The Reiyin DA-Pro is great if you only need 3.5, and the JCally AP10 has 3.5 & 4.5 inputs. I use both of those often, despite having more expensive DACs.
Check out Andy’s Dongle Madness if you want DAC ideas.
The PENON official thread
- Thread starter Dsnuts
- Start date
Check out Andy’s Dongle Madness if you want DAC ideas.
Thanks for the help. I'll go for the AP10, I can get it for the same price as the Tanchjim and it is much lighter than the TP20.
If I end up purchasing Quattros, would they require 4.4 mm balanced (3.6 V) or would 3.5 mm (1.8 V) be enough?
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iscorpio71
100+ Head-Fier
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CF45JP6...amp=&crid=2RU9TVNQLCGJ2&=&sprefix=tempotec
Tempotec works great with the Quattro
Singaravelan
500+ Head-Fier
If you getting Tempotec, make sure you get the new version: Tempotec Sonata BHD Pro
nihalsharma
500+ Head-Fier
Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Audio Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Audio Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
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Singaravelan
500+ Head-Fier
I haven't heard either Quattro or trifecta, but enjoyed your post. I feel as if I now understand the (amusing) divisiveness over Quattro.Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
ToneDeafMonk
Previously known as TheDeafMonk
Great post thanks for sharing your feelings on the Quattro.Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Audio Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
Agree with the source ss suggestion. I tried it with the warmer under-powered go blu and it was a bit tubby and boomy in the mids unlike the m15.Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Audio Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
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- Posts
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- 692
Very nice post! I agree with most of it, especially about the source. You definitely need a brighter source to get the best out of the Quattro. I also have the Earmen Angel and feel it pairs extremely well with them. The other thing I agree with that I have changed my perspective on since I've gotten the Quattro's is that there is a lot of bass bleed for sure. I feel like the glide downwards from sub bass to mids starts too late and as a result has a bit of muddiness/bloat in the mids. To combat this, I use a pure silver cable and a brighter source like the Angel. Also this doesn't affect me too much because I also EQ all of my IEMs and I primarily listen to them with the EQ on. You almost NEED to cut out some of the mid bass in the 120-200hz region. It's just too much for stock tuning.Quattro is not an IEM built for everyone. I spent a few hours with these iems and I can understand why they can be hit or miss.
It has a very warm signature. The bass is very, very thick, and it's all over the frequency spectrum, dominating the way the mids and treble sound on these. This is not a hard-hitting bass with full subbass rumbles but a thick, enveloping bass where bass is spread everywhere. It's like everything sounds within a layer of bass. Mids are sweet, and since the bass is all over the mids, vocals are quite thick too because of the bass (bleed). I do not find the treble to be airy or carry a lot of energy, but I never had any issues with the treble. I can live with this amount. The timbre and tonality of these iems are something that few can very easily connect to and find very musical.
If you want an iem to throw a lot of precise technicalities and details, this is not the iem for sure. I have seen a lot of people say it is technically very good for an all-DD IEM, but I tend to disagree (just a little). It surely does a lot of good things, but somehow I feel it falls behind many others because of the way it's tuned. There are a lot of details getting eclisped under the bass. I think it's totally fine if it is not technically very sound. I like my iems to be either very technical or to a level where I am not bothered about these technicalities at all. If you love this signature, you may surely enjoy it and call it a winner.
Source:
With a warm source, the Quattro can be a disaster. It pairs well with a bright source. Also, it is a sucker and needs a lot of power. With the Earmen Angel, it sounds better than with the LPGT. Angel has an ESS Sabre ES9038Q2M dac chip and is quite powerful too. With a good, powerful source, the sound is more open too.
Mini Trifecta??
As soon as I put these on, they reminded me of the Campfire Audio Trifecta. For me, Quattro is a mini-trifecta. I am not sure if Penon took some inspiration from the Trifecta's signature, but these two iems are quite similar in how they sound. And no wonder they both have a very different audience and fan following. Take everything a few levels up—soundstage, detailing, openness—you have the Trifecta with you. Trifecta has a similar bass all over, but it's more open and more spherical, if you know what I mean. Trifecta has troublesome upper mids, which will kind of disturb or annoy you very often if you are sensitive to the frequency. Quattro, however, has just a little hint of a similar thing but does not annoy at all. I remember I liked the Trifecta when I tried them on three different occasions but could never gain the courage to buy them, thinking, What if someday I wake up and find that it's totally disastrous? But I can surely own a Quattro and get some of the Trifecta's feel.
Lastly, I can only say it is really good of Penon to release something like Quattro. I think this is quite a positive release. This only means they can tune their iems very differently, unlike a few brands who would just stick with a similar tuning and change a thing or two here and there.
One more thing: Please demo these iems before you buy. There is a high chance that you will fall in love or totally regret your purchase.
Also another thing that helps greatly is the USB cables that connect the source to the DAC. Finding a good SPC or Silver USB cable does wonders for the Quattro's. It makes a difference for sure.
RunWithOne
Head-Fier
As an engineer, my opinion is: USB cables transmit digital data. A 1 or 0 cannot alter the sound. It always remains a 1 or 0. We have no difference.
- Joined
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The engineer in me wants to believe that as well and wish it was that cut and dry, but the critical listener in me says otherwise.
unless 1 and 0 is dropped out....
RunWithOne
Head-Fier
If there were errors in transmission, it would typically manifest as data corruption rather than a change in the fundamental 1s and 0s. Usually, USB transmissions are stable and reliable. Errors may occur occasionally but are rare and can have various causes, including issues with cables, connectors, or electronic components. It's important to use high-quality cables and devices to ensure the reliability of transmissions.
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BrokenHill
100+ Head-Fier
I am also an engineer, and I have always had the same opinion. However, I have learned over time that the USB audio protocol does not include error correction, which data transmission protocols do have.
One day, by pure chance, and looking for a replacement cable for a dongle, I was surprised that a simple €4 USB cable from Aliexpress had better bass than the dongle's default cable. I could only put it down to the cable being certified for 65W fast charging and 40Gbps transfer rates, although I never trust that stuff on Aliexpress, and the stock cable was extremely thin. My phone is a Samsung that has USB3 protocol and is not limited in terms of output power. The dongle was an L&P W2, and logic tells me that any of the cables would have been able to handle the mW consumption of the dongle, but the difference was evident, and there was no placebo effect, since I did not expect anything from that change, so just a more ergonomic cable to carry along with the phone. I even bought an output power meter to do the measurement, also on Aliexpress, but it never arrived and I already forgot about it. The cable was this: https://aliexpress.com/item/1005003793445081.html
On desktop systems I have never noticed that difference, although I do try to use good quality cables, but not audiophile quality (that adjective just to put it, multiplies its price several times!)
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