Review: Noble Audio Kaiser Encore – K10’s successor

Disclaimer: The custom Kaiser Encore was graciously provided by Noble Audio free of charge for this review, many thanks! I only had to pay for customs, import fees and to have my impressions shipped to their US office. The Encore will stay in my inventory and will be used as a reference in ear monitor for future reviews. Noble Audio is not a site advertiser.

About Noble Audio

I shamelessly copied this part from my previous Sage review and applied only minor changes to it.

Noble Audio, or simply Noble, is an American based company that manufactures custom made in ear monitors as well as universal models. They are still a relatively young brand being only formed about four years ago, though the Noble team can look back on a bit more years of experience in the field. Before Noble was born Dr. John Moulton, aka Wizard (nickname given due to the magnificent designs he created), founded Heir Audio. In 2013 Moulton parted ways with Heir and formed Noble Audio together with some former colleagues.

Noble is one of the most unique and innovative brands around. When they started they introduced the audiophile world a complete lineup of IEMs, among them their former flagship Kaiser 10 (or K10). The K10 still is considered as one of the best in ear monitors available and enjoys legend status. What makes Noble so unique in my opinion is not only the incredible designs the Wizard creates but the fact that you have no less than four different options for their models: Universal, Acrylic CIEM, Silicone CIEM and Prestige CIEM. Most of them are manufactured in different laboratories, either in Asia or USA. The Prestige models are absolutely different to what any other manufacturer offers, those are made of solid materials like exotic woods and carbon glass or even feature small pine cones. Some models, like Sage, also make it to a Wizard universal, those feature a face plate designed by Dr. John himself.

If you want to take a look at what Noble is capable of building see here: Noble Lookbook

Lately Noble had the guts to rework two of their most successful models – The Kaiser 10 and Savant. Both new models now feature custom built balanced armature drivers, so no more off the shelf BA‘s. Today we’re looking at the successor to Noble’s former flagship – The Kaiser Encore. But first we’re looking back at the Kaiser 10.

Noble Audio Kaiser Encore

Noble Audio Kaiser Encore

About Kaiser 10 and Kaiser Encore

Back in the day when Noble Audio was launched they immediately introduced what was the most innovative IEM design at that time, featuring non less than ten balanced armature drivers per side. It to this date is considered one of the best monitors available and has been highly requested even shortly before it was replaced by the Kaiser Encore. The Kaiser 10 was created with the goal to form an in ear monitor that is capable of producing the finest sound with all genres.

The K10 has won multiple awards
from international press all over the globe and has earned the deepest respect from the most critical headphone community around. It has received 28 consecutive full five star reviews on Head-Fi for the custom version alone. No other earphone or brand has been as successful as the Kaiser 10 and Noble. It is highly respected for the deep thunderous and incredibly controlled bass, immense detail reproduction and fun signature that drags you into the music while retaining a clean sound. The Kaiser has been placed at the very top of Noble’s line until Katana came around. Katana has been introduced as the very first of Noble’s in ear monitors to feature custom built balanced armature drivers. This is something only the best and biggest brands can do. It means that the drivers for each Katana set are built on the exact requests of Noble. No more workarounds. Katana though was not introduced as the new sole flagship, it has been positioned right next to the K10, giving both co-flagship status. In the meantime Noble has been working on the successor of the Kaiser 10 and they introduced it in October of last year – the Kaiser Encore. According to Dr. Moulton the name Encore is supposed to symbolize the evolution of K10. It sports just like Katana custom built balanced armature drivers and is said to be the lovechild of Katana and K10. Taking the air and extension of Katana and combining it with the low end grunt and fun musical signature of K10. Kaiser Encore’s mids have also been retuned to form a bigger and more spacious sound stage and to add more clarity to the picture.

The Kaiser Encore is offered in three different versions. You can get a universal version with aluminum body and top plate, a custom build with acrylic housing or you could get a Prestige custom build.
Prices start from 1850$ and go all the way up to 3150$ depending on your choices. Shipping worldwide is included in the price.

Technical info

Not much is disclosed on Noble’s website when you look for the Encore. However Brannan has provided me with some information about the new Kaiser:

Encore features the same ten BA driver configuration as its predecessor. Two drivers for low end notes, two balanced armatures for mids, two for upper mids, dual BAs for highs and another two drivers for upper treble. Its impedance is generally below 30 Ohms, but depends on the frequency it is measured with. The sensitivity of Kaiser Encore is slightly higher than the K10’s. The Kaiser 10 has been considered as one of the more sensitive IEMs.
As noted before, the most important
technical difference are the custom built drivers.

It continues with Custom build choices (Personalization), Package and Build quality on the next page

4.6/5 - (154 votes)
Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedin

A daytime code monkey with a passion for audio and his kids, Linus tends to look at gear with a technical approach, trying to understand why certain things sound the way they do. When there is no music around, Linus goes the extra mile and annoys the hell out of his colleagues with low level beatboxing.

32 Comments

  • Reply April 25, 2017

    Yaroslav

    Great review, thanks!

    I wonder what is the most reasonably priced IEM by Wizard that still reminds you of the sound signature and the sound quality of this piece since $2K is still a ton.

    Like, an LCD-2 to LCD-4 or LCD-3. Is that Django? Maybe an IEM from another vendor?

    • Reply April 25, 2017

      Linus

      I only have two other Noble’s, K10 and Sage. Sage is like a mini Kaiser, well balanced, insane imaging and separation. It does not have the bass of the K’s though, but responds very well to EQ’ing. So that might solve that.

      Only listened to LCD-2 and LCD-X myself, no experience with 3 or 4. Sorry.
      I highly recommend giving Sage a listen, it’s outstanding

      • Reply April 25, 2017

        Yaroslav

        I have the X as well! Can you recommend other IEMs just based on the same signature or, you know, “feeling”, especially with the lows.

        In general, do you think BA bass is comparable to planars these days?

        • Reply June 10, 2017

          rob

          Not even close. Drivers give a different presentation of bass altogether. The bass in my Lyra easily outpaces the bass in my Encore; BA just doesn’t rumble like a Driver does. Having listened to the LCD-2, owning ZMF, Meze 99 Classic, and the Noble Kaiser Encore, the bass presentations are very different. The LCDs, in particular, have a very warm sound signature that you won’t find in BA. Try looking for some hybrid BA/Driver combos like Oriolus- I think you will be happier there.

      • Reply March 27, 2019

        Per

        Hi,

        I’m considering DAP player to go with my K10s. Ak SR15 or the SE100. As of now I lean towards the SR15 just because of its small size. Whats your opinion on that?

        • Reply March 28, 2019

          Linus

          Hi Per,
          thanks for your comment.
          The SR15 is very nice, especially for the portability. Sound-wise it might get a little thick with the K10, here the pairing might be better with the SE100, though this one is a lot bigger and has some really sharp edges which you might want to cover with a case. Unfortunately there isn’t one included in the package of the SE100.
          Hope that helps.

  • Reply April 25, 2017

    Berkhan

    Amazing work Linus! Thanks for the review.

    In my opinion the only small dent about K10 was staging. Seems like they solved the only weakness of it with the Encore. Nice work from John right there.

    • Reply April 25, 2017

      Linus

      Thank you so much Berkhan! Highly appreciated.

      Team Noble certainly has solved that. If you get the chance give the Encore a try. It is incredible.

  • Reply April 26, 2017

    Max

    Hey Linus, great review!

    Was wondering what’s your take between the Encore and the Lime Ears Aether. Am really wondering if I should get the Encore on top of my Aethers haha.

    • Reply April 26, 2017

      Linus

      Hi Max,
      thanks for your comment.
      I honestly have no experience with the Aether so I can’t help, sorry.

    • Reply April 26, 2017

      bsasproaudio

      I have some experience with Aethers and if I was on your position I would try that no doubt in my mind! Give it a go!

      • Reply April 26, 2017

        Linus

        sure would love to, but they’re hard to demo where I’m at…

  • Reply April 29, 2017

    Citizen Zombie

    You may ask your colleague Lieven for a loan of his ProPhile 8. They announced a CIEM version for 2k€ at the ProLight/Musikmesse in Frankfurt, making it a direct contender for the Kaiser Encore.
    While I think about buying a top end CIEM for mastering purposes it is difficult to shell out such an amount of money without listening to it before. Noble has no dealers in Germany and I never have seen this company at a fair in Europe.

    • Reply April 29, 2017

      Linus

      Noble is only active at CanJam London. As you say, they have no dealer/distributor in Germany.
      When I get some eartime with the ProPhile I’ll let you know how they compare to the Encore. But from what I’ve heard PP8 is (at least with both switches down) fairly neutral.

      • Reply April 30, 2017

        Citizen Zombie

        Sadly I can’t attend CanJam London 2017, 15/16th of July is already planned.

        The ProPhile is a neutral sounding headphone and I need this by design. Every desktop headphone I use regularly in the studio or on location (Beyerdynamic DT 1990, Sennheiser HD 600, HD 800, Stax SR-007) is measured and equalised, but I never found an equaliser for mobile use capable enough to meet my expectations. Not for smartphone, not in a mobile player. So I use fairly neutral (C)IEMs like Hearsafe HS 15-2, Sennheiser IE8, Stax SR-001 knowing their shortcomings. But an improvement would be welcome. Changing a microphone position and immediately listening to the effect is a major time saver.

  • Reply May 1, 2017

    rob

    I was able to demo these at Can Jam NYC and found myself drifting away, and having to pull myself back to reality. I bought a pair on the spot, and they are almost here! I can’t wait to pair these with my Sony WM1A and grab a 4.4 balanced cable from PlusSound. The Sony balanced adds depth to the bass without losing anything in return, which is what disappointed me with my AK240. The combo of WM1A and Encore should be magic.

  • Reply May 7, 2017

    Audio Fan.

    Oooooh, more juicy freebies for “impartial” reviews…
    How can we trust anything that you say, when you’re so subjective and so biased? Hmmmmm?

  • Reply May 7, 2017

    Linus

    Hi Audio Fan,
    I see where you’re coming from, but I can assure you that I write my reviews as objective as I can.
    I have also reviewed Noble’s Sage, which I bought second hand, and it also wowed me, I also place it above other IEMs I got sent by manufacturers. The Encore deserved every bit of the review as it is a stellar IEM in my opinion, and thus it is currently ranked at the very top spot of all in my collection.

    Wouldn’t it be better for me to rank the models which I bought higher than the one’s I got for review, to justify the costs? (especially the flagship ones)

    I hope you can see where I’m going with this.

  • Reply September 21, 2017

    Kayoed Owner

    I have the K10’s, the sound quality is fabulous however the build quality is poor. 18 mths into ownership and they already need to be rebuilt. Unfortunately Noble did not return my ear impression so I’ve had the inconvenience and cost of having new moulds made, in addition even though the repair us due to their poor quality control, I am being made to foot the cost of shipping to and from Noble (not inconsequential from the UK). My advise is look around for a company who understand customer service at this premium end of the market. There are plenty of alternatives….

    • Reply September 21, 2017

      Linus

      Wow, that is unfortunate. But I also recently had to refit a ciem of mine and for that you need to have new impressions done and ship them to the manufacturer. I think it is not needed when they 3D print your ciem… then they have your impressions scanned and stored as a file, like 64 Audio does, they however also only use scans they have stored for less than 18 months, because your ears change over the course of time.
      Anyhow, did you reach out to Brannan Mason? he handles customer requests at Noble…

      By the way: I never got my impressions back from any manufacturer

    • Reply September 22, 2017

      Brannan Mason

      Brannan here from Noble, I hope you are well.

      Ear impressions typically begin to degrade after a couple of months depending on the impression material used. Therefore, even if we returned your impressions to you, they would not be suitable to rebuild your K10 at this time.

      Furthermore, impressions are cut, sanded, dipped in wax, and more throughout the CIEM crafting process making them only suitable for a single build.

      If you believe your issue is related to build quality, you are welcome to email me directly at [email protected] and we can it discuss further there.

      Best,

      Brannan

  • Reply February 22, 2018

    Niroc

    Such a fantastic review!
    May I ask, do you think these would ever be worth running off of a phone, especially a good audio phone (LG v30)?
    I own the Noble Savants which I love, but I have always dreamed of one day owning a pair of k10s since hearing about them years ago.
    I have owned high end DAPs, but I sold them as I found them just so annoying to carry around, and would actually end up listening to music less often for the haste.
    Since buying the v30 I find they run the Nobles really well, and it’s become a must in headphones now.

    Anyway, let me know what you think (sorry for the long ass question!)

    • Reply February 22, 2018

      Linus

      Hi there,
      thanks for your comment, much appreciated.

      The Encores are pretty sensitive, so they might pick up some hiss from the LG. I can’t say how the noise floor of the V30 is… but I believe they would sound pretty good from this smartphone.

      If you have the chance you could try them out at a local dealer and see how they pair with the LG V30

      • Reply June 30, 2018

        jared

        I have the G7 with the encore and the combo sounds fantastic, even better than my LCD i4 with my RDI Dac.

  • Reply August 4, 2018

    jared

    Great review! I have the encore and am wondering which tubes you believe work best when using the CDM with the encores. I’ve read that the CDM dual is great but the DAC isn’t the best, what are your thoughts for maximizing the encores?

    Thanks!

    • Reply August 5, 2018

      Linus

      Hi Jared,

      thanks for your comment.

      Yeah, I agree the CDM doesn’t have the best DAC section, but the analogue path is superb, just make sure to run it fully balanced, that’s the best the CDM has to offer.
      When it comes to tubes I, for a long time, had the Sonotones installed that ALO sells themselves, but I also got some Mullard 6021’s that really made the CDM shine. These are only available if you build them yourself or get someone else to do that for you.

      Tube rolling with the CDM is a lot of fun and you might run into some really awesome pairings. Though I have sold my CDM a while ago, simply because it was too good to collect dust. Had to get a new home…

      Do you have an aftermarket cable for the Encore or are you using stock? The vanilla Encore is damn fine, but I found that it pairs exceptionally well with the DHC Clone Fusion or PW Audio 1960s (2wire), that one comes with a hefty price tag though.

      • Reply September 28, 2018

        Jared Crandall

        Hey Linus. I now have a chord hugo2 I am paring with the encores. I am still considering using the Alo for an amp, also looking into the cables you recommended. Thanks

      • Reply September 28, 2018

        Jared Crandall

        Recommended tube setup for the hugo2 -> continental dual -> encores ?

        • Reply September 29, 2018

          Linus

          Hi Jared,

          that setup definitely is sublime, but a little overkill 😉
          However, I really regret selling my CDM. It’s a stellar portable tube amp. I’m sure it has found a better home now though, would still just sit around most of the time.

          Cable wise, give the Clone Fusion a listen, it pairs very well imo. There is one more cable coming in next week, for which I am personally really excited about, but I can’t say anything for now as it hasn’t made its way to my CIEMs yet.

          What is it you want to alter with a cable? Anything specific you feel needs adjustment on the Encore?

  • Reply February 6, 2019

    ILKER ONIER

    Hi Linus,

    Thanks for the review. I’m seriously considering between u12t and kaiser encore and since you reviewed both of them within 2 days you might have a pretty good opinion. You think kaiser is more analytical while a12t is more entertaining. But which one is the endgame? I own Xelento, se846, ie800s, Angie and shozy & Neo bg. Sp1000m and wm1z for source.I’d appreciate your help very much as I will place the order soon.

    Best Regards

    Ilker

    • Reply March 3, 2020

      Krypton

      I own both If you like bright iem go for encore if you like more warm go for u12t. by the way u12t is better for long listening session since it has air pressure release unit.

  • Reply September 15, 2019

    Bryan

    Hi, Just wondering if this set is still one of the top CIEM’s. Since it wasn’t in your list of best CIEM’s.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.