For your next future collab, I hope the DM inspires you to make a super vocal centric IEM. (Maybe at the $500 price point?)
It’s a task I probably only could entrust you with.
Just fantasizing 
3 Likes
It is the magnetic converter you are thinking of, and it is OK, not great, but decent. I bought the Arsvita adapter, and the only oddity is that you need to charge it occasionally.
Maybe, but I average about 4000 miles a year, and don’t worry about it too much.
2 Likes
I was thinking about that actually. I would probably change the bass, but the midrange is interesting. Now all depends on which brand wants to do it lol
2 Likes
What many speculate is the secret to DM’s vocal
goodness and overall “sauce” is the fact that its entire frequency response operates within 5dB or so. It’s smooth yet naturally sharp, neutral yet thick. The elevated lower midrange & mid-bass slam is also important for its sound I think.
Make sure you don’t cover the vents on the nozzle by the way, it gives bass depth but kills the magical airiness and size of the sound. I also recommend wide tips.
I’m not sure it would benefit the vocals if the diaphragm/membrane was acoustically tuned to produce more Sub-Bass, my worry is that it would make the midrange perceptionally leaner.
This speculation is if course all concerning a single DD. Maybe a multi DD IEM would solve this dilemma.
1 Like
Simgot seems like a good candidate to me, they seem like they know what they’re doing.
Or Dunu again if Davinci sells well. They got great DD tech and experience as you know.
But yeah, I think around $500 seems good, to really make a stellar vocal IEM, you’ve earned that level of trust by now.
Personally I really like my vocals to be dynamically produced - the result is just more natural, powerful, dynamic.
3DDs to retain driver cohesion and DD naturalness, boost frequency extreme extensions and leave the midrange DD to do its thing unencumbered. Maybe open back? Bone conduction?
0-150Hz, 150-3500Hz, 3500-20000Hz 3-way crossover
Possibilities are endless.
1 Like
The Elysian Pilgrim
Thank you very much to HiFiGO for making the tour of the Elysian Pilgrim happen and thank you to my bud Neil for welcoming me into the HiFiGo US tour group just a few weeks ago. The process has been super smooth up to this point. HiFiGO nor Elysian haven’t asked me to say anything in particular regarding the Pilgrim, all of these thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’m almost reluctant to write this article because once I finish it and post it, I have to send the Pilgrims back on their journey after their quick pit stop here on my desk and everywhere else, quite frankly. I’ve brought the Pilgrim with me everywhere these past few days, at first to prepare for this review, but then eventually just to enjoy the sweet melodies these things sing to me. Spoiler alert; I wouldn’t mind buying a pair at full retail.
Test tracks
-
Give Life Back to Music - daft punk - Overall clarity
-
Infinity Repeating - daft punk - Lower mids control
-
Voyager - daft punk - Bass line clarity/busy track layering
-
Overnight - Parcels - mid bass punch
-
Tieduprightnow - Parcels - bass line/sibilance test
-
Everyroad -Parcels - Imaging/Sub bass @ 7 minute mark
-
Daytime - Lunar Vacation - Staging/female vocals w/ heavy bass
-
Days - No Vacation - Vibe test/treble energy
-
Fruiting Body - Goon - Sub bass
-
Wavy Maze - Goon - Mid bass
-
Together - Maggie Rodgers - Female Vocals
-
Slide Tackle - Japanese Breakfast - Sibilance test/consonants harshness
-
Decode - Paramore - Vibe test/stage depth
-
Vinta - Crumb - Stage depth/layering
-
Kim’s Caravan - Courtney Barnett - Female Vocals/resolution test
-
Small Poppies - Courtney Barnett - Distorted Guitar
-
Lifelong Song - Men I Trust - Sub/mid bass texture
-
One and Only - Adele - Female Vocals/consonants harshness test
-
Waves - Wild Painting - Overall Enjoyment and stage depth/width/Bass guitar speed
-
Not the One - Highnoon - Female Vocals
-
Cowboy Killer - Varsity - Layering
-
Alone in My Principles - Varsity - Distorted female vocals
-
Summer Madness - Kool & The Gang - Treble Harshness
-
They Are Growing - Renata Zeiguer - Mid bass impact
Sources
-
Apple Music Streaming Hi-Res Lossless when available
-
Topping D10s/Earmen ST-Amp stack
-
Muse HiFi M4
-
Fosi DS2
-
FiiO BTR7 BT
I’ll be doing most of my impressions written below using the ST-Amp considering that is the most neutral amp I own currently. The Muse M4 has a very distinctive bass boost which is highly enjoyable, but not accurate to the IEM I’m listening to.
TLDR;
The Elysian Pilgrims were a slow burn for me - At first, I wasn’t that impressed with their presentation, I found it to be something not special or standout and I won’t lie, I was expecting something that was going to be special considering the brand name. Elysian. Fun fact; the first time I heard the Annihilator 2023 at CanJam 2023 I fell in love so hard I couldn’t get them out of my head for an entire year up until I got to the next CanJam in 2024. In short, the Elysian Pilgrim has an extremely enjoyable bass replay, with a deep and textured impact that clearly stands out from the rest of the crowd at or around this price point. Even up to more expensive sets I’ve heard I’d say that, even though Elysian may have not been going for this, the bass is definitely a stand-out on this set. It’s addictive and highly refined. The mids are clean, clear, and spacious allowing for an enjoyable replay, albeit, maybe a little on the safe side. The same goes for the treble, there’s plenty of extension here for lots of micro details to be easily experienced, but I would have liked a few more risks to be taken here to allow the Pilgrim to stand out from the pack. Regardless, I think that the Pilgrim is a fine example of what Lee and the team over at Elysian can do by putting some work into something to make a statement. The under-Kilobuck sector has a new player in town…
If you’d like to purchase the Elysian Pilgrim, please follow this unaffiliated link to HiFiGo to order your pair!
HiFiGo - Elysian Acoustic Labs PILGRIM 1 LSR DD+3 Sonion BA Hybrid In-Ear Monitors — HiFiGo
AliExpress - https://shorturl.at/f271
Amazon US - https://shorturl.at/2qenE
And if you’d like to read up on more of the different technologies used in the Pilgrim, check out the Elysian website.
Fitment note; I had no issues with the fit of the Pilgrim. I typically do have issues with shorter stem IEMs, but there’s something about the shape of the Pilgrims that made fit very very easy. I landed on the Dunu S&S tips as my go-to choice and found fantastic sonics. No pain or pressure build-up was felt.
Bass
As I said in my TLDR section above, the Bass on the Pilgrim, in my opinion, is a standout. Reading up on what Elysian actually did for their DD in this set really puts it into perspective. What they’ve done here, according to their site, is create a custom 9.2mm Liquid Silicon Rubber (LSR) DD that’s meant to allow for faster transients but still achieve a deeper, harder-hitting bass and I have to commend them here because before reading up on what kind of DD was inside this thing, I heard and felt that deep bass their talking about. On Songs like Give Life Back To Music by daft punk, or Overnight by the Parcels, the mid-bass kicks are overly satisfying. The baselines are exceedingly groovy and very fast enough to never ever get muddy or cause any overlap with the rest of the frequencies. The depth of the bass on display here is what really impressed me - every kick and thump going on has tons of texture and sounds like it’s punching you right in the center of your face with just enough power. I think in terms of mid-bass here, it’s tuned nearly perfectly to match my library. The sub-bass on the other hand is quite nice, but I definitely need some more here. On songs like Everyroad by the Parcels, it’s a nice rumble for sure, but it’s not knocking my socks off either. The biggest test for me when it comes to sub-bass is on the song Fruiting Body by Goon - Hauntingly beautiful. If you’ve read any of my other reviews, you know just how much I love this song. The Real test for an IEM, is when that Chorus comes in, am I going to feel absolutely ROCKED by that sub-bass rumble behind those beautiful vocals? On the Pilgrim…. mmm no, it just missed the mark for me on that song personally. Otherwise, this bass performance is like a 7.5/10, which may sound low but I’m telling you, that’s high considering what I’ve heard despite price talk. It’s a very solid bass and out of all the sets I’ve heard around this price, it’s up there among the best considering its unique way of presenting.
Mids
The mids on the Pilgrim are great, they’re open, clear, and fairly clean without ever being sibilant or harsh on any of my tracks. I believe the mids have the right amount of energy relative to the rest of the frequency range and I can confidently say, they’re very enjoyable. Female vocals, which make up 99% of my library come across as slightly forward and energetic but not the smoothest or most textured I’ve heard. Days By No Vacation is wonderful as always, the guitars and Violins that come in towards the ending part of the song are lovely and very resolute. The lead vocalist has a beautiful tone and timbre to her voice, albeit not the most texture and natural I’ve heard, it’s still very nicely rendered. Waves by Wild Painting has lovely depth to the presentation, with the vocals coming right from the center of the image with sufficient depth to almost create the illusion of being in the room with her. My issue is the slight lack of refinement somewhere, maybe around 5k-6k where it gets a little bit grainy when the vocals are pushed up a touch. I know it sounds like a small quibble, but it is noticeable to my ears and it took me out of the music a few times during my listening.
Treble
Here’s where my biggest issue with the Pilgrim lies; the treble just isn’t jumping out at me at all. It is very well extended, I won’t sit here, lie, and say it isn’t, but it’s not grabbing me by the soul and saying “Hey, this is the Elysian Pilgrim, little brother to the Anni, the IEM with some of the best treble on the market, period” - I guess I was expecting too much. I know we’re talking BAs to ESTs, $400 to $3000, entry-level to flagship, but I did hope Elysian would have taken their experience and expertise with the Anni’s treble and at least try to put a few little magical touches in with the Pilgrim’s treble, but nah, it’s not here. Days by No Vacation, a song that relies heavily on an airy treble to sound its best replays wonderfully, don’t get me wrong, but the sound isn’t enveloping like I expected it to be considering the Pilgrim is marketed as a brighter IEM. The lovely cymbals on Give Life Back To Music ain’t so lovely on the Pilgrim - I expect them to be overly glittery, much like the robots intended, really exciting and standing out driving the music forward. But instead, on the Pilgrim they’re there, I can most definitely hear them, but that’s about it. The Airy opening of Decode by Paramore isn’t as airy as I anticipated either… Maybe by now, you can tell there’s a theme here. All in all, the treble is just fine - a bit underwhelming, but fine. I’d like a bit more air to make things sparkle and shimmer. The treble is at least very refined, I will say. You won’t find any nasty peaks or weird timbre anywhere here, it’s a very smooth and pleasant experience, I didn’t want to make it seem like it was all negative! The treble allows the listener to easily sit back and just enjoy the music with plenty of micro details to get lost in. Trust me, I’m a sicko who loves some extra treble spice, so if you’re a person who likes a well-done, laid-back treble experience that’s sufficiently bright across the spectrum, pretty evenly, then this is going to be a fantastic listening experience.
Technicalities
The Pilgrim is a very solid B grade, maybe even B+ on all of the technicalities here. Imaging doesn’t seem particularly special, but it also isn’t blurry and inaccurate. Staging feels wide and spacious, maybe lacking a touch on depth and height, but at this price range, I’m not really expecting that. Resolution and detail retrieval aren’t blowing my socks off, but it is super solid and absolutely befitting of the price range here. Dynamics are very important to me as well, and the Pilgrim doesn’t do the greatest job here with a mostly flat-ish presentation above 3k where the peaks aren’t really adding to the experience in a positive way, but contribute to that slight grainy nature. Not a deal breaker at all, but it’s there. Most importantly, timbre and tonality are absolutely spot on. Jazz sounds fantastic on the Pilgrim and even though I don’t have any jazz tracks on my test playlist, I definitely wanted to give that a shout-out.
Source Differences
The Pilgrim does react to different sources for sure, and that’s why I wanted to be very careful during my testing. On the ST-Amp, the Pilgrim sounds balanced and slightly on the warmer side. On the Muse M4 the bass is kicked up a notch with the mids and treble taking an even further back seat (FYI, this was my favorite playback). The BTR7 unfortunately just didn’t do it for me, the dynamics completely vanished and the Pilgrims sounded flat. The Fosi DS2, a little powerhouse of a dongle, did a surprisingly fantastic job engagingly presenting the Pilgrims. In fact, the DS2 is a little bit on the brighter side as far as dongles go (to my ears at least), so It was able to create some nice contrast between the bass, mids, and highs… I quite liked it. Bass did take a bit of a hit though, it wasn’t as deep as I got so accustomed to coming out of the Muse M4. Overall, my favorite by far was out of the Muse M4 using a wired connection. Punchy, fast bass with smooth vocals and treble.
Conclusion
So, here we are. The end of my review. So what do I think of the Pilgrims? Well, I’m a bit torn if I’m honest. On one hand I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my short time with them, enjoying them on a daily basis did not feel like a chore in the slightest and I couldn’t wait to pick them up again to have another listen. They absolutely have an addicting factor to them and I think it’s just the sum of the entire package. They’re comfortable, the cable isn’t cumbersome to deal with, the sound is impactful with deep mid-bass and smooth vocals and treble with plenty of details to go around in an open and spacious stage. Overall, I would buy the Pilgrim for the full asking price, no doubt about it. I truly think they’re worth it for me personally. But beware, if you’re looking for something that stands out from the crowd in more ways than one, you might want to look somewhere else.
I hope you got something out of this and had an enjoyable read! Cheers, till next time
20 Likes
I think you described them very well and
Chose wisely with you sources.
I was super lucky to be playing with so many DAPs and found one that brought out the best for the Pilgrim, the Shanling M5Ultra.
I found the Shanling added in just a touch of mid thickness and keeps the top end sparkly.
It made all the difference between making them just a good set and a great one for me.
3 Likes
Thanks for your compliments, brother!
The pilgrim definitely improves with some low end heft and some top end sparkle, for sure. I’ve yet to listen to IEMs out of a DAP, If you can believe it!
3 Likes
What? Yeah thats your next step , I stopped using my desktop stacks because daps have become so good … and portable!
So many used ones on the Market you can find some great players for cheap.
2 Likes
I’ve always felt that DAPs make sense if you’re a local music listener, I’m a steamer though so my phone and a dongle has always made more sense.
I’ll definitely check out a DAP sometime down the line at like a CanJam or something but in terms of buying one, I don’t see that happening any time soon lol
4 Likes
Yep, I had a dap at one point and much prefer the BT/dongle approach. Better bang for your buck imo
3 Likes
Hmmm…don’t really get that …Desktops are Desktops and Dap’s they’re portable 
I’d agree but if you only use a 3.5mm, don’t like cable clutter etc then something like a Hiby M300 would make sense 
6 Likes
I use DAP’s and I use streaming exclusively. I use Qobuz primarily and just download the music for offline use, or if I’m at home I just stream over the WiFi.
As soon as I got my first DAP, I never looked back. I always found using a dongle with my phone an inconvenience. Each to their own though.
I just use my desktop setup for my full size headphones. Despite what some people claim, DAP’s have more than enough power to drive iem’s well.
8 Likes
Same here, especially a BT dongle, like the M4 or BTR7. Even though SQ take a small hit using BT, when I’m out and about, I’m not doing any critical listening so the difference is truly negligible. The convenience of having the dongle tucked into my pocket while I can freely use my phone if I need to is just awesome to me. Then, when I’m home, I’ll get wired up.
I’ll eventually try DAPs one day, but I don’t foresee them ever being a staple in my daily lineup.
@Dan_X Downloading music is always an option, that’s true, but I love the discovery feature of streaming music. Plus, my main streaming service is apple music and I know apple music on android isn’t the best experience. We shall see, I’m still waiting for Apple to come out with an iPhone for the Audiophile, I’ll continue to dream lol
5 Likes
I use Apple Music on a HiBy R6III, and it works great. There have been some clicks when the Dap have switched to a new sampling rate between songs, but this should be gone with latest firmware update.
9 Likes
That’s actually really good to know!
Can you still stream lossless files?
1 Like
Yes😊. And the HiBy system bypasses the Android resampling, so that it remains bit perfect.
4 Likes
Whaaaaat?! Alright well, color me intrigued haha
4 Likes
I was gonna say, I’ve used Apple Music on my DAP’s too and it works flawlessly.
The reason I didn’t stick with Apple Music despite being an Apple phone user, is because I sometimes listen to music on my laptop when at my desk and the windows Apple Music app is terrible and doesn’t have an exclusive more (for windows).
There were some issues with Apple Music and certain android DAP’s that don’t use the fully open version of Android - like Shanling. But I’ve had three Hiby DAP’s now and they use a completely open version of android, so no issue there.
Pretty much all Android based DAP’s bypass the SRC too so bit-perfect. The M300 doesn’t, but it upsamples everything to 192khz rather than the usual Android default 48khz
I just really enjoy having a dedicated music device. Maybe it’s me showing my age, as I’ve lived through the days of having a cassette Walkman, mini disk player, then mp3 players and iPods. The biggest issue though is how awkward it is pulling my phone out if I’m out and there’s a dongle connected to it. Also, I barely get a full days usage of my phone battery as it is, without listening to music on it.
9 Likes
I would agree, I do 50/50 Streaming and Local files. I use Tidal to stream lossless and it sounds wicked.
I just like haveing the freedom to be able able to use my phone without anything dangling from it while plugged into my DAP beside me.
In the case with Hiby and Shanling being able to control the DAP wirelessly is also something I love and use all the time.
6 Likes