Yanyin Canon

Now let's get into it a bit deeper.

Completely Subjective Audio Review - Yanyin Canon

Hello all: I hope my subjective audio impressions help you determine if this IEM might be for you.

I share my impressions as I hear them with my ears.
As all our ears are different shapes & sizes so what I hear as bright or bass heavy -you might hear as dull and Vise-Versa; just something to be mindful of.

What makes my ears happy as a sound signature is slightly more aggressive U shape. I love my Bass Sub and Mid Bass love it all actually; and in large quantity. With the Bass I prefer a faster decay the faster the better as to not bleed into the mids., I am treble sensitive and prefer a darker warmer replay with good extension and a more relaxed high end with enough sparkly details for fun.

I prefer the fast speedy bass of the Beryllium Coated Driver of my Xenns Mangird UP and KiwiEars Cadenza. Of course there are exceptions in the market - as I also find the bass of the Bio Diaphragm used in the Yanyin Canon special - has some special sauce like a 8" subwoofer that feels like a 12" Has the slam and some serious sub bass! And the super cool Copper Alloy Shell IKKO Obsidian OH10 does some magic to the bass.

My music Library is widely varied from; Metallica, Great White, Cowboy Junkies, Pink Floyd, Adelle, Melisa Ethridge, Hania Rani, Vivaldi, Fleetwood Mac, Five for Fighting, Manskin, Poncho Sanchez, Jimmy Smith, Chopin, The Crystal Method just to name a few.

That dripple being said:
And as such here is my take on the: Yanyin Canon (Bought with my $)

Sources: E1DA SG3 (ES9038), Shanling UP5 (ES912), TEMPOTEC Serenade X (ES9219) Geshelli JNOG J2 with AKM4493 chip. iBasso DX160 (Cirrius Logic CS43198)
DAP/TRASPORT: From Lenovo Laptop with Amazon Unlimited ULTRA HD, iBasso DX160 ,Samsung S22 Ultra with DSD Files.
Amps: LoxjiP20 tube amp and Topping A90D
Tips Used for Best Result for me and completely subjective: Short Wide Bore are my go to and I wanted to bring forth as much vocals as possible with maximizing stage. On the Canon I have the KBEAR 07 Yellow L tips.
Cable after rolling I used is the KBEAR Hazy 6N Graphene I got on sale for $30. I could NOT hear a difference with the other cables I have but did not try a pure silver one as I didn’t want to emphasise the highs.

COMPARISIONS:

IKKO Obsidian OH10 I heard before I bought the Canon from another member the Canon was similar to the Obsidian.
So do they sound similar? Nope not at all. On setting 101 they graph very close. But the OH10 looks like it shough have the more energy up top but it does not present itself this way. Kind of like the highs on the Xenns Up don’t look they would be present in the mix either but they certainly are.
Stage on the Obsidian is better for my preference not as wide but vocals are more forward in front of you and less in the middle of your head vs the Canon. I find the OH10 so much smoother in vocals as they are a tad recessed and my personal preference.

Bass is more thumpy with the Canon but after that the OH10 again shines with a special sauce that the Canon does not pull off for me as much as the Obsidian. Sub Bass the Obsidian devastates the Canon in quality and quality.
Overall I would have to say the OH10 bass is cleaner with less bleed. I have said this before the IKKO is on my special list and is one IEM I wont sell.

LETSHOUER EJ07M Resin Custom Tuned w +3db Sub Boost.
Not a quite a fair comparison with the price and driver count.
That being said how does the Canon stack up?
Quite well actually , Vocals are much closer on the Canon to the EJ's than to the OH10 , The EJ's still play a bit warmer in the vocals and not as much sizzle. The stage on the Canon's are not as 3D as the EJ's but do well stacked up against a IEM over double the price.

Bass is again more thumpy and there is more Mid bass coming though in the mix on the Canon, Where the EJ'S have more Sub Bass and a faster cleaner decay.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
The Yanyin Canon is not quite all rounder as its has a surprising fat low end in the mix, and that’s also why I like it very much. The Bio DD does some libraries extremely well. Rock, punk, pop and yet when it comes to Female vocals they sound super clean and detailed. I find I don’t miss the Est drivers of some of the other IEM's I have as the treble exertion is more than enough and more for me.
Tom Cochrane , Lars, Melisa Ethridge , Sade , Adelle all sound great.

IT HAS TUNING SWITCHES THAT WORK! That is why the Canon is great Value this IEM can be many things to many different people , great fit , build , accessories and very little cons it does almost everything extremely well as a set in the mid $350 price rage I think it should appeal very much to those still looking for their preferred sound signature and a great all around IEM .

Cheers TheDeafMonk.

Context
I had been eyeing an "end-game" set for some time before taking the leap and purchasing the Canon (note: end-game for my budget). I really enjoyed the Aladdin, which is a 1 DD + 3 BA set, but felt it was time to upgrade. A shout-out to @rattlingblanketwoman and HBB who took the plunge before me and shared their impressions with the community. When I received the Canon, I had already sold my Aladdin, which is why I am only including comparisons to the Olina (with some against the S12 as a bonus).





General impressions
The Canon has 3 tuning switches per channel that actually do something (~2-3 dB increase; check out HBB or other people's graphs that I shared in this post: https://forum.hifiguides.com/t/yanyin-audio-canon/33973/2). This means there are 8 different combinations to choose from, which is a great feature but a nightmare for reviewing. For the sake of my time and simplicity, I have settled on 010 (so mids boosted) for the rest of the impressions and comparisons. Why? I found 000 to be fun but a little too much bass for me - female vocals like Adele and Agnes Noble were slightly recessed when the songs had drums/guitar tracks. It wasn't always an issue, but personally I prefer 010 for general listening, and 110 if I want a more fun bassy sound.

Overall, the Canon sounds amazing. Bass extends very deep, has excellent rumble and impact, and has a great organic sound. It's not fast like planars, but it adds musicality to the bass. Mids are forward with 010 tuning, no issues there. Treble is also well-extended without any sibilance. I wrote down two observations over and over again:
1. Cymbals sound delicious. So clear, so holographic.
2. Bass hits *hard*

The Canon has a decent stage, but the sounds are dense within that volume - good note-weight plus good imaging and layering bring out intimacy (from the vocalist) yet nice reverb/echo and placement of instruments. The Canon sounds like it has Oxygen-like bass (note: I sold my Oxygen prior to getting the Canon, but I do have the Olina and am basing my thoughts on the extensive A/Bing I did with the Olina and the Oxygen), and imaging that is better than the Olina.

I couldn't find any faults with the timbre apart from the upper registers of the violin, which sometimes sounded a bit plastic-y. I don't know how obvious this would be to others, so YMMV.

Detailed impressions with songs & comparisons with the Olina and S12


Brief comparison against the S12

Conclusion
It's difficult to find faults with the Canon because it is better than anything I've listened to until now. Sure, I could try to compare with my Sundara, but that will really be apples to oranges! So based on the IEMs I have and my music tastes, the Canon is excellent. The tuning switches make the Canon a great all-rounder - I can essentially apply a hardware-based EQ to fit my mood. More bass? 110. More mids? 010. More treble and air? 001. Yanyin knows how to tune, so you start with a solid foundation, then you can customise to your tastes - what more can you ask for? (I mean, you could upgrade the individual components and throw in more drivers maybe...but not sure I need to one-up the Canon for a good long time!)

As always, thanks for reading, and happy listening

Yanyin Canon

The Yanyin Aladdin is a great little intro hybrid from the group that was well made and designed which certainly garnered some well deserved fan fare. Their new Canon is a similar hybrid design but ups the drivers and tuning options via switches on the back side of the shells. You have seen this particular design on Tansio Mirai phones and more recently on Penons own flagship Legends. Based on my experience from their Aladdin's it is clearly evident the Yanyin group can tune these earphones with the best of them. Their follow up the Canon is interesting as it ups the driver count from the Aladdin with an extra BA also integrating 3 tuning switches that enhances the 3 parts of the sound portions individually without affecting the other aspects of the sound balance and you got Yanyins newest hybrids, the Canon.

The Canon was provided for review purposes from Penon Audio. You can purchase a set here. All earphones I review get a minimum of a week's burn in straight and then I use them on a variety of sources to see how consistent the sound is and how they respond to different tunings on different sources. Sources used for evaluations; IBasso DX300Max, Fiio M15, Shanling M6pro,M5s,M3s,IBasso DX160,Sony ZX300 custom firmware, Fiio K3, IFI Black label and IBasso PB3 for amping.

On a personal note.
Since the 5 star system is what we use to evaluate an earphone on headfi. I give a star rating on how a particular phone I am evaluating sounds in comparison to sound performance in the price range vs a rating just dependent on SQ alone. This is a bit different in that at the mid fi level is what I am comparing the sound and performance level of the Canons vs others I have owned and heard in the price range. For example vs the ISN EST50, Dunu SA6, Sony XBA-Z5 and the IBasso IT04 for example. On that price point. You can’t expect a $100 earphone to sound like a $1,000 one for example and I feel this is the best way to give some type of score fairly on an earphone.

The package
Consists of a set of silicones. A switch tool, a nice new brown square case, and a new higher end cable. A new graphite powder infused silver plated copper cable in a thicker 4 cored configuration which matches up well with the sound of the Canon in single ended. The accessories could use some better varieties of tips but for now it is bare minimum for accessories and nothing really stands out from the package here. It is always a good sign when the included cable matches up well with the sonic character of the earphones themselves and the included cable is clearly an upgrade vs the throw in cable that was included with the Aladdin's.

The Canon is the 2nd earphone I had the opportunity to review from the group and as such I am starting to see how proficient these folks are at tuning. I am very certain Yanyin folks are experienced tuners as both the Aladdin and the Canons both have very good tunings for their perspective sounds. Both being hybrids and the question came up that is it warranted for the Canon which just adds one more BAs to cost almost $400 in price point. The answer is not a simple yes or no for this one and here is why.

The Canons are an upgrade from the Aladdin on a technical aspect to its sound but are also tuned differently. While it is using a similar hybrid configuration, the Canons were tuned with a more dynamic energetic angle from the harmonesque neutrally tuned Aladdin's sound tuning and balancing. The base tuning for the Canon is a mild v shaped signature this time meaning there is more emphasis from the treble and the bass end of the Canon. At the same time it does upgrade the technical aspects from the Aladdin to a nice higher degree.


The build
The build of the Canon is your tried and true all resin design but with a vent out back for the dynamic to breathe and 3 switches to modify the sound a bit. Its a slightly smaller medium sized universal design which provides a nice fit for my ears and I appreciate the housing design to be on the smaller size of medium meaning it should be comfortable for most to use. It is about as compact a design as it will get using 5 Drivers in a housing. It has an average isolation for resin designs so it does block out some ambient sound I would guess at around 25-26dbs. As is with most all resin semi custom designs the usability and build is tops on this one and I also like the fact that it is using a 2 pin design instead of mmcx. You shouldnt have any real fitment issues or will they have any issues from a build standpoint. Well built and designed all the way around.

Trebles
Trebles of the Canon sees an increase in definition and emphasis from the Aladdin treble tuning especially for the lower trebles. The increase of trebles does not mean it will be fatiguing but I do notice trebles play a bigger role in the Canon tuning this time around. The Canon has a clean tonal character overall due to the ample lower treble emphasis and details for trebles is also clean and detailed in nature. Its treble emphasis sees an increase of refinement in the way of better articulation and extension over the Aladdin treble. In general, while the treble is a safe level of emphasis. It is just at the cusp of standing out yet clearly defined and does not quite go over boundaries for trebles. Treble fans will respect the treble performance of the Canon as it clearly has more moderate treble in emphasis vs something it is more neutral in presentation especially with the treble switch on.

The treble switch introduces a bit more sparkle up top of the Canon sound as it seems to give a slight uptick in emphasis toward the upper trebles. The switches by the way works to bring about a very mild increase in the given regions of sound so nothing real drastic to the sound tuning. Most of the review here was done using the switches in the off position. I do like the extra sparkle of the treble switch with the mid switch turned on with warmer sounding sources, Shanling daps for example and depending on the genre the bass switch on as well. The enhancement to the sound tuning is not enough to change up the base sound character of the given regions to be completely different but for folks that want just a bit more here and there. It is certainly good to have that option.

Folks that felt the treble aspect of the Aladdin needed just a bit more in the way of presence and range the Canon is just this. Its treble character is energetic and clean at the same time and does not cross fatigue territory. The detailed sparkly treble end of the Canon is right there with some of the better lower mid fi category of earphones that I have heard and will be satisfactory for folks that have an affinity to get their full trebles on.

Mids
Mids of the Canon has a slightly more emphasized upper mid gain vs the Aladdin so this time around it has a touch more in the way of a vocal lift vs the Aladdins mid range, especially with the mid center switch on. Mids tonality is cleaner and more precise vs Aladdin's smoother tonal character and in that regard it gives a more energetic vibe to the sonic presentation. At the same time the better clarity aspects leads to more perceivable refined technical aspects to the Canon tuning. Canon sounds more precise in how it portrays sound. Both the Aladdin and Canon does sound layering amazingly well but Canon this time around adds better precision, imaging and overall is more forward sounding vs the Aladdins mids presentation which has a smoother, a bit more musical and neutral in tone.

Here is where the BAs chosen for the mids show a bit of that BA timbre with more of a rigid chiseled tonal character. On one hand its precision and imaging is outstanding but at the same time shows that it is clearly using BAs for the mids. Aladdin has a smoother tonal quality on how it portrays sound so some might like how the smoother more fluid mids on the Aladdins more so. The Canons most definitely have the upper hand in technicalities in comparison but don’t sound as cohesive at the same time.

It's more energetic cleaner sounding treble and mids performance is more different in presentation while presenting a warmer fuller mid bass performance using the same dynamic driver from the Aladdin. This was much less evident on the Aladdin since its mids were more smoother in tone and had that tight full low sub bass emphasis vs mid bass which clearly stayed away from the Mid of the Aladdin. The Canon has a cleaner more precise mid range but now has some warmer mid bass so that brings about a different contrasting tonal character in the regions.

Imaging, instrument separation, and details are all upgraded from the Aladdin presentation. The stage however seems to be roughly the same vs the Aladdin. Stage is well imaged in a sideways oval aspect to the sound. It has a bit more in the way of sound density for the mid bands and has very similar dimensions to the sound stage as the Aladdin. Showing good height, depth and a moderate wider stage. You can say it is a more energetic, more technical Aladdin sound but with that energy comes more emphasis from the treble, upper mids and bass end of the Canon. So it does enough to separate itself from the Aladdin altogether.

Bass
Why change a good thing. The 9.2mm Bio diaphragm makes a return from the Aladdin. I do believe the dynamic being used is the same dynamic. Its ability and tonal character is identical to the Aladdin but this time around gets a slight uplift in mid bass emphasis. I know some folks thought the Aladdin bass end was a bit on the tame or reserved at least the mid bass portion. Not so much for the Canon which sees an increase for the mid bass with just a good sub bass this time around from the Aladdin.

This bass dynamic does a great job reproducing the bass notes. Bio dynamics have always done bass well and the bass here is tight, punchy, well rounded, refined and defined. Subbass is roughly similar to the Aladdin here as well but I can tell the mid bass has greater emphasis this time but not so much to cast a shadow to the lower mids. Bass tonality is superb on these Yanyin earphones and since the Canon is colored a bit more for modern music more so than Aladdin's more even handed smoother balancing. Canon does a great job at being versatile for all sorts of different music requiring the low end to be dynamic and versatile while adding plenty of impact and a deep textured rumble. I am a huge fan of the dynamic drivers being used for Yanyins earphones. Going back to an actual older dynamic design the Bio dynamic was something that was first utilized and designed by Sony of all companies. Last time I checked, Sony folks are bassheads. Ya no other way to describe their earphones as all of them have bass involved so why not use one of the all time best dynamics that do bass. Canons bass is every bit as good as anything I have heard that need the low end for the cost so again. Why change a good thing.

In the end.
The Canon is yet another fine example of tuning mastery by the folks at Yanyin. It is more than just the added driver to help in the technical aspect of the Canon sound. It is the more enhanced tuning of the Canon that clearly shows a leap in dynamics for the Canons. The Canon has a very versatile tuning that will play great with all genres of music and clearly shows that it has the technical chops to be among the best earphones in the price range. These are for enthusiasts that want an exciting sound with a rangy vocal presentation. BA timbre aside the precision, the clearity, the instrument separation is all done amazingly with a sparkly detailed treble and a full punchy bass end on the Canons. You want an exciting full ranged sound. You will get that with the Canons. As always, I appreciate you all reading the review. Happy listening always.