Elysian Acoustic Labs PILGRIM -Shiny on the Outside, Fun on the Inside 

Many thanks!

Ah yeah, I need to borrow that one. Thanks

Thank you brother. This one is harder than it appears if you try to review it rather than hype it. $400 is a tough price, no matter the brand name.

That set was on a tour so if I had more time, I might have spent more time on EQ. The drivers are good, should have been technically better but the tuning seemed not perfect for the drivers. I still like the DD but would have done the same as you, let it find another home.

Correct, kinda why I went over it first. I love listening to Cadenza4, but that was the complaint, too reserved. Pilgrim is not the opposite, but it grabs you upfront. Two different styles.

I try. Pilgrim is a tour set so I have been watching the reviews as it makes its way to each person. On one hand, it is an expensive set, and on the other, the tuning is hitting people differently. It has nice bass, but seems to struggle competing in other areas.

To be fair, Low is a good track. Pilgrim is a good bass set, magic combo. Since you just got it, make sure you push the shells into your head a bit, don't want to lose any bass.

Yep, same idea, DD response probably a bit different. Nothing wrong with having a fun set in the collections.

Thank you as well.

RSV is reference, all in balance. Pilgrim is shifted or colored compared to RSV, a lot of subbass. If you like RSV, look at the way the subbass dips, that is what you would want in Pilgrim. Treble level is a bit of the same, RSV is a bit different. That set is great, helps to have a couple more custom BAs too.

@@PaulWasabii Thanks again Paul!👍

I don't know as I don't know if I have used TRN T tips much, even on TRN sets. Second, the fit is harder for some people so your tips might be limited. Pilgrim is a tough set, I think people like it for the bass but as I watched the impressions from our tour, everyone kinda touched on the same issues. Some of it is just the price though, $400 expectations.

They call it Pentaconn. Not so much hard to drive, but that is also a measure that they will sound different at higher impedance. Makes sense for a hybrid. I would pay more attention to your source's warmth and treble extension. But first, get the fit right.

More resolution and fun is hard. Pilgrim DD makes it fun, so the first thing that comes to mind is a 2DD set like Hype 4. Maybe DaVinci but haven't heard it. If you are ok with EQ, Variations or one of those tribrids. The tribrids are the resolution sets at that price, but finding a fun one is harder as they are all tuned similar at this point.

Never heard Hype 4 but just gazing at the graph vs Pilgrim, less fun, but addresses most of the nitpicks I had on Pilgrim. I will also almost always take a recent 2DD over a 1DD.

Oddly, it is closer than I thought but the tilt is everything. Pilgrim is a bit darker, more bass, less upper treble. Personally, I am a 2DD fan for 2024 also. In hybrid format, you don't lose anything but gain better bass quality with 2DD.

@@PaulWasabii thanks Paul! Yes, i'd imagine it's a bit darker, but also why I'm interested in it. Gonna be a fun fight in this price bracket this year.

Hello. What Shop?

The two aren't that close. If you want crazy bass, still szalayi. Pilgrim bass is slightly boosted and if you don't get the fit right like I see in people's impressions, it sounds like an even slighter boost. Szalayi is more of a special set but that tuning isn't for everyone, Pilgrim is much closer to something you can give anyone.

@@PaulWasabii thank you so much! Went with the szalayi. Your review was right on.

This. But Dusk claps both

@@apothecy4011 not interested in Moondrop

Hype 4

Moondrop garbage QC

I haven't heard Hype4, but it is closer to a refined Hype2 and closer to what I would pick. A bit less fun, but more balanced. Plus their 2DD is very good.

Sorry, never heard that one

Timsok is quite V-shaped compared to Pilgrim. I prefer a bit more upper treble so Timsok's more bass, more treble works for me. If you don't like energetic V, Pilgrim is closer to that

@@PaulWasabii Thanks!!

Not quite the same and Variations is up there in sound quality. You have a killer set and Pilgrim is upper range tilted down which is a bit different than Var. I wouldn't say they are redundant but you would end up with two very nice sets.

I never heard Studio 4, but I have heard other Softears. They tend to be more serious than fun. But someone who might answer that question is AWSMDanny as he now has that Pilgrim and he has Studio 4.

If you had kept it, I'd say switch tips or push them in. The fit is quite tricky and it should make that intensity go away. You are seeing variations of boring to slightly bright and that is mostly a fit issue.

Yeah the fit is something you need to be aware of if you buy it. You will look at the graph and wonder why it doesn't have much bass. That set is a tour set, so you will get more opinions on what music works, how the others find the fit. Music is a big part of it for me too, if I had run across some tracks that blew me away or took me deeper into the set, I would have been happier. Like Cadenza4, doesn't engage you, but when you drill into the mids, they did some nice tuning at that price point. It leads you down the path of hearing where that set stands out. Pilgrim was harder in that respect for me.

Me too. There are some barebones description like "thicker" but seems like it should be different enough and possibly appealing to a different set of people.

First, apparently my CK-41 was an old version and I would say Pilgrim is 10x better than my version. I can't really answer to the current version, but Tonedeafmonk talked about the Pula I believe.

Sort of, different balance.