New Noble Katana Universal Flagship IEM

Amen. I think sometimes we audiophiles forget that the purpose of our gear is to listen to (and presumably enjoy) our music, rather than the purpose of music being to listen to our gear. Over the course of the last year and a half, I have owned (Andromeda, MDR7550) or demoed (UERM, UE18, 64A U12, 846) many of the highly regarded IEMs in the business and while some were arguably more resolving than the K10, none were flat out more enjoyable to listen to music, no matter the genre or provenance, with than the K10. Not anywhere close all said and done. And if that isn't someone's end goal, then he and I ain't even playing the same sport.

 

But of course not everyone finds the same presentation enjoyable.

 

That is why the Katana is not a NEW flagship. Brannan it toting it as a co-flagship. A different sound to the k10. A wild guess would be a more studio sounding C/iem and less laid back and polite as k10 to complement it.

 

And I think it's silly to lock this different signature under a higher paywall; with no justification other than its the latest thing on the block. Esp. with the driver difference

 

Silly probably isn't the word I would use..

 

And that is what makes this hobby (both in and of itself and the attendant online aspect of it) equal parts fun and at times aggravating.

 

The problem is the market wants to pay, for whatever reason. In a market bearing a level of hysteria (for lack of a better word) you could in fact suffer by not pricing your product at market levels as price becomes a leading driver of perception of quality.

 

I know it's foolish to equate driver count with sound quality, but since we're talking about market perceptions, it's odd to me that they would offer a 9-driver IEM for more money than a 10-driver, and within throwing distance of the Empire Ears Zeus that has 14 drivers for $2,099.

I'm sure Noble wants to dispel the notion that more drivers = better sound, but that's going to take a lot of education on their part to explain why their 9-driver IEM costs just a little less than a 14-driver IEM.

 

it's not about the drivers, it's just about the sound

 

Hell to the yes; were you around for the meltdown when somebody cracked open a Savant and made the driver count (about which Noble was being coy) public?

 

Yes, I remember that. I hope I made it clear that I don't care about driver count, just how it sounds. But that's a minority view.

 

Yep, K10 doesn't have that bright, harsh, glarey treble, and people who take that as "good" are just noobs. In my book however K10 presents an overly thick and artificially smoothened over sound signature which is an antithesis of my preference (mostly as neutral and plankton as possible), and the resolving/plankton extraction technicality isn't impressive at all in comparison with UERM which is a product years ago and $650 less. On top of that Noble made the Prestige K10 going for $2650 and up which is pure big dick syndrome. Oh and I forgot how poor the Noble product presentation and accessories are. I feel even RHA MA750 has a better product presentation and accessory collection. The construction and design of Noble IEMs are among the worst I've ever seen.

But yeah, that's all personal preference ranting, and I can totally see why people are extremely satisfied with K10.

 

I don't know if you like bad treble or are agreeing?

The entire thing is made of wood, I read somewhere that it takes 60 man hours to make a pair. It is also audio jewellery that no one else is doing to this standard and priced as such.

Yeah when I got mine they were pretty crap, lots of people complained and they now include much better cases and offer better cables. Since mid 2015 they improved this. However a counter point is the accesories they sent me were fine for the job.

I appreciate your opinion, I really do. I know we have very different tastes as I prefer a slightly warmer sound with slight treble roll. I find it sounds truer to the source this way.
I've heard a lot of iems and ciems and my k10 is indeed slightly warm, however I don't believe it lacks in resolving prowess in the least.
If you like bright, in your face, accentuated treble and piercing highs, sure stay away from the k10. Otherwise it is a near perfect product.

 

You are overlooking imaging... K10 has almost none. Otherwise, an agreeable signature that a lot of people seem to like.

 

When we're talking IEM imaging (or soundstage) we are arguing about the whether Lilliputians or Blefuscuans are the taller of the two. The gap in imaging quality between the best imaging IEMs I've owned, the Andros, and the K10s were in the daily course of listening to music negligible. As opposed to headphones where imaging and soundstage differences are much more readily apparent and vary more widely from phone to phone.

 

This gif sums up the Noble thread rather well. Perhaps the most annoying thing about Noble, these f'ing gifs.

 

I think the notable difference here, besides being 9 vs 10 drivers, is that they're specified as "proprietary Noble drivers," which I don't believe have ever been used before. So, I guess the implication is that they can get a K10-level sound out of less drivers since they've designed their own drivers now. That, or maybe they're just bigger or something, who knows; it's already pretty tight trying to fit 10 per side.

 

Tell that to Empire Ears...

 

I knew someone would point out an IEM with more drivers! Heheh.

I'm definitely aware that it's possible, Wizard built a 20 driver, even (http://www.head-fi.org/t/684787/noble-audio-the-wizard-returns/4140). I guess it's just not a priority past a certain point, though. Personally, I'm all for reducing driver count and increasing quality of drivers if it can bring more coherence and less complication with crossing and timing drivers.