Some new goodies came in today! The Cayin RU6 and the Penon Fan. I've only had a couple of hours for a short session with the Penon Fan (paired with RU6) so I thought I could give some impressions on those. This is my first Penon experience and I'm also realizing that this is my first single DD IEM. I've either had hybrids (and tribrids) or all BA sets so this is another fun first for me. I think the star of the show is the tuning. They really thread the needle with a lot of choices made here and somehow manage to strike a very pleasing middle ground. I am very far from an expert reviewer but hopefully these impressions are of interest to some.
Right off the bat it's clear that these are going for a fun yet surprisingly versatile sound. There's a slight warmth that envelops the entirety of the FR top to bottom. The bass is tuned with a light sub-bass tilt. Bass is certainly emphasized over the midrange, although I don't get the impression that there's too much bleed. I'd describe the bass texture as being a little wooly and soft overall with relatively slow transients/decay. Not as slow (or as anywhere near as elevated) as some DD-bass heavy hitters like the Bravado Mk2.
The mids are slightly recessed but not by much. The graph is very deceptive here actually, you'd think that they'd be completely recessed based on that alone. They are tuned in what I'd describe as a warm-leaning neutral tuning---definitely more neutral than not but still with a warmth surrounding the vocals. I assume the single DD timbre is part of what helps make these mids more inviting than what the graph suggests. The upper mids are quite tame and non-fatiguing as well. I definitely need more of these single DDs in my life is part of what I'm learning!
The treble region is interesting. The upper treble is clearly rolled off which is part of what makes this a warm set (in addition to the bass bump). The roll-off is very tastefully pulled off but trebleheads need not apply. That being said, lower/mid treble can get spicy here and there. I'm not particularly sensitive to these regions but I figured it's worth mentioning. In general I enjoy the laid-back approach to the treble.
As far as intangibles, I think the imaging, soundstage, detail and resolution are all quite good. Left to right staging is quite wide, height is alright, but depth is somewhat shallow. My main issue here is that I don't really have other points of comparison at this price point so I can't claim something is "above average." All I know is that this exceeds my expectations for 60 bucks haha.
In summary, I am quite impressed by these. They are a sensational value proposition! While there are certainly things to nitpick when we zoom into a given part of the FR, I think that from a birds eye view these are outstanding. There's a certain genius to the tuning that manages to hide whatever flaws the set might have. All in all, almost everything I throw on sounds good on them. I'll definitely be on the lookout for more of the "Penon Tuning Magic" that I've heard about if these are any indication of what's to come.
