[FSTOP]

the

"this is just an astronomically great-sounding earphone"
.. with thin-sound and no sub and midbass ?

i didnt say that.
*Thinner* than the expectation of bloated mid-bass.

I said NOTHING about sub-bass in my comments as i didnt think it was relative until some burn-in and more tip-rolling.

In 4 hours, Im now listening to them again now. Deep bass is powerful and dynamic and mid-bass is not bloated whatsoever.

Does that work for you?

 

[AmericanSpirit]

Following up with Out of the box Impression
GK10 @24hr burn-in

-Due to fit issue, I’m using CP360, which reduces bass to almost flat level like ER series or near KBEar Lark’s

-I like bit more engaged bass like MEST MKII’s so I’m using MKII’s cable’s siblings (PWA Copper 28 V2), but for impression comment purpose I used stock cable

-It’s very uniquely tuned IEM, upper registers are dry and nuance-focused, mid and lower ranges are focused on neutrality and good instrumental separations

-imaging coherence (sound image coordinate positional plotting x image focusing x Diffusion field grid conformity) belongs to High-Fidelity class, Grade A. Can’t believe a quadbrid can be tuned to this level..except MEST MKII. I can say GK10 barely plays better in this field( the imaging coherence) than ThieAudio Monarch’s by a small margin.

-the note is feather touching light, the transient is pretty fast

-trebles layering capability is not those of 8BA+ class, it still laying on the Penta-driver hybrids capability, but even within Penta-driver hybrids/tribrids, you can tell 4-way cross over does great cohesive synergy when a complexed composition is on its stake. Great sense of harmonics and instrumental separation, this is very evident on Jazz tracks(wood bass, piano, snares, cymbals diffusions, nearly perfect coherence)

-due to dry and analytical approach of tuning, Piano and male vocal may sound a bit less intimate. Piano tone is closer to Yamaha( Clean and Accurate) than Steinway or Bosendorfer

-when comparing GK10 to perfectly aligned grid IEMs such as Softears RSV or Soundpeats Gamer No.1, or near perfect grid MEST MKII, GK10 falls behind. The stage making of GK10 seemed composed by 3 arrays,
Forward array: Piezo
Surrounding array: BA+Mid DD
Side array: Bass DD
It forms a unique treble-lead forwarding wide sound stage with Bass kicking from side and back, surrounded by BA and Mid DD.

-pretty low distortion overall, if blind tested, I would say this is a $300 contender to compete with Blessing2 or Mangird Tea

-The sound stage is not MEST MKII class wide, but wider than Blessing2 and Tea

-Very airy 10khz+ top registers, it falls a bit behind EST class, due to short decay but very satisfactory, GK10 beat Blessing2 and Tea for this area

TLDL;
GK10 ; less harsh AKG monitor sound (wide sound stage x bright neutral x highly technical ) delivered in a form of IEM. Forget about the price tag, it’s misleading. Well tuned $300 IEM GK10 is.

What’s so special?:
Independently resonating surrounding reverb(mid, upper mid, treble) x independently separated bass-line(clear sounding but doesn’t bleed) x crystal clear upper sky = new sensation of highly separated lower floor and upper registers forming a new harmony, very unique & coherent

GK10 in one word:
“Feel the Air”

 

[SomeEntityThing]

TLDL;
GK10 ; less harsh AKG monitor sound (wide sound stage x bright neutral x highly technical ) delivered in a form of IEM. Forget about the price tag, it’s misleading. Well tuned $300 IEM GK10 is.

...Gosh darn it to heck, I was very convinced by all the comments so far about a fantastic balance yet detailed sound which I've mentioned earlier to be exactly my preferred sound signature so far, and this has driven me off the edge. If this could double as both awesome neutral, detailed earphones for just listening to music, and perhaps even for use for little music-making/singing/VO shenanigans for a price less than and a performance better than my beloved MT300...

I'm gonna pre-order the GK10 through Penon's website (mainly for the anniversary freebie I can get alongside it, kinda torn between an MMCX cable or an earphone case haha)! Thank you to everyone who has shared impressions thus far!

 

[AmericanSpirit]

...Gosh darn it to heck, I was very convinced by all the comments so far about a fantastic balance yet detailed sound which I've mentioned earlier to be exactly my preferred sound signature so far, and this has driven me off the edge. If this could double as both awesome neutral, detailed earphones for just listening to music, and perhaps even for use for little music-making/singing/VO shenanigans for a price less than and a performance better than my beloved MT300...

I'm gonna pre-order the GK10 through Penon's website (mainly for the anniversary freebie I can get alongside it, kinda torn between an MMCX cable or an earphone case haha)! Thank you to everyone who has shared impressions thus far!

Added few extra observation welcome to GK10 gang!

 

[SomeEntityThing]

Added few extra observation welcome to GK10 gang!

Thank you for the added observations, and for the welcome! I've placed my order and I really look forward to trying them out and sharing some impressions myself, basic as they may be given my limited listening knowledge

(Oh and I ended up choosing the free IEM case lol, seriously for anyone who's ordering via Penon's website, do look into picking up an anniversary freebie - add your desired free item to your cart along with the GK10 before you pay... they have made it a point that they have a limited supply of free stuff!)

 

[ian91]

Independently resonating surrounding reverb(mid, upper mid, treble) x independently separated bass-line(clear sounding but doesn’t bleed) x crystal clear upper sky

I think this is what's impressive at this price point. Great staging with a complex array of sound that you wouldn't expect.

In fact, from memory, I prefer the sound array of the GK10 over the MEST MKII. With the MESTs tuning and wide soundstage I was bothered in some tracks by what felt like almost empty space. This drove me to purchase the 3DT for a more intimate presentation. The GK10 feels like a nice compromise, spacious but not hollow.

Obviously, YMMV as will everyones tastes and how they like their music presented!

 

[nymz]

Following up with Out of the box Impression
-pretty low distortion overall, if blind tested, I would say this is a $300 contender to compete with Blessing2 or Mangird Tea

-The sound stage is not MEST MKII class wide, but wider than Blessing2 and Tea

Just woke up and read this... Wheres my wallet??

 

[ian91]

Just woke up and read this... Wheres my wallet??

I had a feeling it was wider than Tea too, but as I sold my mine last year, I couldn't confirm with direct A-B.

 

[nymz]

Thank you for the added observations, and for the welcome! I've placed my order and I really look forward to trying them out and sharing some impressions myself, basic as they may be given my limited listening knowledge

(Oh and I ended up choosing the free IEM case lol, seriously for anyone who's ordering via Penon's website, do look into picking up an anniversary freebie - add your desired free item to your cart along with the GK10 before you pay... they have made it a point that they have a limited supply of free stuff!)

Do we have a way to know what's the freebies or is it random?

 

[SomeEntityThing]

You can choose a specific one or have them choose for you, actually! Look up "Anniversary" on Penon's search bar and you should be able to find the options, but I'll list 'em anyways:
- MMCX IEM Cable
- In-ear Earphone
- Earbud
- Earphone Case
- Eartips
- X Gift (Penon sends you a gift based on whatever you ordered)

They don't say what exactly these things are (I can't tell you the model of any earphone/earbud) though! I will send a screenshot of the case I get

Do we have a way to know what's the freebies or is it random?

 

[activatorfly]

Are you reading all the owner impressions here about the GK10? Are you seeing posts about how gimpy the bass end is? You read anything about a bass hump or a rolled off bass? Your not gonna believe the dozen or so real live testaments to how they sound, yet you want to believe some random graph. Your gonna believe that HBB graph too right? Seems you put way too much stock on random graphs more than actual testimony of real owners. Cus everyone is lying about how they sound right? Because nobody here knows what the heck they are talking about.

If the GK10 was severely gimped in any way. Don't you think out of all these guys that are leaving impressions of how they are hearing them, one person would mention how rolled off the bass is? So what is it. Too much mid bass and not enough sub bass? Sounds too thin? You reading any of that from all these impressions.

Someone point me to that impression, cus I haven't read it yet.

Err no...cos EVERYONE else (who is currently listening to them) can actually HEAR for themselves - rather than resorting to BLIND feedback from useless FR graphs...just saying!

 

[activatorfly]

Yep, they do really suck! In fact, my set sounds so much worse now after a few hours of burn-in, that I'm seriously considering buying 3-4 more sets. Just to make them go out of stock so noone else gets fooled into wasting their money!

I was just in the process of adding my second pair to the cart...Wold just sound sooo bad !!! haha!

 

[Jcor]

I've jumped aboard the train. Too many people have left good impressions so I couldn't avoid it any longer!

 

[activatorfly]

I wouldnt have said it better. And it's not the first time I see him public being toxic. Either grow up and chill down or just keep the comments for yourself.

Exactamundo...doh !!

 

[activatorfly]

The Wold train express is here to stay....at full audiophile steam ahead !......"Whoo...Whoo !!...Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'.....keep them tips a Rollin' ....WOLD WIDE" !!