TONALITY: 8.8/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.8/10
TIMBRE: 8.5/10
SOUNDSTAGE-IMAGIN: 8.5/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 10/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.5/10
INTRO
Penon doesn't need introduction, they are among oldest audio distributor of chinese audio products. But they make IEMs and Cables for about 5 years too. They begin with their sister company ISN then go by their own Penon brand.
It's rare i'm such a fan boi of IEMs maker, but from ISN H40 to Penon Serial and Fan2, then Globe and ISN Neo5...I love them all, and this could be explain for their great caring about bass and mids, and lower than 10db upper mids gain that avoid shoutyness or sibilance like alot of chifi IEMs do (i look at you harman!).
But this doesn't mean I love all their IEMs, for ex, i'm not biggest fan of Fan1 or Vortex. Though i can't say they are bad too.
Today i'm very excited to finaly review one of their latest offering: the Penon 10th anniversary.
Priced 500$, the 10thAnn is a tribrid IEM using 2x 6mm crystalline plated biofilm dynamic driver for low frequency, 2 balanced armature (sonion for mids and knowles for highs) and 2 sonion EST for ultra highs.
Lately i'm extremely obsess about testing as much tribrid with EST I can, and this one was on the top of my ''must try'' list.
Let see if my high expectation will be fullfill or let down in this review.
CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES
The 10th are chunky big boy, all made of thick medical grade resin plastic. The construction feel bot sturdy and smooth, as if it was molded in one piece. But small ears might find these too big, since the nozzle too is very wide and thick, even for my ears canal wich has been widen with over abuse of more than 300 IEMs travel. So, this is to be noted, but with the right ear fit it's comfortable and I can enjoy those for hours without discomfort or ear canal pressure.
The back plate is glossy and eye appealing, but it will depend your aesthetic taste, I do find the logo a bit off.
The 2pin connector isn't recessed, but offer thight connection.
Their a side venting hole that can leak minimal noise, and isolation is average since we can't have deep fit with those.
As always, packaging presentation is minimalist but what's inside small eco-friendly box is maximalist. We are spoil with alot of great quality accessories, begining with the ''8 shares, single share is 19 cores OCC & silver-plated Mixed Braided IEM cable'' that you can choose 3.5mm single ended or 2.5mm and 4.4mm balanced plug.
We have a unique round carrying case made of leather that feel premium, as well as a leather case for ear tips that can be use for cable storage too. It include 3 pairs of 3 eartips models, all wide bore, for a total of 9 silicone eartips.
It most be noted note of them have ultra wide bore that is same size of 10th nozzle, this would have been needed since it's the most comfortable and good ''sounding'' one i find. Its those short wide bore black ear tips that are very common, there a pic for those who want to try them.
As seen, the 3 nozzle hole aren't blocked or compressed, so this permit proper spatial openess and dynamic rendering, it improve layering of the bass as well.
All in all, i'm extremely impress by the accessories, and the construction while quite big in housing and nozzle size is of great quality too.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
The Penon 10th aren't your typical tribrid with EST and it certainly have Penon house sound soul in it, which is about putting fowards bass, mids and treble without going over the top about it, keeping a smooth open balance. It's not as warm than the Globe nor as crisp neutral as the Fan2, it's a fun signature with plenty of bass weight and slam, lush mids and a uniquely snappy and thick treble. Yes you read me right. EST goes thick with the 10th and it's what differenciate from all other IEMs have try using similar drivers configuration. ut the magic here it's that it doesn't sound mushy or sticky-thick as a whole too, and it's not as dark and understated EST treble as Kinera Urd.
We can summarize the 10th tonality as warm W shape since nothing sound too recessed, yet we have lower mids warmth going on and no harsh spike in macro balance. It's cohesive as a whole, in an holographic multi layered way, very rich in dense and wide sound layers that add tactile 3D presence without feeling forced because of softed edge of upper mids presence. This is a very versatile sounding IEM that can appeal as much treble or pinna gain sensitive than basshead and timbre-tone lover.
An hint to know if an IEM is versatile is when it does both male and female vocal well, it mean their enough fundamental in lower mids to deliver full bodied presence of most instrument. Unlike Harman target that is too cold and shouty and ironically niche in music genre, the Penon 10th permit long listening pleasure that is both fun, dynamic, immersive and well balanced in it's special colored way that doesn't kill any frequencies range.
What the 10th don't deliver: perfectly separated bass without warmth, analytical level details and resolution, clean instrument separation, end game imaging.
What it deliver: round mid bass punch that is well layered with rumbly sub bass, full and natural mid range with good note weight, male-female bodied, natural and non shouty vocal, intricating treble snap and brilliance, very wide and tall soundstage, articulate chunky bass line, good layering in Y axis etc.
About the bass, it most be noted that it take about 10h to wake up, and this is coming from a ''burn-in'' sceptikal. With the well implemented 2 dynamic driver, we are in this rare low end territory were bass quality meet quantity, so we have both the round impactfull punch, a vibrant and deep rumble as well as good layering of both physical bodied presence of bass line and kick drum.
The kick drum presence is't very boosted in texture or definition edge, yet the rendering is both tactile and dynamic, it's just slightly warmed and colored.
The bass line are very well extracted which make them easy to follow even in fast busy track, it add extra note weight and the rumble isn't thin yet the sustain doesn't make the rendering muddy, it's a very special bass response we have here that benefit lower harmonic tone of instrument like cello which sound marvelously lush and bodied, natural and dense in presence, which have warmed timbral balance making it vibrant with color and never dry or noisy in timbre.
This dual DD use permit a very flexible bass performance too, with electronic, R&B or Soul it tend to have beefy slam that need good thump weight and proper layering, this can go easily muddy with one DD but here the warm layering solve this ''double dynamic energy'' issue and it's highly addictive. This explain I don,t consider this bassy presentation as guilty pleasure too, even the warmth doesn't veil anything and slip naturally in lower mid range for male vocal or low pitch instruments benefit.
Some might prefer more edgy, lean and textured bass rendering, but it would mean lower mids will be thin and the punch will feel sloppy, which isn't the case here at all.
So yes, very versatile bass performance, double bass is well controlled with a fast and wide sustain-release, the attack lead isn't the most abrasive so delimitation of each note might be less accurate, but it's not messy nor boomy.
Then for electric bass often find in rock, it's similar, the articulation is fast and well layered, easy to follow but a hitn softed in texture bite, but it have this realist vibrant density that is much more pleasant than just following thin presence of the instrument. This isn't warm bass to the point of going plain dark, it's just dominate by lower tone fundamental instead of highs harmonics spike.
The mid range is pure lushness pleasure and an excellent mix of lower and upper mids that benefit both male and female vocal as well as wide range of instrument that don't need sharpest resolution to be fully enjoyed.
I'll begin with the instrument I feel isn't favor by 10th, and it's one of my fav instrument: acoustic piano. It's not bad but tend to be leaner and less dynamic than double bass, saxophone or vocals. It's mellow in attack and have a foggy sustain-release, it's hard to perceive attack lead then the decay it release. For ex, Gogopenguin trio is focus on drum and bass with the 10th, the piano isn't put fowards enough, unless higher pitch note which will be more energic and well sharpened. Even Vanessa Wagner solo playing feel distant and overly softed in dynamic amplitude, so, nope: if you listen to alot of piano, the 10th isn't the right IEM for this very task.
Then woodwinds instrument sound lusciou, wide and lush in presence, natural in tone and timbre.
Male vocal might be the best part of mid range, they are fowards, full bodied and very well layered, it's well texture in timbre and can go grunty when needed, the presence isn't compress, timbre isn't to bright, it have the inner natural breathyness to it.
Female vocal are wonderfull too, and since i listen way more to female singer I can underline they are even more fowards than male vocal, yet not shouty or too loud in upper mids, it's taking full advantage of fabulous sonion BA, which are my fav for mid frequencies in term on natural and dense timbre. This is smooth as butter, lush and breathy, rich in tone harmony and wide in presence. It will stick above all rest of instrument with great focus too, unlike the piano.
When female vocal are good, the violin tend to be well balanced in presence and tone too, which is exactly the case here, the attack is a bit softed so their no displeasant texture spike or screamy attack, it's velvety and mellow, it's not the cleanest in term of proper natural decay though, if I can nitpick something but it's not thin too, since nothing sound thin with the 10th.
And now for the treble, I think it's where some listener might be a bit left on their hunger, especially if treble head. Even if we have one knowles BA and 2 EST to cover treble section, the rendering is near dark but never dull and not lacking in percussions extraction, which seem to be the focus task for ESTs drivers. Yet, from 4khz to 8khz it's rather polished in dynamic, their no highs spike to boost crispness alot, it's delicate and mellow but full sounding too.
What the ESTs add is sens of air, snap and light brilliance, but it's not that easy to perceive it because overall holographic macro resolution isn't the cleanest nor the sharpest in instrument spacing.
So, it's certainly not an analytical or very crisp and sparkly, we are in lukewarms highs territory here, where their polished texture noise, a hint of extra air and upper highs clean extraction and a fast snap with tamed decay.
I've listen to 8 IEMs using EST, and all of them apart Kinera Urd offer similar magic which is about extra upper highs clean layering that deliver crisp percussions in a super speedy and tight attack, the loudness will differ, when their 4 EST it tend to deliver more micro details too. Here the Penon 10th is on par with Mangird Xenn Up which have more upper treble energy than the Kinera Urd.
But it's delicate, and apart with GSaudio SE12, its never an in your face upper treble apart if your super sensitive to 10-20khz treble section (or suffer from hyperacusis).
So in term of drum, the snare is more soft than metallic percussions which always pop up cleanly in tracks, and it's such a pleasure to ahve 3 freq band well articulate and separated like this with such a dynamic and lush musicality.
Then if i go with ultra high instrument like the Harp that can pass 20khz, the recorded resonance info are a bit tamed to the favor of extra fundamental frequencies, which can add bass resonance to string stroke, and it mix with a fast and sharp metallic tone which permit easy tracking of each not but the whole harmony isn't 100% perfect.
This make me conclude the 10th aren't suggested for classical music, since i've complaint about piano rendering too, it's really a master of pop, rock, soul, r&b, electronic....a very wide range of music that even include jazz, folk, indie, but will sound a bit to hazy for symphony. For cello or violin solo, it will be pure pleasure, here it's about this warm holographic rendering that is hit or miss for classical record.
The soundstage is very wide and tall but not very deep due to an overall euphonic clarity, in the sens: the silence isn't clean enough between instrument to permit listner to travel deep in center stage. Your part of music with the 10th. And it's extramly immersive in that regard, to the point of melting with other instruments.
This mean it's no master of precise imaging too, and that even if it's far from being bad. The sound layering is excellent in fact and multi layered in a vast but condensed way. Think about a big patchwork of sound layers sticken togheter in a stereo rendering. Then, there this extra highs separation from EST that is more accurate and easy to pull apart.
SIDE NOTES
At 9ohm of impedance and 110db of sensitivity, the 10th are very easy to drive and don't benefit of big amping, especially if the output impedance is high.
But the use of EST make them source capricious too, since these drivers benefit of at least 100mW amping push, which is more than a phone but quite easy to get with dongle or DAP.
Then, the eartips is very important and I would say stock one are good enough but add bass warmth that affect sub-mid bass and mids separation. This is surely due to the fact the hole isn't as wide as the nozzle which have 3 holes that need to ''breath''.
Using short wide bore eartips with as big hole permit to open soundstage even more and improve layering of bass and mid range.
COMPARISONS
VS PENON SERIAL (3DDs-300$)
The Serial are more U shape, less warm and thick, more open sound and clearer, cleaner, more detailed too, so a notch brigther especially in lower treble.
The bass is quite different here, Serial is more textured but leaner in mid bass, yet kick drum presence is better resolve but not as physical and round in impact, sub bass line are less warm too, less resonance and dense but even better controled and leaner in deep extension which benefit double bass. 10th pack more punch, and lower mids benefit in density and lushness, their extra slam roundness and weight that Serial lack dynamic wise making it more fun and less maturely tuned, Serial bass is overall cleaner, thinner and leaner. We can say Serial have more quality than quantity here.
Then the mids are better resolved, more open and deep, less warmed and thicken in lower mid range which have pros and cons since male vocal are thinner, more recessed, yet again more boosted in presence texture but it doesn't make them better or more musical, in that regard 10th offer more bodied and fowards vocal.
Serial mids have wider more detailed and well define instrument presence, again thinner way, it better resolve but not as lively in macro layering in the sens note weight are lighter and mids are less lively. Attack is better controled, not as warmed in sustain-release which add micro euphonic density to 10th, while not as holographic in layering, Serial permit greater precision in positioning since it's less colored, timbre favorize texture realism and details, while 10th favor tone and lushness.
Then the treble, strangely, doesn't extract more micro details and sound info with the 10th, but it's more snappy and fast in percussions rendering, more tactile and less lean in extension. We have a hint more air and brilliance too but not as long natural decay (from the recording). Serial is more about lower and mid treble that have lot of sound info fro texture, presence and definition edge.
Spatiality is wider with the Serial, but not as 3D, tall and deep even if yes, we can dig deeper in term of sound info of center stage, it's just don't feel as out of your head and multi-dimension.
But the superior macro resolution permit greater precision for positioning with the Serial, even if sound layered are less sticken togheter with 10th, it's not as clear in separation, as well in fast busy track the sub bass line will be better articulated and less muddy with Serial.
All in all, those 2 complement well each other, the 10th is more energic and weighty in dynamic, more punchy and chunky in bass but not as well controlled and separareted. Serial is clearly more U shape as well as surprisingly more technical sounding, cleaner, better resolved. 10th offer fuller tone in all range while Serial offer more resolved presence of instrument of in all range.
VS KINERA URD (2DD-1BA-2EST-650$)
Well, hum, these 2 are so different in dynamic rendering it's a psychoacoustic shock....the Urd is way leaner, darker and more U shape but without any proper punch, less so than the above Serial and more smoothed im macro dynamic than the 10th.
I make me wonder the benefit of both dual DD and ESTs here.
The bass is more mellow and thin, sub bass feel more distant and distached, their less warmth that glue it to lower mids too, it's lighter in note weight and presence isn't very textured too. 10th seem basshead compared to those, both sub and kick is more bodied and dynamic.
Mids are more recessed, lean, light in note weight and dark in definition delimitation, they are even more softed in upper mids energy and both male and female vocal have extra breathyness blur to them. The lead of attack is more damped too, so it doesn't open up in loudness amplitude and stay more lean and dynamic less.
The treble is cleaner and leaner too, I struggle to hear benefit of est with the Urd since percussions mix up in same loudness level with other instrument, it's less open, brilliant and airy, less vivid but longer in natural decay.
The soundstage is less wide and tall with the Urd but a bit deeper due to cleaner center stage which is less warmed by lower mids boost.
The imaging is quite one dimension and flat, so it's inferior to 10th that have more space between sound layers in y axis.
All in all, the Urd feel very lean and L shape with mellower bass punch and a less lively macro dynamic, underlining again the W shape heft of 10th which is way more fun and musical to my ears, and offer superior technical performance in a more colored way.
VS LETSHUOER EJ07M (1DD+2BA+4EST-650$)
What hit first is how taller and bigger is the spatiality as well as more holographic and tactile in instrument rendering. As well, it feel more colored and lusher tha EJ07.
So, we can say 10th is more dynamic and warmer W shape signature.
The bass is chunkier, warmer and more punchy, there more mid bass boost than EJ07 and more lower mids too so male vocal sound fuller as well as more fowards, less lean and dry in rendering, but sub bass extension isn't as clean and deep.
Timbre wise, i do prefer more colored and thicken rendering of Penon, it's lusher and it tend to deliver wider creamier vocal presence than more centered and compressed mids of EJ07, but overall resolution is notably darker and less transparent, it can't be use for monitoring unlike EJ07.
Then the treble isn't as extended and full in sound info, its thicker, more colored and less lean, it doesn't pick up whole percussions layers as the EJ07 and feel less clean.
Soundstage is notably wider taller but less deep and more densify in sound layers euphony, making macro perception less readable.
This mean your perhaps more in middle of music, but that positionning is notably inferior to EJ07, it's less define in separation, we have more bass blur stickening instrument separation, and the layering is more opaque, which explain we can't travel very deep in spatiality in term of critical positioning.
All in all, the Penon is more fun and musical to listen and get lost in, but technical perfomance is notably superior, more refined and controlled with the EJ07M. Very different sound flavor....and purpose here.
CONCLUSION
The Penon 10th Anniversary really take me by surprise in term of musical flavor, due to tribrid drivers implementation I was expecting something more technical and crisp yet what I get is a warm W shape with incredibly open and holographic spatiality, powerfull bass with impressive mid and sub bass layering, lush male and female vocal and fast snappy but understated treble.
It's not as warm as Penon Globe, but does share some similarities, in the sens timbre density and euphonic naturalness is there, big bass is there but even better and the treble of 10th is more open, snappy and brilliant.
Mix the Globe with Serial and Fan2, and your not far from what you get with the 10th.
Which is logical, since it's a celebration of all Penon IEMs flavor put in one shell.
One thing certain, at 500$, the 10th is very competitive tribrid with a beautifuly balanced tonality that is not lacking in dynamic fun and offer an engaging 3D sound experience.
Highly Recommended!
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PS: I want to thanks Penon for sending me this review sample after I manifest my interest to try them. As always, these are my honest and independant minded subjective audio impressions and their we no pressure or incentive from Penon to write a positive review.
You can order the Penon 10th Anniversary for 500$ here:
https://penonaudio.com/penon-audio-10th-anniversary-iem.html
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Funniest thing I've read all week!
Congratulations............on finding the 10th Anniversary. Also I’m happy to read it’s your favorite, as the 10th is my favorite Penon too. Being able to playback any genre with any device is the tour de force of personal audio. Ohh......and by the way, they sound luscious doing it too. They really are end-game, which is ridiculous for $499.00.