First thing - I am not really fond of planar. I listened to the Timeless, and while the technical performance was quite nice, ultimately it failed to get my continued attention. Read about it here: https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/7hertz-timeless.25394/review/27416/
Now, basically what I do not like about planar is how the midrange notes sound a bit thin and lack a bit of depth. The details are well reproduced, no doubt, but the difference between the planar timbre and DD timbre changes the overall presentation. Timeless had it, S12 suffered from it. With them, the primary difference that I felt, (disclaimer: this is completely my very own opinion, and if you feel what I am spewing is pure bs and no such things exist, I'm not gonna defend myself, as I can not realistically make anyone experience what I am experiencing), that the base of the midrange notes did not have that much weight, the middle part of the note body was slightly thin but quite detailed, and the trailing edge was pretty good. That lightness of the base failed to add that last bit of realism to the notes, so they felt kinda wispy.
Apart from that, the upper midrange felt a bit of uneven and slightly harsh, bright obviously. There was a slight metallic sheen to the whole midrange. The treble wasn't bad, but again a tad bit too bright for my comfort. The bass had a slight pillowy nature - where the subbass decay is less but the midbass notes have added body to make the slam slightly fatter and sound a bit more strong.
Because of all the above misgivings, I swore to myself that I would never get a Planar Dynamic IEM of serious value ($100+) as ultimately I will not be able to love it and will feel the money to be wasted. Although I have no idea if the high end planar dynamic iems suffer from the above, namely CA Supermoon. I will know if I can hear one, which does not seem to be soon. But anyway, I digress...
However, when the Gumiho came out, I was slightly interested. The SPD seems interesting, and the added BA for treble since the SPD is unable to handle treble region effectively somehow made me feel I might not hate it that much. The price point felt quite right as well. I contacted Celest in hope of being allowed to review one, and they were kind enough to send me a review unit.
When I put them on first with the provided cable, honestly, I was surprised and blown outta my wits. The midrange was vastly different than the previous planar iems - the notes have a very very nice amount of thickness - so much that initially, it did not feel unnatural at all. As time went on, I realised that the notes were lacking a bit of depth, and I started to notice the absence of the DD timbre very slightly, but honestly, I am just nitpicking here and overall it sounded pretty, pretty good. Despite the thickness, the midrange boasts a very high degree of transparency and a very clean background. The thickness adds a natural touch to the notes that sounds very welcoming to my ears.
The low end although had the same pillowy nature - slightly thick midbass slam and slightly fast subbass decay. The textures were quite good, throughout lows, mid, and highs. At least such bass sounds better than BA bass, because here the subbass rumbles still have comparatively better body.
Coming to the treble, well, since the day I became infatuated with DD, I started to not like BA much - but it mostly was centered on low and midrange. I always liked BA treble - they can have a sense of effortless details where the details are reproduced without making the notes sound forced or strained. However, in this process they can also make them sound a bit dull and the tonality might become a bit off - the way I felt it on Fiio FH5s, and Kinera Urd.
However, the BA treble of Gumiho does not seem to suffer from the negative aspects that much. That effortlessly detailed trait is very much present, along with an acceptable amount of brightness and the right kind of tonality to make them sound natural enough. This is where Gumiho differs from the pure planars like Timeless and S12 - with the latters the treble always felt a bit too striking and hot, with Gumiho I never felt uncomfortable, and yet not even once felt any detail was masked. Yep, it's unfailingly BA treble, but to my ears a quite pleasant one. However, I have to mention something here - with the stock SPC+Alloy Copper the treble was a bit too intense for me, hence I swapped it for a pure copper cable I generally use for on-the-go listening, and the result was fantastic. That is the one in the picture below.
However, not all can be said great about Gumiho, and the drawback is the stage. You see, Gumiho has a bit of forward and yet comfortable presentation - where the bass, mid, and treble all are equally emphasised, and hence the depth of the stage takes a hit here. Although the layering is pretty nice and so is the imaging, the stage is a bit flat. It extends very well in width and height, but not much in the depth - average at best. But oh well, for $50, I am not complaining.
Overall, I have an extremely positive initial impression of Celest Gumiho, and it will easy get 4.5 Star from me at $50 price point - a default recommendation.
Now, basically what I do not like about planar is how the midrange notes sound a bit thin and lack a bit of depth. The details are well reproduced, no doubt, but the difference between the planar timbre and DD timbre changes the overall presentation. Timeless had it, S12 suffered from it. With them, the primary difference that I felt, (disclaimer: this is completely my very own opinion, and if you feel what I am spewing is pure bs and no such things exist, I'm not gonna defend myself, as I can not realistically make anyone experience what I am experiencing), that the base of the midrange notes did not have that much weight, the middle part of the note body was slightly thin but quite detailed, and the trailing edge was pretty good. That lightness of the base failed to add that last bit of realism to the notes, so they felt kinda wispy.
Apart from that, the upper midrange felt a bit of uneven and slightly harsh, bright obviously. There was a slight metallic sheen to the whole midrange. The treble wasn't bad, but again a tad bit too bright for my comfort. The bass had a slight pillowy nature - where the subbass decay is less but the midbass notes have added body to make the slam slightly fatter and sound a bit more strong.
Because of all the above misgivings, I swore to myself that I would never get a Planar Dynamic IEM of serious value ($100+) as ultimately I will not be able to love it and will feel the money to be wasted. Although I have no idea if the high end planar dynamic iems suffer from the above, namely CA Supermoon. I will know if I can hear one, which does not seem to be soon. But anyway, I digress...
However, when the Gumiho came out, I was slightly interested. The SPD seems interesting, and the added BA for treble since the SPD is unable to handle treble region effectively somehow made me feel I might not hate it that much. The price point felt quite right as well. I contacted Celest in hope of being allowed to review one, and they were kind enough to send me a review unit.
When I put them on first with the provided cable, honestly, I was surprised and blown outta my wits. The midrange was vastly different than the previous planar iems - the notes have a very very nice amount of thickness - so much that initially, it did not feel unnatural at all. As time went on, I realised that the notes were lacking a bit of depth, and I started to notice the absence of the DD timbre very slightly, but honestly, I am just nitpicking here and overall it sounded pretty, pretty good. Despite the thickness, the midrange boasts a very high degree of transparency and a very clean background. The thickness adds a natural touch to the notes that sounds very welcoming to my ears.
The low end although had the same pillowy nature - slightly thick midbass slam and slightly fast subbass decay. The textures were quite good, throughout lows, mid, and highs. At least such bass sounds better than BA bass, because here the subbass rumbles still have comparatively better body.
Coming to the treble, well, since the day I became infatuated with DD, I started to not like BA much - but it mostly was centered on low and midrange. I always liked BA treble - they can have a sense of effortless details where the details are reproduced without making the notes sound forced or strained. However, in this process they can also make them sound a bit dull and the tonality might become a bit off - the way I felt it on Fiio FH5s, and Kinera Urd.
However, the BA treble of Gumiho does not seem to suffer from the negative aspects that much. That effortlessly detailed trait is very much present, along with an acceptable amount of brightness and the right kind of tonality to make them sound natural enough. This is where Gumiho differs from the pure planars like Timeless and S12 - with the latters the treble always felt a bit too striking and hot, with Gumiho I never felt uncomfortable, and yet not even once felt any detail was masked. Yep, it's unfailingly BA treble, but to my ears a quite pleasant one. However, I have to mention something here - with the stock SPC+Alloy Copper the treble was a bit too intense for me, hence I swapped it for a pure copper cable I generally use for on-the-go listening, and the result was fantastic. That is the one in the picture below.
However, not all can be said great about Gumiho, and the drawback is the stage. You see, Gumiho has a bit of forward and yet comfortable presentation - where the bass, mid, and treble all are equally emphasised, and hence the depth of the stage takes a hit here. Although the layering is pretty nice and so is the imaging, the stage is a bit flat. It extends very well in width and height, but not much in the depth - average at best. But oh well, for $50, I am not complaining.
Overall, I have an extremely positive initial impression of Celest Gumiho, and it will easy get 4.5 Star from me at $50 price point - a default recommendation.
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