Simgot ET142 Review



The ET142 is Simgot's latest IEM featuring a planar magnetic and a PZT driver. This product will be available March 25, 2025 and will retail at approximately $219 USD.

This review unit was provided directly from Simgot. 

As the market is continually flooded with new in-ear phones on a constant basis, a few things have happened on the past couple of years with the industry. Prices are continually getting cheaper, tuning is improving significantly and rapidly, and the included accessories keep getting better and better.

Simgot's included package of accessories for the ET142 is really wonderful.

The IEM shell is a relatively heavy, but well-built chromed finish metal and looks stunning. The connectors on the cable match its chrome finish as well. The shells are rounded and beveled and are very comfortable to wear despite the added weight.

The included cable is also stunning. It's a simple 2-braided cable, that is silver-plated copper, and in a white jacket. It's incredibly simple, modern, and is very soft and flexible. It's one of my favorite cables I've seen packaged in an IEM -- generally I don't like most that come with the units.



The jack is modular and it comes with 3.5mm and 4.4mm modules. This is probably the only downside with the cable. It's great that it lets you switch it up for different source choices, but because of the modularity, the length of the jack is a big longer than I'd like. But that aside, it's also a very attractive, and heavy-duty chromed connector.

Simgot also included a matching light silver carrying case with a magnetic flap top. There's plenty of room inside for the IEM with cables, and a small set of accessories in the mesh pouch. This will be pretty handy since Simgot's typical set of swappable filters are also part of this IEM, which I'll discuss later.

Overall, I really dig the included accessories package. I am not a big fan of swappable filters though, as it just leads to potential channel mismatch and other problems, but some people will like the ability to change tuning on the fly. 

Sound Impressions

The ET142 has a somewhat balanced to bright sound profile, but has an elevated sub-bass range, and a slightly bright and forward upper-midrange and treble peaks that give this IEM a decently sized soundstage and dynamics, but at the risk of being a little sharp and pointed for some.


In my listening, I actually liked the neutral-bright sound of the ET142 using the default blue filter on some tracks, but there are definitely some tracks where some of the guitar plucks and cymbal crashes became a bit tizzying for my ears. One example is the onslaught in the chorus of "Drown" by The Smashing Pumpkins. Here, there is a combination of Billy Corgan's unusually nasally vocals, and a ton of hi-hats and cymbals and snares mixed with crashing electrified guitars.

This specific track showcases the brighter than neutral sound and more forward  1-2KHz range of this IEM, to varying results.



In the pop track, "Red Wine Supernova" by Chappell Roan - there is a lot of bounce and clarity in the presentation on the ET142. Again, the track leans a little bright in general, and its accentuated even more so on this IEM.

The ET142 has two additional filters in the box: a black and a red filter. Both of these filters tone down the upper mids, and presents a slightly darker tonality, but the treble peaks still remain. Since there's a drastic dip and peak, it highlights the treble even more so, and reminds me a bit of the Meze Empyrean in this regard. I prefer to have it a little smoother if possible and stuck with the blue filter, even if it meant a more forward sound, that can be a bit pointed for me in a lot of tracks I enjoy across the jazz and bluegrass genres.

This IEM does highlight Tracy Chapman's great acoustic guitar work on "Talkin' Bout a Revolution" with its tuning that pushes the guitars to the front of the soundstage. Her vocals are also centered and forward with drums a little backwards. This makes the entire song sound very intimate and endearing. The brightness of the IEM doesn't rear its ugly head here, but I can see some not enjoying it as I would.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I like the ET142's hardware. The entire package of accessories is really solid, and the build quality and stunning look and feel of the IEM shells and cable are top notch. I just wished the tuning matched my likings a little more.

The ET142 is a clear, and transparent IEM. It doesn't hide flaws in tracks, and it is not one that is thick and sweet either. While it's FR has an elevated bass range, it is masked a bit by the treble unevenness that causes some bright peaks to come out. This generally helps with a sense of resolution and clarity, but it does harken back to some older tunings of the headphones world that I remember listening to 10 years ago.

--
View the product ratings on Antdroid's IEM Ranking List and/or Antdroid's Headphone Ranking List

Comments