Voltage. They remind me of a lot of the prior Penon stuff but all the good parts of them. The switches brings a new flavor. Base tuning is fairly neutralish/ harmonish with excellent balance. Folks that was worried about treble roll off, with treble switch on it gives a nice additional sparkle and shimmer to the treble notes handled by the ESTs. So far, all of it sounds good with or without the switches. It will be a matter of what you prefer. Want a less colored sound, use the base balanced mode. Want a bit more bass, lower mid warmth/ fullness. Turn on the 1 bass switch. Want a bit more extra treble and air the treble 2 switch.
Want all of it, both switches does a great job and this is where these remind me of a much more refined 10th anniversary.
4 sound tubes with 4 distinct zones of sound separation all jiving at once. Bass end is fantastic. I prefer the bass switch. It's nothing like the 10dbs of bass for something like the TSMR-X but more like the bass end of the balanced 2 switch or about 7dbs of bass. Tasteful. Solid impact and texture is fantastic. So far quality all around. Definitely one of Penons best efforts. It shows just how much they paid attention to detail of the overall design on this one. The switch thing is not a gimmick on these. They are for real.
The base tuning itself could have been an IEM people would have gladly bought but them added switches brings real variability.
As per my custom item. I recently saw this item on Penon web site. It is a USB-C to USB-C cable but with one very important distinction. It is using the Totem material.
For those of you that don't know anything about what the TOTEM is. It so happens to be one of Penons greatest achievements in cable land. Take a look at this.
The cable itself is flagship material which sells for $699 for the IEM cable version
Penon already makes a 4.4mm interconnect to 4.4mm, pigtails, extenders. All sorts of goodness with this marterial.
Sells for $59. But my only issue with this cable was that it is a bit too short. So I asked them if they can make one with double the length. Or about 8 inches. Then the idea came to me they have custom plugs as well. So I asked if they can make an 8 inch one with something like the purple plugs or Rhodium plugs and. Whala. This is the result.
Dont know how much you all believe in what cable material does for a sound but the reason why I had Penon make these for me was I knew as soon as I got the PB5. These had to be a part of the chain. The stock interconnect Ibasso provides is decent but is by no means optimal. These Totem interconnects on the other had. Is optimal. Going back to the Stock interconnect. There is no comparison what these Totem cables do. What makes these customized was that I am now able to connect any of the 3 plug materials on the shorter interconnect as it is modular on both sides. So what does that do for the PB5 you ask? Hows about supercharging that sound. Greater note weight, fullness, better textures, even a greater expansion of sound.-- And this is exactly what the Totem IEM cables does for your IEM sound as well.. I know a lot of you might think a small portion of the TOTEM material can't make much of a difference... OH it does. There is no going back to the stock included interconnect. For folks that invested in the IBasso PB5.. Get yourself at least the stock Totem interconnect. Or if your interested in getting one with modular plugs that will cost a lot more but being able to change out plug material does make a slight shift. I prefer the purple or palladium plated plug the most out of the 3. Believe me if you never thought you would hear a change using a simple interconnect. Thats because you have never used a TOTEM interconnect. These make a very noticeable difference. When you get one thank me later. It will make what is already ground breaking in the PB5. That much better.
You know upon looking at the Standard 4.4mm interconnect. That cable is too short. If you do order one you might want to ask Penon if they can make a longer one or mention my name and my version of the interconnect and they might be able to accommodate. Might set you back a few more bucks but it will be worth it.
