@Tonytex_Teixeira put out his Sound Rhyme SR5 video and his graph comparison of it with 41T is very telling:
I’m now completely convinced I picked as well as I could between these two. SR5 is too energetic for my taste, from the looks of the graph and the impressions I’ve seen.
But it’s great for the sparklies and details!
That whole Sound Rhyme thread is an amusing shit show which is quickly devolving into a Penonesque cult.
IEMs may be great themselves (much like Penon & ISN) but the ‘synergy’ suggestions & subsequent walkbacks are next level…
Guilty pleasure
Kenyon if you not useing the Penon 445231 Cable your doing it all wrong!
This cable will offer you life changing alterations double the bass, increase headroom by a factor of 12x and warpbend the highs directly into your ear canal with no time lapse.
Its only $299 and your a dipship if you dont buy it!
LOL i have a hard time listening to crap like that! 
That sure does feel forced. That Sound Rhyme thread is already at over 40 pages in like 6 weeks, from nothing.
While I get trying to push the word of mouth like an Aür Audio (if they are really deserving of that praise), AmericanSpirit sure did a job to turn SR into a Penon/ISN-like group really quick
I find myself moving away from HeadFi more and more same old shillers and infomercials.
I was afraid of my my ISN H50 was going to sould like the usual pair but it does indeed deserve a shilling.
Just hate how some try to use so many flowery descriptors instead of plain speak. Kinda of the reason I started doing reviews and what triggered me most was DSNUTS calling me out Because i didn’t write reviews.
100% - man has hype beast skills - can’t be denied. I’m impressed - had my community support manager check his engagment for growth tips… To be fair he also actually has valuable and/or hard to find input to impart from his posts - there just is an oppressive number of posts presented in a unique structured chaos - which again just by itself is astonishing dedication and helps keep the forum flourishing since there has been a drop off when you look at the diversity of posters.
@ToneDeafMonk I personally have changed tactic and enjoy reading the lengthy prose and mental gymnastics being deployed - well that might also be because I thought I would turn any triple adjective, references to tube preamps, cable tonality, high gain for IEMs as well as trite obscure metaphors into a smoking/drinking game and have been wasted everday since. 
MY EARS ARE FOREVER UNCLEAN AFTER GK10 
The penon thread is what makes me so hesitant to try ISN offerings. They seem like a huge value prop and Penon IEMs have always delivered (albeit not necessarily worth the price of admission) but that thread and the whole customer service experience in China makes me hesitant to try anything from them
The H50 is worthy , like the Simgot EA500 in MHO.
I can’t blame anyone who is hesitant to pull the trigger on Penon brand items. They make generally good stuff (something about Serial issues aside), but the Penon brand IEMs are just generally overpriced for what they offer.
I haven’t done anything from ISN, but I would trust their tuning and ear, but it’s completely blind buying, outside of the few people who always tell you how great the IEMs are.
Like even within Simgot, I was the first flag bearer and I tell anybody straight up: EA500 is fantastic but not a blind-buy must buy at $90, and EN1000 is a set I’m fond of but never pushed it as something groundbreaking. EA500 at $60-70 IS worth all the hype, and I still want to hear the EA2000. The new $20 set they are releasing does not really interest me that much. It doesn’t look as well tuned as EA500 and it shouldn’t have the same driver in it. I wouldn’t tell anyone (that doesn’t have a hard budget cap) to get that over EA500.
So having love for a brand and being a shill are two different things to me. Hopefully I stay on the right side of that line
H40 also uniquely good if you get a chance to try.
1+4 for $300 when P5, 41T, SR5 (though I can’t speak from experience with it) all exist at $200 or less, or Hexa being 1+3 for $75?
I couldn’t recommend H50 on the EA500 level (of being competitive for the tech in it) unless it’s doing stuff the others can’t do. Is it really that good, not just “you really enjoyed it good” but it actively beats the competition?
eh, people shouldnt be thinking that way (more drivers = better value). Otherwise KZ with its 12 BA iem would win lol.
I agree, that’s why I tried to even keep my comparison to 1+4s just to compare apples more closely to other apples.
I haven’t heard SR5 or H50, but having heard P5 and 41T, I’d be hard pressed to actively suggest someone pay $300 for H50, unless they know they want an ISN or the H50 specifically.
Between 41T being warmer/analogue, P5 being warm/monitor-like, and SR5 being brighter/detail oriented, and all being $200 or under, I struggle to see H50’s place at $300
by that logic wouldn’t you be hard pressed to see any IEM at over $200? The driver configuration shouldn’t dictate price bracket or value and comparing to other like configurations has never really made sense to me. The Maestro Mini is 1DD x 2BA at over $400 and I have not heard anyone say its not worth the price of admission.
The only comparisons that make sense to me between IEMs are ones that are a similar sound signature regardless of configuration and price. Otherwise you are comparing apples to oranges
Of course a lot of my opinion is based on me feeling like the few sets I have heard that are prohibitively expensive (over $500 for my taste) are of that superior level. For my tastes though, I don’t own a set over $300 MSRP, but I think something like Fan2 stands toe-to-toe with MEST Mk II. Do I need to pay $700-800 used (or $1000 new) for that small increase in whatever? I don’t think so.
But I also haven’t heard the expensive set that breaks my musical brain and makes me feel that need. At the end of the day, it’s about feeling and what makes a set worth it to your/my ear. I’m totally open to the idea that I will find that expensive set. Just because I haven’t been moved to feel the value above a different set is justified. to my ear, doesn’t mean I won’t.
It just has to knock my socks off so completely, and that hasn’t happened yet
I totally get that and I would agree for the most however people have different disposable income levels and $200 to one person may be $1000 to someone else. I don’t think anyone doubts that a set like the Mest MKII is better than the Fan 2. For someone who has the disposable income its a no brainer to get the better set. For someone who doesn’t its a no brainer to get the Fan 2 and be 90% there. It’s all very relative to the individual.
My point was more that I don’t think we should write off sets because of configuration and price since that set can sound totally different and do very different things from other sets with similar configuration. Look at the Meteor and RSV. Two completely different experiences and the only difference is one BA per side.
I believe a better way of comparing is looking at upgrade paths. For example, these 3 IEMs graph pretty similar and focus on the same thing (massive bass) so people naturally want a comparison between them. They are in completely different price brackets and have different configurations but none-the-less people group them together because of their tuning commonalities
According to HBB the Legato is a direct upgrade to the HBB and imo the Maestro is an upgrade to the Legato. Is the ~$90 difference between the HBB and Legato worth it? I havent heard the HBB but $110 isn’t much to me so I would opt (and did) for the Legato. Do I think the MM is $300 better than the Legato? No, but it is better and someone who throws away $500 like its nothing would probably not even look twice at the Legato over the MM.
Upgrade path arguments are fair. I’m with you on that.
Altering the way my questions to @ToneDeafMonk are asked, to ask if any of those sets I mentioned are in H50s upgrade path, or what comes before or after H50 on an upgrade path, is something I’d be good with that if it makes
Imagine having a civilized discussion and it not ending in a dumpster fire where both ends talk in absolutes. This is why I prefer this forum over the-one-that-must-not-be-named
That is well said if you read my review its about the H50 bieng off the beaten parth non harman tuned and something special that stands on its own.
We’re cool here and plus I’ve trusted Cal with some of my precious babies.
I’m not trying to piss him off so he throws them in a dumpster fire or anything 
