Penon Voltage is a new 10-driver tribrid “flagship”; I put this in quotes because there is the real flagship, Penon Impact, a 14 driver hybrid BA/EST iem that retails at $2499. The difference here being that Voltage is a tribrid, trading out a lot of BAs for a couple of DDs, and the retail price being a provocative $1199. Why provocative at half the price of Impact? I think most Penon fans are used to excellent low-priced offerings and are reasonably nervous to spend a kilobuck or more, whereas most big spenders in the hobby often avoid Penon. I think Penon made a careful choice in pricing here. I’ll venture to say that they could have priced these at $1999 and that would still be a competitive price, but I believe Penon chose to not do so and actually underpriced the Voltage to bring in more of their big fans (which they maybe didn’t with the Impact or Legend, pricing them outside the fans’ comfort zone). In a vacuum, if Penon had priced Voltage at $1999, I would not have been surprised (nor jumped as fast), but regardless, they still would have exceeded that price level. I’ve heard nothing so far sub $2k that rivals the Voltage. I have spent an extended time with my other favorite in this price range, the $2k Oriolus Monachaa which I happily own. But if I’m going for a full and complete sound – meaning excellent sub and mid bass, clear weighty mids that give way to extended upper mids and treble so that the overall effect is an open and airy soundstage that has no glaring issues in any particular part of the FR, I’m going to say Voltage delivers this in a more complete way than Monachaa, which can sometimes feel lacking in the midbass and bright in the treble. Voltage, to my ears, has no apparent flaws nor does a particular part of the FR have a “star”; bass, mids, treble are expertly harnessed yielding a truly engaging, balanced and full sound that, while focused to some degree on the mids, never lets any part of the FR down. As Penons go, it’s moderately power hungry, but still easily driven by any DAP or decent dongle.

I purchased the Voltage directly through Penon with their standard, early bird discount to their VIP email list (it’s easy to sign up at Penonaudio.com), so I get nothing in exchange for this review, though I want to thank Penon for the generous discount they do provide to their fans. Starting with the basics, the packaging is no-frills Penon, meaning a selection of eartips (but no Liqueur tips!?), stock cable and carrying case are included. The Voltage itself is an attention-getter with its bold, red color and gold accents, constructed with integrity as are all Penons in my experience. Voltage is on the medium-larger side, protruding a little from the lower part of the ear, but is otherwise very light and comfortable. In fact, for 10 drivers including 2x DDs, it’s frankly pretty small and light. I have worn it for hours, sometimes too many without break, because I couldn’t put them down and they just disappear in your ears and become part of you. For reference, I think it’s not a great idea to listen to any iems for hours on end without a break – save those canals!!! But regardless, fit and comfort are not an issue for me and if you’ve been comfortable in any other Penons, these will be great. There are 2 switches that affect the tuning, though not radically changing its overall balance, with bass switch first and treble switch second. I’ll discuss that in a bit, but they could be left in the stock position out of the box (eg, both switches down) without a care in the world and just forget them. But I prefer to play with these things to see if there’s a sweet spot that works specifically for me (TLDR: there was, bass switch up, treble switch down, for me, YMMV). I already described the included Obsidian cable which is very good and capable of giving a great performance from Voltage. However, as I always do, I cable rolled and found that Voltage could be influenced greatly with cables as well as tips. Shame Penon didn’t include the black and orange Liqueur tips – they are actually perfect for Voltage and make some micro changes that will appeal to different ears! I don’t understand why they don’t include them here.

Ultimately, after a lengthy burn-in exceeding 100 hours, I began critical listening and by about 200 hours had settled on using the Effect Audio Code 24c cable and the Coreir brass tips. I listened mainly though my L&P P6Pro connected to my ibasso PB5 tube amp with the insanely good Penon Totem interconnect (which was a cheap upgrade for a lot of wow!). I found the combination of the Code 24c and Coreir tips to bring deeper staging, deeper bass, extended treble, and a nice, warm U-shape (or W) tuning with elevated subbass, forward mids and vocals, and highly extended treble with details, details, details. The combo of the P6Pro and PB5 is sublime and something to behold, so Voltage was properly driven! And those details rise out even more if you scale up your power for Voltage; if there’s stuff in your music you’ve missed before, this set can reveal those things. Breaths, guitar plucks, coughs, lost words, backwards messages, all come out when listening with Voltage. I have tried (and own) many Penons, but none have come close to what I’m hearing with Voltage! Deep bass sounds tight and incisive, and sufficiently booming like a subwoofer, while the highest cymbal crashes pierce through clearly and with authority. This combines beautifully with the Penon mids which are clear and transparent giving them room to shine. Again, the hallmark being one of the most balanced sets where no aspect takes a backseat – Voltage brings everything I really want in an iem.

I think this is due to the “Penon tuning” being perfectly executed here. What does that mean? To me, it means you get something very natural and balanced, cohesive that doesn’t necessarily sound like a bunch of different drivers being combined. Your brain tells you that it’s happening, because you feel the DD bass with impact and precision, and hear it lavished by the BAs, and then transition to ESTs, whose implementation here may be the best I’ve heard and certainly the best I’ve heard from Penon (admittedly not having heard the Impact, yet). The overall result is a tuning that is not exactly unusual, but rather mature without gimmick or tricks. This makes Voltage not only a banger from a bass perspective, but also a detail monster from the treble perspective. I really think treble heads would like this a lot. Bass heads, too, but it’s not exactly basshead, though it flirts in high bass mode. With its 2 switches you can veer it toward either of those tunings and the results are very satisfying. With the bass switch (#1) up, I hear something akin to a FatFreq MSE, but with tighter, less boomy bass, more air and better upper mids and treble. With the treble switch (#2) up, I hear something more like Anni 23 with better, but lesser bass, even though it’s hard to believe those words (and take them with a grain of salt, I haven’t listened to Anni in a while, and I did really like it a lot); both switches up does remind me of Anni 23. With both switches down (the “stock” tuning), the presentation is entirely balanced and again, doesn’t lack for anything.

As a Penon fanboy, why didn’t I try the Impact? Well, it was TOTL expensive for one thing, and I personally require DD drivers in my IEMs at this point in my listening life for the air they move and the way they render bass. Impact had 14 drivers but no DD, so I passed, though am still interested in demoing them to understand what they do well which I expect is actually a lot considering what they were trying to compete with. If Impact had been a tribrid with DDs, I probably would have bought it. And the point is, Voltage does have that DD driver setup I love, in fact, in a pair of DDs that have some special treatment from Penon that they explain on their website, excerpt here:

“The two independent 8mm Dynamic Drivers use fiver composite biofilms plus flexible hanging edge diaphragms. The characteristics of the high damping of biofilms ensure that the Dynamic Drivers will not produce additional resonance due to split vibration at medium and high frequencies, and at the same time bring smooth and natural timbre features.”

I’m not going to pretend that I know what that means, but the last words ring quite true: smooth and natural timbre features. Timbre is outstanding, again with this driver cohesion, no instruments sound thin or off, everything sounds like you would expect it to (and hope it to). The DD drivers in Voltage, especially when cranked up by the bass switch, are beautifully executed with powerful, precise, deep clear subbass extending to the low mids without mud or bleed, really a triumph of sorts as Penon has really stepped up its bass performance with recent releases like Quattro, showing their dexterity with DD drivers. Again, this is not basshead level stuff, but it’s not meant to be. Voltage wants to be an all-arounder that you can tweak to either the bass or treble. And it succeeds brilliantly in that way, though I expect most folks will test out the differences and arrive on a favorite config and leave it that way, with many just leaving it in the very fine stock setting. In any event, DD bass done very well here, zero issues or complaints, only happiness. What’s particularly nice is the quality of the bass, its transition from mid to sub bass and how upper mids blend, it has all really come together here in an unusually natural and balanced sound.

The tuning of the 10 drivers here achieves a stunning level of timbre and cohesion, the best I’ve heard from Penon to date, and among the very best I’ve heard from any tribrid. The tuning here is the sort where I think most people would say “yeah, that’s how it should sound”! The technicalities here are also incredibly well-done making Voltage a very detailed, highly resolute iem that truly extends from the deep subbass to the highest trebles with perfect handoff from DD to BA to EST, all in perfect harmony with each other so that it’s not clear what’s creating what, but that a symphony of well-matched drivers have been tuned to perfection. While not the most remarkable staging I’ve ever heard, it competes at TOTL level with wide and tall imaging that gives a sense of being in the studio with the musicians rather than being in a venue if that makes any sense. Separation of instruments is at the zenith with everything identifiable in detail with terrific resolution across the board. Despite all the detail, listening never gets fatiguing, it’s in fact an energizing listen without any fatigue or pain points.

When discussing the brand Penon, a lot of folks mention the “Penon mids”. Penon tuning in my experience thus far has indeed favored the mids. On each Penon iem I try, the mids are generally the star of the show, except in the case of Quattro, where I think bass and overall DD timbre steals the show. Quattro is a uniquity in the Penon line in many ways. But Voltage does want to present super mids – and it succeeds in spades – the mids are as perfect as I’ve heard them. It’s just that I can’t call them the star of the show here because everything is the star of the show. Want banging DD bass, check. Want clear, thick weighted mids, check. Want unscreechy upper mids, check. Want highly extended treble without sibilance, check. There’s no star of the show, the star is the Voltage itself which is the new, best Penon iem I have heard!!!

TLDR: I’m going to start this review by admitting my bias upfront; after I demoed the new Oriolus Monachaa for a couple of weeks, I decided to and did purchase them, so let’s get that out of the way…yes, I love them!

I was lucky to get a chance to demo the new Oriolus bird, the Monachaa, a 4xDD, thanks to the WaterCooler tour, thanks @Rockwell75 for arranging this! I was pretty excited to get a try at this, even though I hadn’t been blown away by it at CanJam Socal 2023 where I think it was launched (I wonder if that set had been fully burned in-this set needs it). I’ll skip over its unboxing which is covered by others and unremarkable, but does come with a nice small VanNuys case that could hold a couple of iems along with a Van Nuys iem protector.



Monachaa is beautifully crafted with recessed 2-pin connectors and on the medium-large size for iems, but it is very light and I found fit to be excellent for hours on end. The shell is a beautiful deep blue/purple color with gold fleck accents on the faceplate. The nozzles are short and stubby, and tip selection is crucial here. Due to the short nozzles, I decided to try the Coreir brass tips which not only fit well with shorter nozzles, but also give the playback a little extra sonic finish depending on the iem. I also found that this iem would push my limits of upper-end energy, with prominent, sparkly, detailed treble, but the heavy sub bass with milder, but beautiful punchy mid-bass, to still offer extremely airy vocals and treble. I hear a neutral to warm U shape with vocals forward. All without any lean or thin quality to the notes, but fans of heavy mid-bass may not feel there’s enough. I also liked the Render Foams, Divinus Velvets, Eletech Baroques and Penon Liqueur tips, all of which further emphasized bass and smoothed treble.


Of particular note and excitement is the shear scope of the staging – Monachaa’s stage is spherical, wide, tall and holographic, often feeling as though it fully surrounds your head. This is one of the best soundstages from an iem that I’ve heard – exceeded only barely by its brother-from-another-mother, the 3xDD CFA Trifecta, though that’s such a different thing it’s hardly comparable. However, in order to really hear this excellence, Monachaa requires a pretty powerful source (dongle users beware).

The included stock PWA/Oriolus-branded cable was actually great and doesn’t require a change, but since I had a PWA First Times on hand (which was immediately a large sonic upgrade from the stock), I decided to switch that out for most of my listening (until something went wrong with that cable and back to PWA it went for repair). In the meantime, I also found excellent synergy with a drjuggles/Khanyayo copper/graphene cable, while also liking the EA Code 23 and 24 (Code 24c would probably look awesome on Monachaa); all are great at bringing out Monachaa’s incredible deep bass while also smoothing some of the high treble. Tips and cables can do a lot for Monachaa, so it’s best to try what you’ve got to dial in the right sound for you.

Ultimately, my favorite pairing was with the PWA FT, a great cable for Monachaa. It gives Monachaa a nicely balanced U shape with excellent technical quality, elevated sub-bass, clear mildly recessed mids, and extended, sparkly treble with lots of detail, though that detail is across the FR, it’s not limited to the highs; even bass guitar plucks are sharp and identifiable. While not a total resolution monster, it’s not lacking for details, it’s just more musical than analytical; a tuning that is very addictive where positioning of instruments is excellent across the magnificent soundstage. What a great way to get into the Oriolus club! This set really is awesome with pretty much everything in my library (primarily rock across the ages and genres) and particularly nice with vocals, but truly a real all-arounder rather than specialist. I do not usually gravitate to tunings that have such intense treble energy, but this one hits me square between the ears.


The coherence is also stunning as if it were a massive, single DD, not four(!) – it’s really remarkable! What this does is present beautiful timbre, great transient speed with amazing mids and, of course, an incredibly effective, solid DD bass foundation. Maybe not surprisingly, Oriolus knows how to tune DDs to great effect! This tuning I think would be very wide appeal, with just about nothing to complain about unless you’re a big mid-bass lover. This is certainly not basshead, but its bass is no slouch with incredible quality and just the right quantity, and maybe is the star of the show having amazing quality, speed, tightness and timbre, second only to the open and hypnotic mids and upper mids.

Monachaa played beautifully through the warm and powerful Shanling M9 plus and my L&P P6Pro, though the P6Pro needed to be in high gain with volume levels going very high. I recently added an iBasso PB5 Osprey amp to the chain with P6Pro, and this combination is my favorite. But make no mistake, you need to feed Monachaa a lot of power for it to really shine. Through something like my desktop Hifiman EF400, the power and r2r playback are perfect for Monachaa.


The comparison that has really intrigued me is with the Penon Quattro, the other 4xDD on the market that is 1/5th the price at under $400. Well, they are completely different, Quattro being a mid-bass monster where Monachaa is clearly not. Other big differences to my ears: Quattro bass slightly veils the FR leading to a perception of less air especially in darker passages of music, Monachaa bass has better quality if less quantity; Quattro is more bass-focused generally with a darker tuning though it has excellent treble IMHO. Monachaa has a more accessible tuning with excellently crafted bass, leading to a more balanced, all-arounder set. I love both and do happily own both – they are very different but each provides a huge amount of pleasure with my library. Each are addictive (if you like them, obviously) and easy listens for many hours. Quattro is bit more of a pounder and Monachaa a bit more of a thumper. Quattro sounds more like an Xe6 where Monachaa is more like an Rn6. All of this DD goodness is such a gift to us audionuts, we are lucky to have such options from $400 to $2000 (come on!).


Oriolus tuning is legendary – I did try Trailli at CanJam Socal, for all of 2 minutes, but knew immediately why it has touched so many hearts. I was blown away by Trailli in the 2 minutes I listened to it. I cannot now exactly remember that sound, but I wish I could, because I do love the Monachaa tuning as well. Instruments sound so authentic, vocals are strong but not overpowering an otherwise very wide, deep and tall soundstage with holographic effect with good recordings. Listening to dense rock like Pearl Jam reveals what those 2 or 3 different guitars are doing with the bass and drums, all positionally cued exactly where they should be – and I’ve been to enough Pearl Jam shows to know, trust me!

So, in my opinion, this IEM wins based on its spectacular tuning, I guess something which for Oriolus is not that surprising. But here, they’ve done it with 4 DDs, no BAs, ESTs, etc., just DDs. Most single DD lovers know that a DD can do just about everything well, and bass spectacularly. Oriolus did a great job putting these 4 different DD drivers to work – nothing gets sacrificed on the low, mid or high end of the FR with this design. Okay, it’s Oriolus we’re talking about here, so expecting a good tuning from them is, well, expected. And they deliver one here for sure. I think this might possibly be my favorite sub $3000 iem at the moment.