[rawbine]

Please, 200 hours more, then get back to this comments.
Weathering or burning in if superficial or not, we have to pass this.
An additional note re; the treble resolution
Different drivers will have different interpretations of realism, hi-finess i.e. tambourines:
Volt (a little de-emphasized but very realistic of the lot nonetheless)
Acoustune 1670 (don't feed with bad recordings)
Z1R (my personal taste for end of game treble, unfortunately requires TOO MUCH POWER for an in ear headphone-destroying the concept of portability)

I gotta say, I was one of those people who thought the Volt could do with more treble energy fresh out of the box. Took a while to realise that is not the Volt’s MO at all. Way more subtle than that. You’ll hear it in how it renders atmospheric detail and texture, not how it fries your eardrums. And I’d stopped counting by then but I estimate it took the EST drivers on my unit something like 150-200 hours to get there.

Yeah what a time that was. This one takes me back still.

Revisiting two older posts.

Agree, each has its own unique characteristics, in my mind the EST on the Volt has that rare quality of seamless articulation or coherency.

Going to listen to more music with the Volt later tonight then write some notes.

 

[morndewey]

Let the serial burn in for about 4 hours on a hard rock playlist, then another 6.5 hours on a heavy bass playlist.

2nd Day: I have been using +5dB treble on TA-100 tone controls, otherwise it sounds really closed in, I'm missing a lot of treble on these. Back to back with the FD3, it is like having a music enter your ear and with the Serial its like someone put a thin cloth over your ear while listening to music. I'm not sure if this is the intended sound with these, if anyone else has a FD3 to compare to it would be really helpful, something seems off. Maybe this is a more relaxed sound, which some people seem to really enjoy. I also do not mind sending them to someone to A/B with their pair of Serials. Maybe I'm using the wrong burn-in tracks? These remind of a much better KZ AST so far.

What source are you using?

 

[Acuno]

Let the serial burn in for about 4 hours on a hard rock playlist, then another 6.5 hours on a heavy bass playlist.

2nd Day: I have been using +5dB treble on TA-100 tone controls, otherwise it sounds really closed in, I'm missing a lot of treble on these. Back to back with the FD3, it is like having a music enter your ear and with the Serial its like someone put a thin cloth over your ear while listening to music. I'm not sure if this is the intended sound with these, if anyone else has a FD3 to compare to it would be really helpful, something seems off. Maybe this is a more relaxed sound, which some people seem to really enjoy. I also do not mind sending them to someone to A/B with their pair of Serials. Maybe I'm using the wrong burn-in tracks? These remind of a much better KZ AST so far.

FiiO tends to tune their IEMs to have a boosted lower/mid treble, Penon tends to tune darker lower treble. They're going to sound different, comes down to preference. If you like FD3 signature, the logical upgrade would be the FD7.

 

[AudioSeeker]

What source are you using?

Source would be Spotify and TA-100 Built in headphone amp until I get my Atom Stack. Although I do not think this is the reason the lower treble is recessed, like Acuno mentioned it seems to be a result of tuning of the drivers. The FD3 on the same setup shows much more forward lower treble and upper midrange. I still really like this set, the bass is uncontested out of any of my IEMs. Wish I could get the best of both worlds.

 

[AudioSeeker]

FiiO tends to tune their IEMs to have a boosted lower/mid treble, Penon tends to tune darker lower treble. They're going to sound different, comes down to preference. If you like FD3 signature, the logical upgrade would be the FD7.

Unfortunately the FD7 is out of my price bracket, would you happen to know how the FD5 compares? Also Based on what I am reading from the BQEYZ Autumn, it also has that lower treble emphasis that my ears seem to like. I enjoy when I watch YouTube videos and I can hear stuff moving in the background or various electrical sounds coming from the audio interface used to record the microphone audio, which cannot be picked up on other IEMs.

 

[Acuno]

Unfortunately the FD7 is out of my price bracket, would you happen to know how the FD5 compares? Also Based on what I am reading from the BQEYZ Autumn, it also has that lower treble emphasis that my ears seem to like. I enjoy when I watch YouTube videos and I can hear stuff moving in the background or various electrical sounds coming from the audio interface used to record the microphone audio, which cannot be picked up on other IEMs.

I've heard from a few reviewers that FD3 sounds almost exactly the same as the FD5. My guess is that it's the same driver, just resold at more budget price.

 

[AudioSeeker]

I've heard from a few reviewers that FD3 sounds almost exactly the same as the FD5. My guess is that it's the same driver, just resold at more budget price.

The search continues... (although the serial is slowly growing on me w/ better tips now)

 

[Scubadevils]

The search continues... (although the serial is slowly growing on me w/ better tips now)

Serial went from being pretty good but missing a bit of a kick, especially in the mids to absolutely fantastic by way of a cable roll - something I was honestly sceptical about until now. I listen to it as often as other more expensive IEMs in my collection as a result of this combo!

@Dsnuts - curious to hear your thoughts on Penon cables to match Serial. I just happened to have a Han Sound Nyx cable I bought last summer and mostly it's colour led me to give it a try, I thought they'd look good together... I'm definitely no longer a cable sceptic! I have tried some other cable combinations on different IEMs and I can't hear much if any difference. With Serial, it is obvious immediately, no question about it, massive SQ upgrade. The Nyx cable is about $200 though, I'm sure this improvement can be had without spending that much.

 

[Dsnuts]

Serial went from being pretty good but missing a bit of a kick, especially in the mids to absolutely fantastic by way of a cable roll - something I was honestly sceptical about until now. I listen to it as often as other more expensive IEMs in my collection as a result of this combo!

@Dsnuts - curious to hear your thoughts on Penon cables to match Serial. I just happened to have a Han Sound Nyx cable I bought last summer and mostly it's colour led me to give it a try, I thought they'd look good together... I'm definitely no longer a cable sceptic! I have tried some other cable combinations on different IEMs and I can't hear much if any difference. With Serial, it is obvious immediately, no question about it, massive SQ upgrade. The Nyx cable is about $200 though, I'm sure this improvement can be had without spending that much.

Dont know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Cables are a new can of worms I can tell you. Though having a decent variety of good cables is always a good option for earphones. You can always buy new earphones but cables will perform for you year in and year out. I posted some impressions in the past about cables on this thread and here are a few regarding some cable I mentioned in the past. This post regarding gold plating and what that does for cables.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16678322

This post is about the Mix cable on the Serial. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16675685

More cable match ups for the serial. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16677635

Last but not least this is a post I made about a bunch of Penon/ISN cables during 11/11 sales I left some impressions of. If your curious about any of them I did full reviews of all of them you can search out for and you can certainly PM me with any questions about them. https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16678923

So Penon makes some really great cables and the best part is they don't charge a crazy amount for their cables.

 

[ehjie]

ISN & Penon impressions by Dsnuts P.248
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/penon-audio-thread-post-your-impressions-here.934523/post-16678923

New
ISN Audio G4
OCC Graphene Silver-plated + OCC Graphene Gold Paint Hybrid cable
Type-6 Litz configuration
Single crystal copper mixed graphene silver-plated + single crystal copper mixed graphene gold paint hybrid cable
Environmental protection transparent PVC sheath
4 shares of 180 cores per share
Aluminum CNC alloy cutting integrated slider
Solder joint is silver–contained tin
Secondary oxidation gold foil gold ring
Gold-plated plug
Cable length: 1.2M

(Credits: Penon Audiophile Reviews)

 

[BearWant]

We all hear things differently, so here’s my version on how I view the pigtail as part of an audio chain. In essence the Totem is a 2/3 copper and 1/3 silver cable plated with precious metals such as silver, gold and platinum in a coaxial configuration. The copper portion subjectively speaking tightens the low end whereas silver highlights the other end of the spectrum. what I believe influences the final output could be the exotic platings. Gold to smoothens, silver that tightens and platinum to give it some shimmers to whichever host cable that it’s connected to.

Ditto on OS849 if you are looking for a more direct upgrade from the OG. There’s also the Orbit and Mix for your consideration. Last check Penon does not have the option to install ear-guides on any of their current cable lineup.

If you are looking for a comfortable, thick but supple with ear-guides silver plated copper replacement, CEMA has one that is a direct upgrade to the OG, it’s fairly affordable too.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001398172252.html

The link appears to be broken. What is the name of that CEMA cable? That sounds appealing.

 

[AudioSeeker]

Quick question, does burning in with a EQ applied or treble boost affect the outcome of the burn in?

 

[Dsnuts]

@morndewey

Got good news for you. The Legends is actually more compact for housing more drivers. When you look at the pic next to the volt you can see it is less bulky.

 

[Dsnuts]

Quick question, does burning in with a EQ applied or treble boost affect the outcome of the burn in?

Na but in theory if you add a healthy dose of bass boost that will help move your drivers in the Serial. But not really necessary. I would just let it play out of a while. You will notice a stage change. When I heard them out of the box the stage didn't wow me but after burn in the sound expands for certain. It takes a bit of time for burn in to help a sound settle. Just let it play through a source for a while. No eq needed.

 

[rawbine]

The link appears to be broken. What is the name of that CEMA cable? That sounds appealing.

Look out for the MS Series.

22AWG 7N New special offer type6 advanced upgrade cable single crystal copper + pure silver earphone upgrade cable 0.78mm MMCX