Looks like it took a bit of heating.
The PENON official thread
- Thread starter Dsnuts
- Start date
Any more on the Penon Conductor? My one should be with me in a couple of days. Looking forward to the adjustable BC and the large driver.....which I assume will need a fairly long burn in.
It's better if you tell it yourself...
Mine follows its course:
• 2024-08-27 10:27
ShaTian,DongGuan / Depart from facility to service provider.
Any formal review for Penon Rival coming out yet? I follow the path of Quatro, Voltage, and FAN3, and really interested in what a $4k Penon TOTL can bring to the table.
I am working on it, bro, but at least a week away as I've yet to change a damper. @Dsnuts has taken that a little further so he might write it up first. I am just finishing 100 hrs of burn in.
In a nutshell, it does absolutely compete with others in the high end. For instance, I am right now listening to AK/EE Novus right now (Watercooler Tour) which is similarly configured to Rival without the ability to change its tuning. Novus seems excellent but Rival can stand tall next to it. Both use dual Sonion bcd which is highly effective making both sound almost headphone like, projecting the sound as if it's coming from out of the head. Novus costs $5k, so this is the competition.
Look at the tech inside the Rival shell!
Fan 3
@Dsnuts , " The end result is quite astonishing. Once fully burned in and adjusted for its grand sound signature. Accept that the sound is now out of your head. Way out of your head."
". . . with the BC engaged the spacious element of the Fan3 sound goes into overdrive"
Just got my Fan3, so they're in the oven, get warmed up. But from my test for DOA, it's easy to discern that the Fan3 can help define a couple items:
1. Width & height, in respect to soundstage
2. Can a BoneConductor be instrumental, in the overall playback, not just the low end
Penon could've addressed another question that burdens the community, cable upgrades. If there would've been an option to get both the OS133 and the Space cable.
@Dsnuts , " The end result is quite astonishing. Once fully burned in and adjusted for its grand sound signature. Accept that the sound is now out of your head. Way out of your head."
". . . with the BC engaged the spacious element of the Fan3 sound goes into overdrive"
Just got my Fan3, so they're in the oven, get warmed up. But from my test for DOA, it's easy to discern that the Fan3 can help define a couple items:
1. Width & height, in respect to soundstage
2. Can a BoneConductor be instrumental, in the overall playback, not just the low end
Penon could've addressed another question that burdens the community, cable upgrades. If there would've been an option to get both the OS133 and the Space cable.
have a Fan 2 with the original OS133how much is the rival?
DrewVz
1000+ Head-Fier
Just got another VIP email for the Fan3 saying they're in stock, with the same discount. Interesting since I still haven't received mine from the pre-order that I placed weeks ago.
audionooby
500+ Head-Fier
Weird. I have not seen another email.
Dsnuts
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Jun 20, 2011
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So this is how you change out the dampers on the nozzle. As you can see this thing is tiny.
These have over 100 hours on them now and they sound amazing. I can understand everything Penon has done to make these what they are. There is so much to the Rivals that is like peeling away layers of a onion to get to that sweet sound but my goodness once you hone it down. I can clearly understand why the price tag is what it is.
This is how you tune that bass. Counter clock turn for increase. Clock wise for decrease. The bass end on these things are special as well. Most authority for a flagship from Penon thus far. Penon went for sheer musicality with some of the best implementation of EST drives and two treble BAs I have heard thus far.
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Did you check your acct. on Penon ?
Under orders, that’s where I got my tracking number. I got my Fan 3 yesterday, but I did splurge for the express shipping
Thanks for the encouragement, you gave me the confidence to change my first damper, like a small iem surgery.
So this is how you change out the dampers on the nozzle. As you can see this thing is tiny.
These have over 100 hours on them now and they sound amazing. I can understand everything Penon has done to make these what they are. There is so much to the Rivals that is like peeling away layers of a onion to get to that sweet sound but my goodness once you hone it down. I can clearly understand why the price tag is what it is.
This is how you tune that bass. Counter clock turn for increase. Clock wise for decrease. The bass end on these things are special as well. Most authority for a flagship from Penon thus far. Penon went for sheer musicality with some of the best implementation of EST drives and two treble BAs I have heard thus far.
Honestly, it's not dissimilar from changing atom modules on any Fir Frontier, not that it's very fun either. But in both cases, the changes of these tiny implements make big differences, of course moreso with Rival having essentially 3 tuning controls.
The sound from top to bottom is commanding, engaging, less polite than any other Penon, and a wholly new level for Penon that should put them in the top of the heap in the top end of this game. Pretty cool that they are also selling the best budget iem in the biz with Fan 3!
Finally, cannot impress enough how important burn in was here. I'm also at 100 hours and coherence and timbre have come together and my brain is beginning to fully hear Rival for the gem it is.
WOW4K USD
shiningtofu
New Head-Fier
haha I realise now it looks shrunk but that's just the angle, there's no shrinking or warping. It's just turning yellow and I have no idea what it is. Emailed penon and they said it's not oxidisation because that would be black or green. But I've never had this issue with any of my other cables, even the equally shiny and silvery one that came with my tansio mirai x. It could be discolouration of the outside plastic but that would be disappointing because it's only been a few months of normal use and I rotate between 5 sets of IEMs so it's not heavy use.
Disappointing because the asos is phenomenal sound wise. It has this nice trait of adding note weight rather than just bass or mids which is something I haven't found with other cables. But with such an ugly discolouration after so soon...it's hard to recommend...
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