In the iem market, new innovations are emerging constantly. Not every innovation is a winner. The SE846 v2, for example, has swappable audio filters. Only one is good, so there is no utility to the swapping innovation. The Hook has a piezoelectric tweeter and an open back design. Are those innovations an asset or a flop?

The piezoelectric driver takes time to get used to. It is abrupt, yet low impact. The note will quickly enter your ear and then die just as soon as you first hear it. At first it sounds almost rattley if that makes sense. Once you adjust, the speed and tightness will blow you away.

However, the trade off is low treble intensity. It's a laid back sound. I'm listening to metal with them as I'm writing this and even metal sounds tame. This is not a bad trade off if you're listening to something with less intense treble and mid treble, it's actually a plus.

Long story short, the treble is amazing with one glaring flaw

The planar driver is not at all similar to the S12. It has a warm disposition with about average bass, maybe leaning a bit towards above average impact, but not enough for a bass head.

The timbre is upbeat to the point of interfering with sad music. I never listen to sad music with these on, even for this review, so keep that in mind when I end up rating them.

The Soundstage is closer to the size of an over hear headphone than a traditional iem. Not bad at all, no caveats here

The detail is high for the price points, but lower compared to the 500+ market. It's somewhere in between. Gets the job done for sure

When you put it all together you get easy listening that simultaneously brings lots of positive energy with a unique sound.

The engineering on these is revolutionary for the iem market, but obviously there are some big flaws here as well.

8.5/ 10 with under 5 being not worth buying