[Sebastien Chiu]

This thread has been created to discuss the Allegro, the first IEM from the brand Plussound. Head gear page for future reviews can be submitted here.

Introducing ALLEGRO, our new high-end universal fitting in-ear monitor for audiophiles and musicians. Built from the ground up with years spent in research and development, ALLEGRO delivers a world-class experience that pushes the envelope in design and sound.

ALLEGRO is a high driver-count earphone comprised of two 10mm dynamic drivers, six balanced armature drivers, and four electrostatic drivers.

Each frequency is finely tuned. Lows are balanced and well-controlled. Mids are resolving with excellent detail retrieval. Highs are refined and articulate.

Overall sound quality is characterized as balanced with an enhanced mid-high presentation for a highly detailed and clean sound. Perfect for many musical genres.

By using 7-axis CNC machinery used in the aerospace industry, we were able to mill thick aluminum into intricate and detailed designs for ALLEGRO.

Parts are meticulously polished and anodized before being cryogenically treated to strengthen material that will enhance scratch resistance and prevent internal damage from accidental drops.

With a dark bronze polygonal faceplate and gloss black diamond pattern body, its design language represents elegance and modernity.

ALLEGRO comes with in-house designed rhodium plated tellurium copper 0.78mm 2-pin connectors. With over a decade of experience in developing and producing connectors for high-end cables, we implemented our take of an industry-standard connection into our earphone that will substantially improve durability, reliability, and conductivity.

Drivers are precisely positioned and placed inside the earphone using 3D printed acoustic chamber to provide exact LR channel balance.

A new in-house developed internal wire called Copper XS, based on the larger PLUS (+) wires for cables, serves as the connection between drivers to maximize conductivity and offer a more seemless and consistent overall performance.

Available now from $3,499 directly from Plussound Audio and our dealer network.

T E C H N I C A L S P E C I F I C A T I O N S

• Driver Count / Twelve per side
• Driver Design / Tri-Hybrid (Dynamic, Balanced, EST)
• Drivers Used / Two 10mm Dynamic Drivers (for Low and Sub Low frequencies), Six Balanced Armatures (for Mid-Low, Mid, and Mid-High frequencies), Four Electrostatic Drivers (for High and Super High frequencies)
• Crossover / 6-Way Network
• Driver Organization / 3D Printed Acoustic Chamber
• Outer / Polished, Anodized, cryogenically treated aluminum faceplate, body, and nozzle
• Connector / In-House designed cryogenically treated 0.78mm rhodium plated tellurium copper 2-pin with PEEK insulation
• Internal Wiring / Copper XS (In-house designed cryogenically treated Type 6 UP-OCC with proprietary PS Insulation)
• Impedance / 10 ohms @1kHz @1mW
• Sensitivity / 112 dB @1kHz
• Frequency Response / 10hz - 40kHz
• Cable / In-house handcrafted cables using custom UP-OCC Litz wires and in-house designed materials, including connectors, splitter, slider, and connector ends.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Signups for a tour of the Allegro will be live here soon : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/joi...experience-the-allegro-and-our-cables.966747/

 

[fejnomit]

Huge recommendation for these. I am still enthralled after 3 weeks. It's the old cliche, I know, but I am going through my entire music collection again just to hear what these bring. I find nothing out of place frequency response-wise. And despite the look, I find them very comfortable. Plan to test on more DAPs but they have great synergy with the iBasso sound so far.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Huge recommendation for these. I am still enthralled after 3 weeks. It's the old cliche, I know, but I am going through my entire music collection again just to hear what these bring. I find nothing out of place frequency response-wise. And despite the look, I find them very comfortable. Plan to test on more DAPs but they have great synergy with the iBasso sound so far.

I would appreciate it if you could reshare your initial impressions you did on watercooler so folks can reference it.

What tips have you found work best for you?

 

[fejnomit]

Okay I will bring it over here. The tip trick for me was to go smaller than usual but grippy so they don’t add too much more width to the already wide nozzles but they hold in the ear canal. Spinfit C-145.

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Okay I will bring it over here. The tip trick for me was to go smaller than usual but grippy so they don’t add too much more width to the already wide nozzles but they hold in the ear canal. Spinfit C-145.

Thanks! I'll be sure to grab a few sets.

 

[fejnomit]

Cross post from the Watercooler thread. Below are my initial impressions of the Plussound Allegros. They have only gotten better with time!

Checking in with the Cooler to publish my experiences with the Plussound Allegros so far. Spoiler alert: these things are fantastic. I am keeping them for sure.

Up front: All listening was done with the iBasso DX300 with Whitigir's top-of-the-line amp12EX module, NOS filter, M gain, using the stock Plussound Hybrid+ cable.

I listened largely to Qobuz through the UAPP app. Genres included contemporary European jazz, contemporary British free-form R&B, female jazz singers, hard-driven guitar-centric rock/metal, ambient, dub, house, and psychedelic/acid rock/jazz.

First some pics of the unboxing:










Really nice kit. The leather carry case is top-notch as well the whole package. Three sets of tips.

And the cable! Boy is this Hybrid+ a special cable. It is dynamic and detailed but with great midrange body and also adds sub-bass and treble extension as well as soundstage depth - to me the perfect marriage of copper and silver.

As for the IEMs, starting with the shells: they are incredible. So precisely machined, so smooth and cool to the touch. They are rather large and the nozzle is rather wide but with Spinfit CP360s, I found they rested quite nicely in my ears with a good seal and provided the most balanced tonality of the tips I tried.

I had a small quality-control issue with the right earpiece which Christian helped me deal with immediately by sending me a brand new pair. Great response time and interaction with him - plus he is local so shipping took a day.

As for the sound, I am blown away by the Allegros so far. For my tastes they are the best all-rounder IEM I have ever heard.

They are technically excellent, with a nice wide and deep soundstage, superb imaging and layering and the perfect transient balance of attack and decay (which for me means the attack isn't razor sharp to the point of being piercing and the decay has that prefect mix of naturalness and emotion as notes trail off).

Tonally, to my ears, this is a W-shaped, balanced set that is both musical and vivid at the same time.

The double DD bass is really special with a great combination of sub-bass rumble and mid-bass slam as well as a fullness that gives notes gorgeous body but never feels bloated or creeping.

Mid-range sounds sublime with wood instruments, guitars and especially vocals - voices hang and hover in front of you with timbral accuracy and sumptuous body and decay and never get sibilant. And yet the midrange remains clear as a bell, upfront and vivid, and detailed without any upper-mid harshness, which is the absolute litmus test for me. I have sold off many an IEM that has a balanced or reference tuning because, in an attempt to render detail and precision imagery, they either shouted or pierced in the presence region. These are the first IEMs I have tried that categorically do not do that while still maintaining utter clarity and top-notch detail retrieval.

On the treble front, I will admit I was a little worried upon first listen. There was a tiny bit of overwrought bite there with the four ESTs - especially, oddly, in the right earpiece (I thought it had to do with my quite different left/right ear anatomy.) I was worried the Allegros had some of what turned me off from the Mest Indigos. But that right earpiece ended up being the one that got RMA'd and the new set I received never once evinced any of this quality on either side. I suspect there was something wrong internally with the first earpiece as it also kept dropping out. The second set I received were perfect. The treble extends quite well on them and provides all the detail, shimmer and air I could ever ask for. But do keepi in mind that I am not a treble-head so some may find this a bit less intense than they want. The Allegros would be a great complimentary pair to something like the Ragnars with their insane amount of air and treble extension.

I had heard the Allegros called 'balanced' and 'safe' but while I do find them perfectly balanced for my tastes, they are warmer and more euphonic than that name 'balanced' sometimes implies and yet, at the same time, they are much more vivid and dynamic than the word 'safe' implies.

To give you a sense of where they sit, I no longer need my Kublai Khans because the Allegros have better, more satisfying and space-filling bass, much better midrange fullness and clarity and just as good treble. Also when the Allegros rock, they really rock - so there is no missing the great micro and macro-dynamics of the KKs. They best the U12Ts for bass quality and quantity, overall timbre and certainly midrange. They best the Ragnars for being a set that can adapt to any genre you throw at it - the Allegros carve beautiful images and tease out real-life timbres from acoustic instruments and yet the mid-bass presence and dynamic vivacity really slam on rock, electronic and dance music. I even prefer the Allegros to my audition (caveat: from memory) of the Mentors because the double DD bass is better and the midrange is as good (albeit without that BCD effect on the mids that I personally found a little unnatural although very cool on the MMs). Plus there is no risk of peakiness in the upper mids or lower treble on the Allegros at all. The Allegros don't quite have the MM's detail but they come pretty darn close. They don't have quite the treble air of Ragnar or Traillii but they have this full, thumping, balanced, dynamic yet wonderfully detailed sound that beguiles and manages to shy away from any sense of harshness at all.

Like I said, I am keeping these for daily all-rounders because I know they will put a smile on my face no matter what I feel like listening to. I need my daily does of detail but I also need my daily dose of emotion.

One final caveat: I would not take this out on the beach or in the subway or on a walk/run too often. I would hate to scratch the shells and I would worry about the two-pin sockets on the shells - they are recessed, which is good, but not so recessed that the two-pin connectors fit snugly all the way in. So for me, they are a desktop pair that get me through my day of work and are put back gently into their wonderful case.

Thanks for reading. Hope this small contribution to this excellent thread is helpful to someone. Cheers!

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Cross post from the Watercooler thread. Below are my initial impressions of the Plussound Allegros. They have only gotten better with time!

Thank you mate!

 

[jwilliamhurst]

Cross post from the Watercooler thread. Below are my initial impressions of the Plussound Allegros. They have only gotten better with time!

Demoing these as we speak and I agree with all of your impressions. It’s so damn good. I prefer the silver+ cable as it tames the estats sizzle. The copper+ and hybrid+ both made cymbals sizzle for me and didn’t resolve well. This would’ve been dead to me if plussound didn’t include the silver+ cable because it tamed it. I truly love these iems and if I can get one with the silver+ I would purchase one.

 

[fejnomit]

Great to hear. I used the Hyrbid+, as you know, and found the treble perfectly natural and never really harsh or sizzly, more natural than any other e-stat I have heard, that's for sure. Obviously our ears are different - although treble hotness is by far the biggest deal-breaker for me too. I am using the RS8 so that may be helping, not sure. You should be able to order it through Christian with the Silver+. Twister6 agrees liked Silver+ the best too. Either way, pretty incredible first at-bat for Plussound. And how about the construction? They are like nothing else I've ever tried...

 

[Xinlisupreme]

New allegro review is online!

https://headfonics.com/plussound-allegro-review/

 

[Sebastien Chiu]

Demoing these as we speak and I agree with all of your impressions. It’s so damn good. I prefer the silver+ cable as it tames the estats sizzle. The copper+ and hybrid+ both made cymbals sizzle for me and didn’t resolve well. This would’ve been dead to me if plussound didn’t include the silver+ cable because it tamed it. I truly love these iems and if I can get one with the silver+ I would purchase one.

I'll reach out Christian and see if we can arrange this for you. Will follow up with you privately.

Great to hear. I used the Hyrbid+, as you know, and found the treble perfectly natural and never really harsh or sizzly, more natural than any other e-stat I have heard, that's for sure. Obviously our ears are different - although treble hotness is by far the biggest deal-breaker for me too. I am using the RS8 so that may be helping, not sure. You should be able to order it through Christian with the Silver+. Twister6 agrees liked Silver+ the best too. Either way, pretty incredible first at-bat for Plussound. And how about the construction? They are like nothing else I've ever tried...

Yeah, I was shocked about the build quality and intricacy of the construction. They knocked it out of the park to say the least with those areas.

New allegro review is online!

https://headfonics.com/plussound-allegro-review/

Yes, thanks to @marcusd for pumping this awesome review out!

 

[fejnomit]

Cross-posting my comments from the Watercooler thread about construction/fit of the Allegros:

I switched to smaller tips than usual and found these to sit quite nicely in my ears. I am gathering I must have slightly larger ears, though I never thought that before. I amusing either M or S W1 tips and they create a great seal and insertion depth (they don't have to be deep at all). The diamond-shaped pattern contouring on the ear-side of the Allegros is quite comfortable as far as contact goes and the metal remains pleasantly cool to the touch. The biggest ergonomic challenge I find is actually with the Plussound cable which, being shielded, is quite stiff and doesn't conform all that well to the outside of the ear. Plus being stiff, any movement in the cable can have the effect of trying to move the earpieces. Like I said, I use the combo exclusively at my desk for this reason. They may be a unique shape and size but to me they are quite comfortable, even in bed, although there, again, the cable can be an issue. I wonder what a super lightweight pliable cable would do?

The other aspect of this is the expansive, cathedral-like reverb I get from the Allegros, which I think must stem, at least in part, from the size/shape of the shells. I know it's largely a psycho-acoustic effect and I know the shells are large to accommodate A LOT of drivers, but I get the sense that some of this air and roominess and spatial holography stems from the size of the shells and the metal material allowing the drivers to work uncramped in an acoustically-treated space. Just a conjecture but it sounds like you are in a giant, well-tuned hall lined with tone metal.

 

[Scubadevils]

Sharing my impressions recently posted in the Watercooler. Thanks for including me in the tour @Sebastien Chiu, I really enjoyed Allegro! Sending off to @armstrj2 next...

I had some initial trouble with fit but found Azla Short worked very well and removed any comfort issues.

An expansive and holographic stage with excellent balance and cohesion. Very good technical capabilities, but I’d position it more towards the engagement side of the dial - I often picture a volume or EQ pot with the furthest left representing emotive engagement maximum level, and far right the technical max - various increments in between being a blend… if that pot went from 0 (emotive) to 10 (technical), I’d probably position Allegro around 4, i.e. I find it’s tuned more toward emotional engagement as opposed to technical wizardry - that’s not to say it’s not technically competent, just I’m finding my attention is more drawn to enjoying the music. I like the FR balance a lot, the tuning seems to lend itself well to any genre, and there’s nothing offensive in say upper mid glare (definitely an area of sensitivity for me) or harsh treble - it’s an easy to enjoy signature, that makes me want to just sit back and immerse myself in the music. Going back to my EQ pot, you can easily shift attention to the technical aspects and zoom in on say instrument position on the large stage, likewise get a sense for the many layers when called for, and the sense of warmth is still blended nicely with excellent clarity.

Interestingly, I’ve passed about one hour straight now of listening and they aren’t hurting my ears at all.

These could tempt me out of kilobuck hybrids retirement Very nice, and quite an achievement from Plussound to jump to this level and comfortably compete with the existing big players.

 

[Xinlisupreme]

@Scuba Devils wich source did you prefer with Allegro.
You’ve a lot of dap, dac and dongles so it would be helpful know more on pairings