[-rowan-]

My turn. Hello Quattro.

Initial impressions - only that after a few hours of listening, I’m already fairly sure they won’t be just initial. Comparisons are from memory - enjoying the Quattro so much I have no desire to A/B at this point.

Love the timbre. Easy rec for classical, jazz or any sort of acoustic instruments or voices. They have proper note weight, texture and staging that makes live performances feel so natural. Bigger soundstage than Serial with more space between notes.

Treble is beautifully handled. Penon have been on form with treble tuning since Vortex and it continues here. Here, it is by no means bright or fatiguing - in that sense it is similar to Serial, but there is a good deal of upper treble detail that contributes to the texture, imaging and positional cues.

Mids are classic Penon. There’s a pleasing tilt towards the lower mids that gives lower voices (contralto and lower) a shade of warmth, richness and depth that I don’t think I’ve quite heard in a Penon IEM since Volt.

Bass - this will probably improve once it’s had a few hours but I can already tell it will be my new standard for Penon bass. It reaches deeper than Serial or 10th. EST50 and Turbo have moar bass but this already surpasses them in terms of quality, maintaining control and texture all the way down low. If I were to nitpick, I might look for a bit more nuance and layering but that may well come with a few more hours.

The Quattro requires quite a bit of juice (and I’m in the camp that thinks the Serial needs juice and scales up well). Listening on the R6 Pro II, which drives it ok on Class A, high gain and with the volume 5 or more steps higher than I might use for Serial.

They are so enjoyable out of the box they almost make me think burn-in, schmurn-in (j/k, I’ll put some hours on them when I can get them out of my ears).

Using the stock cable and Penon Orange tips. For someone who swops out the cable of every new iem within minutes of receiving it, I’m pretty happy with the stock cable, for now anyway. It’s been 4 hours and the stock cable is still on, save for a short interlude.

The Orange tips are samples of the latest version, which are finally in mass production and now also come in black. More on them later, but my hunch after brief tip rolling is that these have a special synergy with the Quattro in terms of what they do for timbre and soundstage, and I have little to no motivation to remove them at the moment.

 

[BrokenHill]

My turn. Hello Quattro.



Initial impressions - only that after a few hours of listening, I’m already fairly sure they won’t be just initial. Comparisons are from memory - enjoying the Quattro so much I have no desire to A/B at this point.

Love the timbre. Easy rec for classical, jazz or any sort of acoustic instruments or voices. They have proper note weight, texture and staging that makes live performances feel so natural. Bigger soundstage than Serial with more space between notes.

Treble is beautifully handled. Penon have been on form with treble tuning since Vortex and it continues here. Here, it is by no means bright or fatiguing - in that sense it is similar to Serial, but there is a good deal of upper treble detail that contributes to the texture, imaging and positional cues.

Mids are classic Penon. There’s a pleasing tilt towards the lower mids that gives lower voices (contralto and lower) a shade of warmth, richness and depth that I don’t think I’ve quite heard in a Penon IEM since Volt.

Bass - this will probably improve once it’s had a few hours but I can already tell it will be my new standard for Penon bass. It reaches deeper than Serial or 10th. EST50 and Turbo have moar bass but this already surpasses them in terms of quality, maintaining control and texture all the way down low. If I were to nitpick, I might look for a bit more nuance and layering but that may well come with a few more hours.

The Quattro requires quite a bit of juice (and I’m in the camp that thinks the Serial needs juice and scales up well). Listening on the R6 Pro II, which drives it ok on Class A, high gain and with the volume 5 or more steps higher than I might use for Serial.

They are so enjoyable out of the box they almost make me think burn-in, schmurn-in (j/k, I’ll put some hours on them when I can get them out of my ears).

Using the stock cable and Penon Orange tips. For someone who swops out the cable of every new iem within minutes of receiving it, I’m pretty happy with the stock cable, for now anyway. It’s been 4 hours and the stock cable is still on, save for a short interlude.

The Orange tips are samples of the latest version, which are finally in mass production and now also come in black. More on them later, but my hunch after brief tip rolling is that these have a special synergy with the Quattro in terms of what they do for timbre and soundstage, and I have little to no motivation to remove them at the moment.

Excellent impressions. I'll go for it too, even though I've told myself many times that I don't need any more IEMs...

An excellent photo, also in blue. Time to change your profile photo?

 

[-rowan-]

Excellent impressions. I'll go for it too, even though I've told myself many times that I don't need any more IEMs...

An excellent photo, also in blue. Time to change your profile photo?

Thanks! Maybe yes, but I also wanted to mention that Quattro is damned hard to photograph accurately so I’ll have to keep trying first. There have been several good photos by others but I don’t think I’ve seen any that have quite managed to nail the colour yet, especially of the cable. It’s very vibrant and has a bit more teal irl - it’s still too blue in mine, despite my efforts to dial it down. I like its looks way more than I expected. It’s a totally different shade from the likes of Volt and S2/H2/C2.

 

[iscorpio71]

Quattro looks amazing! I hope its sound doesn't disappoint me as the DOME did...

I also wanted to ask for a recommendation for an AMP/DAC to pair with IEMs / Headphones. I've been looking at SMSL DO300 + HO200.

Best regards!

 

[szore]

Quattro looks amazing! I hope it sounds doesn't disappoint me as the DOME did...

I also wanted to ask for a recommendation for an AMP/DAC to pair with IEMs / Headphones. I've been looking at SMSL DO300 + HO200.

Best regards!

I love my AresII DAC and Jotunheim amp combo!

 

[Nabillion_786]

My turn. Hello Quattro.



Initial impressions - only that after a few hours of listening, I’m already fairly sure they won’t be just initial. Comparisons are from memory - enjoying the Quattro so much I have no desire to A/B at this point.

Love the timbre. Easy rec for classical, jazz or any sort of acoustic instruments or voices. They have proper note weight, texture and staging that makes live performances feel so natural. Bigger soundstage than Serial with more space between notes.

Treble is beautifully handled. Penon have been on form with treble tuning since Vortex and it continues here. Here, it is by no means bright or fatiguing - in that sense it is similar to Serial, but there is a good deal of upper treble detail that contributes to the texture, imaging and positional cues.

Mids are classic Penon. There’s a pleasing tilt towards the lower mids that gives lower voices (contralto and lower) a shade of warmth, richness and depth that I don’t think I’ve quite heard in a Penon IEM since Volt.

Bass - this will probably improve once it’s had a few hours but I can already tell it will be my new standard for Penon bass. It reaches deeper than Serial or 10th. EST50 and Turbo have moar bass but this already surpasses them in terms of quality, maintaining control and texture all the way down low. If I were to nitpick, I might look for a bit more nuance and layering but that may well come with a few more hours.

The Quattro requires quite a bit of juice (and I’m in the camp that thinks the Serial needs juice and scales up well). Listening on the R6 Pro II, which drives it ok on Class A, high gain and with the volume 5 or more steps higher than I might use for Serial.

They are so enjoyable out of the box they almost make me think burn-in, schmurn-in (j/k, I’ll put some hours on them when I can get them out of my ears).

Using the stock cable and Penon Orange tips. For someone who swops out the cable of every new iem within minutes of receiving it, I’m pretty happy with the stock cable, for now anyway. It’s been 4 hours and the stock cable is still on, save for a short interlude.

The Orange tips are samples of the latest version, which are finally in mass production and now also come in black. More on them later, but my hunch after brief tip rolling is that these have a special synergy with the Quattro in terms of what they do for timbre and soundstage, and I have little to no motivation to remove them at the moment.

How are male vocals compared to other dynamic drivers you've heard?

 

[BlankName]

Quattro looks amazing! I hope its sound doesn't disappoint me as the DOME did...

I also wanted to ask for a recommendation for an AMP/DAC to pair with IEMs / Headphones. I've been looking at SMSL DO300 + HO200.

Best regards!

Questyle cma 18, don't have it yet but given how good the m15 was it's an easy rec, as long as there isn't any qc issues, and that the m15 has very good drive but low power.

 

[cobrabucket]

Ok. Penon indeed sent me the wallet and card.
As far as a New Year's resolution, I need to learn to be more patient.



Thank you, @Penon.
Much appreciated!

 

[Tonytex]

Tansio Mirai is a brand that has a specific market on which it focuses.
It's got a particular sound profile, where mids and highs are always the ones given the limelight.

Ultimately this means not all will appreciate it's highly clinical presentation, but there is no denying, even by the non believers that they are technically very proficient.

I have previously reviewed a few Tansio Mirai units, the Sands being the one I liked the most although it wasn't the most expensive.
It was/is a highly detailed 1+3 hybrid that perhaps was misunderstood in its intentions and so went a little unrecognised.
When matched to the right source and using the tip that best sinergizes with the Sands sound profile , it’s quite the experience, giving us a highly detailed sound , filled with all the detail you might ever need.

I also reviewed earlier this year the RGB, a 9BA + 8EST monster, that in all honesty left me a little underwhelmed.
It was good, but truthfully the RGB wasn't giving me that "immersive" engagement of a mega buck set, especially when the PENON Volt at 1/4 of the price, was placing the bar so high up in terms of sound, and in my humble opinion it overshadowed the RGB.

All of this foreplay to finally tell you all about the Halo.....Tansio Mirai latest hybrid , a 8 BA + 4EST gem , that surely was tuned by the Gods of Olympus!
Ok ok so I am exaggerating......no I am not, the Halo is simply one of the best IEMs I have heard to date, and although I might have not heard all the Mega Buck Big boys, i have heard enough TOTL sets to be confident In my above statement.

From the first time I listened to the Halo , a few things are immediately obvious:
It's effortless in the way that it plays music, everything coming across in a smooth manner , bass delivery from the dual SONION 38D1x's is sublime, both quality and quantity being among the best I have ever heard.

Mids are handled by 4 Knowles drivers, not sure about the model , but that is irrelevant, they have the perfect balance of forwardness and lushness of vocal playback , with the detail retrieval capability that never shows the negatives of BA tonality.

As for the Treble it's extended, mature and highly refined, once again matching the remainder of the frequency response in a velvety smooth presentation.

I should mention that I did most of the first impressions with my Frankenstein DAC / Amp combo....Topping NX 7 + Colorfly M1P and also the Fiio Q15.
The sinergy in either one was flawless but the Q15 is for me end game level, simply incredible how it extracts the very best from IEMs.

To conclude my first impressions, the Halo has traits of the Volt and 10th Anniversary.
It gets the smoothness and musicality of the Volt with the fun engaging excitement of the 10th Anniversary.

It's one of the very few times I can say that it's price tag is "justified", at 1999usd it's something few will afford, but if you are at least blessed with the opportunity to hear it, please do, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Click]

Quattro looks amazing! I hope its sound doesn't disappoint me as the DOME did...

I also wanted to ask for a recommendation for an AMP/DAC to pair with IEMs / Headphones. I've been looking at SMSL DO300 + HO200.

Best regards!

Never heard Dome before but you won't be disappointed with the sound that Quattro produces.

I was slightly disappointed out of the box because of some sibilance on some tracks, but not disappointed at all now, after some burn-in.

Quattro is way too good, especially at this price. I don't even want to take them out of my ears since I got them.

Trying not to hype these up too much, but Penon needs to officially release them asap and hopefully get them in more people's hands before end of the year.

 

[Dsnuts]

They are making as many as they can. Apparently it is more difficult to stuff 4 dynamics inside a resin shell vs something like a hybrid with smaller BA parts. It is literally one Quattro at a time is what I am guessing.

Will be launched officailly very soon was what I was told.

 

[Click]

They are making as many as they can. Apparently it is more difficult to stuff 4 dynamics inside a resin shell vs something like a hybrid with smaller BA parts. It is literally one Quattro at a time is what I am guessing.

Will be launched officailly very soon was what I was told.

The shells/monitors are surprisingly small, lightweight, and not chunky for having 4 DDs inside. Very comfortable IEMs.

I'm glad they're taking their time with producing the Quattro and not rushing its release, not pushing out a shoddy product with bad QC, but they've gone past their original stated release date by over a week now.

At least Penon is not going with the stupid preorder route that some other companies are doing (Audeze, FatFreq), then delaying release by months because they can't meet demand, holding customers' money/deposits. Still trying to get my money back from FatFreq because they can't ship out Scarlet Minis after 2 months of purchasing it.

 

[-rowan-]

Without going into further detail, channel matching is apparently an issue and it’s particularly hard when it involves having to match a total of 8 DDs in each iem.

Yes, I do hope they manage to ramp up production soon because this is an excellent IEM and they need to get these in more people’s hands. But I do appreciate the care and attention that they are putting into channel matching and QC even at the expense of busting their timelines.

I'll go for it too, even though I've told myself many times that I don't need any more IEMs...

As a fellow Impact owner, I will say this - this is shaping up as what I wanted the Impact bass to be.

How are male vocals compared to other dynamic drivers you've heard?

I’d say that it generally does male vocals well because of that tilt towards the lower mids as well as its bass response. Baritone and bass voices have good weight and density but are also nuanced and well articulated, not veiled.

I recall you DMed me for recommendations for male vocals quite some time back and I’m quite sure I recommended Volt for lower register vocals, or at least some other Penon for vocals in general. Did you get to listen to any Penon IEMs since then? Or what did you try and what did you like/not like about them? Also, are you after a specific register or range or some other quality in male vocals? For instance, do you have in mind Leonard Cohen type vocals or Lou Reed type vocals? It might help me or someone else here make more relevant recommendations or comparisons.

 

[Saigon13]

Is Quattro good for metal music? I mainly listen to progressive metal and power metal. Can those 4 DD keep up with the pace?

 

[Click]

Is Quattro good for metal music? I mainly listen to progressive metal and power metal. Can those 4 DD keep up with the pace?

Like I said in my first impressions post, the 4DDs are surprisingly agile and fast.

I don't listen to too much metal these days (I used to be a metal head in my teens), but played Judas Priest Painkiller just now and yes, Quattro easily keeps up with the crazy drums and incredibly fast-paced guitar lines. There's so much layering, details, and imaging too. Not to mention the incredible timbre.

I listen to a good amount of Polyphia and Quattro kicks ass for that band.