[ian91]

Even though I haven't heard the Voltage yet (hopefully one week later), I would say from the review, it is hard to compare Voltage with most of the TOTL I know. Almost all of the multi-kilobuck TOTL IEMs have their special sauce to put some uniqueness to the TOTL level of everything else. Otherwise, it is very hard to convince people to spend that much for them.

It seems to me that Voltage possesses at least very close to TOTL level of competency without any apparent weakness. On the other hand, while it has some strength in Mids as portraited in the review, it does not have a special sauce that immediately turns you on (or in some case or for some people, turns you away).

I will give you example for high school graduates applying for Harvard. Most of the applicants are close to perfect with 4.8 GPA, tons of AP courses while also participated in tons of other extra-curriculum activities. However, those who got admission typically have their special sauces, as the indicators for the potential of being the future leaders.

I would guess Voltage is one of those close to perfect applicant, but apparently, still has something missing to safety slap a multi-kilobuck price tag.

Of course, this is purely my guess since I am still waiting for mine to ship out.

To preface I don't collect IEMs, thus the unicorn I'm after is an IEM that does everything. I need a transparent and textured low end low end for acoustic and low strings and an upper midrange and treble that is exciting and defined but not fatiguing for more aggressive genres. I need an IEM that I can lift the volume on and it remains inoffensive and only grows in musicality. I want to feel like I'm not missing out, something that flatters all my music. That's my special sauce and I've yet to find an IEM that does that, probably the closest was Traillii JP but it had a softer image than I preferred and had BA bass.

Sometimes the TOTL 'special sauce' comes from a tonal contortion that doesn't sit well with me on longer listening. The tonally balanced and exceptionally technical is what I'm searching for. If the Voltage low end is as textured and revealing as the impressions suggest, maybe this will be my unicorn?

Either way, I'm excited. In my experience Penon does not release sets to introduce redundancy into it's line up. They tune purposefully and I'm really interested to see the purpose of Voltage emerge through discourse and impressions.

 

[RunWithOne]

Do you know Fatfreq Grand Maestro? Only 4 EST, but superb sound. The price of this IEM is higher than Impact.

 

[-rowan-]

Quattro vs Voltage bass

I hadn’t touched the Quattro at all since Voltage arrived. To be fair, I haven’t touched most of my other IEMs either. That’s the kind of stranglehold that Voltage has had on my ear time. But @anyone007 requested a comparison of their bass and it got a bit longer than intended so here it is in case anyone else was wondering as well.

I compared them using their stock cables and orange Liqueur tips. I use L with Voltage, but M with Quattro because Quattro (like Serial) does well with slightly deeper insertion and a good seal.

So Quattro and Voltage bass are actually pretty close in quantity. What I hear is Voltage with switches up has more sub bass quantity than Quattro, and Quattro more mid bass.

In terms of quality, Voltage bass has cleaner, more defined edges; sharper, faster attack. Bass drops are more visceral and it dives deeper.

The main difference in their bass tuning is that the Quattro has considerably more mid bass warmth. I can see how this can translate to mid bass bleed for some, also depending on the music and source. The Voltage however dials down the mid bass earlier, which makes for a cleaner bass presentation and also gives its sub bass room to shine in terms of texture and definition.

Note edges are softer on the Quattro, imaging not quite as pin sharp. Anyone could tell you that without A/Bing. But how much of a drawback that is comes down to what the music requires. Switching over from Voltage, Quattro can sound downright hazy, but it doesn’t take long for the brain to adapt, not unlike a lens refocussing, to realise how perfectly natural it sounds after all. Switching back, it can make the Voltage sound almost hyperreal, everything a little more clean, holographic, well organised and clearly presented than it might actually be in the wild.

In this sense, I would say that both are very persuasive little beasts.

I started this little comparison thinking the Quattro was going to be destroyed. After I was done, the Quattro stayed in my ears over an hour more. Evidently it’s not leaving my collection.

 

[PixelSquish]

To preface I don't collect IEMs, thus the unicorn I'm after is an IEM that does everything. I need a transparent and textured low end low end for acoustic and low strings and an upper midrange and treble that is exciting and defined but not fatiguing for more aggressive genres. I need an IEM that I can lift the volume on and it remains inoffensive and only grows in musicality. I want to feel like I'm not missing out, something that flatters all my music. That's my special sauce and I've yet to find an IEM that does that, probably the closest was Traillii JP but it had a softer image than I preferred and had BA bass.

Sometimes the TOTL 'special sauce' comes from a tonal contortion that doesn't sit well with me on longer listening. The tonally balanced and exceptionally technical is what I'm searching for. If the Voltage low end is as textured and revealing as the impressions suggest, maybe this will be my unicorn?

Either way, I'm excited. In my experience Penon does not release sets to introduce redundancy into it's line up. They tune purposefully and I'm really interested to see the purpose of Voltage emerge through discourse and impressions.

I came here to write something along these lines in response to that post, but I'm glad you wrote it first because I would not have put it so well.

That is exactly what I'm hoping the voltage brings.

To me the special sauce is exactly what you said.

The Volür are the closest thing I've gotten to that. And maybe they are it, and I'm just chasing the dragon. I would say the rn6 that I auditioned also seem like a great all-rounder. But they're also 3K.

I'm excited to look for the unicorn at more reasonable price points.

 

[wolfstar76]

My Voltage order status still shows "in process".

 

[emdeevee]

Quattro vs Voltage bass

I hadn’t touched the Quattro at all since Voltage arrived. To be fair, I haven’t touched most of my other IEMs either. That’s the kind of stranglehold that Voltage has had on my ear time. But @anyone007 requested a comparison of their bass and it got a bit longer than intended so here it is in case anyone else was wondering as well.

I compared them using their stock cables and orange Liqueur tips. I use L with Voltage, but M with Quattro because Quattro (like Serial) does well with slightly deeper insertion and a good seal.



So Quattro and Voltage bass are actually pretty close in quantity. What I hear is Voltage with switches up has more sub bass quantity than Quattro, and Quattro more mid bass.

In terms of quality, Voltage bass has cleaner, more defined edges; sharper, faster attack. Bass drops are more visceral and it dives deeper.

The main difference in their bass tuning is that the Quattro has considerably more mid bass warmth. I can see how this can translate to mid bass bleed for some, also depending on the music and source. The Voltage however dials down the mid bass earlier, which makes for a cleaner bass presentation and also gives its sub bass room to shine in terms of texture and definition.

Note edges are softer on the Quattro, imaging not quite as pin sharp. Anyone could tell you that without A/Bing. But how much of a drawback that is comes down to what the music requires. Switching over from Voltage, Quattro can sound downright hazy, but it doesn’t take long for the brain to adapt, not unlike a lens refocussing, to realise how perfectly natural it sounds after all. Switching back, it can make the Voltage sound almost hyperreal, everything a little more clean, holographic, well organised and clearly presented than it might actually be in the wild.

In this sense, I would say that both are very persuasive little beasts.

I started this little comparison thinking the Quattro was going to be destroyed. After I was done, the Quattro stayed in my ears over an hour more. Evidently it’s not leaving my collection.

Those two sets and you're done, check out, go listen to the music.

I agree completely with this analysis and also owning both. What becomes very clear is they make excellent complements to each other, room for both.

My Quattro is staying put.

 

[PixelSquish]

Well tracking shows that the voltage have been handed over to the airline. For the flight from China to the US.

I hope whatever plane my voltage gets on is an Airbus and not a Boeing

 

[anyone007]

Quattro vs Voltage bass

I hadn’t touched the Quattro at all since Voltage arrived. To be fair, I haven’t touched most of my other IEMs either. That’s the kind of stranglehold that Voltage has had on my ear time. But @anyone007 requested a comparison of their bass and it got a bit longer than intended so here it is in case anyone else was wondering as well.

I compared them using their stock cables and orange Liqueur tips. I use L with Voltage, but M with Quattro because Quattro (like Serial) does well with slightly deeper insertion and a good seal.



So Quattro and Voltage bass are actually pretty close in quantity. What I hear is Voltage with switches up has more sub bass quantity than Quattro, and Quattro more mid bass.

In terms of quality, Voltage bass has cleaner, more defined edges; sharper, faster attack. Bass drops are more visceral and it dives deeper.

The main difference in their bass tuning is that the Quattro has considerably more mid bass warmth. I can see how this can translate to mid bass bleed for some, also depending on the music and source. The Voltage however dials down the mid bass earlier, which makes for a cleaner bass presentation and also gives its sub bass room to shine in terms of texture and definition.

Note edges are softer on the Quattro, imaging not quite as pin sharp. Anyone could tell you that without A/Bing. But how much of a drawback that is comes down to what the music requires. Switching over from Voltage, Quattro can sound downright hazy, but it doesn’t take long for the brain to adapt, not unlike a lens refocussing, to realise how perfectly natural it sounds after all. Switching back, it can make the Voltage sound almost hyperreal, everything a little more clean, holographic, well organised and clearly presented than it might actually be in the wild.

In this sense, I would say that both are very persuasive little beasts.

I started this little comparison thinking the Quattro was going to be destroyed. After I was done, the Quattro stayed in my ears over an hour more. Evidently it’s not leaving my collection.

Thanks for this! I already pulled the trigger for Quattro and Liqueur Tips since Voltage is quite steep for my budget. It is always there anyway for me to purchase in the future.

I can somehow relate when I'm switching from Serial to Volt, wherein, it still sounds natural, but Volt is a lot more polished, refined and has a more defined edges. Maybe it is the same with Quattro switching to Voltage but to a greater extent.

My taste is quite peculiar... I think. Since I prefer a sound that is a little bit rough around the edges and with a bit of flaws which makes the sound more "real and natural" than a perfectly refined tuning. And I can't still deny my love for reverberating sub and mid bass. lol

 

[-rowan-]

My taste is quite peculiar... I think. Since I prefer a sound that is a little bit rough around the edges and with a bit of flaws which makes the sound more "real and natural" than a perfectly refined tuning. And I can't still deny my love for reverberating sub and mid bass. lol

Congrats! Something tells me you’ll be just fine with Quattro. There have been lots of largely accurate impressions of Quattro, warts and all, and it sounds like you’ve researched it carefully and have a clear idea what you’re in for given your experience with Serial and Volt. Hope you get them soon, and circle back with your impressions when you do!

 

[anyone007]

Congrats! Something tells me you’ll be just fine with Quattro. There have been lots of largely accurate impressions of Quattro, warts and all, and it sounds like you’ve researched it carefully and have a clear idea what you’re in for given your experience with Serial and Volt. Hope you get them soon, and circle back with your impressions when you do!

Thanks! Yes, I'll circle back after 200 hrs burn in. It's actually ironic that after reading tons of impressions about Quattro and seemingly within my preference, it took me this long to purchase it. To top it off, it's even after the release of Voltage and Aehta. lol

Planning to splurge on Aehta soon, -rowan-? I think both of them are the best right now in terms of price-performance ratio. My wallet is already bleeding just by looking. lol

 

[-rowan-]

Planning to splurge on Aehta soon, -rowan-? I think both of them are the best right now in terms of price-performance ratio. My wallet is already bleeding just by looking. lol

Aehta may be one of the closer competitors and I’d love to see a reasonably balanced comparison by someone who has access to both. That person won’t be me though - Voltage has killed the itch to spring for anything else in the price bracket for now, much to the relief of my wallet.

Never say never though…

 

[mungster]

Those two sets and you're done, check out, go listen to the music.

I agree completely with this analysis and also owning both. What becomes very clear is they make excellent complements to each other, room for both.

My Quattro is staying put.

Don't forget the impact. The impact is one of the best sounding iems IMO.

 

[wolfstar76]

Just casually browsing the classifieds, looks like I just missed a good deal, a Voltage sold for $875 a few days ago, and I don't have to wait.

 

[Kallbo]

This was not so long available. Sold instant

 

[iscorpio71]

Just casually browsing the classifieds, looks like I just missed a good deal, a Voltage sold for $875 a few days ago, and I don't have to wait.

There already reselling them...