Penon Serial the triple dynamic allrounder
This is my first Penon product if you do not count ISN, I bought it with my own money. All impressions below are my own subjective thoughts after a few months of use.
Description from the Penon website
Medical grade resin cavity, light and beautiful, comfortable to wear, no strange feeling in contact with the skin.
Semi-transparent black shell, the panel is made of stabilized wood red, blue, and green 3 colors mixed
Made by hand, the earphone shell is solid and more durable.
6mm pu diaphragm for high frequency
8mm titanium-plated for middle frequency
10mm biological diaphragm for low frequency
Resin shell, stabilized wood panels
3-way crossover, 3 tubes
Stainless steel nozzle
Specification
Brand: Penon
Model: Serial
Driver: 3 Dynamic Driver
Impedance: 18 ohm
Sensitivity: 103dB
Frequency response: 20-20kHz
Connector: 2Pin 0.78mm
Plug: 3.5mm audio, 2.5mm balanced, 4.4mm balanced
Cable: 8 shares OCC & silver-plated Mixed Braided
Cable length: 1.2M
Warranty
18 months warranty
Penon has quite a big lineup of IEMs and cables, and continues to make new IEMs and cables every year. The last IEM launch of them being the Impact priced 2500$ and from first impressions competing even higher in price. This is something that is often the case with their releases, they almost always compete with sets more expensive.
Penon FAN $139 - 10mm Single Dynamic Driver
Penon FAN 2 $279 - 2x 6mm DD bass driver + 2 BA Drivers for mids and treble
Penon Globe $339 - 10mm DD doing low end + 2 BA Drivers mids and Highs
Penon Impact $2499 - 10 BA Sonion BAs and ESTs
Penon Legend $1299 - 13 BA Sonion and Knowles with tuning switches
Penon Orb $249 - 10mm DD + 1 BA
Penon Serial $299 - 3 DD drivers
Penon Sphere $159 - 1 BA
Penon Volt $799 - 10mm DD + 2 BA + 4 EST
Penon Vortex $219 - 10mm DD
About me and my gear used for the review
My audio preference is neutral with sub and mid bass boost, mids can be forward but not too much. I can also handle some treble spikes if it's not excessive. I am a believer in having different tuned IEMs for different genres or moods instead of chasing the single perfect one.
Main music genres I listen to are Metal, Electronica, Jazz, indy rock/metal, R&B, Pop. I am a music lover, and can listen to almost all the genres out there. I have been into music gear since the mid to early 90s, gifted some big speakers at an early age. Then moved more and more into headphones with the Koss Porta Pro and a Sony DiscMan and MiniDisc.
I have tried playing many instruments over the years from piano to sax and have a feel for what's a natural tone, but not a talent in playing. My wife has also played many instruments from string instruments to wind while has the talent part I lack.
My current standard in IEMs is SA6 and Penon Serial. One all BA with near perfect tonality for me, and the Serial with also a near perfect tonality for me. That is also the IEM getting reviewed here, so a little spoiler.
Gear used in the main rig is Topping E70 DAC together with the Topping A90 Discrete headphone Amp. I also have a Schiit Lokuis I can swap to if I want to do a little EQ.
I have also used the Feliks Audio Echo, one of the more silent OTL amps.
Portable gear has been Tempotec Sonata HD II Dongle, Hiby R3 Pro Saber 2022 DAP, Quidelix 5k DAC/AMP and Xduoo XD05 Plus DAC/AMP.
What the Penon Serial is:
The standard in IEMs around this bracket is Hybrids or in rare cases a single dynamic driver IEM. The Serial uses 3 dynamic drivers of different types and size, with crossover so each DD has different parts of the frequency response to do.
The low end is handled by a 10 biological diaphragm, the mids with a 9mm titanium-plated diaphragm and last the 6mm pu diaphragm doing the highs. The magic part here is that all the drivers are dynamic drivers and masterfully put together so If you asked me I would have believed it is a high end single DD IEM. A part of this working so well is the tubes from each DD deliver the sound straight to the nozzle.
The face plate is stabilized wood and not one Penon Serial looks the same since they are handmade and painted. The resin is semi translucent and with some lighting you can see some of the magic inside.
It has a safe form factor with medium size shell and medium length nozzles, this should sit well in most ears.
https://penonaudio.com/penon-serial.html?search=serial
Package and accessories
You get the yellow product box, cable, cable pouch, 3 sets of tips(S.M.L), leather strap, Blue storage box with zipper, little brush, shirt clip and the IEMs itself. Not too shabby if you ask me.
The case is just the right size and can fit the IEMs with cable and a small dongle, zipper is in metal and to me makes me afraid of the cable coming in between. The color is also quite striking, but blue is the color that Penon goes for with their storage cases.
The included tips are of good quality, from wider bore to smaller. If you don't have a tip set you love you should be happy here without the need to buy anything. Personal favourite is the green one.
Penon CS819 is the cable itself and is a very good value and performing cable. OCC and Silver Plated Mix. This is one of the cables I recommended when in need of a cable under 50$, it's soft and flexible. Great weight not being too heavy or too light, the connections and splitter are good quality. It sounds great, so when in need of a cable that's natural sounding not changing the signal.
https://penonaudio.com/penon-cs819.html
This picture is taken from Penon listing, since I never took a picture of it all.
So how does it sound
Natural, bold and sensual is the first that comes to mind. The sound is coherent with no gaps that makes you want more, when you put on any type of genre it will usually sound great .
I have different types of headphones or IEMs for different purposes. The Penon Serial breaks that for me. Yes maybe I would have wanted a little more of that or that for something, but the thing is nothing is wrong or lacking so I tend to not have that thought. While my favourite genres on the Serial are Darker Metal, Prog Metal/Rock, Melodic Metal and so on.
I had a talk with another reviewer(Tony), he had a good analogy for the Serial: it is like the good big vintage speakers. And I 100% agree with this, the big speakers with 12-15 inch woofers. Not the most technical sounding speakers compared to today's standards but perhaps more musical and thick sounding. Do not take this out of context and think it lacks details, it shows everything with good detail, soundstage and imaging. Still some other sets will give you better microdetails if that's your thing.
Timbre
First off what is Timbre?
From the Wikipedia:
The
Acoustical Society of America (ASA) Acoustical Terminology definition 12.09 of timbre describes it as "that attribute of auditory sensation which enables a listener to judge that two nonidentical sounds, similarly presented and having the same loudness and
pitch, are dissimilar", adding, "Timbre depends primarily upon the frequency spectrum, although it also depends upon the sound pressure and the temporal characteristics of the sound"
First minutes of trying a new set of gear, what I always listen to is how natural and musical it sounds. Much of this goes down to how I perceive the Timbre.
Penon Serial has a very natural sounding timbre, instruments sound very close to what they do live. It gives a little extra warmth making it lusher and more romantic. So not 100% right, and I like this approach.
It reminds me of some wood headphones that also have the same type of timbre.
The timbre is often more correct to me in DD drivers, so here we get 3 drivers all DD. This does its magic making them sound coherent from the low end to the high end. BA can also do a good job here and sound natural, but here again is more easily done in all BA IEMs rather than hybrids.
Details, Soundstage and Imaging
As mentioned before this is not the most detailed monster out there, it has drawn a line where you get good details but not too much where the experience of the song is ruined by a bad recording.
This means it also pairs well with music that is old and not up to today's standards. With good recordings I can adore technical gear showing every nook and cranny. Love the headphone ZMF Verite for this, while at the same time it's not headphone where I put my library on shuffle and enjoy. This is where Serial is a good companion.
The soundstage is presented more forward than most single DDs IEMs, having some nice depth and a little outside your head. What is the most impressive is how wide it goes , especially far out to be an IEM. While someone is always going to disagree, the soundstage is a subjective impression that differs from person to person . This is still an IEM and not an open headphone with a vast soundstage.
As for imaging there are no gaps I can notice, I do think that this is a place where IEMs often do it better than headphones. Many headphones will have some dead zones where the image is disappearing. While I mostly do my tests with music, I also play FPS shooters. The soundstage and imaging does a fine job pinpointing where sounds are incoming from.
Michael Jackson with Thriller is a good and fun sounding track to test soundstage on. Good separation of the sound and different depths being shown. Feels almost like a binaural recording.
Yosi Horikawa with Bubbles is also a masterpiece for testing soundstage and imaging.
It's also very technical as much is happening at the same time here, Serial in my opinion does it as a champ.
Bass
The bass is elevated but not a basshead amount of bass, I would say it has struck a good balance between fun and not overpowering the mids. This comes back to the 12 inch vintage speakers, the bass has a large sound. Not the fastest and not the slowest, it's in a good middle ground with some good sustain and decay. It can easily hold up with the speed in Psy Trance and other fast electronica genres.
If I would say a little negative it's that I would have preferred a little more sub bass, while the mid bass are probably what I find to be perfect amount and balance. Most IEMs coming out sound to lean in mid bass, specially the Harman tuned ones. Harman target while having a good sub bass rumble, lacks emotion and attack. I would say the soul of music is in the midrange and the mid bass, it's what makes you wanna dance.
In case you are a basshead this is not the amount you are looking for, but it has the definition and bass technicalities that might set your other bass head IEMs to shame. Especially if you EQ the sub bass up a few dB.
Its very detailed bass and sounds very natural, check out some killer bass lines from Victor Wooten and you can see what I mean.
Angel by Massive Attack
Good sub bass slam and it digs deep into the lowest frequencies, could have wished for a few more dB at the lowest notes. Still I have other IEMs for this if the perfect sub bass is needed. I do think it handles it very right overall.
Moth - Dyacide remix by Epsilon, Dyacide
Immersive ambient electronica, with a fast rhythmic bass going also having a heart pumping sub bass in the back. This is a track I personally hate on slower IEMs or the ones who don't have enough mid bass slam. Serial can easily follow the rhythm give me pure satisfaction here. Great track overall, just be sure to not push your volume too much as you will get tempted on the Serial.
So What by Miles Davis
Well renowned track, the Double Bass is played through the whole track. Here it's not too forward in the mix, with a basshead IEM this arrangement sounds wrong to me. With the Serial it hits just right showing good bass separation with just the right amount.
Mids
First off, if we say that the mid Frequency is from 300 Hz to 4,000 Hz it's easier to understand what I'm expressing in this part. Mids are where vocals and almost all instruments are, around 80% of the music is within the midrange. Many say that the soul of music is in the midrange making the success of a set of gear. I do agree to some part with this, it's also where too much makes the sound fatiguing or shouty. While too little can make the sound boring.
The midrange is very much to my preferred liking with a small forwardness that makes both instruments and voices come alive.
The lower part of the midrange is fairly neutral, maybe some small warmth.
The upper midrange has some extra energy, giving some good energy to music. This combo works very well for me making vocals not shouty or tiresome, while giving some warmth to the sound signature. Just borderline increased so it's not fatiguing with brighter jazz or rock.
Stretch your Eyes by Agnes Obel
The fullness of Agnes' voice together with the Cello is very intimate and magical. I do feel the tonality in Serial shows the song very spot on.
Trade it for the Night by HAEVN
Very good track and Marijn van der Meer has a beautiful and hypnotizing voice. This is a goosebump song on Serial and lets the midrange qualities flourish.
About Today by The National
One of my favorite tracks, I have played this on repeat over and over for years. It's both a sad and intimate song, the cello playing in the background giving many emotional feelings. This is one of the tracks I can notice that male voice is perhaps a small amount forward with the Serial, still as mentioned its minimal. I can listen to this track forever with the Serial.
Treble
Can first start with saying that the Serial is sibilance free, it has frequency dip from 4k to 8k making it quite relaxed. While still keeping some good air for the upper harmonics. Would call it a relaxed treble with good extension.
Humming by Portishead
Another on Head-fi recommended my try this some years ago when I was testing a headphone for how fatiguing the treble is. It has lots of weird elements, and sounds almost trippy. There are lots of unpleasant sounds that are shown if the treble is too forward or harsh. The Penon Serial does this as a champ. Personally I can take much treble but this track with the IEM Tipsy Ttromso is almost painful in comparison.
Claire de Lune by Kamasi Washington
This is a complex track with loads going on, this also tests brass instruments from the midrange. While everything sounds very right this is borderline too much and a faster IEM does this track better. Still it shows good separation of the instruments, and is not that slow that it smears the sounds together. This is also a track where forward midrange can push the Tenor Sax over what's pleasant. Not my favorite track on the Serial because of what is mentioned above, this impression is also due to my favorite cable that pushes the mids a little forward.
.
Air performed by Anne Akiko Meyers on violin.
Air is breathtaking here, the violin feels alive. And the airy treble is clearly present, I'm not a person who listens much to classical music. Still from what I see as a perfect representation with the ZMF Verite, the serial does lack some detail and airiness. But this approach is not wrong and is still tastefully good, where you just don't pick apart every nuance.
Gear and cable synergy
I have tested the Penon Serial with portable dongles, portable amps and desktop gear. It scales very well with higher end amps like the Topping A90 Discrete. I have a preference with cleaner sounding amps on the neutral side over warm or dark gear together with Serial. It is harder to drive than many other IEMs but all the dongles I tried have done it loud without getting anywhere close to halfway in volume.
One unusual pairing that has been quite fun is the Feliks Audio Echo tube amp, this amp is very silent and had sound on the more neutral side to be a OTL.
This combo gives even bigger lushness to the sound and makes the bass hit even harder and bolder, very fun with electronica and dark metal music.
As for cables I have tried the DUW-03, Penon Mix, ISN C2/S2 and NiceHCK Silver Cable. Favourite being the ISN C2, while the DUW-03 is a perfect companion and a clear upgrade cable when going from the stock cable. While the Mix also is similar it has some extra treble energy compared to the DUW-03.
My favourite ISN C2 gives some extra fullness to the sound similar to what my tube amp does. You also get modular connections making it more versatile with DUW-03, Mix and C2.
The changes are small and if it's because it's placebo or not doesn't matter for me.
Comparisons
DUNU SA6
And yes this is not a dynamic driver and not the same price group. What makes me put them into the review is that it's also a multi single type driver, 6 BA drivers with a nice tonality that many know about. It's also one of the few IEMs I own.
The SA6 has a more neutral sound, with a more clean clinical timbre that is mainly due to the BA drivers. Since its BA it's also a very fast IEM, and never really gets confused with fast technical songs.
Serial is more musical with more body to both the low end and mid range. Treble is more refined and forward on SA6, airiness is similar.
Soundstage is wider on Serial with around the same depth on both. Micro detail in the imaging goes to SA6.
They are very different but at the same time share a a clean unobtrusive sound, one being more on the cold side and the other on the warm side.
Penon FAN 2
Hybrid consisting of 2 DDs for the bass and 2 BAs for mids and treble.
This is a more neutral IEM with less warmth to the bass and mids compared to the Serial, as for treble detail and energy they are not far off each other. While the BA does make the timbre be closer to the sound of the SA6 in the mids and treble.
The low end is faster and less boosted in the FAN 2, while the Serial has harder sub impact and perhaps better note separation in the sub bass notes. The Mid bass is the other way around with more slam in the FAN 2. Both do the low frequencies great.
Mids are similar in how forward voices and instruments sound, while the timbre is different. I like both and would say that the Serial is more romantic while at times with brass it can get too much that will not happen on the FAN 2. Also a note on the deepest voices of male, there is some forwardness on the FAN 2. It's not unpleasant, but on some tracks can seem unnatural in comparison to the Serial approach.
The upper mid range is actually a little relaxed on FAN 2, they have the same amount of treble extension. Maybe tipping my hat off to the FAN 2s treble, this might also be due to the fact that the FAN 2 is more technical with its BAs.
For details the FAN 2 is the winner, but not by much. It shows more micro details, still less than SA6 does. As for soundstage I would say the Serial is wider while the FAN 2 has perhaps a deeper presentation. Both are great in my book in the soundstage.
Penon FAN
This is a fairly new IEM for me and much cheaper than the Serial. It's a single 10mm DD driver. This has a more v shaped sound, it still has a good mid presentation that is just not as present as the lows and highs. I personally like to have a V shape sounding IEM to dampen the mids on some genres.
FAN has more sub bass and mid bass than Serial while the bass notes are more refined on the Serial. As for speed they are close to the same.
Mids are more recessed on FAN, both voice and instruments gets shadowed some by the bass and treble. Some small bleed in the lower mid bass, but it is minor.
Going into the upper mids and lower treble the FAN has more energy and is increased over the Serial. The presence region is a make it or break it part of the sound, I prefer some extra bite while some others do not. The Serial is much more safe here.
FAN has an excellent upper treble also well extended. While the treble in the Serial is more pleasant and smoother.
Both imaging and soundstage is a win for the Serial, they are quite differently made and priced so it's not a shock.
Truthear HOLA
A small comparison with the newest entry level hype IEM. Different league. HOLA is less detailed, leaner sounding in both the mids and bass. When looking at measurement of both the difference shouldn't be as different in the bass notes. Still the HOLA is softer and less defined in the low end, and lacks some mid bass thump. Treble extension while good on the HOLA is still less detailed than Serial. For people who prefer a leaner and softer presentation the HOLA is great, especially for the price.
Conclusion
If you read the whole review you might have noticed I do have a love for the Penon Serial. While I can nit-pick and say that I would have liked more microdetail, that would have changed the approach of the sound. It has a pleasant line where it's detailed and relaxed enough to not make music a task to listen to.
It has a safe tuning with enough low end to please most, even some bassheads. The mids are romantic and give a full sound. The highs are slightly relaxed and for most people pleasant and engaging.
I would call it a genre master, I can put my music library on shuffle and enjoy whatever that comes on.
If I were asked to take one IEM with me on a 1 year trip this would have been my choice. I also bet that it is one of the safest sets when someone is asking for a recommendation.
It's not an IEM for the ones who need ultimate resolution and capabilities, but for the music lover.
Going back to the start, this is a bold vintage speaker packed into a small IEM and I truly recommend it.