[Barndoor]

I'm converted!
Was firmly in the unimpressed camp.
Added an impedance adapter and now hear the magic! The one I had to hand was 75ohms from my etymotics.

 

[metabaron]

Just arrived this morning...

 

[pfloyd]

I'm converted!
Was firmly in the unimpressed camp.
Added an impedance adapter and now hear the magic! The one I had to hand was 75ohms from my etymotics.

Wow Man! Your right, made a huge difference, thanks for the suggestion. Had one from my old TF10. Took the shouty, forward approach and transformed it to something backed off a bit with some space, location and dimension. The Qudelix still has enough to push it single ended. Initial impressions are much better.

 

[Acuno]

Ordered a GK10 with my latest Penon order. Brief impressions:

• Surprising amount of detail and solid imaging for its price
• Wide soundstage, but not very tall
• I like mid-bass so the bass response sounds great to me. No bloat to my ears.
• Midrange has lighter note weight / sounds airy
• Treble sounds sort of metallic to me. Not a fan.

Was interesting to try out.

 

[1clearhead]

Ordered a GK10 with my latest Penon order. Brief impressions:

• Surprising amount of detail and solid imaging for its price
• Wide soundstage, but not very tall
• I like mid-bass so the bass response sounds great to me. No bloat to my ears.
• Midrange has lighter note weight / sounds airy
• Treble sounds sort of metallic to me. Not a fan.

Was interesting to try out.

Have you tried changing the default silicone ear tips to wide-bore ear tips? If you haven't, you really should try it. That metallic sound is overly enhanced using narrow-bore ear tips. But, by swapping those with wide-bore ear tips, you shouldn't have a problem. The sound should be as smooth as honey.

-Clear

 

[Acuno]

Have you tried changing the default silicone ear tips to wide-bore ear tips? If you haven't, you really should try it. That metallic sound is overly enhanced using narrow-bore ear tips. But, by swapping those with wide-bore ear tips, you shouldn't have a problem. The sound should be as smooth as honey.

-Clear

Yeah I tried it with Spiral dots and regular Sednas.

 

[ian91]

Treble sounds sort of metallic to me. Not a fan

Those were my impressions initially and to some degree that flavour still remains, but I heard treble change over time. Initially, I felt it was 'brittle', then it began to take on a more full-bodied, smoother tonality that overshadowed the metallic timbre. Glad you're seeing some enjoyment out of them anyway! See how they bed in over time.

 

[Acuno]

Those were my impressions initially and to some degree that flavour still remains, but I heard treble change over time. Initially, I felt it was 'brittle', then it began to take on a more full-bodied, smoother tonality that overshadowed the metallic timbre. Glad you're seeing some enjoyment out of them anyway! See how they bed in over time.

Yeah I'm going to let these burn-in for a bit before I give them another go. If the treble chills out I think I'll like these a lot more.

 

[dharmasteve]

Yeah I'm going to let these burn-in for a bit before I give them another go. If the treble chills out I think I'll like these a lot more.

I've been using these GK10's regularly, every day for 3 weeks now. The treble now has good extension and is no longer metallic. I have to say I am using these in preference to many much more expensive sets. It is also very dependent on source and tips. I did not like it so much with a copper cable and use a silver plated copper TRi Through 4.4mm. Luckily I have a good copy and don't have the bass bloat problems some seem to get.

 

[SpaceOperaVillain]

Has anyone ordered from HiFiGo on Amazon? What color did you get? Their previous page was showing only red, now they are showing only blue ones. No mention of the color in the description though (other than the pictures). Is it random?

It wasn't amazon, but when I ordered a week ago, blue was the only color available at Penon's store on AliExpress.

-------------

I'm really curious to find out how these will sound like from a phone or tablet. GK10 seem like classic chifi, which pushed me to order them. Tweakers and experimenters will stay busy trying to cajole the best sound out of them, while those with high expectations out of the box will think they're good for la poubelle. Not knowing for sure is half the fun here.

 

[bhazard]

I think I have a defective pair too.

I poked the vent holes a bit today and the massive amount of bass is now gone. A lot of bass is gone, and I need to crank my EQ up +10dB to get anywhere near the same levels. The sound is totally different, better in some ways, but the Piezos are a little too harsh/metallic now. I don't think the drivers were damaged because there is still a lot of bass with boost.
My vents were probably glued shut internally as well. I'm going to exchange them.

 

[dharmasteve]

I think it is clear that there is great unit variation with the GK10. Some owners, after cleaning out the vent, have a clear improvement. I think Geek need to concentrate on the QC and create a consistent IEM with no unit variation. Those with good GK10 copies know how good they can be. It's unfair for quite a few head-fiers to get poor performing versions. It makes the community puzzled at the opposite opinions, by posters, to the GK10, beyond purely subjective judgements. Geek really have to up the QC game for future copies of the GK10 and the up and coming GK100, or buyers will start to lose faith and keep away.

 

[AmericanSpirit]

I think I have a defective pair too.

I poked the vent holes a bit today and the massive amount of bass is now gone. A lot of bass is gone, and I need to crank my EQ up +10dB to get anywhere near the same levels. The sound is totally different, better in some ways, but the Piezos are a little too harsh/metallic now. I don't think the drivers were damaged because there is still a lot of bass with boost.
My vents were probably glued shut internally as well. I'm going to exchange them.

Yea piezo treble isn’t a perfect one for sure, I’m thinking of sound of accordion. But for the price, I would be more forgiving, as we are not going to ask Sonion EST driver as a replacement.
Not Sonion EST, maybe 70%, but the simple extension goes beyond Knowles TWFK tweeters as I perceive.

Overall for my reference, GK10 is a solid A grade with overall 85/100, close to TRI Starsea (84/100), Moondrop Aria(mod) 81/100, Mangird Tea (84/100), but not reaching to the level of A+ graded Blessing2 (87/100), Dusk (89/200).

For some tracks that utilizes sound staging, I like GK10 over similar kind wide sound stage MEST MKII, as the staging with dynamism is the key sales point of GK10 For sub $50, an A-grade(except Eastern Profile lover that is sensitive to 200hz-800hz bass floor) GK10 is a solid offering, a first IEM I encountered to hit A with $46 price tag. It’s worth trying overall

 

[Musicoflife]

I think I have a defective pair too.

I poked the vent holes a bit today and the massive amount of bass is now gone. A lot of bass is gone, and I need to crank my EQ up +10dB to get anywhere near the same

Or you could have destroyed one of the two DDs? The graphs are quite consistent on the bass ramp to +10dB at 100hz.

Until we know the layout of the drivers, I'd not risk poking the vent

 

[earmonger]

Let's climb down from both extremes, hype and dismissal.

TL; dr : Exceptional for the price, especially if you tame the bass with EQ. But not by any means a rival for much more expensive IEMs.

I've given my Geek Wold GK10 30-40 hours of pink noise burn-in, though who knows if that has made any difference. I'm using the supplied cable (though I note that one of the 8 cores is broken, QC alert, though I don't hear any channel difference).

We're talking about a $46 IEM so I don't see the point of slapping on a cable that costs more than the IEM or playing back through a four-figure DAP.

I've run the GK10 from a MacBook Air through the Schiit Magni 3, also toying with EQmac, and I have run them from the A&K AK 70. I'm using some no-name large soft silicones, which give me the only good fit for my large ears, but they are supremely comfortable with those.

tgx78 had a major point here: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/geek-wold-discussion-gk10.958787/page-62#post-16503799

"Anything large orchestral, I am defaulted to hear Cello section doing their own solos." That range IS boosted, no doubt about it, especially in the Mozart recording that tgx78 cited. Without EQ the GK10 are going to skew orchestral music.

But I have to disagree with the rest of tgx78's post. To me, the bass is boosted pretty cleanly, and there's pitch, not just thud, in bass and bass drum. The mid-bass doesn't slop into the lower mids much, if at all, and it's certainly not interfering with female voices or higher transients, which sound good to me. Metallic treble? No, not for me, at all.

In the Band's "Up on Cripple Creek," you can hear the boost in the bass and bass drums, but the clavinet quacking away up above is nice and clear:


Still, no question, the GK10 does shift the mix downward. I have the feeling a bass player would love it. It can be flattering in bass-defined music like Joy Orbison's "Better," without occluding that detailed, breathy female vocal or that little clinking sound up above.


And with a little EQ on the GK10, pushing down around 64Hz, the bass bump lessens without ill effects elsewhere. Up and down the spectrum, things sound realistic, pretty special for sub-$50 IEMs.

But I've also compared the GK10 to two other sets I have. Let's not get carried away with the giant-killer aspirations.

One is the Sennheiser IE300, which is more than 6x the price of the GK10. It's another basshead set, even more pumped up in the lows; when I EQ them, I roll off more bass. But un-EQed, alongside the un-EQed GK100, the Senn IE300 are undeniably more spacious and give each sound more depth. The lows are definitely boosted unrealistically, but they are a little more defined. Six times better? Hmmm.

Since the GK10 has all those drivers, I also A-B'ed it with my TRI I3, a tribrid with a planar treble. (Whoa, they seem to have vanished at Ali, replaced by a TRI I3 Pro for $189! No idea what those sound like.)

I use the TRI I3 with fat foamies, again the only things that fit me, and even with those the TRI I3 has less (but present) bass, which is likely more accurate to the original mix. And once again, there's considerably more instrument separation.

I'd say the GK10 more than lives up to realistic expectations. But over-praising them doesn't help anyone.

Oh, and my masculinity is not threatened by the heart shape.