Noble Savant IEM Impressions

The Savants are a nice compact size. I eventually went for a smaller tip size than usual and shoved them deep into my ears. They sounded best this way. The usual suspects, the Sony ZX2 and Mojo were used to power the Savants. As usual, I will get to the point.



Honestly, I am a little bit underwhelmed. I think the HF hype probably got to me and I expected these to be super awesome. But they are not. Don't get me wrong. To be fair, the Savants are pretty good, and at $599 shouldn't be expected to compete against the likes of the UERM, Andromeda, etc. The measurements are good, but this seems to be a case where they measure better than they they sound. I am having a hard time reconciling the measurements with the lack of bass authority, honky mids, a slight veil / midrange congestion, and a very slight hard brittle lower treble. I'd definitely like to investigate why with additional measurements if I can find the time. The Savants do lack last octave "air" - this is hard to discern from the measurements, so I thought I would mention it.



I guess the new Savants are made with aluminum shells? If so, I am thinking the aluminum shells might sound better. These shells seem kind of wimpy (thin walled and lightweight), are made from a hard material and have a hollow quality when I tap on them. I think this adds a distinct coloration to the sound as most other IEMs have a more solid and dead feel to them when I tap them. This is just me using the Force, so I might not know what I am talking about.



Again, I don't want to sound like I'm too hard on them because the Savants are good IEMs. The main issue in 2016 is that there seem to be a lot of low priced IEMs under $200, even under $100 that perform very close to the Savants to make them not a high value proposition.



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