Geekfly GF10
You might know these folks for their more recent GK10 they have made but most folks do not know about their newer flagship TWS entry in the GF10. Their previous GF8s showed an excellent sound quality for running out and about while having a very strong clear signal. The GF10 sees an increase of drivers as it is now utilizing two composite BAs handling the mids to highs. Their titanium balltop dynamic for bass and a 14 layer dual Piezoelectric ceramic tweeters to handle the ultra highs.
The design of the GF10 is using the exact same compact housing of their previous GF8S which is actually not a bad thing, the housing is compact and clean looking and is comfortable to use for hours. The new GF10 has some advancements in sound quality which sees an addition of an added BA for the mids and treble from their previous GF8S with a newer 14 layer dual piezo vs a 10 layer variant of their previous GF8S. Otherwise the form function and use scenarios are identical.
Their included smaller box includes the ear pieces which are stored in a cradle box and it comes with a decent selection of silicone tips, 4 different sets and a set of foams to use, instructions and a shorter USB-C charging cable. The charging cradle box incorporates a USB-C charging with 5V/600mA battery inside. The idea there is with the base unit having a larger battery apart from the ear pieces themselves, you can throw in your earpieces which will automatically charge them while in the cradle. Ear pieces themselves use a much smaller 3.7v/70mA which gives an average of 5 hours of listening and a bit shorter if you use it for talking.
I would like to thank Penon audio and Geekfly for the review sample. These were provided for the purpose of a review. You can purchase and read more about them
here. These were evaluated using mostly my Fiio M15, Shanling M6 pro, and my LG cell phone for vocal testing purposes.
I know when you look at the price point of these things being at a healthy $299 you might be wondering how on this planet can these compete with the likes of Sony, Bose and Apple all having strong sales of their TWS earphones all with leading edge designs using the latest high res codecs and Bluetooth.
All Geekfly TWS earphones are minimalistic in design and looks. They don’t offer the latest bluetooth 5.2 nor do they include a large variety of codecs for streaming, only utilizing a standard AAC codec which by today's standard is very basic, doesn't have ANC or a standout battery life at only 5 hours of continuous use. So why the price? It has everything to do with how they sound.
Don’t know how many tribrid designs you have seen for TWS earphones but the Geekfly GF10 is utilizing a 7mm titanium balltop dynamic+ 2X BAs+ 2X Piezos that would be 5 drivers for the sound and then they add a type A amplification stage before the sound hits your ears. The end result is something you will not imagine can be heard wirelessly. These will make your other earphones with its 5.2 bluetooth and high res streaming capable TWS earphones sound dull in comparison. These will make your wired earphones sound underpowered in comparison. The amplification here is not a gimmick. It was used for their prior GF8S with the same results.
These don’t sound anything like a wireless product, and here lies the true reason for the price. I asked the designers why they don’t have newer high res codecs.The answer was that they were not able to include anything else due to the sound design of these and apparently there are limitations to the chip implementation and how they are able to tune a full sound using an older more reliable AAC codec vs the newer qualcomm chips with its supposed high res certification codecs. So they are clearly banking on a more simple wireless design but enables the designers to go all out for the sound quality.
I am still very surprised even for their prior GF8S just how good those things turned out sound quality wise, but the new GF10 takes that sound quality to one more level. These are rivaling some of my top earphones for sonics and that is something you would never expect from a wireless product. Sure it doesn't have the fancy bells and whistles of the leading TWS sets but you can look at these as more of a portable amplified speakers in your ears. The sound clearly has more power, more dynamics, more expansive deeper wider stage, basically like your wired sets but amplified.
Fundamental sound design is a moderate v signature with some clear authority in all regions of the sound. Its overall well balanced signature is more consumer oriented in presentation meaning it will have a full bass end, great wider spacious presentation with very good high quality level of mids and treble implementation using BAs and Piezos.
Treble is clean, clear and is not as tizzy sounding as Piezo upper trebles have a tendency to sound, implementation of the dual piezos are everything to get a more natural treble presentation and the GF10 delivers just this. The GF10 utilizes two composite BAs to handle the mids to treble frequencies and the treble is tuned to enhance the overall balancing and shows very good tonal qualities for treble. Treble tuning here shows the Geek folks know how to tune the treble to have the right presence and with a good rangy attack vs being weak or missing in any part of the treble tuning. It is crisp and tight for treble notes and shows that excellent rangy tone that good treble is always required to have. Its upper piezo is not highlighted but works more like an extension of the treble presentation from the BAs. In this instance the Piezo does a great job to infuse some air, extension and upper note shimmer. Love the treble detail and presence here to balance out the sound.
Mids sees a uniform balancing from a mild upper mid boost to a full on weighty male and female vocal presentation. The mids utilizing two BAs shows very good BA precision, the presentation gives a good blend of presence and technicalities. Here is the main difference from their previous GF8S. Sound tuning is not too different between the GF8S and the GF10 but with the use of an extra BA and a light rebalancing, there is less of a wall of sound effect that was how the GF8s had a tendency to throw out its sonics. The mids this time have better imaging with an increase in macro level detail as a result mids dimensional qualities are also enhanced using the extra BA. Mids has a slightly warmer yet mostly natural tonal quality vs being neutral or brighter in tone due to the ample and authoritative bass of the GF10. Its timbre does show BA tendencies but for what it is mids have good solid note weight, good range and are not lacking in any aspect of the mid bands. The full sound of the GF10 was tuned to really let you listen to the little details in the mids of well recorded tracks and the GF10 I can’t complain much of how the mids are tuned. The improvement of the GF10 over the GF8s is mostly in how the mids here are presented and the sound quality is ramped up because of it. BA timbre is not as natural as dynamics in presentation but I don’t find any unnaturalness about the mids well blended design.
Bass using a 7mm titanium ball top dynamic was clearly tuned for street use. Geekfly folks like to tune with bass as a part of their tuning philosophy which was evident from their GK10, their GF8S and now the GF10. I also feel the bass end of the tuning here is more refined from their previous GF8s. GF10 bass tuning does have a bold mid bass to sub bass presence which again is more tuned so you can enjoy bass in a crowded place. The surprising aspect of the GF10 is that even though the GF10 does not have ANC. Its passive isolation is quite amazing. If I was to guess its passive isolation is hovering around 30dbs+ of isolation. According to Geek folks, adding a power supply and an audio filter circuit adds to passive isolation for the unit.
These isolate way better than even all resin semi custom designs and while not exactly at the level of ANC type devices for what it is, this great natural passive isolation allows the bass end to be full on when out and about. Crowd and street noise will drown out bass notes for an earphone so I always appreciate a bit of a bass enhancement when outdoors. The GF10s bass is using a titanium coated dynamic which I have never heard a titanium dynamic not being able to give you that full bass. The bass definition is very good, even better than their previous earphones but you do get a good amount of it so be warned if you're not much of a bass fan. If you have ever amplified your headsets with a good amplifier you know how bass becomes.
This is essentially what the GF10 does as it enhances bass notes with a bit more authority. Big bold beefy bass if I was a guessing man sees around 10dbs of bass emphasis. While this may be a lot of bass for you, for folks that love some weighty bass while walking around these have it. Bass does a great job of staying away from the mids but does have a slight lower mids shadow due to the ample bass presence. Don't find the design to have too much in the way of bloat however. Titanium bass have a tighter note and good speed with very good texture for sub bass. Bass digs deep and can rumble with the best of them with a proper slower decay to boot. The bass dynamic here was clearly chosen for its bass performance and while these aren’t exactly at basshead levels it is most definitely knocking at basshead territory for bass.
Touch user interface for the GF10 works but is not as well implemented as I would have liked. It is difficult at times to forward a track, pause, increase volume and such. It needs a new firmware for the touch interface to be more accurate. Sometimes I would press twice on the right earpiece wanting to increase volume only for the music to pause instead. Answering and using the included mic works well enough with good vocal clarity for both talking and listening. Calls benefit from the very good passive isolation. Works as intended there. On a positive note, the signal from the GF10 to your host device is very strong, much like their previous GF8S. Its signal can transmit up to about 30 ft indoors and about 50ft outdoors. Which enables you to leave your source while doing chores around the house.
So my time with the GF10 was interesting. While I appreciate the upgrade of the sound quality aspect from their previous GF8S these are not exactly a huge step forward in form and function. Geekfly has a huge hurdle ahead of them. As good as these TWS sound, both the GF10 and their previous GF8S. I don’t feel sound quality alone will persuade an apple fan from ditching their airpods and a Sony fan from ditching a cutting edge true ANC with LDAC to get a Geekfly GF10. However I can see a scenario for the audio enthusiasts that want to hear how good a wireless amplified tribrid design can sound, these and or their previous GF8S are a good start.
The elephant in the room however is that no matter how good these sound, not having the latest codecs and Bluetooth version with an average battery and a touch interface that is a hit or miss will limit the true tech junkie from even looking up one of these. Its amplified well balanced full bodied tuning, very good passive isolation and a strong signal allows for a true wireless freedom with a no compromise sound quality.
Competition is so fierce for wireless products. Don’t know if sound quality alone will be enough here. I can see the reasoning behind their design but your average tech guys and gals that enjoy the occasional music out of their phones and think the latest high res codec will bring a higher level of sound quality will be hard pressed to think these are what they need. For the sound enthusiast however, truth be told AAC vs something like LDAC I can’t tell a lick of difference if anything the GF10 using its amplified design sound so complete and full on here for street use. I would rather get that amplified sound every time. As always, thanks for taking the time to read.
