THE PLUS:
-cohesive, musical and balanced 10 drivers tuning
-smooth lush U shape tonality that is both laid back and holographic
-good technical performance
-great layering of bass, mids and treble
-weighty bass with vibrant rumble
-good note weight
-smooth yet forwards vocal (non thin nor shouty)
-generous amount of micro details
-fast crunchy treble that is balanced but don’t get lost in the mix
-jack of all trades tonality
-excellent modular cable
-more than decent sound value
THE MINUS:
-lack of brilliance and sparkle on top
-lack of limpid air around instrument
-rather intimate and centered soundstage
-a bit too much BA euphony going on
-not the cleanest nor most transparent sub-500$ IEM
-8BA seem detrimental here, it stole too much air
-piezo is a bit shy in snap authority and don’t release sparkle
-though competitively priced, the EM10 stole the show in term of musical sound value
TONALITY: 8.5/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.8/10
TIMBRE: 8.2/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8/10
IMAGING: 8.2/10
MUSICALITY (subjective): 8.2/10
CONSTRUCTION: 7.5/10
ACCESSORIES: 7.5/10
SOUND VALUE: 8.5/10
INTRO
Simgot is an IEM company from China with nearly 10 years of experience behind their sleeve. They begin by launching hybrid IEM that get noticed and praised here on head fi, yet their real success begins with single dynamic driver IEM Simgot EA500, then EW200 and then EA1000. All those IEM deliver incredible technical performance within (and above) their price range, yet can be perceived as a bit redundant in terms of bright and highly resolved musicality inspired by Harman 2019 target.
But this was last year, and in 2024 Simgot decide to expend their IEM catalog offering with tribrid SuperMix i review very highly positively here and now they continue this ‘’more than hybrid’’ journey by launching their very first flagship IEM, a 10 drivers tribrid call EM10.
Priced 460$, the EM10 is a 1 dynamic driver+8 balanced armature+1 wide piezo driver with 4 way crossover tribrid. It’s the priciest IEM ever from Simgot, the second one being the EA2000 which I reviewed some years ago.
The EM10 was tuned to offer ‘’a clean, precise response with accurate natural tone and outstanding details.’’.
More their drivers, the harder it is to achieve a cohesive musicality as well as timbre mix, so Simgot has been courageous to create an IEM like this using tubing for RC crossover tuning. But will it succeed to deliver both pleasant musicality and impressive technical performance at its upper mid-tier price?
Let see what I think of the promising EM10 in this review.
CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES
The construction of EM10 feel good in hands and look good in their eyes, yet it’s made of thick resin plastic that can be considered underwhelming by some, and it have an aluminum back plate that is very similar to KZ Zex Pro, which some chifi connoisseur like me find quite surprising from an IEM company i consider master of metal housing craftsmanship and praise for their EA500 and EA1000 impressive design and construction.
Simply put, the EM10 doesn’t scream ‘’i worth 500$’’ in terms of construction quality, while it doesn’t look plain cheap, this back plate is at risk of affecting long term durability and if it’s holded with hot glue, it might fall out one day. It’s an IEM i would be afraid to drop on hard floor unlike sturdier all high grade resin plastic shell that feel molded in one piece.
The shell is on the big chunky side, it has a long but big nozzle with 3 holes that are connected to drivers inside with a tube. There is no proper lip on the nozzle to hold a wide variety of ear tips, as well the included one isn’t very appropriate and I use short wide bore ear tips with EM10 for better results.
The 2pin connector isn’t embedded nor protubering, so most 2 pin connectors will fit.
The included cable is excellent. It’s a 2 cores litz braided silver plated copper modular cable that is soft and flexible, light enough and looks very good with its gold decorative braiding. I was anxious this cable would not do justice to EM10 performance, yet I now use it with multiple IEMs I own. It includes 3.5mm single ended and 4.4mm balanced plugs. It would be appreciated to include a 2.5mm balanced plug too so all types of source connector would be covered for supreme versatility.
The packaging is grand and glorious with the EM10, it screens more its flagship identity than the IEM itself. It’s a bit…oversized and unneeded I feel, but perhaps I’m an exception when it comes to not caring of packaging presentation unless it’s utilitarian in approach.
Inside we have this excellent cable, a basic and a bit small carrying case and strangely…we have 2x 3 pairs of very same eartips model, which is quite counter intuitive since as said, while not bad, those eartips doesn’t open up spatiality fully nor do justice to sound layering, imaging, bass separation etc.
So, apart from the glorious packaging look and excellent cable quality, the rest of construction and accessories are on the average side.
SOUND IMPRESSIONS
(source used: Questyle QP2R, Tempotec V6, Aune Yuki and Fiio KA17. Stock cable. non included short wide bore ear tips)
If it wasn’t for potent sub bass boost, the EM10 could be perceived as smooth neutral, with great focus on bass and mid range without sacrificing any sense of clarity and macro dynamic articulation.
So I consider those warm balanced W shapes with plenty of bass slam and rumble, yet with mellow mid bass intensity and great sub bass vibrancy and grunt.
These sound both technical and musical, laid back, with an intimate holographic atmosphere that make the listener focus on both instrument fullness and presence, these aren’t ultra crisp nor analytical.
Even if bassy, it’s not basshead approved to me due to the relaxed kick drum impact that doesn’t hit with excited energy.
Why do I perceive the EM10 as a W shape? It’s because of 3 points of dynamism intensity that pop up in macro perception of musicality. Those are the sub to mid bass bumpy boost, which doesn’t scoop lower mids too much since then mids are fully bumped to, non spiky or shouty way with loud enough pina gain, then it’s another treble boost in upper region that add crunch, snap, a notch of sparkle and air to overall. But this isn’t a spiky W shape, nor one with incredible sparkle, air and brilliance, EM10 sounds open but envelops the listener in intimate soundstaging.
The bass is focused in the sub bass region and can fully extract bass lines and deliver the well needed grunt and vibrancy for electric bass or rumbly slam. It’s a dense and weighty bass, though not too oversized, floppy or meaty to the point of going opaque. It’s not a boomy bass too, and for basshead this could be enough if you don’t seek radical cataclysmic rumble and slam.
Unlike some too U shape tuned IEM, while the sub bass dominate lower end mix, it does feed the mid bass punch too, warmed in sustain way, with creamed presence envelope that will darken acoustic drum, but make toms sound sweeter and fuller in resonance release too, as well, digital kick tend to have lower bass juice and go rounder, more tactile and fleshy, which do very well for pop, R&B, rap, electronic. In fact, this is utterly versatile bass response that even do good for double bass in jazz trio or quartet since the resonance isn’t too loose and excited, making tone colorful and natural as well as full of concentrated air in it’s release that had physical presence in macro layering, making it easy to follow bass line even if not extremely boosted in texturing nor extremely clean or transparent in backward release.
I was amaze by rumble and sub bass presence and dynamic in a very varied music catalog, from IDM and Drum & Bass with sudden sub bass boom to rock with grunty electric bass line, to R&B with punchy bubbly impactful mid bass, we can say the EM10 bass is ‘’Jack of all trades, master of controlled rumble’’.
The mids are upfront with mellow energy, it’s not too lean nor too aggressive yet has extra presence bite added from piezo or planar that make upper mids instrument like violin sound very agile, abrasive in attack lead yet full in tone and easy to track in soundscape even when it’s a polyphonic orchestra.
EM10 mids is all about temperance, we have notch of warmth to properly nourish harmonic fundamental frequency, we have good pina gain that isn’t to drastic or sharp so instrument sound lively without feeling forced at listener or dominating too much lower mids instrument like piano in a classical or jazz quartet.
The piano has mellow note weight, it doesn’t feel papery or too light but it’s not hard tapping nor very clean in attack release, here we have this peculiar balanced armature euphony going on, surely due to damping filtering which warm timbre and soften texture grain, affecting a bit limpidity of transparency, which is amplify in density with the use of 8 balanced armature.
Personally, I don’t think using 8BA is a big advantage here, 4 would be plenty enough especially if higher quality like Sonion or Knowles. Even though it was hard to explain, it was evident to my ears that the EM10 BA aren’t end game and in fact affect crispness and air around the instrument which is quite minimal here. Yet, this avoids having thin mids too, or flat one dimension macro staging.
Because this mid range is filled with rich sound layers that can cohabit together and keep their individuality within an overall lush and well rounded macro resolution.
How is female vocal then? Gently bright and forwards, with creamed edge and good density, not wide presence nor the most enveloping or natural, not plain warm or dark, less so than the little brother SuperMix4 for ex, which has darker mids but wider and lusher female vocal. I love the female vocal and find the tone and texture well rounded, their no sibilance nor intense loudness going on with soprano singer, when it need to be breathy it can achieve it without going raspy, it’s not pure lushness though, their a hint of BA timbre brightening dryness, this permit good articulation of words but had a bit too much salt to buttery perfection i’m personally seeking for. Male vocalists like Johnny Cash or Kurt Eilling are bodied but a notch thinner and it confirms we don’t have an intense warming of mids from the bass part, again, it avoids to go sibilant but does have a brighter edge to it than piano, cello or saxophone.
The treble is the part I have too much expectation I think, with all those drivers and especially the mix of piezo drivers i was expecting very vivid, crisp, airy and sparkly highs which isn’t the case here, it’s mostly lean with extra piezo crunch and snap but not alot of natural ‘’metallic brilliance and shimmer, nor long clean captivating attack release for instrument like acoustic guitar, harp and clavichord, it will be more about bite energy, and fullness of presence.
So, while the EM10 is effortless in layering sound info, it isn’t,an analytical nor a treble head IEM, don’t expect EST (electrostatics) highs performance from piezo since it’s rougher and crunchier in attack sustain and less airy and sparkly in release, it’s thicker too, so those finding percussions too thin or ‘’glossy’’ with ESTs mind prefer piezo which has a timbre that fit well the planar and BAs, making a cohesive macro timbre and tone delivery, something very hard to achieve with 10 drivers and worthy of an applause in it’s own right.
We have a well felt accent attack with the violin, this permits fast complex playing from prodigy like Hilary Hann to be precise and agile, without going screamy or metallic too, the violin sounds excellent and might be my fav instrument rendering with the EM10.
Electric guitar sounds marvelous, more so than acoustic guitar, this piezo extract the distortion density and grunt and make it sound full yet not too aggressive too so we don’t encounter fatigue, this means rock does sound good, both electric bass and guitar being properly highlight and full in rendering.
The acoustic guitar doesn’t sound bad, we have plenty of attack lead and a vibrant sustain that rounded the presence, but for classical guitar purists, they will need more upper treble air and extension, fuller and longer sparkle release.
I can say the same for clavichord, which is logical since it’s a pull metal string instrument too, so it sounds full and weighty. I love that, then I seek for the brilliance and resonance release and I’m left on my hunger.
All in all, this is a safe but full sounding treble that doesn’t feel overly dark, nor overly spiky, yet it could do with more refinement and clean clarity, it feels a bit foggy out there.
The Soundstage isn’t an highlight of the EM10, sure you can use short wide bore eartips to widen and make it more tall and open, it would be about average in that regard but still lack sense of clean depth, which is a bit minimal here due to busy center stage with numerous sound layering rather close to each other. We have a concentrated stereo-like experience with extra ‘’third speakers’’ that feel larger in the middle, yet closer to you than side speakers. Again: not a lot of air around and beyond instruments.
Then, thanks to all these drivers, the imaging is above decent, though not exceptional and one could expect sharper instrument separation with wide space between them. I would not use the EM10 for monitoring but to confirm if a mix sound well balanced it could have its purpose.
SIDE NOTES
These are a bit strange IEM in term of impedance since it’s 41.6 ohm, it mean they benefit good amping push yet all those drivers don’t like crazy impedance gain sso keep it under 2 ohm otherwise euphony, warmth and distortion could happen and negatively affect clarity and dynamic balance. Aune Yuki is a good match, Fiio KA17 too, both under 2 ohm, then Xduoo X20 pairing was too lean and cold, i think it’s either too low impedance or vrms, so 4vrms is my suggestion.
Due to the fact EM10 just include one model of wide bore eartips, I urge consumers to test third party ear tips, especially short wide bore, wide bore than stock eartips to avoid muddy rendering that get resonance warmth from eartips nozzle, this tend to make signature warmer and even more intimate and compressed in spatiality.
When it comes to cable, the stock modular one is good enough. It’s the right balance between warm and bright rendering. In fact I prefer it over Simgot LC7 for this very IEM, but LC7 improves transparency and makes treble sharper too, mids become thinner and less well rounded though. Penon Renata widen soundstage and improve transparency while keeping mids full but it’s perhaps too pricey for such mid tier IEM.
COMPARISONS
VS PENON 10th (2DD+2BA+2EST-500$)
The 10th has a more vivid W shape signature with different points of impact, it’s more hard punchy in mid bass, thinner in sub bass, brighter in mids and crisper sparklier in upper treble pass 10khz.
The soundstage is way way bigger and more holographic, there is more air around the instrument and resolution is sharper too. Bass feels more speedy and thumpy with better bass line presence separation though not as dense and rumbly, the slam is more concentrated, less wide than more mellow and warmed mid bass attack of EM10, bass is more textured with 10th too. Highs and percussions have more space to be properly perceived, they have more brilliance and cleaner snap too, less euphony that can make macro fog. Mids are brighter and more prompt to slight harshness at high volume, EM10 is leaner overall in both mids and treble sections.
Imaging is sharper with 10th, but mid range isn’t as fully restitute, yet separation of instruments and layer is cleaner and sharper, making tracking easier even in busy track.
All in all, technical performance goes to 10th, while for musical balance its more energetic and W shape and quite different, I think mid centric people will prefer EM10, then those seeking more energetic dynamic and clearer sparkly way more open and cinematic musicality will be in heaven with 10th.
VS KINERA URD (2DD-1BA-2EST-650$)
Urd is more U shape, leaner in overall dynamic, and well … .1BA can do so much yet 2 DD can’t in this case since it makes bass more muddy and veiled with unwanted resonance.
Both sub bass and mid bass are thinner and less well rounded and densify and weighty in attack than EM10, which has more elastic attack with deeper thicker rumble, bass lines are fully extracted compared to dark thin bass line of Urd.
Mids are more recessed, thinner, sharper in upper mids and notably more hazy and dark, as well as flat and unidimensional, single BA limitation is evident and timbre is more plasticky with Urd too. Mids are a notch more open yet have less note weight and proper lower mids density which make it quite niche, it seems tuned for female vocal only, you can’t enjoy piano with those unlike EM10.
Then the treble is darker with just a slight notch of extra snap and brilliance that EM10 don’t have yet EM10 dig out way more sound info and offer fuller treble response with more attack crunch and snap energy, it’s about as airy too, EST of Urd extra piece of percussion sharpness but dont deliver fully rounded and detailed percussions as EM10. Urd has a notch more air on top.
Soundstage is wider, taller and deeper with Urd.
Imaging is way superior with EM10 even if not forced we can track more instruments in mid range and greater variety of percussion even if ultra highs cymbals don’t get as much stereo spacing.
All in all, their zero doubt EM10 is both superior in technical performance and tonal balance, and resolution, everything but soundstage in fact.
CONCLUSION
The Simgot EM10 is a statement of tuning talent by Simgot, they achieve a natural coherency with 10 drivers of 3 different types and for this very reason: it is worth an applause.
I’ve always admired this company for their audio engineering talent, and the fact they achieve a warmer and smoother musicality than their single DD offering is even more exciting in terms of audio company potential.
Chifi has changed, experience pays off.
Yet, going all musicality did affect a bit of technical potential of such a tribrid beast, it uses 8 BAs for a reason i’m not sure to understand, while it does improve macro layering articulation you don’t get the readability and crispness benefit.
But I could say this for way more expensive IEMs too, and in that regard, the EM10 does offer higher sound value than a lot of above 500$ IEMs i’ve heard.
If Simgot used Knowles or sonion BAs for the EM10, it would have become a 1K$ contender. This is how intense is Simgot’s potential.
Very Recommended for those that don’t wanna go ultra low sound benefit return (like with the 64audio U4S, which EM10 beat easily).
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PS: I want to thanks Simgot for sending me this review sample as a continuation of their whole serie of IEMs testing. I’m not affiliated nor gain any $ writing this review. As always (and forever) those are my unbiased subjective sound impressions and audio product quality opinion.
You can order the Simgot EM10 for 440$ here (non affiliated link):https://www.linsoul.com/products/simgot-em10
No Borders Audiophile 