Geek Wold GK3

Geek WOLD GK3 (16 USD)



Purchase Link (Amazon): https://www.amazon.com/Geek-Wold-GK3-Headphones-Microphone/dp/B07F6WTBBX/

Purchase Link (Aliexpress): https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32890997832.html

You just have to read the current article to know that I'm not going to be impressed by GK3 by any means, I mean, BGVP manages to somewhat impress me with their upper models, but GK3 fails pretty badly in many ways, yet it manages to do so many things right that it is hard to tell whether it is a good one or not.

In fact, the only part that will decide if it fits well for you, is whether you're looking for its kind of sound or not, as you can sacrifice anything if you like the sound of an IEM, but you won't able to accept an IEM, regardless of how comfortable and well built it is, if you hate the sound.











But let's start with the beginning, GK3 has a really basic package. For 20 USD or 15 USD, I really really can't complain. You get the IEM, a cable, 3 sets of tips, and that is it. No carrying case, no filters, nothing. I have seen more expensive IEMs that were just as basic in their package, but for the 20 USD price tag, DK3 cannot be faulted so badly.

The construction quality is not that great, I mean, the IEM is okay, the plastic feels good, and I've seen IEMs that are much more expensive, like Periodic Audio Be, where the cable feels frail and I fear it may break sometimes. Even so, with GK3, it is a basic cable, feels frail, and I have a feeling I might break it if I pull too hard, or use them for jogging, it is good for their 20 USD price point, but not great otherwise. Also, the cable is not detachable.



The comfort is good, less so than BGVP DMG, but better than Shozy Hibiki MK II. The overall aesthetic is quite interesting, I think that the carbon fiber look is probably going to catch your eye quite fast, as it did mine. The isolation from the outside noise is fairly good, not spectacular, but good enough. About 20 dB of passive noise isolation is about right for portable usage. There is no driver flex, and no serious void, and I think that companies who make much more expensive IEMs could take a bit of advice from Geek Wold.

Geek Wold GK3 seems to scale a bit with the source, so try to not use them with at least a reasonably good source, like a FiiO M6, or an iBasso DX120.

This being said, the sound of GK3 could be described as heavy, thick, rolled off, compressed, and lacking detail. The soundstage is quite narrow, and they lack resolution, and treble extension, so their sound could be good if you wanted a budget bass-heavy IEM, but not so great if you wanted something more versatile and which works for a wider music selection.



The bass of GK3 is heavy, thick, but not necessarily slow, so it doesn't really color the entire sound in an overwhelming boom. Sadly, the bass is what would define GK3 the most, as the midrange starts to roll off and becomes distant, compared to the bass. Despite the midrange being distant and lower in presence, the stage is small and doesn't justify listening to progressive, orchestral, or atmospheric music. The treble is somewhat present in the very low treble, and upper midrange, but rolls off too quickly, and ends up being more of an upper midrange hump.

Furthermore, there is almost no detail, no clarity, no air. Instrument separation is fairly mediocre, and often there is instrument soup as I would call it, rather than a proper separated sound.



Of course, I complained a lot, but the IEMs simply don't do much better than that. If you want something that is good for 20 USD, Geek Wold GK3 is probably the best you can get, but honestly, I would suggest considering increasing your budget. Even within this article, there are options that sound considerably better for just a few dollars better.

Geek Wold is new name to a general HiFi geeks audience but the company that is behind this brand is not new to other market vendors. As far as we know ChengDu FaLanTe Technology company acts as an ODM manufacturer for other brands for a significant amount of time. Their current vision is entering the market of IEMs under their own brand with further plans of releasing new dynamic and hybrid models.



Our review would cover Geek Wold first attempt to appeal to HiFi audio fans with their initial GK3 IEMs — low priced 3 dynamic driver model.

Geek Wold GK3 technical specifications:

• Drivers: 3 dynamic drivers
• Frequency response range: 20Hz-20KHz
• Impendance: 8ohm
• Sensitivity: 102db
• Cable: 1.2m, high quality 4 core 5N oxygen free copper wire
• Plug type: 3.5mm, 90deg angle, 3U gold-plated plug

No additional information about the size of drivers or crossovers that are used. Pretty common situation for a brand at their first attempt and pretty general specifications. The only thing that stands out is the low impendance value — seems that these IEMs would be an easy load even for a regular smartphone and which also means higher background noise. But we’d check that later.

Packaging:



No relevations here either. Strict and simple black carton box with gold brand name, company name inprints and technical information on ugly white sticker — looks like an inevitable legacy of most of OEM|ODM suppliers.



The insides look much better developed — IEMs are placed on a foamy podium in lovely heart shape with additinal openings for exchengeable eartips.



Box contents are minimalistic:

• GK3 IEMs
• 3 pairs of silicone eartips (S|M|L size)
• warranty card

There is no IEMs storage&protection case which we treat as a drawback. Providing such case to prevent excessive dirt and accidental damage is always a good idea.

Build quality, design and materials:



This is the strongest part of GK3 product. Despite being made of plastic, those IEMs have a really appealing look. Geek Wold put much efforts to create an expensive feel that exceeds the price and expectations. Back plate made of curved transparent plastic cover and carbon fiber base with golden brand name engraved. Perfectly aligned with glossy black plastic body — no signs of gaps or movement when squized hard. Y-splitter is also made of aluminum with brand name inprint.



Output nozzles are covered with non removable metallic grils and there is only one compensation opening on the inner part of the body — close to the nozzle.



Cable leaves nothing more to be desired — soft silicone, 4-wire, copper, twisted that ends up with transparent curved heat shrink tubes from one side and 90 degree gold-plated 3.5mm plug from the other. Cable fracture protection — soft rubber caps — seems adequate enough for a long reliable operation. It might have been even better if Geek Wold would make it detachable…, but it is not.

Aesthetics here is not the only advantage! Wearing comfort is on the high level as well. Despite 5.9mm nozzle diameter, S-size eartips fit perfectly and overall GK3 shape and weight sums up to long painless wearing periods. Moreover, the isolation is better than usually provided by bullet-shape IEMs creating the additional effect of intimacy of sound.

Sound quality:

Audio sources used for tests: Hidizs AP80 DAP, AP200 DAP, Sonata DH1000 DAC&AMP, Xiaomi Redmi Note 4 smartphone



Lows:

Despite some lack of texture, low bass has good presence and representaion. We like its depth and reasonable balance with other frequencies. It stays in legible boundaries and doesn’t superimpose over the entire AFR. This is a clear advantage of having 3 separate frequency-dedicated drivers. Decay and overall articulation is fast which aids the dynamics of drum and base saturated tracks.

Midbass is not so prominent here and most of instruments in this section sound more distant and less powerful in comparison to hybrid or armature type of IEMs.



Mids and vocals:

Mids are hanging behind lows and treble section. Not too much but apparently several dbs lower. This doesn’t mean that mid portion instruments or vocals would suffer much from it cause those are still delivered well. Or point is that some music genres would be more appropriate than others. Vocals have a good portion of intimacy and moderate resolution of details. The best part is that that there are not a single sign of sibilances. GK3 could be a salvation after hours of listening to armature drivers in this respect. And again — thank to 3 driver design — mids have a good feel of air in the mix.

Treble:

GK3 deliver a good control over treble with no hisses and sibilances. For this specific model treble is perceived as being in more or less good balance with lows and standing a bit infront of mids and vocals. Good amount and presence. Not much of details resolution, though. Treble lovers would be complaining much about this unless IEMs are used with bright source.

Sound stage and channel separation:



Average experience here. As already mentioned several times — it seems that incorporating 3 drivers leads to good channel separation and instrument contouring. Such approach with the additional technical layering helps to define stage with a good split and positioning of each single sound. On the other hand, in contrary to most of the other IEMs on our tests, GK3 fails to deliver wider vertical and horizontal distribution of instruments on the stage in monaural recordings. Some controversy spotted here. We like GK3 stereo panorama but the stage feels narrow.

Overall sound picture:



In overall GK3 sound signature could be described as warm, intimate, V-shaped with a tendency to dark sounding. The best music genres would be something like jazz, blues and bass-oriented compositions. Keep in mind that GK3 IEMs sound signature, SQ and amount of noise heavily depend on sound source — the better and more powerfull it is — the better is the overall SQ. Moreover, the best AFR balance was reached when paired with brighter source like Hidizs AP80. AP200, which is more neutral, sounded much darker with a constant feel of lack of treble and upper mids.

Compared to KZ ED16:

We understand that comparing budget dynamic to budget hybrid IEMs is almost useless due to the tremendous difference in sound… Still we can conclude that GK3 is a better choice due to much more pleasing listening experience. Piercing sound of KZ ED16 is hard to bear…

Compared to MaGaosi HLSX-808:

HLSX-808 are another V-shaped but much brighter IEMs with lots of additional details in treble and midbass section. Mids have more presence as well. But those could be less attractive if you don’t like excessive crispness of highs toghether with presence of sibilances and if you want more deep bass.

Conclusion:



It is really hard to formulate single and precise conlcusion for Geek Wold GK3 IEMs. Customer satisfaction here would be based on many factors like quality of audio source, personal sound preferences, music genres, etc. What we can definitely state that the advantages are:

• build quality
• fit
• good AF separation
• good bass section
• price

On the other hand, there are some apparent disadvantages:

• distant mids
• dependency of SQ of audio source
• narrow stage
• lack of resolution

Consequently, we would stay away from further conclusion and recommendations — there would be people who’d love and who’d hate this product. In our turn, we tend to leave GK3 aside until we’d need some rest from bright sound of hybrid or armature IEMs.

PS: Geek Wold GK3 were provided by PenonAudio in an exchange for honest review and no payments.
Link to Geek Wold GK3 in PenonAudio store

The Company
Geek Wold recently established their company, their representative told me some brief background about them, “Geek Wold company was a professional manufacturer of high-end HIFI universal model earphones. We have ODM over $800-$2000 HIFI IEMs for other brands. We plan to use our own technology and persistent pursuit of HIFI quality to create more good sound quality earphones for ordinary consumers. our aim is to make HIFI earphones more popular. In the future, we will launch 25-30USD 1BA+3 Dynamic driver earphone, 50-60USD 4BA+2Dynamic driver earphones, Geek Wold focus on audiophile earphones and high technicality earphones, we are not focused on low-cost earphones, we focus on high quality earphones!”. The Geek Wold seems to offer high quality audio gears without sacrificing the price to performance ratio.

The Geek Wold GK3
The GK3 made may jaw drop the moment I unboxed it. It looks manly, clean and premium it is one IEM you can brag around your friends and told them that it is worth 5000 Php (100 USD). The carbon fiber looks legit and is wisely protected by a resin like material. The splitter looks like it is made out of stainless steel with Geek Wold being inprinted on it. The cable is a braided one, we don’t have any idea about the materials used but it looks sturdy and can take your daily beating. The connector is an angled one and lastly the filters are nicely attached to the nozzle making it feels more reliable than other IEMs in this price tier. I’m very impressed with the overall build quality but I still prefer a detachable cables as it is the first thing that breaks based with my previous IEMs. Lastly it has 3 dynamic drivers, each one are designated for bass, mids and treble respectively.

Technical Specification:

• Driver: 3 Dynamic Driver
• Sensitivity: 102dB/mW
• Impedance: 8Ω
• Frequency response range: 20-20000Hz
• Plug diameter: 3.5mm
• Headphone plug type: L-shaped gold-plated

Package
The package of the GK3 is pretty standard, you’ll get the GK3 itself with medium tips being attached out of the box, a warranty card written in chinesse language (not sure about which one) and finally 2 pair of extra tips, 1 L and 1 S. Added pouch would be much better but hey, I don’t have the rights to complaining for their asking price.

Fit and Comfort
A closer look of GK3’s body, the can be seen as well as the thick nozzle.
The fit and comfort of GK3 is just average, it provides moderate isolation and the sound leak is almost absent. I think that the nozzle is not that good as it is too thick and short to fit nicely in my ears. It fits better than bullet type IEMs but again it is not as good as CIEM like shells such as Kinera Idun, Ibasso IT01, Magaosi K5 and QDC Neptune but hey the price is just a fraction of the said IEMs.

Sound
Bass
I’m expecting an overly warm tuning here because it is composed of 3 dynamic drivers but I’m very that it isn’t. The sub bass has moderate quantity and depth for it to be felt in Melanie Martinez’s Carousel The rumbles at the beginning is just enough to please my ears, it is present but never excessive, the texture is quite smooth and is not that detailed. The mid bass shares the same characteristic as the sub bass, it has enough punch to tackle EDM tracks but I don’t think it will please bass lovers out there, you’ll get a smooth, tight and rounded mid bass with nice speed. It never sounded slow at all it decays quite fast as well making it more agile for fast and complex tracks. The overall bass doesn’t sound like a DD but the good thing is that it is tuned balance enough giving it almost a linear bass response.

Mids
Full sounding, it is the best way to define the mids of GK3, it packs good lushness and body without sounding colored at all. For the lower mids it is not recessed nor forward, it is properly positioned making it a nice all rounder. Ahmir’s On Bended Knee Sounds very enjoyable with GK3, it never sounded dry nor hollow, the body is just enough to retain the transparency for male vocals. As for the upper mids, it sounds too thick for me, the body somewhat reduced the sweetness needed to tackle female vocals, the texture remains great but it is placed a step or two behind the lower mids making it less intimate and sweet. Good thing is that sibilant is absent, the mids of GK3 is velvety and full sounding without sounding too colored, it is a bit forward than the bass making it a bit mid-centric IEM, clarity and transprency surprisingly not sacrificed for lush tuning.

Treble
Highs are meant for treble sensitives, it is placed behind the bass and mids giving the listener better depth and airier presentation. TK’s Unravel never sounded aggressive nor piercing, it is not that sparkly like the competition IEMs within the price tier but it is made for longer listening sessions. Despite the lack of sparkle and bite, it is still clear and fast listening to metal and rock songs won’t be a problem at all as it decays pretty quick, the extension is also decent. I love the treble of GK3, it’s like it is tuned for my treble sensitive ears, it is airy and placed slightly recessed without sacrificing the texture and speed.

Sound Stage and Resolution
Sound stage is above average, it has nice depth, width and height i believe that the GK3 sounds quite open especially when listening to live tracks but still does not sound confined when listening to studio recorded tracks. The sound stage nicely expands when it is needed, the 3 drivers also helped giving the GK3 enough prowess for good imaging and layering. The resolution is nice in bass as it passed my Everything’s Not Lost test, mids has average details and same can be observed with the treble, it is actually a detailed IEM under 1000 PHP (20 USD).

Sound Signature and Synergy
The GK3 has warm and smooth to mid-centric sound signature, the bass is a bit recessed with respect to mids and the treble sits behind the two frequencies. The GK3 is one of the least aggressive IEM that I’ve tried.

Aune M1s
Aune M1s x Geek Wold GK3
Aune M1s is a neutral sounding DAP with good body and low noise floor, the GK3 performs well as I pair it with M1s but it is quite odd that I need to put the volume up to 80 at low gain. The GK3 has nice punch and the sub bass is noticeably deeper as compared to the other two sources below. The mids is more full sounding but the transparency increased as well. Treble is still laid back with better texture and better extension. It is nice to pair the GK3 with neutral source as the relaxed tuning will not be disrupted.

Shanling M1
The Shanling M1 sounds warmer and it doesn’t synergize well with the GK3 the bass became slower with more warmth, the mids further gained body with the expense of less clarity and the treble sounded too rolled off. The GK3 won’t sound as nice as it should be with warm sources, the body will become excessive and the treble will further lose its sparkle.

Smart Phone (Huawei Mate 10)
The Huawei Mate 10 is fairly neutra slightly leaning to bright, the sub bass extension was lessen, the mid bass became less impactful, the mids became more transparent and slightly drier and the treble gained some sparkle and became slightly forward. As for the sound stage it is noticeably became narrower, pairing the GK3 with bright sources will make the mids and treble more balance but the bass will suffer.

Conclusion

The GK3 is a nice offering from the recently established company, Geek Wold it might be one of the best IEMs under 1000 PHP (20 USD). The sub bass extends well with moderate quantity and texture while the mid bass has enough punch and is surprisingly fast for a triple dynamic configuration. The mids are tuned forwardly with nice body without losing clarity and details. The treble is airy, relaxed and quick without being rolled off. The sound stage is wide and it has good layering and imaging, it is pretty resolving for the price too. It may sound a bit too thick especially for upper mids, the bass isn’t that textured, and the highs might sound recessed but it is one of the most relaxing IEM that I’ve tried, it is thick without losing its technical performance, I believe it one of my top 3 under 1000 PHP and the build punches way than the price, this IEM is a damn good starting product from Geek Wold.