The PENON official thread
Dec 20, 2023 at 10:18 AM Post #11,957 of 15,500
Wow, the Quattro hype train is running full steam!
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 10:23 AM Post #11,958 of 15,500
1703040761471.png

A bit more observations about the Liqueur tips here.

Orange tips smooth out the treble end a touch like how Final E and or Sony hybrids do. On the same token this focuses the sound more for its upper mids, mids presence and bass sounds open and spacious using these.

The Black tips you get slightly more treble presence vs the Orange. As posted before they give a slight U shaped sound enhancement to your IEMs while emphasizing the low bass here as well. These are similar to the well established wider bored tips like the Spiral dots and Sendas but the difference is in its grippy material which will mean a better seal for ears.

One important note is you have to be sure you get the right size here. I was using the X Large size on the orange tip thinking that would fit the best for me but it turned out to be the standard large that fit better for my ears. I noticed that X Large does fit some IEMs better for my ears vs the large but I recently tried it on the Quattro and I don't know if it was due to angle of the nozzle but the X large seems a bit too big for my ears. How you can tell is by pressing the housing into your ears and if you gain presence and bass that means the tip is not fitting well for your ears. Changed to the regular large and whala. Much better sound. The X Large works better for nozzles that are shorter it looks like for my ear shape. For now I will stick with the regular Large. Once these tips seals well you get the full sound from your IEMs and what the tips do.
 
Last edited:
Dec 20, 2023 at 11:26 AM Post #11,959 of 15,500
A bit more observations about the Liqueur tips here.

Orange tips smooth out the treble end a touch like how Final E and or Sony hybrids do. On the same token this focuses the sound more for its upper mids, mids presence and bass sounds open and spacious using these.

The Black tips you get slightly more treble presence vs the Orange. As posted before they give a slight U shaped sound enhancement to your IEMs while emphasizing the low bass here as well. These are similar to the well established wider bored tips like the Spiral dots and Sendas but the difference is in its grippy material which will mean a better seal for ears.
Could you please compare those tips to Dunu S&S?
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 12:14 PM Post #11,960 of 15,500
@BrokenHill

Can you briefly compare Volt and Quattro??

Specifically, I'm interested in knowing if the Quattro has more bass impact than the Volt and how they compare in soundstage size and images, thank you!

How do you feel about the bass of the Quattro vs. DTE900?

I'll try to compare them as soon as possible, but I couldn't spend much time yesterday. It hasn't gotten to 2 hours of listening. My daughter was ill, and I couldn't devote myself to my nightly listening time. What I can tell you is that it has already been buning for 4-5 hours, and I really liked what I was able to hear. Also keep in mind that there is always a tendency to overvalue the new, compared to the old (honeymoon time, they call it). Some points:
  • I believe not only in physical burning, but also in mental burning. It takes a while to get used to a new IEM.
  • Lately accustomed to more neutral IEMs. The bass seemed excessive to me at first. I left it burning for a couple of hours, and when I returned I had already lost that opinion.
  • The bass pushes hard when necessary, but is delicate on acoustic songs. It has great texture and control. It's faster than the Volt. I think the texture is also better than the DTE900, but I have to do A/B comparisons to corroborate it. I love the textures of Jazz percussion, and I would dare to say that it is the best I have heard.
  • The other thing that caught my attention is the great consistency between the drivers. In my Impact for example (BA+EST) I have always thought that if they had included a DD for bass, the coherence, cleanliness and separation between the instruments it has, would have been worse. In the Quattro, the feeling is that the filters between drivers are very well thought out, because the result is like being in front of a pair of multi-way speakers. Even better, because you have better spatial positioning.
  • And finally, the technicalities, immersion and musicality. There are details that make you think if you are really listening to DD drivers, but at the same time it makes you enjoy and immerse yourself in the music, without thinking about whether a certain instrument sounds good or bad, you realize that you are enjoying... and no... in my short listening, I have not been able to detect timbral errors in any instrument. I need to listen more to make a comparison of the soundstage and positioning, but it's pretty good.
In short, some very good first impressions, but they are very preliminary and I need to be able to listen to them more, much more. Maybe I don't even feel like taking them off to compare them with others. :gs1000smile:

I'm pretty sure everyone that has it so far has messaged Penon directly and asked. Apparently driver matching / sourcing the DDs is time consuming so it's taking longer for full release on the website.
exactly
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 2:24 PM Post #11,962 of 15,500
Don't want to sound like a fanboy but I have to say that Penon just does things really right - simply a pleasure to deal with:
Ordered my Quattro last Friday, have been informed about shipment on Monday and - guess what - just took the Quattro out of the mailing box... ****ing brilliant....
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 2:56 PM Post #11,963 of 15,500
Could you please compare those tips to Dunu S&S?
Dunu material is very similar to the new Penon tips in that they are grippy. I am using their standard larger tips vs the new XLarge. Dunu S&S tips. I never got the newer Xlarge tips I read the Xlarge is more flimsy and not as dense as their Large for some reason. If someone could confirm this that would be great. They sit a bit longer on the nozzle and that will affect how everyone will perceive the sound. One aspect about the S&S tips that is kind of a negative is that you have to have symmetrical ears for these tips to work well for you. There is some room for ear shape variation using the Penon tips vs the S&S in that it is more of a traditional dome type tip vs the cylindrical shape of the S&S. Another negative of the S&S is that you have to have the right nozzle length for them to seal correct otherwise you have to experiment with the larger sized tip

As per sound. The black Penon tips are more similar to the S&S tips in how they perform as they both have similar nozzle openings. Both tips project sound to be more forward. I want to say with a good seal the S&S tips brings just a hair more bass presence vs both the orange and black Penon tips. Which can be a posititive and or negative pending on how much clarity or bass you like for your IEM presentations. I feel the new Penon tips give better overall balancing to the sound profile vs the S&S tips. Of course you have to take ear shape and and individual fitment into account but when all these tips are sealed well in your ears. They all do the job. S&S tips are the bassiest out of the 3. Black ones gives just a smidge more treble presence over the S&S.

Orange tips gives superior clarity and details vs the S&S and the black tips are somewhere in the middle of the two. Comfort wise no question the Penon tips fit better in the ears. S&S tips aren't bad per se but they are more like donut cylinders for tips not the most ergonomic shape.

I will tell you is it worth owning a variety of tips? Absolutely. Tips are much like cables, you dont know which ones will synergize the best with a particular IEM you own. until you match it up with the right ones. Penon now has a serious nice tip to add to the collection. I own a bucket load of tips and I still buy newer designed tips all the time just for this factor. If you own more than your share of IEMs this especially applies to you.
 
Last edited:
Dec 20, 2023 at 3:31 PM Post #11,964 of 15,500
Dunu material is very similar to the new Penon tips in that they are grippy. I am using their standard larger tips vs the new XLarge. Dunu S&S tips. I never got the newer Xlarge tips I read the Xlarge is more flimsy and not as dense as their Large for some reason. If someone could confirm this that would be great.
Yes Dunu Xlarge are way too flimsy, so it's more difficult to get a proper seal compared to L. Sounds like the new Penon tips are good hits.
What exactly does "more forward" mean? Is it meant like further away? More depth to the soundstage?
 
Last edited:
Dec 20, 2023 at 3:55 PM Post #11,965 of 15,500
One important note is you have to be sure you get the right size here. I was using the X Large size on the orange tip thinking that would fit the best for me but it turned out to be the standard large that fit better for my ears. I noticed that X Large does fit some IEMs better for my ears vs the large but I recently tried it on the Quattro and I don't know if it was due to angle of the nozzle but the X large seems a bit too big for my ears. How you can tell is by pressing the housing into your ears and if you gain presence and bass that means the tip is not fitting well for your ears. Changed to the regular large and whala. Much better sound. The X Large works better for nozzles that are shorter it looks like for my ear shape. For now I will stick with the regular Large. Once these tips seals well you get the full sound from your IEMs and what the tips do.

IMG_1543.jpeg


What I like about how Penon sells these is that you can choose any permutation of sizes and I’d advise everyone buying these to try at least two sizes.

The orange tips are indeed softer and more supple than the black ones and that affects fit.

So the funny thing is that, with the Quattro at least, I’m an M for the orange tips and an L for the black ones. Reason being that the orange tips are soft and supple enough to achieve a good seal deeper in my ear canals and the black ones have to sit more shallowly so have to be bigger to get an optimal seal. Once seated properly, the black ones have more bass and treble and greater sound density when the track calls for it. The orange ones are still kings for timbre and air.

Comfort wise no question the Penon tips fit better in the ears. S&S tips aren't bad per se but they are more like donut cylinders for tips not the most ergonomic shape.

Absolutely. I was never even able to get a seal with my S&S tips.
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 4:38 PM Post #11,966 of 15,500
IMG_1543.jpeg

What I like about how Penon sells these is that you can choose any permutation of sizes and I’d advise everyone buying these to try at least two sizes.

The orange tips are indeed softer and more supple than the black ones and that affects fit.

So the funny thing is that, with the Quattro at least, I’m an M for the orange tips and an L for the black ones. Reason being that the orange tips are soft and supple enough to achieve a good seal deeper in my ear canals and the black ones have to sit more shallowly so have to be bigger to get an optimal seal. Once seated properly, the black ones have more bass and treble and greater sound density when the track calls for it. The orange ones are still kings for timbre and air.



Absolutely. I was never even able to get a seal with my S&S tips.
In my case, when I find some tips that work for me, I use them in all my IEMs. I currently love S&S. I have been going from spinfit -> Azla -> Azla Xelastec -> Azla Crytal -> Dunu S&S. In the case of the Penon, where there is usually no frequency range to fix, I think that the tips should interfere as little as possible with the original sound of the IEM. Furthermore, the particularities of each ear canal can generate different peaks for each one in the high frequencies. The greater the insertion, the more section of the ear canal that is homogeneous, instead of the ear canal itself. The S&S in the Quattro continue to convince me a lot, but I'm trying the new Penon's, I still don't have a formed criterion.
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 6:27 PM Post #11,967 of 15,500
Yes Dunu Xlarge are way too flimsy, so it's more difficult to get a proper seal compared to L. Sounds like the new Penon tips are good hits.
What exactly does "more forward" mean? Is it meant like further away? More depth to the soundstage?
More density to the sound, thicker fuller meatier, and or more forward. Seal inside the ear is the most important aspect of tip rolling. If you don't get a good seal inside the ear that forward or more dense sound dissipates and you get less bass with a brighter tonal character and a much thinner note weight to music which does not make for a more musical experience.

Penon tips are good in that its grippy material fits better than comparable tips that arent as grippy. AKA standard tips most manufacturers use included with IEMs.
 
Dec 20, 2023 at 7:54 PM Post #11,968 of 15,500
DOME.jpg


Penon DOME IEMs arrived yesterday! After burning them in overnight I'm listening to them at work from the awesome little Xuelin Clear player, in preparation for a review.

They instantly remind me of the ISN Neo5s - my favourite IEMs under $500. Form factors are nearly identical, and driver configs are the same except for the Neo5s having an extra BA. I'm listening to Rüfüs Du Sol right now and although there's a fair amount of sonic overlap between them they diverge enough to be complimentary.

The Neo5s are tuned with massive bass quantity that really dominates but can occasionally be a little boomy. They're slightly dark in the treble, their midrange is fairly neutral, but they have a way of making instruments sound large and possess a surprisingly big soundstage for a modestly priced IEM. They're simply a ton of fun.

The DOMEs are more politely tuned, and at once I notice their gorgeously rich midrange tonality which grabs my attention. They almost remind me of a mini Penon Impact in this regard, with greater refinement than the Neo5s. Bass is also kept in line more, though quantity is still absolutely ample for electronic music with sub bass in particular going quite deep.

I've just swapped to the Penon Globes which are also mid-prominent, and boy do they suffer in comparison... the DOMEs are warmer with a much fuller sound and appreciably greater bass quantity, whereas the Globes come across as thinner with a distinct lack of note-weight, yet I don't think the Globe's technicalities are any more proficient as a tradeoff for that leaner sound. Yes there's still something special about that Globe midrange, but for my taste these DOMEs are almost a straight line upgrade for the electronic, classical & soundtrack albums I listen to. DOME & Globe use identical stock cables too, so that's not where any difference between them lies.

Perhaps it's a reflection of improvements in driver technology since the Globes were originally released a few years ago. In my time in the hobby I've definitely noticed less & less are we forced to choose between tonality & technicality, even at lower prices. These days if an IEM doesn't deliver both in spades I'm disappointed, and can only imagine how much more challenging the lives of those responsible for tuning earphones must be as a result. The market's so saturated with great products at every price that choosing becomes largely a question of the flavour you prefer rather than objectively "good" or "bad" choices.
 
Dec 21, 2023 at 8:09 AM Post #11,969 of 15,500
Last edited:
Dec 21, 2023 at 1:41 PM Post #11,970 of 15,500
VideoCapture_20231221-193308.jpg
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top