ELYSIAN PILGRIM + NOIR
I was provided the opportunity to audition both these beauties thru the Head-fi tour and
@ElysianAcousticLabs. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
So I'll start with the shiny silver brother, the Elysian Pilgrim. Can be purchased
here. MSRP is $399.00. I was provided just a generic carry case and the IEMs and the Effect Audio cable, so I have no comment on the totality of the unboxing experience or accessories. I found the nozzle length to be tricky, and most tips didn't seem to work, but Penon Licquer Black XL tips were the magic. They provided a perfect seal and fit. Now with that out of the way, on to my sound impressions...
Here's the gear I used for my impressions :
Cayin N3 Ultra (Modern Tube mode, No EQ, M gain, Sharp roll off filter, untethered), iBasso DX170 (NOS, No EQ, H Gain, untethered + DCE), Hiby R3 II (No EQ, H gain, DCE), Sony NW-A25 (untethered, with NiceHCK adapter), and the iBasso DC Elite dongle DAC.
Music playlist?
Ezra Collective - Dance, No One's Watching
Robert Glasper - Canvas
Alfa Mist - Antiphon
Karate - 595
Bob Marley & the Wailers - Survival
Yazz Ahmed - Polyhymnia
Kaisa's Machine - Taking Shape
Junior Kelly, Bounty Killer, and Capleton - The Good, The Bad, and the Blazin'
Dominik Eulberg - Avichrom
Abysmal Dawn - Phylogenesis
Drive By Jehu - Self Titled
Cognizance - Phantazein
Crownshift - Crownshift
Shuffled Classic Rock and 80's Pop Music playlist
The first words that come to mind are ULTIMATE. SONIC. CLARITY. I mean, the overall sound scene is so clean and clear, it's like it was tuned with two parts Goo Gone, one part Windex, and one part Mr Clean. It's that uncolored. The treble has air for days, with a highly extended range. It shimmers. It sparkles. Now tonally, it's not the most natural (that belongs to the Noir, but more on that later), and there can be scant feelings of stridency from time to time, but overall, there's a quality of texture air that is a treblehead's dream. It's not thin or brittle, and it's also not tonally metallic, but BA sheen can be had. The only time it didn't sound bright and clean was with the Sony NW-A25 (with NiceHCK adapter, untethered). It took on a smoother warmer character, but only with this source.
The midrange is spacious, well delineated, with adequate room between instruments, above average transparency, and good imaging, so spatial cues are accurate. There's no exaggerations, as can be found in some BCD driver IEMs. Since there's very little bleed into the midrange from the mid bass (now there is a very slight warmth from the bass, but not much), note weight isn't the best, but there's enough to keep it from being dry or clinical. I believe the midrange straddles that line of clinical, but again, there's enough wetness from the upper bass to keep it from crossing over into analytical or clinical. The tonality is also secure and safe, so that there isn't any shrill or shout, especially upper mids, to keep the timbre interesting and generally accurate for BA drivers, so I didn't find it off-putting at all. I found it rather coherent, detailed, clean, and fun, but just ever so slightly south of musical. You are not at a loss for details, and there's a wistfulness to the upper mids into the lower treble and a presence in the midrange that makes for an clean, detailed and engaging listen.
Bass is a tad reigned in. It can be a bit soft and pillowy. Now there's excellent reach with the sub bass. There are no problems there. With an album like Dominik Eulberg - Avichrom, the sub bass slam and depth is more than admirable, with sufficient rumble, but the mid bass does not encroach into the midrange, and has a soft texture, so that punch and impact are compromised. It just doesn't have the slap and punch for some reggae, hip hop, or funk music. That lack of energy or softness in texture provides a lack of engagement with those genres, or any where bass energy and note resolution and snap and elasticity are welcomed or expected. But with contemporary or acid jazz, you can still make out the bass notes with extreme clarity, and resolution, and details like plucks, sweeps, slides, and slaps are still clearly audible, it's but that the snap and elastic energy isn't the greatest (i.e. the superb AFUL Explorer, 7HZ FIVE, or ISN H60). I increasingly found myself getting lost in instrumental music, especially jazz, post rock, and progressive rock, and these genres were handled with aplomb by the Pilgrim. The fullness of the stage and the detail retrieval, with the clean mids and shimmery treble just presented instruments with incisiveness, bite, and clarity, with enough naturalness to be enveloping and immersive. The Elysian Pilgrim is a specialist, but it's a high quality, high performing specialist, with some of the best treble texture sub $500.00.
PILGRIM NOIR :
The
Pilgrim Noir is more expensive than the Pilgrim standard, at $800.00 MSRP, but can be purchased
here for much less. It's a completely different species of tuning, despite sharing a name brand and shell design. The cable is similar to the Effect Audio cable found on the standard Pilgrim (Con X connectors), but has a classier braid, it's black, and has more attractive accents. I used Spinfit CP100+ tips on the Noir, as well as the same black Penon Licquer XL tips as the standard. The shell shape and ergonomics are also similar, but the aesthetics are much more attractive than the standard, with the black and gold accents providing a far more classy and expensive look. Now on to the sound impressions...
Well, all I can say is that I was impressed with the impressions of the Noir Pilgrim by Elysian Acoustics. The tuning is the antithesis of the standard, but in a way, it improved the weaknesses of the Pilgrim, either intentionally or coincidentally? While the Noir retains a high level of the midrange clarity and cleanliness that is exhibited in the Pilgrim standard, the bass (especially mid bass presence) is turned up, the shimmer and air in the treble is turned down, while a bit of noir is added to the midrange to give it a warmer blanket of character, while again, not really messing with the detail retrieval and spatial cues inherent to it's younger sibling. Instead of a bright sunshiny day, you get a cloudless, clear summer night sky.
The treble is what I've come to call peek a boo style tuning. It's like the style found in both the AFUL Explorer and the Letshuoer Cadenza 4. It's there, it's present, and there is no lack of incisiveness, but it's not as shimmery, airy, or extended as the standard. There's a more natural tonality and texture. There's not a hint of stridency at all. BA sheen is also absent. At the cost of sparkle? Yes, but it's not like it's dark, rolled off, or missing. It's there, and it's present, it's just very controlled in the amount shone. There's a really clean and cohesive transition into the upper mids, and cymbals do have a splash and hi hats tink with proper weight and tone with decay and sustain. As a devout treblehead, I pretty much enjoyed the safer but still incisive treble tuning of the Noir more than the standard, as it's a more mature presentation up top.
The midrange is clear warm night. Details shine through like stars in the night sky, and there's proper and full spacing between instruments, creating a wide stage with decent depth and positioning, with imaging being above average, despite the more reigned in treble. It might not be as wide as the Pilgrim, but there's more depth of field. It's also taller by a skosh. How much that has to do with the more expensive Effect Audio cable is hard to tell, but I'm sure it has a little something to do with it? The midrange is smoother, but a considerable bit, warmer (again by a lot), and there is definitely a bit more bleed from the mid bass (welcomed), providing a nice warm blanket over the midrange, so that there is a weightiness to notes, emotive vocals both male and female (male vocals have gutteral authority and female vocals richness), and energy that's missing with the standard Pilgrim. Lower mids have fullness and presence, and there's a richness and power to horns, guitars, and cellos and sax that just envelops you and immerses you in warm richness, but still managing to avoid being dark or cloudy. That the Noir is NOT. It's still crisp and clear. Just not clinical or dry in the least. It's musically technical. Musicality in spades.
The bass is presented with more impact, presence, and rumble. Maybe not the same incisiveness or resolution as the standard, but that's a trade off I'm willing to take, because it's not like the bass is lumbering or smeared. Au contrare! There's a dynamic richness and strength to the bass that makes for such a fun and engaging listen with almost all genres you throw at it! So this one is a BOSS for reggae, funk, blues, hip hop, and acid jazz, but it also tackles metal in all sub genres with aplomb. It's more of a true all-arounder than the standard Pilgrim, and the more expensive cable not withstanding, I'd say the $400.00 difference between the Noir and the Pilgrim can be justified just in the level of all-arounder the Noir is vs the standard, so that you will ultimately get your monies worth just by sheer usage rate. Bass has mid bass snap and punch, is impactful, has sub bass rumble, but is speedy enough not to exhibit any smear during busy death and black metal tracks. Is it the fastest? No. It's not. The Pilgrim standard has quicker responsiveness to sub bass, but this bass is more mature, impactful, and just plain MORE FUN than it's cheaper sibling. So to surmise, it's a BOSS level all-arounder, with a warm, textured, and mature tuning, that is surprisingly peek a boo, but still, does not leave you for want (unless you're wanting that extended for days treble of the Pilgrim standard. If that's the case, save some money and grab that one! You won't regret it, trebleheads and neutralheads!).
So these are my detailed impressions of the Elysian Acoustics Pilgrim & Pilgrim Noir. Both are worthy of anyone's IEM rotation and collection, and I'm sure at some point, I'll be adding the Noir to my rotation, as these two will be getting passed on to the next fella or fellita. It's been a true pleasure getting to spend quality time with both of these beasts, and again, thank you to Seb and Elysian for the opportunity.
Peace n prosperity,
FWAL2
