[Musicoflife]

Well I have two pairs of GK10s bought several weeks apart. The first had overdone mid bass, matching that measured by Crin and BGGAR. The second one is just like the first, ie they both have a very V shaped tuning (although the upper mids and treble are only moderately emphasized, so should I call this a 'half V' or an inverse Nike tick? Lol). I have come to accept this as the 'default' GK10 tuning because it's common in budget chifi to have V, not Harmanish tunings.

That said, I'm glad I have the GK10s in the collection. Once PEQ'd with my Qudelix, they're my preference over my Tape and Starsea, both at 2x the price.

In my experience, the GK10 is a diamond; it needs to be buffed to really shine.

 

[Alesaiko]

After the extremely slow delivery (so slow the hype has died when this thing arrived lol), I've finally got a pair of GK10. These are the full set of measurements of my unit using IEC 60318-4 clone:

Spoiler: Measurements

Surprisingly, a huge midbass hump does not sound as badly as the graph would imply. One channel has a significant 8 kHz resonance peak due to a bented grill (QC memes). Distortions level is decent, though higher than on both MH 755 and Tanya (those have 0.2-0.3% THD across full spectra on the same volume).

Quick impressions with Thrice's latest album: a little bloated yet a little piercing sound with below average resolution and strange imaging (the staging feels more open and spacious than average, but spatial ques are... weird; like instrument positions are a little screwed), though treble extension is decent and probably the thing that gives the most "wow factor" against other budget IEMs. Also it gets pretty messy during more complex passages and all of these while the midrange is noticeably supressed by both midbass and upper treble boosts, which makes GK10 sound incoherent. So average sound quality at best. I don't think $45 GK10 really competes with $5 Sony MH 755 or $20 Tanchjim Tanya. Though those have pretty trash treble and GK10 may outclass them in staging capabilities, they give a little better resolution and hugely better bass and midrange performance while sounding perfectly coherent as most DD-only setups.

 

[mndless]

After the extremely slow delivery (so slow the hype has died when this thing arrived lol), I've finally got a pair of GK10. These are the full set of measurements of my unit using IEC 60318-4 clone:

Spoiler: Measurements

Surprisingly, a huge midbass hump does not sound as badly as the graph would imply. One channel has a significant 8 kHz resonance peak due to a bented grill (QC memes). Distortions level is decent, though higher than on both MH 755 and Tanya (those have 0.2-0.3% THD across full spectra on the same volume).

Quick impressions with Thrice's latest album: a little bloated yet a little piercing sound with below average resolution and strange imaging (the staging feels more open and spacious than average, but spatial ques are... weird; like instrument positions are a little screwed). Also it gets pretty messy during more complex passages and all of these while the midrange is noticeably supressed by both midbass and upper treble boosts, which makes GK10 sound incoherent. So average sound quality at best. I don't think $45 GK10 really competes with $5 Sony MH 755 or $20 Tanchjim Tanya. Though those have pretty trash treble and GK10 may outclass them in staging capabilities, they give a little better resolution and hugely better bass and midrange performance while sounding perfectly coherent as most DD-only setups.

I love those waterfall graphs to show decay. It really is the best way to visualize how the drivers behave and the various resonance weirdness that might arise from using such disparate driver types. There's definitely something odd happening in the mids and lower treble range (800Hz to 4kHz) between the .5 and 1ms decay. My guess is that it's a resonance (additive then subtractive harmonic interference) from where the DDs and BA are crossed over.

I'll definitely keep an eye out for more of your reviews, because these graphs are incredible. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Narayan23]

I might have some news for you guys. Will report when I get the green light.

Have you been green lighted yet? Curious as to what the news are
Speaking of news, have there been any further developments regarding the GK 100?

 

[mndless]

Well I have two pairs of GK10s bought several weeks apart. The first had overdone mid bass, matching that measured by Crin and BGGAR. The second one is just like the first, ie they both have a very V shaped tuning (although the upper mids and treble are only moderately emphasized, so should I call this a 'half V' or an inverse Nike tick? Lol). I have come to accept this as the 'default' GK10 tuning because it's common in budget chifi to have V, not Harmanish tunings.

That said, I'm glad I have the GK10s in the collection. Once PEQ'd with my Qudelix, they're my preference over my Tape and Starsea, both at 2x the price.

In my experience, the GK10 is a diamond; it needs to be buffed to really shine.

If you're interested in a slightly more expensive option that's still much cheaper than Tape or Starsea, check out the GS Audio GD3A. It really is the entry set into mid-fi to beat. At $86+S&H, the fact that it stomps all over both the Tape and the Starsea with no tuning modifications required is just stunning. My only suggestion for customizing this set is to order it with a metal nozzle. It costs an extra $10, but it'll save you a lot of grief when trying to tip roll in the future, since resin nozzles are slippery and prone to losing tips in your ear. Check out the first post on the GS Audio Impressions thread for instructions on how to place orders with custom options.

 

[SpaceOperaVillain]

There aren't many of us weirdos listening to organ concertos, but I've been using GK10 a lot for that purpose and they're freaking great.

Through my desktop amp, the holy of all audiophile holy's, Echoes from Pink Floyd is quite a treat on my GK10 and liberal EQ. Single ended on my desktop ended up being better than balanced from btr3k. Variable mileage and all that.

 

[Fat Larry]

After the extremely slow delivery (so slow the hype has died when this thing arrived lol), I've finally got a pair of GK10.

Quick impressions with Thrice's latest album: a little bloated yet a little piercing sound with below average resolution and strange imaging (the staging feels more open and spacious than average, but spatial ques are... weird; like instrument positions are a little screwed), though treble extension is decent and probably the thing that gives the most "wow factor" against other budget IEMs. Also it gets pretty messy during more complex passages and all of these while the midrange is noticeably supressed by both midbass and upper treble boosts, which makes GK10 sound incoherent. So average sound quality at best. I don't think $45 GK10 really competes with $5 Sony MH 755 or $20 Tanchjim Tanya. Though those have pretty trash treble and GK10 may outclass them in staging capabilities, they give a little better resolution and hugely better bass and midrange performance while sounding perfectly coherent as most DD-only setups.

Your impressions are really similar to my GK10 experience and sum it up very well, but you got grills with yours.. Lucky!

 

[gmdb]

After the extremely slow delivery (so slow the hype has died when this thing arrived lol), I've finally got a pair of GK10. These are the full set of measurements of my unit using IEC 60318-4 clone:

Spoiler: Measurements

Surprisingly, a huge midbass hump does not sound as badly as the graph would imply. One channel has a significant 8 kHz resonance peak due to a bented grill (QC memes). Distortions level is decent, though higher than on both MH 755 and Tanya (those have 0.2-0.3% THD across full spectra on the same volume).

Quick impressions with Thrice's latest album: a little bloated yet a little piercing sound with below average resolution and strange imaging (the staging feels more open and spacious than average, but spatial ques are... weird; like instrument positions are a little screwed), though treble extension is decent and probably the thing that gives the most "wow factor" against other budget IEMs. Also it gets pretty messy during more complex passages and all of these while the midrange is noticeably supressed by both midbass and upper treble boosts, which makes GK10 sound incoherent. So average sound quality at best. I don't think $45 GK10 really competes with $5 Sony MH 755 or $20 Tanchjim Tanya. Though those have pretty trash treble and GK10 may outclass them in staging capabilities, they give a little better resolution and hugely better bass and midrange performance while sounding perfectly coherent as most DD-only setups.

Some of this certainly matches my initial impressions (even having one crumpled mesh) but after a couple of weeks burn-in, some tip / cable rolling and consistently using a low impedance source there was significant improvement in sound quality. It now performs at the level of the "rave" reviews.

 

[Musicoflife]

If you're interested in a slightly more expensive option that's still much cheaper than Tape or Starsea, check out the GS Audio GD3A. It really is the entry set into mid-fi to beat. At $86+S&H, the fact that it stomps all over both the Tape and the Starsea with no tuning modifications required is just stunning. My only suggestion for customizing this set is to order it with a metal nozzle. It costs an extra $10, but it'll save you a lot of grief when trying to tip roll in the future, since resin nozzles are slippery and prone to losing tips in your ear. Check out the first post on the GS Audio Impressions thread for instructions on how to place orders with custom options.

Thanks for the rec, will take under advicement. At the moment I'm waiting for my Timeless to arrive which I hope will be my endgame... at least for quite some 'time' lol.

 

[Mr.HiAudio]

do you know that:
3rd rev(latest) have a just mesh with big dots (stock mesh) ;
2rd rev(green/red/brown) have a dual mesh - on the top there is a standard(stock) mesh and on the side where the tape is - there is a dense mesh.
but despite this, the sound does not differ much

 

[Fat Larry]

Well I'm happy you know the difference... I couldn't tell with mine.... They didn't come with mesh installed...

 

[Mr.HiAudio]

 

[ZAXon 7]

do you know that:
3rd rev(latest) have a just mesh with big dots (stock mesh) ;
2rd rev(green/red/brown) have a dual mesh - on the top there is a standard(stock) mesh and on the side where the tape is - there is a dense mesh.
but despite this, the sound does not differ much

anyone knows where to buy gk10's mesh? mine are 2nd rev

 

[mndless]

anyone knows where to buy gk10's mesh? mine are 2nd rev

You can buy a variety of aftermarket meshes off AliExpress if you want to try using different hole sizes or just a fine metal mesh for tuning purposes.

These are some large hole metal filters:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mqA5WGw

Some of the super common KZ style small hole concentric ring designs. I don't necessarily like how restrictive they are, but I'm sure they have their uses:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mtOANZo

I've used this kind of fine metal mesh filters before and they work really nicely for reducing harmonic peaks by around a decibel or so:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mNXE9YO

If you want to stack them like they did in the V2 model iteration for some added tuning effect, I'd try some of these tuning paper/meshes underneath one of the metal filters:
https://a.aliexpress.com/_mL7q39g

Make sure you know the size you need and you can look up what frequency the tuning meshes are meant to damp harmonic peaks for. The number should be the same as the tuning meshes used to damp BA drivers from Knowles and Sonion, so that should help.

 

[Fat Larry]

3m micropore tape is also an easily available alternative if you can't get hold of a proper mesh.