Hot Sale Earphone Buy High Quality Earphone

Disclaimer: This article is part of the new Wayback Wednesday series which is replacing our “Favourite album of” series.

I still think of myself as the new guy. Hell, I only started publishing HFN reviews since 2014. That doesn’t make for a super long queue. It was a queue that started out on the capable footing of Dita Audio’s The Answer.

Prior to and sometimes since that review, I’ve crashed the lease on smarmy audiophile vocab. Not that from time to time, it was wrong to use words like iridescent, or transcendent; everyone’s got to start out with pretensions before they get to pruning.

Whatever the case, I had mostly kicked the smarmy schtick in time for The Answer to roll up to my desk. My review of it was pretty matter of face. I was happy with my work and still am.

The Answer reminded me that the dynamic driver deserved to be wrapped up in a high-end case and strapped to a high-end price. The Answer reminded me why I’ve always preferred the dynamic driver.

It didn’t do the boomy, bassy, blurred dynamics thing that older FutureSoncis’s dynamic driver earphones did. It did the spacious, the detailed, and the natural thing the way a good over-the-ear dynamic driver headphone does and did.

What it did well, it nailed. Unfortunately, nails have pointy, blood-letting ends. In Dita’s case, that pointy bit started with its standing height, which vertically stretched smaller ear bowls. My wife couldn’t wear it without discomfort. And I couldn’t get it to reliably stay in. For me, its loose insertion angle made it constantly unseal in my canals.

Unfortunately, I really, really wanted The Answer to stay in my canals. I loved then and love still today its naturalness and athletic balance of warmth and cool. I dig its high-geek pretentions, luxurious accessory set, branding, and even its beyond geek design team. Dita’s an awesome brand. The Answer is an awesome earphone whose subjective qualities are made for my listening.

And yet it doesn’t comfortably stay put. As such, I keep it in a safe drawer, ready at notice to compare with current favourites, fads, and fellows. But after meeting the Astell & Kern AKT8iE and Beyerdynamic Xelento, it stays put for longer and longer periods of time.

What I’d like to see is The Answer’s acoustic engine dropped verbatim into a more ergonomic shell, with tighter and upward-angled insertion tubes, and an aspherical body that puts a proper convex surface against the ear. Dita can keep the same forever-cable, and the same accessory set. The last thing they’d have to do is update the name.

Here’s my hat: Dita Your Answer, do.

 

Dita Audio The Answer & Answer (Truth Edition)

Disclaimer: Jomo sent us the Jomo PLB sample for this review free of charge, it does not have to be returned. Many thanks! Jomo is not a sponsor of Headfonia.

About Jomo Audio

The following can be found on Jomo’s website under the „About Us“ section:

Jomo Audio is a Singapore local company founded by a broadcast engineer who worked in the field with extensive hands-on experience of video & audio mixing and signal broadcasting. In partnership with the experts from the hearing-aid business, by the inspiration from the Japanese word of “Takumi” or Craftsmanship Spirit, Jomo Audio crafts monitors that sound wonderful in ear and look splendid in hand. Started in the same year as the Singapore Golden Jubilee, Jomo Audio soon become one of most popular custom in-ear monitor brand in the South East Asia portable audio market. We kept challenging ourselves from all directions to keep up the spirit of innovation and the “Takumi” Craftsmanship Spirit that we in awe with.

Technicals

The beast is packed with three balanced armature drivers per earpiece. Jomo PLB (PrettyLittleBeast) comes with a traditional three way crossover design (one low, one mid and one high). The final sound goes through two stainless steel sound bores before it gets to your ears. Its impedance is said to be 19 Ohms, which is relatively normal for an in ear monitor. According to Jomo’s website the frequency curve goes from 20Hz to 20kHz, so nothing exceedingly special here. But since human hearing is also limited to 20kHz nothing to complain about, unless you have dog-like hearing.

Jomo has opted for the industry standard 2-pin connection, which ensures a secure and tight fit around the ear.

Package

The absolute first thing that I thought of when I unpacked the blue little iems was of Russian Matryoshka dolls. You get rid of the first layer to find a second and a third and fourth and so on. Jomo has carefully packaged their new universals in three layers before you get to your iems. First you have an almost cube sized hard cardboard outer housing that has Jomo’s logo in golden colour on top, after that you get a black leather jewelery-like flip-box that holds a blue aluminium cylinder in it. In this hard to destroy blue cylinder are finally your new toys, securely packed so nothing can possibly happen to them. Under the aluminium cylinder you can find the accessories:

Two pairs of semi transparent eartips (a third pair is already attached to the iems), three pairs of black double flange silicone tips, one 3.5mm to 6.35mm adapter, one flight-adapter and one cleaning tool. You will also find a nice metal warranty card in the box, which has a very premium feel to it. Jomo must have thought Why do packaging the usual way when you can go over the top? when they have decided for how to pack their jewels. This is the most meticulously packaged iem I have encountered so far. The aluminum cylinder actually reminds me of a skin-care brand that uses the same blue for their products.

Jomo PLB’s cable is said to be Plastics One’s reference cable. It has three conductors that split in the middle to four. It looks like a cheap standard cable and is nothing special. It is terminated to a 3.5mm right angled plug. The overall feel of the cable is very plasticy, just like the manufacturer’s name. Many people, me included, don’t like the memory wire as it can become uncomfortable, especially when wearing glasses, so I wasn’t too thrilled when I saw that the cable had one for each ear.

 

Build

The earphones themselves are made of hypoallergenic UV acryl with a Japanese hybird opal faceplate. The faceplate is partly covered with green light-reflecting sparkles on a blue background which looks almost identical to the one used for the transport cylinder. The bottom part of PLB is colored in a lighter blue than the top plate. I wish Jomo would’ve went with the same colour tone since it would look more complete in my opinion, but that’s just me. Anyway, carrying on.

The IEM itself is built in a droplet form, which resembles the typical custom IEM form. PLB’s nozzle is of shorter type, comparing to some other models from different manufacturers, giving a not so deep insertions. They however sit very comfortably and securely in my ears when using the right tips, which Jomo definitely has supplied. I’m usually a Comply tip kinda guy, but the clear silicone Tornado tips Jomo ships with their IEMs are by far the most comfortable and best sitting ones that I have ever let in my ears. They are so good that I use them on every universal IEM I can. Head-Fi has told me that those are Tennmak Whirlwind tips. Never heard of them, but they sure deserve some credit. Fit wise the Jomo PLB does very well, they are about the same size as Noble’s universal model Sage and perfectly sit in my ears. The 2-Pin cable is worn over the ear and takes away any pulling force of it. Isolation is as good as with any closed back IEM. They can’t block out all the noise that surrounds you, but they will definitely help you get rid of some of it.

Continue on the next page for Sound, Source matching and Aftermarket cabling

This week’s picture Sunday features the brand new Vision Ears VE8. To check out recent Picture Sunday Posts click HERE.

What you’re looking at here is one of the very first completed sets of the VE8 custom inear monitors by our friends from Vision Ears in Germany. After the launch of their VE5, which we reviewed almost two years ago, not a lot of news came from Cologne but now VE is back with a new 8 driver.

It looks like Vision Ears has been working a lot with wooden face plates and I have to admit that this new set looks really nice. Amin and Marcel know I like blue so the body color of the monitor is blue. The face plate – which VE chose – is very detailed and you can see the layering of the wood very nicely. You even see two different colors inside of the wood and that’s something special I haven’t (often) seen before.

This actually is the 3rd monitor in my collection that has a wooden face plate. A couple of years ago Rhines already created this really nice looking Stage 5 where the logos were burned into the wood.

Jomo Audio also frequently uses wood to finish their face plates and my Jomo 6R has a simple but elegant wooden finish.

Sound wise the VE8 is neutrally tuned showing a lot of detail. The VE8 has great layering, depth and is nicely extended. Bass quality is high, mids are rich and treble is very extended and energetic without being harsh. It’s very addictive. Expect a full review very soon!

This week’s picture Sunday features the new Audeze iSine 20. To check out recent Picture Sunday Posts click HERE.

Everyone by now has surely heard about the unique looking and sounding Audeze iSine inear monitors. If you haven’t then head over to the Audeze website and read about the world’s first planar magnetic inear headphones. I specifically wrote “inear headphones” as that is exactly what they are: The iSine shouldn’t be looked at as just IEMs, they are more of mini-speakers that are right next to your ear. The canal/sound tube delivers the sound to your ears and in that regard they’re more or less the same as an IEM or CIEM but the sound is so very different.

The iSINE 20 is one step up from the iSINE 10 featuring an even longer Uniforce voice-coil that covers the ultra-thin diaphragm to a greater extent, enabling better control and responsiveness for better bass, clarity, and improved imaging. Zero distortion sound means you’ll feel closer to the recorded to your music.

Yes, the iSine is rather large compared to a regular inear monitor, but again, I wouldn’t really call these IEMs. I’d rather look at them as portable Audeze LCD headphones. The iSine were designed by DesignWorksUSA a BMW group company, and I love the way they look. Even more, I absolutely love the way these sound.

The iSine 10 and 20 will soon be reviewed on Headfonia!

 

Disclaimer: The Fiio F5 was sent to us free of charge in exchange for our review. Fiio is a Headfonia partner but Fiio insists that we keep our objectivity as we do for all other brands.

 

Fiio

Fiio is going strong. Maybe even the strongest ever. Yes their renewal rate might be a little high and I totally understand my readers being upset because of that, but I have to give it to Fiio that each of their updates each time quality-wise remarkably improves compared to the original product. The F5 is Fiio’s third/fourth in-ear if I’m not mistaken with the F1, F3, EX1 in-ears and EM3 earbud as its predecessors. I’m pretty sure many other IEMs will follow but for now this is Fiio’s reference product.

Fiio F5

The new Fiio F5 is a one dynamic driven IEM that is made out of Anodized and galvanized aluminum alloys. The driver’s size is rather large with its 13.6mm and it features an aerospace titanium diaphragm. Fiio also got the yellow Hi-Res Audio label for their latest IEM. The Fiio F5 comes both with a single ended as well as a 2.5mm balanced cable, so the cables are detachable.

The 3.5mm single ended cable has in-line controls and is made with 24 strand OFC. The 2.5mm balanced versions adds 66 stranded copper wiring extra on top of its core, for extra shielding. It’s the first time that Fiio releases an IEM with a balanced cable. According to Fiio their balanced cable reduces left and right channel crosstalk as well as external interference to the audio signal and it improves the signal to noise ratio.

Connector wise Fiio opted for MMCX which seems to be the most popular choice at the moment with a lot of companies. Both the 3.5 and 2.5mm cable come with a cable tie attached to it. As said the 3.5mm cable will work with your Android and OS sources (MFI compatible). If you want to know in detail how this new F5 technically compares to the other Fiio IEMs, you can study the overview on Fiio’s website: http://www.fiio.net/en/products/69/comparisons

Price & Accessories

The Fiio F5 will retail for $64.99USD. The Fiio F5 arrived in a simple yet beautiful black box. The Fiio F5 comes delivered with a lovely little black hard case which makes transporting these IEMs easy and safe. IT will surely be used to transport other IEMS in the future.

Next to the waterproof case you get both the 2.5mm balanced and 3.5mm single ended cable, together with 6 sets of silicone tips: 3 black and 3 mixed-color, both in small, medium and large size. It’s nice to see the good hard box because that’s all you’ll find in the box, accessory wise the F5 doesn’t really excel but for the $64.99 price I guess it’s ok.

Comfort & Build Quallity

The F5’s nozzles are fairly big and with the included tips I can’t say it for me personally is a very comfortable experience as it – after like an hour or so – really starts hurting my ear canals. The Fiio F5 has an angled design which does make it comfortable to wear, size and weight-wise it is a comfortable IEM, it just seems the canals are a bit big for my ears and the tips a bit hard, especially on the inside.

The F5 itself has an outer aluminum shell but the inside and the nozzle has a plastic finish. Design wise you can still clearly see Dunu’s influence but the build quality (beside for them using plastic for the inside) and finish actually is very good. There are 3 ventilation ports on the inside of the shell and one on the outside.

It also is remarkable though to see a detachable cable in this price range. I’m happy to see Fiio chose to go with the MMCX connectors on their cables as it allows us to use it with a whole set of higher end aftermarket cables. The connectors click in nicely and you can give the cable a good snug without them popping out of the connector in the shell.

The standard 3.5mm cable is very basic: it’s terminated with a straight 3.5mm plug and it doesn’t really have a strain relief. The cable with in-line function is light and it won’t drag down your monitors from your ears. The 3.5mm cable doesn’t suffer from any friction noise and the in-line controls are very easy to use. There’s a very small button on the side which lets you switch between Android and OS sources. Be sure you have a paperclip available to flip the switch. All in all it’s a decent cable but it’s one of those “one in a dozen” cables.

The 2.5mm balanced cable has a nicer finish than the regular one and it seems to be a bit sturdier. Unfortunately it comes without in-line controls. Like the 3.5mm cable there is no real strain relief. It’s even more quiet than the regular cable and it sonically also is the best performing one. We’ll come back to this later in the part on “sound”.

The article continues on the next page where we look at its sound and driveability. Click HERE

Specifications

FR: 20Hz – 40kHz

13.6mm dynamic type driver

Impedance: 32Ohm

Sensitivity: 102dB/mW

Cable length: 120cm

Weight: 21g

The article continues on the next page where we look at its sound and driveability. Click HERE

Disclaimer: Grado’s Japanese distributor, Knicom, supplied the PS2000e for this review. It’s not mine and will go back today. The PS2000e goes for 2,695.00$ USD. You can find out more about it here: Grado PS2000e.

Update: I’ve added a few photos that hopefully will show more detail.

Falling for Grado’s PS1000 was trivial. Falling from love into limbo was also trivial. Until February, the PS1000 was my favourite high-end bugger-to-wear headphone. A trip to Fujiya Avic’s Headphone Festival fixed that. What fixed it was a trip to the RHA/Grado distributor booth. The fix wasn’t the chance I had to hear the PS2000e. The fix was the limited edition Grado GH-2.

I purchased one immediately.

And what came to my door was an RS-2e. An email to Knicom brought with it an fierce apology – not that it was their fault. Grado packaged the GH-2. The distributor shouldn’t have to open each and every box to ensure that Grado did their job. But they do now. What came from that mistake was a complementary package of Comply tips, a brand new (opened and checked) GH-2, and weeks prior, the chance to take the PS2000e for a weeks-long spin.

Speaking of a long spin, this PS2000e demo has seen a few things. Check out the corrosion on its cups. It won’t wipe away. It was there when the phones arrived in my office. I assume it is due to this headphone being a pre-sale unit; or perhaps because it has been handed back and forth to too many eager headphone festival fans.

Whatever the case, the corrosion dampened my desire to take pretty photos.

Not sound

I’m putting the finishing touches on this review on 7 June, 2017. That spin ends tomorrow.

It’s a spin that I’m not happy to brake, park and package. The PS2000e fixes a few key issues I had with the PS1000, whilst holding onto a great base sound signature. The PS2000e is about as heavy as the PS1000, and if you’ve got limited cranial headroom between your ears and the top of your skull, you’ll have a bugger of a time keeping the any PS series on.

I’ve not had the PS2000e fall off my head, but a wiggle left or right forces momentary rifts between my ears and the PS2000e’s ear pads. The headband doesn’t batten down far enough to stay solid on my head. My fix is a casquette. Some headphones fit more loosely, and a few headphones – I’m looking at you MyST OrtoPhones and IzoPhones – clamp far tighter.

My comfort threshold is about three hours, after which the top of my head tenders up. This is a marked improvement over the PS1000, whose absolute comfort ceiling is about two. Four hours is about as long as I can wear any headphone without irritation, so three ain’t at all bad. If you’ve got a funny bone in your cranium, you may want to invest in a casquette. If you have thick, bouncy hair between that bone and the headband, you may be fine.

The PS series’s salad bowl pads are brilliant. They grip with decent, but never painful, force. And, for foam, they are robust. You can flatten them, stomp on them, and even put them through a mild tug of war. They resist baby-finger pokes, and even at age, barely shed. By contrast, typical foam rips. The PS2000e’s salad bowls slip on and off their mounting flanges, lickety-split, and with out the pomp and frustration of over-engineering. These pads support themselves, protect the drivers, and, in the unlikely event that you damage them, are readily available for purchase. Are they perfectly designed? Of course not. But they embody the design philosophy summed up like this: simple is best. The PS2000e’s headband is wider than the PS1000/e’s is. Like the PS1000’s headband, it ages damn well, looking better and better the more you wear it. It’s leather, so make sure to touch it often. Smear it with head oil and sweat.

As for the box this 2000$ headphone comes in? Knicom shipped this PS2000e in a GS1000 box. I have no idea at all what the actual retail box looks like, but I assume it’s still the same tragic cardboard take away box that comes with the PS1000/e. I know for sure that in that box is the familiar 6,3mm – 3,5mm step down stereo adapter. Currently I have it plugged into my Onkyo DP-S1, whose volume is set to 26/60 and which has been looping New Order’s Brotherhood for the last three hours.

Usually I go for Power, Corruption & Lies, but there’s something so fistbumpingly honest about the PS2000e, that puts Brotherhood on the brain.

Let’s talk sound

Sound after the bump:

Disclaimer: This article about the Sennhieser HD650 is part of the Wayback Wednesday series which is replacing . Check out the other Wayback Wednesday articles HERE. 

 

A lot of readers have been asking me when I was going to feature the good old Sennheiser HD650 on our Wayback Wednesday series, and well, today is the day. If you’ve been following my audio journey over all these years you of course know that I have a special connection with the Sennheiser HD650, but you’ll also know that a lot of people don’t like really like it. Normally I would say that that’s a very normal thing, but in case of the HD650 I would say you’re delusional: if you don’t like the HD650, you don’t like music.

In all seriousness though, I can see why one would prefer the HD600 or HE-560 over my precious headphone but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad headphone. A year or 10 ago I actually bought the HD600 first and I really liked it, but it was only after I bought the Beyer DT990 and the Lafigaro 339 amp that I felt I was missing something while listening to the HD600. Right now I would label it as musicality, even though the HD600 fans won’t agree with me. (But that’s perfectly fine)

It’s the HD650 that made me fall back in love with music.

To get the best out of your HD650 I recommend using a very detailed and neutral sounding dac, combined with a desktop amplifier, preferably one on tubes. Hook up the 250Ohm HD650 to an OTL amplifier such as the 339 or the Bottlehead crack and you should get goosebumps. If you don’t, I recommend seeing a doctor. Urgently.

The HD650 lets you enjoy your music. It’s detailed, sounds dynamic and it has excellent bass and treble with nicely rich (but not very extended) mids. With the right amp the HD650 doesn’t sound veiled, don’t let anyone fool you with that argument. But yes, the HD650 is a bit slower with full bodied and impactful bass. Its delivery is smooth and musical and it’s all about the music.

So basically as soon as I had my HD650 I sold the HD600 and I haven’t regretted it ever since. If I need a faster, cleaner sounding headphone, I pick up the Hifiman HE-560 and to me this combination of headphones will have all your wishes covered. We’re never sure that Sennheiser will keep making the HD650, so as a precaution I have bought an extra unit just to be sure I. The second HD650 is safely stored away in my office, it has never been unpacked and I don’t plan on doing so unless my first unit becomes irreparable.

Is there anything I would like to change in the HD650? Well, I wouldn’t mind Sennheiser changing their paint/headband material thing so the headband wouldn’t chip as fast as it does now. But I wouldn’t change the sound signature as there are enough other headphones on the market that deliver a different sound. Let the Sennheiser HD650 be a romantic headphone, it does so perfectly.

Still not convinced about the HD650 (which you really need to own at least once in your life time), then check out Dave’s review of it here:

The Dark Sennheiser HD650: All For The Music

 

Disclaimer: Oriolus Forsteni is sent us by Oriolus Japan. We received the IEM free of charge for reviewing. Forsteni goes for 374$ USD on their website.

INTRO

I guess you remember the Oriolus V2 review that I posted couple of months ago. If you haven’t read it, I strongly suggest you to do so, as it’s one of the best IEMs today. Also, I will compare the Oriolus Forsteni with the original Oriolus several times in the review, so reading that could be handy for you. The company is very serious about audio so let’s see what they’ve put on the table this time around.

Achieving utmost purity in sound is Oriolus’ only mission.

Oriolus is a Japanese Hi-Fi brand that doesn’t have a big history for now, but they have a bright future ahead. They proved themselves solidly with their Oriolus IEM, which was a real landmark. Oriolus just started to diversify their lineup, they will introduce a portable tube amp, a Hi-Fi DAP and an assertive 10BA-Driver IEM soon. You will most probably see their reviews on Headfonia as well.

ORIOLUS FORSTENI

The hybrid clash is continuing to climb among manufacturers, and it is also going on in mid-fi and low-fi areas lately. Oriolus Forsteni basically has 1 less BA driver inside of it compared to the original Oriolus. That means the configuration consists of 1 Dynamic Driver with 2 Balanced Armatures.  There is just 1 BA driver less but the unit is much more affordable, so it is an eye catching hybrid in the market. Based on the performance, I can clearly say Forsteni deserves that attention.

The Oriolus Forsteni could be seen as a budget friendly version of Oriolus V2 at first glimpse, but it is not just a mini-Oriolus. It deserves to have its own audience with the performance and the sound character that it has, which is quite different from Oriolus V2.

By the looks of it, the company will continue to give names of the Oriolus bird family to their IEMs.

The “grey-collared oriole” (Oriolus forsteni) is a species of bird in the family Oriolidae. It is endemic to the southern Maluku Islands. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests.

PACKAGE and BUILD

The box is exactly the same as Oriolus, which is a good thing as I find it quite serious and simple. It reflects the brand’s attitude to me. Not flashy, not showing off, just the Oriolus brand name in gold color, and that’s it. You know this is an Oriolus: Simple, yet elegant. As you see from their mission, their only goal is reproducing the purest possible sound, not making flashy boxes or designs.

For the contents inside, the only difference is Forsteni doesn’t have a case, instead it has a nice old school type of pouch which looks very cool to me. Drop the IEMs in it, squeeze it with the ropes and go anywhere. It’s not protective but it’s still very nice and original looking, and most importantly it’s practical. Also I understand not having a dedicated metal case for this cutted price.

Build quality is identical, feels solid in hand just like the flagship. No compromises based on price, same quality. This one has a grayish faceplate instead of black and looks-wise, it’s very smooth and pretty. It also makes sense when you consider it’s model name.

FIT and ISOLATION

One of the highlights of Oriolus Forsteni is the fit. The housing is much thinner in comparison and the shape is very ideally designed. The inner part -the part that contacs with ears’ concha area- is shaped like a custom IEM so it sits firmly. I fell in love with the fit to be honest and feels like it’s custom for my ears. Parallel to that, isolation is very good with Forsteni. Especially with my favourite of choice (foams) it feels great and blocks a good amount of noise. Of course the sound vent for the dynamic driver affects the isolation, but not too much.

Take notice though, the length of the housing is almost the same with Oriolus. That means you can still face some trouble if you have rather small ears. Your experience can always be different. This is no small IEM by any means but fit is blatantly better than Oriolus. I personally think it should fit very nice for most people.

Click HERE to go to the next page, or use the page numbers below.

Meze Audio: Meze 99 NEO

When I’m on about earphone comfort, I’m on about Beyer’s Xelento and Astell&Kern’s AKT8iE. When I’m on about headphone comfort I might talk about the DT880 and to a lesser extent, the HD600. If I didn’t in the same breath mention the 99 Classics, all credibility of mine is gone.

All of it.

There really isn’t anything quite so comfy that you can squish pop over your ears. There’s nothing that so easily disappears, that you so easily forget about wearing. Apart from its man-made pads, the 99 Classics is as heavenly as it gets. The Meze 99 NEO is exactly like it, but with plastic, rather than wood shells. Its pads are now easier to exchange. And, its sound, while just as good as the original, has more high-frequency bite, which helps extend the size of the crowd at Rattle and Hum, and the club size in Armin Van Buuren’s live shows.

The Meze 99vNEO is 60$ less expensive than the original, and latches onto the 99 Classics Walnut Silver’s yoke and fastening hardware colour scheme. Its black cups and racing stripe put it squarely in the beginner BDSM scene, which may or may not be a riot of an idea. I like its look better than the original, but as I discover the heady world of floggers, collars, and ball gags, I sort of wish the headband was chain.

Expect good (and evil) things from this headphone.

Disclaimer: The custom Kaiser Encore was graciously provided by Noble Audio free of charge for this review, many thanks! I only had to pay for customs, import fees and to have my impressions shipped to their US office. The Encore will stay in my inventory and will be used as a reference in ear monitor for future reviews. Noble Audio is not a site advertiser.

About Noble Audio

I shamelessly copied this part from my previous Sage review and applied only minor changes to it.

Noble Audio, or simply Noble, is an American based company that manufactures custom made in ear monitors as well as universal models. They are still a relatively young brand being only formed about four years ago, though the Noble team can look back on a bit more years of experience in the field. Before Noble was born Dr. John Moulton, aka Wizard (nickname given due to the magnificent designs he created), founded Heir Audio. In 2013 Moulton parted ways with Heir and formed Noble Audio together with some former colleagues.

Noble is one of the most unique and innovative brands around. When they started they introduced the audiophile world a complete lineup of IEMs, among them their former flagship Kaiser 10 (or K10). The K10 still is considered as one of the best in ear monitors available and enjoys legend status. What makes Noble so unique in my opinion is not only the incredible designs the Wizard creates but the fact that you have no less than four different options for their models: Universal, Acrylic CIEM, Silicone CIEM and Prestige CIEM. Most of them are manufactured in different laboratories, either in Asia or USA. The Prestige models are absolutely different to what any other manufacturer offers, those are made of solid materials like exotic woods and carbon glass or even feature small pine cones. Some models, like Sage, also make it to a Wizard universal, those feature a face plate designed by Dr. John himself.

If you want to take a look at what Noble is capable of building see here: Noble Lookbook

Lately Noble had the guts to rework two of their most successful models – The Kaiser 10 and Savant. Both new models now feature custom built balanced armature drivers, so no more off the shelf BA‘s. Today we’re looking at the successor to Noble’s former flagship – The Kaiser Encore. But first we’re looking back at the Kaiser 10.

Noble Audio Kaiser Encore

About Kaiser 10 and Kaiser Encore

Back in the day when Noble Audio was launched they immediately introduced what was the most innovative IEM design at that time, featuring non less than ten balanced armature drivers per side. It to this date is considered one of the best monitors available and has been highly requested even shortly before it was replaced by the Kaiser Encore. The Kaiser 10 was created with the goal to form an in ear monitor that is capable of producing the finest sound with all genres.

The K10 has won multiple awards from international press all over the globe and has earned the deepest respect from the most critical headphone community around. It has received 28 consecutive full five star reviews on Head-Fi for the custom version alone. No other earphone or brand has been as successful as the Kaiser 10 and Noble. It is highly respected for the deep thunderous and incredibly controlled bass, immense detail reproduction and fun signature that drags you into the music while retaining a clean sound. The Kaiser has been placed at the very top of Noble’s line until Katana came around. Katana has been introduced as the very first of Noble’s in ear monitors to feature custom built balanced armature drivers. This is something only the best and biggest brands can do. It means that the drivers for each Katana set are built on the exact requests of Noble. No more workarounds. Katana though was not introduced as the new sole flagship, it has been positioned right next to the K10, giving both co-flagship status. In the meantime Noble has been working on the successor of the Kaiser 10 and they introduced it in October of last year – the Kaiser Encore. According to Dr. Moulton the name Encore is supposed to symbolize the evolution of K10. It sports just like Katana custom built balanced armature drivers and is said to be the lovechild of Katana and K10. Taking the air and extension of Katana and combining it with the low end grunt and fun musical signature of K10. Kaiser Encore’s mids have also been retuned to form a bigger and more spacious sound stage and to add more clarity to the picture.

The Kaiser Encore is offered in three different versions. You can get a universal version with aluminum body and top plate, a custom build with acrylic housing or you could get a Prestige custom build.
Prices start from 1850$ and go all the way up to 3150$ depending on your choices. Shipping worldwide is included in the price.

Technical info

Not much is disclosed on Noble’s website when you look for the Encore. However Brannan has provided me with some information about the new Kaiser:

Encore features the same ten BA driver configuration as its predecessor. Two drivers for low end notes, two balanced armatures for mids, two for upper mids, dual BAs for highs and another two drivers for upper treble. Its impedance is generally below 30 Ohms, but depends on the frequency it is measured with. The sensitivity of Kaiser Encore is slightly higher than the K10’s. The Kaiser 10 has been considered as one of the more sensitive IEMs.
As noted before, the most important technical difference are the custom built drivers.

It continues with Custom build choices (Personalization), Package and Build quality on the next page