[Reebonz]

It's just my personal preference of the sound signature. REI Penta sounds more musical without losing the details at the half price point of Khan. YMMV.

To me, the Rai Penta is not even close to the details that the Khan has.

My initial purchase target was actually the Rai Penta but comparing the 2 side by side, it is clear that the Noble Khan is on another level than any other flagship IEMs I auditioned. Yes, it is that good. The biggest differences are the sparkly treble, instrument separation, textured bass and coherence in all frequencies. The vocals (especially females) are just stunning.
I, too was hoping that I would like the Rai Penta more but sadly that was not the case (RIP wallet ). Don't get me wrong, the Rai Penta has way better comfort and sounds pretty amazing for the price, and I think it could get very popular like the Campfire Andromeda.

 

[Watagump]

Maybe I will give a listen to the Rai at Axpona.

 

[Giraku]

I assume you mean the RAI Penta?

Ah, yes. That's a typo.
Thanks for noticing!!

 

[Giraku]

To me, the Rai Penta is not even close to the details that the Khan has.

My initial purchase target was actually the Rai Penta but comparing the 2 side by side, it is clear that the Noble Khan is on another level than any other flagship IEMs I auditioned. Yes, it is that good. The biggest differences are the sparkly treble, instrument separation, textured bass and coherence in all frequencies. The vocals (especially females) are just stunning.
I, too was hoping that I would like the Rai Penta more but sadly that was not the case (RIP wallet ). Don't get me wrong, the Rai Penta has way better comfort and sounds pretty amazing for the price, and I think it could get very popular like the Campfire Andromeda.

I agree with you. Actually, in my old post comparing RAI Penta and Khan, I said Khan is better in all the technical departments. But in the end, I prefer RAI Penta's presentation as it sounds more musical to my ears. There is no question about technical superiority of Khan over RAI Penta, though.

 

[tjxism]

RAI Penta was out of stock in Hong Kong for some time so I’ve only got to try it today. I can understand why someone might prefer it to the Khan. It’s less cynical than Khan, less detailed but still very musical.

One sad news is that the Khan demo in the store is dead. The person listened before me says there’s extreme ‘sound leak’ and the store owner didn’t let me try it. This is the second malfunctioning Khan demo I’ve encountered. One pair I tried at the audio show has no bass at all (sounds like the dd not working). I think there’s some QC issue for the first batch. Though I’m enjoying my Khan, I can’t really recommend it to others at this moment.

 

[Reebonz]

RAI Penta was out of stock in Hong Kong for some time so I’ve only got to try it today. I can understand why someone might prefer it to the Khan. It’s less cynical than Khan, less detailed but still very musical.

One sad news is that the Khan demo in the store is dead. The person listened before me says there’s extreme ‘sound leak’ and the store owner didn’t let me try it. This is the second malfunctioning Khan demo I’ve encountered. One pair I tried at the audio show has no bass at all (sounds like the dd not working). I think there’s some QC issue for the first batch. Though I’m enjoying my Khan, I can’t really recommend it to others at this moment.

We all know audition sets are abused too hell. I've seen people at audio store throwing iems around on hard glass surface and pulling and tugging the cable. We even often heard stories on malfunctioning iems or audio equipment for other brands in big audio shows. The super lightweight and plasticky material of Khan also seems to make people more careless.

I'm not defending anyone but as far as I know, there is no widespread issue with the quality of Khan so it is very unfair to not recommend to others just because of some dead demo sets.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

We all know audition sets are abused too hell. I've seen people at audio store throwing iems around on hard glass surface and pulling and tugging the cable. We even often heard stories on malfunctioning iems or audio equipment for other brands in big audio shows. The super lightweight and plasticky material of Khan also seems to make people more careless.

I'm not defending anyone but as far as I know, there is no widespread issue with the quality of Khan so it is very unfair to not recommend to others just because of some dead demo sets.

Yeah some idiot at an audio store here “tested out”(?) the 3.5mm jack on an A&K SP1000 by plugging in IEMs and then holding it up by the cable. Naturally, the SP1000 dropped X feet and got smashed up.

Khan has some very real noise issues though, which could be what that person in the HK store was talking about? If the store didn’t mention the problem to listeners beforehand, I could definitely see people being alarmed.

 

[tjxism]

We all know audition sets are abused too hell. I've seen people at audio store throwing iems around on hard glass surface and pulling and tugging the cable. We even often heard stories on malfunctioning iems or audio equipment for other brands in big audio shows. The super lightweight and plasticky material of Khan also seems to make people more careless.

I'm not defending anyone but as far as I know, there is no widespread issue with the quality of Khan so it is very unfair to not recommend to others just because of some dead demo sets.

That could be the reason, but i haven’t encountered any broken demo units of another brand. Of course, if there are any, they usually are quickly swapped. However, Khan is still very new and short of supply, could wait a little longer.

Yeah some idiot at an audio store here “tested out”(?) the 3.5mm jack on an A&K SP1000 by plugging in IEMs and then holding it up by the cable. Naturally, the SP1000 dropped X feet and got smashed up.

Khan has some very real noise issues though, which could be what that person in the HK store was talking about? If the store didn’t mention the problem to listeners beforehand, I could definitely see people being alarmed.

I was sure they were not talking about noise. They used Pleune L for testing. They described it as “sound leaking”, mentioned the person next to the tester can hear the music playing. Sounds like the chamber cracked. I didn’t get to hear it myself.

 

[Jazza517]

I dunno how many people knows the demo unit in the stores are not free as the shop ususally have to pay a fee for them like an investment. So treat those demo with respect and care, only with that we could really know the whether the product is performing to their true potential.

 

[Watagump]

Amazing song from Imagine Dragons, Bad Liar.

 

[FullCircle]

RAI Penta was out of stock in Hong Kong for some time so I’ve only got to try it today. I can understand why someone might prefer it to the Khan. It’s less cynical than Khan, less detailed but still very musical.

One sad news is that the Khan demo in the store is dead. The person listened before me says there’s extreme ‘sound leak’ and the store owner didn’t let me try it. This is the second malfunctioning Khan demo I’ve encountered. One pair I tried at the audio show has no bass at all (sounds like the dd not working). I think there’s some QC issue for the first batch. Though I’m enjoying my Khan, I can’t really recommend it to others at this moment.

The problem is not every pin is made with the same tolerances required for our sockets.

Prospective customers (I suspect on the sly) try out their own cables in an attempt to see if they compliment each other.

Eventually resulting in either cracked/broken housings or cracked/broken sockets.

 

[carps]

Anybody tried the Dita Oslo cable on the Noble Encore? Would appreciate any impressions.

 

[Deezel177]

Anybody tried the Dita Oslo cable on the Noble Encore? Would appreciate any impressions.

I haven't tried the pairing specifically, but I found the OSLO cable to infuse a rich, analog warmth into any IEM it's attached to. It takes a bit of edge off of the top-end and fattens/wets the midrange and bass a hair, but maintains extension, so you lose none of that clarity or imaging precision. Not to mention the build quality and the versatility of the Awesome Plug. If that's what you want to have happen to your Encore's, the OSLO is a great option IMO.

 

[krismusic]

Shoot me now!

 

[Watagump]

You guys are all liars just saying things to protect your bottom line.