WATCH FULL UNBOXING HERE: https://youtu.be/DtYouSu6EeE
Come with me as I share my impressions on the Celest Phoenixcall, Celest’s latest and most expensive release to date which features a tribrid system at a measly $129! With such a jam packed setup for such a low price, can this Phoenix call upon the gods to bless our ears? Let’s find out!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
- Fantastic unboxing experience
- Somewhat subpar overall inclusions for the price
- Very premium feeling stock cable
- Solidly built and very attractive resin shell with a hit or miss fitting
- Fun but somewhat niche v-shaped sound
- Woofy, warm and enveloping bass
- Intimate, smooth but recessed midrange
- Elevated, sparkly but somewhat metallic treble
- Deep headstage with decent separation and layering
The Phoenixcall is an absolute rollercoaster of an experience from the leaks of how it looked to its graph to its sound. Almost everything about this IEM you really don’t expect to do well, and yet it does.
One of the first things that you’ll notice about the Phoenixcall is that shell. I personally got the the white version which I thought looked absolutely clean. You could see the inner workings so clearly as well as a nice blue and cyan color palette.
Talking about its inner workings, the Phoenixcall boasts a tribrid system with 1 dynamic driver, 2 balanced armatures and 2 flat panel (or microplanar) drivers. Not very common you find tribrids in this price range, yet here exists the Phoenix calling upon the heavens for the drivers to make some magic because have you seen the graphs?
Yes, I know. It’s very wonky looking with it being reminiscent of older Kinera sets with a similar bloat, scoop and shout. But trust me, the way they implemented the drivers and tuned the Phoenixcall is an experience you HAVE to try yourself. I’ve tried EQing other IEMs into the Phoenixcall’s target and none of them can do justice to how interesting this sounds in real life.
Let’s just get it out of the way: this is a niche IEM. This is not for neutral lovers or timbre heads who want the most neutral sound reproduction. Those kind of people will hate this because of how “unnatural” it sounds. Yet, it’s what makes the set stand out. It’s not too messed up that makes it an unlistenable mess. Quite the opposite, actually as each frequency somehow does something to make this set sound oddly balanced and satisfying.
The bass is definitely woofy, deep, impactful but certainly on the boomy or bloated side if you don’t like this much bass in your IEMs. It somewhat smoothens the bass details and instead replaces it with a solid sense of heft and body that can come across as a basshead set, but not quite for reasons I will state below.
The mids are all levels of colored, and I love it. It’s so warm in the low end and forward in the upper mids which gives vocal a very huffy and intimate vibe that somehow still puts vocals forward but loses a little bit of character and nuance due to the scoop and warmth. In short, smooth as pancake with syrup.
What isn’t as smooth is the treble. It’s elevated, it’s bright. It might be overbearing if you looked at the graphs, but that bass balances and tames the treble. But you can still hear a little bit of zingyness that brings out the details in treble surprisingly well despite the masking from the bass. It might have overdone it as there’s a very slight metallic timbre, especially percussives and vocal runs, but it’s not overbearing and not as bad as some sets I’ve tried with a very audible metallic timbre.
The stage of this is also a stand out with how absolutely deep the bass sounds on this set. You can thank the bass for that, but it’s not a technical monster that’s for sure. It struggles a little bit when separating more complex songs like metal or hard rock and layering is just right about decent for the price.
For $129, the Phoenixcall offers a jam packed experience that is a breath of fresh air from sets to have come out in the last year. Gone is the focus on following a famous target or the rage of neutrality instead provides maximum fun and uniqueness. But the same uniqueness is also what makes it probably not desirable for people looking for their next safe set because this is everything but. This is a unique but niche’d set for those seeking a listening experience unlike any other and I highly recommend trying to demo this at least once.
Stay tuned for the video review!
Thank you for reading my impressions. Big thanks to Kinera for sending over the Phoenixcall in exchange for my honest thoughts. If you would like to buy one yourself, consider using the non-affiliated link below: https://hifigo.com/products/kinera-celest-phoenixcall
If you have any questions or concerns, contact me on my Facebook page or on my email at obodioreviews@gmail.com
