This is a case of what if more than anything else, with two different sets of the XENNS UP painting two different stories. The first clearly had a faulty dynamic driver in one IEM, but also differed slightly in its sub-bass response. It also fared worse in the treble response, but some of that could be attributed to the tips provided earlier. The newer sample with the newer tips tested better across the board, and I can only hope this is more representative of the XENNS UP as a whole since there is a lot to like here.

First impressions are quite strong, especially with the packaging that is a teaser of what's inside with the individually hand-painted face plates that makes these fit in the trendy wired earphone phenomenon bursting on social media. Many are seeing IEMs and ear buds come back in fashion and are indeed considering them as a fashion accessory just as much as from an audiophile's perspective. A rebrand from Mangird to XENNS clearly hasn't worked out as well since many combinations of the two words are still being employed, but 'XENNS UP" is still a fantastic product name compared to "Mangird Tea." Aesthetics, an intriguing name, and even marketing talk about this being a "tribrid" can alone be superficial enough to attract the attention of a whole new customer base. I am just not sure there is enough of a subset between those interested in this manner and those with the disposable income to pay for a $700 set of IEMs.

So the core audience remains audiophiles thus, and XENNS has interestingly made the most of its driver configuration in the regions where you would least expect it. The bass and mids are very well done, which will on its own interest fans of the aforementioned music genres, as well as several others adjacent, including hip-hop and pop music. This is a fun set, not one to treat as a reference monitor, making the "M" in "IEM" as futile an exercise as for the vast majority of IEMs on the market today. The technical performance is also strong, and bests several similarly priced single/hybrid driver IEMs. But it is where I was led to believe treble extension and tuning are its strengths that the XENNS UP let me down. I am not sure if this is a case of too many chefs cooking the same broth, but I was left wanting more in some regions and less in others, especially compared to the advertised expectations from XENNS. Between this, having another set of tribrids that does generally better at a lower cost, and the potential QC issues, the XENNS UP is a take-as-you-will product I currently cannot recommend as a whole.