Noble Audio Kaiser 10

After spending over a week of daily listening to these ciems I can confidently say that I have made an excellent choice with these ciems. There is nothing that i can say that hasn't been already covered by the numerous reviews. The plentiful reviews that praise the k10s for its amazing lows, mids, highs, sound-stage, separation, and not forgetting about the gorgeous art....they're all true. Noble's TOTL offerings are truly end-game gear for those who are in the hobby.
 
Cons? They're a bit bulgy - but i can live with that. Not much you can do with so many drivers in each ear. Oh and they are a bit expensive. If you can look past those two "cons" then the kaisers will become the best earphones you own.

At long last, I have finally gotten around to writing a review for my Kaiser 10 IEMs. I am sure you all have been slouched with glassy eyes at your keyboard, ear molds in hand, waiting for my comments before choosing your next musical ear plugs. My love for humanity hopes you haven’t. And my apologies in advance for the lengthy read. I wrote this in Starbucks with too much coffee in one hand and too much time in the other!
 
First of all, you should know that I do not consider myself an audiophile. Heck, I don’t even really know what that means or what paperwork I need to fill out for such certification. That said I have always found myself on the same never-ending quest for sonic bliss, a quest (curse) I believe most of you share. Like many of us, I started with entry-level products and quickly moved my way up. I burned through Sennheiser’s, Klipsch’s, Shure’s and a pair of R0s from Hifiman.
 
At each step, I found new things to like but was never fully satisfied. In audio terms, the highs of what was good about a product were always overpowered by the lows of what was not. While I know it was probably wholly psychological, it’s like the flaws in each product got louder the more I listened; At some point, shortcomings were all I could here.
 
Then, like skipping ahead in a movie to the part you know is coming, I decided to just go ahead and buy what I knew I would eventually buy anyway; a pair of high-end customs. So, like all of you have done at some point, I spent a pathological and lifestyle-cramping amount of time on head-fi researching my options and settled on what was then JH Audio’s top-tier product, the JH16s.
 
Oh holy Christmas nuts, the sound was amazing. I had finally found what I was looking for.  My quest was at once over. While the rest of you scrambled for the end of the rainbow, I had the (waxy) gold already in my ears.  So, with the exception of some brief research on amps and other peripherals, I logged off of head-fi and, well, joyfully forgot about you guys for a few years.
 
Then, the inevitable happened…One of my JH monitors disconnected from its cable, slipped between the seats in my jeep, and fell through a drain hole onto the asphalt below. Don’t you just hate when that happens?
 
So, I logged back on to head-fi to find the latest and greatest ear drug. My first stop was with JH, as I had been happy with my 16s.  Unfortunately, due to some issues I don’t feel the need to discuss on here, I decided to look elsewhere. About that time, I received a PM from Brannan introducing me to Noble Audio. Before I knew it, and with all the contemplative effort that goes into buying a box of tic-tacs at the check out counter, I was all in. What can I say…Brannan could sell underwear to a nudist.
 
So, I sent my impressions to Noble and waited with all the patience of teenage boy on a promising prom night. I emailed Brannan relentlessly. I am not going to lie, the wait time, while falling within the build time stated by Noble, was excruciating. Luckily, Brannan was always quick to respond and never seemed irritated, though I am quite sure he was. Hell, I was irritating me.
 
Then, at long last, my wife called me to say my “ear thingies” had arrived at the house. So, I walked out on a client, raced home, declined hugs from my children, hushed my wife with a finger over my lips (the couch ain’t so bad with great headphones), and retreated to a locked room with my shiny new K10s.
 
I plugged the phones into my Ray Samuels P-51 mustang on a line out from my ipod and just listened. I had prepped myself to go in with no expectations, good or bad. In other words, I didn’t want to find the music – I wanted the music to find me. I think many of us are guilty, at times, of knowing what we will hear before we actually do. We read reviews about house signatures, look at response curves, and mistake the subjective comments of reviewers as objective truths. In the end, I think we can influence the sound we hear more than the balanced armatures that produce it.
 
Back to the K10s….
 
So, I tried as best I could to not search for anything specific in the sound of the K10s. Simply put, I didn’t WANT to hear anything when I pressed play for the first time. And guess what? I didn’t. Nothing about the K10 sound jumped out at me. Nothing. Nothing was in abundance. Nothing was lacking. Everything was there, just as it should be. Like a completed puzzle, the pieces were no longer individual, but were perfectly blended together into a single greater image.
 
It found it so refreshing to NOT hear the (fill in the blank frequency range) everybody else said would be so amazing, as I had in all the other products I sampled along the way. I mean think about it, if product X has amazing highs, doesn’t that mean the other frequencies fall short? Or, at the very least, it means the quality of one range is noticeably different that the quality of the others, though they may all be superb.
 
There wasn’t too much bass, there wasn’t too little. The highs were there in spades, but in no way distinguished themselves from the lush frequencies beneath them. Simply put, the sound was seamless. I actually had trouble singling out specific frequency ranges because they blended so smoothly into the ranges around them.  The sound is all there exactly as it should be. And it is magnificent.
 
I have to be honest; I really didn’t expect to enjoy the k10’s more than I did my JH16s, but I do. Of course, I don’t have my JHs anymore for a direct comparison; so pointing out specific improvements over the JH sound would be based entirely on what are certainly distorted recollections. I can say with confidence, however, that my K10s are more listenable than my JHs for extended periods of time. I never have that “time for a break” feeling that I had every once-in-a-while with the JHs. And trust me, as a dissertation-writing Ph.D. candidate, I spend a bunch of time listening to loud music in a quiet library.
 
So, I ran the K10s through their paces, using the same lineup of music I have used for all of my IEMs. My usual round-up includes artists like Drivin’ n’ Cryin’, Deadstring Brothers, Johnny Lang, and the Old 97’s. And I swear….please don’t judge me for the coming cliché… it was like I was listening to some of the tracks for the first time. Just saying that makes me throw up in my mouth a little, but it is true. In fact, I hauled off a spent a small fortune on new high-res music just to put the K10s through their paces. Like a driving a 911 Turbo, you are always looking for new turns to see how the equipment handles. The handling of my K10s has not yet disappointed me.
 
To anyone on the fence about the K10s, I offer the wise counsel of one of America’s most distinguished heroes, David Lee Roth: Go Ahead and Jump. You will not be disappointed. The sound is exactly what you want, where you want it. Of course, maybe I’ll lose a K10 in another tragic jeep mishap one day and be proven wrong by the next great thing, but until then, I firmly believe the K10s are as perfect as possible.
 
Oh…and if you happen to be a nudist, I heard Brannan has a new line of underwear for ya.
 
Andy

Overview:
 
The Kaiser 10, or K10, is a 10-balanced armature driver CIEM from Noble Audio.  The K10 is an evolution of an earlier 8-driver design, this time focused on a more natural sound signature rather than focusing on bass.  To this point, the K10 succeeds it its goal.  No one portion of the sound spectrum is overly emphasized or unnaturally enhanced.  Each part of the spectrum is present and doesn't interfere with the other portions.  The bass does not bleed into the mids, and the mids don't bleed into the highs.  The result is a very natural and highly addicting sound signature that keeps you coming back for more.  
 
Packaging:
 
The K10s came in a smallish brown cardboard box.  The box itself was completely sealed with "Noble" clear plastic tape and very clear instructions to refuse delivery if the seal was broken.  Luckily, my seal was not broken.  Inside was about 1 inch of foam surrounding a black plastic hard case, which was wrapped in a purple-blue "Wizard" cardboard sleeve.  Inside the hard case were the K10s, two rubber bands, a cleaning tool, Magnus cable (already attached to the K10s), and ownership information card.  The hard case has my name engraved on it and a "Noble" metallic label.
 
Design:
 
For my K10, I went with a Wizard design.  The design is impeccably executed.  The shells are blue with what looks like the cosmetic grade silver glitter.  The signature faceplates look to be a mixture of red, purple, and blue acrylic in a nebulous swirl design, with a light-colored wood inlay thrown in for good measure.  The tips of the canals are clear, which looks very nice with the rest of the design.  I can only see two bubbles in the entire shell: one in each canal where the acrylic transitions from clear to blue.  I suspect that this comes with the clear tips, and they aren't noticeable unless you're looking for them; they in no way detract from the K10s. Overall, I am exceptionally happy with how everything turned out, and I'm loving my truly unique Wizard design.
 
 
 

 

 
 
Finish:
 
As we've come to expect with the Wizard, the finish is exceptional.  I cannot find a single rough spot; everything is sanded smooth and ridiculously well polished.  These things are a fingerprint magnet!  Fortunately, all it takes is a quick rub-down with a soft cloth to bring them back to pristine condition.  I am very impressed with how seamlessly the faceplates blend into the main body of the shell.  I also really like the fact that the ends of the canals have a concave shape so that the sound tube bores don't so easily get clogged with earwax.  The shape also makes them easier to clean.  Also, you can tell that extreme care has been taken to ensure that the three sound tube bores are exactly in the center of each canal. This is a definite improvement from my Heir 8.A, which has an almost flat, slightly convex end on each canal, and the sound tubes are not centered, and almost haphazardly placed.  It may seem like a little thing, but it really highlights Noble's attention to detail.  If they care so much about getting such a little piece of the overall design correct, it speaks volumes for the rest of the experience.
 
Fit:
 
My K10s fit absolutely perfectly the first time.  Whew!  It's always a valid concern that after waiting weeks (or months) for your CIEM, it won't fit properly when it finally arrives.  I am glad to say that my K10 fits like a glove. A strange, weirdly shaped, blue, ear glove.    Noble was also very accommodating with another special request that I made for my K10s. After more than 6 months of owning my 8.A, one thing that I really wished for was slightly longer canals (both to improve isolation and improve comfort; it's a personal preference, but in my experience I definitely enjoy my canals to be as long as possible).  When getting ear impressions, I specifically requested that the canals were taken as long as possible.  My audiologist was able to produce impressions with those long canals, and to my great happiness Noble was able to give me extra long canals on my K10s.  Awesome!  My K10 canals are about 5-6 mm longer than my 8.A canals and I couldn't be happier with the extra length.  One final point on the fit: the K10s with their 10 drivers per ear are not going to sit flush in your ear (unless your ears are absolutely cavernous!).  The K10 sticks out of my ears about 1.5 - 2 mm more than my 8.A, so fair warning if you're looking for a flush-fitting CIEM; you likely won't find it in the K10.
 
Isolation:
 
The isolation on my K10 is simply amazing.  They're definitely best-isolating acrylic CIEM that I own or have heard (this is probably in part due to the requested longer canals).  Without any music playing, I can't hear my fiancée talking next to me unless she yells at much louder than an indoor voice.  It's actually a bit surreal; I really couldn't tell that she was talking at all and I had to have her confirm that she was actually talking (I didn't believe her at first and thought she was messing with me!).  With music playing, I could probably sit with my back to train tracks as a freight train passed by and not notice, except for the vibrations in my glass of water.  Yes, it's that good.  The isolation is as good as my silicone CIEMs and custom silicone sleeves, and with music playing may be just a tad bit better.
 
Sound:
 
This is the part that most of you were probably waiting for.   The sound is, simply, amazing.  The bass is impactful with plenty of quality in the sub-bass region, the mids are right there where they should be front and center, and the treble extends up to the sky and beyond.  I would say that no one particular area is emphasized or out of place.  It's unbelievable how coherent the sound is from 10 drivers in each ear.  Everything is in its place and there, without any area stepping on or trampling the other areas.  If I wasn't hearing this for myself, I honestly wouldn't believe how good everything sounds and just perfectly comes together.  I'm sitting here listening to Rilo Kiley and just have a ridiculous, stupid grin plastered on my face.  I think I'm in love.
 
The K10 has a fairly wide soundstage for an IEM; it doesn't match a good set of open headphones, but it matches and slightly exceeds the width of some of the closed headphones I've tried.  I would say that, in my opinion, the soundstage is about 10% wider than the 8.A's.  I would say that there's some height to the soundstage, but it's definitely not the star of the show; it's tall enough to not detract from the rest of the sound, but it's not really anything to write home about. Where the K10 is really shining for me is in depth and layering.  I am finding myself getting lost in the music, shifting my focus at ease between each layer.  It's a really holographic effect, with the different layers of music in each recording weaving effortlessly together to create something that's truly magical.  There is definitely separation between different instruments, but it's very organic and not at all artificial.  Everything is where it should be, and while you can pick out exactly where each instrument or voice is coming from if you want to, you can also just sit back and let everything come together.  It feels like you're sitting in the middle of the band as they play, rather than sitting in a mixing studio trying to produce a coherent sound after the fact from several individual instrument recordings.
 
Source:
 
I briefly tried the K10 directly out of my Galaxy Note 3 and directly out of my MacBook Pro.  The K10s sounded pretty good out of these sources, but to truly do them justice you'll want to invest in a good quality source.  When I plugged them into my Leckerton Audio UHA-6S.mkii, they truly came alive.  I've been listening to 24/96 FLAC files from HD Tracks (including the Eagles box set), and the K10s are singing.  If you're going to drop the money on the K10 or any other top-tier IEM, I cannot stress how important it is that your source is able to properly drive them!
 
Comparisons to the 8.A:
 
Although the 8.A and K10 share 8 drivers in common, there are some definite differences in the tuning between these two CIEMs.  In terms of bass quantity combined with bass quality, you cannot beat the 8.A.  The K10 has very good quality of bass and it can hit hard when the bass is in the music and it's called for, but in terms of quantity there's a bit less of it there.  That's not necessarily a bad thing, really, and it leads to an overall more balanced sound.  However, if you prefer listening to genres where there's a heavy bass component, or you just like your bass to be a bit more present and emphasized, you're probably better off going with the 8.A or the similarly-tuned (but slightly tweaked) 8C.  The other area I'd like to address is sibilance.  With my 8.A, there are several tracks that I simply can't listen to due to sibilance.  I'm very sensitive to it, and nothing makes me stop listening to my headphones faster than harsh sibilance.  It's really not the 8.A's fault; the recordings are known for being poorly mastered, and the 8.A is simply highlighting an imperfection that's already.  One of the first songs I listened to on my K10s was Norah Jones - Don't Know Why.  On my 8.A, this track is unlistenable due to the harshness of her voice in the recording.  On the K10, I can listen to the track at high volume without the faintest sign of sibilance.  I listened to a few other tracks that were unlistenable on the 8.A (coincidentally, mostly songs with edgy female vocals).  No matter what I throw at the K10, I don't detect any sibilance.  To me, this music to my ears.
 
Overall:
 
I've very, very impressed with the K10.  I am glad that I went with the Wizard design option.  If you're on the fence at all, I recommend that you place an order right now.  They're really that good.  I guess now I'm going to have to get an 8C and see if it's an improvement on the 8.A.   

 
Hi all, I guess I'm a Head Fi posting newbie, though I've been soaking up the reviews and forum posts for a couple of years. I've been in the pro audio business working with recording studios, Artists, Producers and Mixers for the past 20 years here in Los Angeles. I spend a lot of time in control rooms and have listened to some truly amazing sounding monitor systems. But my job involves a lot of travel around the world so I started looking for a great sounding in-ear monitor, with good isolation that could come close to the performance of a decent set of studio monitors. I started with the good old UE Triple Fi 10 with comply tips and wore out a couple of pairs of those, but was never really satisfied with the scooped mid freq response of those. 
 
I listened to a lot of IEM's at trade shows and none of them really stood out and provided the sound I was used to in a studio monitor or a decent over ear headphone. I happened to meet Brannan from Noble at one of the shows and took a listen to his demo's. He happened to have a set of Noble 4's and 6's. I talked him into letting me hold on to them for a few days to evaluate. One thing I should mention is I must have pretty unusual ear canals because I really could not get the old Noble tips to seal so well and consequently I wasn't getting quite the low end I hoped for. I put on a pair of large comply tips and got the seal I was looking for. The Noble 4's were immediately an obvious step up from the TF10's - very flat, with a really nice high mid that gave a good presence to vocals, but they did not have quite the bass extension I was looking for. The Noble 6's had that extra low end bump and maybe a half octave more in the bottom end that I was looking for and still had the same presence on top. I was quite pleased with the performance of the 6's, though I wasn't quite getting the ultra high end "air" I heard on near field monitors. 
 
I used them extensively for a couple of weeks and was pretty set on a pair of Noble 6's in the universal fit. Brannan happened to touch base with me and mentioned that he had a set of demo's on the K10 that I should check out when he was next in LA. It literally took 30 seconds of listening to these and I was blown away. They seemed to have much tighter bass than I had previously heard in any IEM and I was finally getting that high end air on the vocal. Wow - these are it and they were also very efficient - the iPhone easily drives these things. One immediate thing for me was that they have a very smooth response, with none of the harshness around 3-5KHz that a lot of IEMs seem to have. But they have a very extended high end so you can really hear that breathy 12kHz that a lot of mixers put on a lead vocal to add that presences and breath. The more I listened the more I liked them. 
 
Not being available in universal fit, Brannan shot my ears and said it would take a few weeks to make the custom K10's.  These would be my first Custom IEM;s and I really was not at all prepared for the difference. With the universals, I would constantly be rotating and pushing them in as they gradually became unseated. Did I say I have funky ear canals? Every few months I was ordering another batch of comply's because they only seem to last a few weeks. The first time I put in the custom K10's, I immediately noticed the drop in ambient level - wow these things really do get over 20dB of isolation and a great seal.
The fit was incredibly comfortable. But the biggest surprise was the low end in these things. I have spent years with universals and its been a constant challenge getting a great seal to really experience the low end they are capable of. The K10 customs low end was a night and day difference compared to even the universal version of the K10 demos. You may all know this already, but for any first timers - get the custom fit versions - it is a huge difference.
 
I won't talk about soundstage because I really don't understand how an IEM in a sealed environment 1/2 an inch from each eardrum can possibly have an effect on imaging :0
All in all - I think if you are looking for coloration then you might want to look elsewhere. I personally want to hear something in an IEM that is as close to pair of near field studio monitors like a Genelec or Adam or JBL LSR. So far these are the closest thing that I've heard. I want to hear it the same way the mixer heard it - no more or less bass, no more or less top end
 
Anyway, I've had these things for a couple of weeks now and I adore them. I can listen for hours on end without fatigue and they sound amazing with well recorded and mixed material. Some folks have mentioned the low end is tight but not maybe for bassheads. Well I really like a good extended bass and I'm hearing the same woof on a well mic'd kick drum that I hear on a pair of big Augsperger studio monitors, though I might not be getting it in the chest.. The low end is great and I couldn't imagine wanting any more. The high mids are very smooth without that harsh 4kHz bite that keeps you from cranking a lot of IEMs. If I could nail it down, I'd say I'm getting that extended low end and a smooth over 12K high end, that I haven't heard yet on other IEM's. As others have said - they are kind of expensive - but these are the first IEMs that I look forward to putting in my ears and listening. 
 
Rich Nevens

SQ has already been done to death, not much to say. I am just so happy to have gotten the best fitting CIEM's I have ever owned.

While I have owned several universal IEMs from various brands, I always felt I was missing something by not having a set of customs made.  I did my homework and started reading tons of reviews of all of the latest and greatest CIEMs on the market.  I kept coming back to Noble and the reviews of the K10 all seemed to say similar and consistent positive things.  So after finally getting impressions done and talking with Brannan, I made my order for a set of CIEM K10s.  Being the impatient person I am I paid the extra to have my set expedited, and even though they were done in lightening speed, the waiting was a killer.  Brannan and Sunny at the lab in China were amazing in answering my emails and both were exceptionally patient with me and never seemed annoyed by my being a pest in asking "Are they done yet?"  Finally I got the photos and they were gorgeous.  I choose a Wizard reprint with a few specifications for color changes and the pictures were amazing, but not even close to how beautiful my K10s are when they finally arrived.  Upon opening up the pelican like case I was in awe of these tiny little works of art.  I'm not sure how long I stared at them before I snapped out of it and plugged them into my AK240 to have a listen.  Well the sound is even more amazing then the K10s are to look at!  Everything I had read about the Noble Kaiser 10 CIEMs is true.  No matter what music genre I threw at them the sound was perfect.  Jazz and classical had instruments with various sounds that I had never heard before.  Vocals were crisp and balanced with the instruments.  I am not someone who has ever done a review with the technical words for IEMs so I will leave that to the professionals.  What I can say is that I have never enjoyed my music nearly as much as I do now that I have my K10s.  Music is just that much more fun to listen to.  I have other IEMs that are more analytic in hearing distinct instruments and vocals and if I am focusing I certainly have clarity with my K10s.  But mostly I just close my eyes and hear all there is to hear in whatever I am listening to and I am enjoying the music.  That is perhaps why I feel my K10 CIEMs are the perfect IEM.  Perhaps the only drawback there is in owning a pair is once you have them there is no going back.  I simply adore listening to music with these and there is no other IEM that I own that even comes close to the perfection of hearing the music.
I did have problems with the fit in both ears but particularly the left.  After sending photos to Brannan and Sunny I had to have another set of impressions made and send those along with my K10s back for a refit on each ear.  That was painful after listening to music with them and I had withdrawal until they were refitted and returned to me.  Yet again the customer service and communication was excellent and the refit was worth the wait.  My K10s now fit like a glove with no break in the seal no matter what I am doing and the sound is even better.  All I can say is if you are going to have one pair of CIEMs and want something that will give you musical ecstasy in addition to being a work of art, the Noble K10 is the perfect CIEM.

 
I received my K10s in mid December. Before that, I owned another pair of CIEMs (the Heir Audio 8.A) which I have since moved on from. The 8.A was John Moulton's original 8 driver design, with a relatively dark, bass-heavy signature.
 
When purchasing the K10s, I was slightly worried that I may give up some of the sound that I loved so dearly. Man, I just didn't know what I was missing out on. The K10 can do everything that the 8A could do, plus more. The highs are incredibly well-detailed and non-fatiguing, the mids are incredibly natural, and bass doesn't overpower, but is still booming when the current track commands it.
 
I've seen other reviews mention that the K10 has less bass quantity than the 8.A, but I have not found that to be the case. Sure, the sound signature is perhaps less dark overall, but far more natural, and the bass is not lacking in any way, shape, or form. I've yet to come across a recording where I've not been exceptionally pleased with the sound quality.
 
Versatility is the name of the game, the K10s will pleasantly reproduce any recording you throw at them. With that said, it is very much so advantageous to feed them with a high quality sound source. I tend to only listen to ALAC files, through an HRT Microstreamer fed through Amarra, or through my iPhone 5s whilst on the go. 
 
Fit and isolation is wonderful, as I had my impressions taken by Brannan from Noble Audio, free of charge. If you happen to be in Southern California, I would highly recommend having Brannan taking care of your impressions, as he knows to take impressions to Dr. Moulton's standards. I had some seal issues on my 8.A's, but my K10s fit wonderfully. 
 
I will also note that build quality is second to none. My K10s are absolutely flawless, and beautiful to boot. I opted for a Wizard design, which was 100% worth it, especially since John took care of me with a design that I have still not seen on an IEM from Noble or any other company. 

Noble Audio’s K10 is the IEM to get. A legendary classic in audiophile circles, this 10-driver IEM has a musical sound that works for all genres and if you want, can be made to custom fit your ears with your own choice of colours and materials.

Having been the owner of several excellent universal in-ear monitors, it was inevitable that the lust to own custom in-ear monitors (CIEMs) eventually got to me. Those with more than a passing interest in CIEMs will know that Noble Audio is synonymous with the best in this area. One of the reasons why I went with Noble was that their designs were simply peerless among other CIEM companies. I constantly saw highly original and striking Wizard (founder John Moulton) designs on Noble’s lookbook and on social media. Pairing the fascinating looks with the fact that the flagship model at the time – the Kaiser 10 (K10) was also the top-rated CIEM on Head-Fi at the time with well over 20 five-star reviews, and it seemed unlikely I would choose anything else.

But I wanted something more. At this summit level of CIEMs I also craved for a customized and personal experience, where I could be involved in the process. Some discerning audiophiles care about such things and are willing to pay a premium on owning products that embody both art and function on the highest level. Noble understands this better than anyone and hence offers the Prestige line, where the aesthetics aspect is taken to very lofty standards by CNC milling a solid block of exotic wood (or other glamorous materials) to the exact contours of the owner’s ear instead of using traditional acrylic materials. It went without saying that I initially opted for a pair of Prestige K10s.

Old Trees, Dripping in Gold

However, it turned out that the Prestige option was not possible for me, due to the shape of my ear canals, so I stuck with the conventional acrylic shell and exotic faceplates. ‘Conventional’ in Noble speak means having your faceplates be crafted out of Amboyna Burl and Cocobolo wood, and the acrylic shells dripping with gold and silver nuggets.

After finalising on the design, the excruciatingly long wait beckoned, but the good folks at Noble (Brannan and Sunny) were professionals through and through and took care of my many burning queries, and I was finally rewarded with these:



Receiving the K10 was an incredibly stimulating experience, complete with a stormproof Pelican case, a cleaning tool, a ‘license card’ with the owner’s name on it, and a pouch containing the impeccably made CIEM. Just a brief look at them indubitably imparts a luxurious, endearing quality that is akin to fine jewelry or watchmaking.






Working Together

The legendary K10s have the following configuration:

10 balanced-armature drivers per side


2 precision-tuned bass drivers

2 precision-tuned mid-frequency drivers

2 precision-tuned mid-/high-frequency drivers

2 precision-tuned high-frequency drivers

2 precision-tuned super-high-frequency drivers

4-way design
Impedance <35 ohms
I would not blame you for dreading that a design as complex as this would result in disastrous synchronization and cross-over issues, but this is wizardry we are talking about here. The K10 was conceived by Noble founder John Moulton (a.k.a. Wizard) before the company came into being, but only launched 5 years later to spearhead Noble’s first foray into the industry. It was designed ‘by ear first and graph second’ with the goal of creating a balanced-sounding flagship-calibre CIEM that people of diverse musical tastes and backgrounds would equally enjoy listening to. It was important to the Wizard for the K10 to not be a polarising flagship that would end up being only favored by fans of a specific music genre. Thus the emperor of Noble’s lineup was born with the noble purpose of satisfying the eardrums of all types of audiophiles.



Living Breathing Disco

As I was new to CIEMs, my shiny new K10s felt awkward, rigid, and intrusive for the first month or so. The situation improved dramatically over the months and now the twisting motion of getting them in feels second nature and the earphones also sit snugly in my ears. The build quality is faultless and they isolate well enough, you’re practically deaf in the subway or when crossing roads.

Firing up the K10s, I felt that there was a holographic imaging that just wasn’t there on the Shure SE846s, the textures were richer and the ‘3D-ness’ was more apparent. Coherency was divine, everything blended together and no frequency range stood out in particular. In short, everything was in perfect balance and solidarity. Among this cohesiveness were impressive details that did not jump out at you or begged to be heard. They lied subtly in the presentation, but when you decided to seek them out, they were always there.



The control is rather splendid, bass is north of neutral but at the same time clean and defined. 1980s dance grooves are especially enjoyable, with the classic Billie Jean particularly shining, and Sasha’s What Are You To Me? seriously thumping. From the sub-bass rumble dropping down real low in Jamie xx’s Gosh to the crooning of Joseph Arthur on Devil’s Bloom to the quirky Gronlandic Edit from Of Montreal, the K10 fills each track’s shoes perfectly, sounding perfectly at home from all the eclectic materials I put it through. The K10 goes from a live disco to a tranquil chamber with a single instrument without a stutter or hint of musical xenophobia, no sides are picked, there really is justthe music.

Mesmerized

The longer you let the K10 do its thing, the more it caters to your total immersion, and the more it evokes a ‘bathed in music’ sensation in you. It is tuned with dynamic musical enjoyment in mind, and not draconian, textbook neutrality. If “Hi-Fi” strictly refers to absolute tonal balance and the pure reconstruction of a recording, then this is proudly not “Hi-Fi”. After all, we as humans are not frequency response graph-reading machines, and I would take basking in luscious sound over the platitude of ruler-flat accuracy any day.



The K10’s engrossing coherence is at its finest when playing complex passages. On John Mayer’s live rendition of Ray Charles’s I Don’t Need No Doctor, the guitar solos swerve around, perfect-layered as one singular body. This is again heard on Sphongle’s Dorset Perception, a track littered with indian bells along with tremendous amounts of layers and minute details. On this particular track the K10 stays musical while keeping all the bombastic bass impacts and maintaining more or less a balanced profile. It’s not unusual to find your brain smack down middle of a complex track with a maelstrom going off around but still hear the distinctive shimmers of guitar lines sparkling in the background. These phones never lose their cool no matter how chaotic it gets.

Coming of Age (Yes, I know this is the Katana’s marketing tagline)

However, too much goodness can be a less-than-perfect thing, and the K10 is voiced so pleasantly balanced that at times I feel a certain hardness and edginess that the SE846 is capable of bringing is smoothed over just ever so slightly. For example, the impact of each drum hit on The Whitest Boy Alive’s Timebomb lacks the razor sharpness of the SE846. Make no mistake about it, the dual bass drivers of the K10 will and can send your brain into a rattling mess if necessary, but a certain aggression is lost amidst the coherency, and I find myself reaching for the SE846 when I want to brandish anger and bang my head until it falls off. In Marilyn Manson’s Third Day of a Seven Day Binge, screams at the climax have drums so stately hammering in the background and everything in perfect balance that it never spills into the haywire, raw and frenzy territory like the SE846 can. To be fair, this speaks volumes about an IEM’s capabilities when you have to forcibly interpret its strengths into a shortcoming and feebly justify it with the bias of taste. The K10 is like the angsty teenage emo kid all grown up, with the rough edges of his personality blunted for the survival in society. However, it must be stated that this observation stems only from a certain idiosyncratic disposition (for aggressive rock), your mileage may wildly vary. In the end it is more than acceptable that strong character is traded for maximum versatility.



But then as I was contemplating all these needless worries, I discovered that 3 hours have passed, and the K10s were still in my ears. This is a testament of how utterly non-fatiguing the sound is, and how well it works for any genre of music. The longer you listen, the more it shows you that it is a maestro of anything you throw at it. Another amazing feat that the K10 pulls off is that you can crank up the volume endlessly, and it will never distort. In fact, the K10 is a real threat to your hearing because they sound so good at any volume and never loses its quality, that you continue to increase the volume after you got used to the previous increase, and it plays well with almost all types of music so it’s not like you have a reason to stop. I regularly find myself listening louder and louder, all the while marvelling at the absolutely chameleonic abilities of the K10. There is no better way to lose your hearing – this is the most heavenly way for your senses to go. The K10 might sound mundane during the warm-up stages but soon all the sweet music it effortlessly renders grows on you and becomes an addiction, to the point where you can’t take the IEMs off. The struggle is real.

However, I should mention that the upper midrange of the K10 does sound a bit hot in comparison after the Vega entered the picture, and the soundstage is also less expansive. It is still a very listenable IEM due to its complete lack of sibilance and jack-of-all-trade adaptability, it’s just not as ‘purpose-built’ as the Vega is in this aspect.



Conclusion

I ordered my K10 near the end of its product life, right before its Katana sibling and successor – the Kaiser Encore, stole much of the spotlight from it. Given its years of illustrious history, naturally I have already heard and read so much on the K10 and knew what to expect. What I eventually got exceeded all my high expectations.

The K10 was first launched in October 2013, and the top-of-the-line IEM space has gotten much more saturated with the competition a lot more fierce than before. Although there have since been many characterful and specialised IEMs, to be honest it is hard to imagine an IEM that sounds more balanced and versatile than this even after all these years. The K10 isa perfection unto itself, seamlessly coherent and easy-going; and no future releases, including the Kaiser Encore, are going to tarnish that reputation. Despite its discontinuation, the K10 will always have its place on a special throne in the IEM hall of fame, in its own niche, shining.

Originally posted on Accessible Audio
Posted to give back to the amazing HeadFi Community

OK first let me start out by saying the wait time is brutal! I think I checked my tracking numbers 763 times. My wife kept telling me have patients my young Padawan it will be worth the wait and as always she was right. These monitors are outstanding, as I write this I am listening to the new Pink Floyd endless river and it's amazing! It's interesting a lot of the other reviews have touched on this but it just does everything extremely well. There's no real emphasis on any one frequency, is kind of interesting to hear you just get lost in the music. I never realized when I listen to music with all my different headphones I'm kind of internally thinking about frequencies and how they affect my listening experience. With a K10 you truly get lost in the music. 
 
As far as my sources go I do have a Fiio X3 II the sounds pretty good with it. I found it all Fiio products have a little bit of a cold feeling to them and these will definitely show you that. I recently acquired the Centrance DAC port HD and it has brought the noble audios to a different level of enjoyment that I didn't realize possible. To my ears this is a marriage made in heaven. I believe the Centrance has a warm beautiful sound. I believe having 10 different drivers in each year really makes a difference when you put different sources to it. It can reveal details that only 10 drivers can give you.
 
Brandon and Sunny have been unbelievable through the whole process. Incredible customer service getting back to me from email questions in under a minute. I can't say enough about it the whole experience with Noble its been great. Just prepare yourself to wait it out, 6 to 8 weeks is easy to talk about but hard to wait for. Mine was a little compounded from a mishap in Canadian customs, pretty much added an additional week. Of course not Nobles fault.
 
Highly recommend these badass chunks of beauty!!!!
 
Sterling 

This is my first review and it's going to be brief...Never in my life have I been so damn impressed with an audio product (I have a bunch) than I am with my Custom K10's!!! There is not 1 thing that I can think of that hasn't completely surpassed my expectations...I'm a picky son of a gun and these have surprised the hell out of me and I had my bar set extremely high...Do yourself a favor...run don't walk to Nobleaudio.com and get ya some