Redcarmoose
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. I believe that the old flagship totem would still hold its unique character and performance against the new ones as well. I am actually very happy about even fragment length of it (pigtail adapter) does to my audio chain. One question, do you still find the utility of totem pigtail when you use pyramid or renata or that level of cables doesnt need totem magic anymore due to their own high performing level?
Here is a section of my convoluted and elaborate investigation of the Penon Quattro IEM.
So if you choose into reading this crazy schist I wrote, you will see that concerning the Quattro IEM, the Leo Plus I chose to perform my music tests, all of em!
So I mean it is everything involved....of course you know this, and wires with metal in them never become out-dated, though IEMs do......maybe?
Meaning it is the File Quality, the Source, the IEM, the Cable or cable and Adapter.......and finally the Ear-tips. Yes, it is everything in the audio chain of transfer. Regarding the Totem Adapter, yes it is part of the end sound in the chain. So recently in my review of another manufactures pure silver cable I chose the Totem Adapter to regulate the heat of sorts. Though remember this is a one-off by one-off situation, and most of all it depends on your personal goals and hearing. Cheers!
Penon Leo Plus: Gold alloy mixed with Silver alloy mixed with Palladium alloy
Graphene:
What it does is kind-a subdues the bass (just a little) while at the same time adding blackness which separates and gives distance in the stage to the bass tone. Graphene then itemizes the soundstage and treble in a more weighty fashion than silver, yet we do perceive an increase in midrange stage and a fluid yet enhanced treble energy. Often people will perceive this fluidness as a treble smoothness, and there is nothing wrong with that, as opposed to the energy of silver. This Graphene results in wideness of stage as well as a very identifiable character. I like to call this the Graphene character. While the ISN G4 has a taste of this character, the Penon OSG really at three times the cost, brings a lot more to the table. I was on a roll, and the reason being is I didn’t want to do the music tests with the $699.00 Penon Totem. It is a little ridiculous to combine a $399.00 IEM with a $699.00 cable. Primarily because there are many in that the Totem has priced itself out of a regular choice. So in many ways the Penon OSG was the next step up from the included cable, in fact it may be the OSG that was the inspiration for the development of the included cable? They mostly don’t fill me in on such progress, yet at times I get to see the baby in the end, minus the labor pains. So what if……..what if there was another genuinely great cable in the under $300.00 price point? Well in comes the Penon Leo Plus. Gold alloy mixed with Silver alloy mixed with Palladium alloy. The Leo Plus was the cable I settled with for these music tests. A truth to be told, it wasn’t that far from the included cable, only the Leo Plus added separation and most of all somehow added 3D forwardness to the stage, holding elements inside these sonic displays. So the reverberations were better through spatial distance noted as was the regular character the Quattro had anyway. The elephant in the room with the Quattro is the mid-bass excessiveness. Where sure there is tight sub bass, yet there is a slight issue that I always hear with a jumbling together of information inside the mid-bass zone. In my use there seems to be no amplifier or cable or ear-tip solution for this mid-bass, though we can guess Penon knows about it too, hence choosing the style of Graphene cable they went with. Yet this Leo Plus is the cat’s meow here, for a few of the very same exact reasons the OSG works well.
What it does is kind-a subdues the bass (just a little) while at the same time adding blackness which separates and gives distance in the stage to the bass tone. Graphene then itemizes the soundstage and treble in a more weighty fashion than silver, yet we do perceive an increase in midrange stage and a fluid yet enhanced treble energy. Often people will perceive this fluidness as a treble smoothness, and there is nothing wrong with that, as opposed to the energy of silver. This Graphene results in wideness of stage as well as a very identifiable character. I like to call this the Graphene character. While the ISN G4 has a taste of this character, the Penon OSG really at three times the cost, brings a lot more to the table. I was on a roll, and the reason being is I didn’t want to do the music tests with the $699.00 Penon Totem. It is a little ridiculous to combine a $399.00 IEM with a $699.00 cable. Primarily because there are many in that the Totem has priced itself out of a regular choice. So in many ways the Penon OSG was the next step up from the included cable, in fact it may be the OSG that was the inspiration for the development of the included cable? They mostly don’t fill me in on such progress, yet at times I get to see the baby in the end, minus the labor pains. So what if……..what if there was another genuinely great cable in the under $300.00 price point? Well in comes the Penon Leo Plus. Gold alloy mixed with Silver alloy mixed with Palladium alloy. The Leo Plus was the cable I settled with for these music tests. A truth to be told, it wasn’t that far from the included cable, only the Leo Plus added separation and most of all somehow added 3D forwardness to the stage, holding elements inside these sonic displays. So the reverberations were better through spatial distance noted as was the regular character the Quattro had anyway. The elephant in the room with the Quattro is the mid-bass excessiveness. Where sure there is tight sub bass, yet there is a slight issue that I always hear with a jumbling together of information inside the mid-bass zone. In my use there seems to be no amplifier or cable or ear-tip solution for this mid-bass, though we can guess Penon knows about it too, hence choosing the style of Graphene cable they went with. Yet this Leo Plus is the cat’s meow here, for a few of the very same exact reasons the OSG works well.
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