PENON Serial - Triple Dynamic Driver Audiophile IEM

[Ahmad313]

Looks great , waiting for some impressions ,

 

[szore]

Just ordered the Penon Serial! WooHoo! Gonna write a review of it vs. The 3DT!

Going to pair it with my Monile50s Cable!

 

[ehjie]

Looks great , waiting for some impressions ,

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16702743

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/penon-serial.25604/reviews

 

[rattlingblanketwoman]

Haha you won’t! I should’ve added that you might have inadvertently described the Serial, at least in broad strokes, in relation to the other two. As someone who has all three, I’d love to trade impressions on the Penon thread after you get your Serial

I’m trying to ignore the classifieds atm after all the damage I’ve done but won’t judge you if you jump on the Isa… still have and love my Oriolus Mk2.

I'm loving it! I left a quick impression in the thread and I look forward to leaving more at some point. When I eventually have the time it might make sense for me to cover the Aladdin and the Serial together with some depth to each individually too. Not that they're closest neighbors or anything, just two sets I'm enthusiastic about.

 

[szore]

Still astonished at how scary good the Serial is...better than $1k IEMs I have heard....

 

[szore]

My mint Serial is up for sale if anyone is interested.

 

[rattlingblanketwoman]

My mint Serial is up for sale if anyone is interested.

Can't see it -- about to publish?

 

[szore]

Sorry!

https://www.head-fi.org/classifieds/penon-serial-tri-dynamic-driver-iem-4-4mm.18513/

 

[alexandros a]

first impressions listening to Serial today this morning straight out of the box..
very very mixed emotions about it...
Really puzzled me a lot..
It's for sure a dark and atmospheric earphone. (reminded me of Anew U1 an older single DD earphone purchased
from Penon as well...)
enough thick sounding (sometimes in the cost of clarity am afraid so...)
nevertheless the biggest issue as far as I am concerned is it's tunning probably which leaves the mids/vocals behind from the rest mix.
not to be misunderstood here... I like laid-back sounding earphones but this is way too laid-back for my taste. due to this I ve been trying all day long different tips in quest of bringing the vocals more upfront a bit... either way..... I ll have eto do some serious mind burn in in order to adjust to this signature...
Bass is more than OK.goes really deep, it's moistured, textured fully articulated , But nevertheless it does not have the impact of the ORBS (for example)
this is probably due to their tuning which is obviously miles away from PENON house sound as most of you know it.
Treble seems restrained and safe enough from any artificial sense ... BUT due to that and many other factors Serial provides a very safe listening away from any sibilance and harshness, metallic sence etc. everything sounds pretty natural with enough deep sense of the stage..
stereo image as well as instrument placement is really superior here and micro detail retrieval / sound spatiality is also more than right. it's PERFECT....
BUT the "thickness" feeling does not live enough room for airy /refined vocals, nevertheless I suspect that makes the Serial a very forgiving earphone as well here.....
despite that... vocals being certainly behind the rest of the scene have enough weight and authority givind a laid-back and atmospheric listening experience.
going back afterwards to Yanyin Aladdin and in A/B direct comparisons everything sounded perfect on the Aladdins (especially the amount of clarity on the vocals was more than noticeable) which shows that the Yanyins have obviously my favorite tuning and one of my all time favorite earphones as well....
apart from all that I had been troubled for long to find a good fit and a more right isolation using numerous different tips....
but tommorow is another day let's see how it goes... (hoping that mind burn in will bring me closer to them...)

 

[szore]

first impressions listening to Serial today this morning straight out of the box..
very very mixed emotions about it...
Really puzzled me a lot..
It's for sure a dark and atmospheric earphone. (reminded me of Anew U1 an older single DD earphone purchased
from Penon as well...)
enough thick sounding (sometimes in the cost of clarity am afraid so...)
nevertheless the biggest issue as far as I am concerned is it's tunning probably which leaves the mids/vocals behind from the rest mix.
not to be misunderstood here... I like laid-back sounding earphones but this is way too laid-back for my taste. due to this I ve been trying all day long different tips in quest of bringing the vocals more upfront a bit... either way..... I ll have eto do some serious mind burn in in order to adjust to this signature...
Bass is more than OK.goes really deep, it's moistured, textured fully articulated , But nevertheless it does not have the impact of the ORBS (for example)
this is probably due to their tuning which is obviously miles away from PENON house sound as most of you know it.
Treble seems restrained and safe enough from any artificial sense ... BUT due to that and many other factors Serial provides a very safe listening away from any sibilance and harshness, metallic sence etc. everything sounds pretty natural with enough deep sense of the stage..
stereo image as well as instrument placement is really superior here and micro detail retrieval / sound spatiality is also more than right. it's PERFECT....
BUT the "thickness" feeling does not live enough room for airy /refined vocals, nevertheless..... vocals being certainly behind the rest of the scene have enough weight and authority givind a laid-back and atmospheric listening experience.
going back afterwards to Yanyin Aladdin and in A/B direct comparisons everything sounded perfect on the Aladdins (especially the amount of clarity on the vocals was more than noticeable) which shows that the Yanyins have obviously my favorite tuning and one of my all time favorite earphones as well....
apart from all that I had been troubled for long to find a good fit and a more right isolation using numerous different tips....
but tommorow is another day let's see how it goes... (hoping that mind burn in will bring me closer to them...)

Burn it in, it will clarify and firm up.

 

[Dsnuts]

first impressions listening to Serial today this morning straight out of the box..
very very mixed emotions about it...
Really puzzled me a lot..
It's for sure a dark and atmospheric earphone. (reminded me of Anew U1 an older single DD earphone purchased
from Penon as well...)
enough thick sounding (sometimes in the cost of clarity am afraid so...)
nevertheless the biggest issue as far as I am concerned is it's tunning probably which leaves the mids/vocals behind from the rest mix.
not to be misunderstood here... I like laid-back sounding earphones but this is way too laid-back for my taste. due to this I ve been trying all day long different tips in quest of bringing the vocals more upfront a bit... either way..... I ll have eto do some serious mind burn in in order to adjust to this signature...
Bass is more than OK.goes really deep, it's moistured, textured fully articulated , But nevertheless it does not have the impact of the ORBS (for example)
this is probably due to their tuning which is obviously miles away from PENON house sound as most of you know it.
Treble seems restrained and safe enough from any artificial sense ... BUT due to that and many other factors Serial provides a very safe listening away from any sibilance and harshness, metallic sence etc. everything sounds pretty natural with enough deep sense of the stage..
stereo image as well as instrument placement is really superior here and micro detail retrieval / sound spatiality is also more than right. it's PERFECT....
BUT the "thickness" feeling does not live enough room for airy /refined vocals, nevertheless I suspect that makes the Serial a very forgiving earphone as well here.....
despite that... vocals being certainly behind the rest of the scene have enough weight and authority givind a laid-back and atmospheric listening experience.
going back afterwards to Yanyin Aladdin and in A/B direct comparisons everything sounded perfect on the Aladdins (especially the amount of clarity on the vocals was more than noticeable) which shows that the Yanyins have obviously my favorite tuning and one of my all time favorite earphones as well....
apart from all that I had been troubled for long to find a good fit and a more right isolation using numerous different tips....
but tommorow is another day let's see how it goes... (hoping that mind burn in will bring me closer to them...)

I had a very similar take on them when I heard them out of the box. The stage was not what I thought as well. I agree with @szore. You are no where near hearing them at full tilt. The Serail is a bit like a 7 course meal. You get some bites here and there that shows some goods but your not going to get the whole picture till you get some time on them drivers. If you want that familiar full mids presentation I also recommend some tip and cable rolling after burn in. But first things first. Drivers are raw, let them open up.

 

[-rowan-]

BUT the "thickness" feeling does not live enough room for airy /refined vocals, nevertheless I suspect that makes the Serial a very forgiving earphone as well here.....
despite that... vocals being certainly behind the rest of the scene have enough weight and authority givind a laid-back and atmospheric listening experience.

Yep, burn it in. The need for more air up top was my main beef as well with the Serial fresh out of the box, but it has opened up noticeably now that it’s thoroughly burnt in. You’re hearing some of its imaging abilities already and it isn’t there for nothing. The drivers, in particular the treble, just need to wake up properly and jive.

apart from all that I had been troubled for long to find a good fit and a more right isolation using numerous different tips....

I find that Serial does well with smaller tips for a deeper insertion, compared to the other Penon IEMs. I ended up buying Spirals a size smaller than I usually use, to get a good fit.

but tommorow is another day let's see how it goes... (hoping that mind burn in will bring me closer to them...)

Tips and cables, maybe. I left mine on the burn-in rig most of the time so I don’t think my brain did much work there

 

[alexandros a]

Yep, burn it in. The need for more air up top was my main beef as well with the Serial fresh out of the box, but it has opened up noticeably now that it’s thoroughly burnt in. You’re hearing some of its imaging abilities already and it isn’t there for nothing. The drivers, in particular the treble, just need to wake up properly and jive.



I find that Serial does well with smaller tips for a deeper insertion, compared to the other Penon IEMs. I ended up buying Spirals a size smaller than I usually use, to get a good fit.



Tips and cables, maybe. I left mine on the burn-in rig most of the time so I don’t think my brain did much work there

Believe it or not but... even a short continuous burn in 12 hours long time managed to open up the sound in the mid /upper frequencies, and having left as well the same riq on them cannot believe the scenario that my mind managed to adjust to their sound profile simply as that...
.... this is just to testify that I listened to a different earphone today morning, and the burn in progress will go on at least for the week that follows till next weekend repeatedly each and every day... the vocals are starting to get dimensionality at last....
It feels like....... I managed to "open holes in a thick wall" ... thanks to anyone here for your suggestions and support.... ......

 

[ouaille]

Ordered penon serial in early january, package was sealed but incomplete, missing all the tips ....
Since two months I am waiting for penon to send me the missing parts, seems the first attempt was sent without communicating
any tracking number that unpaid tax (sent undeclared !!!) customs got the package to be returned.

Given the price this is quite disappointing, penon please help in solving this !
Just in case others got incomplete packages from penon, please share your experience in solving this kind of issue ...

 

[drbluenewmexico]

Haha you won’t! I should’ve added that you might have inadvertently described the Serial, at least in broad strokes, in relation to the other two. As someone who has all three, I’d love to trade impressions on the Penon thread after you get your Serial

I’m trying to ignore the classifieds atm after all the damage I’ve done but won’t judge you if you jump on the Isa… still have and love my Oriolus Mk2.

Isabella worth experiencing and perhaps collecting for acoustic music, light rock and jazz. It's a unicorn!! And it's beautiful and well made!