I have both the Szalayi and the EST 50 and I completley agree with your comparison. Great review!

SZA is my favorite own of 2022. I've lost sleep because of them!

@drbluenewmexico... on your trails now... Waking up 6AM every day just to lose my mind again and again...

Great set, stupidly sold mine

There's one on classified for 500!

Think I found the answer to my Hook-X upgrade search... EST50 seems nice, too, but the Penon DNA family IEMs are always disappointingly soft, muddy, overly warm. :\ PLANAR FTW!!! I would say I prefer BA over EST so far, as well!

I recently bought Isabellae, and they are very good at everything. Slight peak in the lower treble in one tiny area. Not as liquid/fluid/lushious sounding as Hook-X.

@CT007 Just to mention that Hook X most probably will be my next purchase,being flirting with the idea for months now....

Nice Review. I'm sold. I just traded up from the MEXT to Indigo and while I love the Indigo I do miss the the heavier note weight and deeper "musicality" of the Mext. I had toyed with re-purchasing it, I think Szalayi is next! Thanks.

@holsen do note please that "the heavier note weight" and the "deeper musicality" are two serious reasons for me now to prefer listening to SZA over the MEXT which I also have.
The sound on SZA is literally HUGE, you have to hear it to believe it man..

Listening to Duke Ellington and his orchestra...The juxtaposition of the soloists and the Orchestra really brings out the magic of the planar driver and the mids...every instrument breathes in its own space...and the bass! just 1 bass instrument being played yet it is rich and full...the trumpets are magic!

Can anyone further explain the differences/similarities between SZA and EST50..? There is no point in getting EST50, if you get SZA? I am thinking of trying SZA, Maestro Mini and Variations, maybe...unless something is clearly ahead of Variations I'm not aware of(no ThieAudio, pls).

I can do a brief compare. I'll use my 8 wire copper cable and my desktop system. Listening to Jazz right now, Dave Brubeck's Time Out on the EST50 and it sounds perfect. The piano, high hats and saxaphone have perfect clarity and the bass is rich and plucky. Song is Strange Meadow Lark. Tho the stage on the 50 is wide and tall and deep, the intimacy of the performance shines through. High hats sound great. Now switching to the SZA there is much more air and space to the SStage. The harmonics on the piano are 'richer' while preserving the clarity of the EST50.

The piano sounds more natural on the SZA, also the saxaphone is MUCH richer on the SZA. High hats are better on the EST50. Bass is fuller and richer on the SZA. Microdynamics are better on the SZA. imaging is better on SZA too. Switching to Techno/House music, on the EST 50 the bass slam is great, but the soundstage sounds a bit closed in compared to the SZA. Bass is definitley better on SZA and the coherence and soundstage pull ahead of the EST50. The mids are more liquid and organic on the SZA. Switching to pop genre, the EST50 sounds great!

The SZA sounds better as per all the points above, LOL! Bottom line, it depends on your budget. The SZA is twice the price of the 50, but not twice the performance. If you want that 'extra' magic in the soundstage and the mids, and the better bass and better imaging and you can justify the cost, go with the SZA. The SZA also loves power to get to that better place. I find on my M8, as good as the SZA sounds on it, the synergy with the EST50 is marvelous. I'm perfectly happy using the 50 on the portable and the SZA on the desktop. Hope all that helps!

@szore Great info!! Sounds like a no contest So Variations and Maestro Mini probably aren't worth bothering with if you have SZA, I assume?