The HiFi Boy Dream retails for around $89 at the time of the review on Penon Audio.
https://penonaudio.com/hifi-boy-dream.html
I was given a review sample by Penon Audio free of charge, and this, in no way, influences my review of these earbuds.
Build, Packaging and Fit
The earbuds come delivered is one of the most professional packaging I have ever seen from the east. Penon Audio gets the applause for this. The packaging is simple, yet a practical jewel-box case with magnetic closure. Nicely lined in a foam base, are presented a case containing the earbuds and foams, an in-flight adapter and a 6.35 to 3.5 mm adapter. Also, present is a nice, blue, Velcro cable organizer with Penon branding.
The earbuds are made entirely of metal with plastic rings. There are 4 colours on offer – coffee/black, gold, rose gold and silver. The cable has an interesting look – exposed copper internals in a transparent case. The cable also has a transparent splitter and a chin-slider and comes with an L-shaped plug.
The earbuds are on the larger side and this combined with the smooth, slippery nature of the material does not result in a great fit. I had to dabble with various foams before I found the perfect fit and position to enjoy them. More on that in the later sections. Fit, in general, is a nightmare and it loses half-a-point solely due to the fit.
Foam Matching
The most important bit prior to the actual review, in case of earbuds, is running through the entirety of foam types available at every nook and corner of the house and in the case of the HiFi Boy dream, it was quite critical for me – I can’t use them without foams like most other buds; they just won’t stay put.
That said, the following foam types were tried –
Stock Donut foams – Dense, covers the rear vents significantly, resulting in a very warm sound with slightly booming bass. Also, the nice sparkle at the top is no more a sparkle.
Generic Donut foams – Sourced off Aliexpress, less denser, bigger face area. Much better sound that stock foams, but didn’t indulge me.
Thin Foams – Sourced from my Willsound MK2 box, the perfect combination of warmth and sparkle. This is the foams in which I would be reviewing these earbuds.
Setup for the review
The basic premise for the review was my LG G6 with music sourced from Tidal via UAPP and local FLAC files – 16 bit and 24 bit. The music files were all played bit-perfect through UAPP app.
In a normal review, this section would end here, but in the case of the HiFi Boy Dream, there more. So take a look at the picture below (The human ear anatomy . Source: here):
When worn like normal earbuds, the HiFi Boy Dream seems to be lacking in the bass section with poor extension into sub-bass frequencies. Initially, I felt the same about these, but then, with a little adjustment, my earbuds were now wedged between the ‘Tragus’ and the ‘Antitragus’, which makes they directly face at the ear canal and voila the bass is much better and they have a nice extension too. So this is how I normally wear the Hifibou Dream during my listening session with them – not comfortable for longer session. Also, getting the fit right takes some time.
Wait, we are not done yet. One last thing. On initial listening listening, the Dream seems to have a V-shaped sound with noticeable recessed mids. I increased the volume to get the mids to a level of forwardness that I appreciate and the rest of the review was done at this volume.
So, how do they sound?
With the volume set to my levels of preference, they HiFi Boy Dream has a nice Holographic feel to it – primarily due to the soundstage width it offers, combined with the V-shaped signature.
So, let me start with something the HiFi Boy Dream is excellent at – the width of the soundstage. Decks Dark by Radiohead starts with different instruments on left and right at quite a distance and the voice perfectly centered. Bass guitar is meaty, snare drums lack the bite but have a decent impact. At around the 3:30 mark, the same bass note is played in the piano and bass guitar and can be heard distinctly – the piano on the center and the bass guitar to the left, while the right plays a higher rolling note. If you try this track and think ‘What is this guy on? I only hear a single bass instrument playing at around the 3:30 mark with the exception of 1 note’, then it is time to upgrade J. That said, the haunting nature of the track comes out alive on the HiFi Boy Dream.
Maggot Brain by funkadelic starts off again with impressive width being demonstrated by these earbuds throughout the entirety of the track. The over-driven guitar and piano together make such a psychedelic groove and the HiFi Boy Dream gets its so perfect that you can close your eyes let the electric signals of your brain go on over-drive.
While the width demonstrated by the HiFi Boy Dream is excellent, the same cannot be said about the depth. The depth displayed on tracks like Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa and The National Anthem by Radiohead are strictly average. In fact, on the latter, the holographic feel of the track doesn’t come out well and it sounds quite 2-dimensional with very little in the direction of the 3rd plane. Also, the smoothed out rendering of vocals doesn’t work great on this track. Moreover, when the track gets busy, two things are brought forth:
- the exceptional instrument separation displayed by the HiFi Boy Dream with sufficient airiness to the sounds
- the artificial/digital sounding highs; while every instrument sounds true to nature in the cacophony, cymbals are more of a digital simulated sound and the decay is quite slow, making 2 subsequent hits fuse together.
The artificial treble is seen, not just on this track, but on some other too and is instantly noticeable on live tracks where the sound of audience applauding is captured – the claps sound like a very poor quality recording. Even on tracks like Shibuya by Covet, where the ride cymbal is in play almost throughout the track, they don’t sound quite satisfying owing to the artificial nature of their rendering and the slowness of cymbal decay. In fact, I would say this issue is the Achilles’ heel of the HiFi Boy Dream.
Rendering of the layering in tracks is another strength of the HiFi Boy Dream – tracks from artists like Enya, Muse and Puscifer play great on the HiFi Boy Dream.
The Dream has a lot of things going for it and the driver speed is another one of those. On a track like Get Lucky by Daft Punk, where the tempo of the track is easily affected by the speed of the bass response, the Dream renders it with a tempo which I felt was faster than what I am used to, in general. The bass guitar notes start and decay in a fraction of a second and has the perfect amount of texture and every micro detail is served on a platter.
Vicious Delicious by Infected Mushroom is a track which benefits a lot from a fast driver and the Dream renders it exceptionally well with the synth notes of various frequencies and speed of these notes taking you to wonderland. At around the 2 minute 40 mark, the kicks get super-fast and the bass notes of the Dream are in and out before you can notice it.
Das Spiegel by Chemical Brothers is a track that you would generally not appreciate on a regular earphone – the sound is more of 1s and 0s in quick successions. On the HiFi Boy Dream, this track comes alive and is so fast that your brain has to catch-up on what just happened. Such a clean performance!!
When it comes to bass notes, the Dream is nothing short of spectacular, it can dig deep into the lows on tracks like Breathe into me and Deep by Marian Hill – both mid-bass and sub-bass quite impressive. Breath into me is an acid test for most earbuds and you can hear some blanks in the bass notes, but not on the HiFi Boy Dream.
Once adjusted to the right volume, the mids of the Dream are no slouch either; Ed Sheeran’s voice on One has the right amount of texture and warmth, no emphasis on nasal sound or graininess which is usual seen associated with slightly boosted upper frequencies. Fret noise sounds natural and kick drums have the right amount of weight and reverb. Skinny Love by Birdy is another track with comes with built-in sibilance – the Dream renders it almost true to the source, albeit some smoothness to the vocals.
Conclusion:
The HiFi Boy Dream is a wonderful earbud and at the price of $89 is a perfect upgrade to most of us who dwell in sub $50 earbuds. It would have deserved a full 5-star, if not for the slowness of cymbal decay that it portrays in most tracks and the fit. I detest the fit; sadly, it’s all about the fit – if you get it right, you’ll love these, else you may not see yourself using these on a regular basis. But I got to give it to the Dream, it is a well-tuned earbud that delivers on more occasions than not and leaves you wonder, where’s the hype-train for such an impeccably tuned earbud.
https://penonaudio.com/hifi-boy-dream.html
I was given a review sample by Penon Audio free of charge, and this, in no way, influences my review of these earbuds.
Build, Packaging and Fit
The earbuds come delivered is one of the most professional packaging I have ever seen from the east. Penon Audio gets the applause for this. The packaging is simple, yet a practical jewel-box case with magnetic closure. Nicely lined in a foam base, are presented a case containing the earbuds and foams, an in-flight adapter and a 6.35 to 3.5 mm adapter. Also, present is a nice, blue, Velcro cable organizer with Penon branding.
The earbuds are made entirely of metal with plastic rings. There are 4 colours on offer – coffee/black, gold, rose gold and silver. The cable has an interesting look – exposed copper internals in a transparent case. The cable also has a transparent splitter and a chin-slider and comes with an L-shaped plug.
The earbuds are on the larger side and this combined with the smooth, slippery nature of the material does not result in a great fit. I had to dabble with various foams before I found the perfect fit and position to enjoy them. More on that in the later sections. Fit, in general, is a nightmare and it loses half-a-point solely due to the fit.
Foam Matching
The most important bit prior to the actual review, in case of earbuds, is running through the entirety of foam types available at every nook and corner of the house and in the case of the HiFi Boy dream, it was quite critical for me – I can’t use them without foams like most other buds; they just won’t stay put.
That said, the following foam types were tried –
Stock Donut foams – Dense, covers the rear vents significantly, resulting in a very warm sound with slightly booming bass. Also, the nice sparkle at the top is no more a sparkle.
Generic Donut foams – Sourced off Aliexpress, less denser, bigger face area. Much better sound that stock foams, but didn’t indulge me.
Thin Foams – Sourced from my Willsound MK2 box, the perfect combination of warmth and sparkle. This is the foams in which I would be reviewing these earbuds.
Setup for the review
The basic premise for the review was my LG G6 with music sourced from Tidal via UAPP and local FLAC files – 16 bit and 24 bit. The music files were all played bit-perfect through UAPP app.
In a normal review, this section would end here, but in the case of the HiFi Boy Dream, there more. So take a look at the picture below (The human ear anatomy . Source: here):
When worn like normal earbuds, the HiFi Boy Dream seems to be lacking in the bass section with poor extension into sub-bass frequencies. Initially, I felt the same about these, but then, with a little adjustment, my earbuds were now wedged between the ‘Tragus’ and the ‘Antitragus’, which makes they directly face at the ear canal and voila the bass is much better and they have a nice extension too. So this is how I normally wear the Hifibou Dream during my listening session with them – not comfortable for longer session. Also, getting the fit right takes some time.
Wait, we are not done yet. One last thing. On initial listening listening, the Dream seems to have a V-shaped sound with noticeable recessed mids. I increased the volume to get the mids to a level of forwardness that I appreciate and the rest of the review was done at this volume.
So, how do they sound?
With the volume set to my levels of preference, they HiFi Boy Dream has a nice Holographic feel to it – primarily due to the soundstage width it offers, combined with the V-shaped signature.
So, let me start with something the HiFi Boy Dream is excellent at – the width of the soundstage. Decks Dark by Radiohead starts with different instruments on left and right at quite a distance and the voice perfectly centered. Bass guitar is meaty, snare drums lack the bite but have a decent impact. At around the 3:30 mark, the same bass note is played in the piano and bass guitar and can be heard distinctly – the piano on the center and the bass guitar to the left, while the right plays a higher rolling note. If you try this track and think ‘What is this guy on? I only hear a single bass instrument playing at around the 3:30 mark with the exception of 1 note’, then it is time to upgrade J. That said, the haunting nature of the track comes out alive on the HiFi Boy Dream.
Maggot Brain by funkadelic starts off again with impressive width being demonstrated by these earbuds throughout the entirety of the track. The over-driven guitar and piano together make such a psychedelic groove and the HiFi Boy Dream gets its so perfect that you can close your eyes let the electric signals of your brain go on over-drive.
While the width demonstrated by the HiFi Boy Dream is excellent, the same cannot be said about the depth. The depth displayed on tracks like Bubbles by Yosi Horikawa and The National Anthem by Radiohead are strictly average. In fact, on the latter, the holographic feel of the track doesn’t come out well and it sounds quite 2-dimensional with very little in the direction of the 3rd plane. Also, the smoothed out rendering of vocals doesn’t work great on this track. Moreover, when the track gets busy, two things are brought forth:
- the exceptional instrument separation displayed by the HiFi Boy Dream with sufficient airiness to the sounds
- the artificial/digital sounding highs; while every instrument sounds true to nature in the cacophony, cymbals are more of a digital simulated sound and the decay is quite slow, making 2 subsequent hits fuse together.
The artificial treble is seen, not just on this track, but on some other too and is instantly noticeable on live tracks where the sound of audience applauding is captured – the claps sound like a very poor quality recording. Even on tracks like Shibuya by Covet, where the ride cymbal is in play almost throughout the track, they don’t sound quite satisfying owing to the artificial nature of their rendering and the slowness of cymbal decay. In fact, I would say this issue is the Achilles’ heel of the HiFi Boy Dream.
Rendering of the layering in tracks is another strength of the HiFi Boy Dream – tracks from artists like Enya, Muse and Puscifer play great on the HiFi Boy Dream.
The Dream has a lot of things going for it and the driver speed is another one of those. On a track like Get Lucky by Daft Punk, where the tempo of the track is easily affected by the speed of the bass response, the Dream renders it with a tempo which I felt was faster than what I am used to, in general. The bass guitar notes start and decay in a fraction of a second and has the perfect amount of texture and every micro detail is served on a platter.
Vicious Delicious by Infected Mushroom is a track which benefits a lot from a fast driver and the Dream renders it exceptionally well with the synth notes of various frequencies and speed of these notes taking you to wonderland. At around the 2 minute 40 mark, the kicks get super-fast and the bass notes of the Dream are in and out before you can notice it.
Das Spiegel by Chemical Brothers is a track that you would generally not appreciate on a regular earphone – the sound is more of 1s and 0s in quick successions. On the HiFi Boy Dream, this track comes alive and is so fast that your brain has to catch-up on what just happened. Such a clean performance!!
When it comes to bass notes, the Dream is nothing short of spectacular, it can dig deep into the lows on tracks like Breathe into me and Deep by Marian Hill – both mid-bass and sub-bass quite impressive. Breath into me is an acid test for most earbuds and you can hear some blanks in the bass notes, but not on the HiFi Boy Dream.
Once adjusted to the right volume, the mids of the Dream are no slouch either; Ed Sheeran’s voice on One has the right amount of texture and warmth, no emphasis on nasal sound or graininess which is usual seen associated with slightly boosted upper frequencies. Fret noise sounds natural and kick drums have the right amount of weight and reverb. Skinny Love by Birdy is another track with comes with built-in sibilance – the Dream renders it almost true to the source, albeit some smoothness to the vocals.
Conclusion:
The HiFi Boy Dream is a wonderful earbud and at the price of $89 is a perfect upgrade to most of us who dwell in sub $50 earbuds. It would have deserved a full 5-star, if not for the slowness of cymbal decay that it portrays in most tracks and the fit. I detest the fit; sadly, it’s all about the fit – if you get it right, you’ll love these, else you may not see yourself using these on a regular basis. But I got to give it to the Dream, it is a well-tuned earbud that delivers on more occasions than not and leaves you wonder, where’s the hype-train for such an impeccably tuned earbud.
How is the fit compared to the TY HI Z 300M? They lookalike.
How do they compare with Penon BS1 official in terms of SQ?