1MORE Penta Driver Hi-Res Certified Hybrid In-Ear Monitor Earphones - 5 Driver Wired IEM Headphones with Detachable MMCX Cable, MEMS Microphone & 3-in-1 Controls for Smartphones, PC, Tablet - Perfect for Audiophiles, Music Producers & Gaming Enthusiasts

Everyone has different ears, and I respect that. However, even if a Grammy-awarded engineer did your tuning to his tastes, it's bold to slap it on a product without checking how it sounds. And this engineer definitely has some *unique* ears. I invite you to take a look at the graph I have attached. The blue line is the industry-accepted frequency response of what the average pair of ears would find pleasing, backed by over a decade of research. The black line is what our mastering engineer has cooked up. While it may seem close at first, you can see a strong peak at 2kHz, which is shifted downward from the industry standard 3kHz. The upper treble also has some odd dips, leaving another peak at around 4.5kHz. What this yields you is a harsh and nasal sound which is uncomfortable to listen to for any period of time. The midbass from 200 to 500Hz is elevated, leading to a boxy sound down there.The good news is that these IEMs have some great hardware under the hood, with the "Penta" referring one dynamic woofer and four planar magnetic drivers on each side. This means that the capabilities of the hardware is excellent, and you can make it sound good with equalization. The graph I attached is from a web app called AutoEQ, which is a free resource that uses measurements of headphones to calculate what parameters you need in a wide range of equalizer programs, so you can pretty much get where you need on any device with the ability to install programs. After equalization, the five drivers start to shine, with deep and punchy bass from the woofer and fast, crisp resolution that is characteristic of planar drivers, without any of the metallic signature of balanced armatures. Now these IEMs are worth listening to, and I can comfortably do so for hours on end due to the small and light construction.The accessories are sufficient for IEMs at this price point, though not particularly impressive. There is a decent range of tips but the silicone ones are paper thin so they don't give you a good seal, and while foam tips will give you the best seal, the foam doesn't last forever so you'll have to buy more eventually. The dongle is quite decent, letting you access up to 192kHz at 32 bit without coloring the sound in any way. I am not a fan of the carrying pouch, which is thin and feels no more protective than a ziploc bag. At this price point it would have been expected to include a hard case of some kind. The cable has a slightly sticky rubber coating which doesn't generate microphonics when rubbing on your clothes, but in my experience this kind of soft touch rubber will grow even more sticky over time as the rubber devulcanizes. It is MMCX, so you can replace it with a different cable or upgrade to balanced when that time comes.All of this begs the question, should you have to use EQ on your $150 IEMs to make them usable? I think the answer is a hard no. If you need to use EQ on something to enjoy it, you are better off buying something else. This is like a situation where you are looking for an off-road vehicle but end up buying an expensive sports car, only then to modify it with a lift kit and off-road wheels and tires so that you can go off-roading with it. You would have been better off buying an SUV in the first place. Maybe you have similar ears to our mastering engineer here. Before you consider buying these IEMs, I suggest you to install an EQ browser extension, boost 4dB at 2kHz, subtract 5dB at 3.5kHz, subtract 9dB at 7kHz, and see if you like that better than what your headphones sounded like before. If this sounds weird to you, it is to most people. If you think this sounds brilliant, then these are the IEMs for you.