I don't mind audio makers making TOTL stuff even if its out from my reach, just proves that they know their stuff. Unless its a TOTL without much afterthought, just clashing together hi end materials and sticking a high price (not really where Penon is)
Then I can probably go back and decide for myself if Volt or H50 is my next move from Penon. Can get the H50 together with ORB or Globe for the price of Volt, but I did like the Volt when I tried it some months ago. The one owning it lives too far off now to try it again.
Remember there is value even at the supreme end of sound quality. Though normally those TOTL IEMs are $6000 and above. And to have Penon come along and offer possibly an equal sound (or better) for a lot less simply continues to show how value orientated Penon is. Where us buyers always wonder if there is a large amount of mark-up in a TOTL purchase, Penon is proving that there is by undercutting the price, yet including the sound.
And....the build quality goes along with that sound.
I don't mind audio makers making TOTL stuff even if its out from my reach, just proves that they know their stuff. Unless its a TOTL without much afterthought, just clashing together hi end materials and sticking a high price (not really where Penon is)
Then I can probably go back and decide for myself if Volt or H50 is my next move from Penon. Can get the H50 together with ORB or Globe for the price of Volt, but I did like the Volt when I tried it some months ago. The one owning it lives too far off now to try it again.
I don't mind audio makers making TOTL stuff even if its out from my reach, just proves that they know their stuff. Unless its a TOTL without much afterthought, just clashing together hi end materials and sticking a high price (not really where Penon is)
Then I can probably go back and decide for myself if Volt or H50 is my next move from Penon. Can get the H50 together with ORB or Globe for the price of Volt, but I did like the Volt when I tried it some months ago. The one owning it lives too far off now to try it again.
It is a testament to the IEM building art, for a builder to offer a glimpse into absolute sound reality. Playback reality that is as close to real music reproduction as possible. And it’s a small difference from Mid-Fi, but that’s the difference and the diminishing returns as you enter into the TOTL realm. Such playback is in a way the unlimited imagination of the builder to prove his worth no matter what the odds are or cost. Taking such ideas and dreams and forming a product is often way different (than Mid-Fi) as you climb the ladder of complexity. Most regular folks can only afford one or two TOTLs at any given time. Yet the bar keeps getting raised higher and higher as this IEM technology is moving forward in great ways. The stacking of parts is getting bigger, hence the price going up. Making the abilities of new TOTL IEMs that much better and replicating the reality of playback that is closer to real musical sounds.
So exactly how does one suspend 10 BAs and 4 EST drivers to where they align perfectly for the shell resin to be poured with no marks of any type of residue all suspended perfectly aligned with the left and right shell? Would like to see an episode of Modern marvels to actually see the process.
Typically with a framework of the same resin. When the spaces are filled in, this frame merges with the rest of the resin and becomes invisible. Still impressive to do it so well even when you know how it is done.
I don't mind audio makers making TOTL stuff even if its out from my reach, just proves that they know their stuff. Unless its a TOTL without much afterthought, just clashing together hi end materials and sticking a high price (not really where Penon is)
Then I can probably go back and decide for myself if Volt or H50 is my next move from Penon. Can get the H50 together with ORB orGlobe for the price of Volt, but I did like the Volt when I tried it some months ago. The one owning it lives too far off now to try it again.
With any of the route you elect to take, there is NO wrong way. Take into consideration their key strengths (Volt; analogue, engaging, the'50s; analytical neutral bright) and from there you can get to decide which one.
If I may, amongst your short list, the Volt is the most premium of the lot, by its sound quality, timbre, scale of imaging. Again, if you prefer its tuning...
Just received the Impact - a Canadian Tour Unit. Even before I graphed it, I knew it sounded familiar.. A Traillii like tonality with the Jewel like resolution.
Penon Impact. Excuse the poor lighting. Will take some better pictures tomorrow and will post them. The Impact is all clear glass like resin with a pearl white face plate. The cable is a modified version of the Obsidian which works exceedingly well with BA based IEMs. Not to mention specifically designed for the Impact in all white sleeving Looks fantastic in person. Classy.
Well, what can I say. I got them last night and connected them to my K9 pro and started to listen to them. I was like a kid waking up early on Christmas morning. Lol.
First thing that hit me was its ability to mimic a live stage. You can hear the ambience of the venue perhaps better than anything I have heard. The Legend comes close but these things!
Vocals! Vocals! Andrea Bocelli I use his vocals for testing out male vocals, I mean how can you not. His live recording of Perfidia. Was the first track I listened to. When he starts to sing. Instant shiver!
Oh man this track I have heard so many times but the way the Impact captures the ambience the air of the venue here is mind blowing. It sounds like I am sitting there in the audience listening to him sing. It is shocking.
Dimensional like you wouldn't believe. Big holographic stage that represents what you are hearing. Using so many premium drivers in a compact housing with 4 bores will get you dimensional in the truest sense. Well mastered Jazz is amazeballs with the Impact.
What separates these vs your standard IEM presentation is the layers and layers of sound you're hearing. And then Imagine Penon mids cranked up to 11. These things are playing with TOTL level sonics. These have to be some of the best mids presentation for IEMs I have ever heard. More than just musically rich and with details coming at you at all angles.
Tonal character, extremely natural rich meaty with surprising timbre for what is basically an all Sonion BA based set. No surprise I prefer the tonality and timbre of the Sonion BAs and you get a whole heaping loving of Sonion BAs. You can even say the Impact is a Sonion BA lovers poster child. No Knowles to be found on these.
Details. Its trebles are handled by 2 Sonion BAs and 4 Sonion ESTs for the ultra highs. Crystalline details, smooth clean silky sparkly and very dimensional. Treble fans will love how details for treble plays in the air out of nowhere. Well extended and you can hear the integration of the EST air injection with superb highlights for trebles. Trebles are airy and has very good presence. There is no single plane of sound on these at all. These are how you can tell there are limitations on your treble presence on lesser IEMs. Details and transients for trebles are a given but has an addictive shimmer and sparkle and you know Penon tuned treble means no added fatigue. Excellent well optimized treble. I have a feeling the treble notes will fill in to a greater extent after some burn in but if the out of the box experience is something to go by. These are gonna impress even treble enthusiasts.
Bass. So why do you guys think these are called IMPACT? Cus that is exactly what these do for bass. These will be impactful not just for its presentation but for its bass. Punchy and defined just like the rest of the signature. What is interesting here is I don't know if these are Sonion Acupass BAs but there is no venting for the bass unless it is using some sort of venting from the nozzle. There is no vent bass hole anywhere I can see.
I also noticed the bass end digging a bit more so than your traditional well implemented BA bass. Has surprising texture. Agile, tonally accurate and of course BA speed, bass tracks actually have some authority. I would say it has at least 8dbs of mid bass to sub bass which is actually how much bass I feel is necessary for a versatile bass amount for IEMs in general. I think Penon took to heart how they tuned the bass end for BA based IEMs and tried a new trick. A BA set with authority? How can that be? It is an improvement from the Legend bass presence.
It's got better attack and seems to have a slower more realistic decay of bass notes for its sub bass.. A touch punchier than the Legend bass end. From how I understand it. Two of the bass BAs does upper to mid bass, two of them handle the rumble. Bass notes don't have the texture of a dynamic but these have to have some of the best texture for sub bass I have heard for BA bass. I noticed bass ability for the Impact is dynamic in how it performs. Meaning it adapts exceedingly well for bass types and emphasis depending on the track. Hip hop sounds like hip hop including some deep hitting rumble.
Natural bass notes sound unsurprisingly fantastic on these but is not weak in the sub bass emphasis. I couldnt ask for much better BA bass representation on the Impact.
Ultimately this all BA + EST design gives a fluid cohesive all Sonion sound that represents some of the brands best hardware in the Impact.
Dont have to worry about speed for these things either. Metal tracks sound amazing on these.
Passive Isolation.
Fantastic. These are an ode to the Penon Orbs clean clear design. The all clear Resin is like melted poured glass with no vent holes I can see. You want to talk about perfect for out and about immersion.. Also a nice ice breaker for sound geeks. Check out all the drivers homey!
You can show your friends all the BA/ speakers in the shell and look at that artwork for that immediate jealous look. Lol.
More impressions please! And comparisons especially. How about with the Volt, for instance? Or other IEMs with well-implemented BA bass in its price range?
I don't mind audio makers making TOTL stuff even if its out from my reach, just proves that they know their stuff. Unless its a TOTL without much afterthought, just clashing together hi end materials and sticking a high price (not really where Penon is)
Then I can probably go back and decide for myself if Volt or H50 is my next move from Penon. Can get the H50 together with ORB or Globe for the price of Volt, but I did like the Volt when I tried it some months ago. The one owning it lives too far off now to try it again.
I just had to take in the apparent irony of an IEM called IMPACT without a DD on bass duties. That’s brave, anyway.
I was rather hoping there would be a DD in the Impact, especially after Penon’s successful run with DD bass in the Vortex and Fan 2 last year. Curious why they went with a BA instead.
The Legend was a solid offering for the price but the bass was lacking some note edge & impact despite the lifted midbass. The midrange and treble was excellent though and the solid imaging was the icing on the cake. I hope the Low Frequency BA units being used offer that step up in the bass.
I haven’t heard the Legend, but I wonder if these are the same shortcomings I perceive in the Sonion BA woofers of the Elysian Diva as well. The Diva has the most amazingly clean bass shelf I’ve ever had the pleasure of hearing, it has all the PRaT, texture and detail of a good BA, extends and rumbles like a DD thug, even kicks and slams, while still managing to lack that last mile of impact that the best DDs bring.
So yes, the BA bass gives me pause. At that price point, too. We shall see. I’m really keen to hear more from the folks who already have it in hand.
Listening to the 4 tracks I loaded from previous post out of my K9 Pro.
Impact vs Volt
As dimensional as the Volt sounds the Impact is much greater with that aspect. Their stages are fairly similar, but the biggest difference is how the Impact background has a blacker background. It has a higher end sound separation and an imaging at a different level, the Volt is not able to do. However, this being said that richness for vocals and their tonal characters are definitely from the same family. I feel the Volts and the Impact have similar tonal qualities, stage and sound balancing but just about everything else is a clear upgrade for the Impacts. The other aspect the Impact is a clear upgrade is its treble tuning. Volts needed a touch more lower trebles and you get that with the Impact as it dedicates a dual Sonion for lower to mid trebles. It is well known that EST drivers work best for upper trebles so that is what the Impact uses the EST drivers for.
Impacts treble articulation is some of the best I have ever heard. Then you add another level of dimensional and imaging/technical aspects to its overall sound and you get a clear upgrade on the Volts. Volts to this day I feel are supreme bang for buck for Tribrids and a true Penon classic. Penon has used their extensive use of the Sonion BAs to maximize its sound quality that now is fully realized in the Impact. Volts is what you look into if you are a fan of the Orbs and the Globes.
You figure it would be the bass end that will clearly win over the Impact but not exactly. The Bass end of the Volt by nature will not be as tight or a speedy as BA bass. Volt bass end has a slightly slower decay, slower bass in general vs the Impacts speedy tight faster bass. The Impacts bass end adapts to different types of bass on a different level vs the Volts. Benefit of a good integrated dynamic driver for bass is it gives a realistic woofer like bass end but if you are an eclectic music listener like I am there are advantages of BA bass that dynamics are not quite good at. When I listen to the bass end of the Impact it does not sound like BA bass for something like Hip hop as it has excellent presence and a rumble you would never figure BA Bass can do. I am comparing it directly vs the Volt bass. The Impact bass end can adapt to every type of bass note possible and do it extremely well. Something speedy that is in rock or metal, full on punchy to a slower deeper rumbly type. Impact does these elements for bass on a different level cameleon like for bass. Volt bass is overall a good dynamic bass but lacks a bit in authority, speed and needs to be the next level for texture and extension for its sub notes. I think If an eventual Volt 2 ever comes out it will be the bass end that needs a bump in quality and ability overall.
Impact vs the Legends
Now this one was where I thought. No way would the Impact be worth double that of the Legends. Believe it or not the Legend actually has the widest stage for all Penon IEMs even over the Impact. It is the Legend that comes more closer to technical ability of the impact by nature it is an All BA set with some premium Sonion drivers in it as well. Now that I am looking back at the Legend release. You want to talk about value folks. That would be the Legend. Legend has a w shaped tuning that has some astounding ability and versatility and even more so than the Volt the Legend is an absolute bargain in this comparison. Reasoning for its slightly wider stage presentation has to do with its lesser lower mids region and the added pure silver Flow cable that enhances stage.
I actually tried the Flow cable on the Impacts, and it does bring more stage and treble emphasis vs the stock cable. Impacts sounds a touch leaner and less richer in tonality due to the pure silver of the Flow cable so the Impacts were clearly designed with the white Obsidian cable to enhance the tonal character. The Obsidian is mostly a pure copper type cable so it does not enhance stage elemets of a sound like a pure silver cable does. I do encourage some cable trial and error as one thing I did learn from trying out the Flow cable was that the Impacts do change in character with other cables.
The Impact has an overall higher end more refined tuning that brings more body to the sound in general vs the Legends. The mids are the most dimensional sounding out of all the Penon IEMs including the Legends. Impacts mids are a touch more forward in the mix vs the Legends and has more body/ fullness/ greater note weight. Bass sounds more focused and more defined with the Impacts vs the Legends bass. It has a bit more in the way of quantity for its bass notes. Has greater punch and sounds more extended with a slower decay in the sub notes. It could be using the same drivers as the Legends for its bass but the Impacts being a closed design, the Legend is vented out back. This design change seems to be the difference in bass being a touch more prominent and focused on the Impact sound vs the Legends.
Its treble has a leg up on its articulation and detail aspects. I have to say the Legends are no push over for its treble definition, but the Impacts has an advantage of greater precision overall. Impact is the top of all the Penon IEMs when it comes to imaging and dimensional sound even over the Legends. But the Legend comes remarkably close to these aspects for being half the cost of the Impact. Comparing both side by side if I didn't have the Impact next to it to compare, I think most folks would be WOWed by the Legends sound presentation.
Legends is like a premium version of the Fan 2 in many ways if you guys can't afford the Impact and want a clear upgraded premium version of the Fan2 sound profile. That is what the Legend is. The Impact has more refinements, but you would be hard pressed to find them if you didn't have them side by side. They are that good. Overall, what separates the Impact vs the Legends is its overall balancing, greater note weight for its bass to mids and a bit extra for their treble, a higher end precision, imaging and articulation with EST sparkle. Value clearly goes to the Legends, but the Impact is what happens when you bring your absolute best effort using premium Sonion drivers and a tuning that is easily one of the most versatile with a very nice high end technical ability. The Legend actually comes remarkably close in many aspects of the Impacts, but it is the extra attention to the Impact tuning that clearly makes it Penon's new Flagship.
Ya OK so I was right. .The Flow cable enhances stage for the Impact. Wow I like how this sounds with the Impacts. Gives a different flavoring to its sound make up. We are just getting into the Impact era folks. I know it would be a good idea to create a different thread for the Impact but no issues with staying on this thread after all this is the Penon thread.
Ya OK so I was right. .The Flow cable enhances stage for the Impact. Wow I like how this sounds with the Impacts. Gives a different flavoring to its sound make up. We are just getting into the Impact era folks. I know it would be a good idea to create a different thread for the Impact but no issues with staying on this thread after all this is the Penon thread.
Stunning up close.
Build quality looks spotless on these. You can always trust Penon to keep the standards high. If the implementation proves as good as Traillii, I really respect the aggressive (but still expensive) price point.
