[krismusic]

Kinda sorta agree with you. Honestly think that the lineup can use some cleaning up as there are a lot of IEMs in there that don’t really have a purpose.

1. The Savant II is times better than the Django and everything below it. You could keep the trident eventually, but even that doesn’t make sense at 100USD less than the Savant II. Not because the line up is poor, but the Savant II is bloody exceptional at both its price point and at any price really
2. The new M3 still needs tons of work before it gets released. Currently it has the most extreme V I’ve heard in audio. I wouldn’t call it a fun signature, just one that hasn’t been tuned yet
3. The Encore and the Katana are too similar to both exist as separate products. Yes, the Encore has more bass, but I wouldn’t say it has more warmth. Companies that want to offer a bassier version of their product generally speaking go with a switch or a cable or whatever - personally I find that would make more sense

I do agree with you that the quantity of products in the line up steal attention from the truly amazing ones that noble has its name for, and it would benefit them to 1) slow down on newer IEMs and 2) have a cleaner lineup

That's another issue and not exactly what I meant. I have no issue with innovation down the range. I get that Universal's offer lifeblood to a bespoke business. Making superb products available at lower price points can only be a good thing. It's the TOTL, State of the art that I wish didn't move quite so fast.
To be more positive, having heard offerings at 3.5 and 4k this weekend, I appreciate that Noble keep thier pricing more realistic.

 

[mvvRAZ]

That's another issue and not exactly what I meant. I have no issue with innovation down the range. I get that Universal's offer lifeblood to a bespoke business. Making superb products available at lower price points can only be a good thing. It's the TOTL, State of the art that I wish didn't move quite so fast. To be more positive, having heard 3.5 and 4k offerings this weekend I am grateful that Noble are keeping their prices more realistic.

I completely agree with that, the Savant II is priced at around 500 USD at the moment and easily the absolute best value IEM I’ve tried. The point I’m making is that it’s so good, it makes the rest of the classic range quite obsolete as most of them are priced higher and don’t sound as good

But yes, I’d also like to make a shoutout to Noble for producing industry leading sound at a reasonable price

 

[BananaOoyoo]

I never thought I’d see the day when Noble IEMs are considered to have more realistic/reasonable pricing! Compared to the Wraith or Fourté Noir though...

 

[Watagump]

A Khan universal Prestige sold for $4000. The one some people find hideous.

 

[meomap]

A Khan universal Prestige sold for $4000. The one some people find hideous.

Oh, this horrible too bright candy style.
It's just too much for my eyes to bare the glare.

 

[Watagump]

Oh, this horrible too bright candy style.
It's just too much for my eyes to bare the glare.

I know how much you love it.

 

[mvvRAZ]

I never thought I’d see the day when Noble IEMs are considered to have more realistic/reasonable pricing! Compared to the Wraith or Fourté Noir though...

Slightly off topic but I heard the Wraith last weekend in London and honestly I think that’ll be one massive flop at that price point...

 

[krismusic]

I never thought I’d see the day when Noble IEMs are considered to have more realistic/reasonable pricing! Compared to the Wraith or Fourté Noir though...

I'm not sure realistic was quite the right word! But yes. Those were the items I was comparing.

 

[STR-1]

I was very pleased to see Noble Audio return to CanJam London - hope to see you guys again next year. I enjoyed talking with the team and trying out some new iems as well as some old favourites. Actually bought the Kaiser Encore, which I previously owned but had to sell a while back to help pay for upgrades to my main music system. I’ll give the Khan another listen at one of your UK dealers sometime soon but wasn’t completely won over by it based on a brief listen to some classical music (sounded a little odd with piano). I’ll try it again with a wider range of genre and with different tips.

 

[BananaOoyoo]

Slightly off topic but I heard the Wraith last weekend in London and honestly I think that’ll be one massive flop at that price point...

I'm not sure realistic was quite the right word! But yes. Those were the items I was comparing.

I guess this is also off topic, but I wouldn't be surprised if all four IEMs (Valkyrie, Wraith, King Arthur, Fourté Noir) flopped locally - and especially the latter three. Public reception of the Empire IEMs here seems to range from divided (Valkyrie), to disinterested (Wraith), to downright vitriolic (King Arthur), and 64 Audio as a whole, let alone the prohibitively expensive Fourte, never seemed to get much interest here.

For all the problems the Khan had upon release (noise issues, bad 2-pin connectors), the first batch still managed to sell out in a day, and the used marketplace seems to be normalizing a bit after the initial freefall in prices. It definitely helps when the distributor prices fairly and offers solutions to issues (free Dragonfly Red for the noise, quick replacements of original Khans with the new, revised versions).

 

[mvvRAZ]

I was very pleased to see Noble Audio return to CanJam London - hope to see you guys again next year. I enjoyed talking with the team and trying out some new iems as well as some old favourites. Actually bought the Kaiser Encore, which I previously owned but had to sell a while back to help pay for upgrades to my main music system. I’ll give the Khan another listen at one of your UK dealers sometime soon but wasn’t completely won over by it based on a brief listen to some classical music (sounded a little odd with piano). I’ll try it again with a wider range of genre and with different tips.

I also really enjoyed listening to the full Noble lineup at the canjam

Was absolutely blown away by the Savant II (bought 2 for my sisters and one for myself)

From their TOTLs, I also found the Khan to be a little odd when transitioning from high mids to highs, for example when a female vocal would go from regular to high pitch. I did really enjoy it though regardless, it sounds immensely open and the bass is executed beautifully on it - a perfect example of using a dynamic driver for texture and not quantity

I myself purchased the Katana - imo that’s absolute reference for what the music is meant to sound like without coloration. The more I listen to it the more I am enjoying it. I found it to be just a bit more realistic than the Khan somehow, and I already have a fair bit of “impressive coloration” IEMs

 

[mvvRAZ]

I guess this is also off topic, but I wouldn't be surprised if all four IEMs (Valkyrie, Wraith, King Arthur, Fourté Noir) flopped locally - and especially the latter three. Public reception of the Empire IEMs here seems to range from divided (Valkyrie), to disinterested (Wraith), to downright vitriolic (King Arthur), and 64 Audio as a whole, let alone the prohibitively expensive Fourte, never seemed to get much interest here.

For all the problems the Khan had upon release (noise issues, bad 2-pin connectors), the first batch still managed to sell out in a day, and the used marketplace seems to be normalizing a bit after the initial freefall in prices. It definitely helps when the distributor prices fairly and offers solutions to issues (free Dragonfly Red for the noise, quick replacements of original Khans with the new, revised versions).

I haven’t heard the King Arthur but at 6700.... I can get myself a U18t, a Horus and the PW1950s.... the VE Erlkonig was a flop and I think King Arthur will fall out for the same reasons

The Wraith just sounds off, I think it’s because the estats are used only for the ultra highs, so essentially you have BA treble with 4 estats kicking in every now and then for unnecessary amounts of intensity. The Khan uses the estat beautifully and you can actually tell that it’s estat treble. The Valkyrie sounds better than the Wraith, but not much better than the ESR - I found the latter to not only be much more balanced, but to execute mids far far more precisely - overall much more engaging. The Valkyrie was a pretty strong V to my ears.

I don’t know locally, but I don’t think the Noir will flop globally. I listened to it for a while this weekend and absolutely loved it, it is a genuine work of art that sound. The Fourte isn’t worth its money, the Noir comes to pretty close to it though (IMHO)

 

[BananaOoyoo]

I haven’t heard the King Arthur but at 6700.... I can get myself a U18t, a Horus and the PW1950s.... the VE Erlkonig was a flop and I think King Arthur will fall out for the same reasons

The Wraith just sounds off, I think it’s because the estats are used only for the ultra highs, so essentially you have BA treble with 4 estats kicking in every now and then for unnecessary amounts of intensity. The Khan uses the estat beautifully and you can actually tell that it’s estat treble. The Valkyrie sounds better than the Wraith, but not much better than the ESR - I found the latter to not only be much more balanced, but to execute mids far far more precisely - overall much more engaging. The Valkyrie was a pretty strong V to my ears.

I don’t know locally, but I don’t think the Noir will flop globally. I listened to it for a while this weekend and absolutely loved it, it is a genuine work of art that sound. The Fourte isn’t worth its money, the Noir comes to pretty close to it though (IMHO)

Try $8500 MSRP here (around $7200 for the launch sale) haha
(They actually cancelled & refunded all orders of it... something about the IEM not being satisfactory enough to be sold)

The Khan uses different drivers than the Wraith - the former uses piezoelectric ones (like the Hyla tri-hybrids), while the latter uses the Sonion tweeters that are increasingly common these days.

As for the Noir... I haven't heard it yet, so I'll reserve judgement on it. Opinions of it seem pretty divided though.

Edit: I actually thought pretty highly of the Erlkonig. It's stupidly expensive ($5500 locally), but VE makes some damn good IEMs.

 

[mvvRAZ]

Try $8500 MSRP here (around $7200 for the launch sale) haha
(They actually cancelled & refunded all orders of it... something about the IEM not being satisfactory enough to be sold)

The Khan uses different drivers than the Wraith - the former uses piezoelectric ones (like the Hyla tri-hybrids), while the latter uses the Sonion tweeters that are increasingly common these days.

As for the Noir... I haven't heard it yet, so I'll reserve judgement on it. Opinions of it seem pretty divided though.

Edit: I actually thought pretty highly of the Erlkonig. It's stupidly expensive ($5500 locally), but VE makes some damn good IEMs.

8500 jeeeeeesus

Yeah regardless of the driver itself, the way they use them is just completely different

Idk, I guess that’s part of the Fourte brand, bit of a love it or hate it but nothing in between

 

[STR-1]

I also really enjoyed listening to the full Noble lineup at the canjam

Was absolutely blown away by the Savant II (bought 2 for my sisters and one for myself)

From their TOTLs, I also found the Khan to be a little odd when transitioning from high mids to highs, for example when a female vocal would go from regular to high pitch. I did really enjoy it though regardless, it sounds immensely open and the bass is executed beautifully on it - a perfect example of using a dynamic driver for texture and not quantity

I myself purchased the Katana - imo that’s absolute reference for what the music is meant to sound like without coloration. The more I listen to it the more I am enjoying it. I found it to be just a bit more realistic than the Khan somehow, and I already have a fair bit of “impressive coloration” IEMs

I did listen to the Katana and I have to say that if anything I found it even closer to the Encore in terms overall enjoyment than I did comparing them when I first decided on the Encore. If classical music was all I listen to I might just prefer the Katana. Maybe if the Pound ever regains any serious value I might just add the Katana to my collection.