[Redcarmoose]

What?
This is a casual hangout for those interested in Penon and ISN plugs, cable adapters and cables. As such hopefully it won’t cause any confusion or take away from the regular Penon/ISN threads. This is a place to communicate freely about your personal experiences with Penon and ISN products. I will update this thread often and start with a newer cables, and kind of work my way back in history. Meaning there will be posts about the latest additions to the Penon and ISN line of products, as well as links to purchase. Probably the most interesting stuff will be written about new comparisons and combinations of gear. This is a work in progress, and something that is really based around fun and knowledge.

As it turns out the last few months have been quite the party for the folks at Penon/ISN. As such not only did they recently invent the Penon ASOS cable, they instantly released a modified version with a slightly different sound called the ASOS+.

Traveling to a different part of town ISN just released the ISN CS02 cable. Just a short time ago Penon also released the Renata cable. As such these two cables share a few personality traits together, and can be comparable in some ways. Basically if the ISN CS02 works to deliver the special sauce in your DAP/IEM playback, the Renata will step in and take close to the same ideas to another level. Part of all this too is understanding the ergonomics involved........as the CS02 probably would work being used out and about connected to a micro DAP and IEM. The Renata maybe you would think twice to add it to your Micro DAP and IEM for out of the house? Still you definitely could, and experience some of the very best sound while out and about.

As this thread progresses I will add both new releases and work my way back to kind of reintroduce past cables and plugs.

What are plugs?
The latest thing is adding the OFC copper plug to get a new tone from your ISN or Penon modular cable system. There is a Rhodium plated plug to add and a Purple Copper Palladium plated plug.

Something new:
A newly introduced cable utilizes this new Oxygen Free Solid Copper plug into a permanent (non-modular) fashion to enhance the tone. Coming out this week, this is called the ISN T-OCC cable. As such this is a new Triple Copper Hybrid Audiophile Cable. Price to be disclosed.....

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/isn-t-occ-triple-copper-hybrid-audiophile-iem-cable.27177/

There are also cable adapters:
These things add a different (adapter) plug onto your cable or can be simply a piece of wire which to use to lengthen your cable.......adding the extra sonic properties of the added metals involved.

Some examples would be the Totem Adapter, and the OS133 Adapter.

With the above said, the mission of this thread is to both learn and have fun. The most learning recently has been from questions (from other members) written to me about joining gear. Yep, I would be asked to combine a cable with a DAP and IEM that I would never think of trying out. As such new synergies and discoveries take place. Many times this happens after the cable or IEM review, showing this process never ends. That, and of course the new IEMs matched with older cables, and older IEMs matched with newer cables......you see this process never slows down. This introduction was way too long here......but at least you get an idea of where this thread is headed. Also remember I’m only one guy with only one set of ears, as such this thread is an invitation for more experiments and more silliness to take place. The most important thing is to share your experiences so that others can learn and take note of possible future purchase options going the right direction!

Cheers!

 

[Redcarmoose]

The Penon Obsidian modular cable with the Noble Audio K-10 Encore Universal

The Penon Vortex with the Penon Obsidian modular cable

The Penon OSG with the IMR BC 2023

The Penon OSG with the Penon ORB

The HiBy R3 II with the ISN CS02 and Penon 10th Anniversary Edition

The Penon OSG with the Penon Dome and Sony WM1A

The Penon modular ASOS with Penon Volt

The Renata modular cable

The TSMR Sands with the Renata modular cable

The Renata modular cable with the Neo 3 and Sony WM1A

The Penon ASOS+ cable with the Penon 10th Anniversary Edition and Sony WM1A

 

[Dsnuts]

This is an excellent idea for a thread since Penon has been making so many cables. Will have to contribute. Just got the ISN T-OCC will post an impression of them soon.

 

[Redcarmoose]

This is an excellent idea for a thread since Penon has been making so many cables. Will have to contribute. Just got the ISN T-OCC will post an impression of them soon.

How exciting, I should get it tomorrow, hopefully? What is amazing is the OFC 2Pins and the OFC plug in 4.4mm or 3.5mm, however you order it. Not sure how many manufacturers are making stuff like this now?

Yes, on a side note, I wasn’t sure if this thread was a good idea, yet I just thought maybe.......I’ll take a chance, as yes (whew) what a lot of new cables coming out from Penon/ISN.

 

[Dsnuts]

I highlight a lot of Penons cables on the low end and midfi cable threads but as much as Penon makes cables it is a good idea to have one thread dedicated to their products. I am testing out the T-OCC. It is yet another stroke of genius on Penons end. I am not sure of the pricing they will have on these but I would put the sound quality of the cable firmly within the ASOS and Renata. OFC copper plugs and connectors makes a difference and copper- slver alloy seems to give a certain level of resolve for copper properites Penon seems to be hooked on using this material. Will post an impression soon on them.

 

[Redcarmoose]

New!

$119.00
https://penonaudio.com/ISN-Audio-T-OCC


https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/isn-t-occ-triple-copper-hybrid-audiophile-iem-cable.27177/

ISN Audio T-OCC 2 Shares Triple Copper Hybrid 2Pin Audiophile IEM Earphone Cable

Specification
Brand：ISN AUDIO
Model: T-OCC
3 kinds of copper combination, 3 kinds of diameters
2 shares, 181 cores per share
Outer diameter is 2.5mm, 18AWG wire
98 cores 0.08 frozen single crystal copper
48 cores 0.06 Quenched single crystal copper
35 cores 0.05 Copper-silver alloy
OFC 2-pin 0.78mm connector
3.5mm audio/4.4mm balanced OFC plug
Aluminum CNC alloy cutting integrated slide
The solder joints is silver–contained tin
Secondary oxidation gold foil gold ring
Cable length: 1.2M

 

[Redcarmoose]

https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/is...diophile-iem-cable.27177/reviews#review-33791
ISN T-OCC cable review.

 

[Redcarmoose]

https://penonaudio.com/penon-os849.html $99.90
https://penonaudio.com/penon-gs849.html $99.90
https://penonaudio.com/penon-gd849.html $99.90
https://penonaudio.com/Penon-OCC849.html $99.90

Penon OCC849 Single Crystal Copper HiFi Audiophile IEMs Cable
Type-4 Litz configuration

Description
6n single crystal copper silver-plated cable
8 strands, single strand is 49 cores, a total of 8 × 49.
The plug contains 68% copper
The solder joints is silver – contained tin
Carbon fiber metal splitter and CNC integrated slider
Cable length: 1.2M

The OS849, GS849, GD849 and new one the Penon OCC849. Where in early 2018 the first of the series the OS849 cable was released. As such it was 68% Crystal Copper and a 32% silver core. Versatile and thick, really there was nothing like it at the time that came with an IEM. 6N purity with 8% silver in the copper wire plating. 49 stands and 8X49 stands in total so that’s how they got the name. The original OS849 cable costs $99.90 and provides a grand service and noticeably different from this new OCC849 cable. Where the original OS849 becomes more airy into how it deals with sonics, not being weighted down by the 63% copper plug of this new OCC849. I mean really there is a use for both, have a darker IEM that you want to gain stage expansion really both the OCC849 and the original OS849 do that. The difference is the OCC849 is more heavy gaining lower midrange details and added heft. Still there is nothing at all wrong with what the original does. In fact it was amazing just how well rounded of a cable the original was, never coloring the sound, but moving forward to add definition and stage over most included cables. Later in my review I will go over more details about how these two cables are different. Yet there is a good feeling finding a cable Penon released in early 2018 that still performs grand arranging the details and stage to make any modern day IEM shine. Really it is almost like pure silver in how it adds energy, yet balanced to the fact that it is a copper/silver plated cable really in the end. That simply means we don’t have to worry about the OS849 ever getting too hot or bringing too much energy to out listening.


The GS849 and GD849:
These came after the OS849 and while still the build of the original OS849 brought new flavors of density due to the metallurgy make-up. The GS849 is a hybrid cable while still versatile it contains 18K Gold which adds density and thickness in comparison to the original OS849.

I used the Penon Volt today for testing as the volt is incredibly balanced, not too dark or too bright anyway. Yet it is revealing enough to easily show the character of each cable and how they are different. Now the best part about today was that there were never any fires to put out, or dullness to try and add clarity too. As such it was simply different flavors of good. Now that will not always be the case with other IEMs, but at least today it the Volt was always correct and even sounding, yet there was a specific character from each cable which in the end shined through!

In fact yesterday it was a little daunting to think I would compare all four cables and need to note how they performed, when in reality this write-up ended one of the easiest things to do. Like almost changing the EQ on your stereo and reporting in how each setting sounded.

The GS849 is still 18K gold plated OCC copper and the other half is silver plated OCC copper making 8 cores of 49 stands each thus 849. So it is simple in playback……..here we are offered a denser playback and owning slightly more weight than the original OS849, yet not the total warmth and copper sound of (maybe) the plug……….but whatever is doing it, the OCC849 is just a tad warmer despite the GS849 added note weight and density. Where to really get into this mess, the GS849 has a new and different midrange. A kind of beautiful imaged midrange, which showed a more vibrant color than the original OS849, yet still more airy and flying slightly higher, as not as grounded as the OCC849. Yet this may be my favorite cable of the bunch. I know you were thinking I was going to say this new OCC849 was best, and it may be with other IEMs…….but today with the Volt this takes the cake. And they really are all very different.

The GD849:
More 18K Gold! Coming out in September of 2020 it was a few years later than the original OS849. Here we are witnessing a cable with weight and authority, kind-of still vivid, but less on the vivid scale. Like the ISN GC4 there are very specific reasons you may want to included this cable, or if the ESTs in the Penon Volt are too hot for you……..which would make you a different outsider, but it could maybe happen…….then you may want to use the GD849 with the Volt. Because remember the Volt is so well rounded that none of the outcomes today were bad, just that each held a new and different tone slightly which could maybe go in order?


Volt uses:

1. GS849
2. OS849 tied to 3. OCC849

And finally last the GD849

Your results may very depending on IEM in use, DAP, ear-tips and personal preference.

Cheers!

The Penon OCC849:

The OS849:

The GS849:

And finally the GD849 with all of its bling:

Thank-you for reading!