hi-fi amateur
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BGGAR IEM is likely going to be basshead
Precog's IEM Reviews & Impressions
- Thread starter Precogvision
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Geek Wold GK10 Impressions
No knowledge of the graph, first 15 minutes of listening impressions:
The GK10 has a warm, bassy, and V-shaped presentation. The bass is bloated with a mid-bass tilt; it’s quite punchy, but it sounds overly hollow. Tonally, the GK10’s lower-midrange is goopy; the pinna compensation appears to be more relaxed, but that could just be the sheer bass balancing things out or due to a dip to the upper-midrange. The lower/mid treble of the GK10 sounds noticeably emphasized over the upper-midrange. It’s also sharper in the attack than the rest of the IEM; this is jarring and surprisingly fatiguing to hear. The GK10 generally has little air after this point.
After seeing the graph and (struggling through) several hours of listening:
Holy moly, the GK10 is bassy. I’d been listening to my Tanchjim Tanya before, which has quite a lot of bass in its own right, so it didn’t hit me at first. Personally, I find the GK10’s bass to be almost incessant, and this is coming from a pretty ardent basshead. Sure, I feel like there’s some “swing” to the range of the GK10’s bass, but everything else is a wash. Literally. The decay and the general texture of the GK10’s bass sound quite plasticky, not unlike the dynamic drivers I’ve heard in KZ’s IEMs. Stack on gobs of mid-bass and you have a hollow, farty response that ultimately leaves me wanting. There's no comparison here in terms of raw tuning relative to the Tanya, much less in the intangible department against the Sony MH755.
I find most other things about this IEM to be quite messy too. The midrange is sluggish and blunted in transient attack. That’s fine, this IEM is only $50. Yet, the speed of the midrange is quicker than the bass. The midrange decays quicker with more etch to it, so you have a slight collision of timbre. Furthermore, on something like Runaway June's "Head Over Heels," I can hear the drums in the bassline struggling to keep time with the vocalists; it sounds like their rhythm is off by a hair of a second.
Still, the highs are the worst part of this IEM; they sound overly sharp and give me the impression that I’ve been stuffed inside a fluffy mattress and needles are being shoved through. They clearly do not match the rest of the sound spectrum at all in terms of transient attack. Maybe it's the piezoelectric drivers (upon closer examination with a sine sweep, they do appear to be extending further, up until maybe 13kHz, before they start rolling off), but the longer I listen to this IEM, the more I find myself having to take breaks to rest my ears, and the worse it sounds. Something like Girls Generation’s “Flyers” genuinely makes me gag. Hearing the GK10 struggling to decipher the bassline from the more forward vocals, all while the treble pierces me from every direction, is overload on my ears.
You'll notice that I haven't actually talked much about the tuning of the GK10 which, in all honesty, I think would be okay if it weren’t being completely cannibalized by the bass response. Looking around at a few graphs, I see some discrepancies, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. But it doesn't matter much because most of the things I’ve criticized are baked into the driver configuration of the GK10. It would take nothing short of a complete driver overhaul for me to change my opinion, and there's a reason why most IEMs in this price range are single-DDs. That said, I don’t feel like anyone is getting straight shafted here (it’s only $50 at the end of the day) and I love me some hype. I just wish something legitimately good got hyped.
Score: 3/10
All critical listening was done off of my iBasso DX300 and iPhone X using the stock accessories. This unit was burned-in previously for 30+ hours.
Update, the ports were completely glued shut from the factory - see here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/precogs-iem-reviews-impressions.937468/post-16481940
No knowledge of the graph, first 15 minutes of listening impressions:
The GK10 has a warm, bassy, and V-shaped presentation. The bass is bloated with a mid-bass tilt; it’s quite punchy, but it sounds overly hollow. Tonally, the GK10’s lower-midrange is goopy; the pinna compensation appears to be more relaxed, but that could just be the sheer bass balancing things out or due to a dip to the upper-midrange. The lower/mid treble of the GK10 sounds noticeably emphasized over the upper-midrange. It’s also sharper in the attack than the rest of the IEM; this is jarring and surprisingly fatiguing to hear. The GK10 generally has little air after this point.
After seeing the graph and (struggling through) several hours of listening:
Holy moly, the GK10 is bassy. I’d been listening to my Tanchjim Tanya before, which has quite a lot of bass in its own right, so it didn’t hit me at first. Personally, I find the GK10’s bass to be almost incessant, and this is coming from a pretty ardent basshead. Sure, I feel like there’s some “swing” to the range of the GK10’s bass, but everything else is a wash. Literally. The decay and the general texture of the GK10’s bass sound quite plasticky, not unlike the dynamic drivers I’ve heard in KZ’s IEMs. Stack on gobs of mid-bass and you have a hollow, farty response that ultimately leaves me wanting. There's no comparison here in terms of raw tuning relative to the Tanya, much less in the intangible department against the Sony MH755.
I find most other things about this IEM to be quite messy too. The midrange is sluggish and blunted in transient attack. That’s fine, this IEM is only $50. Yet, the speed of the midrange is quicker than the bass. The midrange decays quicker with more etch to it, so you have a slight collision of timbre. Furthermore, on something like Runaway June's "Head Over Heels," I can hear the drums in the bassline struggling to keep time with the vocalists; it sounds like their rhythm is off by a hair of a second.
Still, the highs are the worst part of this IEM; they sound overly sharp and give me the impression that I’ve been stuffed inside a fluffy mattress and needles are being shoved through. They clearly do not match the rest of the sound spectrum at all in terms of transient attack. Maybe it's the piezoelectric drivers (upon closer examination with a sine sweep, they do appear to be extending further, up until maybe 13kHz, before they start rolling off), but the longer I listen to this IEM, the more I find myself having to take breaks to rest my ears, and the worse it sounds. Something like Girls Generation’s “Flyers” genuinely makes me gag. Hearing the GK10 struggling to decipher the bassline from the more forward vocals, all while the treble pierces me from every direction, is overload on my ears.
You'll notice that I haven't actually talked much about the tuning of the GK10 which, in all honesty, I think would be okay if it weren’t being completely cannibalized by the bass response. Looking around at a few graphs, I see some discrepancies, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. But it doesn't matter much because most of the things I’ve criticized are baked into the driver configuration of the GK10. It would take nothing short of a complete driver overhaul for me to change my opinion, and there's a reason why most IEMs in this price range are single-DDs. That said, I don’t feel like anyone is getting straight shafted here (it’s only $50 at the end of the day) and I love me some hype. I just wish something legitimately good got hyped.
Score: 3/10
All critical listening was done off of my iBasso DX300 and iPhone X using the stock accessories. This unit was burned-in previously for 30+ hours.
Update, the ports were completely glued shut from the factory - see here:
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/precogs-iem-reviews-impressions.937468/post-16481940
Last edited:
MRSallee
100+ Head-Fier
Shame, it really opens up after 100 hours burn in, and especially with a copper or silver cable, whichever is different than what you used.
I knew the GK10 wasn't going to score more than 3/10 after I saw how bloated the mid bass looked graphed. Also, cheap piezoelectric sets are known for having poorly tuned treble, no surprise the GK10 is sibilant. I do wonder if these cheapos use piezo drivers? I have a D.T.6. laying around (Made by a blacklisted company I'm sure some people have heard of.) It's half decent for $20, but far from being the market disruptor some people claimed it to be back in 2019.
Another hype set sent to mediocrity land, at least it's not as bad as the hot mess that is the GK3 (Ranked E in Crinacle's tier list.)
Another hype set sent to mediocrity land, at least it's not as bad as the hot mess that is the GK3 (Ranked E in Crinacle's tier list.)
Audio Fun
100+ Head-Fier
The end of the hyped trainGeek Wold GK10 Impressions
No knowledge of the graph, first 15 minutes of listening impressions:
The GK10 has a warm, bassy, and V-shaped presentation. The bass is bloated with a mid-bass tilt; it’s quite punchy, but it sounds overly hollow. Tonally, the GK10’s lower-midrange is goopy; the pinna compensation appears to be more relaxed, but that could just be the sheer bass balancing things out or due to a dip to the upper-midrange. The lower/mid treble of the GK10 sounds noticeably emphasized over the upper-midrange. It’s also sharper in the attack than the rest of the IEM; this is jarring and surprisingly fatiguing to hear. The GK10 generally has little air after this point.
After seeing the graph and (struggling through) several hours of listening:
Holy moly, the GK10 is bassy. I’d been listening to my Tanchjim Tanya before, which has quite a lot of bass in its own right, so it didn’t hit me at first. Personally, I find the GK10’s bass to be almost incessant, and this is coming from a pretty ardent basshead. Sure, I feel like there’s some “swing” to the range of the GK10’s bass, but everything else is a wash. Literally. The decay and the general texture of the GK10’s bass sound quite plasticky, not unlike the dynamic drivers I’ve heard in KZ’s IEMs. Stack on gobs of mid-bass and you have a hollow, farty response that ultimately leaves me wanting. There's no comparison here in terms of raw tuning relative to the Tanya, much less in the intangible department against the Sony MH755.
I find most other things about this IEM to be quite messy too. The midrange is sluggish and blunted in transient attack. That’s fine, this IEM is only $50. Yet, the speed of the midrange is quicker than the bass. The midrange decays quicker with more etch to it, so you have a slight collision of timbre. Furthermore, on something like Runaway June's "Head Over Heels," I can hear the drums in the bassline struggling to keep time with the vocalists; it sounds like their rhythm is off by a hair of a second.
Still, the highs are the worst part of this IEM; they sound overly sharp and give me the impression that I’ve been stuffed inside a fluffy mattress and needles are being shoved through. They clearly do not match the rest of the sound spectrum at all in terms of transient attack. Maybe it's the piezoelectric drivers (upon closer examination with a sine sweep, they do appear to be extending further, up until maybe 13kHz, before they start rolling off), but the longer I listen to this IEM, the more I find myself having to take breaks to rest my ears, and the worse it sounds. Something like Girls Generation’s “Flyers” genuinely makes me gag. Hearing the GK10 struggling to decipher the bassline from the more forward vocals, all while the treble pierces me from every direction, is overload on my ears.
You'll notice that I haven't actually talked much about the tuning of the GK10 which, in all honesty, I think would be okay if it weren’t being completely cannibalized by the bass response. Looking around at a few graphs, I see some discrepancies, so I’m not sure what’s going on there. But it doesn't matter much because most of the things I’ve criticized are baked into the driver configuration of the GK10. It would take nothing short of a complete driver overhaul for me to change my opinion, and there's a reason why most IEMs in this price range are single-DDs. That said, I don’t feel like anyone is getting straight shafted here (it’s only $50 at the end of the day) and I love me some hype. I just wish something legitimately good got hyped.
Score: 3/10
All critical listening was done off of my iBasso DX300 and iPhone X using the stock accessories. This unit was burned-in previously for 30+ hours.
You could have burned it in for 100 hours, had the same findings, and someone else inevitably would've claimed you need to give it 200 hrs.
Your opinion is only valid when you’ve burned-in your dap for 400 hours, your cable for 1000 hours, and your eartips for 28 weeks. Only then will you hear the true sound. And if you still don’t like it, then you need to burn in your brain for 30 yearsFun fact: I usually end up docking a point for every extra 50 hours of burn-in.
Your opinion is only valid when you’ve burned-in your dap for 400 hours, your cable for 1000 hours, and your eartips for 28 weeks. Only then will you hear the true sound. And if you still don’t like it, then you need to burn in your brain for 30 years
Burn in was real for WM1A. There were slight differences, but I liked it from day 1. The love only increases with time.
Reverse burn in is also real. You start to dislike something more and more... until you get it sold lol.
It's just a opinion beginning to solidify in our minds.
---
It's tough to break into the budget-fi arena when there are established opponents like Etymotic ER-XXX / Moondrop Aria. Again... I wonder why they haven't been tapping into the trusted 1 DD solution, because it worked for a number of iems already: Blon03 / Urbanfun Yiss / JVC FD-X1 / IKKO OH10.
I'd like to see bigger DDs maybe 13-15mm. Just need someone with the engineer mind to fit it in an ergonomic shell. Don't have to worry about the crossovers to cutoff driver response / internal wave interference / tube distance and all the things that are out-of-budget to be dealt with properly for start-ups.
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OH10 is a hybrid (1DD+1BA), not single DD
it's so smooth and coherent,
just like a single DD,
maybe the BA only handle the upper treble,
@precog is the buzzkill king.The end of the hyped train
Audio Fun
100+ Head-Fier
True!! Let’s see can Crin and MRS finish a triple kill
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