Noble Kaiser K10 Full Impression
Standing Ovation for the overlord King of In-Ears, ye all who listened his sound!
Before I start, I just want to say a big thank you to Jaben Malaysia for allowing me to spend as much time as I can to the entire Noble Audio line up once again and this is all just a full impression of what I gathered from a good 2 hours listen total.
As always, my impressions are done with silicone tips from my friend's Dita Answer, L size. And the source I use is my own Fiio X1 + E12A Amplifier under Low Gain and Bass Boost turned on.
Design/Build Quality (Yes I've said this before on the Trident but this deserve a special mention)
The design of the Noble K10U deserve a special mention not just because of how striking the color choice is (it makes them look like a pair of very clean large onions), but also how beautifully made they are in flesh. Pictures alone don't do them justice in the "solid" feel they gave once they're in your hands. It's one of those design shapes of an in-ears that made people wonder just what you're wearing on your ears with such a striking shape, color and of course, the Noble crown logo that seem to be out-of-this-world to those who are oblivious to the higher grade of audio stuffs.
Forget about the bus, wearing these alone made some customers in the shop alone wonder what I just put in my ears and many are giving me weird looks. Needless to say, the K10U stands out easily even from a pure aesthetic stand point, and if you can easily catch a person's attention by just wearing these and relax in public, you know you've done something right to tickle their interest in knowledge of an existence of such an earphone and such a company.
Granted personally I am more of a slightly sharp-edged fan of the amazing blocky shape of the BA-driver series on the ALO Campfire Audio line up such as the Orion, Nova and the famous Andromeda, but these round onions are very much a statement of a more elegant-looking fashion sense, even if they're not known to the casual listeners, they will certainly make anyone want to put them on and see what's so special about this unit. Just touching them and you know these are not made out of cheap plastic, they're strong aluminium, much like the Campfire BA-line up's choice of material even though I think both have a bit of difference in what type of aluminium they use.
It's like seeing a red and white-themed Lamborghini Veneno in a parking lot filled to the brim with Proton Personas, Perdana V6s and Inspiras. You just couldn't get your eyes off them and you have all sorts of opinions from looking at them alone!
The most important thing of a flagship unit is to give a lasting impression even from just looking at the product alone, in my opinion. And the K10 not just looked like a strong flagship, it feels like one and it's weight is convincing enough worthy of such a hefty cost.
The K10U has did a spectacular job in making a lasting impression to my eyes from its design appearance alone. Job well done.
10/10 for the K10U here with the design and build quality.
Fit
The fit on the K10U is a rather tricky one to my ears as coming from the Empire Ears' Apollo and Zeus R, which I adore a lot, unfortunately the shell protrudes a bit from my ears due to how large the housing was holding that many BA drivers. And this is understandable since it's not easy to cram 10 to 14 drivers in a tiny shell. But unless you have really conveniently large ears for these type of large earphones, chances are, you probably wouldn't want to sleep with these. I know I wouldn't seeing how I can't even lean on the table without fearing them dropping off my ears due to how protruding they are. (They never fell off though thankfully)
With the right selection of tips however the K10U will snuggle in your ears just fine because frankly they're not as heavy as the Empire Zeus and Apollo which I find to be slightly bulky. For the K10U they still protrude from my ears slightly but nothing as noticeable as the Zeus R.
I will say this though, the bore bit can be challenging for those with smaller ears because it's surprisingly large. And putting my silicone tips through the K10U is actually...kinda hard because of how wide and thick the bore is. But once you got them in a steady position they aren't getting anywhere, that's for certain.
The fit of the K10U is near excellent to my ears. Good job.
Initial sound Impression
The moment I put these in through my E12A amplifier and fired up some Of Monsters and Men, I was easily swept off my ground not because of how much WOW factor their sounds have, but because of how everything seem to be in full-spectrum. The harmony I felt from the Django suddenly sprang to full-force with the K10 and the initial thing I noticed is how full-bodied the bass was. It's so full and impact-filled that I feel like the getting punched by Mike Tyson's speedy jabs.
The mids were brought to a very forward presentation where I feel almost personal with the singers, which I'll get to in full detail soon.
The treble has so much smoothness to it that this must be what it feels like to have smoothness that's even silkier than the Savant. And with the near sibilance-free experience that graced my sensitive eardrums, I told to myself...
"Yep...these things aren't gonna leave my ears until I had my fill with their sounds."
Needless to say, my ears are completely spoiled thanks to the K10U.
Let the scoring began. This shouldn't be too hard.
Detail/Clarity
I am going to be honest.
The detail retrieval here has reminded me once again what it's like to experience sound, not music. Yes...
It's so detailed that I actually went on ahead and see how sounds are meant to be produced to your ears through audio equipment, except here it's in pocket size rather than full-blown speakers and power amps.
So much micro-details were presented to me that it felt a bit overwhelming to take in, but as I let my brain settle in slowly and surely I finally came to understand why the K10 is so good and loved by many. Because while it's extremely musical in its personality with plenty of color, the Kaiser never forget that it's a pair of capable in-ears that is able to produce plenty of micro-details when a song is presented to it.
To test just how stupendously clear the K10 is, I've decided to fire up the DSD file of MJ's Billie Jean and borrowed the Calyx M from Jaben to try this one song along specifically. And I can hardly believe what I am hearing.
Absolutely everything from the recording was presented in spades here.
MJ's breathing, the finger snapping, the drums, the bass, and the guitar solo's finger plucking on the strings were all shown beautifully here. I can easily catch on to everything with almost no effort required. This is absolutely stunning and I don't think it's possible to experience this again since Empire Zeus R was the only IEMs I tried that can make me this immersed to grab details whenever I like yet I can get lost so easily in the musical presentation. And it does it all without a single note sounding ever muddy or veiled in my ears. Clarity is absolutely well-shown here and it's an effortless marvel to me.
I am actually glad the K10 is not a flat-analytical sounding IEM like the Layla because this made me able to enjoy the K10 for what it is supposed to be. An IEM flagship that is both immensely capable of showing your music the layers that it actually have and reproduce the notes in a musical way. It's a capable King of an IEM that commands the music and never forget to have a great time with the notes it commands.
Detail and Clarity gets a near 9.8/10 from me because while it's wonderful, I do think the K10 is very source-dependent to really show its colors. The Calyx M is awesome a player, but with even better DAC/AMP paired together the K10U is going to be a marvelous gem. The only thing holding the K10U back from a perfect score is the slightly more source-demanding nature it has.
Soundstage
In a word - wide. In two words, very wide.
The K10 has a very wide soundstage that is both expansive yet it doesn't come off as fake or artificial at all. The presentation of the instruments positioning doesn't feel offensive to my ears at all and it all felt like its in excellent spot where I can grab everything I like to hear at anytime I want. Listening to complex orchestral pieces with this type of soundstage is nothing short of awesome and immersive.
It doesn't matter if I am listening to Adele singing live or listening to one of Carmina Buranna's performance, all of them feel nothing short of lively and full of power.
The soundstage is an effortless 9.4/10 from me.
Bass
The bass on the K10U is absolutely packed to the brim with punch, impact and decays very fast.They sounded so dynamic and natural it almost feel like what I would hear out of a full-range dynamic driver rather than a balanced armature. Like Mike Tyson, they just punched relentlessly and keep on coming till his opponent falls or fade. And when a song is not calling them, they took a back seat well enough, until you play something that calls for a lot of bass, they always come at you at full-force and these things don't hold back from letting you "feel" the bass.
Producing bass is one thing, but to be able to feel that punch and the satisfaction of letting it ring in your ears without ever sounding bloated or boomy is an entirely different ball game.
I've heard a lot of in-ears that have bloated bass, to some others that have much more controlled lows, but very little can really reach to the close ideal spot of what I want, punchy, powerful and dynamic with a very organic decay. It mustn't linger when it's no longer needed in a song, when a bass part is passed in a part of a track, it should just fade until the song calls for it and hit back in full force, like a bullet train on a loop at full speed, it's silent when it's off somewhere else but the second it came to your station stop it's powerful and full of impact.
That's exactly the bass I like to hear.
And the K10U doesn't disappoint. It delivers what I like in full spectrum.
Listening to Metallica, Slipknot and Linkin Park along with The Rasmus, it's nothing but full-blown dynamic fun with the drums and bass kicking in.
The mid-bass here is so full of life that it lit up even some of the slower metal and rock songs I frequent. The bass is full-bodied to the brim that it even surpass the CKR10 in my opinion, and it took a lot to top the bass on that IEM since it's dual push-pull dynamic drivers really worked its magic on the bass bit with its titanium housing no less.
Metallica's For Whom The Bell Tolls never felt more haunting as the bell rang from the beginning. The AAW 500AHMorph can't even make the bass this impactful and punchy. It's slightly muddier in my ears but that could be due to me not having a decent fit as the demo universal unit wasn't exactly friendly to my ears so there's some factor to keep that in doing this comparison but it's definitely a powerful-bassy IEM. The K10U just feels more effortless and organic and certainly much more controlled thanks to both the tuning of the drivers as well as me having a near excellent fit.
Listening to Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni this feels haunting to the core of my heart. The lingering electronic bass background with Eiko Shimamiya's chanting was nothing short of eerie. All in all a very hauntingly beautiful presentation that this song was supposed to be portrayed the way the artist desired based on the novel and the anime.
Finally on to Slipknot's 9.0 Live recording on the drum solo. Everything was spot on. Powerful and impactful with super-fast punch. No notes were missed from as far as my ears could catch. Everything was caught on perfectly and the double-bass rapid fire from Jay Weinberg.
Joey Jordinson's drumming would be perfect due to his sense of power on the notes, but Jay's razor sharp accuracy makes this a perfect track for me to see how amazing the K10U can really reproduce the super fast drumming notes.
Loorena's The Mystic's Dream is nothing short of terrifyingly eerie and beautiful with the K10U's bass. The atmosphere with the super-low and slow notes immediately sucks me in to the mystical fantasy world that Loorena McKennit had in mind. The sense of escapism to a different world is immediately captured and projected into my head effortlessly due to how full-bodied the bass presented was. Another effortless performance by the Kaiser.
I think I've made it clear enough. The bass on the K10 is simply spectacular.
The bass gets a 10/10 from me. This is easily the best bass I've heard to date. The only other pair of IEM that I gave a perfect score was the Empire Zeus R.
Mids
Everything is just presented in full spectrum once again. So lively, so full of energy and so lush that it's put my ears to near Audio Nirvana zone because of how immersive the mids are on the K10U.
Male vocals, female vocals, group vocals, orchestral vocals, any form of vocals in any form of language, you name it.
There's not one song I played where the vocals feel veiled or lacking something.
Adele, Lenka, Enya, Loorena McKennit, Duffy, Kylie Minogue, Sarah Mclachlan, Amy Grant, Nanna Bryndís? All of them are effortlessly shown in full spectrum of both emotion and raw vocal power. Whether it's on the loudness or the airiness, the K10U did it all without breaking a sweat or any misplaced awkward notes and tone.
Then something magical happened to the male vocal of my choice, Andrea Bocelli.
His voice is just outright spine-chilling with the way K10 made him sang. Every note felt real and organic and the emotion conveyed was nothing short of mesmerizing and exquisite. Male vocals truly sounded magical with the Kaiser through my ears which is such a rare feat as many IEMs I tried tend to lean on the female vocals more. The last thing this happened to my impression was again -- on the Empire Zeus R. Both the Zeus R and the K10U is absolutely magical sounding on male vocals while still being astoundingly beautiful on the female vocals.
That, and coupled with the stunning reproduction of acoustic instruments, especially the Spanish guitars made the K10 an awesome instrument for any acoustic songs enjoyment.
I've said enough on this.
Mids of the K10 is a very near perfect 9.9/10 from my book. Absolutely wonderful, wonderful work, Noble.
To those who want to compare from my opinion, both the Zeus R and K10U are equally "magical" in the mids. It's all down to personal preference from here on.
Mine? I like the fit of the K10U better as it agrees with my ear-shape better so it's the K10U.
Treble
Savant's smoothness on the treble reminded me of how a luxuriously expensive quality silk from royal castles feel like through the skin.
The K10U easily reminded me once more how that feeling was like and it was truly a pleasant experience to my treble-sensitive ears. There was no harshness at all in the treble of the K10U.
Kaiser easily renders even some of the brightest songs in my collection a joy to listen to over and over again, including Adele's Cold Shoulder and OMAM's Little Talks.
It's really hard to tame the treble and sibilance when there are no pop-filters on the mic for the singers, but somehow the K10U managed to tame them to a level that's far more than just acceptable to my ears and that's a feat that needs to be praised.
Granted, some might consider the treble on the K10U to be slightly rolled off because of this but it doesn't feel that way at all to my ears because if I want to say there's some treble-roll-off, I could say it's more apparent on the ATH-CKR10 where the treble is a bit too smooth and thus feels rolled off and doesn't seem to have quite the sparkle I want on some songs that have them.
I like my treble smooth, but I could use a bit more sparkle and the K10U provided that effortlessly.
RIKKI's Suteki Da Ne feels both enchanting and beautiful on the sparkly bits that really made it feel mystifying without ever coming off as offensive to my sensitive ears. So juicy points for that effort.
I could go on and on about K10U's treble smoothness but I think I've spend enough time on this.
The treble of K10U is an excellent 9.5/10.
Conclusion
I think it goes without saying that the K10U is one of my most cherished flagship model next to the Zeus R from Empire Ears that I have the pleasure of trying. It was so effortless on all frequencies that it's mind-boggling just how much hype was put to the Noble K10U and yet it managed to live up the hype from my perspective.
Are they expensive? Absolutely. Is their price justified? That's up to you but to me it's easily justified with this performance on the sound and the presentation. I've seen better and more luxurious unboxing but these are definitely focused towards the in-ears, as opposed to the packaging. Are they for everyone? No, not really. It's all really subjective and in the end people will always have different perspective on what warrants them as "ideal sound". The K10U to me however, is only a few steps away from perfection and I feel it's one of those IEMs where you get what you paid for.
I can definitely see why so many adore them and I certainly know I have, with my heart and mind marked by its addictive musical sound and let me know once more what it's like to truly enjoy my music and hearing my beloved artists' work the way its meant to be heard by them when they can't perform live to me in person.
So as I say --
Long live the Kaiser.
Next Impression: The Final Destination of my Journey -- Noble Katana
