[blacksesame]

finally the dm6 arrived. I've had high expectations because of the hype... i still need to do more tip rolling and possibly buy copper cables and burn ins but as it stands i personally like the kpe sound signature better. it sounds more natural to me. the dm6 sound good but there's colouration ( i can't figure out what it is yet but sounds different) and treble is more pronounced and lacking sub bass. i do think the dm6 is more resolving but that could be because of the increased treble. kpe to me has the bigger sounds stage.

summary:
kpe let's you enjoy the recording as is and as it's intended for better or worse. not lacking in any frequency

dm6 more in your face but technically capable so it still sounds good. has holes in the frequency range that's compensated by other frequencies (possibly in a good way..). or maybe not holes but other frequencies are heard more...sorry not sure, I'm still lesrning how to describe what i hear

lots of rambling because I'm still collecting my thoughts but i wanted to share my initial impressions.

 

[CoiL]

kpe to me has the bigger sounds stage.

That` s great news for my ears! Can´t wait mine to arrive ;P

 

[chickenmoon]

So, KP vs IT01s. Well I haven't too much to say that hasn't been said already but here goes:

Regarding sound signature, as already said, KP is very close to neutral with sub-bass boost while IT01s is v-shaped tilted towards bright and with mid-bass emphasis. As such KP is very unforgiving of poor/too thin mix/mastering while IT01s isn't so much.

Technically they are both very good but I feel KP's got an edge with significantly better clarity and separation in the mids, whether this is down to the lack of frequency bleed into KP's mids, a more capable driver, a better shell or all at once I don't know.

In the first hours I felt IT01s had very sharp and detailed mid-bass which was also quite impactful, perhaps a bit too much, and I felt it had a quite significant edge in quality over KP. Unfortunately for IT01s, after 200 hours of burn-in, this advantage seems to have mostly gone away.

An advantage IT01's got over KP is its tweakability. As it's got a removable grill screwed on the nozzles, it's very easy to open and add foam or other adequate material in to alter sound signature. It's also possible to screw filters from some other brands onto IT01's nozzles, KZ (ED9/GR) and RHA (T Series) are both perfect match. I am now using my IT01s with the RHA T Series reference filter which has tilted the signature to somewhere between balanced and warm & smooth and I use it satisfactorily for old psy/goa from the mid-nineties that's terribly thinly mastered. All modern EDM/psy I have listened to so far is mastered with much more low end and I feel KP is perfectly adequate , if not downright amazing with it.

Finally, my overall impression if I could summarize it in one word is that the IT01s is cruder sounding than the KP.

Also, someone reported that the other owner of both phones which posts in the IT01s thread only said that IT01s sounded more natural. Well, he also said that KP sounded digital and that IT01s rolls all over KP. I think the latter part is obviously not true and simply illustrate the person's strong preference of a warmer and slightly fuzzy/crunky (IT01s's treble peaks) sound dubbed natural versus a more accurate and cleaner sound dubbed digital.

Best I can say, the choice is yours.

 

[CoiL]

So, KP vs IT01s. Well I haven't too much to say that hasn't been said already but here goes:

Regarding sound signature, as already said, KP is very close to neutral with sub-bass boost while IT01s is v-shaped tilted towards bright and with mid-bass emphasis. As such KP is very unforgiving of poor/too thin mix/mastering while IT01s isn't so much.

Technically they are both very good but I feel KP's got an edge with significantly better clarity and separation in the mids, whether this is down to the lack of frequency bleed into KP's mids, a more capable driver, a better shell or all at once I don't know.

In the first hours I felt IT01s had very sharp and detailed mid-bass which was also quite impactful, perhaps a bit too much, and I felt it had a quite significant edge in quality over KP. Unfortunately for IT01s, after 200 hours of burn-in, this advantage seems to have mostly gone away.

An advantage IT01's got over KP is its tweakability. As it's got a removable grill screwed on the nozzles, it's very easy to open and add foam or other adequate material in to alter sound signature. I's also possible to screw filters from some other brands onto IT01's nozzles, KZ (ED9/GR) and RHA (T Series) are both perfect match. I am now using my IT01s with the RHA T Series reference filter which has tilted the signature to somewhere between balanced and warm & smooth and I use it satisfactorily for old psy/goa from the mid-nineties that's terribly thinly mastered. All modern EDM/psy I have listened to so far is mastered with much more low end and I feel KP is perfectly adequate , if not downright amazing with it.

Finally, my overall impression if I could summarize it in one word is that the IT01s is cruder sounding than the KP.

Also, someone reported that the other owner of both phones which posts in the IT01s only said that IT01s sounded more natural. Well, he also said that KP sounded digital and that IT01s rolls all over KP. I think the latter part is obviously not true and simply illustrate the person's strong preference of a warmer and slightly fuzzy/crunky (IT01s's treble peaks) sound dubbed natural versus a more accurate and cleaner sound dubbed digital.

Best I can say, the choice is yours.

Thanks! I was suspecting all of that what You said. Again, glad I went with KP as I already have modded IT01 which, saying again, sounds similar to IT01S sound impressions (but haven`t lost quality after ~1000h playtime. Been same since ~200h playtime to my ears).

 

[FastAndClean]

So, KP vs IT01s. Well I haven't too much to say that hasn't been said already but here goes:

Regarding sound signature, as already said, KP is very close to neutral with sub-bass boost while IT01s is v-shaped tilted towards bright and with mid-bass emphasis. As such KP is very unforgiving of poor/too thin mix/mastering while IT01s isn't so much.

Technically they are both very good but I feel KP's got an edge with significantly better clarity and separation in the mids, whether this is down to the lack of frequency bleed into KP's mids, a more capable driver, a better shell or all at once I don't know.

In the first hours I felt IT01s had very sharp and detailed mid-bass which was also quite impactful, perhaps a bit too much, and I felt it had a quite significant edge in quality over KP. Unfortunately for IT01s, after 200 hours of burn-in, this advantage seems to have mostly gone away.

An advantage IT01's got over KP is its tweakability. As it's got a removable grill screwed on the nozzles, it's very easy to open and add foam or other adequate material in to alter sound signature. It's also possible to screw filters from some other brands onto IT01's nozzles, KZ (ED9/GR) and RHA (T Series) are both perfect match. I am now using my IT01s with the RHA T Series reference filter which has tilted the signature to somewhere between balanced and warm & smooth and I use it satisfactorily for old psy/goa from the mid-nineties that's terribly thinly mastered. All modern EDM/psy I have listened to so far is mastered with much more low end and I feel KP is perfectly adequate , if not downright amazing with it.

Finally, my overall impression if I could summarize it in one word is that the IT01s is cruder sounding than the KP.

Also, someone reported that the other owner of both phones which posts in the IT01s thread only said that IT01s sounded more natural. Well, he also said that KP sounded digital and that IT01s rolls all over KP. I think the latter part is obviously not true and simply illustrate the person's strong preference of a warmer and slightly fuzzy/crunky (IT01s's treble peaks) sound dubbed natural versus a more accurate and cleaner sound dubbed digital.

Best I can say, the choice is yours.

thanks for the impressions, spot on , i use my KP most of the time, more than my other earphones, it was soo hard for me to find a headphone with such a great end to end extension that sound coherent, clean and impactful
my last planar (HE500) was very close but was soo heavy, with the KP i can now fully enjoy my music with all of my requirements without sacrificing the comfort

 

[blacksesame]

So, KP vs IT01s. Well I haven't too much to say that hasn't been said already but here goes:

Regarding sound signature, as already said, KP is very close to neutral with sub-bass boost while IT01s is v-shaped tilted towards bright and with mid-bass emphasis. As such KP is very unforgiving of poor/too thin mix/mastering while IT01s isn't so much.

Technically they are both very good but I feel KP's got an edge with significantly better clarity and separation in the mids, whether this is down to the lack of frequency bleed into KP's mids, a more capable driver, a better shell or all at once I don't know.

In the first hours I felt IT01s had very sharp and detailed mid-bass which was also quite impactful, perhaps a bit too much, and I felt it had a quite significant edge in quality over KP. Unfortunately for IT01s, after 200 hours of burn-in, this advantage seems to have mostly gone away.

An advantage IT01's got over KP is its tweakability. As it's got a removable grill screwed on the nozzles, it's very easy to open and add foam or other adequate material in to alter sound signature. It's also possible to screw filters from some other brands onto IT01's nozzles, KZ (ED9/GR) and RHA (T Series) are both perfect match. I am now using my IT01s with the RHA T Series reference filter which has tilted the signature to somewhere between balanced and warm & smooth and I use it satisfactorily for old psy/goa from the mid-nineties that's terribly thinly mastered. All modern EDM/psy I have listened to so far is mastered with much more low end and I feel KP is perfectly adequate , if not downright amazing with it.

Finally, my overall impression if I could summarize it in one word is that the IT01s is cruder sounding than the KP.

Also, someone reported that the other owner of both phones which posts in the IT01s thread only said that IT01s sounded more natural. Well, he also said that KP sounded digital and that IT01s rolls all over KP. I think the latter part is obviously not true and simply illustrate the person's strong preference of a warmer and slightly fuzzy/crunky (IT01s's treble peaks) sound dubbed natural versus a more accurate and cleaner sound dubbed digital.

Best I can say, the choice is yours.

very nice. im happy i went with kpe over it01s thanks to @FastAndClean responses and general enthusiasm for it

 

[FastAndClean]

also i should point out for those who are using IEM s on a desktop setup like me, the KP are spectacular for movies, they sound very spacious, the voices are present, nice and clean, also the sub bass rumble is deep and dynamic on the action scenes for example
they do a really fine job doing that also, not only music

 

[LucasFur]

I still don't understand Mass drops business profile.
They take an Iconic design ... get rights to it and mass produce it in china?

Newbie here trying not to start a new thread ... but wow ive been reading for days not finding this answer ...

 

[silverfishla]

I still don't understand Mass drops business profile.
They take an Iconic design ... get rights to it and mass produce it in china?

Newbie here trying not to start a new thread ... but wow ive been reading for days not finding this answer ...

Depends on what it is. All the Massdrop produced stuff is in conjunction with the manufacture (like HD6XXX). All other items can be through the manufacturer OR just a vendor with a lot of product to dispense. Like the most recent Massdrop for the Shanling M3s is not from Shanling directly.

 

[LucasFur]

Depends on what it is. All the Massdrop produced stuff is in conjunction with the manufacture (like HD6XXX). All other items can be through the manufacturer OR just a vendor with a lot of product to dispense. Like the most recent Massdrop for the Shanling M3s is not from Shanling directly.

Fair enough, product by product ....
Is it disclosed anywhere? ... Quality control measures through Massdrop i guess haven't been an issue?

 

[silverfishla]

Fair enough, product by product ....
Is it disclosed anywhere? ... Quality control measures through Massdrop i guess haven't been an issue?

Unless it’s a partnership product, they don’t usually disclose who is actually putting up the drop that I’ve seen.

 

[silverfishla]

So I’ve noticed that the Kanas Pro likes the gear that I usually use to listen to earbuds. Makes sense, since they are all single Dynamics. Great pairing...Zishan Z3 with a Burson V5i.....better is that into a Little Bear B4 with a Sparkos opamp. The cheap stuff folks but with good opamps and analogy sound. I can hear all of the micro details now and none of (what I hear as) chattery highs on stuff like the M3s, AP80. Everything seems to be better and with more clarity and oomph. I like it much better now.

 

[hemipowered007]

For those few waiting for a comparison between the kpe and Sony ex1k, for now I will offer some early impressions. In a few weeks I will have a more detailed review and comparison.

First off, source is Sony zx300, single ended as I have yet to reterminate the kpe cable to 4.4mm. So to be fair I used the ex1k single ended as well.
I spent multiple days with the kpe alone, no other hps or iems, and not switching source, to get used to the kpe.

Second, I listen to a fairly wide variety of music, from blues rock to death metal, with everything in between.

My overall impression is the 2 are different enough to possibly warrant owning both depending on your preferences and situation. I feel the ex1k is still the overall winner here FOR ME, and the more TOTL sounding Iem. If there was a way to combine the two, well folks, we would have an end game here as far as iems are concerned.
The ex1k does better in staging, and separation, but not by a huge margin at all, the kpe is really close.
The ex1k has better treble extension and detail, as well as better low end detail.
The kpe has extremely clear and detailed mids, definitely winning there. The kpe also has pretty much more satisfying low end due to the sub bass boost.
Depending on track, and recording, one can sound more enjoyable than the other. The kpe shines in its low end presence and mids, which are not colored or forward, but sit just right and are extremely satisfying and detailed.
The ex1k shines in air, soundstage and overall high end detail, as well as incredible low end detail although not as much heft as the kpe.
The kpe mids being so clear and detailed also give the impression of better speed/decay, although im not sure if that will change once I can compare them both further and balanced on the zx300.

I wish the ex1k had the kpe mids and sub bass.
I wish the kpe had the ex1ks airy detailed highs.

They are both amazing dynamics, and for sure people will have their preference, for me, I think ill keep them both. I will also look forward to buying higher end models from moondrop, theyve found a believer in me for sure.

 

[vault108]

I thought I share my burn-in experiment results with Moondrop Kanas Pro.

Spoiler

This burn-in test is inconclusive because the IEM was taken out of the EARS after initial test and it could’ve effected the results. However, this experiment shows that further burn-in after 48 shows no different in sound for the KPE. You can take these results with a grain of salt.

This burn-in test experiment was conducted using Moondrop Kanas Pro with the stock white tip that it came with along with Linsoul 2pin 7N OCC silver plated cable and MiniDSP EARS.
Burn-in was done using SoundBlaster E3 via Bluetooth with Hidiz AP80 playing “TARA LABS Cascade Noise Burn-In Disc” at volume 35. I didn’t play the audio directly on AP80 because the player get hot when playing audio for long duration while charging. Playing via Bluetooth and SoundBlaster E3 produces little to no heat.
Recording was done using iFi Audio micro iDSD Black Label for playback and MiniDSP EARS for mic recording. iDSD BL was used for controlling sound level.
Software used are REW and Audacity. MiniDSP L channel calibration file was used and sound level was calibrated to 94dB in REW.

Day 1 - KPE frequency response was recorded out of the box without any audio playback on it.
After initial test I took IEMs out of EARS for listening evaluation for a couple hours and put back in EARS for the duration of the test. There is a human error with this as the fit could be different with re-insertion into EARS.

Day 2 - I forgot to record frequency response for day 2 and let the burn-in ran longer than 24 hours.

Day 3 - Day 7 show almost no different in frequency response. The high seem to dip down and I don’t know for sure if this is because of re-insertion. I would have to re-test with another brand new IEM at another time. I don’t know if the playing “TARA LABS Cascade Noise Burn-In Disc” made a different or not. The sound recording from Audacity show a little higher volume after Day 1.

Different drivers have different properties and results may vary. This experiment only pertain to the KPE.

You can get more info in the compressed file including the REW and Audicity project file.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/vlrrr7kk07rodnb/Kanas+Pro+Burn-in+Tests.7z

*Edit, added Day 8 - No burn-in, took IEM out of EARS and re-insert for consistency test.

 

[H3ll@Broke]

So, KP vs IT01s. Well I haven't too much to say that hasn't been said already but here goes:

Regarding sound signature, as already said, KP is very close to neutral with sub-bass boost while IT01s is v-shaped tilted towards bright and with mid-bass emphasis. As such KP is very unforgiving of poor/too thin mix/mastering while IT01s isn't so much.

Technically they are both very good but I feel KP's got an edge with significantly better clarity and separation in the mids, whether this is down to the lack of frequency bleed into KP's mids, a more capable driver, a better shell or all at once I don't know.

In the first hours I felt IT01s had very sharp and detailed mid-bass which was also quite impactful, perhaps a bit too much, and I felt it had a quite significant edge in quality over KP. Unfortunately for IT01s, after 200 hours of burn-in, this advantage seems to have mostly gone away.

An advantage IT01's got over KP is its tweakability. As it's got a removable grill screwed on the nozzles, it's very easy to open and add foam or other adequate material in to alter sound signature. It's also possible to screw filters from some other brands onto IT01's nozzles, KZ (ED9/GR) and RHA (T Series) are both perfect match. I am now using my IT01s with the RHA T Series reference filter which has tilted the signature to somewhere between balanced and warm & smooth and I use it satisfactorily for old psy/goa from the mid-nineties that's terribly thinly mastered. All modern EDM/psy I have listened to so far is mastered with much more low end and I feel KP is perfectly adequate , if not downright amazing with it.

Finally, my overall impression if I could summarize it in one word is that the IT01s is cruder sounding than the KP.

Also, someone reported that the other owner of both phones which posts in the IT01s thread only said that IT01s sounded more natural. Well, he also said that KP sounded digital and that IT01s rolls all over KP. I think the latter part is obviously not true and simply illustrate the person's strong preference of a warmer and slightly fuzzy/crunky (IT01s's treble peaks) sound dubbed natural versus a more accurate and cleaner sound dubbed digital.

Best I can say, the choice is yours.

+1 Regarding KP's clarity. Mine is more or less above 150 hrs in and i gotta say, after popping on some spiral dots and listening to some blues tracks by PostModernJukebox, i was severely left in awe at just how clear, powerful and emotional the vocals are. Words are probably not enough to describe how i felt and whatever Moondrop did with the KP, i am simply left dumbfounded at this point. Resolution, overall sound balance, the openness and quality is just off the charts at this price imo. I'm too d**m grateful i went for the KP instead of the DM6 during 11.11.