Let's get a couple of things out of the way first. Musicteck is awesome and a joy to do business with. Leo is great and was even more helpful to me on this purchase since he helped design and tune it. Second, a little info on my iem's. I currently own Pentara, Mona Lisa, Trifecta, Mefisto, A12T and N8. I have owned in the past the Empire Ears Triton and Ice Labs Spectrumica. I've been around the block a little.
We'll start with the very limited things that I don't like and neither have anything to do with the sound. The first is the unboxing. When you get to this price range you want to be wowed and with the Pentara it was just ok. You get a nice leather case and the mesh iem covers are cool. That's about it. When competeing with others, especially those that are less expensvie but have put more thought into this aspect, it just needs to be better. The second is the cable. From a sound perspective, it's very good. You can tell the internals are made with excellent materials. The issue is with the ergonomics. It is one of the stiffest and most microphonic cables I've used. With just a t-shirt on, turning your head with the stock cable is going to cause a rumble and be annoying. It's also heavy. Just not good.
With that out of the way, let's get to the good stuff. First, the design is really excellent. I love the contrast of the shiny shell with the darker face plate. The pictures do not do it justice, it looks much better in person. I love the intricacy and detail of the face plate. For housing so many drivers and being a little bigger, they are still very light and comfortable to wear. I've had no problems listening to them for multiple hours straight.
Ok, but how do they sound? In a word, amazing. They are true all-rounders. You can throw any music you want at them and they will give you things you've never heard and never in a boring, just technical way. The other night, I went from Stevie Wonder Songs In The Key Of Life, to Miles Davis Footprints, to a live Grateful Dead show from 1984, to Pink Floyd Animals, to Bob Dylan Another Self Portrait to The Bee Gees greatest hits. All were handled with ease by Pentara. You get a ton of detail but with true musicality. You can pick out specific instruments or just bask in the glow of how everthing sounds put together. The bass will go deep, with excellent speed and impact, with no bloat. This will not exaggerate bass that's not there. It just takes what is there and delivers it effortlessly. The mids are very, very good. Vocals pop against the other instruments, are clear and well defined. The treble gives plenty of detail without going over the top into sibilance and fatigue. The stage is holographic and extends both front and back, with plenty of air. Instruments are nicely seperated but again, it never loses musciality. It just makes you want to listen, listen and listen some more.
After reading Twister 6's great review, I purchased the Eletech Odyssey cable to pair with Pentara. It's been an awesome match. Not night and day sound wise from the stock, although it does tighten up the detail on the bass, bring out the mids a little more, tames back the very top of the treble. These were all improvements. The ergonomics of the Odyssey compared to the stock cable are night and day.
This is one great IEM. Paired with the Odyssey, it will be the end game to the vast majority of people out there. It does cost a lot of money but there is excellent return on investment. This checks all of the boxes and I couldn't recommend it more. Kudos to Leo for helping to make such and incredible IEM.
