Hehe. I’ve read the Head-fi thread on the Serial - lots of fans already. @rattlingblanketwoman wonder how you feel about this set the second time round!
First Impressions - Penon Serial
The Serial Boozer
The year 2022 continues to be fantastic in my purchase decisions. First the excellent S12 followed by the insane CCA CRA and now the new wunderkind by the relatively unknown manufacturer Penon. This is my first purchase from Penon and it was paid with my own money. The Serial is a multi-DD (3 DD) IEM and this is the frequency response graph.
My first encounter with multi DD IEMs was with the KZ DQ6 shortly followed by the Blon BL-Max. I was very intrigued by both sets more so by the Blon but both were not perfect. So I looked around for a more mid-fi contender and found the UM 3DT which ultimately looked too bright on the graph to open my wallet. Finally I decided to give the Serial a try and boyo the decision was a good one.
Right now I feel like.
How do they sound?
First adjectives that came to mind during the initial listening session: lush, analog, opulent, pleasant, soothing
The Serial is the antipode to planar IEMs but in a good sense. It envelops me into totally cozy listening bubble.
Listening to these rids all harshness, sharpness and brightness from overly energetic recorded tunes.
They have indeed a therapeutic effect on my temper. I find them perfect to chill out after work when you don’t want to hear any annoying harshness.
But don’t get me wrong these can still rock your socks off. These are the kind of IEM where you can pump up the volume to nasty levels and feel no remorse.
Regarding detail and resolution: don’t get the wrong impression that they don’t have these traits. It’s simply that the detail and resolution is not focused on the mids and upwards frequencies but rather on the mids and downwards. Point being the bass detail on the Serial is the best I ever heard in any IEM.
These could be the perfect monitors for drummers. The bass decay is simply perfect.
Let me show you a few tracks where the Serials perform incredibly well
Joe Walsh - Life’s Been Good (drumming from 3:00 - 4:30 sounds sooo good)
Dio - Gypsy (epic drum play throughout the whole track by Vinny Appice)
Dio - Holy Diver (also epic drumming by Vinny Appice)
Boston - Foreplay / Long Time (insane arena rock that has all the good stuff, organs, multi vocalists, multi guitars electric and acoustic)
The Serials bring drums to center stage which brings me to the soundstage.
Soundstage
If I compare the Serial with a real life soundstage the Serials would be a small brick and mortar rock venue with maybe 300 people capacity.
In this rock venue imagine hovering directly over the drummer and the bassist (who stands close to the drummer). This describes exactly the soundstage.
In contrast the Ikko OH10 would be positioned between the lead guitar amps and the singer.
The Who?
Now who is this IEM for? This is for sure no generalist IEM.
I’d recommend the Serial to anyone who has lots of older records like myself (60s, 70s, 80s).
For example I have digitized my dad’s complete Vinyl collection with tons of 70s hard rock (Nazareth, Journey, Budgie, Deep Purple, The Who etc.).
I can’t cope to listen to this collection with a highly resolving IEM like a planar because the Vinyl crackling goes on my nerves pretty fast.
With the Serials I have no problem at all. The analog sounding characteristic of it makes me think I’m in the living room with my parents in the 80s listening to Queen and jumping over the couch like a mad child.
Hip-Hop, Drum 'n Bass, IDM libraries are also a good match.
Mind you the Serial is not a one trick pony the few tracks I listened to that have no drumming or bass focus still perform very well.
Anyway these are my day 1 impressions.
Finally there is a sound demo available and as always this shows only a rough comparison between the Serial and the Ikko OH10.
Finally finally, enjoy the music and have a good one.
PS: Why The Serial Boozer you ask? Because it intoxicates you without the next day hangover.
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Nice write-up, thanks!
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300$ during CNY maybe cheaper. Yeah well the pinna gain is before 2kHz. I love these pits between around 2kHz and around 5 kHz in general.
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I think there are some used ones for sale on Head-fi. Otherwise you can always try to ask Penon on AliX for a discount - they were offering 250 USD during launch sales.
Oh man. I can’t be this lucky. No way.
I’m feeling sick. Besides a nightmare of sub-plan making tonight, I will get to be at home tomorrow. My girls will be staying at grandmom’s for most of the day. I suddenly have time to compare and listen to IEMs. Like the ton that came in the mail.
But that isn’t even the good news.
So far I quickly popped the LE M1 in my ears. My expectations had dropped massively since I desperately bought it to see if had some DM qualities while flying under the radar. The seller knew nothing about it and said it was probably a good beginner IEM. It looks super plain (feels incredible though). Fit with stock tips was immaculate right away. I thought I was about to regret unsealing it (instant devalue) and that I would be selling on something either awful or not special soon.
Why is Lotoo sleeping on this?
Like the DM (maybe more??) it has the largest stage of any IEM I have ever tried. I can say that straight away. A couple times I thought the sound was coming out of speakers or that for sure everyone in the room could hear what I was listening to. I don’t know if it graphs like the DM. But so far it has a similarly vivid-across-full-spectrum feel, I can bump the volume really nicely if I want to (no high pinna gain), and to me the bass sounds very similar to the DM to for where it swells, but also how clean it is.
I’m going to reserve further comment for now. Don’t consider this hyped yet, it’s been literally a couple of minutes.
I was way more excited for the Autumn that is also on my desk. No idea where to anchor myself atm! When the girls are in bed… I’m just going to listen to this for a while! While making sub plans and sending emails of course. 
Easy keep over the Oxygen for me personally, already very sure.
EDIT:
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Just actually noticed the timestamps from the limited forum posts on these. 2015. The heck? Lotoo never release another IEM after, as far as I know - but they got SO much right with this. A little refining and they could have release a mass produced Dark Magician with great fit in 2017 hypothetically!
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Flaws:
a) Some of the “flatness” of the tuning may be to a fault. In initial listening (haven’t really noticed it since) some mid-pitch percussion strikes seemed a little quite or off.
b) I’m wondering if the insane stage is due to a spike in the very high frequencies, like their vague graph suggests (there’s a peak they bother to show not far off 17k if I’m not mistaken?) I mention it because either due to source (balanced low gain from Sony ZX300A), driver faults, or the impeccable high frequency playback, all kinds of recordings new and old can be peppered a bit like crackles in a record player. I think these probably are legitimately artifacts left from mixing/messy samples in modern music, that no-one tidied up because they usually don’t present as audible? That seems to be decreased too, so I’ll monitor it.
c) I really like them, I can listen to things for a long time and find them both non fatiguing and engaging. Some spacial cures are unlike any others, in one case Nick Cave’s voice came from right underneath everything else.
d) Still super comfortable.
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Nice! And to keep your good luck streak - Qudelix is back in stock on their website!
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Yes! And on Amazon by early Feb 
thanks!
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T this set may out may not be good, but the official graph suite is pure marketing product 
Triple DD? Good for vintage recordings? Nice
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I’ve been using Iems when Im outside, but recently it’s been reaching -20c and is this bad for them or is it fine?
The BQEYZ Autumn has a safe tuning and many of the advantages inherent to single dynamic driver designs. However, its technical performance is average and certain aspects of its tuning come with trade-offs I would rather not make.
My full review, with frequency response measurements and additional images, is available on my blog:
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I’m listening to these on and off to gather thoughts myself. So far driver flex and finnicky fit are pesky and don’t encourage me to pick them easily.
I look forward to reading this fully later 
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What’s your take on the Serials? I’m literally gobsmacked how good these are. And I came to the personal conclusion that a good IEM has to provide a rumbly visceral low end to even be considered in my S tier. That’s how I experienced music from the youngest of age till my now 41 years on earth.
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not gonna lie, a bit jealous 
chose the Oxygen over the Serial back during 11.11 sales…kinda regretting it, especially with the release of Olina. Oh well, hindsight’s a bi&*h
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Hmmm understandable meanwhile I have so many single DDs and none have the prowess of a multi DD. I also struggled to bite the bullet for the Serial but it was all worth it. I never heard the Oxy thats why I ordered the Olina. 1st because I want to support HBB and 2nd out of curiosity about the Oxy praise.
What I can honestly say is that my preference at this moment is like this:
- Multi DD
- Tribrid
- Single DD
- Hybrid
- All BA
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What I wish for is an affordable Multi DD + EST. That would be absolutely killah.
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My new pair came today, looking forward to giving them some listening time. They’re really good, for sure!
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@thoohill this is important. Use ePro Horn EP00 tips, a size smaller than tip sizes you usually use, for deep insertion. Tell me how it hits you. (Similar results probably with other silicon tips as long as smaller to go deeper).
I had found the mids a little dry/recessed in the mix, but not right now. Stage has benefited from it too. I’m loving this. Personal record player in my head.
What’s special about the sub bass is that it’s doesn’t just extend, it carries some thump like often IEMs only do with mid bass.
My heart says I’m completely fine with this! I know 15 minutes from now, or tomorrow or something things won’t seem so perfect. Having a good evening for now though that’s for sure.
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