Well, I got them yesterday (Monday) in the mail, and as I posted above, I have been working out of town, so not a lot of time to listen, but I have a bit of time to listen. My first impressions are that they are fantastic, and exactly what I was looking for (to have similar sound sig of my beloved Hifiman HE400S), so I can have a mobile version of those.
While I really like the build of these, when they tooled the 2 halves, they were not the same size. You can really feel it when running your finger over the seam. This hasn't effected fit, or comfort at all, so not REALLY an issue. The amount of tips that come with these is pretty nice, and they are not half as bad as others have said (IMO). I also really love the little carry case that came with them. These are just plain heavy (for being so small), but again, this has not effected how they fit, or stay in my ears. Another non issue to me. The MMCX connectors are really good, and I get a nice audible "snap" when inserting any of the cables I have.
I really don't like the cable they sent with these! The weave is very loose below the "Y" split, though above it, it is pretty decent. I also find that the sound from this cable is not very good, though that could just be because it is 3.5mm SE, and my DAP doesn't really have good enough power to drive these well out of 3.5 SE. I think these were made especially for my ears (mostly), because I took them out of the box and right into my ears (with default medium tips and all), and they fit perfect, sealed perfect, and very comfortable for most of the rest of the night's listen. The composition of the tips did irritate my ears after a few hours, unlike the Final Audio type E tips that don't.
After inserting them a few times, I realized the sound changed a bit, and found out why. As mentioned before there isn't really a good way to hold the tips in place on the stem, so they slip all the way down from the pressure of putting them into your ears. I took an old pair of tips, and cut the bore out and used it as a spacer to keep the tips closer to the end of the stem (worked perfectly). Now I can focus on the sound. I won't give full impressions on sound (from my perspective) just yet. I would like to listen to them for a while before I jump to any conclusions, good OR bad.
I will say this, I can tell immediately that the presence region (3.5k -+) is boosted a bit too much for my tastes, and colors the entire sound to be inaccurate a bit. But, nowadays this is pretty common (especially with the Chinese headphones), so not too big of a deal. I have a pretty good solution for this, that I will get to in a bit.
People were right about the bass on these. The quantity is actually less than on my HE400S, and almost all people that reviewed them said THEY were light on bass, and wanted more. The fix I found (for my ears) is the same as with the 3.5k issue.
I use an app (for my android based iBasso DX160) called USB Audio Player Pro. In this app there is a pay-for add-on called Tonebooster Morphit Mobile. When I first came across this it seemed like a gimmick. You can set your input headphones (what you have), and your output headphones (what you want them to sound like), and there are a ton of big named headphones on the list. meh so what, not really interested in that. BUT...….
The actual main purpose of the module (unbeknownst to me for a long time) is that you pick your headphones, or some that your current headphones sound like, and choose your output as either "Generic HiFi", or "Generic Commute", and the algorithm corrects the flaws known to exist in that specific headphone. So, in my case, I wanted to correct my HE400S (more bass, and less 3.5k). There is no input as HE400S, but there is Sennheiser HD600, which are very similar in sound signature. I set the input to HD600, and the output as Generic Hifi, and OMG they sound absolutely wonderful. The only difference between "Generic HiFi" and "Generic Commute" is the amount of bass it adds. I found that the Generic Commute often adds TOO much bass for my ears, so I stick with Generic HiFi.
The best part of all of this is that you get a good bass (quantity) boost, and a small 3.5k reduction, and you lose absolutely no gain like you would using EQ. Since the P1 sound VERY much like the HE400S (except much more revealing in details), the same settings work fantastically on these. So when I give my impressions on these in about a week or so, it will be from having this setting on all the time, because to my ears, without this setting, or some EQ, I don't really love these at all (don't hate them, just pretty boring).
While I really like the build of these, when they tooled the 2 halves, they were not the same size. You can really feel it when running your finger over the seam. This hasn't effected fit, or comfort at all, so not REALLY an issue. The amount of tips that come with these is pretty nice, and they are not half as bad as others have said (IMO). I also really love the little carry case that came with them. These are just plain heavy (for being so small), but again, this has not effected how they fit, or stay in my ears. Another non issue to me. The MMCX connectors are really good, and I get a nice audible "snap" when inserting any of the cables I have.
I really don't like the cable they sent with these! The weave is very loose below the "Y" split, though above it, it is pretty decent. I also find that the sound from this cable is not very good, though that could just be because it is 3.5mm SE, and my DAP doesn't really have good enough power to drive these well out of 3.5 SE. I think these were made especially for my ears (mostly), because I took them out of the box and right into my ears (with default medium tips and all), and they fit perfect, sealed perfect, and very comfortable for most of the rest of the night's listen. The composition of the tips did irritate my ears after a few hours, unlike the Final Audio type E tips that don't.
After inserting them a few times, I realized the sound changed a bit, and found out why. As mentioned before there isn't really a good way to hold the tips in place on the stem, so they slip all the way down from the pressure of putting them into your ears. I took an old pair of tips, and cut the bore out and used it as a spacer to keep the tips closer to the end of the stem (worked perfectly). Now I can focus on the sound. I won't give full impressions on sound (from my perspective) just yet. I would like to listen to them for a while before I jump to any conclusions, good OR bad.
I will say this, I can tell immediately that the presence region (3.5k -+) is boosted a bit too much for my tastes, and colors the entire sound to be inaccurate a bit. But, nowadays this is pretty common (especially with the Chinese headphones), so not too big of a deal. I have a pretty good solution for this, that I will get to in a bit.
People were right about the bass on these. The quantity is actually less than on my HE400S, and almost all people that reviewed them said THEY were light on bass, and wanted more. The fix I found (for my ears) is the same as with the 3.5k issue.
I use an app (for my android based iBasso DX160) called USB Audio Player Pro. In this app there is a pay-for add-on called Tonebooster Morphit Mobile. When I first came across this it seemed like a gimmick. You can set your input headphones (what you have), and your output headphones (what you want them to sound like), and there are a ton of big named headphones on the list. meh so what, not really interested in that. BUT...….
The actual main purpose of the module (unbeknownst to me for a long time) is that you pick your headphones, or some that your current headphones sound like, and choose your output as either "Generic HiFi", or "Generic Commute", and the algorithm corrects the flaws known to exist in that specific headphone. So, in my case, I wanted to correct my HE400S (more bass, and less 3.5k). There is no input as HE400S, but there is Sennheiser HD600, which are very similar in sound signature. I set the input to HD600, and the output as Generic Hifi, and OMG they sound absolutely wonderful. The only difference between "Generic HiFi" and "Generic Commute" is the amount of bass it adds. I found that the Generic Commute often adds TOO much bass for my ears, so I stick with Generic HiFi.
The best part of all of this is that you get a good bass (quantity) boost, and a small 3.5k reduction, and you lose absolutely no gain like you would using EQ. Since the P1 sound VERY much like the HE400S (except much more revealing in details), the same settings work fantastically on these. So when I give my impressions on these in about a week or so, it will be from having this setting on all the time, because to my ears, without this setting, or some EQ, I don't really love these at all (don't hate them, just pretty boring).
. I wouldn't say the P1 are better than the T800, the T800 have a nice thumping low end while still clean when you craving bass. The soundstage of the T800 makes some certain songs really shine where the P1 may sound amazing, but needs a touch more soundstage. They both are great amazing iems and compliment eachother. Also the T800 has much, much, much better isolation and a slightly warmer, smoother listen overall which is great for long hours. But damn the P1 are extremely addictive but it's all the same love just like I felt for the T800. They both are precious iems. The best in the world? No. There never will be a best in the world, you could spend $3K up and still not the best. But special? You bet ya they are, extreme price to performance. The T800 are an amazing all rounder and keep up with other iems that cost much much more. The P1 are high clarity, acurate, details monsters. Not even Andromedas have clarity like the P1.
