Review on Soundmagic PL50

Agonylover

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After I had my denon c452 up the lorry I decided to pick up the c551 or c560 but just then someone recommended me the Soundmagic PL50. And here are some reviews about it, please do take note that I am still an armature in hi-fi thing; still student so cannot afford higher level equipments yet. The PL50 has only been burn in for less then 50 hours.

Rig used:
Mp3 - Samsung Yp-Q2
Amp - Govibe Martini

Song Played:
GIRL NEXT DOOR - 幸福の条件
AZU - YOU & I feat. LOVE LOVE LOVE
Giulio Caccini - Ave Maria
Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Pachelbel - Canon

BUILD:
I think the PL50 does have a unique build. It does not affect the comfort level of the listener. The phone itself is light and when you put it on, u almost feel nothing other then the wire around your neck area. The phone is made of plastic shell, but it is not like it look cheap at all.

The package comes with a small pouch and a total of 7 sets of tips, 4 rubber ones and 3 that spongy material. And a pair of the "rubber-ear-thing" to "guide" the wires and also prevent accidental tugging of wires.

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It really does look like a cosmetic box...

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Other then the label in chinese, pretty much this pouch is cool.

"L" shaped 3.5mm jack.
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SOUND QUALITY:
As I have listed above, I used 2 jap pop songs and 3 classical as an example.
GIRL NEXT DOOR - 幸福の条件
The vocal of that band has slightly high pitch in her singing. The PL50 makes it as if she was singing inside my head. The High of the PL50 was really good (IMO), slight changes in pitch was express very colorfully. PL50 does brings out "life" in the high pitch area, very clear.

AZU - YOU & I feat. LOVE LOVE LOVE
AZU has a lower tone in her singing. Well, i will talk about the mids and a bit about the bass here. The mid tone may not be one of the very selling point for this phone. Although the tremble was pretty good but it could be better. But the weird thing is that you could still hear the details in the mids very well, the sad thing is that the depth only shown itself a little.

The bass was very well controlled, compared to denon c560 n c452, after quite sometime of listening to bass you will somehow feel tired, but not for this chick. It has bass, but not the best still you feel it clearly.

Giulio Caccini - Ave Maria
This one was an Classical Opera Song. I would really stress on this one. If anyone had listen to this with a good amp and an mp3 player along with PL50, most likely you will feel "touch". The vocal not only stands out above any other instrument but it also go along with it in harmony. The PL50 does display very rich emotion in this piece. The Viola heard from here was really good, it was well controlled not like the aftersound will run wild.

Rachmaninov - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor, Op. 18
Well its piano + Orchestra. Good try for this using the PL50 but the key notes were quite dead, I am not sure if it was my file that has the problem though...but I have listened to other piano pieces but still the PL50 does not really brings out the full potential in the piano. But still it did better then most other earphone/headphone for its price.

Pachelbel - Canon (Violin)
Last but not least the famous Canon. I think I should say "Damn, the violin was really good!" But for this piece I think the deep bass has to go along as well but in this case, the PL50 has too good of a violin that it overshadowed the lower tone. However it displayed the piece of music in an very interesting manner.


CONCLUSION:
The PL50 has its selling point in the Higher pitch, the bass was decent but could do better, however it was well controlled. The mids was at the average level but the tremble was decent. For a less-than-S$90 IEM this one was really good. I pad myself on my shoulder, good job well done for buying this. Recommended!

Vocal: 9/10
Bass: 6/10
Responds: 8/10
Mids: 6/10
High: 9/10
Low: 7.5/10

Personal Rating: 7.5/10
 
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Agonylover

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thx. This is my 1st time doing a review. Since the burn in time is less then 50 Hours, I will do updates once its properly burn in.
(P/S: The pics are taken just now only and there is no day light so the image is kind of high contrast.)
 
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Agonylover

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u bet!! Now still burning in though. Can feel the slight change in audio liao.
 

lengbebe

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can u try and let us know how it sounds without the amp? cuz my experience with go vibe is simply horrible.

it just artificially enhances the highs and causes more hiss :(

i have pl50 as well but i used it less than 3 times lol, its just sitting on table collecting dust :p
 

Agonylover

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well to tell you the truth, without an amp, the vocal still excell very well and the rest was about there only lesser color/flavour. But since u also have the PL50, I am sure u know better then me. I only bought this today. -.-"
 
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erwinrommel

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Is PL50 a balanced armature based, or a dynamic?

If BA, I don't think any burn in is required.
 

SiaoKau369

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Is PL50 a balanced armature based, or a dynamic?

If BA, I don't think any burn in is required.

It's a BA driver. But it does enhance by burning in as I have a friend who comment tat after 1 week his PL-50 sounds much better.
 

nazirox

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It's a BA driver. But it does enhance by burning in as I have a friend who comment tat after 1 week his PL-50 sounds much better.

haha most probably because you "expect" the sound to be better so you look for changes that are not there. BA drivers don't require burn-in and i think my PL50 sounds as good as it was when it first came out. Clarity is number 1, tight bass, and i got it for like 30 bucks. sweet deal or what. haha!
 

SiaoKau369

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haha most probably because you "expect" the sound to be better so you look for changes that are not there. BA drivers don't require burn-in and i think my PL50 sounds as good as it was when it first came out. Clarity is number 1, tight bass, and i got it for like 30 bucks. sweet deal or what. haha!

30 bucks chiu sure? 30 bucks at most can hoot PL-30 nia!
 

Agonylover

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2nd hand de?

Well regarding the "expectation" of burning in, i think the dynamic driver burns better and have more obvious effect. Still lah, let the phone speak for itself, i can only say so far so good, got sign of slight changes.
 

nazirox

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hahaha ya 2nd hand but like new. u go find audiophiles who buy to test out, but they alr got so many high end headphones, you ask them want let go PL50 anot. shiok shiok cheap :)
 

lengbebe

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hahaha ya 2nd hand but like new. u go find audiophiles who buy to test out, but they alr got so many high end headphones, you ask them want let go PL50 anot. shiok shiok cheap :)

ya haha can ask me also. i buy le but never really use
 

nazirox

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hahaha there you go! one more person giving good bargain! :) thumbs up!
 
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