Joined in 2023 
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The midrange requires getting into the lap of that Penon sound I'm talking about. It's a warm, euphonic range, which may seem a little more subdued if you're coming from IEMS with more excited mid-highs. But, in fact, it's like lighting up the sunset, it's the best light of the day, the best atmosphere to enjoy the music, it's the light of the soul, of romanticism, of passion. I think it is the light that Penon is looking for. And this half-light is not unique, but receives the refined flashes of a soft, yet detailed, defined and well extended treble, to fill the mid-range with sweetness and nuances, breathing the necessary air to separate and elevate them. The ‘Globe’ sits in the middle-of-the-road in terms of pricing, sporting a 10mm dynamic driver and two BA drivers. A Sonion BA handling the mids and a Knowles BA for the treble. Having heard Sonion mids before, I knew that if this was executed right, the Globe could be a hybrid right up my street. Penon has taken the conservative approach here. They didn't reinvent the wheel, they simply progressed it further. Polishing the basics, they improved the fundamentals. Making only three drivers sound like more, making a smaller midsized shell sound somehow grander in size? This IEM is so darn fun! Such a sway and swagger goes to show you the pace your music! The Globe plays everything well though there is no one single ability that you could say the Globe excels at. Take your thinnest file, it enhances it, take any genre of music and the Globe somehow finds the musicality present. Use any source bright, or dark and the Globe finds balance. I don't know the how's or why's but this is not always the case with other IEMs? Globe has the best height and depth compared to the three, but has the least width (only slight differences) So here, apart treble which is brighter on top, these 2 are a bit similar in the sens they got both bass slam and mids fullness, but thats about it in term of similarities.
Soundstage depth is improved impressively, but treble is boosted to such an extent sounds like cymbals are far more intrusive, and with that comes a whispy tonality I don't particularly care for.Then the treble sure have some trade off if all the attention is attire by bass and mids, but it doesn't mean it's complete darkness oblivion. Again Penon do some magic here by adding just a hint of crunch and snap in mid treble around 8khz section surely...but it's not a treble that extend far away up to 20khz, nor offer lot of definition sharpness, highs air and sparkle, just minimal bite and snap so acoustic guitar doesn't sound fully blunted or percussions lost in the mix. Requiring Vol 19 on the N8ii the 10th Anniversaries are slightly harder to drive than the Globes, and their shells quite a bit larger. I do find the Globes more comfortable for multi-hour listening sessions but this isn't enough to dissuade me against the 10th Anniversaries. Signature: The Globe is quite difficult to pigeonhole in terms of a standard sound signature. I consider it to have a clearly mid-centric tuning, although the bass is undoubtedly boosted and the treble also is not exactly shy. It could possibly be called a warm mild U-shape, though the bass is definitely favored more than the treble. By alphabetic and linguistic contortion it might perhaps be most accurately called a warm reverse mild J-shape. Globes has all the Penon traits including a full on bass end. It is a distinctly colored sound but one that is made for enjoying your music. Nothing on the sound is dry, not the treble not the bass and certainly not the lush mid bands.
Requiring a volume of 20 on the N8ii with high-gain, as opposed to 16 for the Globes suggests they're slightly more difficult to drive. More difficult still to accept is the Orchestra Lite's claustrophobic soundstage, which despite not being dramatically narrow feels more 'in my head' than usual, with sounds projecting more to the rear of my skull than in front of it.Then the treble of both is a bit dark, yet the Lite is less well balanced and more spiky on top, which can lead to overly fowards percussions, which the Globe keep on line with rest of instrument, as well, lower treble is thinner and brighter with the Lite, making violin sound a bit off and metallic in timbre, the Globe treble sound more natural and refined, surely due to superior balanced armature used but again the number of micro details is higher with the Lite, even if in a rougher way. The sound is bigger in the Globes, but the comparative simplicity of the ORBs creates a cleaner feel that makes the sound appear crisper, clearer, even more open. The lower density also contributes to a more volatile, even more separated sound in the ORBs. For a long time now I’ve been very keen to hear an IEM from Penon. They have established a strong reputation of offering value for money, with a variety of driver configurations at various price points to suit the buyer, from the single DD ‘Fan’ to the tribrid ‘Volt’. They have also garnered a following for their ‘house sound’, which from my impression of the general consensus is one that puts midrange centre stage with warmth and musicality.
Starting at the end, the Globe is the evolution of the ORB. The addition of one more driver enhances the sound, although the tuning is not exactly the same. The slight excitation of the high mids of the ORBs and the fact that they have one less driver gives a slightly cleaner, less full, less dense, not quite as compact sound. The Globe's wall-of-sound feel, its greater physicality starts from the lows all the way to the high end. The Globe's sound is richer in many ways. But, at times, the simpler sound of the ORBs facilitates a lighter and somewhat more vivid listening experience. I have the feeling that both bass drivers are the same, but tuned subtly different and because of that lower density, the bass sounds a bit more compact, dry and tight on the ORBs. It is a personal feeling or maybe the higher emphasis on the lower end and a bit lighter in the mid-bass helps this situation. Blessing using DD but almost the same as BA sound, it has weak impact but still better than BA, it's fast Midrange – warm but detailed, accurate instrument timbre, vocal placed forward, no sibilance, good mid bite I think the Globes are one of the best exponents to get into the sound that Penon Audio is looking for.Sound ImpressionsI've used the Globes primarily with a Cayin N8ii DAP (in solid state mode with P+ enabled) using local files stored on a 1TB i400 Micron micro-SD card with my preferred Spinfit W1 tips. It should be noted the N8ii is tuned to emphasise treble & sub bass, so please factor that into account.
Straight out of the box I detected some BA timbre in the upper registers, though as my listening time went on this largely disappeared and I was afterward rarely bothered by it — even though timbre is one of my most prized characteristics in an earphone and so I am perhaps more sensitive to it than others. As for the midrange timbre, it is simply outstanding; the Sonion BA in the hands of Penon’s tuning yields a truly impressive result here even compared to good DDs. Horns, strings, and pianos all sound outstanding to my ear. I’ve included this quote as it will help get my following points across. My personal nonsense will arrive with enhanced clarity, and for his knowledge I am grateful! Sure, other cans can perform better in almost every area, but Penon Globe puts the music together in a way that lets you ignore those performance lossess. It definitely the one which let you to enjoy your music. Again, the cable has over-ear guides, but I prefer them. Their friction is subtle and the shape adopted is respectful and they don't get in the way. It is a pleasure to wear Penon on the ears.Bass: Though the bass has a significant boost and would perhaps even come close to satisfying bassheads (I am not at all one myself), the low end is not in my opinion meant to be the star of the show. Rather, its powerful weight and authority serves as the foundation of the Globe’s rich tonality, the gravity by which it draws one into its atmosphere. Bold, rich, smooth, dynamic, full bodied and euphoric is a good sound descriptor of the Globes sound. There are certainly other in ears that do detail with speedier transients and better timbral accuracy to a greater extent, however the trade off is one of the most engaging roomy sounds you will hear for earphones. A bit unique to the imaging of the Globes is that due to its larger dimensional sound presentation you get imaging that can float in mid air from the far left to the far right, behind or forward in space that seems outside of the headspace. That my friends is musical immersion. The pinpoint placement of elements seemed to even be more accurately positioned due to a single BA driver maybe? Thus a realism and clarity found, being the method-of-operation was simpler and more direct. I'm actually surprised at just how big this single driver sounds? Any off-timbre (and believe me I know) seems to be minimized? There was some obviously, but the more I listened the more it seemed to vanish? The Globe are very easy to drive and in fact dislike high impedance output or too much amping gain. At 10ohm of impedance and 116db of sensitivity, these benefit clean source. For ex, I need to use low gain on Moondrop Dawn 4.4, if not, it will sound boomy and muddy, have more harmonic distortion etc. I have to praise the Globe here for the most engaging presentation of ‘Infected Mushroom’ (electronica / psytrance) to date. The quality and quantity of the bass here is perfect. It excites and conveys dynamic swings well, never become fatiguing. Another strong suite is conveying the impact and authority of various families of drums, even reaching way down low to capture the resonance of the larger bass drum. It does it with great tonal accuracy to my ear and reasonably accurate decay.
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