Thank you! They're such a great set. I think I am going to get back into EQ. I am finally getting past the "you shouldn't need to EQ good iems" phase. Thankfully. What do you do like to boost on them. I'll be using the EQ APO with the Peace UI. Seems to be a good choice.
@@BassDad8 I add a little bump in the sub bass (I'm a bit of a bass head) and I pull in the upper mids slightly, not a fan of shouty vocals. They don't need much EQ though, but everyone's ears are different, so I always EQ to my taste no matter how good the IEM is.
@@BassDad8 I feel the same about the Quintet. Amazing. First time i tried it was ok. I just neeeded some time and better DAC to pair with Pairing with Topping DX3 Pro+ made it open up
Good video, awesome revisit! The Quintet is definitely worth the praise, and it does offer a refined sound in some ways, that almost reaches the much pricier stuff. Only lately with delving into said pricier things, I've begun to pick them up less. But I do appreciate the ambition and results of the Quintet still 👍
The Quintet was my second iem (after the Kiwi Ears Cadenza) and then I tried the Moondrop Kato, Letshuoer S12 Pro, Thieaudio Elixir, and Simgot EM6L, none of which impressed me compared to the Quintet. I recently acquired the Dunu Falcon Ultra, NIceHCK F1 Pro, Tangzu Wan'er, Pula PA02, and Simgot EA1000. The Falcon was close but still on side by side comparisons there was never a time I preferred them over the Quintet (with the blue nozzles - I think the brass nozzles are worse and give a wrong tonality to every song, though oddly they seem to be preferred by all the reviewers I watched). The F1 Pro impresses me, especially for the price (and I got it on sale for $80 Canadian which was a steal); it is even clearer than the Quintet, and on some busy tracks does better than the Quintet in keeping the instrument separation clean. The only complaint I can make about the F1 Pro is the tonality of vocals in the low mids, where I think the bass/mids separation is maybe a little too good for the F1's own good, so that some voices lack just a little richness compared to the Quintet. The Wan'er is amazingly good for $20 CAD. On any given random song I might enjoy it as much as the Quintet, or hit a song where it is clearly inferior. The PA02 and EA1000 I haven't had much time to assess yet, but the 1000 for now is growing on me quickly. The bass seems to be a little less than the Quintet, but tonality is similar and the clarity is comparable to the F1 Pro. The first listen to the Pula didn't impress me, but I've hardly listened to it at all yet. Which brings me to the subject of burn-in. I am generally very skeptical of it. I generally don't notice any difference. I burned in the Falcon for over 200 hrs and it made no noticeable difference. HOWEVER, my Sony WF-1000-XM4s that I had before coming back to wired earphones definitely changed over time (the bass was too much at first but toned down over time), and the Quintets themselves changed dramatically. It went through a brief period when the bass was overwhelming and intruded disruptively in quieter songs if there was any bass there to start, although the extra subbass was quite enjoyable on some songs. But even there, there was so much of it that it was fatigueing, even sickening, and ultimately became unwelcome. Fortunately like the Sonys before this, the bass toned down considerably with a little more use. I wondered if there was something defective about the set for awhile because of the dramatic change it went through, but ultimately I like where it ended up. So my experience of burn-in is that if it happens at all, it is in the bass and results in a toning down of the bass.
And to your final thought, that makes the most sense. The Quintet is a quad-brid, right? So that means the DD is responsible for the bass response. If there is such a thing as burn-in, that is where it will occur. Can’t obviously with BA, or PZT and is not likely on the planar. So the fact that the FR became more balanced over time is about as close as we can get to “proof” that burn-in exists. And come to think of it, I may have experienced that as well. From what I can recall, mine had nearly equal bass as Timmy’s Chopin, but when I went back to comp them before my Quintet review, the Chopin had noticeably more bass. Huh. Interesting. 🧐
Great review, the Quintet would be at the top of my favorite sets list if the build quality was closer to the Kato and EA1000. I guess something has to give if you're going to keep the price competitive.
I don't think the build quality on the Quintet is low, it's just that metal subjectively looks and feels more premium. There is something about a little heft that makes an earphone feel nice in the hand.
@Nomphalos it's just very basic. I actually appreciate the understated look, but a $220 set should include above average cable, case, tips, etc. Compare it to the Aviation or Adonis, both are less expensive, both are more premium. I actually really like the Quintet, that's probably why I wish it felt a little more premium.
They were great but very vanilla to my ears. Wasn't "fun" enough to me but if you need a good all-rounder. I think this is a pretty good first step. If I didn't have other stuff, I would've kept mine
@@kenjikodai yeah. I’m ridiculous. Where is my $500 iem? I have the TA-22, Moondrop Venus, Focal Elegia, and HD660 s2 now. WTF?!?!? I think it’s 2 things actually, besides me being insane… it’s harder to find value in over the ear headphones and those headphones benefit the most from higher quality sources. Still. I’m an idiot. lol. 😂
Is it better to use a copper cable rather than silver with these headphones? I have a copper+silver hybrid cable, and I lack a slight emphasis on the bass, but the treble is slightly higher than I would like. Eartips also have a strong effect on sound, so far I have stopped at Fiio hs 18. I also ordered Penon orange and SpinFit cp145.
I think it’s worth a shot. I just ordered a single crystal copper cable from IVIPQ to test out on different sets along with a high silver content mixed cable to do the same. In theory the copper should bring more bass emphasis and warmth to the Quintet. It will be a couple of weeks til it gets here, but I will try to post an update
@@roguegorilla8981 it’s a loaner. It’s not crazy expensive, but it will be the most expensive set I’ve reviewed. But I’ve got another comp video before that one, so about a week until the reveal…
@@BassDad8 well that will be nice. In curious if the higher price Iem's are really worth it. I didn't like the hype 2. The shell is huge and they just don't have that same thump I get from the Doscinco and metal just sounds better on them for me
