[MezeTeam]

Imo, substantial upgrade, the Rai Penta will give you more headroom up top and better bass extension down low with a more even-metered signature in-between. It has much better separation and definitely no bass bleed of any kind. That said, it also isn't as full through the bass and mids and is a bit more vocal-forward by comparison.

Thank you for your long term support to Rai Penta. Your comment is always straight to the point, I am sure readers will enjoy your sharing.

Just in case some of our recent readers have missed the Rai Penta review from Ryan, you can check it out HERE.

Andy

 

[Mark-sf]

Just posted my review at https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meze-audio-rai-penta.23896/review/23953/.

 

[NovaFlyer]

Just posted my review at https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/meze-audio-rai-penta.23896/review/23953/.

Nice review. I listens to the Rai Penta last year and really liked it, both sound and comfort wise. Have you experienced any wearing off of the color around the edges of the Penta? I recall seeing some mention of that in previous posts in this thread.

 

[Mark-sf]

Nice review. I listens to the Rai Penta last year and really liked it, both sound and comfort wise. Have you experienced any wearing off of the color around the edges of the Penta? I recall seeing some mention of that in previous posts in this thread.

Thanks for the feedback. I have not experienced any signs of wear or chipping on mine.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

We have always put natural and musical as our top priority. This is an important aspect in our house sound and and you should be able to experience this across our complete product line.

There is one observation that senior audiophiles probably will feel uncomfortable. When we check out a pair of speaker in a showroom or audition room of a retail shop, how long does it take to make up your mind this is your next speaker? or this is not your choice, next please? On the other hand, when you walk into an earphone shop and look at the customers checking out a bunch of of latest earphones, how long does it take to take down the earphone from their ear and tell the shopkeeper, next please? and how fast they can make up their mind and head for the cashier?

So not surprised, technicality, or detail and resolution of earphone/headphone in particular, have become the spotlight of reviews and main factor in consumer decision. We are learning to cope with this tide.

Andy

I can relate well about this. Been in retail audio industry for "long enough" time, generally people make a decision quickly for speaker/headphone/earphone with stronger character. Such as big bass impact or super detail or extreme large soundstage or really intimate presentation, etc.

Even when they were in store, had many hours to spent, they might jump from one iem/headphone to others with only 30 seconds listening to each of them. Which is, usually bring a "fake" result for what they hear. They only pay attention to the smallest detail/separation/texture, and too much focus on particular instrument or singer or song.

I couldn't tell them enough to start enjoy the listening experience rather than just simply comparing side by side in hurry. They might replied back like "oh, but I worry I would forget the sound that I just heard". Awful excuse. We shouldn't memorise them, this is not exam. We should understand and have feel with the whole effect / experience of listening to those iem/headphone. In daily use, we don't use them only for 1-2 songs, but perhaps for 1-5 hours of listening straight.

While the natural sound iem/headphone group definitely has harder time to sell due to this reason; but usually once a person decided to have more time to listened, and picked the one with more natural sounding iem/headphone instead the "shiny character", there were bigger chance they would use them longer, or even never plan to sold it.

 

[macdonjh]

I can relate well about this. Been in retail audio industry for "long enough" time, generally people make a decision quickly for speaker/headphone/earphone with stronger character. Such as big bass impact or super detail or extreme large soundstage or really intimate presentation, etc.

Even when they were in store, had many hours to spent, they might jump from one iem/headphone to others with only 30 seconds listening to each of them. Which is, usually bring a "fake" result for what they hear. They only pay attention to the smallest detail/separation/texture, and too much focus on particular instrument or singer or song.

I couldn't tell them enough to start enjoy the listening experience rather than just simply comparing side by side in hurry. They might replied back like "oh, but I worry I would forget the sound that I just heard". Awful excuse. We shouldn't memorise them, this is not exam. We should understand and have feel with the whole effect / experience of listening to those iem/headphone. In daily use, we don't use them only for 1-2 songs, but perhaps for 1-5 hours of listening straight.

While the natural sound iem/headphone group definitely has harder time to sell due to this reason; but usually once a person decided to have more time to listened, and picked the one with more natural sounding iem/headphone instead the "shiny character", there were bigger chance they would use them longer, or even never plan to sold it.

I can relate to your experience as well. However, those rapid A/B comparisons which focus on specific characteristics of music reproduction can serve to reduce a large population of candidate speakers (or head phones, etc.) to a small group or "short list" of good candidates warranting much longer auditions. Every one of us has some specific things we're looking for, or looking to avoid, in the sound of the gear we buy. It's pretty easy to winnow out gear making only a "C" or lower grade in such a test. The longer auditions are definitely required to separate the B grades from the A grades.

I miss audio stores for that reason. I spent hours in the audio store in the town where my university is. I became friends with all the salesmen (yes, they were all men, no sexism here). When I directed some of my beer money at a new pair of speakers it was the Boston Acoustics A70 instead of the A60 due to the smoother tweeter in the A70. That was only confirmed with many hours of listening while goofing off with my friends in the show room. I had another round of that after graduation when trying to decide between the Apogee Stage and the Martin Logan Sequel. I think that particular salesman got sick of seeing me: too much time spent on what for him would be a small sale. If I'd been after the Diva...

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Question. What model of the comply foam tips come with the Rai Penta? They were the most comfortable foams I ever tried. I want a pair for my new iems.

 

[Mark-sf]

Question. What model of the comply foam tips come with the Rai Penta? They were the most comfortable foams I ever tried. I want a pair for my new iems.

Not sure if they are actual Comply tips but you only get one pair with a 12mm width and 10mm height.

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

Not sure if they are actual Comply tips but you only get one pair with a 12mm width and 10mm height.

I checked their website and it said comply. I was just wondering which ones. Because they were definitely a lot different than other foams I tried.

 

[buonassi]

^^^ believe it is comply isolation 400

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

^^^ believe it is comply isolation 400

Thanks, mate.

 

[tma6]

Just got these in today, damn they’re beautiful. Also absolutely fantastic first impressions. I’m very confused by some of the reviews I’ve read and seen.

 

[tma6]

I’m only an hour or so into listening and have been A/B testing with my current favorite IEMs, the Sony IER M9s. They are very different sounding iems with the Sony’s a bit more dry and detailed with a more powerful bass presence. The pentas though are absolutely beautiful sounding, with a more enveloping warm bass, and natural and realistic timbre. I really have no idea how reviewers are calling the pentas “boring”, it makes no sense. If anything they are emotive and real, with excellent nuanced dynamics. Also I don’t find them rolled off on the treble or bass at all. Yes they’re smoothed out but the presence and detail in each of those ranges still comes through very nicely. So far very much enjoying these and feeling very confused about the reviews. Will update with more detailed impressions after more time listening.

 

[Mark-sf]

I’m only an hour or so into listening and have been A/B testing with my current favorite IEMs, the Sony IER M9s. They are very different sounding iems with the Sony’s a bit more dry and detailed with a more powerful bass presence. The pentas though are absolutely beautiful sounding, with a more enveloping warm bass, and natural and realistic timbre. I really have no idea how reviewers are calling the pentas “boring”, it makes no sense. If anything they are emotive and real, with excellent nuanced dynamics. Also I don’t find them rolled off on the treble or bass at all. Yes they’re smoothed out but the presence and detail in each of those ranges still comes through very nicely. So far very much enjoying these and feeling very confused about the reviews. Will update with more detailed impressions after more time listening.

My review posted here did not find them boring at all And I think is consistent with what you are hearing.

 

[Ichos]

My review to be published at hxosplus magazine in a few days states clearly that this is one of the best iems right now and surely not boring at all.