CanJam SoCal 2024 Impressions: Bloom Audio Room
It’s CanJam SoCal season and you know what that means… it’s impressions time! We went out to sunny Southern California and tested dozens of the newest audiophile products from all of your favorite brands. In this article, we’ll be exclusively covering the IEMs we demoed at the Bloom Audio listening room.
Every IEM I tested deserves a full-length review. They are excellently-crafted products, and I urge you to take my impressions as what they are — impressions.
Do note that the lighting in the venue was awful. I did my best to edit the photos but they just don’t do these beautiful products justice.
Vision Ears VE 10
The VE 10 is an ultra-high-end IEM from German brand, Vision Ears. It features a gorgeous, warm, lower-midrange that skillfully avoids becoming thick or heavy. Its upper midrange is, relative to its lower midrange, fairly neutral. The VE10 features an extended, somewhat elevated, treble that adds a great deal of texture and air to the VE10’s lifelike and natural timbre. The VE 10 is the most “fun” VE IEM I have listened to and is my personal (VE) IEM of choice for recreation listening
It is sensitive and easy to drive, though I did prefer listening to it on my HiFiMAN SuperMini over my phone’s built-in 3.5mm jack.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get a decent picture of the VE 10.
Vision Ears EXT MK II
The EXT MK II is VE’s new flagship IEM, and is priced as such (coming in at a whopping $3,399.00). It has a surprisingly low driver count, weighing in at a mere 6 drivers:
- 2x dynamic drivers
- 4x electrostatic drivers.
I assume that EXT is short for “extension” because this is easily one of the most extremely-extended IEM’s I’ve heard in a while. It has very potent bass, stretching down further than what I can hear (and into what I can feel). VE tuned the EXT MK II’s bass to be natural and cohesive, focusing on texture and shape rather than absolute volume. This approach complements the rest of the EXT MK II’s sound signature which sits squarely in the “north of neutral” territory with a mild W-shaped sound signature. The EXT MK II’s treble is…extremely competent. Its electrostatic drivers are the very definition of “quick” providing the listener with, at times, overwhelming levels of detail retrieval.
The EXT MK II’s quickness also allows it to stage instrumentation with precision. Not only does the EXT MK II possess a wide sound stage, but a tall one. The sensation of dimensionality created by the EXT MK II is rare and marks this IEM as one of the greats.
Noble Audio Spartacus
The Spartacus (great name) is a new hybrid IEM from Noble. It features a visually-stunning floating wood-grain faceplate immersed in high-quality colored resin. While I remain skeptical about the HiFi industry’s rush to implement bone-conducting drivers, Noble’s BC IEM are by far the most refined implementation of the technology I’ve seen so far. The Spartacus lacks the spring-loaded echo-chamber resonance sensation that many worse-built BC IEMs have while leveraging each of its drivers to create a compelling sound signature.
This is an energetic, fun IEM with a focus on tactility and raw experience. It has a forward, but not sharp, treble that extends well. The Spartacus’s midrange is fairly even with a natural tone and great vocal expression. Its midbass and sub-bass are paired very well, treating listeners to a punchy and controlled lower register than comes and goes with intent and precision. The Spartacus, overall, sounds V-shaped and is another great option for listeners craving a fun, but precise, IEM.
Noble Audio Ronin
The Ronin is Noble Audio’s EST hybrid Flagship IEM. It features 12(!) drivers:
- 4x Sonion electrostatic drivers
- 4x Knowles balanced-armature drivers
- 4x Sonion balanced-armature drivers
Noble synthesizes this huge array of drivers into a cohesive, expressive sound signature. It has a healthy lower register extending from about 200Hz down to 50Hz where is slowly rolls off. The Ronin’s lower mids are a little recessed, though not veiled. This gives is a light and nimble tone, complemented nicely by its expressive upper-mids and linear treble. The Ronin sounds regal and distinguished, not delving into bass-land nor treble craziness.
This is an IEM that is subtle and intelligent and is very well suited to comfortable critical listening. Unlike many (perceived) neutral IEMs I’ve listened to, the Ronin is comfortable and versatile, never triggering sonic discomfort through a bloated midbass or sharp treble.
I would have really liked to be able to carefully A/B the Ronin with the VE EXT MK II and CTM DaVinci X, though CanJam was neither the time nor the place.
Noble Audio Viking Ragnar
Both the Ragnar and the Ronin are designated as flagships by Bloom Audio, so I’m just going to roll with it. The Viking Ragnar is another “tribrid” flagship IEM from Noble featuring 10 drivers:
- 2x dynamic drivers
- 4x balanced-armature drivers
- 4x electrostatic drivers
The Ragnar’s absolutely stunning visuals aside, this is a phenomenal TOTL IEM. Its cable is unique and imposing, pairing very well with the meaty and powerful V-shaped sound signature created by the Ragnar’s insane driver configuration.
When I say that the Ragnar is V-shaped, I mean it. It features elevated bass, recessed lower mids, and elevated treble. Even with the Ragnar pushing well into both the sub-bass and upper-treble, it never sounds colored or artificial. It instead comes across as intense, articulate, and full of texture. The Ragnar is, to my ears, the most textured IEM of the Noble lineup (in Bloom Audio’s room), by a significant margin. It blew me away with just how much fine detail and texturing it was able to catch in Chevelle’s Sleep Apnea, particularly around the fringes of the distorted electric guitar and the punching of the drums.
After I got home, I took a peek at the Ragnar’s frequency response, and while it was roughly what I was expecting, I had no idea that its upper treble peaked so high. It is integrated so well into the broader sound signature that I didn’t notice it bleeding, blurring, or otherwise deforming/ becoming irritating.
The Ragnar is not an IEM to pass over if you get a chance to demo the Noble lineup.
Noble Audio Onyx
Noble Audio’s Onyx is a new so-called “quadbrid” IEM feature four different types of driver:
- 1x dynamic driver
- 1x bone-conducting driver
- 4x Knowles balanced-armature drivers
- 2x electrostatic drivers
This 8-driver IEM is cold, dark, and brooding. It is highly stylized, featuring a bass-rich sound signature with a linear midrange and treble. The Onyx generally doesn’t sound claustrophobic, but can sound “veiled” to listeners accustomed with less linear midranges. I had to re-tune my ears with several “nearly neutral” IEMs before coming back to the Onyx for a second listen since it was difficult to assess with such a chaotic day of listening.
I really enjoyed the Onyx’s ability to texture the lower register. Its mids remain mostly untouched by mid-bass bleeding and maintains a pretty solid level of texturing and sound staging in a variety of genres. The Onyx is a bold IEM that definitively targets a specific audience of dark sound signature lovers. This IEM, while possessing some great qualities, is not my cup of tea.
Noble Khublai Khan
The Khublai Khan is Noble’s newest iteration of its older Khan IEM. It features four types of drivers including:
- 1x 10mm dynamic driver
- 1x bone conducting driver
- 4x balanced-armature drivers
- 1x 10mm Piezo super-tweeter
This a potent and powerful IEM featuring a similar, but less intense, sound signature to the Ragnar. It is decidedly V-shaped with an elevated bass, recessed midrange, and elevated, but internally linear, treble. The Khublai’s driver configuration consistently produced incredibly lifelike drum hits in tracks like Remember When by Chevelle. It perfectly captured the slam and lazy decay of the drums, organically combining queues from across the entire frequency range. The Khublai is, as is tradition with Noble IEMs, highly resolving and textured. Its midrange is highly expressive with a tactile vocal bump. Vocal intelligibility is excellent and shines through on dark and soft vocals. The Khublai Khan is, in my mind, a baby Viking Ragnar that is more focused on mids and overall balance.
7th Audio Acoustics Supernova
I hadn’t heard of 7th Audio Acoustics before demoing the Supernova. The Supernova packs 8 balanced-armature drivers to give listeners a smooth, mid-centric sound signature with a considerable upper-treble presence. It resolves well and is comfortable, but didn’t stand out to me in by back-to-back demoes. It sounded kind of like an inverse of the Noble Onyx, though it had a decidedly more thin BA-style decay. I’ll give the Supernova another listen if it shows up at my next CanJam and see if it piques my interest then.
Ice Lab Prismatica
The Prismatica is a high-end all-BA IEM featuring a bassy, rich V-shaped sound signature. It has a powerful, but controlled mid-bass and well-extended sub-bass. The Prismatica’s lower mids are meaty and warm with the its vocals being giving a considerable boost in the 2–4KHz range to aid with separation.
While the Prismatica does indeed have outstanding bass performance and a soothing midrange, I found it to occasionally become sibilant, particularly in songs with harsher mastering. Its treble isn’t particularly forward, but there’s something about the way it’s tuned that aggravates my sensitivity. Bass lovers should definitely check this IEM out, just be aware that sibilant-sensitive listeners like me will likely need foam eartips or an EQ to smooth out the vocal and treble response.
