Moondrop Kato Reviews & Discussion

I have been considering purchasing the Kato IEMs again, but I am concerned about their isolation. I use my IEMs mostly when walking outside or doing chores, so I would like them to be fairly isolating. Can you tell me how others have experienced the Kato and its isolation? Currently, I have the Truthear Hexa, but it feels too "neutral" for outdoor use.

 

Thanks a lot! The crashcourse in isolation and what to look for was something that I was totally unaware off.

 

They offer very little isolation ime. One of the reasons i went with something else tbh. Same use case pretty much.

 

What did you settle on?

 

SoftEars RSV, a couple tiers up but I'm happy.

 

I had to switch the tips I was using on my Kato to get more isolation from drums when monitoring my bass playing. I switched and the amount of isolation increased dramatically. The only problem is I’m not sure what I switched too. I have a bunch of tips laying around. But I’m posting this just to say they can be much more isolating with the right tips.

 

Deepish double flange or foam are the best for that. Rear venting always limits it somewhat bur almost all IEMs with DDs are vented. Same is true of ADEL and APEX. always limits isolation.

 

you know that’s odd.
I recently got the Kato and the upper mids were grainy and harsh.
Dunno
i Found the timbre off because of that.

returned them

 

Any time domain measurements . I find the Kato slow

 

Sorry for asking but did you give it time to break in prior to returning? The effect is less pronounced with IEMs than speakers IME but the two recent single DD IEMs I've tried within the last year were just wildly weird to listen to fresh out of the box.

No useful personal impressions of the Kato so far but this does seem a bit outlier an impression. What did you feed it with, btw?

 

yeah I gave them time.
You can’t really dial it out unless you EQ the heck outta it.

Changing the tips to my Beyer tips improved the sound and took some of the harshness out. But not enough.

I actually still have them. I was going to return them today but got the Meze Alba and I want to do a direct comparison.

Thanks

 

interesting
I wonder if they sell those tips separately.

 

I wonder if my ears in general don’t take IEMs well.
Most of them I’ve tried sound too bright.
Mind you I’m 55 so I can only hear up to 16khz.
I also wear L and XL tips. XL are most comfortable.


is that something that some people run into? That is their ear canals aren’t built for most IEMs?
I have zero issues with headphones and speakers . They don’t sound overly bright to me. And I’m a musician.

im trying a few different tips.

 

Hmmm. The apple AirPod pros might be something I will look into. That sounds like a good alternative. Dumb question. If they adapt to our ear canal, would EQing them further work through Roon?

I have a bunch of different tips I bought and I use the L and XL cause I don’t get a good seal with smaller ones. I might try medium and pushing it in further.

thanks for all the info. Super appreciated!

 

I’m prob gonna pick up some Airpod Pro’s soon as well.

 

you think the Air Pods pro 2 are better sounding than most of these ‘ audiophile’ IEMs?

I think I read somewhere that Sony, Apple and some other large companies have measuring equipment ( and knowledge) more akin to human hearing for something that goes directly into your ear canal.

might be something to look at.

So far my IEM journey has been pretty lousy. They don’t sound really like headphones. Thinner way brighter and harsh.
Or I might just lay off the IEM thing until they figure it out more.


cheers

 

I actually haven’t tried them yet. Just going to get some based on positive reviews here. Probably 80% of my wireless usage is podcasts and video rather than music so I’m not all that concerned with music SQ. I’m more concerned with noise-canceling, comfort, and staying in my ears. I think they’ll probably sound great just based on what I’ve heard here.