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MEE Audio Pinnacle P2

Posted on 26 July 202023 November 2020

At-a-glance

PROsCONs
Clean, agile overall presentationUnmusical. Lack of personality. Gets better with some EQing.
Detail retrievalSome coarse grain in the trebles
Instrument separationOccasional light sibilance
ComfortCable
Ridiculous street price


Full Device Card

Test setup

Hiby R5 – Single Ended port. Single flange silicone stock tips. Lossless 16/44.1 – 24/96 – 24/192 FLAC tracks.

Signature analysis

TonalityOpen-V shape, with more emphasis on the trebles than the bass, while still not being a bright IEM at all. Clean, precise almost to the point of being analythical, not very musical at all… in short: it all lacks personality.
Sub-BassVery well extended, lean, fast (for a DD). Emphasized but not too much and for my taste not enough, and that’s it sole real con on my score. Should it raise another 3-4dB while keeping the same speed I could call it a masterpiece.
Mid BassLess elevated then sub-bass, fast too, moderately punchy, not boomy, rather lean instead, not ever bleeding on the mids. Well done (to my taste)
MidsModerately recessed. Definitely on the bright side, but without exhageration.
Male VocalsDry & lean (as in scarcely bodied). Amongst the least remarkable part of the product
Female VocalsMuch better than Males. Present, not lushy but not lean either, precise, detailed. Unfortunately some sibilance sometimes comes up.
HighsVery well extended and not harsh. Clear, airy, very detailed. Sometimes grainier than it should be, and that’s not good but it’s just about its sole serious downside.

Technicalities

SoundstageNot a monster here, yet not bad at all. Width is good, depth is at best average.
ImagingSome odd choices (positions) come up at times, but that’s infrequent. Positioning is anyhow stable once set
DetailsVery, very nice detail retrieval on the highs ! Definitely above average, probably even “good” details on the sub-bass too. A solid highlight on this model.
Instrument separationAnother P2 forte: instruments are well separated and the entire presentation is highly resolving. A really nice job has been done here.
DriveabilityEasy to power, and not overly sensitive too. No worries even with a smartphone.

Physicals

BuildABS, glossy black finish. Sturdyness is quite convincing.
FitHousings are cleverly accurately shaped to be freely L-R swappable (inverting cable connections) according to the user preferring cable-down or cable-over-ear wear.
Housings are not big at all and their position within the concha is not univoque at all. With my ears, and using stock tips, it took quite a while to find the exact angle to obtain an appropriate and secure seal – yet, once done, the fit is quite stable.
ComfortSuperb. Housing size, shape, smooth surface and weight are just great. Wearing them for hours provokes no nuisance.
IsolationAbove average. The housings don’t seal the concha perfectly, “some” in-bound leak does happen, but absolute noise reduction is anyhow quite significant.
CableNothing bad to highlight as for sound quality, but the TPE sheat is just infuriating: in spite of a nice to touch silky finish, it is too elastic (tends to sling back from my wanted position), and un-slidy.

Specifications (declared)

HousingABS, glossy black finish
Driver(s)10 mm moving coil (dynamic) with copper-clad aluminum voice coil
ConnectorMMCX
CableReinforced TPE jacket over oxygen-free copper (OFC) conductors, single ended, 3.5mm plug, with in-line MIC and remote
Sensitivity100±3 dB (1mW at 1KHZ)
Impedance16 Ohms at 1K
Frequency Range17 Hz to 20 kHz
Rated Power–
Package / accessoriesAudio cable with headset, shirt clip, silicone eartips (3 single-flange pairs, 2 dual-flange pairs, 1 triple-flange pair), Comply foam eartips (1 pair), carrying case, user manual
MSRP at this post time$99,99 on manufacturer’s site. Often on sale below $30,00 on Drop or other sites.

Subjective opinion and considerations

As I tried to convey on the Device Card, Pinnacle P2 is not a bad IEM at all. What is smells like, though, is of an “ordered homework carried out by a well educated schoolboy”: most of it is exact, some mistakes are there but no big deal, yet… how boring.

What can be done is to add some spice and personality. A super-simple EQ scheme like the following already changes the situation from night to day:

Lowshelf 80Hz  2.0dB Q:0.64
Lowshelf 150Hz 4.5dB Q:1.10

This essentially elevates the sub-bass significantly leaving all the rest untouched. Such elevation does not deplete P2’s sub-bass goods (speed most of all) and – especially on some genres like rock or edm – radically changes the overall impact I get from the device. Yes trebles will still have some grainess too much but the entire impact is now much more emotional.

Lastly – yet far from unimportantly – P2’s MSRP is by and large wrong. The market around $100 is populated by quite other big calibres against which nice&polite P2 does not stand a chance, really. But the $30-ish special deal price frequently re-appearing on the market is a total game changer: in the sub-$30 bracket P2 becomes a very significant player.

Comparisons

Pinnacle P2final E2000TIN T4
Driver(s)Single Dynamic DriverSingle Dynamic DriverSingle Dynamic Driver
TonalityOpen-V shape, with a clair & bright taintOpen W-shape, personal quite musical timbre lacking 1% of spice to be more engagingSlightly bright neutral, engaging dynamics
BassExtended, lean, fast sub-bass, lacking some critical elevation. Mildly elevated, fast, moderately punchy, rather lean, above average midbass.Rolled off, but fast and clean subbass. Lightly elevated, tight and softly punchy – somewhat too timid – midbassModestly elevated mid and sub. Fast, clean.
MidsModerately recessed. Bright-ish. Too lean male, better (precise,detailed) female vocalsFull, rounded. Sound more prominent due to unexhalted bass. Good vocalsClear, natural sounding and flat.
HighsWell extended and not harsh. Clear, airy, detailed. Sometimes too grainyAverage extension, modestly airy. 6K peak adds some “sparkle”. No harshnessClair, quite extended, well articulated. Excessive at times. Unfrequent light sibilance removed by tips or deeper insertion.
SoundstageGood width average depthAbove average, wider than deeper.Above average
ImagingSome odd positioning choices at times. Stable once setQuite precise and consistentAbove average, consistent
DetailsVery nice detail retrieval on the highs. Good details on the sub-bass tooAverage.Above average
SeparationInstruments are well separated and the entire presentation is highly resolving.Just about average.Average
DriveabilityA phone is OKLight amping recommendedA phone is OK
Fit & ComfortVery easy fit (either cable-down or over-the-ear), and great comfortExtremely easy fit, subjective comfortFit might be an issue for some. Comfort is OK when fit is easy.
Other notesClean and agile, effortless sound with good detail retrieval, missing musical personality and spice. Gets better with some EQ help.Nice “spiced-neutral” musical tuning, could use some further spice to really shineReference neutrality with a hint of brightness, great dynamics and above average technicalities
Economics$ 99,00
($ 30,00 deals)
$ 42,50$ 109,00
($ 79,00 deals)

Interesting links

  • Head-fi Pinnacle P2 reviews thread
  • Everyday Listening P2 review

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