Do you like bass? Do you like so much bass that you have to make sure you don’t listen at too high of a volume so that you don’t suffer hearing loss? If you answered yes to either of those questions, I’ve got something today that will make you grin: the second generation Rose Cappuccino. Hailing from a small company in China formed by university students, the Cappuccino Mk. II is a tribute to bass-heads around the world.

You can find the Cappuccino Mk. II here on Penon Audio for $350.

Disclaimer: I bought this unit with my own money. I am not affiliated with Penon Audio or Rose. These words reflect my true, unaltered opinion about the product.

Preference and Bias: Before reading a review, it is worth mentioning that there is no way for a reviewer to objectively pass judgment on the enjoy-ability of a product: such a thing is inherently subjective. Therefore, I find it necessary for you to read and understand what I take a natural liking to and how that might affect my rating of a product.

My ideal sound signature would be an extended sub-bass with a leveled, but textured, mid-bass. The mids should be slightly less pronounced than the treble, but still ahead of the bass. I prefer a more bright upper range.

Source: The Cappuccino Mk. II was powered like so:

Nexus 6P -> earphones

or

Hidizs AP100 3.5mm out -> FiiO A5 3.5mm out -> earphones

or

HiFiMAN SuperMini -> earphones

or

PC optical out -> HiFiMe SPDIF 9018 Sabre DAC 3.5mm out -> earphones

All music was served as MP3 @320Kbps or as FLAC.

The Cappuccino Mk. II scales well with higher-end sources. Bass hardness is dependent on the source.

Sound Signature

Initial Impressions:

The Cappuccino Mk. II’s sound signature is quite rare: a true L-shaped IEM is hard to come by, and one that sounds good is even harder to find. Luckily, the Mk. II checks all of these boxes. The bass rests in front of the mids and treble, which are matched together well. The treble takes a very slight edge in front of the mids, but not enough to be noticeable in too many situations.

Treble: Songs used: In One Ear, Midnight City, Outlands

Treble is well matched with the rest of the sound, and isn’t too aggressive in most cases. However, it’s pretty far away from something you could call smooth. Therefore, in certain situations, treble bound instruments can sound a bit sharp, though its nothing that has prevented me from enjoying a song thus far. However, this lack of smoothness really allows the Mk. II to grab tons of details and drag them to the front of the song.

Mids: Songs used: Flagpole Sitta, Jacked Up, I Am The Highway, Dreams

The upper mids of the Cappuccino Mk. II are unadulterated and uncolored. This lends many songs a great sense of realism. I was surprised by how well the Mk. II enunciated vocals and maintained instrumental separation in the mids, even during complex bass lines.

Lower mids have a slightly warm tinge to them, which adds a lot of heft to rock songs like Flagpole Sitta and Jacked Up.

Vocals have a certain sweetness to them, but aren’t tinged by coloration at all. Weighting is darn near perfect for my tastes with both male and female singers.

Bass: Songs used: Moth, Gold Dust, In For The Kill (Skream Remix), Leave Me

If you look through my previous reviews, you won’t find me ever say that an IEM or headphone has had bass that felt “physical” to me. That’s an accolade that I hold quite high in regard, and award to only those IEMs that I find create an incredible bass response; not simply a little bit or rumble or “slam”.

The bass on the Mk. II feels physical. Time after time these earphones manage to move an immense amount of air during bass drops. This bass is truly deserving of a bass-head’s audience. However, despite its massive bass quantity, the Mk. II never sacrifices bass quality. It was always presented with a good tightness and great dynamicism. Bass extension is really, really good, with the Mk. II pushing down into the deep recesses of sub-bass effortlessly. Gold Dust, In For The Kill, and Leave Me all performed sublimely.

The Mk. II also has something for non-bassheads. The double dynamic setup Rose went with enables the Cappuccino to be quite subtle when it needs to, presumably by not using both drivers at the same time. In Moth, I could hear the bass guitar quite clearly, in a way that I’d not previously experienced. Having a clear and defined bass line is something I won’t be taking for granted in the future.

However, Rose made sure that their new IEM isn’t a one-trick-pony. On the side of the Cappuccino Mk. II you can find a small switch that. When in default mode, the switch keeps the bass at standard levels with normal (healthy) decay. When you flip the switch, the bass lessens its strength a bit and speeds up both attack and decay, moving the bass closer towards a balanced armature’s style. I enjoy both modes very much, and find both usable on all of my genres of music.

Packaging / Unboxing

The Mk. II comes in fairly standard Rose packaging. The IEMs are tucked inside little foam cutouts. The eartips are lined up in a neatly alongside the IEMs. The cable is stored inside the hard carrying case.