Its here and im thoroughly impressed with the build quality, accessories, packaging and stock cable. I dont feel like cable rolling because the stock cable synergizes so well and looks amazing; furthermore, its sounds well tuned. If you honestly asked me I would have thought this would sell for $400-$500 USD but at $130 USD from Aliexpress, its a steal.
Other big brands should watch out aka 64audio U4S and EA GAEA. Why spend $1,000 USD when you spend 1/10th the cost and get great sound and have left over money for a DAP and/or another IEM that had a different sound signature?
I'll believe that these can match the upper echelon when I hear one, though I anxiously wait for new finds by you and @AmericanSpirit to see promising options.
Get a good DAP to go with a good IEM is a good idea, though. Not a logical choice at all (DAP), but it does not always have to be logical.
Btw, I found that HiBy Zeta is way better than Gaea at the same price. Unoffensive tuning and truely high-end technical performance (4EST). 1DD + 4BA for $1300 is a bit steep for the Gaea.
More than just nice tuning. I've come to the realization that after adding the BlackSoul and JVC Spiral Dots, that the SR5 is actually my favorite IEM. Yeah. Even more so that the IE600. Absolutely in love with the bass response and those crisp cutting mids. Just an amazing piece of hardware for $149.00.
@emdeevee
I'm sure you may know of the SHOZY B2? Both the B2 and the EST50 came alive. Where Penon originally offered the B2 with the ISN SC4 cable, and while that totally works, this Vocal Cable has more meat on it, while still making the B2 open-up and transcend the bass overload that some cables do with it. The EST50 has me in actual tears today. Probably the first tears I have shed in at least 60 days over an IEM. But I don't have chill bumps much any more, maybe once a year?
Also I don't know why the EST50 is better now than when I first tried it? It may be the Vocal Cable burn-in? I'm just finishing-up my review and the EST50 never ever sounded so good. It's exactly like using the ISN SC4 with the EST50, only now it's filled out and gloriously interactive?
The 'scam' was touting the codec as lossless.
If they touted it as a high-quality lossy codec, which has advantages in terms of bandwidth required for streaming, and whose sound output may appeal to some, probably no dispute would have opened.
Personally, as a Tidal user, I don't mind.
(although my judgment is biased, because I'm a bass-head).
@emdeevee
I'm sure you may know of the SHOZY B2? Both the B2 and the EST50 came alive. Where Penon originally offered the B2 with the ISN SC4 cable, and while that totally works, this Vocal Cable has more meat on it, while still making the B2 open-up and transcend the bass overload that some cables do with it. The EST50 has me in actual tears today. Probably the first tears I have shed in at least 60 days over an IEM. But I don't have chill bumps much any more, maybe once a year?
Also I don't know why the EST50 is better now than when I first tried it? It may be the Vocal Cable burn-in? I'm just finishing-up my review and the EST50 never ever sounded so good. It's exactly like using the ISN SC4 with the EST50, only now it's filled out and gloriously interactive?
Haha, making me almost want to wait with my review of EST50 until the Penon Vocal arrives. I can always edit in a part about it later, also need my Editor Chan(wife) to go trough my grammar.
I had almost 2 months now only using the Neon Pro, so the EST50 was a little soft sounding in treble at first going back. After a hour I remember why I liked the EST50 so much, I had almost finished the review when I got the NP. It just took all my head time since I were in shock of the quality of NP.
EST50 has this musical and fun sound that is never fatiguing with its gentle pina gain. I think many think of EST50 as a basshead IEM, its so much more than that. Not a IEM many talk about, I would put them in top 10 for me. And is a keeper.
@emdeevee
I'm sure you may know of the SHOZY B2? Both the B2 and the EST50 came alive. Where Penon originally offered the B2 with the ISN SC4 cable, and while that totally works, this Vocal Cable has more meat on it, while still making the B2 open-up and transcend the bass overload that some cables do with it. The EST50 has me in actual tears today. Probably the first tears I have shed in at least 60 days over an IEM. But I don't have chill bumps much any more, maybe once a year?
Also I don't know why the EST50 is better now than when I first tried it? It may be the Vocal Cable burn-in? I'm just finishing-up my review and the EST50 never ever sounded so good. It's exactly like using the ISN SC4 with the EST50, only now it's filled out and gloriously interactive?
One of the more established (relatively) shop that nobody talks about is Toneking: https://m.tb.cn/h.UHoSMXv
mbquart was a supposedly an originally German audio brand that failed in China and got it's name(in China exclusively) bought out by these ppl that are now making a huge iem catalog: https://m.tb.cn/h.UIBSmn1
Let it burn! J/k. I didn't hear any change after letting them run by themselves for a day.
One trick is to wear them with a shallow fit. I think you tried to fit the IEM deep into the coupler (that small peak at 8.5kHz). All issues about soundstage width would be resolved with shallow fit, and the treble peaks would be brought down to audible region to reduce the darkness.
If we turn the cards upside down, I'm not a believer in burning....
To make my measurements more comparable with each other, I usually use the same foam tips in all IEMS, also the same insertion depth. Sometimes I even use the same foam tip in both channels to minimise possible variations. I know that this misses a universe of nuances that are provided by the included silicone tips. But I have noticed that measurements above 7kHz became very inconsistent with the silicone tips in my rig. So I was looking for a compromise solution and it is the one I am explaining here.
We all know that these microphones are not very reliable in those regions... But having such a huge database, thanks to Squiglink, I tried to adopt a method that would fit with the rest of the measurements.
So the insertion depth is determined by the size of the foam tip I use. It is clear that the deeper the mic, the more sound pressure there is, especially in bass and treble. That's why I always try to keep it the same.
It is not a question of getting it wrong or not. It's about the twists and turns of life. What was black yesterday can be white today and be the same person. Yesterday, I was a Penon reviewer and now I am not. I am not going to criticise Penon, not at all, quite the contrary, because the shop has helped me to become the reviewer I am today. I will always be grateful to him for supporting an unknown, a novice like me, back then.
I heeded what he wrote and it was a lesson learned.
I just wanted to remember that. And to let people know that things are different today than they were back then.
Haha, making me almost want to wait with my review of EST50 until the Penon Vocal arrives. I can always edit in a part about it later, also need my Editor Chan(wife) to go trough my grammar.
I had almost 2 months now only using the Neon Pro, so the EST50 was a little soft sounding in treble at first going back. After a hour I remember why I liked the EST50 so much, I had almost finished the review when I got the NP. It just took all my head time since I were in shock of the quality of NP.
EST50 has this musical and fun sound that is never fatiguing with its gentle pina gain. I think many think of EST50 as a basshead IEM, its so much more than that. Not a IEM many talk about, I would put them in top 10 for me. And is a keeper.
Btw, @FranQL: I have just A/B Legato with my E5000. I don't know what to tell you, the E5000 driven from my Shanling M6Ultra is less bass and ironically, less warm and dark than the Legato. In any case, I think you can just stay away from this whole sound signature altogether. I have strange feeling that if you dislike E5000, you will dislike Legato too.
@AmericanSpirit i think the SR5 that you found is actually real, i found one iem that graph similar to your SR8! It's only 1300yuan = 190usd with 6ba both side Link
Also i found this Etymotic Inear style Link 399 = around 60-70ish and even have private model if you want to!
I really need an isolate iem to gaming so i guess i might try to buy this etymotic with switches, still haven't figure out how yet
That's the thing though: EA500 can be a LITTLE bit spicy if you prefer listening at moderate-high to high volumes. I'm not a "blast my ears out" type, but I do like to listen above moderate levels and so far on stock tips and cable, 41T has a hot spot for me when pushing the volume. Just want to say that for people
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