[Dsnuts]

Heres the other review for more context. This hobby is great as we seem to be hearing different IEMs. Lol. I agree with @Tonytex

The no treble thing and now monotone bass? When I did some tip rolling I tried Dunus S&S tips and that tip made the Quattro sound more like what tonedeaf was hearing for bass. The no treble thing is what is a bit head scratching for me

 

[jsmiller58]

Heres the other review for more context. This hobby is great as we seem to be hearing different IEMs. Lol. I agree with @Tonytex

The no treble thing and now monotone bass? When I did some tip rolling I tried Dunus S&S tips and that tip made the Quattro sound more like what tonedeaf was hearing for bass. The no treble thing is what is a bit head scratching for me

I wonder if EQing the mids and bass down will expose the treble… as @ToneDeafMonk pointed out, he heard the treble when the tracks didn’t have a lot of mids and bass…

 

[BrokenHill]

I've been eyeing 10th anniversary or Og Thieaudio Oracle.. I just love vocals that much.. does og Oracle have good techs? In mids it would be my perfect preference and how does it fare against 10th anniversary?

I had the TA Oracle OG and sold it as soon as I heard the Penon Volt. It's not that it's a bad IEM, but it had very good reviews at the time, and I detected flaws in the timbre of some instruments, and in some voices. It helped me know what my preferences were in terms of tuning, at least.

 

[BrokenHill]

My thoughts on the Quattro

Magical Musical Mids
Power Pig
Source dependant
Tip dependant
That MONO non isobaric configuration bass lacks texture
Mid bass is soft and bleeds into the mids too much
Treble is not air or enough to get past the bloated bass
Detail and seperation is not strong on this one.
Technical details non existent at lower volumes as is dynamics

It's funny how each of us can listen to different things, and I think the key is also what you mean by the fact that it is very dependent on the tip, and the source, and I think also on the genre. With the example of SIA, you made me see the tonal change in the voice when the bass was predominant. But for me, jazz or acoustic instrumental songs sound exceptional on the Quatro, with very good textures of the double bass and percussion. I find the timbres of voices and instruments, including the treble ones, very accurate. My impressions are more similar to the Akros review.
I have to say that I am using it mainly with my desktop equipment, with the Burson amp, which has plenty of power to handle them, and they sound like complete headphones. I also use clipping protection.
Right now, my main listening IEMs are the Impact, the DTE900 and the Quattro, and I think they complement each other very well and each one gives me a different flavor depending on the genre or how I want to take the listening session, and that's part of it. of our hobby, in the variety, and in how we each perceive our musical tastes with certain IEMs.

The no treble thing and now monotone bass? When I did some tip rolling I tried Dunus S&S tips and that tip made the Quattro sound more like what tonedeaf was hearing for bass. The no treble thing is what is a bit head scratching for me

The Dunu S&S have been my favorite tips since you announced them in this thread, and for me in the Quattro they are no exception, even a little above the new Penon (O and B). I think it has the advantage of reaching deeper inside, although they are not comfortable for everyone. To me, the bass doesn't sound boring at all. It has a lot of texture and fun.

 

[Dsnuts]

It's funny how each of us can listen to different things, and I think the key is also what you mean by the fact that it is very dependent on the tip, and the source, and I think also on the genre. With the example of SIA, you made me see the tonal change in the voice when the bass was predominant. But for me, jazz or acoustic instrumental songs sound exceptional on the Quatro, with very good textures of the double bass and percussion. I find the timbres of voices and instruments, including the treble ones, very accurate. My impressions are more similar to the Akros review.
I have to say that I am using it mainly with my desktop equipment, with the Burson amp, which has plenty of power to handle them, and they sound like complete headphones. I also use clipping protection.
Right now, my main listening IEMs are the Impact, the DTE900 and the Quattro, and I think they complement each other very well and each one gives me a different flavor depending on the genre or how I want to take the listening session, and that's part of it. of our hobby, in the variety, and in how we each perceive our musical tastes with certain IEMs.


The Dunu S&S have been my favorite tips since you announced them in this thread, and for me in the Quattro they are no exception, even a little above the new Penon (O and B). I think it has the advantage of reaching deeper inside, although they are not comfortable for everyone. To me, the bass doesn't sound boring at all. It has a lot of texture and fun.

I think ear anatomy plays a part in how we hear, especially when the Quattros are already tip sensitive. Dunu S&S is not terrible on the Quattros, but it does seem to enhance the bass end a bit more over the Penon tips for me. I also listen to the Quattros mostly on my K9 Pro ESS.

It sounds great on my M15S as well but I do prefer using them at home more than out and about.

 

[iscorpio71]

I think ear anatomy plays a part in how we hear, especially when the Quattros are already tip sensitive. Dunu S&S is not terrible on the Quattros, but it does seem to enhance the bass end a bit more over the Penon tips for me. I also listen to the Quattros mostly on my K9 Pro ESS.

It sounds great on my M15S as well but I do prefer using them at home more than out and about.

No only the anatomy, outer/inner canals/otolites/neural pathways as interpretation, also with iems we skip the ear that helps with positioning. Definitely everyone has different hearing.

Besides there are a lot of preferences, that range from the kind of music genre, tones, etc.

So coming and bashing an iem, dismissing others' opinions in, and more out of the forum is shameful, disrespectful, and says a lot about the person.

 

[jsmiller58]

For the Quattro, assuming they are dependent on so many things as are being noted... that is something potential buyers really need to be well informed about. There are many IEMs that might be a safer bet for most buyers that are not as much a gamble on things like ear anatomy, genres, tips, cables, sources, etc.

My advice for potential Quattro buyers- if possible, try before you buy.

By the way, I really don't want to be that guy... you know, the guy that goes on a forum and hates on the crowd favorite. I realize no one likes to hear dissenting opinions, and most people simply want to get affirmation that they made good purchases...

I do like my Quattro, so this is not an anti-Quattro rant. But to me, and clearly others, the Quattro is not what it was initially made out to be (sure, it is, though, to others). Seriously, this one will appeal to a much narrower audience, and should be discussed that way.

 

[iscorpio71]

For the Quattro, assuming they are dependent on so many things as are being noted... that is something potential buyers really need to be well informed about. There are many IEMs that might be a safer bet for most buyers that are not as much a gamble on things like ear anatomy, genres, tips, cables, sources, etc.

My advice for potential Quattro buyers- is possible, try before you buy.

By the way, I don't want to be that guy... you know, the guy that goes on a forum and hates on the crowd favorite. I realize no one likes to hear dissenting opinions, and most people simply want to get affirmation that they made good purchases...

I do like my Quattro, so this is not an anti-Quattro rant. But to me, and others, the Quattro is not what it was initially made out to be (sure, it is, though, to others). Seriously, this one will appeal to a much narrower audience and should be discussed that way.

More than like the Quattro, to me, personally sounds amazing.

Yes, correct it's not the detail retrieval killer, has not the most separation, etc. but retrieves more than enough, has a spacious stage, and most of all is musical and has great tonality.

As you've mentioned there's a more safer options out there, the Quattro is not for everyone, which makes it more special.

PS: wanted to like the Dome, but that one did not make to my liking.

 

[ToneDeafMonk]

For the Quattro, assuming they are dependent on so many things as are being noted... that is something potential buyers really need to be well informed about. There are many IEMs that might be a safer bet for most buyers that are not as much a gamble on things like ear anatomy, genres, tips, cables, sources, etc.

My advice for potential Quattro buyers- if possible, try before you buy.

By the way, I really don't want to be that guy... you know, the guy that goes on a forum and hates on the crowd favorite. I realize no one likes to hear dissenting opinions, and most people simply want to get affirmation that they made good purchases...

I do like my Quattro, so this is not an anti-Quattro rant. But to me, and clearly others, the Quattro is not what it was initially made out to be (sure, it is, though, to others). Seriously, this one will appeal to a much narrower audience, and should be discussed that way.

That was very well said.

 

[BlankName]

I've owned the Thieaudio Legacy 3 (limp dd, hollow ba mids, and plastic ba treble), then the blon 01 (bloated and harsh treble and mids but man the timbre was so much better than the legacy 3), then the Dunu SA6 (great tech and the ba bass was nice but l too staccato like, tonally the mids were full and neutral but timbrally grainy and dry, and the treble was a touch etched and didn't sound complete compared to the rest of the spectrum so I returned them but it was my first midfi iem). Then I got the Kato (pillowy bass and a touch intense, probably due to the inverted polarity, but that dd timbre was so nice and its fr hit my hrtf very well with the included tips and silver nozzle but had to return due to channel imbalance).
And then I bought the vari on 11.11 of 2021 which I've used ever since and I've tip rolled until I ended up with foam which sounded the best out of all the ones I tried, and it wasn't even close, and have inverted the polarity to also aid in relaxing the upper mids and treble while also adding some warmth to the bass where the bass doesn't suck out anymore and kick drums actually kick at the cost of the ss collapsing into a more normal/coherent one. It was my most resolving iem up to that point but I began to notice, especially after I got the aeon noire, that the bass was bouncy but overly hard sounding especially with kick drums and snare hits and that the bass would just crap out and dissapear at times due to the bass tuck, the mids were overly smoothed out, unlike the grainy SA6, bodyless and intensely busy sounding due to too much upper mids and presence combined with its massive dip into the mid-bass, and upper bass, and lower mids, and the treble was good but lacking a bit of percussiveness. The quattro fixes all of these issues while improving on bass speed and sustain, midrange separation, texture/resolution, timbre, and physicality, and overall dynamics, and now I'm able to listen at 80-85db without straining my ears. The quattro sounds natural to me even after having listened to harman iems for the past couple of years and even liking the harmanish aeon that I find to sound super natural. I don't really feel a need to upgrade anymore thanks to the quattro but that's just my opinion.

 

[iscorpio71]

@BlankName

That's a great journey in iems. The only one I have is the Blon 3, which I haven't heard about in a while.

Quattro is just magical, and yes you tend to up the volume.

Was just hearing them through and "old" stack, the iPod Classic gen 5, from 2006! with the Pico, and it sounds magnificent stage down a bit compared with the newer K9 AKM, but not by much. It's a great portable setup.

 

[o0genesis0o]

Often I have found that 2X bass woofers do emit a lesser texture

ThieAudio, 64 audio, and JH audio would like a word with you

---

I remember seeing a graph (maybe on tgx78 squig) that quattro matches VE Phoenix nearly perfectly. Maybe 4 DD fail to outresolve 13 BAs? The phonix is phenomenally resolving despite the thick, bleedy tonality. Without that resolution, phonix would sound quite poor, given that it already has a cramped stage due to the tuning. Maybe that’s the case with quattro, unless it miraculously matches the phonix resolution.

 

[somnarium]

At the end of the day, no one IEM will be loved by all regardless of tier/price.

Looking forward to more reviews, especially where listening library is referenced as this datapoint I feel is often missed.

Feedback from varied viewpoints always a good thing.

 

[Bosk]

If anything this recent drama has made me even more curious about the Quattros. The last IEM I can recall to be so polarising with different posters hearing & describing it quite differently was CFA's Trifecta, and it's hard not to wonder if the link between them is driver configuration - 3xDD Trifecta vs 4xDD Quattro.

I'm not a fan of Trifecta, and have wondered how Penon can maintain cohesion & raw speed with four DDs when it can difficult enough with just one plus a few BAs!

Having said that, specialist IEMs & especially those that are more of an acquired taste are terrific for the hobby. It can get a little boring when new IEMs offer merely minor tweaks on their predecessors, and when you've been in the hobby awhile you start longing for something daring & different - Quattro has definitely ticked that box regardless of how it sounds.

 

[o0genesis0o]

If anything this recent drama has made me even more curious about the Quattros. The last IEM I can recall to be so polarising with different posters hearing & describing it quite differently was CFA's Trifecta, and it's hard not to wonder if the link between them is driver configuration - 3xDD Trifecta vs 4xDD Quattro.

I'm not a fan of Trifecta, and have wondered how Penon can maintain cohesion & raw speed with four DDs when it can difficult enough with just one plus a few BAs!

Having said that, specialist IEMs & especially those that are more of an acquired taste are terrific for the hobby. It can get a little boring when new IEMs offer merely minor tweaks on their predecessors, and when you've been in the hobby awhile you start longing for something daring & different - Quattro has definitely ticked that box regardless of how it sounds.

Quattro vs Trifecta shoot out when?