Today I am celebrating the arrival of my first Noble product, the Katana! They are great.
They have been in my ears for about two hours. My first impression is that they sound like the Oppo PM-3 but with a better bass (perfect in the upper bass unlike the slightly boomy PM-3), and everything wrong with the PM-3 treble extension and lack of, fixed. Very good balance of low-mid-high.
The other thing I notice is that they sound very smooth despite the balance. The mids are never shouty, but they aren't absent either. Mids sound really good similar to Sennheiser HD 650. And having mentioned the 650, one thing that isn't best about those is that the bass humps but then drops off, which sometimes lacks excitement during critical moments. The Katana does not have this problem. The sub-bass is SWEET. If this is the "analytical," sound then the Encores must be really musical indeed.
The only downside of all of this is not even a real downside. I may need these re-fit as I do lose the seal sometimes when opening my mouth or even walking. Hanging upside down gives a poor result too. However when they do fit perfect, it is an amazing thing to not have my ears feel so weird. That and the high comfort make these really epic. It's almost uncomfortable how I no longer have to constantly keep pushing in my IEM for it to seal right. It still happens but when I get the seal perfect it must be a very different thing indeed. I am starting to get what user watagump was saying about his custom vs. universal journey. Seeing as a re-fit will probably be needed, after more testing by me, it will surely be worth the wait. At least for today I get to re-listen to my whole music library.
But if anyone can chime in to say if my exp is normal, my ears will adjust etc, speak up! I will be grateful.
Because of how strange my ears are shaped, the left earbud sticks out at an angle more than the right, which is flush in the ear. Hate having odd ears!
The design is great too. Better in person than in the pics, it matches the face of my watch perfectly. Sweet. Good job Mr. Wizard and Noble team. Really nice work.