[ocZZ]

^ I'm selling my G4 and a few other iem cables in the classifieds if anyone is looking to try.

 

[lucanato]

Hi friends, I have a question:

Is there such a thing as the Penon of the full-sized headphones world?

I mean that in two ways - both Penon being a lesser-known company that produces products that almost always punch above their weight AND in terms of sound signature. I really like the "Penon sound" as exemplified by the Fan 2 and the Volt and would like to find something similar with full-size cans that are also a good value proposition.

Thank you for any and all insights.

I have serial, vortex and have had fan2.
I sold all my over headphones because none of them was enough coherent in sound like PENON and I was not using them anymore. But now I've blindly jumped on a second hand hifiman he1000se. I intended to jump all the medium category hifiman models to be sure I was at the top of refinement and fortunately I was right. Someone said hifiman sound signature is a little bright; as actually I pick up more often vortex instead serial, I bet that hifiman could be a similar sound. Serial is a musical sound ,full ,immersive, but vortex form factor for me is better cause serial make me feel claustrophobic... and the zing in highs that I find and like in vortex I can't find in serial... hifiman is.... Another world, now I can feel the limits in refinement of my iems and you can't stop listening to them: details, comfort dynamic separations, effortless sound.... top, no complaints at all, I want to invest all this money in a big headphone cause the illusion of reality is better than in a in ear. In ear in my opinion is a compromise and It's not worth spending a fortune on, but I love listening music from them when I walk, ride, go by train...

He1000 arrived at an enormous cost for a guy like me that never have gone over 300€.
But I thought: how many headphones I'll buy and sell to arrive to the desired sound? Wasting time and money... so let's jump to the last step and let's see.

I spread the cost over three months to feel less guilty...

I gave myself a gift for being hired this year as music teacher at school!

I also have to say that he1000se I bought was used 6 hours so I put them in a burn in session and after 48 hours they completely change, medium appears and highs were not histeric anymore, night and day differences!

Read he1000se Amazon reviews, someone preferred them against focal utopia!
And the one who sold me he1000 bought just...the utopia... and he say that he have to familiarise with the sound cause he hadn't the wow effect at first listening.

I spent a lot to buy an end game over ear headphone but if you can't afford I suggest you audeze lcd-2c used.

Now I've three fabulous headphone vortex serial and he1000se, and I can stop my research.

 

[Appamanna]

It's funny you mention HIFIMAN - I thought they were the answer for me as well, but after trying a few of their cans it turns out that I don't like the sound signature of planars very much. I just verified that this is the case at SoCal CanJam today - the Audeze LCD 2c sounded good for a planar, but I was still bothered by something with that tech.

So, more specifically, I'm looking for the Penon of full-sized headphones that uses dynamic drivers - and for me it might be ZMF. I loved some of their stuff today, and I have a used pair of Eikons arriving on Wednesday.

Of course, the $12k+ Dan Clark and Stax electrostatic setups sounded phenomenal, but that nukes the value equation and is a bit out of my price range for the moment

 

[AnandaHri]

Hello everyone,

I am hesitating to buy an est50 or a 10th anniversary.

I am looking for a warm and permissive profile for bad recordings as my favorite style of music is punk rock.

I also have the H40, the H50, the Serial (my favorite) and the Neo 5. Do you think they would improve a lot what I have?

Thank you very much

 

[wdelta06]

Hello everyone,

I am hesitating to buy an est50 or a 10th anniversary.

I am looking for a warm and permissive profile for bad recordings as my favorite style of music is punk rock.

I also have the H40, the H50, the Serial (my favorite) and the Neo 5. Do you think they would improve a lot what I have?

Thank you very much

Both excellent sets with probably pretty diverse perspectives (in this forum and others) about which one reigns supreme....

I figured the most feasible option is to make the below links available for an informed decision.

Either set, you really can't go wrong...

Good luck & happy hunting !

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/isn-est50.25254/reviews

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/penon-10th-anniversary.26501/reviews?order=rating

 

[F700]

Hello everyone,

I am hesitating to buy an est50 or a 10th anniversary.

I am looking for a warm and permissive profile for bad recordings as my favorite style of music is punk rock.

I also have the H40, the H50, the Serial (my favorite) and the Neo 5. Do you think they would improve a lot what I have?

Thank you very much

I used to own the EST50, but I have not listened to the 10th Anniversary. Permissive and warm actually are traits of your favorite Penon set, the Serial (love it myself too). The EST50 might bring more clarity along the frequencies, but the somewhat energetic treble section can be too much for some people. In my humble opinion, the answer to your question might lie somewhere else. Feel free to pm me.

 

[emdeevee]

Hey Penon, you guys need to figure out how to start taking part in Canjam. You're absence was felt.

I tried so many competitive iems at prices that you kill, but no one can try them. Elysian has a 6BA model at $1500 that Turbo, butastur, and others would smoke, but no one who's not here knows.

You guys are in the big leagues...where were you when I tried to explain why 10th AE competes handily with so many new "wows"?

Please make a showing, @Penon!

 

[StarBuccaneers]

Hey Penon, you guys need to figure out how to start taking part in Canjam. You're absence was felt.

I tried so many competitive iems at prices that you kill, but no one can try them. Elysian has a 6BA model at $1500 that Turbo, butastur, and others would smoke, but no one who's not here knows.

You guys are in the big leagues...where were you when I tried to explain why 10th AE competes handily with so many new "wows"?

Please make a showing, @Penon!

I agree. I brought my Fan 2 to Canjam, talked to Super Review and he has never heard of it. I couldn't find anyone who's aware of it. Such a great set.

 

[Click]

Hey Penon, you guys need to figure out how to start taking part in Canjam. You're absence was felt.

I tried so many competitive iems at prices that you kill, but no one can try them. Elysian has a 6BA model at $1500 that Turbo, butastur, and others would smoke, but no one who's not here knows.

You guys are in the big leagues...where were you when I tried to explain why 10th AE competes handily with so many new "wows"?

Please make a showing, @Penon!

Their lack of marketing strategy and attempts at spreading brand awareness boggles my mind.

Can't just rely on a few of their trusted head-fi reviewers to do all of the marketing for them.

I guess they're comfortable doing what they've been doing for the past 10 years.

 

[ocZZ]

What's their market in China? maybe Penon is profitable in just that market and aren't looking to expand/spend marketing dollars for global events. Also, I'd imagine established brands at Canjam aren't looking for competition present who is able to better their product at 1/2 or event 1/4 the price. I think that if more here could try the Sound Rhyme DTE900 for example, many of those said vendors would eventually need to reduce prices to compete.

 

[BrokenHill]

Hey Penon, you guys need to figure out how to start taking part in Canjam. You're absence was felt.

I tried so many competitive iems at prices that you kill, but no one can try them. Elysian has a 6BA model at $1500 that Turbo, butastur, and others would smoke, but no one who's not here knows.

You guys are in the big leagues...where were you when I tried to explain why 10th AE competes handily with so many new "wows"?

Please make a showing, @Penon!

Their lack of marketing strategy and attempts at spreading brand awareness boggles my mind.

Can't just rely on a few of their trusted head-fi reviewers to do all of the marketing for them.

I guess they're comfortable doing what they've been doing for the past 10 years.

The same thing was asked a few days ago on the Aür Audio forum. These events are expensive for companies that want to keep costs low, although I also believe that they would recover the investment quickly. But $2,500 minimum for the stand, plus travel, transportation of merchandise, and getting visas on time...

 

[emdeevee]

The same thing was asked a few days ago on the Aür Audio forum. These events are expensive for companies that want to keep costs low, although I also believe that they would recover the investment quickly. But $2,500 minimum for the stand, plus travel, transportation of merchandise, and getting visas on time...

AüR is literally 2 guys open for a year. Penon been around 10 and are clearly a bigger operation. They clearly don't want to market to the rest of the world as someone else pointed out.

 

[Redcarmoose]

A disturbing section from the Okavango review coming-up!



"Neo5:

In some ways reviewing the Neo5 has left me with a knowing, the Neo5 showing itself to be an old friend, even though it just came out. This is what happens when you go about the total effort to review an IEM. And even though I didn’t have the preferred ISN S4 cable to do the (Neo5) review, I did use a number of aftermarket cables during the review process. One thing of note is how the ISN S4 cable size physically appears exactly like the included Okavango cable. One is silvery grey and the other white.

Neo5 v Okavango:
More Bass, that’s the first thing you notice, then the fact that the stage is bigger. But more than that and of possibly a more important value here is that there is an introduced spatialization here in where the Neo5's vocals sit, it’s like someone moved the speakers in a room. Just way bigger in presentation. A floating spectacle of hovering forwardness in vocals and even splashy instrumentation out into the outskirts of our mind……ahhh….I mean hearing? I’m going to tear-up here……I’m sorry, I can’t write, this is beautiful, though it’s probably the music not the IEMs……………………………………………………………Anyways.



Gosh, the Neo5? How do I ever compare these two?"

 

[LeonidK]

How important is burn-in and cable rolling on Penon 10th? They are lovely but I still prefer Yanyin Moonlight due to more energetic approach with somewhat harder (but not as deep hitting bass). I feel like Penon is smoothed a bit too much. I wonder if that can change but maybe that's just the way they are, I definitely can find some use for them when they're better than Moonlight, but Yanyin's IEM is just more versatile for me.

 

[Redcarmoose]

Burn-in is real, especially since remember there are 2X the DDs. But what happened for me is that the 10th was already great upon first trying it. It wasn’t like some IEMs which there was some kind of need for correction to fix anything. Basically the 10th became more cohesive and smooth, bass became slightly more refined? Cable rolls are a big part of the hobby for myself, and the 10th Anniversary went along with the program. I don’t actually totally remember exactly all the cables I rolled but they are listed in my review of the 10th. Standout nice cable sound choices would be the Penon Bass Cable, also we have others (including myself) finding the ISN CS02 to be wildily special. Adding CS02 stage and separation yet that wasn’t always exactly what the CS02 did with other IEMs? Meaning I have experienced at times a smoother treble and upper midrange, but they were still not diminished (smoothed out) in any way noticeable, I thought? Simply wider (showing air-space) and offering more involvement due to such antics?

But as far as IEM choices.......it maybe depends on what you are after as far as response..........where the 10th is my favorite out of the 14 ISN/Penon IEMs I have tried? I really like the size of stage, that and the bass, really I just like the 10th 100%......lol. Penon has never made anything like the 10th in their history.

But as far as cables go, really the 10th was very well rounded and was up to the task of making great music with pretty much a whole slew of cables, numerous sources and all music genres......its well rounded ability which becomes one of the strong points, at least for me anyways?

Never heard the Moonlight?

How important is burn-in and cable rolling on Penon 10th? They are lovely but I still prefer Yanyin Moonlight due to more energetic approach with somewhat harder (but not as deep hitting bass). I feel like Penon is smoothed a bit too much. I wonder if that can change but maybe that's just the way they are, I definitely can find some use for them when they're better than Moonlight, but Yanyin's IEM is just more versatile for me.