Rose Technics QT-9 MK3

Disclaimer: This review reflects my personal, subjective preferences and is solely based on my experiences with the product. It's important to note that Concept Kart does not influence this review, and I have not received any compensation. As always, I highly recommend testing the product yourself before purchasing. I want to thank Concept Kart and Pulkit for organising this review tour and allowing me to share my thoughts on the product.

Chain: Mojo2+Poly via Roon with Final Type E tips.

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The bass on this IEM is decent and fuller, and you hear some clean sub-bass rumble from the guitar. The mid-bass could've been a tiny more prominent and not so muddy at times, but some tracks will make you feel the air moving and surprise you. The male vocals are clear, too.


The mid-range is handled well. Even when the track has a lot of build-up, it's still pretty straightforward. The vocals are enjoyably lush and don't sound shouty at all.


The treble is really clean. Even though it's somewhat brittle, I didn't feel any fatigue when listening for long periods. The female vocals don't sound aggressive at all. I really dig how they're just a bit analytical yet still sound musical.


Overall, the sound quality of this thing is decent, with minor tweaks that could be made to improve it even further.

Thanks to Concept Kart and gadgetgod for organising the iem and dac review tour!
QT9 MK3 Buy link

Rose Technics has been a well regarded brand but with not much of a presence here in India. Their house tuning has been pleasant with almost no harshness in the past.

As part of the review tour, the QT9 mk3 iems (with the cable and case) and the RZ200 dac dongle were sent together. The review unit came only with the case and dac, no tips or packaging, I wont talk much about the package.

Build

QT3 mk3 - The iems are very tiny, with a resin body and milled aluminium faceplate. They are tiny in size, dissapearing into the ears. The nozzle is slightly medium-large in size, and I paired it with the KZ starlines M tips for the review.
The iems sport mmcx connectors, with a paracord braided 5N OCC copper cable that is 3.5mm terminated. (I reviewed the iems with the stock cables only).

RZ200 Dac - The dac dongle is a tiny one reminiscent of the older Zorloo Ztella and the likes, with a very small footprint. The dac dongle has a usb c termination and a female 3.5mm jack for the audio.
Nothing fancy, very functional.

Performance

QT3
The QT3 fits in easy into the ears and one wouldnt expect it to be multi drivers. I was surprised to learn that it was 10mm tesla DD + 4 BA driver config. These feel about the same size as the Aful Magic One! How did they manage to fit so many drivers on such a small shell completely baffles me!

The iems are very efficient and easily drive off mobile phones. However, as always, I prefer driving iems out of my standard dac dongles, and in addition, the RZ200.

RZ200
The dac dongle is a simple device, a callback to a few years ago when dac dongles made their appearance in a trimmed down mode. These again are very energy efficient and run fairly cool.
No fuss whatsoever. The dac appears as Realtek dac, happy to see that name after a long time.

Sound impressions

QT3
I drove the iems off the THX Onyx dac dongle and the RZ200 dac dongles. The THX Onyx is fairly neutral/bright, while the RZ200 is a little warmer in comparison. Both were able to drive the iems to ear shattering levels, without any distortion even at high volumes on either dongles.

Bass - The iems pack a good punch and sound full with good subbass off the RZ200. A 10mm driver tends to do that! And surely enough, the QT3 is nicely punchy and detailed
They sound similar to the Aful Performer 5 in the bass and mids department. While not at true basshead level bass, the bass carries decent punch and slam. 3.75/5

Mids - The mids are present and decently supported although slightly recessed in the male vocals. There is a lot of nuances and detail retrieval, although from a slightly pushed back position.
Female vocals get a little more support and are slightly more forward. Good amount of detail retrieval and tone on the vocals. 3.75/5

Treble - Unlike say the Performer 5, there is a lot more extension on the treble side of the spectrum. There is sparkle on instruments and excellent imaging. On slightly poor tracks, the female vocals and some of the instruments can have a nasal tone to the proceedings.
On well done tracks, the details are excellent with very good imaging and stage. The 4 BAs help with speed in fast instrument sections while keeping the instrument positioning very well.
4/5

RZ200 - The dac dongle is surprisingly powerful and full sounding with the QT3. It is slightly warm sounding, without any harshness/glare. Quite efficient with the battery usage too.
I quite like it a lot!

Conclusions
No comparisons here, but the iems are a surpriging package considering its size. The pricepoint will be the one decision point, when compared to other similar offerings. For small ears, this is definitely a nice option

TONALITY: 7.8/10
TECHNICALITIES: 8.8/10
TIMBRE: 7/10
SOUNDSTAGE: 8.5/10
IMAGING: 8.8/10
MUSICALITY (subjective): 8.2/10
CONSTRUCTION: 8/10
ACCESSORIES: 8.5/10
SOUND VALUE: at 290$= 8/10 at 200$=8.5/10

INTRO

Rose Technics is an IEM company based in China that create IEMs for near 10 years. They specialize in hybrid earphones and make their come back lately with the release of QT9 MK2 which I review and enjoy.

Today I will review the follow up of this QT9 serie which is the QT9 MK3.




Like the MK2, this is a 1 dynamic driver + 4 balanced armature drivers hybrid earphones but with a different tuning, upgraded construction and new 10mm LCP dynamic driver as well as upgraded tesla grade magnet that promise effortless powerfull transient current.
With a MSRP of 280$ but easily findable for as low as 200$, the QT9 MK3 promise high sound value.

Let see in this review if the Rose Technics come back worth to be follow and even praise.

CONSTRUCTION&ACCESSORIES



The construction is minimalist yet elegant and well crafted. The housing is very small, it's made of medical grade thick resin plastic and a metal back plate, Nozzle is made of metal and not very long so more appropriate for shallow fit than deep fit. Connector are MMCX and quite tight, it feel solid and well embeded in resin plastic, not prompt to getting loose easily.
The shell is half transparent and smooth, this is the kind of IEM you can forget you wear due to very small size which is impressive for a 5 driverss IEM.

The included cable is just OK built wise but sound transmission wise it's quite good. It's a 5N OCC single crystal copper cable with 3.5mm single ended plug, which is main con for me because I mostly use balanced cable.



Packaging and accessories are excellent and quite generous. We have 9 pairs of ear tips in 4 models. An excellent carrying case with enough space for 2 cables and extra IEMs. The basic yet good ''sounding'' cable. A 6.35mm adaptor plug. And this nice MMCX disconnector tool which is a welcome addition.




SOUND IMPRESSIONS



The MK3 offers a bright U shape bassy tonality with plenty of slam and rumble as well as open airy spatiality. Instrument presence is clean and crisp, resolution is vivid and lively and musicality is fun and near analytical at the same time.

These are one of those IEM that offer both bass quantity and quality and I think the tesla magnet has a lot to do with this, the sub bass control, flexibility and deep, clean extension is something truly captivating, and though i would not suggest Mk3 to treble or upper mids sensitive listener, the bright bassy tuning is well balanced in it’s own right. Those are for rumble lover as well as treble lover, and when it comes to mids. It's spacious and quite well resolved too.

The bass is dominated by the sub bass, so it will add slam resonance to attack and mellow hard punching of kick but this isn’t a boomy or muddy bass due to fast transient response that permit good layering of bass line and other instruments.
The extension of rumble release is very well controlled even if boosted in dynamic and loudness it doesn’t go upfront in bleeding and offer a long, dense and vibrant sustain that is clean and transparent, not euphonic and opaque, we got a subwoofer effect that don’t feel detached from rest of spectrum.
The double bass extends to its lowest range with natural resonance release that is full of air and hyper realist, the attack bite is slightly scooped but not to the point of feeling sloppy, tone presence is full while gently textured, again very realist. The Mk3 are quite enjoyable for jazz trio and quartet.
The electric bass too is good, we have the lowest tone ‘’oomph’’ that adds energy to rhythm and has thick and well layered attack.
Then the trade off is about acoustic kick dynamism which is less weighty and thick than sub bass.
Another acoustic instrument that shines with the MK3 is the cello, this is logical if double bass sounds great, we can’t confound cello with violin due to vibrant and dense attack release of infra bass.

The mids are very open and crisp with impressive multi layering of center stage instruments. The note weight is on the light side and presence of instrument and vocal is boosted in upper mids and quite upfront in loudness.
Yet, vocals aren’t sibilant nor wonky in texture balance, intelligibility of lyric is in monitor level, very easy to follow each word of both male and female vocal. Male are brighter than warmer and thicker, while for female vocals the timbre isn’t very lush. I’m impressed by how wide open the vocal release is. It's not shouty or compressed in sound pressure, it stretches very widely and embraces the listener with good transparency that permits other instruments to cohabit in an holographic spatiality. Personally I prefer softer and lusher vocals with more lower mids warmth and fullness but the hybrid drivers implementation delivers a very readable macro dynamic even if presence is bright and forwards, it doesn’t overshadow other mids instruments in lower range that have slightly leaner dynamism but crisp layering.
The piano is fast and thumpy in attack with good control and non blurry attack lead and release, it’s clean and transparent, a bit light in note weight and even in jazz trio where it’s supposed to be main instrument focus, it isn’t, it’s just a hint clinical in rendering, but we can say technical too, so it charm more my mind than my heart.
Again, I need to underline the mids are aggressive and soprano singer at high volume can be borderline shouty, but not in a rough way so it’s more problematic for those listening at very high volume, we don’t have sibilance added to this loud vocal, but this mean some part of piano range will suddenly sound notably louder too.


The treble is the most energetic part of the sound spectrum with the bass, it’s where the BA timbre and limitation are revealed too since while the attack is fast, crunchy and snappy, we don’t have a lot of sparkle and brilliance. Still, metallic sound will have minimal brilliance unlike some other hybrids, it’s just the sparkly resonance that cuts short.
The high timbre is a bit dry too, this can make trumpet a bit boxy sounding, percussions on the other hand are loud and agile, with good control that avoid splashing.
We have a lot of lower treble boost too, this put forwards instrument presence and permit a very lively macro dynamic that has energetically articulated layering, but this mean some might find highs a bit unbalanced and distracting when it come to percussions or high pitch instrument, it can feel forced at the listener and as noted with jazz trio, mids instrument like piano will not be as focus and loud as percussions or guitar.
Yes, we are in near analytical treble response where we get plenty of micro details, this is the type of highs that amplify sense of speed in rhythm section, but not only since violin is edgy and well textured, it’s easy to follow it’s fast playing since each string stroke has abrasive attack lead, but then for more contemplative laid back enjoyment, violin will feel a bit thin and severe in it’s playing, lacking lushness from lower fundamental that densify and warm the timbre. Again, it’s more technical than musical to my ears, nonetheless, it’s a captivating listening that will sure not bore the listener since MK3 has a treble that wakes you up, it’s nervous and highly revealing without boosting unwanted noise artifacts like background hiss of bad recording.
Another thing i find captivating but can’t explain exact acoustic phenomenon is that we do have air and sense of openness even if i feel treble pass 10khz roll off rather fast, we don’t have the airy long resonance of harp or acoustic guitar attack release but percussions aren’t mixed within a muddy macro dynamic, it well position in spatiality and has proper attack edge and snap for well define stereo separation in a 3D holographic spatiality.

This means the soundstage is quite great with the MK3 even if not the widest it’s open sounding, clean and deep. Nothing feel compressed and center stage isn’t too recessed, we are into a 3D bubble that extend about 1 meter at each side of the head, the instrument are fastly projected towards the listener, it’s not a flat center stage with static instrument presence, your into a mini concert hall fulfill with speaker and even a subwoofer.

The imaging is another highlight of the MK3, this perhaps explains my ‘’analytical rendering’’ perception in the sense that the presence of the instrument is bright and very well layered due to great resolution and transparency. Bass line are easy to position as well as most mid range instrument and percussions.




SIDE NOTES

At 18ohm of impedance and rather low 105db of sensitivity, the QT9 MK3 are one-of-a-kind when it come to pairing, it seem they like a mix of low impedance output and proper amping push, i’ll suggest a min of 100mW@32ohm for those.

Then they are ear tips sensitive and my fav pairing was with Penon Liqueur black ear tips that seem to cancel the sub bass resonance and warmth, improving imaging and cleaning clarity which make the soundstage deeper and background blacker.

Cable pairing wise, the stock one is good enough but I never use it because all my source are balanced.


COMPARISONS



VS Rose QT9 MK2

The MK2 is warmer, darker and less U shaped and crisp sounding than the more bassy, lively and dynamic MK3.

The bass is less punchy and rumbly, thicker and warmer, less resonant and not as deep too. Separation is warmer and less well layered, slipping into mids in a more sticky buttery way. MK3 offers more slam with wider head room and faster attack too, the sub bass elasticity is superior and infra bass is more vibrant and naturally extended. Sub bass is more rolled off and muddy with MK2.

Mids are darker and thicker as well as more intimate with MK2, upper mids are more softened and dynamic is overall leaner and less edgy. MK3 is more airy and open with higher resolution but not as fully bodied as the presence of instruments like piano and vocal, which aren’t as loud and energetic in attack. Vocals are lusher and more natural sounding with MK2 but more compressed and dark than more open and well layered MK3 vocals.

Treble is more blunted, less snappy and sparkly than crisper and cleaner sounding MK3. Percussion's attack is more blurry and less fast and controlled, we don’t have as much air on top nor as sharp definition of highs, this makes the whole macro dynamic feel less lively and W shaped than MK3.

Soundstage is notably wider, taller and deeper with MK3.

Imaging is superior, instrument separation having more space in both X and Y axis as well as layering being more transparent and articulated.

All in all, the Mk3 is a legit upgrade both technically and tonaly, unless you're against a well balanced bright tuning you shouldn't care about MK3 which has inferior imaging, bass and treble extension and more compressed and intimate soundstage.


VS KINERA FREYA 2 (1DD+3BAs-260$)

The Freya is warmer, darker and more L shape sounding than brighter, more W shape and highly resolved MK3.

Bass is slower, more muddy and sloppy, the slam is more muffled and warm and separation is poorer but thickens more the mids than cleaner sounding MK3 which has more transparent, speedy and resonant slam as well as deeper rumble.

Mids are warmer and lusher, as well as darker and hazier with Freya, upper mids are less loud and edgy, instrument like saxophone is fuller in tone but overall mids are less open and crisp in separation, center stage feel more foggy and lifeless in rendering with the Freya, the dynamic is notably leaner and macro dynamic come in a whole package, making all instrument limited in loudness release, vocal get more veiled too, lyric can be very hard to understand properly unlike more resolved MK3 which offer faster and more controlled attack of instruments.

The treble is softer and muddier with Freya, their zero air to be found unlike open airy highs of MK3, highs attack is blunted and hazy in edge, definition being sharper and cleaner with MK3. Acoustic guitar has more bite and natural sparkle with MK3 too, while spikier it’s still better balanced in lively macro dynamics while for Freya everything is just crumpled into a foggy safeness….

Soundstage is notably taller and deeper with MK3 and about the same width.

Imaging is next level superior, more holographic, 3D and spacious in placement, cleaner in separation space, more defined in instrument presence ... .it puts Freya to shame that MK3 feels like a way pricier IEM.

All in all, this comparison confirms how bad Freya 2 is and while tonality is duller and safer, it’s muddier, dynamic less and rolled off in both sub bass and upper treble. Technical performance of QT9 MK3 is from another league here.



CONCLUSION


The Rose Technics QT9 MK3 are technical monster IEM that deliver plenty of bass fun and take the opposite road of safe tuning that can often be very dull or boring to listen to.

The bass performance is incredible for the price, it’s fast and rumbly yet clean and elastic, thanks to the phenomenal DD and tesla magnet that permit to achieve a transient speed that properly match the one of 4 other BAs to deliver a captivating energetic and vividly resolved musical experience.

The Mk3 aren’t for faint of heart, nor for treble sensitive audiophile, as well, mid range isn’t the most natural or lushest we can find, nonetheless, i could say this for flagship headphones like Hifiman Arya Organic which offer similar sound experience to MK3.

All in all, I'm truly impressed by the QT9 MK3 performance and while I would prefer smoother upper mids, there is nothing wrong with being a treble head with such rewarding resolution and attack speed.

Recommended for bass and treble lover!


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PS: I want to thanks Rose Technics for sending me this review sample. I'm not involved into any form of affiliation program or $ hubris bias. As always, those are just my subjective opinion and audio impressions.

You can order the Rose QT9 MK3 here for 210$ (look around their plenty of deals): https://www.aliexpress.com/i/1005006080160902.html