Eartips Selection.

The selection of eartips is crucial to any universal in-ear monitor and will affect the sound, especially the bass impact depending on the seal.  Due to a large opening of my ear canals, I usually go for the largest size eartips to get a better seal.  Also, please keep in mind, that eartips impressions are subjective and will be based on the anatomy of your ears.  My suggestion is to build up your eartips collection and try each one with every new IEM you get to find the pair which yields a perfect sound for your ears.

Pilgrim OG

• w/SpinFit W1 – more neutral, natural, clear, transparent sound
• w/Azla Crystal – narrower soundstage, a bit flatter bass
• w/Symbio F – narrower soundstage
• w/Final Type-E – a bit shouty upper mids/treble
• w/Eletech Baroque – a bit more rumble in sub-bass and slightly more forward upper mids

Pilgrim Noir

• w/SpinFit W1 – stronger bass impact, warmer sound, thicker, lusher mids
• w/Azla Crystal – narrower soundstage, a slight reduction in bass impact
• w/Symbio F – narrower soundstage, more neutral mids
• w/Final Type-E – a bit more sparkle in treble
• w/Eletech Baroque – more rumble in sub-bass

Cable pair up.

I’m aware that some people don’t believe in cables and have a very strong opinion about them.  It’s not my intent to change those minds.  Instead, I’m just sharing what I hear during my testing.  What makes sense to me is that a metal wire is a material with physical properties of resistivity, conductivity, purity, and unique geometry, all of which act as a filter between your source and headphones.  Variations of these physical properties can affect the conductivity of analog signal, resulting in a sound change, from a subtle to a more noticeable level.  If the talk about cables upsets you, please skip this section.  Otherwise, enjoy these short impressions.

Pilgrim Noir

• w/stock Eros S Noir – warmer sound, thicker, lusher mids
• w/stock OG SPC – leaner lower mids, higher resolution, perception of the soundstage is slightly more expanded
• w/Cadmus 4w – mids gain a little more body, more than OG SPC cable, but not quite to the level of Eros S
• w/Cadmus 8w – mids gain a bit more body than Cadmus 4w, but also mids sound a little flatter
• w/Ares S 4w – deeper and more elevated bass rumble, fuller body mids, a bit more sparkle in treble, a bit narrower soundstage
• w/Ares S 8w – deep and more elevated bass, though a bit less rumble than with Ares S 4w, a fuller body more detailed mids in comparison to Ares S 4w, similar treble sparkle, and similar more focused soundstage expansion, though a bit better imaging since mids have more clarity than in Ares S 4w.
• w/Code 24C – noticeably deeper and more textured analog sound; I hear a deeper and more elevated sub-bass rumble, fuller body lower mids, and smoother upper mids.

I kept going back and forth between Eros S Noir and Ares S 8w.  Eros S Noir gives more sub-bass rumble and thicker mids along with a bit narrower soundstage, while Ares S 8w also has an elevated bass but a bit scaled-down, especially in sub-bass rumble, in comparison to Eros S, and also a bit leaner mids which improve the layering and resolution.  Going between these cables is a matter of finetuning the sound.  Cadmus 4w was not bad as well but had a bit less bass than Ares S 8w and Eros S Noir and a bit leaner mids.  To my ears, Ares S 8w has a perfect pair-up synergy with Pilgrim Noir.

Pilgrim OG

• w/stock OG SPC – more neutral, natural, clear, transparent sound.
• w/stock Eros S Noir – I hear a bit more rumble in sub-bass and slightly more coloring in mids.
• w/Cadmus 4w – similar to Eros S, I hear a bit more weight in the bass, but the coloring in mids is milder and there is a bit more sparkle in treble.  I skipped testing with the 8w version since it didn’t pair up too well with Noir.
• w/Ares S 8w – this cable scaled up the bass with a deeper rumble, stronger and more articulate punch, clear natural mids with more coloring relative to stock SPC, and similar resolving treble sparkle.  I skipped testing with the 4w version since it didn’t pair up well with Noir.
• w/Code 24C – brings the original neutral, natural tuning of Pilgrim OG to the next level with a more balanced sound signature.  I hear a deeper and more textured sub-bass rumble, a slightly more elevated mid-bass punch, a fuller body, smoother mids, also with quite a noticeable analog texture, and a clean and clear detailed treble.  This was an impressive transformation of the sound.

Here, I kept going back and forth between Code 24C and the Ares S 8w cable.  I enjoyed the Ares S 8w with its extra weight in the bass, but the analog texture of the C24C cable scaled up the performance of Pilgrim OG to a more mature audiophile level.

Source Pair up.

I used corresponding stock cables and SpinFit W1 eartips in each of these source pair-ups.  Pilgrim IEMs have lower sensitivity (101-103dB) and impedance (8.3-9ohm), still, making them relatively easy to drive just with a few extra volume clicks.

Pilgrim Noir, w/SpinFit W1 and stock Eros S Noir cable

• P6 Pro – stronger bass impact, warmer sound, thicker, lusher mids
• SP3kT (hybrid, high current) – wider soundstage expansion and a bit more sparkle in treble
• LPGT – very similar to P6 Pro
• R8ii (Turbo, Class AB) – a bit leaner mids and more sparkle in treble
• N8ii (tube, P+, Class AB) – more revealing, forward mids, and more sparkle in treble

Pilgrim OG, w/SpinFit W1 and stock SPC cable

• P6 Pro – more neutral, natural, clear, transparent sound
• SP3kT (hybrid, high current) – a little more body in mids and a touch more sparkle in treble
• LPGT – more sub-bass rumble and stronger mid-bass punch
• R8ii (Turbo, Class AB) – a bit stronger mid-bass and warmer mids
• N8ii (tube, P+, Class AB) – a bit wider soundstage expansion, more sparkle in treble

Conclusion.

As I mentioned in the intro of my review, I decided to focus this write-up purely on sound analysis and comparison of these latest Pilgrim releases from Elysian with an idea to help my readers in the decision of which one will suit them better, OG or Noir.  And I also wanted to answer the burning question of whether Noir is worth double the price.  Of course, the mentioning of price double is a relative term.  Considering so many flagships I covered over the years, even the price of Noir is still less than some cables I have reviewed in the past.  But for someone who collects budget chi-fi IEMs, it might not be cheap.  So, is it worth a double going from $399 to $799?

If you take into consideration that you are getting a $350 Limited Edition Eros S Noir cable with ConX and TermX options, premium accessories (suede leather travel case and premium SpinFit W1 eartips), more elegant custom matte black finish, and different crossover, driver config, and tuning – IMHO, it worth every penny of the price difference.  Of course, regardless of the cable and accessories upgrade, it all comes down to sound tuning, and here you have the original Pilgrim with its neutrally balanced sound signature and a clear natural tonality versus the EA’s Noir version of the Pilgrim with a more balanced sound signature and a smoother natural tonality.

Is one better than the other?  Not really.  They are different, like two flavors of ice cream.  Both have a similar sub-bass rumble while the Noir has a stronger mid-bass impact.  Noir has fuller-body mids, especially in lower mids with a more soulful tonality, while OG is more neutral and less colored to bring out more details.  I also noticed a bit more sparkle in Noir’s treble which could be the result of a bigger contrast in tonality between warmer mids and treble.  The soundstage expansion feels a bit different as well, with Noir’s left/right spread being a touch narrower (due to stronger bass and warmer mids) which makes the soundstage have more out-of-your-head extension, while OG has a wider soundstage.

At the end of the day, it will be up to a personal preference when picking one over the other or maybe going for both.  But despite them having a similar hybrid DD/3BA config, including the same DD driver, differences in the crossover design, variation in BA drivers, and the tuning customization gave OG and Noir Pilgrim versions their unique personalities which I enjoyed both!