GS Audio SE11 Impressions
No knowledge of the graph:
Balanced, neutral-ish tuning. If this has a dynamic driver, it’s some really weak sauce. Bass is above 1kHz by about 7dB at its highest point - using Moondrop Blessing 2 as a reference. Less grit in the midrange than the Blessing 2, pretty clean timbre if this is BA. Upper-midrange and pinna compensation are more relaxed than the Blessing 2, and I also hear slightly more warmth down in the lower-midrange. Treble has a lower emphasis - bump at 5kHz, or 6kHz, perhaps? Percussive hits come across as quite heavy, but sound somewhat compressed. Extension is decent, but nothing special. Pretty good overall.
Post-knowledge of the graph:
So the SE11 does have a dynamic driver.
Whoops. In retrospect, I probably should’ve been able to tell from the slight flex anyways. But you already know what I’m going to say then: it sucks. The SE11’s bass leans toward the quicker side and it’s largely textureless (seriously, it has less texture than the B2 in A/B). Expectedly, it also has zero slam. I know I sound like a broken record, but why is good bass so hard to find these days? The SE11's bass literally sounds more BA than it does DD. Indeed, if this works for any reason, it’s only because the SE11’s bass sounds so much like a BA that it matches the SE11’s midrange pretty closely in terms of coherency!
Fortunately, the midrange is the SE11’s standout. The SE11 sports a gentle shelf in the lower-midrange regions, lending to a hint of warmth but aptly avoiding bloat. This is followed by a controlled rise to the pinna compensation that peaks moderately, and a gentle slope off of that. Tonally, I don’t really have any bones to pick with this midrange and note-weight is right about where I'd like it. Intangibly, the BAs being used here are pretty decent too. Midrange decay is by no means gritty; in fact, I’d say it leans smoother than it does etched. I do hear some upwards-compression, but not to the same degree as the MEST I have on-hand. Suffice it to say the SE11 passes the Taeyeon test admirably.
Treble on the SE11 graphs somewhat questionably, but I wouldn’t really read too much into the graph in this instance. A quick sine sweep reveals there is strong amplitude at 6-7kHz which explains the heavy amounts of percussive impact I hear. I hear a minor recession after that, and then it peaks again at around 12-13kHz and carries through with decent amplitude to 16kHz. I do feel that it’s lacking in the final octaves of extension, but presence up until that point is good. When we're talking lower-treble, something like the Sony IER-Z1R also comes to mind, but the SE11's treble response is way quicker. Consequently, the SE11 doesn’t have that same sense of physicality or beautiful trailing reverb; the SE11’s treble can get somewhat overbearing to hear on quicker, treble-intensive tracks. But this is pretty OK overall in my book.
Technicalities on the SE11 are certainly not bad. Midrange macro-detail, in particular, is above average and devoid of the edgy transients or upper-midrange overload so many performers in this department succumb to. The heavy tilt to lower-treble further aids perception of surface-level detail. Speed on the SE11 is pretty quick, definitely faster than the Moondrop B2, so I’d say you’re looking at around at least “A” grade technicalities overall. Comparison to the real heavy-hitters in the detail department like the U12t does make clear that micro-detail and nuance is lacking; however, that’s to be expected. Imaging and dynamics are also not worthy of further exploration, but again: expected.
I have to admit that I was skeptical when I heard about this brand. It seems like there’s a new Aliexpress special being hyped every week, and I can guarantee that the vast majority of them sound mediocre (to my ears, of course). In this vein, make no mistake: I think there are more refined IEMs than the SE11 for less. This isn't going to take down (or play with) any of the kilobuck gatekeepers. But while I can’t speak for GS Audio’s plethora of other models, the SE11 has at least cleared the bar of mediocrity; in fact, it’s gone decently far beyond it in my book.
Score: 6/10
.
