[Rockwell75]

Thanks to everyone who's voted in the survey so far...keep the votes coming

 

[Click]

I thought I was tongue-in-cheek enough to make it clear that I'm both interested in purchasing an IEM from them and hyperbolically apprehensive (I feel like if a hobby can't acknowledge that sending an email to a vendor to ask to purchase an unlisted product is a little... strange, then the shark may have been fully jumped)

I didn't mean to activate the Penon brigade so strongly. I'm legitimately interested in several of their IEMs. But, I mean, can we all agree their logo was designed by a high schooler in the late nineties?

I mean, go ahead and stick with something for brand consistency, I get that, but woof.

I've been criticizing Penon's crappy product photography and amateur-looking website for months.

They've updated their website a bit ago after I complained about it, but it's still wonky at times and goes down for days.

Their shipping times, customer service, and quality of IEMs are really top notch though.

 

[theintention]

Penon would become too powerful if they had a functional website, it’s the universe keeping the balance even

 

[kaeswiss]

Alright, I took the GK200 off the list for QC concerns, but now the Quintet and the Quattro are on the eventual buy list. I'd be more tempted to snag a Quattro if it wasn't some shady back-channel deal to get one. The Penon audio website is already sketchy enough, I don't need a black-market email transaction on top of that.

I thought I was tongue-in-cheek enough to make it clear that I'm both interested in purchasing an IEM from them and hyperbolically apprehensive (I feel like if a hobby can't acknowledge that sending an email to a vendor to ask to purchase an unlisted product is a little... strange, then the shark may have been fully jumped)

I didn't mean to activate the Penon brigade so strongly. I'm legitimately interested in several of their IEMs. But, I mean, can we all agree their logo was designed by a high schooler in the late nineties?

I mean, go ahead and stick with something for brand consistency, I get that, but woof.

It's true that Penon's website is pretty janky. It's slow to load and the company logo and product pics are pretty generic. They also don't use a 3rd party e-commerce service like Shopify that a lot vendors use nowadays so I could see why someone would feel a behind-the-scenes PayPal invoice on top of that would seem like a black-market deal lol.

We can clown on Penon on their marketing and website, but they really are legit. They seem to be carrying more brands nowadays too so I'd rather order from them than AE if an item is similarly priced. They also ship through DHL for a small fee, which is extremely fast for me (3-5 business days), and they don't charge sales tax.

I haven't gotten in on the early black market dealings for the Quattro yet, but I might now. FOMO is real.

Penon brigade unite!

 

[Jaytiss]

NiceHCK F1 Pro landed for me with the all-new Cyan upgrade cable. I have been listening to this set since 12PM today(and it's about 4 PM now). The combo of Cyan Cable and NiceHCK F1 Pro IEM sounds a little warm and a little smooth. I would say this is probably the smoothest and safest Planar IEM out there today(not including the S15 because that's a different league altogether). Will listen more and share deep initial impressions and some comparisons with Hidizs MP145(my favorite planar in this budget). Some Eye-candy to follow for my dear friends:-

I love your photos. I bought one a few weeks ago, and should be in soon. Excited to hear your impressions.

 

[brsdrgn]

Geek Wold Gk200 arrived yesterday.

It cost me around 240$. Not even at this, but at 300$ price level I can say that Gk200 is definitely competitive. This set is very secure and will be liked by many as I don't feel the need of EQing these at all.


Very good cable, decent tips, and case came along with it. Build quality is impressive with that beautiful resin shells. Nozzle is really long and made me think that I won't have fit issue. However, I was wrong and this is surprising that it took me a while to find sth. Eventually I'm using tri clarion wide bore tips.

Gk200 has the best implementation of piezo drivers that I've ever heard. It comes so close, really really close to ESTs' resolving capacity.

I'm a lover of soundstage. These have big (even huge) holographic soundstage.

I'll go even further and note that I get 95% of the sound quality(joy, enjoyment or whatever you'd call) that I get from my TSMR Land which is 600$ iem. ESTs are giving an edge to the Land at the ultra high end frequencies, making it more resolving. Piezos are not up to that level and always been complained about their spicy presentation. However, gk200 is now a great example to show the capacity of piezos. If implemented well, they're actually not that limited and can be fun.

Of course there are other factors making Land better such as the three tuning switches (I use it with 010 which makes the soundstage huge) they have. But Land comes with a ridiculous case and cable which don't fit to its price level(see Fiio Fh9 with its crazy accessory package and cable at the same price level). Tuning switches help you customizing your iem but you always end up with one presentation or 1/2 additional one that you'll barely switch from time to time. With Gk200, I'd say Geek Wold chose a very likeable presentation and you wouldn't mind not having any switch at all.

Gk200 keeps everything balanced. Bass, mids, treble. Nothing stands out too much and making the rest shy. Great harmony and simply captures you in the music.

They will remain in my collection. After I make a comparison I'll say goodbye other IEMs in my collection starting with gk100

Hopefully, I'll get back with more details after this quick impressions.

 

[cobrabucket]

I have the Hiby R6 Pro II, but am wondering whether either the Fiio Q15 (uses same DAC chip but has a much stronger amp) or a Tempotec V3 (different chip and slightly stronger amp) would be worth having...
I'm guessing probably not

 

[SweetCans928]

Found these tips. They came with the Monster Turbine Copper. They are really awful stiff foamies, not sure how they remained in my possession for almost 13 years now lol. Gonna finally be shepherding them to their new home, the trash can.

 

[brsdrgn]

Additionally, I'm surprised that noone talks about the upcoming Creative Aurvana. It's been released in some markets already.

What makes Aurvana special that it has xmems drivers and you don't need to sell your kidneys to buy one (priced about 150/170$ for different models) . First released IEMs were in wired mode and you had to pay 1.5k along with a special equipment to run it well.

Xmems drivers are going to be revolutionary in the audiophile industry as the company claims and first impressions are quite good actually.

Creative is delivering them in tws forms with quite good price along with some features that I wanted to try already. Aptx Lossless and Adaptive ANC technologies were in my target. Due to the super flat response xmems have, they added a DD to give you those tasty lows.

I think I'll grab one for the team but it'd be great if others do that too. We'd form a better idea. I'm really impatient to try these headphones.

 

[Nimweth]

Vibe...



One of my favorite albums of all time:
"The Snow Goose" by Camel.

Yes. Andy Latimer's beautiful guitar and the late Pete Bardens's keyboards. Wonderful.

 

[theintention]

Additionally, I'm surprised that noone talks about the upcoming Creative Aurvana. It's been released in some markets already.

What makes Aurvana special that it has xmems drivers and you don't need to sell your kidneys to buy one (priced about 150/170$ for different models) . First released IEMs were in wired mode and you had to pay 1.5k along with a special equipment to run it well.

Xmems drivers are going to be revolutionary in the audiophile industry as the company claims and first impressions are quite good actually.


Creative is delivering them in tws forms with quite good price along with some features that I wanted to try already. Aptx Lossless and Adaptive ANC technologies were in my target. Due to the super flat response xmems have, they added a DD to give you those tasty lows.

I think I'll grab one for the team but it'd be great if others do that too. We'd form a better idea. I'm really impatient to try these headphones.

if the word of mouth on these is good i may look into it, these upcoming IEMs from Noble look cool as well using a similar driver config. obviously not as cost efficient at $699 but the promise of not needing an amp/dac is intriguing for sure.

https://audio46.com/products/noble-audio-xm-1-xmems-driver-in-ear-monitors

 

[Leonarfd]

Additionally, I'm surprised that noone talks about the upcoming Creative Aurvana. It's been released in some markets already.

What makes Aurvana special that it has xmems drivers and you don't need to sell your kidneys to buy one (priced about 150/170$ for different models) . First released IEMs were in wired mode and you had to pay 1.5k along with a special equipment to run it well.

Xmems drivers are going to be revolutionary in the audiophile industry as the company claims and first impressions are quite good actually.


Creative is delivering them in tws forms with quite good price along with some features that I wanted to try already. Aptx Lossless and Adaptive ANC technologies were in my target. Due to the super flat response xmems have, they added a DD to give you those tasty lows.

I think I'll grab one for the team but it'd be great if others do that too. We'd form a better idea. I'm really impatient to try these headphones.

I belive @RikudouGoku has bought one. Edit, he has not. Only did show the measurement

 

[Jaytiss]

This is a little bit meta. But I see some guys posting on here from Youtube or Facebook, that don't know the etiquette. I'm thinking of making a short video about what to know about posting on Headfi or other places. What are some things that you wish you knew before you started posting reviews here? If you'd like to pm me stuff so it isn't public I am happy to take feedback. I'm just talking but I find the more we can collaborate to figure out the culture the better the overall hifi community can be. Do you have things that bother you or you wish your fellow reviewers or reviewers in general did or didn't do?

 

[o0genesis0o]

This is a little bit meta. But I see some guys posting on here from Youtube or Facebook, that don't know the etiquette. I'm thinking of making a short video about what to know about posting on Headfi or other places. What are some things that you wish you knew before you started posting reviews here? If you'd like to pm me stuff so it isn't public I am happy to take feedback. I'm just talking but I find the more we can collaborate to figure out the culture the better the overall hifi community can be. Do you have things that bother you or you wish your fellow reviewers or reviewers in general did or didn't do?

What do you mean by etiquette? About posting review on headfi?

 

[PhonoPhi]

I am excited to see one of my favourite reviewers reviewing the brain child of one of my favourite reviewers

That summarizes so well this thread (!)- reviewers patting each other backs on their glorious achievements...
95+% of headphone/IEM use is already with wireless brand names, so the ChiFi manufacturers and their dedicated reviewers seem to form "an even closer and closer ecosystem".
I now view reviewers as the surcharge to the cost of the products - the best to totally avoid.

P. S. Edited for typos