
AT Canucks Audioholics Review Group,We all liked the H50.
Well the new tuning of the Neo5 is a different flavour of wicked.
Vocal neutral on the Neo5 vs Warmer on the H50 with the more energy at 1-3K has more energy and sounds more lively less chill more let’s go!
Where the H50 might have got almost splashy at high volumes in the highs with the high hats the Neo5 sounds crisper and less BA-ness more DD like highs.
Stage more 3D with improved height.
Both are killer really going to come down to preference.
I prefer the Neo5 for my tastes for rock.
A Killer IEM at the new very competitive $279 price category.
8 Likes
Ok have some time P8 vs SR7 in DU mode what would like to know difference wise?
1 Like