IEM discussion thread (Part 2)

HYPE2 does not lack so much mid-bass, yes, the emphasis is on the sub-bass. The tuning of most DUNU IEMs is warm, very warm. Some folks try to make it neutral, but it’s not. DUNU IEMs are good, but not true to sound. :wink:

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It’s personal preference of course, but I love a bass tuck at around 200hz. I don’t like how the mids sound when it goes to 400hz+

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Well…

I must be cursed or something…CRA and now the MP145 (both in my S rank territory) have gotten stealth revised…

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…so, either give into the fomo and jump on the first wave of that new hawtness, or wait {x}? months so that you don’t get burned (but also never get the hawtness). This is not a good calculus for the hobby. :confused:

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Yeah that is what it seems to be…just dont understand their thinking…

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I haven’t tried the MP145 but the revision looks good to me :new_moon_with_face:

its not a matter if its better or not, but that they just change their tuning and pretty much invalidates all previous reviews on it along with making it an uncertainty on what you are going to receive and also if they are doing it with the rest of their iems…This combined with the already iffy QC that most chifi have…

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They are absolutely going to lose sale(s) to me, and not just from Hidisz - it’s getting harder to feel that I’m not just throwing cash down a rat hole… I’m not really interested in using my bank account to find out which manufacturers are trustworthy, so my decision to sideline it for a while is just reinforced. Time to get more serious about modding/EQing what I already have. :thinking:

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Don’t forget the whales.

Fuck Hidizs

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I believe @hawaiibadboy already confirmed it wasnt a scam?

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It was misrepresentation of what they actually were and were not doing. After HBB poked at them, they finally clarified and gave like 1% of 1% to the charity

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giphy

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tenor

Time to hold on to my set for dear life.

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Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.

It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it’s all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It’s like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.

If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it’s tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it’s totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.

Source:

With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.

Mini Trifecta??

As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta’s signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it’s more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it’s totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta’s feel.

Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.

One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.



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What do people here think of the Penon 10th Anniversary Editions? Obviously there is another forum that thinks they are amongst the greatest inventions ever made by human hand, but they also think that about $800 strips of metal so long as they’re made by that company, so I’m looking for a bit of a diversity of opinions before taking the plunge.

Following on from a previous post I made here, I’m looking for an IEM to complement and build on what I own and like. Currently my favourites are the Yanyin Canons (also my most expensive pair) which have taught me I really like a warm, thick sound signature, quite a bit of midbass, and forward, lush, vocals. I’m not sure if the Penon 10th ticks all those boxes, but they seem to tick a few and do sound like they have impressive hardware for the price. This appeals to me because I love EQing my IEMs and have multiple profiles for each set I own, and so I figure I can add extra warmth if I need, whilst benefiting from the sonic qualities of high-end drivers I’ve not heard before (Sonion BAs and ESTs, dual DDs).

I guess I’d like to know if the above thinking is logical, and also if dual 6 mm DDs will give me the engaging sound I get out of e.g. the single larger DD in the Canons. I don’t think I mind too much about speed of the bass, but more that it gives the overall sound enough warmth, weight and musicality. I haven’t owned many IEMs so still trying to work everything out though - cheers!

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Oh boy, maybe I found a dirt cheap gem?

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804845534705.html

2ohm oi and 0.5vrms unloaded max voltage.

Channel balance is great on my unit and no hiss on the simgot em6l, I do think the bass sounded a bit looser than on my other sources though.

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I have owned the Penon 10th, and I did not like the sound of the 10th’s 2x6mm bass drivers. Sure, it has fast decay, but the texture and impact of said bass drivers was lacking, compared to sets like Moondrop Variations and Xenns Top. I always think of the 10th’s bass as two pillows hitting a drum, when I want a hammer.

I would not recommend the Penon 10th, as I think you can find better sets for the price. If you really want to spend upwards of 500+, Xenns Top will give very thumpy, fun bass (albeit somewhat boomy). It also has much better resolution and details than the 10th. ThieAudio Hype 4 is currently a favorite of mine and think is a better buy than Xenns Top for the price. Having said that, the Hype 4 does not have the same warmth that the Top (or Canon) has, so keep that in mind if you are looking for another warm set.

Perhaps look into the Timsok TS-316? Quite well received 1DD with some warmth and clarity to it

Don’t forget that new toys and spending more does not equate to more pleasure in this hobby. Sometimes it’s best just to enjoy what you have, despite it being the rational and boring choice

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I can agree 100%, to me the bass was comical like someone hitting a mostly empty suitcase with a mallet.

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Thanks for the help both! I think texture of the bass is more important to me than speed, so that definitely raises big red flags over the 10th AE. And I definitely am in no rush to spend 500 on a set of IEMs, nor was the size/comfort of the 10th AE sounding very appealing!

The Xenns Top is a good shout, although I don’t think it will offer enough over my Canons to justify the expense (technically Canon II’s - I had the original Canons but lost them, another reason to think twice about expensive toys - and so EQ my replacement Canon II’s to make them a bit like how I remember the OG’s being - a little less technical and a little more fun). And the Hype 4’s may be a bit too far away in terms of tuning.

I have the mindset that I want my next purchase to be a step-up in terms of hardware, just because I can use EQ to adjust the signature if the tuning isn’t quite perfect, but it sounds like the bass of the 10th AEs would be a sticking point. I suppose the positive of my approach is that better value hardware comes along quickly in this hobby, so all the more reason to wait. I’ll keep my eyes peeled but won’t pull the trigger on anything for the time being. Thanks!

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I concur, hands down the revision looks the better tuning, the earlier rise from 500 hz, smooth transition 2-4 kHz, tame the massive 8 k peak , less of a V tuning. How different we hear is still surprising me , and I’m old.

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