1MORE Penta Driver IEM Review

[WalterW]

Reason being that BA Drivers tend to have higher distortion at higher output levels but frankly you'll never be acutally using them at those levels.

But if this level of distortion can be avoided, it is better still.

The real benefit of Multi drivers & BAs are to allow you to get a more specific tuning curve that is much harder to get out of single DD drivers.

True, but it seems that these difficulties largely have been overcome.

The Salnotes Zero 2 is very close to the Harman target and has extremely low distortion. Besides the shell material (and shape for some) and the cable, it is hard to see what could significantly be improved.

 

[Jimster480]

Do you have the Triple Driver Over-Ear or In-Ear?

I have both. The pads on the over ear would make me sweat so I never used it too much.

 

[Maiky76]

This is a review, listening tests, EQ and detailed measurements of the 1MORE Penta Driver P50 IEM. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $120.
View attachment 378337
Sorry about the lousy picture. The silicone cable is nice to use but makes it impossible to position the drivers for a picture. As the name indicates the IEM sports one dynamic driver and no less than four planar drivers. Is more better? We will find out. Company claims that the sound is tuned by Luca Bignardi recording engineer. Here he is talking about his ideas of tonality:

The IEM and accessories feel luxurious compared to what you get in $50 and less category IEMs. They are light, small and nice to handle. Note below however on difficulty of getting the tips to fit my ear and test fixture.

If you are not familiar with my headphone measurements and reviews, I highly suggest you watch my tutorial on headphone testing.

1MORE Penta Driver IEM Measurements
The IEM comes with two kinds of tips. I started testing with the set that has a grill (filter?) in it but the surrounding silicone material was too soft to get it to mount properly to my GRAS 45CA headphone measurement system. So I switched to the set that doesn't have a grill but is somewhat firmer. For both listening and testing I used the largest tips.

View attachment 378338

This is an odd response I have not seen before. Likely the result of tuning per introduction. I was happy to see the nice bass response, but not the overboosted lower treble. And underboosted upper treble. Relative response shows variations that is hard to mimic manually with parametric EQ:
View attachment 378339

We see somewhat typical distortion profile:
View attachment 378340
View attachment 378341
Unfortunate to see such rise in lower treble.

Group delay is not very eventful but does show the signature of multiple drivers/filtering:
View attachment 378342

We see the same to some extent in the odd impedance graph:
View attachment 378343

Sensitivity is low for an IEM:
View attachment 378344


1MORE Penta Driver Listening Tests and Equalization
Out of box sound was very odd which is readily explained by the frequency response. I was not hopeful that I could EQ it right but was surprised how great it took to my simple EQ:

View attachment 378345

With this in place, the sound was impressively good.

You may have noticed that I did not mess with the extra energy in upper bass. At first wearing, despite using the largest tips, I was not getting much bass. Toward the end the of the testing, I managed to get them just right in my ear and was then able to hear the impressive and clean bass.

Conclusions
The build of Penta Drive is quite nice and price is rather reasonable and fits what you get. The tuning though is truly odd but nicely has enough bass. It lent itself well to equalization despite my expectation otherwise. With EQ, the sound was very nice, with high resolution, clean and open sound (for an IEM).

I can't recommend the 1MORE Penta Drive IEM. I hope the company adopts proper research for target curve than chasing "stars" in the Pro industry. And yes, I do now wonder how Luca has managed to win all those Grammy awards with preference like this!

------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Here are some thoughts about the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

Notes about the EQ design:

• The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
• The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
• A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
• The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve (and other constrains) with a fixed complexity.
  This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score, start your journey here or there.
  There is a presentation by S. Olive here.
  It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be therefore more neutral.
• The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF and maybe at HF).
• The range around and above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
• I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
• With some HP/amp combo, the boosts and preamp gain (loss of Dynamic range) need to be carefully considered to avoid issues with, amongst other things, too low a Max SPL or damaging your device. You have beed warned.
• Not all units of the same product are made equal. The EQ is based on the measurements of a single unit. YMMV with regard to the very unit you are trying this EQ on.
• I sometimes use variations of the Harman curve for some reasons. See rational here and here
• NOTE: the score then calculated is not comparable to the scores derived from the default Harman target curve if not otherwise noted.
• Occluding IE devices generally must have very good fitting/seal in the user's ear canal for best performance.
  please spend a few minutes to pick up the best ear tip... Be sure to perform this step otherwise the FR/Score/EQ presented here are just worthless.
• 1. more bass = better seal
  2. More isolation from the outside world = better fit
  3. Comfort

Great L/R match.

I have generated one EQ, the APO config file is attached.

Score no EQ: 58.1
Score Amirm: 70.7
Score with EQ: 94.1

1MORE Penta Driver P50 H Harman EQ
July082024-144107

Preamp: -10.00 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 174.9 Hz Gain -2.92 dB Q 1.10
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1704.5 Hz Gain -7.99 dB Q 1.30
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 3079.9 Hz Gain 6.95 dB Q 1.76
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 4664.6 Hz Gain -3.33 dB Q 5.92
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 9091.7 Hz Gain 12.53 dB Q 1.61
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 11835.1 Hz Gain -7.21 dB Q 6.60
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 16070.9 Hz Gain -13.21 dB Q 1.82

 

[Monkey3017]

I own those IEMs and absolutely adore their sound quality. They are small and extremely comfortable to wear.
I do not use EQ - to the contrary. I find the EQ can degrade the sound.
I swapped out the flimsy cable for a balanced one (costing 22 EURO) with a 4.4mm connector and paired the IEM with the Aune M1P and the Shangling M1s. The results are outstanding in both setups. I also own the Moondrop CHU, but they are no match in quality (Obviously I can't use those with a balanced cable).
What truly bothers me is the "luxury" packaging. It's such an unnecessary waste of resources and space.

I noticed that the sound changes when I move my head up-down. The sound also changes depending on the tip I use and how I wear the IEM. So I wonder how it is possible to actually "measure" such a device. There is much more going on with hearing, similar to the room, which in influences the sound of a speaker. I would recommend this IEW because they are so comfortable. They could cut down on packaging and price them around 99 I guess. Don't forget to get a matching cable.

 

[Mr Swing King]

It’s interesting to see the divergence between folks that see anything too far off Harman as poor vs folks who happen to dig different tunings.

I probably mostly belong to the former (only change out Harman for IEF neutral), but have to acknowledge the times I’ve listened to and found X headphone with a strange tuning nice - heck even delightful at times.
On paper the Denon D7200 should have me running to the hills..yet I love it’s warm and punchy sound. The same goes for the K712.
…which is why I fully understand why some folks will adore this particular iem. I have already recommended it for a couple of friends that are mad about Grados yet never found an iem to match their unique and forward sound signature. At the moment only one has received his iem, but he absolutely loves the thing.
‘Tiny Grados with bass!!?’
Oh yes.

 

[delta76]

Here are some thoughts about the EQ.
Please report your findings, positive or negative!

Notes about the EQ design:

• The average L/R is used to calculate the score.
• The resolution is 12 points per octave interpolated from the raw data (provided by @amirm)
• A Genetic Algorithm is used to optimize the EQ.
• The EQ Score is designed to MAXIMIZE the Score WHILE fitting the Harman target curve (and other constrains) with a fixed complexity.
  This will avoid weird results if one only optimizes for the Score, start your journey here or there.
  There is a presentation by S. Olive here.
  It will probably flatten the Error regression doing so, the tonal balance should be therefore more neutral.
• The EQs are starting point and may require tuning (certainly at LF and maybe at HF).
• The range around and above 10kHz is usually not EQed unless smooth enough to do so.
• I am using PEQ (PK) as from my experience the definition is more consistent across different DSP/platform implementations than shelves.
• With some HP/amp combo, the boosts and preamp gain (loss of Dynamic range) need to be carefully considered to avoid issues with, amongst other things, too low a Max SPL or damaging your device. You have beed warned.
• Not all units of the same product are made equal. The EQ is based on the measurements of a single unit. YMMV with regard to the very unit you are trying this EQ on.
• I sometimes use variations of the Harman curve for some reasons. See rational here and here
• NOTE: the score then calculated is not comparable to the scores derived from the default Harman target curve if not otherwise noted.
• Occluding IE devices generally must have very good fitting/seal in the user's ear canal for best performance.
  please spend a few minutes to pick up the best ear tip... Be sure to perform this step otherwise the FR/Score/EQ presented here are just worthless.
• 1. more bass = better seal
  2. More isolation from the outside world = better fit
  3. Comfort

Great L/R match.

I have generated one EQ, the APO config file is attached.

Score no EQ: 58.1
Score Amirm: 70.7
Score with EQ: 94.1

1MORE Penta Driver P50 H Harman EQ
July082024-144107

Preamp: -10.00 dB

Filter 1: ON PK Fc 174.9 Hz Gain -2.92 dB Q 1.10
Filter 2: ON PK Fc 1704.5 Hz Gain -7.99 dB Q 1.30
Filter 3: ON PK Fc 3079.9 Hz Gain 6.95 dB Q 1.76
Filter 4: ON PK Fc 4664.6 Hz Gain -3.33 dB Q 5.92
Filter 5: ON PK Fc 9091.7 Hz Gain 12.53 dB Q 1.61
Filter 6: ON PK Fc 11835.1 Hz Gain -7.21 dB Q 6.60
Filter 7: ON PK Fc 16070.9 Hz Gain -13.21 dB Q 1.82

View attachment 379697

just want to say really appreciate your work - and I do look forward to your posting every time Amir reviews a headphone. Based two of my purchases (HD650 and Zero 2) on your posts (many factors, but those sealed the deals)

I agree and acknowledge that headphone reviews are much more than just a single score (or scores), but for a simplistic mind like me, a score is always better than no score.

Keep up your great work!

 

[Nabuco]

It hurt 120$ for this when few days before moon drop 19€ on Amazon and in another world. Even t110 jbl at 5-9€ might do as good if not better
Just prove that price isn't = quality

 

[mc.god]

As far as alluding to the number five, here's a recent IEM release https://www.linsoul.com/products/7hz-five

meh...

 

[LevityProject]

And yes, I do now wonder how Luca has managed to win all those Grammy awards with a preference like this!

My guess: a really good Mastering engineer

 

[Ambient384]

Is there an ASR consensus on the use of multiple drivers in IEMs? We have single DD IEMs such as the 7Hz Zero 2s with vanishingly low harmonic distortion. I haven’t seen many multi-driver IEMs measured but the ones I’ve seen have significantly more distortion. I’d imagine that all those crossovers would add thd and/or IMD, though I’m pretty hazy on the details. Do multi driver designs bring anything to the table or is it all marketing and hokum?

Nah Multi driver IEM's are just a artifact from when the Etymotic ER4S was the king from 1998 ~ 2008, but companies had to lie about Single BA being a issue when It wasn't. ER4S distortion was 0.5% average at 1KHz/104db and could handle 12db+ bass shelf.

What ironic the ER4SR measures better ranging from 0.2 ~ 0.4% at 1KHz/104db while able handle the same 12db+ bass shelf.

 

[OK1]

How good or bad is the dongle that it includes?



If you are interested in anecdotal evidence, I have IEMs with one, three, five, seven and ten drivers per side, and my absolute favorites are the 1 planar driver per side MP145s.

I don't think that price nor number of drivers are strongly correlated with quality, but they may be weakly inversely correlated (more drivers, more crossovers, more experimental technology, more need to innovate with FR to differentiate the product = more opportunities to mess up).

I do like planars more than DDs, both more than BAs and anything more than microplanars and PZTs.

Again, everything is anecdotal and based on my limited personal experience.

But IEMs seem to be an almost solved problem. My only gripes are too much ear gain in most tunnings and lack of open backs, if that last thing is even possible for an IEM.

I give almost no use to my headphone collection anymore, and very little use to my speakers. Even cheap IEMs are that good nowadays.

I have had a similar experience with the Artti T10's also planar magnetic, in comparison with any other Dynamic Driver IEM's and Headphones, that I have heard. The planar magnetic reproduction, is definitely something special - with a more extended frequency response, more resolving in both the higher and lower frequencies. Bass that is exact, just far more detail than any DD I've heard. In comparison a most satisfying listen.

Made me begin to ask, are there any planar magnetic speakers?