I would like to Thank Noble Audio for providing me with a review sample of K10UA in exchange for my honest opinion.
Manufacturer website:
http://nobleaudio.com/en/shop/universal/
* click on images to expand.
I would like to start this K10UA review with a quote from my Noble Savant write up posted a few months ago: “I’m pretty sure I’m gonna eat my words if I get a chance to test/review K10, but it takes a lot of confidence as well as knowledge and experience to prove to the world that you don’t need to have half a dozen to a dozen of drivers to make IEM sound good”. Three months later I’m still sticking to my quote because I really enjoy listening to Savant, but now I’m also "eating" my words while listening to Noble universal K10UA. Without a doubt it’s not about the number of drivers but how they’re actually tuned, and with extra building blocks The Wizard was able to shape K10UA sound signature into a perfection of a true 10-driver flagship.
Either if you are a serious audiophile or just an aspiring audio enthusiast, you really have to be living under a rock not to be familiar with Noble Audio and the dynamic duo of Dr John Moulton (known as “The Wizard” who creates all their masterpieces) and Brannan Mason (the business manager behind the driving wheel of the company). I already talked about Noble Audio and their impressive product line up in my Savant review (
HERE), but want to mention again that Noble is one of the few companies that doesn't just see the beauty in the sound but also pays a very close attention to the beauty of the design, making some of the best looking Custom IEMs that belong on a display in the museum rather than inside of earwax filled earcanals
I strongly recommend visiting their
Lookbook page and
Prestige product page to see the level of craftsmanship applied to various exotic materials shaped into K10 and Savant monitors. And even so Prestige beauty has a premium price tag, you can still enjoy the sound of K10 and Savant at a fraction of the price when you go with either Acrylic or SLA (3D printed) custom models, or with universal fit K10UA recently introduced in all new aluminum shell design. Plus, around holiday season Noble offers additional discounts to sweeten the deal, and if you compare it to other monitors, the pricing is actually very competitive. Now without further ado let’s move on the actual review and what I found after spending two weeks testing K10UA.
Unboxing.
I usually move pass cardboard packaging and on to the actual product box, but it was hard to dismiss one interesting design detail behind the cardboard shell. Sure, it’s a nice box with a Noble signature crown stamped on the top, but on the bottom you will find two cut out flaps you push up to assist in removal of the actual product box. Maybe a small detail for some, but I did appreciate the thought behind it because the product box was jammed tight and it almost required ripping the cardboard apart in order to remove it otherwise.
The actual product box is the same as recently introduced with Savant. We are talking about a gift box package where you can get a sense of premium quality just by feeling the texture of the box surface with a swirling pattern and a glossy black "NOBLE" print with a signature crown symbol. The box also has a Wizard signature stamped on the sides which adds a custom “autograph” touch to the packaging. There is no spec, only an acknowledgement of “ten balanced armature configuration” and a proud description of this being “Wizard’s greatest hits” – a very bold and self-confident statement. And just like with Savant, under the box cover you will find a genuine Pelican 1010 case with the product and all the included accessories inside.
Accessories.
I also mentioned this in my Savant review that it’s very rare to see Pelican case with Universal IEMs because this case is more common with CIEMs. I just assume that to simplify the logistics of packaging, Noble Audio keeps it similar between all of their custom and universal models. It's definitely a nice bonus with a bulletproof protection when packing your UIEM/CIEM along with other accessories. For everyday use Noble also included a velvet draw-string pouch with a company name on it. Other accessories include a carabiner clip for Pelican case, a cleaning tool for the shell, 2 rubber bands for securing external amp to your DAP, a pair of "crown" stickers with Wizard signature, ownership info card, and lots of eartips. Accessories package is nearly identical to Savant, but to distinguish it with a more premium touch – eartips were stored inside of aluminum perforated organizer card.
A cleaning tool is another accessory associated with CIEMs, and here it actually comes handy for CIEM-like 3-bore nozzle design of universal K10UA, though you do have to realize that silicone eartips will keep the nozzle away from digging into your earwax. Similar to Savant, you will also find 4 complete sets of premium eartips. There is a hybrid red stem S/M/L set with a more springy cap (my favorite for the best isolation), another hybrid blue stem S/M/L set with a softer cap and a narrow bar across the bore opening (like in Senns eartips), a set of S/M/L dual flange silicone eartips, and finally a set of M/L soft memory foam eartips (not Comply). A proper selection of eartips is crucial for K10UA performance to ensure a better seal which improves a low frequency response and provides earplug-like isolation. Despite a deeper and heavier metal shell, paired up with large size eartips I found K10UA to provide excellent passive noise isolation.
Overall, this is a decent selection of accessories for a premium set of monitors. I did mention already in my Savant review to make rubber bands bigger since they would be too tight for any modern DAP/amp combo and perhaps to think about using genuine Comply tips since those have a silicone core less prone to ripping. But one more thought did cross my mind. Noble design is so creative that I would have loved to see what The Wizard can come up with to make a custom case. Perhaps a cool leather case with a stamped Wizard crown logo?
Cable.
I typically consider the cable to be a part of the design unless if it's a detachable one. If you can replace it, then I count it as an accessory. Personally, I'm a cable believer and have a collection of various silver-plated, pure silver, pure copper, and gold plated silver cables I like to try with different IEMs/CIEMs. But in order to appreciate the replacement, I always start with a stock cable to get used to the original sound signature intended by the manufacturer, especially since Noble didn’t just use a generic cheap OFC cable but actually went with a more premium silver plated copper (SPC) wires.
I was definitely pleased with a cable Noble included with K10UA. The cable itself is made out of 4 separate conductors, each one is thin and soft with a tight rubbery jacket, twisted in pairs going to L/R sides and then twisted again after y-splitter going down to a very slim gold-plated 3.5mm jack. Y-splitter is just a clear heat-shrink piece of silicone tube and a chin-slider is another loose piece of the same tubing that slides up/down. It was a wise decision to keep all 4 wires separated and isolated all the way down to the headphone connector, thus preventing a noise coupling of a shared ground below y-splitter. My only negative comment here is a rather slippery housing of the headphone connector, where I wish they would use something more textured to enhance the grip, besides just a narrow flat side of the cylindrical connector housing.
Also, I was pleased with a short piece of memory wire, only 40mm in length. I absolute hate long memory wires going around your ear which you have to constantly re-shape when you take your IEMs out of the storage case. Here it’s short and does the job well. Going to earpieces, cable terminates with an industry standard 2pin connectors with red/blue dot mark to signify right/left sides. Keep in mind, connectors are very tight the first time you try to remove them if you want to replace the cable. I strongly recommend never pulling on the wire; only grab the connector housing part with a pinching motion and a little bit of wiggle.
One might ask, why would you even consider replacing the cable? I have a lot of warm and smooth IEMs in my collection and typically go straight for either Whiplash or Linum cables to try to brighten up the sound and to improve the retrieval of details which is one of the common artifacts of silver or silver-plated wires. But you have to keep in mind, K10UA sound is already bright and crisp with a stock SPC cable. Also keep in mind that we all have a slightly different perception of the sound and tolerance to upper frequencies.
Going to pure silver TWag or gold plated silver TWau cables pushed the brightness a bit toward the harshness level, close to the threshold of my tolerance. I really enjoyed Linum BaX cable which in theory has SPC litz wires, though it added more refinement in comparison to stock SPC cable. But the advantage of thin BaX conductors became also its disadvantage due to heft of universal K10UA and no “memory wire” to support it. BaX would be fantastic with lightweight flush inserted custom K10, but in my opinion not very practical with universal aluminum version of K10UA.
Next, I tried going back to regular OFC stock cables from my other IEMs/CIEMs, and the sound became a little warmer and smoother, but lost some of the refinement. This left me with pure copper cables, and I took the opportunity to test the latest TWcu v3 OM (over-mold 2pin connector) with 8 conductors. I always found pure Copper to offer low end improvement without making top end harsher (TWcu is by far my favorite cable to use with ES60 as well).
With TWcu v3, I definitely hear the difference in low end where sub-bass level came up with a little more quantity and mid-bass speed became a touch slower with a slightly longer decay - making the bass sound more analog, closer to dynamic driver performance. Also, mids got slightly lifted and I hear a noticeable improvement in treble airiness, making the sound more balanced. I actually took a few measurements and found a slight boost around 60Hz and also a scaled up lift around 500Hz-2kHz region, while upper mids/treble remained unchanged. In addition to sound improvement, I also found copper cables to match the tone of Rose Gold K10UA finish, though 8-conductor thick cable was nowhere near as flexible as the stock cable.
2.5mm TRRS terminated with 3.5mm TRS extension adapter:
Design.
When it comes to Noble K10 flagship, you have two fundamental choices of going either with Custom or Universal design where each one has its advantages and disadvantages. Custom IEM requires a preparation of going to audiologist to get a mold of your inner ear, waiting for manufacturing of your earpieces, and then dealing with a fact that it won’t be easy to upgrade it in the future, though Noble offers a unique ownership transfer service to remold the shell for a reasonable fee. But at the end you will end up with a perfect fit and isolation and the unique customization artwork to make your CIEM stand out from the crowd.
Universal fit requires less preparation work and no commitment in case if you want to sell it later, but in the past the only level of Noble personalization used to be in a form of different color screws with the same black acrylic body. With Savant, Noble introduced a Wizard design with different beautiful faceplates, making it feel like a custom universal version. With K10, Noble took a different approach introducing an aluminum universal version referred to as K10UA. They used to have a universal black acrylic version of K10U, but now K10UA replaced it completely when Noble introduced a silver/red aluminum shell. For my review purpose, I received their limited edition Rose Gold version of K10UA where the inner part of the shell is black and outer part of the shell is gold plated using a genuine rose gold. As I was putting finishing touches on this review, Noble just announced a complete revamp of their universal IEMs – all featuring specific names and aluminum outer shells in different colors.
The design itself is very unique, and I definitely consider it to be another example of Noble “custom” universal fit version. The shell is made of two pieces, joint together in bi-color design, with a very fine ridges aligned between both halves. The ridges itself are smooth and add to the texture of the finish. The inner part of the shell shapes into a nozzle with a lip at the tip to assist in keeping eartips from sliding off due to a shallow fit. There are 3 bores at the tip, aligned with a 3-way cross-over partitioning 2 lows, 4 mids, and 4 highs with sound tubes going to the nozzle. The outer part of the shell is a bit deep and will stick out of your ear. Don’t expect flush mount or being able to put your head down on the pillow, but considering 10-driver design the overall depth of the shell is average and on par with other universal multi-driver IEMs and CIEMs. The faceplate of the shell has Noble Audio crown logo surrounded by a fine diamond cut pattern – a design which can easily be turned into a cool ring!
I did notice that my right earpiece had a seamless joint of both shell pieces all the way around, while left earpiece had it seamless around the top edge but not as much around the bottom edge. There are no sharp edges and besides a color contrast you can’t even see the joint, but you can feel it when you brush your finger across. I can only imagine the challenge in assembling of these aluminum shells seamlessly, but perhaps Noble can look further into QC improvement. But overall, to my surprise I found K10UA to fit very comfortably and to provide an excellent sound isolation. These earpieces are not feather light, weighting 8g each, but with a memory wire hook and with large eartips for a more secure fit (I actually switched to old UE900 tips), I hardly felt any weight once they were in my ears. Plus, color shade of the rose gold was close to a skin tone, so from a distance they are not as noticeable sticking out of your ears.
The fit.
Sound Analysis.
All my sound testing was done using stock SPC cable and PAW Gold as a source. I know I shouldn’t expect any changes with BA drivers after burn in, but I still went ahead to make sure cross-over components and all the solder joints are properly conditioned before I start evaluating the sound. I found the sound signature of K10UA to be balanced with slightly v-shaped characteristics where I felt the impact of mid-bass punch and the lift of upper mids with a few treble peaks pushing the leaner lower mids a little bit back. The tonality is definitely skewed toward the brighter revealing side with a high level of detail retrieval. With most of my test tracks, the sound never crossed the sibilance threshold or became harsh despite its bright characteristic. My ears are sensitive to upper frequency peaks, especially around 6k which I often perceive harsh, but in case of K10UA where you actually do have 6kHz peak – I had no issues listening for extended period of time.
Bass is very eartip depended where the quality will not change as much but the quantity can vary from being hidden behind the mids to coming at you with a very impressive slam depending on the level of ear-canal seal and sound isolation. I found sub-bass to have a good extension with a nice textured rumble, but it wasn’t overpowering, slightly rolled off, and nicely balanced and layered under the mid-bass. Mid-bass has a fast attack and shorter decay, typical of BA driver performance. Overall, I found the bass to be tight and well controlled without spilling into mids. K10UA bass is not exactly always in your face, but when called upon - expect a very articulate performance with a nice slam and a polite sub-bass quantity.
Mids are definitely the stars of K10UA sound. Noble found a perfect tuning balance where lower mids are not too thick or too thin, though a bit more on a leaner side, and add just a perfect amount of body to the sound which makes instruments and vocals sound relatively natural. And the same with upper mids, they have a lot of clarity and reach micro-detail level without sounding harsh or grainy. One thing to keep in mind, even so I hear mids sounding natural and accurate, they are still on a colder analytical side where those who prefer a more organic warmer non-fatigue tones might perceive it as a bit harsh for their taste. I constantly flip-flop between warm-organic and cold-analytical signatures, and usually find it hard to find the later one to my liking because I'm not too crazy about harsh revealing sound. Here, I feel like Noble hit the sweet spot with a natural bright tonality which is tolerable for extended listening.
Treble is bright, crisp, with a good extension and a nice definition, and a moderate level of airiness. Here with treble I have a bit of a love-hate relationship. The sparkle, especially around 6k peak, can get a bit too sharp as you raise the volume, and as a result I preferred listening to K10UA without pushing volume too high. Of course, this is a purely subjective opinion, but I found that I was able to enjoy K10UA for a much longer listening period when I dropped the volume a few dBs below my usual listening level. To my very pleasant surprise that slight volume reduction linearly scaled low end and mids while also got treble sparkle under control. Going to foam tips can also help keeping treble under control without a need to reduce the volume.
I found the soundstage to expand in all 3 directions, slightly above the average, but not exactly on holographic level. I wouldn't say K10UA sounds intimate, just not super expanded. But despite that, I still think the imaging of K10UA is very good with a great placement of instruments and vocals. Perhaps not on a 3D level, but it was accurate and convincing to my ears. Furthermore, layering and separation of the instruments and vocals was really good, which I expected from this level of detailed sound tuning, and overall the sound is very dynamic and has a great level of transparency.
Comparison to other IEMs/CIEMs.
I’m sure a lot of the people will be curious how K10UA compares to its little brother Savant.
K10UA vs Savant - K10U soundstage is a little wider, while depth/height are the same, K10U sub-bass is a little deeper and mid-bass has more impact, lower mids are nearly the same being lean with a moderate amount of body. Savant upper mids are a little warmer and smoother in comparison to K10U, though both are very detailed. K10U treble is brighter, sharper, better defined, and with more airiness.
Overall, there are a lot of similarities between Savant and K10U, but at the same time Savant is smoother, less transparent and not as layered, while K10U sound is faster, with a better layering and separation, more analytical with a better retrieval of details, and sharper treble definition. But surprisingly when I was listening and comparing between these two, I never felt like I was choosing which one is better, but rather deciding which one will pair up better with my different sources or will be suited better for a specific music genre.
K10UA vs U12 - U12 has wider/deeper/taller soundstage, deeper and warmer sub-bass, slower mid-bass, lower mids have noticeably more body, while K10U lover mids a bit scooped up, thinner, and brighter. U12 upper mids are warmer and sound more organic, while K10U upper mids are brighter, more upfront, more detailed, and a little colder. U12 treble is also more rolled off with less definition, smoother, and warmer, while K10U treble is brighter, crispier, and with a little more airiness. The main difference here is that U12 sounds more analog, smoother, warmer, more organic and with more body, while K10U has a brighter, sharper, thinner, colder, more detailed faster sound typical of BA performance. These definitely don't compete but rather complement each other with a different signature and different tonality.
K10U vs ES60 - ES60 has slightly wider/deeper/taller soundstage, ES sub-bass has a little more rumble, and mid-bass has slightly more punch though the speed is the same. ES60 lower mids are nearly the same while upper mids are a little smoother, still bright but less analytical. K10U has sharper and crispier treble with better definition and extension, while ES60 treble is smoother with less harsh peaks, and also both have the same level of airiness. In general, ES60 sounds more balanced and a little smoother while K10U is slightly more v-shaped, brighter, more analytical, and a little sharper in comparison.
K10U vs UM Maestro - K10U soundstage is wider, with a similar depth/height, sub-bass and mid-bass are very similar, actually nearly identical. UM lower mids are a little thicker and have more body, while upper mids are a little warmer and smoother and not as detailed. Treble is very similar in terms of brightness, crispiness, and definition, but Maestro sounds a bit harsher in comparison. These two IEMs actually have a lot in common, though K10U sounds a little leaner, a little more transparent, and more detailed.
Pair up with different sources.
Lotoo PAW Gold - black background, wide soundstage, clear detailed highly resolving sound, deep punchy bass, lean micro-detailed mids, and bright crisp non-sibilant treble.
FiiO X7 w/AM2 - black background, wide soundstage, lean detailed sound, a little more analytical and thinner, accurate bass with great quality but not as deep, lean micro-detailed mids, bright non-sibilant treble with a better control of peaks.
L&P L5 Pro - a little bit of hissing, wide soundstage, clear detailed sound, deep punchy bass with a great sub-bass extension, mids with a little more body, still micro-detailed, treble is smoother, non-sibilant and with a great definition.
A&K AK120ii - nearly black background, soundstage is wide but not as much as with other daps, punchy warm bass but not as articulate, more body in mids and a little smoother warmer tonality but still detailed, clear detailed treble with better control of peaks.
iBasso DX80 - a little hissing when playback starts, wide soundstage, very deep and punch bass with great sub-bass extension, smooth full body detailed mids, clear detailed non-harsh treble.
Cayin N5 - a little hissing when playback starts, wide soundstage, deep punchy bass, lean micro-detailed mids, bright crisp treble pushing closer to harshness borderline.
FiiO X5ii - black background, wide soundstage, deep punchy bass though sub-bass is a little lower in quantity, lean detailed mids, bright crisp non-sibilant treble, very good pair up.
FiiO X3ii - some hissing, wide soundstage, nice punchy bass though not as much of sub-bass extension (quality but not as much quantity), smooth detailed mids, well controlled detailed treble.
Conclusion.
Prior to receiving K10UA, I had numerous requests to test and to compare Noble flagship to the latest batch of multi-driver IEMs I recently covered in my other reviews. Without a doubt, Noble flagship K10/K10U is highly regarded and at the top of many audiophiles wish list. But I still feel like many are trying to compare and to narrow it down to the ONE and ONLY set of flagship monitors that going to rule them all and to cover every basis. I have tested and compared a number of IEMs, and can tell you from my own personal experience that such monitor probably doesn’t exist simply because there are still two fundamental sound signature camps, one leaning toward warm smooth sound and the other leaning toward bright analytical sound. In my opinion these two coexist in parallel, one is not better than the other, and if you want to find the best – you have to search for one in each of these categories.
When it comes to bright revealing highly resolving balanced sound with an impressive low end and top end extension, accurate tonality, excellent layering and separation, expanded soundstage, and non-fatigue extended listening experience – to my ears K10UA is IT!!! Even though in the last year my listening preference has been more toward the warmer smoother sound, I still love to spoil my senses with a jolt of revealing micro-detail signature but can never find the monitors I can use for extended listening session until I came across K10UA. The only thing that can make them better is The Wizard’s magic touch to add 2 more low end drivers to step up to K12UA with more sub-bass rumble. But for now, in my book, K10UA holds the Golden Crown of bright revealing sound while right next to it I have U12 with ADEL Crown of warm organic sound – two of my absolutely favorite universals at the current moment!
... just wanted to add to my review, since I received a lot of questions with people wanting to clarify what do I mean by "bright". We all have a different definition of sound tonality, what we refer to as warm, neutral, bright and variation of each. I found K10UA to have a brighter revealing tonality, but it wasn't overly bright analytical type associated with harsh or grainy or sibilant sound.
