[Nabillion_786]

If you want the cleanest and most detailed midrange get the pro, if you don't mind some extra warmth/body to the mids at the expense of some clarity and detail you can get the regular ones. I only have about 10 hours on the Kanas so things might still change slightly over time.

Thanks for the comparison and btw is this iem suited for male vocals aswell? because most of the reviews just mention how good the female vocals are. I generally never hear an iem get praised for male vocals and this is a must for me. Out of all the iems I have tried it only seems like the ostry line up can do both vocals really good without sounding thin, closed or recessed.

 

[drey101]

Does anyone else find it funny that the negatives for the Kanas Pro seem to be the following:
Vocals are a little bit too forward
Could use a bass boost
Could use a slights treble boost

Is this the same comments for the other Moondrop offerings I wonder, or is the tuning for the KP too conservative with the bass and treble when they were trying to hit the Harman Target? Or they hit it dead on and it's highlighting people's preferences?

 

[vault108]

qdc Anole VX and the Moondrop A8

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/qdc-discussion-and-impressions-thread.804170/page-21#post-14738420

 

[deadhead12]

I decided to listen to Grateful Dead's American Beauty album as it's well recorded and I'm very familiar with that album. I fired up the Tidal MQA version and immediately noticed that there was a dampened kick drum that I've never noticed before. It has a flabby sound like there's a blanket in the drum or the drum-head was loosened or something. I switched over to my cl750 and sure enough it was there but so far back in the mix that it's easy to miss. Was not expecting that.

Also, I find the KPE to be extremely comfortable which is something I was not expecting. I guess I got lucky that they fit my ears so well. I don't notice the weight at all. I haven't had the opportunity to have an extended session so we'll see if that changes.

 

[chickenmoon]

Thanks for the comparison and btw is this iem suited for male vocals aswell? because most of the reviews just mention how good the female vocals are. I generally never hear an iem get praised for male vocals and this is a must for me. Out of all the iems I have tried it only seems like the ostry line up can do both vocals really good without sounding thin, closed or recessed.

Kanas Pro has more upfront male vocals than Kanas and they are very good IMO. In the Kanas they feel a bit more recessed to me and also slightly less clear due to the more elevated bass. If the KC09 is anything to go by as OK for you on that front then both Kanas are better IMO with the Kanas being the closest to the Ostry.

 

[Nabillion_786]

Kanas Pro has more upfront male vocals than Kanas and they are very good IMO. In the Kanas they feel a bit more recessed to me and also slightly less clear due to the more elevated bass. If the KC09 is anything to go by as OK for you on that front then both Kanas are better IMO with the Kanas being the closest to the Ostry.

Thanks ever so much this was really helpful for me as I almost forgot you have the ostry's. I think why I like the kc09 alot is because its a single dynamic driver that is coherent, open sounding with a weighty midrange and has quite spacious stage coming off my phone. But it's definitely quite muddy and bloated at times soo I hope the kanas pro will fix that coming off my phone.

 

[chickenmoon]

Thanks ever so much this was really helpful for me as I almost forgot you have the ostry's. I think why I like the kc09 alot is because its a single dynamic driver that is coherent, open sounding with a weighty midrange and has quite spacious stage coming off my phone. But it's definitely quite muddy and bloated at times soo I hope the kanas pro will fix that coming off my phone.

Bear in mind that unlike Kanas and KC09 the KP does not add warmth to the midrange so sometimes certain tracks might sound a bit too thin if they are mastered with too little low end, Kanas mitigates this at the expense of some midrange clarity.

 

[Nabillion_786]

Bear in mind that unlike Kanas and KC09 the KP does not add warmth to the midrange so sometimes certain tracks might sound a bit too thin if they are mastered with too little low end, Kanas mitigates this at the expense of some midrange clarity.

Thanks man and wow! This just makes things a lot more harder for me now. Btw isn't it possible to increase the bass, warmth on the kpe by taping one of the vents or maybe just a good silicone tip? Or does the signature always remain thin on vocal only tracks? Why I say this is because aside from watching stuff I listen to a lot of recitation and need vocals sounding as good as possible and not thin.

 

[chickenmoon]

Thanks man and wow! This just makes things a lot more harder for me now. Btw isn't it possible to increase the bass, warmth on the kpe by taping one of the vents or maybe just a good silicone tip? Or does the signature always remain thin on vocal only tracks? Why I say this is because aside from watching stuff I listen to a lot of recitation and need vocals sounding as good as possible and not thin.

I don't listen to recitation but my best guess is that such vocals should sound as good and natural as it gets with the KP and warmer than they actually are with the Kanas.

 

[Zerohour88]

qdc Anole VX and the Moondrop A8

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/qdc-discussion-and-impressions-thread.804170/page-21#post-14738420

that's quite a matchup, considering the Anole VX is 2k, right? how does the A8 stack up? quite interested in those instead of the Blessing.

 

[surfgeorge]

i just tried wide bore tips and they have the bite, i kind of like them better with wide bore tips now, they are very smooth with the medium size ones, i was kind of woried that they are gonna be harsh with wide bore but i guess burn in made them smoother and now i can use them with wide bore tips (i tried them with wide bore tips in the begining brand new and i tought that they are kind of bright)

I remembered 1 other track that sounded a bit weird during my testing, and went back to compare the KPEs with my P1 and NightOwls.
That was “Dragonborn” by Jeremy Soule. The KPE make a wonderful, mighty bassline, but in the vocals and high frequencies (brass) which are very fast, punchy and quite bright, layered and textured on the P1, the KPE lacks the energy and it sounds like there are some resonances, like “echo” that smears the edges, blurs the sounds a bit and the speed, texture and bite are missing. It’s really a challenging piece of music, even the Mojo, which is very good at kepping things clear and separated, is challenged. I hope I am expressing myself in an understandable way - english is not my native language.
As @FastAndClean noted, the wide bore tip improves the situation a bit so I used the stock tips for these tests.
I found this soundtrack on Youtube too, but the quality is not comparable to the Tidal Hifi version.

I am not trying to bash the KPE, I love the weight of the music, the openness, clarity and detail, the holographic soundstage and the smoothness with which they present voices. I am trying to understand the trade-offs and ultimately I am trying to understand which IEM would have the good traits of the KPE without it’s flaws.
The KPE showed me what an IEM can do, but I fear it just got me looking for something even better...

 

[surfgeorge]

I don't listen to recitation but my best guess is that such vocals should sound as good and natural as it gets with the KP and warmer than they actually are with the Kanas.

When new I wished on some vocal tracks that the voice would be more forward - now my KPEs have hundreds of hours of listening on them vocals are really nice, smooth and present. I feel they are more forward in the mix now.

 

[barocka]

I remembered 1 other track that sounded a bit weird during my testing, and went back to compare the KPEs with my P1 and NightOwls.
That was “Dragonborn” by Jeremy Soule. The KPE make a wonderful, mighty bassline, but in the vocals and high frequencies (brass) which are very fast, punchy and quite bright, layered and textured on the P1, the KPE lacks the energy and it sounds like there are some resonances, like “echo” that smears the edges, blurs the sounds a bit and the speed, texture and bite are missing. It’s really a challenging piece of music, even the Mojo, who’s very good at kepping things clear and separated is challenged. I hope I am expressing myself in an understandable way - english is not my native language.
As @FastAndClean noted, the wide bore tip improves the situation a bit so I used the stock tips for these tests.
I found this soundtrack on Youtube too, but the quality is not comparable to the Tidal Hifi version.

I am not trying to bash the KPE, I love the weight of the music, the openness, clarity and detail, the holographic soundstage and the smoothness with which they present voices. I am trying to understand the trade-offs and ultimately I am trying to understand which IEM would have the good traits of the KPE without it’s flaws.
The KPE showed me what an IEM can do, but I fear it just got me looking for something even better...

Could you compare KPE to P1 ?

 

[chickenmoon]

I have had some offline discussions and more testing time than I should have spent and I think I am sure enough to describe one finding that has been growing over a longer period of time. I have been sooo happy with the KPE, the clarity, openness and detail, the smoothness and bass weight, the good soundstage... but something was bugging me abot the treble (or presence range?) It is very smooth, never offensive and I tried to push it. It can be pushed, but I think today I found the track that highlights it’s shortcomings perfectly.

I was listening to “Las Ramblas” from Renault Garcias-Fons, a very energetic track with a nice bass line, harmonium, steel string guitar and some percussion.
At 1:16 the harmonium is being played very energetically and the steel string guitar is Balancing it, kind of a dialog, the harmonium is dominant, but the guitar is also very present and energetic.
Listening to this through the Pinnacle P1, both the harmonium but even more so the steel guitar have a lot of energy, are clear and sharp.
The KPE makes the whole track darker, gives it a much more solid bass line, but it is smoothes out the harmonium so much that the energy gets lost and the steel string guitar almost blends into the background, it lacks energy, the sharp sound of the strings is lost, and most importantly, the balance between the musical elements is lost.

I played with tips and found that the stock silicone tips improve it a bit, but the KPE’s presentation still lacks a lot of energy compared to the P1.
Soooooo.... is this really the weakness of the KPE? I have to say that this is again through the Chord Mojo which is famous for sounding smooth, but with the P1 there is plenty of energy and bite, with the KPE it’s simply too smooth.

I am curious if anyone can replicate what I hear an compare to other IEMs, especially again the IT01s...

The P1 never struck me as being energetic or having bite, to the contrary. On your track, everything sounds not only more energetic to me but also much fuller with the KP, not to speak about how closed in the P1 sounds. The track doesn't strike me as darker with the KP but only as having much better bass quality. What you call energy of the steel guitar with the P1 I perceive as the manifestation of a thin elevated upper treble peak the P1 has along with its preceding recessed frequencies which deprive that steel guitar sound from its full body and energy. I don't think KP shows any obvious weakness with that track.

Quite another take on it, isn'it?

 

[surfgeorge]

The P1 never struck me as being energetic or having bite, to the contrary. On your track, everything sounds not only more energetic to me but also much fuller with the KP, not to speak about how closed in the P1 sounds. The track doesn't strike me as darker with the KP but only as having much better bass quality. What you call energy of the steel guitar with the P1 I perceive as the manifestation of a thin elevated upper treble peak the P1 has along with its preceding recessed frequencies which deprive that steel guitar sound from its full body and energy. I don't think KP shows any obvious weakness with that track.

Quite another take on it, isn'it?

Yes, quite another take indeed! And I appreciate it!
I'll get back to it when I find time and listen to it again with your comments in mind.