[PeterDLai]

  Got damn hype is so ********* true.  
 
In other words, I just got mine today.  I can't believe how great these are for the mutha ********* price.  
 
I must have gotten a good pair, it sounds fantastic.  These were bought from Japan, yet made in China.  
 
Believe me, I had some nice phones, and these sound fantastic.

 
Quote:

  Francisk, I agree with your mutha f**kin review.  I notice there is lack of details with these, but it's very good, much better than phones many times expensive.
 
Anyway, I compared with my CK-10, these are not better.  That was just some real BS to lay out here.  I can't believe you guys would hype these up that much.  I don't have my EX-1000 anymore, and I don't think these are as detailed and airy as EX-1000 from I recall.
 
Francisk has correct assessment IMO.  This pretty much proves that what measures is measures, and what we hear doesn't line-up with graphs exactly.  Just because of linear response doesn't mean these are the next UERM.

 
Erm...

 

[SilverEars]

Yes, I'm thinking the flaw with these are treble definitely.  It doesn't define the details with it's treble.  It gives you the illusion of clear sound with it's tightness, but when it comes to variations in it's treble, micro details to thick treble, it doesn't have it.  It's limited in variations of treble.  These do sound neutral, and not as wide sounding as my CK-10.

 

[SilverEars]

   
Erm...

Sorry for the confusion guys.  That was my initially impressions, but after extended listen, I notice the flaws.  That always happens with almost all the phones I get.  I get excited at first, then after extended analysis, I start noticing things.
 
But, after extended listen, these were hyped up way too much.  These are great for the price, but not up to top level, and I didn't expect them to, but wasn't really necessary to hype them up that high.  

 
I took back some cool points from some members today.  

 Whereas Francisck has earned some from me. as our impressions lines up.

 

[Pastapipo]

  I just received my Tenore today and everything else was put on hold as i put it through the test. I must say it's pretty nice phones for the price but definitely not a game changer for me. I've found that the Tenore is nice and smooth but somehow it doesn't sound as natural to me as the new generation GR07 Classic paired with my large Phonak tips (I've never liked the stock tips from Vsonic) which has more prominent mids and much more natural highs although at the expense of a tinge of sibilance whenever sibilance is present in the recording. I find that the GR07 (with Phonak tips) has a more honest response rather than trying to smoothen and masking the flaws in the recording. As for percussive instruments' fast transient response, the new  generation GR07 Classic (with Phonak tips) eats the Tenore alive. Sub bass on the Tenore is very prominent (stock medium size tips) but I find it slightly over accentuated. Somehow GR07's sub bass hits the sweet spot for me, just the right amount and not diverting all my attention to it. As for the treble frequencies, I find overly smoothed out treble seems to sound quite unnatural to me due to the fact that I've performed with many bands over the years and I'm very familiar with the sound of a good acoustic drum set and good cymbals and yes...the cymbals can sound very sibilant if they're hit hard enough especially the crash cymbals and hi-hats.
 
The strength of the Tenore lies in the sub bass region which gives good sub rumble albeit just a tad too much. Another advantage is the Tenore's smooth treble response though at the expense of sacrificing a more detailed presentation. Mids on the other hand is a tad recessed. Percussive transient attack is there but not fast and snappy enough to give a good impact especially on drums. As for soundstage, the Tenore is on par with the GR07. One good thing I've discovered is that you can lessen the sub bass by switching to the large stock tips which somehow tones down the sub bass a bit. I think I'm experiencing this due to the fit of the large tips that only allow a very shallow fit as compared to the medium tips.

 
I agree 100% with you.
But as the bass player of the band, subbass is the love of my live and the Tenore have it at the right quantity and quality.
The highs are indeed not true to source. The Xiaomi piston have the closest thing to live that I've heard.
It sometimes bothers me, but I'll get used to it
 
The overall sound reminds me of the Sony MH1 with added subbass and lager soundstage.

 

[SilverEars]

I did compare with my 1964-V3 and noticibly the details are better with V3 as more variations are there with the treble, but the 1964 bass sucks IMO.  It's like whomp whomp bass, but it does create illusion of wide space.  CIEM fit does provide other illusions also, like more sense of space.
 
learned today that BA can provide details without FR treble extension as they usually start rolling off around 10K.  I guess the treble that matters in terms of details, the BA covers.

 

[avlad]

Oh well, comparing Tenores with 200$ or even 500$ phones and stating that they are not worthy coz they can't beat those is plain wrong. The Tenores last time I checked can be had for around 60$.
Also out of the box they sound very good for the price but they improve with burn in imo and most important they are really tip dependant so you need extensive tip rolling to squeeze out the best from them. Interestingly enough the same tips doesn't work the same for everybody so this is very subjective.
I'm not so experienced with high end phones, but I have pistons and tenores and a/b-ing them the tenores are many leagues ahead. Also experienced ppl here with good knowledge and with top tier phones described the Tenores to be of very high SQ. 2,3 ppl got some defective units also.
So to summ it up if someone is searching a phone at 60$ to beat them all 1200$ and up is doing it wrong. But there are quit a few ppl who own both the tenores and for example GR07 and like the tenore more for the 1/3 or 1/2 the price. So this is how the tenores should been valued. They are outstanding for a budget phone with mid-tier SQ hands down.
Sorry if someone will consider this too offensive, this are my 2 cents.

 

[Lorspeaker]

I just received my Tenore today.....

I just received my Tenre today.



Gonna keep quiet, n let this baby bloom.

 

[hatefulsandwich]

  Oh well, comparing Tenores with 200$ or even 500$ phones and stating that they are not worthy coz they can't beat those is plain wrong. The Tenores last time I checked can be had for around 60$.
Also out of the box they sound very good for the price but they improve with burn in imo and most important they are really tip dependant so you need extensive tip rolling to squeeze out the best from them. Interestingly enough the same tips doesn't work the same for everybody so this is very subjective.
I'm not so experienced with high end phones, but I have pistons and tenores and a/b-ing them the tenores are many leagues ahead. Also experienced ppl here with good knowledge and with top tier phones described the Tenores to be of very high SQ. 2,3 ppl got some defective units also.
So to summ it up if someone is searching a phone at 60$ to beat them all 1200$ and up is doing it wrong. But there are quit a few ppl who own both the tenores and for example GR07 and like the tenore more for the 1/3 or 1/2 the price. So this is how the tenores should been valued. They are outstanding for a budget phone with mid-tier SQ hands down.
Sorry if someone will consider this too offensive, this are my 2 cents.

I've not seen anyone trash the Tenores and call them "unworthy" because they don't compete with $500+ IEMs, so this seems unnecessarily defensive. What I think is being trashed is the massive hype, not the earphones. Considering this, it's actually a good thing to put things into healthy perspective: These are great earphones, amazing for the price, but they shouldn't be expected to beat $500 IEMs, even if some might prefer them over their more expensive IEMs. The way people are carrying on, I can quite easily see someone ordering these and being disappointed that they don't beat their $1000 CIEMs because of hype levels. 
 
Preference is not an indicator of quality. I prefer my Koss Porta Pros to some of my more higher-end headphones for general use for the reason they AREN'T super-revealing, detail monsters. I don't want to hear a very accurate and detailed portrayal of compression artifacts in most online audio and video. I don't want to have my ears bleeding as I scrub through dialogue all day. I love them, but I don't claim that they're better than my Mikros or MS-1s, for example. 
 
Also, tips and burn-in? Defective units? What does that have to do with anything? These issues pertain to almost all IEMs. 

 

[Hisoundfi]

I've not seen anyone trash the Tenores and call them "unworthy" because they don't compete with $500+ IEMs, so this seems unnecessarily defensive. What I think is being trashed is the massive hype, not the earphones. Considering this, it's actually a good thing to put things into healthy perspective: These are great earphones, amazing for the price, but they shouldn't be expected to beat $500 IEMs, even if some might prefer them over their more expensive IEMs. The way people are carrying on, I can quite easily see someone ordering these and being disappointed that they don't beat their $1000 CIEMs because of hype levels. 

Preference is not an indicator of quality. I prefer my Koss Porta Pros to some of my more higher-end headphones for general use for the reason they AREN'T super-revealing, detail monsters. I don't want to hear a very accurate and detailed portrayal of compression artifacts in most online audio and video. I don't want to have my ears bleeding as I scrub through dialogue all day. I love them, but I don't claim that they're better than my Mikros or MS-1s, for example. 

Also, tips and burn-in? Defective units? What does that have to do with anything? These issues pertain to almost all IEMs. 

Agreed...

I think every audiophile and headphone enthusiast is either directly or subconsciously looking for an end game phone. That would be the end of head fi, and the end of this hobby, so I'm glad I haven't found the perfect iem.

What is exciting is how technology is advancing, and I don't have to spend a thousand dollars for something that will sound phenomenal.

I enjoy having several (40 and growing) sets of iems. I think we look for the most versatile iem too often. Instead, I look for a phone that matches what I want to hear that day.

I think that's why the tenore is so popular right now, because it will make just about every genre of music sound good. It doesn't mean I'm going to sell everything I have to get 5 more pairs of these.

If I'm going to listen to live music, I have 3 pairs that come to mind, and I think that's cool to have something for every kind of music I listen to.

Headphones don't become obsolete, something just comes out that is tuned differently and puts a new spin on the song or soundtrack we've heard a thousand times. The porta-pro, the gr07BE, and the ath-m50 are the first 3 that come to mind.

I'm not looking to beat them, I'm looking for something to compliment them. The only time I'll get rid of something is if I know I'll never listen to them again, and that doesn't happen very often.

 

[ebrian]

I guess another perspective also is that a number of us are cheap and poor, so hearing about a $300 iem is far better than a $60 iem kinda falls on deaf ears.  Not that I don't appreciate the comments made.  I'd be more concerned, personally, if another under-$100 iem is substantially better than Tenore.  Hence a lot of the Ostry KC06 comparisons which are the same price.  I'd love to hear Francisk or SilverEar's impression on the Ostry's. 
 
I see guys getting defensive about negative impressions of their favorite set  -- to that I say: Hearing that a Lexus is a better car than a Toyota should not come as a surprise to anyone, and certainly if you're a Corolla owner, you shouldn't be offended when someone says that. 

 

[Hisoundfi]

It also comes down to preference as well. Yes, some people could say that the tenore would sound better than a certain 200-300 or dare I say a 1000 dollar iems. That doesn't mean another set of ears wouldn't agree to disagree.

It's like going on an ice cream appreciation blog and going on and on about how much better Dean's chocolate chip ice cream is better than any other frozen dessert on earth, rather than just say what we like about it.

There's nothing wrong with saying what we like about a certain product and why, or to say what we prefer about a product over another, because it gives us who have heard them an idea of what to expect.

 

[Hisoundfi]

Mmmmmm, ice cream...

 

[Grayson73]

  I just received my Tenore today and everything else was put on hold as i put it to the test. I first checked my Tenore to see if there's any defects, channel imbalance and driver flex and thankfully I've found none. I must say it's pretty nice phones for the price but definitely not a game changer for me. I've found that the Tenore is nice and smooth but somehow it doesn't sound as natural to me as the new generation GR07 Classic paired with my large Phonak tips which has more prominent mids and much more natural highs although at the expense of a tinge of sibilance whenever sibilance is present in the recording.  I've never liked the stock tips from Vsonic that's why my impressions are all based on the GR07 paired with my Phonak tips. I find that the GR07 (with Phonak tips) has a more honest response rather than trying to smoothen and masking the flaws in the recording. As for percussive instruments' fast transient response, the new  generation GR07 Classic (with Phonak tips) eats the Tenore alive. Sub bass on the Tenore is very prominent (stock medium size tips) but I find it slightly over accentuated. Somehow GR07's sub bass hits the sweet spot for me, just the right amount and not diverting all my attention to it. As for the treble frequencies, I find overly smoothed out treble seems to sound quite unnatural to me due to the fact that I've performed with many bands over the years and I'm very familiar with the sound of a good acoustic drum set and cymbals and yes...the cymbals can sound very sibilant if they're hit hard enough especially the crash cymbals and hi-hats.
 
The strength of the Tenore lies in the sub bass region which gives good sub bass rumble albeit just a tad too much for my taste. Another advantage is the Tenore's smooth treble response though at the expense of sacrificing a more detailed presentation. Mids on the other hand is a tad recessed. Percussive transient attack is there but not fast and snappy enough to give a good impact especially on drums. As for soundstage, the Tenore is on par with the GR07. One good thing I've discovered is that you can lessen the sub bass by switching to the large stock tips which somehow tones down the sub bass a bit. I think I'm experiencing this due to the fit of the large tips that only allow a very shallow fit as compared to the medium tips. Another point to consider is that I'd stay away from an IEM manufacturer that has inconsistencies between their IEMs of the same model. To be honest, there shouldn't be any sound quality inconsistencies between models at all. If it is then the product design is flawed to begin with.
 
To round it all up the Tenore is a good budget IEM but it definitely can't replace the GR07 and ER4. For now, I'll just keep my Tenore as a backup IEM but I won't see much use of it since it'll take me quite a while to break my ER4, GR07 and Phonaks.

 
I definitely don't find the mids recessed.  I actually find them forward; vocals are awesome with Tenore.  On most of my IEMs, when I get vocals to the volume I want, one of the other spectrums (highs or lows) are too loud.  I don't have that problem with Tenore.
 
I don't know what GR07 classic sounds like compared to MK2, but I found MK2 treble to be a bit sibilant/harsh and bass to not have enough punch.  I also found Tenore mids to be much more silky/airy, but that's with the Meelectronics M6/A161P double flange tips.  Someone did say that with deep insertion, bass is increased, so if you want less bass, go with shallow insertion.
 
I guess I like more bass than you do; I listen to mostly pop and some rock.  I love how Tenores sound with Cassadee Pope, Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift.

 

[zbdajj]

Looks cool. But I have not listened it how much it is ?

 

[Grayson73]

Expecting the $53 Tenore to be an end game IEM for someone with a high budget is unrealistic.  However, Tenore could be an end game IEM for someone with limited budget, say under $100.
 
I do enjoy the Tenore more than many IEMs 2x-4x the price (KEF M200, Fidelio S2, BA200, GR07 MK2).
 
I agree with eBrian; I get excited when I hear that they can compete with IEMs $300 or more, but I'm more interested in IEMs around the same price that can beat it.  Some possible contenders are Ostry KC06, KC06A, Havi B3 Pro, KZ ED3, Sidy DM2.
 
In the around $50 price bracket, I've seen more people prefer the Tenore than any other IEM.  There are a handful of people who prefer KC06/KC06A.  I haven't found anyone that prefers B3 Pro, ED3, or DM2 to Tenore yet, but I'm sure there will be some.