Disclaimer
- The reviewed IEM is a sponsored unit sent by Kotori Audio, Singapore. Regardless, all the opinions are original ideas, there is zero influence from any 3rd party or external opinions.
- No EQ or filter presets were used during the entire review period.
- Sound evaluation are kept neutral and does not include 3rd party accessories (ie; eartips, cable, reversible mods)
Introduction
Kotori Audio, Singapore better known for their handmade custom cables which speaking of their cables, I have quite a number of personal favourite such as their Kotori Audio Silicon and CARBON (2020). But in this review however, I will not be giving my opinions about cables instead, what we have here for review this time is their latest in-ear monitor release, Kotori Audio VAMPIRE. To add into that as well, the VAMPIRE isn’t actually the first IEM Kotori has came up with, there is also the more affordable Dauntless which I have yet to try one for myself. Regardless, huge thanks to Ray Tan, co-founder of Kotori Audio for sponsoring us a unit in exchange for an honest review.
Unboxing Experience
Although, the Kotori VAMPIRE is marketed inside the more affordable market sphere, they have made sure that they did not take product presentation and packaging for granted. On the outer layer, is a thin glossy cardboard minimally decorated with illustration and branding in the front as well as the top and bottom of the box. Turning the box will show you some details about the VAMPIRE and last but not least, technical specifications list.
Sliding the thin cover to the side, unveils an inner hard cardboard box which contains the product itself. I was genuinely impressed with how they had come up with the layout presentation. Opening the box, you’ll be immediately greeted with the striking customized “V” logo on the IEM case with some lettering on the cardboard flap just next to it which I suppose is written in French. Turning the flaps you’ll find some warranty and user manual guide and finally the IEMs itself nestling on an thick EVA foam cut-out. Alongside next to it, is a lightweight metal IEM case as per mentioned earlier with the cable secured inside the case and also 3 pair of eartips which came in its own eartip case, which is lovely. The eartips itself looks like what seem to be Sony EP-EX11 out of the box, which is a nice touch as well than the generic silicone eartips.
Cable
Kotori has come up with a brand new cable for the VAMPIRE, which is the Kotori Audio CARBON 3. This cable is the latest upgrade to their discontinued entry-level cable Kotori Audio CARBON (2020), which I demoed few years ago. The main conductor material for the newer CARBON 3 remains the same, which features silver-plated copper (SPC) and AEC 0.78mm 2-pin connectors. But Kotori have made some obvious changes such as what seem to be PFA insulation, its less likely be Kotori-LITE since its only reserved for their more higher-end model and to add to that now the CARBON 3 came with an L-shaped 3.5mm plug.
Foe me personally, I would prefer the straight plug in the previous CARBON since it uses AEC brand on both plug and connector which looks much premium and overall has better aesthetics, but when speaking ergonomically the L-shape comes with its own benefit as well. The overall feeling of the cable is amazing, its lightweight, more pliable or flexible than the previous CARBON and resistant to tangling. Micro-phonics are hardly noticeable even when rubbing on coarse fabric or when in-contact with hard surfaces. Unfortunately, I cannot make any comparisons between the CARBON and CARBON 3 for those who might be curious about how both cables might affect sound.
Specifications
Driver: 1* Knowles® Full-range Balanced Armature
Impedance: 50 Ohms @ 1kHz
Sensitivity: 112 dB/SPL @ 1kHz
Frequency Response: 20Hz-18kHz
Cable: Kotori Audio CARBON 3 – Silver-plated OFC/TRS 3.5mm/0.78mm 2-pin
Nozzle Diameter: 4.5mm
Build and Comfort
Fit and comfort on the VAMPIRE are superb for those with small ears and for individuals prefer deep insertion like myself since I have longer ear canal. Most oftentimes with these small IEMs, tend to have short nozzle length which will cause difficulties for some to achieve a perfect and secure fit when wearing these earpieces. Kotori have addressed this issue by extending the nozzle length which also means that one can use the VAMPIRE with eartips designed with shorter stem, like the Sony EX-EP11, Final Type-E and so on. To add more, the bore size for the VAMPIRE is measured at 4.5mm hence, this IEM should have no problem to be able to fit with most of the eartips available in the market.
The resin shell itself is feather lightweight, weighing at only 2.7g per side according to the manual guide. Moreover, Kotori has integrated their own custom built “Acoustic Chamber” inside the VAMPIRE, resembling a bell-shaped acoustic horn fitted behind the nozzle which functions to enhance driver performance and further fine-tuning the IEM. On the right side of the IEM, there’s a Kotori Audio logo meanwhile, on the left side there’s the “V” logo similar to the ones on the IEM case embedded onto the mesmerizing scarlet red background. Finished with German dental-grade lacquer to give it a very smooth and glossy surface which looks stunning when shone under the radiance, one can be easily mistaken it with a higher-end IEM with such appealing aesthetics.
Test Equipment
- Local Hi-Res files > Astell&Kern SE100 M.Chat (Linear Phase Fast Roll-off Filter)
- Tidal (Master) + Local Hi-Res files via UAPP > Sony Xperia 1 V + DSEE Ultimate (ON), Dolby Atmos (OFF)
- Tidal (Master) + Local Hi-Res files via UAPP > Sony Xperia 1 V > Venture Electronics Odo (3.5mm)
Power Requirements
Rated at 50 Ohms with a sensitivity rating of 112dB/SPL, the VAMPIRE is still a fairly easy to drive IEM and it does not take much amplification to reach optimal performance. However, smartphones or devices with low amplification capabilities might be struggling to provide enough power and meet the impedance requirement to fully unleash the full capability of this IEM. My Sony Xperia 1 V needed to be cranked past 15-18/30 on the volume rocker to achieve comfortable listening volume even for a low volume listener like myself. That being said, the VAMPIRE benefits more from much powerful source given that the impedance rating is higher than your typical IEM, furthermore with proper amplification will provide an overall fuller sound especially in the low frequencies where its obvious. Even a small budget dongle such as the Venture Electronics Odo, could run these absolutely fine with ample of headroom to spare. Same result also achieved by driving the VAMPIRE through the A&K SE100, I was able to run these totally fine from the unbalanced output which requires me to turn the knob up to 40-45/150 to achieve comfortable listening volume.
Prior to sound evaluation, burn-in phase was for the IEM for at least 48 hours. Throughout the analysis, I paired up the VAMPIRE driven through a neutral source which is the A&K SE100 with Linear Phase Fast Roll-off Filter chosen given that it’s the most natural sounding filter compared to default. I only use stock eartips and stock cable that came included in the package to keep my review fair and neutral. Test tracks used can be found at the end of the review.
Initial Impression
Based on my listening, I found that the VAMPIRE has a relatively balance tuning with slight peakiness in the upper-mids and treble, mainly in the 7k-9kHz region. Please keep in mind though, that these results may differ from one another due to our auditory capability. The tonality of this IEM is skewed more towards being a warm and rich sounding earpiece that is suitable for long hours of easy listening. The elevated bass to midrange frequency provides obvious warmth and colouration besides the greater bass extension, hence vocals and timbre are north to neutral as well but it would certainly cater those who prefer warm, laid-back sound signature and an IEM that could play most mainstream genres.
Low Frequency (Bass)
Despite having only a single full-range balanced armature inside, Kotori did a great job to fine tune the driver to fully maximize its potential. The elevated bass frequencies that extends deep into the midrange gave the VAMPIRE its rich, warm and velvety tonal balance. There is very good amount of sub-bass emphasis in this IEM, although it is still BA bass the VAMPIRE is more than capable presenting deep sub-bass rumbles and textures in songs such as In My Room – Hikaru Utada whereby sound of sub-bass hums with various depths were throughout the song and also my usual testing track Hollow (16-Bit Remix) – Björk, which past the 0:30 seconds mark there is a deep surging bass rumble sound. The use of a single full-range BA being too soft and unable to present rumbles and textures with amount of clarity is one of my common gripe about single BA setups.
Due to the emphasis as well, mid-bass and upper-bass slams extend fairly deep delivered with good amount of note weight. That said, each slam resembles a slightly boomy and loose sound with slower decay, rather than a tight, rapid “thud” which is more towards my preference which is leaning more towards flat reference tuning. But truthfully, I personally appreciate the tasteful tuning as a new flavour addition into my gear rotation. However, the VAMPIRE isn’t the most cleanest sounding I have heard if I were to compare against more premium or even an affordable single BA sets. In some genres and without the proper eartip pairing, this IEM can sound overly warm and muddy.
Middle Frequency (Mid)
The mids on VAMPIRE for my personal thoughts are quite a hit and miss kind of situation. Indeed these are some of the warmest, thickest midrange I have personally heard to date from a single BA monitor, but it does come with consequences in return. The midrange could come across sounding muddy in the lower-mids, unnatural and excessively warm in terms of tonality for my personal liking, such as vocals aspects and instruments as well especially in some genres like Jazz, Classical and Electronics as it can be quite hard to distinguish the timbre of various elements in such songs. For example in Artemis – Lindsey Stirling in one part of the song there’s the sound of swords clashing onto each other which sounded artificial and muted.
Other than that, the overall midrange presentation is average in terms of forwardness, nothing too outstanding yet its pleasant and still perfectly fine for vocal heavy tracks such as in my playlists like Kimigatame (When Suara Meets DSD 11.2 MHz) – Suara, Painter’s Song – Norah Jones, Furiko (From THE FIRST TAKE) – Uru and so on. Reaching into the upper-mids, the VAMPIRE does it smooth and velvety just about the borderline between over-sharpened and natural. This is due to I’m being quite sensitive to excessive pinna gain peak, mainly around 2.5k-3.kHz and the VAMPIRE is still just about tolerable for me.
High Frequency (Treble)
Treble on the VAMPIRE in my opinion, were dull and occasionally splashy and this is mainly due to the dip between 3k-5kHz. Presentation is slightly muted, lacking in brilliance but treble extension is fairly decent. It does not sound overly dark, there’s minimal amount of airiness to avoid the IEM from sounding congested and claustrophobic, although the dip came before 10kHz. But if you prefer a much airier, stronger treble presence, the VAMPIRE may not be enough to cater your need. Regardless, I could not hear any sibilant sound although on paper it may seem like the peaks and dips are concerning to some but from my listening with stock eartips, the VAMPIRE is one smooth operator.
That said, there are ways to improve the treble on the VAMPIRE which is through EQ, if you’re willing to spend some time and fiddle with the frequency sliders or you can also purchase some horn-shaped or wide bore eartips for an additional tuning modifications.
Technicality
From technical perspective, the VAMPIRE has an average soundstage but rather constricted only to a flat 2D-ish plane. There is not much height in the soundstage but the VAMPIRE does have good depth and decent width. Spatial imaging were quite poor, slightly below average if I must say, not the sharpest thing in thing in the barn but it can still give some directional illusion to pinpoint large (macro) details such as in tracks like Timbre – Yosi Horikawa whereby all of the details inside the track are easy to track and pretty obvious. Next, separation and layering for the VAMPIRE is quite decent, it does get quite congested, melding with each other which makes in unsuitable for certain genres such as Fusion Jazz and anything that plays around with a lot of elements. But other than that, for mainstream genres the VAMPIRE is totally fine even for Alternative Rock and Nu-Metal such as Korn, Porcupine Tree, etc.
Detail retrieval is surprisingly quite good to be completely honest, both macro and microdetails, I tried not just for music but even for FPS gaming such as Counter Strike and so on. However, when it comes to resolution, the VAMPIRE does not do all that well. Lastly, wrapping it off with the dynamic range test for Kotori Audio VAMPIRE is rated at average. Utilizing the Ultimate Headphone Test – ABYSS Headphone dynamic range test as a reference. In which explained in short, a sample sound of a drum and a bell are played simultaneously as much as 7 counts, but only the sound of the bells will become quieter. Hence, from a scale of 7 counts, VAMPIRE was able to produce an audible 5 out of 7 counts.
Comparison(s)
Hill Audio × Alpha Omega Voyager (HIFI ver.)
Both VAMPIRE and Voyager shares the same kind driver amount but tuning wise the Voyager is a lot flatter mainly in the bass to midrange region but also much more affordable. Comparing side-by-side, Voyager sounded a lot cleaner with better clarity, much more neutral compared to the more premium VAMPIRE. The VAMPIRE handles bass frequencies much better, offering greater warmth, bass quality and quantity compared to Voyager, extensions on both bass and treble is much better as well. Midrange on both IEMs sounded rich and lush, but it is much thicker, weightier on the VAMPIRE though. However, if I have to pick one it would be the Voyager since it offers better clarity, more natural timbre quality with darker background which makes vocals, string instruments, etc stand out even more. Treble hands on belongs to the Voyager, everything sounded a lot crisper, better brilliance and clarity which is the kind of quality I much prefer. That being said, I do appreciate the extra bit of treble extension, larger soundstage and airiness that is available in the VAMPIRE compared to the Voyager.
Audio Technica ATH-IM02
Although this may skew a bit from an all-single BA comparison but the obvious differences between these two is only by a mere additional single BA that’s in the IM02. Both IEMs shares similar horn-shaped acoustic chamber design internally which allows for a much smoother, fuller and more evenly distributed sound waves into the ear canal. Tuning wise, both are quite similar except the VAMPIRE has a much emphasized bass frequencies meanwhile, the IM02 has flatter bass and livelier, much extended treble. Midrange is much more forward and refined on the IM02 with better clarity and separation as well, which I mentioned in my sound evaluation that the VAMPIRE does get quite congested. Upper-mids sounded a lot natural and organic on the IM02 as the lower pinna gain resulting to a much more velvety and smoother mids. Both of these IEMs has a dip between 3k-5kHz which made is less sparkly compared to the Voyager but comparatively the IM02 has are noticeably crisper with greater treble brilliance and airiness to the VAMPIRE. That said, the VAMPIRE does have larger soundstaging but that’s about it as the IM02 technically edges it in pretty much everything. Although that seems to be the case, the VAMPIRE does sounds a lot more fun and versatile to the reference-like IM02.
Eartip Combination(s)
E Pro EP00
One of my favourite eartips to pair with the VAMPIRE, vast improvement in especially in the bass delivery, which slams much tighter, slightly faster decay and less muddy compared to other eartips. Midrange are much cleaner with darker background which highlights the mids, vocals, etc much better. Treble noticeably crisper, better presence with a bit more added airiness. Due to the longer stem of the eartips which added with the length of the nozzle, thus the IEM does tend to stick out slightly farther but overall I have no issue getting a perfect seal with it.
Azla Xelastec
Most noticeable changes with the Xelastec were mainly in the treble frequencies, as it does highlights the peakiness slightly more but it does not feel offensive, sibilant nor I would point as a negativity. Since, the VAMPIRE is a warm and dull pair of IEM, hence a bit more sparkle and brilliance in the treble would be much appreciated. As expected from this pairing, the Xelastec was able to brought out the midrange slightly more forward and clearly separated from the rest of the frequencies, without further adding any peaks in the upper-mids. Bass slightly tighter, not as tight and clean as the E Pro EP00 however it does enhances clarity and texture into the bass.
FiiO HS18
Sounds a lot like the stock Sony EP-EX11 which the VAMPIRE came with, except the FiiO HS18 adds a bit more bass quantity, slightly bouncier in the bass especially mid-bass and upper-bass slams. While the rest of the frequencies remain the same, the HS18 adds a bit more soundstage and airiness. However, it can be a tad difficult to achieve a full seal, the only way I can get it work was by plugging it deep inside my ear canal.
Tangzu Tang Sancai (Balanced)
My least favourite pairing, although the combination is fairly similar perhaps slightly better, much airier and open to the Sony EP-EX11 in terms of handling bass and midrange frequency. The treble frequency however, speaks different result. It was way too dull and splashy to almost non-existence, or may I say in other words it got sucked by the sheer amount of warmth of the VAMPIRE (pun intended).
Purchasing Links and Where to Get?
Kotori Audio website: https://kotoriaudio.com/products/vampire-iem
Conclusion
After a while keeping myself on hiatus from reviewing due to personal commitments, listening and eventually writing my opinion about the VAMPIRE feels like a welcome back kind of feeling towards the kind of hobby I love to work on during my free time. Without feeling any pressure or the focused mindset to suddenly come up with an extravagant review. The VAMPIRE possesses the kind of sound that is warm and inviting, comfortable and pretty much likeable by most listeners regardless your tuning preference. It’s the kind of IEM that the one that you’d bring over during a coffee talk among your audiophile buddies, said one of the guys from Kotori Audio during our personal chats on Instagram.
That said, there is still not much competition in the market for single BA drivers just yet, thus it is only the matter of taste and willingness if you plan to get one of these. There’s the AFUL MagicOne that cost slightly higher than the VAMPIRE that to me overall sound better, of course with a different tuning as well. But if you’re a fan of warm tuning, an IEM that has thick, smooth luscious midrange and you don’t care much about getting the highest resolution from your music or even you’d need a daily driver IEM for commuting, etc then the deep attractive scarlet red of the VAMPIRE aesthetics might captures your attention. Hence, that wraps up for my review about the Kotori Audio VAMPIRE, till next time.
Additional Test Tracks
Untuk Perempuan Yang Sedang Di Pelukan – Payung Teduh 44.1kHz
Money For Nothing (Explicit)- Dire Straits
A Poem Titled You – TAEYEON 44.1kHz
Anesthetize (Live) – Porcupine Tree DSD256
The Devil in I – Slipknot 44.1kHz
Hunter – Björk 44.1kHz
Hollow (16-Bit Remix) – Björk 44.1kHz
La vaguelette (Original Game Soundtrack) – HOYO-MiX 44.1kHz
Rythm – Jamey Haddad; Lenny White; Mark Sherman 44.1kHz
Kimigatame – Suara DSD11.2MHz
Just Coolin’ – Art Blakey 192kHz
Automatic – Hikaru Utada 44.1kHz
In My Room – Hikaru Utada 44.1kHz
Colors (Live in Studio) – Black Pumas 192kHz
Timbres – Yosi Horikawa 44.1kHz
Aquatic Mouth Dance – Red Hot Chilli Peppers 192kHz
