[wolfstar76]

Didn't know Final is selling ZE8k outside of Japan, they told me it won't happen until next month. I had their ZE8k for a few weeks, and indeed, while up close they look a bit odd, surprisingly, they are very comfortable and sit very secure in my ears.






The eartips are custom, and I already told them they should have thought of an adapter to use with regular eartips. I will try later to mod the smallest size eartips pair I don't use, cut the cap off to see if I can attach regular eartips over the stem/nozzle. Also, these do have Noise Canceling mode (not bad actually), Ambient Mode (so you can hear surrounding to raise awareness around you), Wind-cut (wind noise reduction mode, very effective when running/walking), and Voice-Through (puts music at lower level in the background while you can hear everything around you).

I'm a bit surprised you mentioned they don't have enough bass, did you try different eartips sizes? But you also mentioned in comparison to other TWS pairs, so perhaps it's a relative thing. After 100hrs+ of burn-in since I have been using them daily, I actually had to go into the custom EQ of their app to drop the bass around 60Hz and boost mids and treble. This is still tuned like their E-series iems, to have natural, organic, warmer tonality, not to be mistaken with A8000 which is vivid, revealing, micro-detailed. ZE8000 does have a natural smooth tonality, but also very good retrieval of details, and like you mentioned already, wide soundstage. To my ears, by default without applying EQ, the bass is a bit too commercially tuned with low end being a bit too thick for my taste. Using their in-app EQ doesn't shelf the bass, just reduces the weight, gives it more control and articulation, and helps to keep lower mids closer to neutral.

It doesn't support LDAC because, according to Final, they do their own sound processing with built-in DSP and don't see the need for it. The only negative I found so far is not being able to customize controls, those are hardcoded and you can't re-assign single/double/triple taps.

The shape is strange, almost rival the Q-tip of the original AirPods

 

[DanielListening]

There are rumblings…

Just received the Impact - a Canadian Tour Unit. Even before I graphed it, I knew it sounded familiar.. A Traillii like tonality with the Jewel like resolution.

There is a lot of restrained excitement surrounding this new Penon IEM.

I am excited to listen.

 

[malira]

This was such a fun read and a very relatable impression from my own Camelot review.

Thank you for taking your time to write this!

I received the Camelot yesterday from Andrew at Musicteck. I have many high end iems and I find the Camelot to be among the best. It has excellent clarity, wide soundstage and very good bass, mids and treble. It’s in iem that sounds much like a high end headphone. It’s an excellent all around iem.

 

[RTodd]

The shape is strange, almost rival the Q-tip of the original AirPods

Looks like a pair of cufflinks to me.

 

[wolfstar76]

Looks like a pair of cufflinks to me.

Also the black color, if I post the picture without any context, most people would guess that's something used in plumbing.

 

[wolfstar76]

Quote from @Sajid Amit:

My Top 15 IEMs for resolution:
1. Annihilator 2021
2. Noble Ragnar / Aroma Jewel / KSE1200
3. Odin / Tia Fourte / Traillii / KR5 / XE6 / Mentor / Odyssey
4. Tia Trio / Legend EVO / VE EXT / LCDi4

Interesting list. Not sure where will be Supermoon.

 

[twister6]

There are rumblings…



There is a lot of restrained excitement surrounding this new Penon IEM.

I am excited to listen.

Per link with Traillii, Jewel, and Impact FR measurements you quoted from Penon thread, one would assume they should sound close considering FR from 0-5kHz is nearly identical. But, how many people in this Watercooler thread, those who own or owned both, mentioned about Traillii and Jewel having identical bass or identical lower/upper mids?

And btw, that's how I measured these, multiple times, normalized at 1kHz, and find them to compare in sound accordingly.



This brings us back to a discussion we had not too long ago, and probably not once, about FR looking similar while the sound being not the same. I also recall other budget IEMs tuned with FR shape resembling the Bird. I'm not saying or suggesting anything, especially since I didn't hear Impact and doubt I will get a chance to, but it is definitely good to know that whoever is tuning and manufacturing IEMs for Penon have their reference bar set high

 

[wolfstar76]

Per link with Traillii, Jewel, and Impact FR measurements you quoted from Penon thread, one would assume they should sound close considering FR from 0-5kHz is nearly identical. But, how many people in this Watercooler thread, those who own or owned both, mentioned about Traillii and Jewel having identical bass or identical lower/upper mids?

And btw, that's how I measured these, multiple times, normalized at 1kHz, and find them to compare in sound accordingly.



This brings us back to a discussion we had not too long ago, and probably not once, about FR looking similar while the sound being not the same. I also recall other budget IEMs tuned with FR shape resembling the Bird. I'm not saying or suggesting anything, especially since I didn't hear Impact and doubt I will get a chance to, but it is definitely good to know that whoever is tuning and manufacturing IEMs for Penon have their reference bar set high

Not only timber and some other factors are not revealed from FR, but also some new technology such as BCD adds additional flavor to the sound signature again not entirely can be explained by the FR.

 

[MatW]

 

[Scubadevils]

I've been back to work with a bang this last week, Christmas holiday feels like a distant memory. Anyway, I did manage to complete my review for the MA Eclipse today and it's available HERE should you feel inclined to have a read! TLDR; I effing love them.

 

[Damz87]

Waiting for your comparison with MSE

Should arrive tomorrow!

 

[wolfstar76]

I've been back to work with a bang this last week, Christmas holiday feels like a distant memory. Anyway, I did manage to complete my review for the MA Eclipse today and it's available HERE should you feel inclined to have a read! TLDR; I effing love them.

Another fantastic review! I enjoyed your review especially you have all the testing tracks included.

 

[Scubadevils]

Another fantastic review! I enjoyed your review especially you have all the testing tracks included.

Thank you, I appreciate the feedback and glad you enjoyed

 

[weexisttocease]

I've been back to work with a bang this last week, Christmas holiday feels like a distant memory. Anyway, I did manage to complete my review for the MA Eclipse today and it's available HERE should you feel inclined to have a read! TLDR; I effing love them.

Fantastic read. What's your next move? Svanar?

 

[Bosk]

Didn't know Final is selling ZE8k outside of Japan, they told me it won't happen until next month. I had their ZE8k for a few weeks, and indeed, while up close they look a bit odd, surprisingly, they are very comfortable and sit very secure in my ears.






The eartips are custom, and I already told them they should have thought of an adapter to use with regular eartips. I will try later to mod the smallest size eartips pair I don't use, cut the cap off to see if I can attach regular eartips over the stem/nozzle. Also, these do have Noise Canceling mode (not bad actually), Ambient Mode (so you can hear surrounding to raise awareness around you), Wind-cut (wind noise reduction mode, very effective when running/walking), and Voice-Through (puts music at lower level in the background while you can hear everything around you).

I'm a bit surprised you mentioned they don't have enough bass, did you try different eartips sizes? But you also mentioned in comparison to other TWS pairs, so perhaps it's a relative thing. After 100hrs+ of burn-in since I have been using them daily, I actually had to go into the custom EQ of their app to drop the bass around 60Hz and boost mids and treble. This is still tuned like their E-series iems, to have natural, organic, warmer tonality, not to be mistaken with A8000 which is vivid, revealing, micro-detailed. ZE8000 does have a natural smooth tonality, but also very good retrieval of details, and like you mentioned already, wide soundstage. To my ears, by default without applying EQ, the bass is a bit too commercially tuned with low end being a bit too thick for my taste. Using their in-app EQ doesn't shelf the bass, just reduces the weight, gives it more control and articulation, and helps to keep lower mids closer to neutral.

It doesn't support LDAC because, according to Final, they do their own sound processing with built-in DSP and don't see the need for it. The only negative I found so far is not being able to customize controls, those are hardcoded and you can't re-assign single/double/triple taps.

Hi Twister,

We're a bit lucky down here in that we seem to get early releases for a lot of Asian brands, like A&K's Odyssey for instance.

I didn't have a huge amount of time yesterday so no I didn't change tips on the ZE8000, and it may well have been that the tips they had on there were smaller than what I'm used to (typically size L) which may have affected the seal - leading to less bass impact but a larger perception of soundstage perhaps? Certainly with the tips that were on them sub bass impact in particular was night and day between the ZE8000 and Fokus Pro, which seems to emphasise that area.

From my brief impression the ZE8000 struck me as a very refined listen particularly by AWS standards, and it felt like the upper midrange & above were being heavily emphasised. I enjoyed the Fokus Pro more, finding their shells -at least the portion in direct contact with the ear- to be much larger but also more conventionally shaped, and the fact they can accept ordinary IEM tips (who doesn't have a huge collection of those by now?) is a huge benefit in my book. I think Final really dropped the ball with their proprietary eartips on the ZE8000, though the stock tips didn't feel uncomfortable I'd much rather use something like Spinfit W1s which are my current favourites.

That said, ZE8000's tuning may represent a step forward in TWS, since up till now most "high-end" TWS have generally featured fairly generic tunings, and the ZE8000 felt like something a little different. No doubt they will attract a decent following, particularly in Asia since they sport a more of an eastern tuning.