I got busy with a project (work) and will expand my thoughts and impressions further. I will say that I am a dedicated Comply Foam Guy. I haven't had single set of IEM on which I preferred Silicone, so I started with the comply foams on the Xelento and they sounded "dark" and really overly bass heavy compared to the P1s. I just switchout the foams for Final Audio E Series tips and its a huge difference. The Xelentos are far more open now, not dark as before, but I need to spend some more time with them and A/B with the P1s, not that I;ve got these new tips on.... I will expand / expound but I gotta get back to work and I'll be onsite with a client tomorrow and wednesday .... I do like these Xelentos but the fact that they are a toss up with P1s says alot about the P1s at 1/8th the price. Also the Isolation on Beyers was pretty good with foam, and less so with silicone, but they sound better to my ears now .... again, I'll listen formulate some thoughts and come back to this topic. For $800 to $1000 I expect to be impressed by the Beyerdynamics, I'm now over the moon with the P1s.
Here's what I wrote about the P1s on another Thread:
Anyway my P1s arrived today and I've got about 2 hours with them and they are BEAUTIFUL. Honestly, with all the comments that have been made and contradictory reviews, I didn’t know what to expect.... I am absolutely blown away by them ... for $160 they are magnificent. First off They fit my ears perfectly. 2nd, yes they require power but on my Shanling M5s if I normally set volume at 22, with the P1s I need to go to 43 out of 100. On the PC with JRiver and an Audioengine D3 I've got the volume at 42. The bass as has been noted has great texture - no it's not thundering but it is full and well defined, and for my 50 year old ears it's PERFECT. So far I have sensed no sibilance. I've tried them with the included SE cable, the Linsoul Balanced cable and a Shure RMCE BT2 Cable. They are magnificent. With the Shure cable I have to run volume between 75% & 90%. I've got a FiiO BTR3 but cant test it yet as it's being replaced by FiiO. I even tried lying down with them, no problem against the back of an airplane seat or pillow when sleeping. Sound wise I'm more than happy with this purchase. The question for me now, is whether or not they'll be my travelling companions. Considerations are what they do to my battery life on my BTR3 & Shanling M5S if the impact isn’t huge, they'll come on the road with me, otherwise I'll just enjoy them at home and in the office.
They seal pretty well but the included tips are garbage, Too Short. I changed them to the Final Audio E Series Silicon and they were OK, but so far the best tips have been the Grey Foams that came with the T3s (Similar to Comply T400). Again, this is subjective, but for me these tips give the best seal and isolation and comfort. The length of these and the Comply equivalent is 10.5mm which provides a greater contact patch to evenly distribute the pressure of the foam in the ear canal. The included tips are the same size as the Dekoni Bulletz which are 9mm in length. I don’t like them, they irritate my ears after a while. It's amazing the difference 1.5mm makes.
Anyway find YOUR perfect tip and you'll love these IEMs. As many of you, I have come the conclusion that we can read as many reviews and opinions as we like, but at the end of the day, they're your ears, you have to come to your own conclusion. The countless reviews can simply give some "Guidance". Anyway for me..... the P1 has been a HIGH VALUE score. Thank you @Lillian and Linsoul for an outstanding piece of gear!
I just spent another 4 hours with the P1s listening Paolo Fresu & Omar Sosa (Jazz Trumpet & Piano). This album is absolutely sublime and the P1s brought out all the subtlety and detail - I heard little details in the background I never heard before. I then moved over to Bill Laswell's AXIOM Funk Project The Funkcronomicon Album - Its a complex recording everyone deserves the opportunity to hear. Here's a sample:
https://cloud.howardolsen.com/UMcpOg The depth of the bass and little details like George Clinton smacking his lips are stunning. Then I moved over to into Derek Trucks Band album "Songlines" This is an exceptionally well recorded and produced record and I heard all kinds of things I never heard before. I could literally hear and feel the reverberation in the Bongos and could hear the Foot Pedal into the Bass Drum - so many little percussion details going on all over the place. I now know what one reviewer meant when he said it's like having your favorite and best speakers in your head.
There's been a lot of discussion about the soundstage "Is it wide / or / there's no width" Well I wouldn't call them wide but man would I call these P1s deep. I've listened to a bit of every genre over the last 24 hours and these IEMs have taken everything I've thrown at them. I have a very eclectic musical taste with over 5000 CDs ripped to FLAC and ALAC in my collection and I love Smokey female Jazz Vocals just as much at Wynton Marsalis blowing Classical out his Trumpet. I groove on complex Funk arrangements and rock out to hard driving Classic / & blues infused Southern Rock. These P1s are my new favs. I pretty much always use EQ when listening to music and I almost always boost bass & treble and then fiddle with mids and I don’t make any apology for it. Its like this I brew my espressos as double & triple shots, I take Scotch 3 fingers over a perfect ice ball, I add extra hot sauce on Madras Indian Cuisine, and I boost EQ for my music. The P1s have responded to everything I gave them and have made me a very happy customer. I could go and listen to 20 other sets of IEMs and confuse myself, or find a reason to be disappointed with what I've got - but I'm not going to. I've got these and I'm happy. I will admit, however, that I've got a new set of Xelentos showing up tomorrow or Monday and I do look forward to comparing them. I should also add, that yesterday I listened with a Single Ended cable and it was good, but today I connected a balanced 2.5 and it made a huge difference.
