Great review!

Can it be an alternative to Aria?

You guys are gonna have to trust me. These things are way better than a lot of IEMs sub $100 and can compete easily with sub $200 earphones. It is right up there in technicalities and sound quality in general. It will be tough to judge what is actually better than these at the price point.

So many new products come out every week, its so easy to miss a good product if the brand is not well-known.

I agree. I hope folks catch onto these. These need a following.

I use to own the PR401 and 1 or 2 other lower models. 401 was quite good. This the same brand that happened to make a come back?

The aesthetics (faceplate and gold frame) were taken from the UM MEST Indigo.

Do you have them FR graphed indepedently ?

I do not but I would message Penon and ask them. They might be able to provide one for you.

What is the closest you would compare them to (especially timbre wise) ?

They share a similar tonality sound balancing and timbre of the BQEYZ Autumn. And I am going back n forth from the Autumn to the YST-02. Autumn cost $200.

Have pulled the plug on these based on your review, the colour scheme of the shells and the fact that they are my initials!

The problem I see here is that you guys are getting these review units for free or fraction of the price and feeling obligated. Nothing wrong with that, as this is simple psychology in action.

I will gladly tell folks if they sound bonk but they don't. If you follow Penon audio goods sold on their site. They sell goods they feel are good items on their site. I can't begin to tell you some of the common IEMs they don't sell on their site as they feel they are not good. YST-02 is a very nice sounding IEM which is the sole reason why they sell it. I would wait and see what others have to say once they get theirs.

I got you. I have actually spoken with some chinnese folks and they have directed me to the websites with the reviews in chinese. After translating these it transpired that The Yinshite 02 are kinda okey'ish and nicely tuned, but nothing really out of this world.

These are sub $80 earphones and as such I am glad to give them the review I did. I give scores based on how IEMs do at their price bracket. You can't compare these to the better sub $200 earphones. But I feel they are competitive at the price they are asking for a set. I have heard plenty of worse earphones at the asking price let me put it that way.

So you are claiming these YST-02 can compete with stuff like T3+ or Titan S as it is the same price bracket more less ? Let's forget about the tuning and FR here. What would be your thoughts on this?

T3+ never heard and I do think the Titan S has better technicalities with better timbre but the YST-02 makes up for it with a fuller more forward mid range that some might prefer. Testing the YST-02 out of my Ibasso DX300Max they sound great.

I concur with the review of @Dsnuts, especially:

1. the sound signature of the YST-02 has a harmon balancing but with more detail in the treble and upper mids;
2. highs are detailed well and have a good presence;
3. mids of the YST-02 are substantial and spacious;
4. bass is more moderate in emphasis vs being overly present or big.

The T3+ has certainly more of the mid-bass boom and in my view a tad too much to the point of being fatiguing to me over extended listening. Sub-bass on both are similar.

In a nutshell, the T3+ is more fun while the YST-02 is more balanced. Clarity and details are more prevalent in the YST-02. It is more rolled-off on the T3+. For my taste, and on the track that I did the comparisons on, my preference is with the YST-02. The track I auditioned both IEMS on was Vietnam by Yosi Horikawa from his Spaces album.

YST-03 is out. Approx $99.