The PENON official thread
Oct 26, 2022 at 12:55 PM Post #6,077 of 13,527
I'm guessing it's not that Serial is missing treble, it's just not as prominent in the sound signature.

Sound signature is rather balanced to my ears.

That’s the thing, when you have a balance then it’s almost like peace is created among the three sound bands. Where with typical Hybrids there is always this sheen emphasis (slightly) due to BA driver character. Some may enjoy that slight steeliness, though the Serial bypasses such distortions and emits a fused treble response. IMO
 
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Oct 26, 2022 at 1:08 PM Post #6,078 of 13,527
The Serial looks very interesting. I guess it got more bass and punch than the ISN H50, am I right?
No, typically ISN is more bass focused and Penon is showing midrange focus. And that my friend is what’s included with the Serial as well. A more unified mixture, where there is a contrast abound showing in the H50 as a comparison.

But remember nothing is exactly (full-on) neutral with the Serial, it’s just that it doesn’t have (quite) the kick and (ever so slight) steeliness of the H50. The ISN H50 is a W signature and owes it’s contrast to still being a classic Hybrid. The Serial has kick, though it’s primarily a sub-bass boost with lesser mid-bass and upper-bass.
 
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Oct 26, 2022 at 3:46 PM Post #6,079 of 13,527
Btw @Leonarfd , I dedicate this track to you. :beerchug: . Enjoy the party level Bass on your Serials...

Don't have them yet, but even with ISN H30 the sub bass is felt good. Listened to much from The Chemical Brothers over the years but never listened to that album.
 
Oct 26, 2022 at 3:56 PM Post #6,080 of 13,527
The Serial are almost fully 🔥-in, sound is just flowing like honey poured into my ears (🤔 not the best analogy, but you understand what I mean, I guess).

On a separate note, my ISN and Penon journey only started a few weeks ago, but I am very glad I went for the EST50 and the Serial. Both cover all bases and are complementary in a sense, provided you like a V-shape sound well implemented (EST50) and also a more intimate, mid-centric yet pushy enough signature with finely tuned treble (Serial). Both are colored IEMs in their own satisfying way.

The EST50 hit harder and deeper than the Serial. The ISN’s mids obviously are more recessed and the treble has more bite than the Penon’s, without being bright or uncomfortable to listen to. The Serial are more balanced in their presentation, but still colored anyway. Smoother, warmer, more organic and cozy sounding, but with all the details I need. The Serial and LPGT is a wonderful match with (fe)male vocals and Ambient music. Killer combo.

The fit left nothing to be desired in both cases, but the EST50 has the edge with perfect semi-custom shaped shells, at least for my ears.

If there could be only one, which set would I choose? Almost impossible to answer that question and even more difficult to make a definitive statement, but depending on my mood or brain fatigue, I easily could prefer one set over the other. While writing these lines, I am having a really great time with the Serial… Penon time tonight. Tomorrow, it might be ISN’s turn.

Nice sounding brother-in-law
2FF226B2-619D-4FC9-97C1-01D6A7E0617F.jpeg
 
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Oct 26, 2022 at 4:14 PM Post #6,081 of 13,527
@F700 You have a very nice looking Serial 👌
 
Oct 26, 2022 at 4:21 PM Post #6,082 of 13,527
@F700 You have a very nice looking Serial 👌
Thank you mate. Yes, very happy with both shells. The one displayed above indeed looks fantastic. Like the Dunu SA6, you don’t know what you get before opening the box😅.
 
Oct 26, 2022 at 4:50 PM Post #6,084 of 13,527
Oct 26, 2022 at 6:01 PM Post #6,085 of 13,527
Hello everyone, I've been looking at Penon Volt for a long time, I always had the feeling that it was something I had to try, I saw an opportunity on the second-hand market and I jumped at it.

I want to publish my impressions here and also comment on what for me are its virtues and its shortcomings. First of all I want to say that Volt is one of those iems that fall into the category of something specia, after trying many other iems of the same category and also superior, I can confirm that it is absolutely an iem impressive in several respects.


Technically impeccable, a huge stage, stellar sound separation, an ability to layer sound lines at different heights that is just awesome to listen to, and here comes one of the things I like most about Volt, it doesn't need to raise the highs or mids to punch with your sound or seem to show more detail, it's all there, smooth and organic, you don't need to artificially enhance anything, everything is presented with a naturalness that's simply gorgeous.


Here comes my main lack of love with Volt, which is its tuning with the bass, with a lack of depth and impact that has certainly disappointed me since it does not correspond at all to the frequency graph, it has just the right amount of bass to contribute some body but nothing more. Let's say that the bass is timid, to get an impact that is considered decent I have paired the Volt with the Penon Fiery cable and I have increased 6db the 31 and 62hz bands also 4db the 125hz, with this, we are still far from anything It may look like basshead, but now there's a fairly adequate bass accompaniment and only decent sub-bass punch, which is a shame in my opinion, as with this bass boost all the Volt's magic isn't compromised at all, and if it had a punchy bass response like the Ibasso IT07, Fiio FH9 or the Yanyin Mahina I wouldn't either, I've noticed a lot of manufacturers who have an iem like the Volt in their hands think they're going to screw it up with extended bass response and it's really not like that, I think that the bass are a very important part of music, what's more, I would dare to say that for many they are directly the soul of music, I have been lucky enough to be able to talk to and meet many people from the audio world, and I can say that the vast majori ty of them think like this, they don't like weak bass, in fact, the person who sold it to me told me that he changed them because he preferred to sacrifice technical aspects for sub-bass and that's why he chose the Oriolus Szalayi.


The truth is that I also believe that the Penon Volt with a full bass response would be the definitive iem, therefore it would be impressive to see in the future a second more polished version with a fuller bass or with switches to modify its tuning.

Everything and so it does so many things well that it is the only iem with light bass that I will keep in my collection.
 
Oct 26, 2022 at 6:23 PM Post #6,086 of 13,527
Hello everyone, I've been looking at Penon Volt for a long time, I always had the feeling that it was something I had to try, I saw an opportunity on the second-hand market and I jumped at it.

I want to publish my impressions here and also comment on what for me are its virtues and its shortcomings. First of all I want to say that Volt is one of those iems that fall into the category of something specia, after trying many other iems of the same category and also superior, I can confirm that it is absolutely an iem impressive in several respects.


Technically impeccable, a huge stage, stellar sound separation, an ability to layer sound lines at different heights that is just awesome to listen to, and here comes one of the things I like most about Volt, it doesn't need to raise the highs or mids to punch with your sound or seem to show more detail, it's all there, smooth and organic, you don't need to artificially enhance anything, everything is presented with a naturalness that's simply gorgeous.


Here comes my main lack of love with Volt, which is its tuning with the bass, with a lack of depth and impact that has certainly disappointed me since it does not correspond at all to the frequency graph, it has just the right amount of bass to contribute some body but nothing more. Let's say that the bass is timid, to get an impact that is considered decent I have paired the Volt with the Penon Fiery cable and I have increased 6db the 31 and 62hz bands also 4db the 125hz, with this, we are still far from anything It may look like basshead, but now there's a fairly adequate bass accompaniment and only decent sub-bass punch, which is a shame in my opinion, as with this bass boost all the Volt's magic isn't compromised at all, and if it had a punchy bass response like the Ibasso IT07, Fiio FH9 or the Yanyin Mahina I wouldn't either, I've noticed a lot of manufacturers who have an iem like the Volt in their hands think they're going to screw it up with extended bass response and it's really not like that, I think that the bass are a very important part of music, what's more, I would dare to say that for many they are directly the soul of music, I have been lucky enough to be able to talk to and meet many people from the audio world, and I can say that the vast majori ty of them think like this, they don't like weak bass, in fact, the person who sold it to me told me that he changed them because he preferred to sacrifice technical aspects for sub-bass and that's why he chose the Oriolus Szalayi.


The truth is that I also believe that the Penon Volt with a full bass response would be the definitive iem, therefore it would be impressive to see in the future a second more polished version with a fuller bass or with switches to modify its tuning.

Everything and so it does so many things well that it is the only iem with light bass that I will keep in my collection.
You would love the Szalayi.
 
Oct 26, 2022 at 8:12 PM Post #6,088 of 13,527
Oct 26, 2022 at 8:56 PM Post #6,090 of 13,527
I had not noticed that you have the ISN EST50, I also had it for a while, I regret having sold it, how do they compare between the two?
Oh, boy, well they actually compliment each other well and I enjoy going back and forth between them. The 50's are mostly on my M8 and the SZA is always desktop, but the 50 is a bit 'cleaner' and lean sounding but not in a bad way, its just a different presentation. The SZA is far superior in sound tho, but it's also more than twice the price, and even tho the 50 hits way above its price point, so does the SZA. The bass is more majestic on the SZA and the mids with that 14mm planar driver is really like a seperate speaker system inside the IEM, its magnificent. The SZA has a soundstage within a soundstage but this big full sound is complimented with the DD of the bass, they blend perfectly. And the treble really is superb even tho its just 1 BA. Having said that its possible the 50 may have superior treble, but I think the treble on the SZA is also perfect for what its doing.
 

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