In this review we will take a closer look at the Astell&Kern NOVUS earphone, which are made in a collaboration with Empire Ears. They sell for a whopping $4,999.
Disclaimer: Astell&Kern supplied the NOVUS on loan for this review. Many thanks for the generosity and opportunity!
Astell&Kern
I don’t think Astell&Kern need a lengthy introduction at this point anymore, since they have been around for over ten years now. Astell&Kern has completely reshaped the portable hifi market since their introduction of the AK100 DAP back in 2014. Since then, AK has become synonymous of being one of the most luxurious and innovative portable audio player brands in the world.
Here at Headfonia we have reviewed many of their products in the past. Including their TOTL DAPs SP3000, SP2000, SP1000 as well as their more entry-level focused DAPs like the SR35. Many of their DAPs have also won our Best Product of the Year awards. So they are definitely worth checking out, if you’re looking for the best of the best.
Astell&Kern produces a wide range of different products as well. Such as headphones or IEMs together with established brands like Empire Ears, Vision Ears or Beyerdynamic. Over the course of the past years AK has released many different products, like the AURA, Odyssey, Pathfinder or today’s review of honor – the NOVUS.
NOVUS
The NOVUS is AK’s latest introduction in the IEM world. The NOVUS was created in a collaboration with Empire Ears. One of the finest IEM makers in the industry. The Georgia (USA) based manufacturer has been in our world since 2015, when they rebranded from their previous company – EarwerkZ.
Let’s look at the technical specifications of the NOVUS IEMs.
NOVUS is a 13 driver build, which uses four different driver types, making it a quadbrid design. The exact driver lay-out is not given on AK’s website, but the following can be extracted from there.
The NOVUS uses two proprietary dynamic drivers (lows), five balanced armatures (mids), four electrostatic tweeters (highs) as well as two high mass bone conductors (full range).
Like other IEMs by Empire Ears the NOVUS also uses their synX crossover network, which uses the time and frequency domains to control the drivers and optimize the sound even further. We can also find ARC (Anti Resonant Compound) in the NOVUS, which is essentially a coating for the drivers and internals, to reduce resonances and vibrations of the drivers.
Astell&Kern sells the NOVUS for 4,999 USD through their dealer-network around the globe.
The review continues on page two!
Page 1: Intro, Astell&Kern, Novus
Page 2: Packaging, Build quality, Sound
Page 3: Comparisons, Conclusion, Summary
UTVOL06
I have had the NOVUS since its first shipments started landing at MusicTeck in the later part of August. This is one of the best IEMs I’ve ever had the pleasure to use. The bass is the star, but the whole performance is out of this world. The dual Sonion Bone Conduction Drivers are much more potent than the one that was in the Empire Ears Raven. This produces a larger more holographic soundstage coupled with beats in the music that you can physically feel. This is above and beyond what the Raven offers. it’s in a whole different quality tier of IEMs that sit at the top. If you love powerful tight controlled and hard hitting bass that you can feel coupled with amazing performance across the entire sound spectrum. If you want the best bass experience you can get coupled with tons of detail, separation, and large holographic soundstage..these are a no brainer.