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Description
Experience Elysian’s Award-Winning House Tuning
Have we heard all the rave about the legendary ANNIHILATOR and its sister DIVA? We’ve unpacked what makes these two products special and compacted them into a small, starter IEM. This is what exceptional lows, mids, and highs should be like—no compromises, even at a lower price point. That’s it. That’s our PILGRIM.
Hand-Picked Hybrid Setup for Premium Sound
Featuring a purposeful hand-picked hybrid setup with one customized LSR dynamic driver and two different types of balanced armatures, the PILGRIM provides an authentic Elysian House sonic experience. Coupled with premium aluminum and precision 3D printing for its internal chambers, you can expect perfect consistency with high durability.
Naturally Coherent and Harmonious Sound
PILGRIM is tuned personally by Lee, using two distinct types of custom-tailored Sonion drivers to extract the unique strengths of each driver. The aim is to deliver an incredible and harmonious listening experience, achieving technical excellence. The Sonion 2300 for mids ensures a versatile, smooth midrange response, creating a well-balanced, natural sound across various music genres. Complementing this is the Sonion E50 series, a dual ultra-tweeter balanced armature driver, extending high frequencies with unprecedented technical capabilities, offering clarity and brilliance. A custom 3-way crossover ensures each frequency band perfectly blends into the next for a smoothly coherent sound.
Advanced Technology for Superior Performance
Instead of using vibrating bone conductors or traditional PET drivers, we took a different approach, developing a custom-made 9.2mm dynamic driver featuring Liquid Silicon Rubber (LSR) technology. The LSR is capable of reproducing low frequencies that reach an impressive 10 Hz, compared to the standard 20 Hz of traditional PET drivers, contributing to a strong sub-bass rumble. After numerous stages of R&D, we optimized the size of the LSR to ensure a powerful kick without sacrificing speed in sound delivery. The magnesium-aluminium alloy diaphragm was chosen to deliver optimal performance for a prolonged period, resulting in remarkably fast, deep, and precise performance with minimal distortion.
Perfectly Consistent Performance
Consistency is one of our greatest focuses for PILGRIM. We go the extra mile to ensure impeccable consistency across every single unit. Using the latest cutting-edge technology, our master-crafted internal chambers and sound tubes undergo precision 3D printing, ensuring both structural integrity and quality while providing minimal signal distortion and accurate phase coherency. Each driver is carefully handpicked to ensure the utmost consistency and standards of performance. Moreover, stringent tests are conducted to ensure that every single driver is within a +/- 1 dB range.
Aesthetic Design Inspired by Nature
The PILGRIM IEM's design takes inspiration from the serene topography of knolls, with each subtle and purposeful tier mirroring the gentle, rolling hills.
Unparalleled Industrial Materials
PILGRIM's shell is crafted from high-quality aluminum, offering the benefit of lightweight durability, while the bores are made from 304 stainless steel known for its corrosion resistance. This combination ensures longevity and maintains the exceptional sound quality you expect.
Our Review
Customer Reviews
I am in this hobby for years and I think I have got the perfect stopping point.
Some of my previous mid fi iems include
Truthear Hexa
Etymotic ER2XR
Letshuoer S12
Kiwi Ears Quintet and many others.
BTW I consider the samsung galaxy bus 2 pro a audiophile grade mid fi IEM
My favorite among these are the Quintets followed by the Samsung buds and then the etys
The Quintets had a few flaws namely they can sometimes be sibilant with poorly recorded music, most of not so famous JPop artists and it has a recessed mid bass so kick drums and stuff were not that satisfying but in terms of detail retrieval, staging and imaging it was top notch.
The pilgrim fixes all the negatives and retains the positives of the Quintets.
My only issue with the pilgrim is that the chrome finish is chipping off within a few minutes otherwise I love them. Oh and it has a big fat nozzle 5.9 mm to be exact and so I had to tip roll quite a bit and settled on the Final E tips.
Now lets come to the sound qualities:
Bass : The bass is amongst the best I have heard till date. It has good physicality and the rumble and growl is just unreal. Bass details shines through and has a very natural feel to it. It is a sublime experience.
Vocals: To me personally it feels a bit recessed, but it is also quite natural and hardly gets sibilant or honky. Both male and female vocals sound natural and carry good weight to them. Its not enough to make you cry or pierce your soul. The Quintets and the galaxy buds are much more vocal forward than Pilgrim. But I find the pilgrim more natural and enjoyable.
Treble: They are bright but not harsh. For me this is the perfect amount of treble to bring out micro details and nuances in the treble without being too fatiguing or distracting. I miss the splash of the cymbals from the quintet sometimes but again they can border on the line of too bright sometimes
Soundstage: its good enough. Its above average and can sound open or boxy depending on the music that you are playing.
Imaging and separation: its great. You can hear every instrument and pinpoint then and every instrument feels really tactile. Like you can feel the instruments being plucked or hit or blown into. It feels surreal sometimes.
I played the mountains track by Hans Zimmer and every time the organs started playing I got goosebumps these are that good.
Everyone has their own music preferences and for me these are just perfect. In terms of details, resolution and dynamics, I personally don't think you can get anything better under 80k or 1L.
You have to get the fit right to enjoy these to the fullest so you have to tip roll a bit. For my case final E tips worked the best.
Thanks to the team for helping me out with my request. I thought that these will sell out like hot cakes and to think that my review will be the first here is unbelievable🥲
Thank you so much for your thorough and detailed review of our Elysian Acoustic Labs PILGRIM IEM. We are thrilled to hear that it has become your perfect IEM and that it fixes the flaws you found in your previous mid fi options. We apologize for the issue with the chrome finish, but we are glad that you found your perfect fit with the Final E tips. It's great to hear that the bass, vocals, treble, soundstage, and imaging meet your expectations and provide a natural and enjoyable listening experience. Thank you for choosing Elysian Acoustic Labs and The Audio Store,happy listening!
A) The chain
1. Apple music / Spotify from my phone to Earmen Colibri to Pilgrim.
2. Apple music / Spotify from my phone to Chord Mojo 2 to Pilgrim.
3. FLAC / AAC / 320 kbps MP3 / 128 kbps MP3 music from my computer to Chord Mojo to Pilgrim.
4. My DAP Onkyo DP X1 to Pilgrim (mostly FLAC / 320 kbps music files)
B) The music
1. Bollywood (from the 40s till date)
2. Malayalam songs (from the 60s till date)
3. Tamil songs (from late 80s till date)
4. Telugu songs (from the 2000s till date)
5. English (Mostly Soul, Jazz, Reggae, Motown, Rock, Hard Rock, Metal, Pop from the 60s to the 000s, some specific artists from the current era like Adele, Billy Eilish, Norah Jones, Dua Lipa, Beyonce, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Llorde etc.)
6. Music and songs from anime movies and series.
7. Instrumentals.
All the hearing has been done with the stock Pilgrim cable and eartips (Spinfit CP 100s supplied with the IEM itself).
C) Pilgrim's strengths
1. Very good bass - Quality, not quantity. The bass is not as heavy as some of the IEMs like the Sennheiser IE600. The quality of the bass is really good, the bass notes have really good texture, mostly sub bass, but just enough mid bass also to lead good weight to instruments. Very controlled, zero bleed into the mids. The bass is present in enough quantity if the song demands it.
2. Mids - Very transparent with good note weight. Both the male and female vocals sound great without being overly thick or mushy. The timbre of the instruments in this range is really good.
3. Treble - Extended without being sibilant.
4. Technicalities - Very good detail retrieval, precise imaging and a good soundstage. Top class technicalities for this price.
D) To be noted
1. Break in (or burn in, if you prefer) is an absolute must. The IEM sounds really bright right out of the box, but the bass wakes up as it is played more and takes more of the stage as the usage increases. I had put in more than 100 hours of burn in before listening to the Pilgrim analytically.
2. Power: The Pilgrim can be played off most dongle DACs. My Earmen Colibri ran it without any issues. But it really scales with more power and sounded way more powerful and airier with the Mojo2.
3. Source: Goes without saying, the better the source the better Pilgrim plays.
E) Comfort: No issues for me. Very light.
F) The Gripe (a very small one)
It is really hard to load the stock eartips onto the Pilgrim. The nozzle of the Pilgrim is big. Spent more than 10 minutes wrestling the tips onto the nozzle.
G) Side Note: I personally do not mind a bit of treble as I am a bit of detail head and like analytical sets. So the Pilgrim's treble, it's resolution, details retrieval, soundstage and precise imaging was just great for me (better than my Sennheiser IE 600). But I can see some of our community having an issue with treble of the Pilgrim.
To make a long story short, I find myself reaching for the Pilgrim the most these days, out of my small IEM collection. I think that it punches way above its price point.
The purchase experience was fantastic. I had pinged Pritam on the availability of the Pilgrim before it was launched in TAS. He kept me updated throughout and shipped the Pilgrim immediately on arrival. Thanks a lot, Pritam.
Thank you for taking the time to leave such a detailed and comprehensive review of our Elysian Pilgrim IEM. We are glad to hear that you have had a positive experience with our product and that it has met your expectations in terms of bass quality, mids, treble and technicalities. We appreciate your feedback on the importance of break-in and the use of a powerful source to fully appreciate the capabilities of our IEM. We hope you continue to enjoy your listening experience with our product. Thank you for choosing Elysian Acoustic Labs & The Audio Store.
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Let customers speak for us
Awesome work
Fantastic easy to use dongel dac by Shanling. Build quality is also 👌. For a budget music lover this is a value for money. TAS keep providing such affordable quality product to us always...👍
Sparkling music, enhance volume and gives extra wide sound instrument but some time later connection gone if audio is not play
The CD player works as advertised. The single ended headphone jack has decent output, able to drive IEMs at a loud volume level. The coaxial output also works with a 3.5mm male to coaxial cable hooked to a pre-amp. Sound signature is unolocured in the territory of neutral to slightly bright neutral and corresponds well with recording and mastering of records. Worth the money imo.
If my current HiBy R6 III (Gen 3, ESS) is compared to driving a BMW, the R6Pro MAX is a Rolls Royce.
It is easy, smooth, and suave. It doesn’t make a big deal of representing a soundstage that’s exactly studio-like. Natural, not heavy on any particular frequency (do not expect heart thumping bass) and extremely coherent. It’s like you’re sitting in front of the artists themselves, in a studio, with a performance made just for you alone. Each frequency - the lows, mids, highs and everything else in between - are effortlessly detailed and precise.
All IEMs I have tried with it, i.e. the 64 Audio Volür, Symphonium Meteor, Penon Quattro and Kiwi Ears Quintet are driven best at Low or Middle Gain, with me personally finding that High Gain makes it all muddy. I am yet to try it with my HiFiMan Ananda Planar headphones, and will update this review as the journey with this masterpiece of a device continues. Rarely do I find myself being fondly attached to any device so quickly. It may be safe to say the R6Pro MAX does have something special. Only time will tell.
Lastly, the design is phenomenal and classy. The weight of the unit is evenly balanced and not top-heavy, making it very easy to handle in spite of its 500 gramme weight.
My only gripe, because I just HAVE to find one is that the case provided is quite impractical as the device tends to slide out from the top opening, and it interferes with the UI gestures. On the flip side, the quality of the case is top-notch making the device feel extremely premium with its carbon fiber-like finish.
Kudos to HiBy. Clearly a lot of effort and thought has been put into introducing something like this. We may be looking at a potential market game-changer.
(All IEMs have been tested with the OE 2DualCPS Silver Upgrade Cable)
Superb Audio quality, Enhance the sound separation for my moondrop chu 2. i enjoyed a lot. Built quality also so good. Best Budget DAC recommended.
Bought the KZ Castor Pro from Audiostore, and I must say, I am extremely happy with my purchase. At first, I was a bit hesitant to order from them, but they completely surprised me with their service.
The delivery was super fast—much quicker than I expected! I couldn't believe how quickly the IEMs reached me, which made the entire shopping experience even more satisfying.
The product AUDIOCULAR D07 is a phenomenal DAC & Amp. It is suitable for all kinds of wired earphones. The output impedance of this DAC is sufficient for inexpensive as well as Expensive earphones. Overall I satisfied very much with this product. Thank you.
I really liked Moondrop Chu II DSP, which was my first IEM. I felt like I needed some more bass. This is perfect. Sounds exactly same as Chu II and with more bass. Shipping and delivery was also very fast. Got it delivered in 3 days. Good delivery and good product.
Sharp & Crystal clear audio🤩
For the price you can't get better value when comparing with TOTL iem's from other manufacturers, regardless of driver technology and implementation. The bone conduction driver works, which is always a plus.
Enough BASS, Treble not harsh. Smooth cable. Also, actually I've Tangzu Warner in my opinion, but i selected this. Satisfied with this IEM. Delivery was fast! Thank you TAS!!!!!
I was searching for mid forward, vocal centric IEM. Looking at options like oracle, mega5est etc. Mr. Pritam was kind enough to attend my numerous calls and indepth discussion and finally suggested me to penon voltage. Hefty price tag and becuz of my already good collection, I was not tempted for any iem if not drastically different sound signature. Again my man Friday Pritamji allowed me audition of his personal set of penon voltage.
Penon voltage is honestly outstanding and justify every penny.
Midst are lush and superb. Treble is outstanding. Male and female vocals are life like. Technically top notch. Base is full and extends deep and thumping. Best part is timber. Jazz, vocals and classical sounds so natural, it seems intimate and soulful. I had u12t, campfire Solaris og, now I have a 64audio volur, but voltage has etched a unique image in my soul. It's sounds like a headphone rather than an iem. Penon audio has an ace up their sleeves.
D32 is way better than expected. Sound imaging & separation is very good. Nice thumpy bass, crystal clear mids. Overall very value for money stuff. All bluetooth codec available. Supports aux in from DAP for hires audio. Fantastic overall.
For quite a long duration, I was looking for an budget IEM with a size that would perfectly sink within ear lobe and will not exert any pressure while being a couch potato , on one side. Atlast this is where the search ended.
Aurora is even a bit smaller in size than Sennheiser IE100 Pros, which were my only go to solution at late nights. I already referred to various other reviews about the sound signature of this tiny one, and was quite confident about the other end of the bargain any way. I will not be hence touch the audio signature stuff , since there are plenty detailed reviews on the youtube and many other forums already. It is the ergonomics which is mostly untouched area of any in ear type monitors, that was more profound for me in this case, for long duration of usage. Also liked the quality of the case supplied with , the whole package is absolutely incredible !
