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Dance of Color - Peacock Audio P1 Review

Project A³by Project A³  in 100-299 , dynamic , iem review , iem review 100-299 , in ear monitor , peacock , project a3 , review 0 comments
Sound Review by Hoshi星
Disclaimer: Peacock Audio has graciously provided us with this sample unit in exchange for an honest review. The views discussed below are a reflection of Project A3's thoughts surrounding the product. The sample has been run-in for at least 50 hours prior to review in order to achieve an accurate representation of the product.







CLICK HERE TO JOIN US now in Project A3's Official Telegram group for exclusive news and more.

TL;DR
Not Recommended if you like:
  • Full, lush, and textured vocals.
  • Low profile IEM shells.
Recommended if you like:
  • The eye-catching aesthetics and multiple design options.
  • Something that can double as a Bluetooth IEM as a bundle.
  • V-shaped IEMs.


 
Introduction:
Peacock Audio is a manufacturer from China, whose pitch is that they have a skilled group of artists hand-painting the shells of their IEMs leaving the opportunity to have a myriad of design options as well as having each unit being unique and slightly different from each other. The P1 is touted to use a resin material of the same type that is used for hearing aids and the P1 also comes bundled with a BT 4.1/5.0 cable that lets it pull double duty in terms of performing both wired and wirelessly. Priced at $199 it will be interesting to see if the performance can match the incredibly ey catching looks.



ProsCons
  • Gorgeous design and excellent build quality.
  • Comes with a Bluetooth cable for added functionality.
  • Fun V-Shape with solid bass, and forward treble.
  • Above-average soundstage width.
  • Mids are recessed and a bit shouty leaving a thin quality.
  • Tips and cable could be better for the price.
  • Timbre with the mids and treble can reveal to be off at times.



Specification:
  • 7mm Dynamic Driver
  • Sensitivity - 106dB
  • FR 20Hz-20KHz
  • Impedance - 16Ohms
  • Shell Material - Egger Resin
  • Cable - 4 Core 5N Silver Copper Alloy 1.2m 3.5mm Cable
  • BT 4.1/5.0 CSR-8645 
  • IPX6 Certified and 110mAh


Gear Used & Tracklist:
ifi xDSD | Hiby R6 | xDuoo Link | xDuoo XD-05 | Hidizs AP80 | FiiO Q1 Mk II | 
Genres Artist Songs
Live Recordings Diana Krall Desperado (Live)

Natalia Lafourcade Soledad y El Mar

Case Lang Veirs Atomic Number

Depeche Mode Question of Lust (Live 1998)
Instrumentals Max Richter On the Nature of Daylight

Santa Esmeralda Please Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

Nils Frahm Toilet Brushes (Live)
Jazz Bill Evans A Waltz for Debbie

Chet Baker I'm a Fool to Want You

Sons of Kemet My Queen is Harriet Tubman

Ryo Fukui Scenery
Rock Avenged Sevenfold Nightmare

The Stooges Down On The Street

Avenged Sevenfold Unbound (The Wild Ride)

Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine

Ozzy Osbourne Crazy Train

Green Day 21 Guns
Classical Niccolò Paganini La Campanella (From Violin Concerto No.2 In B Minor)

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky The Year 1812 Solemn Overture

David Arnold Independence Day
Pop Hu Yang-Lin (胡楊林) Perfume is poisonous (香水有毒)

Fish Leong (梁靜茹) Love Song (情歌)
Western Pop Anamanaguchi MEOW

Iamamiwhoami Chasing Kites

Algiers Dispossession

New Order Bizzare Love Triangle (Extended Mix)

Marian Hill Breathe Into Me

Tyler, The Creator EARFQUAKE

Tones and I Never Seen the Rain

Red Hot Chili Peppers Around the World
ACG Saori Hayami オレンジミント (Orange Mint)

RADWIMPS 前前前世 (Zenzenzenzense)

RADWIMPS スパークル(Sparkle)

DAOKO Cinderella Step

Kana Hanazawa 恋愛サーキュレーション (Renai Circulation)





 
Unboxing:
The P1 comes in a medium-sized box with a transparent window to showcase the hand-painted shells. Opening the package reveals the IEMs and a leatherette carry case that has a magnetic clasp. Underneath you find the middling and somewhat stiff 3.5mm cable, the Bluetooth cable and charging accessories, some ear tips, a leatherette cable cinch, and some documentation. Outside of the BT package nothing totally out of the ordinary. The unboxing experience feels pretty good, nothing too excessive but nothing too cheap either, seems about right for the asking price. If anything I do feel like the tips and cable at this price point could be a bit nicer, in the end, they aren't bad by any stretch and probably just seems that way due to the fact that Peacock put in extra effort in things like the (albeit impractical) cable cinch that you wish it stretched to the tips and cable as well.



Scalability:
Being something designed to perform equally well on Bluetooth as well as wired, it comes as no surprise that the P1 is incredibly easy to drive and really offers not a whole lot of difference or improvement from source to source no matter the driving capability. All of my gear from phones to entry dongles and DAPs to more powerful amps drove it fine, the included Bluetooth cable was no exception giving adequate performance if maybe a bit of a bass reduction, though I can't say for certain if the cause was power output as it could be anything from the connection to the BT chip inside. 


Shell Fit and Design:
Probably the highlight of the P1 for me, the shell is gorgeous, you can tell the material isn't the usual acrylic material just by feel, there's a certain softness and smoothness to the shell that is incredibly apparent. Fit wise, it fits well enough, it's mostly compact since the driver itself is pretty small and while it won't lay flat on your ears, making it not suitable for laying down on your sides, it definitely isn't one that causes any obvious feeling of discomfort for my ears, and the molded shape should mean it should be comfortable for most people as well. Moving on to the shell design, the lines painted on the inside of the shell are gorgeous, clean linework, with an almost swirl like quality coupled with an inlaid Peacock logo, you can really appreciate the attention to detail and craftsmanship of the P1.



Sound Signature
A lively and engaging V-shape that doesn't rely on overbearing bass to drive the sound along.

V-shaped sound signature with an emphasis on bass and an above-average staging width. 

The P1 tuning is an obvious V-shaped one that includes most prominently a boosted bass response, a reserved midrange except for a boost in the upper midrange and a clear if somewhat peaky treble.



Lows
Pros
  • Bass has good speed, and decay is in the sweet spot to have a pleasant bass response.
  • The percussive slam is present and powerful showing only minimal amounts of bloat.
  • Subbass extension is good, especially for the expectations of the driver.
Cons
  • Bass can have a tendency to overpower the mids, especially the lower mids.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Marian Hill - Breathe Into Me

The opening of the song most exemplifies the strength of the P1 especially for only a 7mm driver, it pushes out a lot of air and this leads to a pleasant experience as the thumps are heard and give the impression of being felt. The extension is sufficient contributing to the experience. However, as the song enters the chorus one can tell that bass takes a front seat in this signature, and while not exactly the historical flabby, bloated "basshead" IEMs it is easy to tell that vocals and mids are along for the ride.



Mids
Pros
  • Mids are clear especially when isolated.
Cons
  • Mids have a tendency to be thin and shouty, with an odd timbre that can show in some songs.
  • One more complex tracks, the bass especially can take over the sound signature leaving the mids buried beneath the other frequencies.
  • Imbalance with regards to upper mids and lower mids.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
前前前世 (Zenzenzenzense) - RADWIMPS

The interaction of the mids and the other frequencies can be seen here well, there are some vocal focused runs as well as guitar riffs where the isolated mids can present themselves well and you won't notice much issue, except for the thinness of it. However. once the song really takes off in the complex sections, you can start to hear the mids being drowned out, and you can really start to see the mids struggle to keep up. This is something less common nowadays but you can really see the 7mm driver stretching its capabilities.



Highs
Pros
  • P1 Delivers a good sense of clarity and brightness to the frequency.
  • Sparkle and air are also adequately apparent.
Cons
  • Treble is prone to demonstrate peaks that can be uncomfortable.
  • Some might find mild treble emphasis to be fatiguing to listen to especially for longer periods.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Sons of Kemet - My Queen is Harriet Tubman

The energy of the treble provided a welcome lift to brass solos, giving a nice "punch" energy to it. However, the flipside of this is those cymbal overtones and some parts of the high frequency can end up being fatiguing and throw off the timbre a bit. However, if you're not particularly treble sensitive you will enjoy the lift this brings to the sound as a whole.



Soundstage
Pros
  • Good width
  • Accurate spatial positioning
Cons
  • Height and depth are so-so.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Depeche Mode - A Question of Lust

Here the P1 shows off a bit more of its technical proficiencies with this recording particularly highlighting the ability of the driver to produce a surprising amount of width especially for a small driver and a fairly small closed shell design. With the sound extending just a touch "outside" the periphery of my ears. On the other hand the depth and height of the staging aren't particularly noteworthy they aren't deficient either.



Separation
Pros
  • Bass and treble perform well in terms of separation. Bess particularly is robust in this aspect.
Cons
  • Separation and detail retrieval falter once tracks get complex.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Kana Hanazawa - 恋愛サーキュレーション (Renai Circulation)

Playing this song it's quite notable how even as the pace picks up the low end is able to hold steady, while the treble, peaks and all manage to cut through the mix, however, this leads to the mids being crushed and juxtaposed against each other this feels very obvious.



Musicality
Pros
  • The V tuning provides a lot of energy and engagement. 
Cons
  • Those looking for some more balanced musicality need to look elsewhere.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
DAOKO - Cinderella Step

The P1 shines when put up to the task of something like an electro fused pop song. With the synth instrumentation and rolling bass providing a good source of material for the tuning of the P1 to perform at its most excellent. It ends up being a fun and enjoyable listen where the bass really gets your feet tapping and the bright top end adding some energy to the experience. This does highlight that someone looking at the P1 for more critical listening will need to look elsewhere.



Vocal Performance
Pros
  • Boost in upper mids give more of a lift to higher-pitched vocals.
Cons
  • Vocals can be thin; lower-pitched vocals don't have the same boost.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Saori Hayami - Orange Mint

Linked to the midrange this is again not one of the strengths of the P1. The interplay with the vocals has an imbalance due to the boost in the upper mids making them more prominent than the lower mids, this coupled with the thin reproduction adds to the unnatural combination. This is most seen in vocal performances where one or all artists reach through the vocal scale and highlights the discrepancy.



Instrumental Performance
Pros
  • Lively especially due to the V-shape percussion and upper-midrange to treble focused strings and brass shine.
Cons
  • The timbre still brings things down as well as instruments solely focused on the midrange.
Reference Tracks / Remarks:
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Around the World 

This is less of a mixed bag compared to the vocals because the performance in the other frequency ranges helps buoy the instrumentation score up. Particularly the bass response leads to an overall good score when it comes to percussion and the boost provided in the upper midrange as well as the energy in the treble means good performance of instrumentation leading up that sonic register, like some string instruments, brass, woodwind and overtones, and harmonics respectively. Though the aforementioned energy can mean that some instruments in the high end can sound peaky at times.


Overall Sound Performance
Pros
  • Engaging V tuning provides a fun listening experience.
  • Bass is full and capable while boosted treble provides energy.
Cons
  • Mids are thin with a shouty quality.
  • Timbre is somewhat unnatural.
Remarks: 
In summary, the sound of the P1 is a fun V-Shaped affair that provides lots of listening pleasure as long as one isn't looking for the best of the best technical performance and instead is looking for something more to clap their hands and dance to. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but it's something of note for the audiophiles who either have critical listening on their minds or want the best technical performance they can squeeze out of their dollar.


Comparison Chart
How we compare: We chose other similarly priced earphones or similar offerings from the same brand that Project A3 has reviewed in the past, to ensure that we remain as impartial as possible in our comparisons.
P1 NS5 MK II (Natural) Ikko OH10
Suggested Retail Price $199 $199 $189    
Driver Configuration 1 DD 1 DD 1 BA + 1 DD
Scalability Mobile Dongle Mobile
Fitting Compact but tall shell. Low profile deep fit. Shallow fit with heavy shells.
Comfort High comfort with a compact and highly molded shell. Light and unobtrusive but not formed around ear geometry. Comfortable but prone to falling out of the ears.
Sound Signature V-Shaped Balanced with midrange emphasis. W-Shaped
Lows Robust and full. Takes center stage. Reserved but still present, just enough to give depth but not basshead at all.Smooth, unobtrusive, but still boosted particularly the sub-bass. More reserved midbass.
Mids Thinner, mildly shouty, with a bit of an odd timbre, can get overtaken by other frequencies. The shining aspect of the NS 5 MK II, great reproduction, lively mids that engage the listener, vocals and instruments shine through. Upper mids are favored, lending to more intimate and forward female vocals. Clean overall.
Highs Boosted but has some peaks that may be fatiguing to some listeners who are sensitive. With good air and sparkle, not as forward as the mids but adds to the pleasant signature as well as the sense of clarity. Mildy energetic, and clear. Upper treble has a roll-off likely to prevent being overtly tizzy.
Soundstage Above average in width, unremarkable in depth or height. Good width, okay depth. Nothing particularly notable. Good width but depth not outstanding. Spatial recognition is good.
Separation Struggles with complex tracks especially the mids can get particularly crushed in busier bass dominant songs. Clean and clear, the NS5 has very impressive separation with very little problems when it comes to discerning track elements. Good separation in most tracks due to clarity. Can get congested once the volume gets increased.
Remarks Unabashedly V-shaped. The most energetic and engaging and the most "fun" of all the three but has a weakness in critical listening uses. The most balanced of the three, providing those who are after one of the best mid-treble combinations at the price bracket. J-Shaped tuning tries to give the best all-around performance trying to sacrifice as little as possible. Jack of all trades.



Conclusion:
So all things said how does the P1 Fare? Well, it's complicated, the $200 dollar asking price means it's looking at a market of either people with deep pockets or those willing to shell out extra because they belong in the enthusiast zone. Now the tuning of the P1 doesn't necessarily align with what many in that zone can be looking for, especially if they don't have the luxury to have a collection. It's more fun-oriented sound means that those looking to get the maximum sonic performance for their money will be left wanting, however, the P1 is not without merit, the shell is top-notch in build, the design is eye-catching, unique, and offers enough options that there is likely a design that will fit everyone's tastes. It also boasts a bundled Bluetooth cable, very appealing to those who like to exercise with their earphones without having to deal with pesky wires getting in the way. All in all, I think the P1 as it is, is a work in progress, I feel like it functions fine and is by no means bad, however at this price tier, the value proposition is suffering from an identity crisis, almost as if its a compromise for the high-fashion audiophile, where it tries to do what both fashionable wireless(often TWS) items fulfill in the market while on the other hand trying to cater to the classic audiophile market as well, and that is something I feel it doesn't completely fulfill on either end. However, there is still promise, the P1 has all the markings of success, and I feel like if Peacock audio were to just rebalance their priorities as to what or rather who they are targeting with this, then they will find that winning formula that combines both form and function. For now, I can't help but be a little half-hearted, and just make sure that if you're looking at the P1 you aren't going in blind. Still if you're looking for something eye-catching and unique, high quality, and can dual duty, there's still few like the P1 at this price point right now.

Be sure to follow Project A3 on Facebook for more reviews*.




*All ratings are accurate as of date of publication. Changes in price, newer models may affect Project A3's views on the performance and value of the reviewed product.

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Project A³
Project A³ is a collection of individuals that are passionate and dedicated to consumer and enthusiast audiophile products. Originating from various countries and involved in different fields what they all have in common is an appreciation for listening to music in the best way possible.
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