So sometimes things work for the best when you keep simple things at its core. Such is the case with my EDC and the greatest IEM for my life, the Kato. What I seek is sub-bass, mid-bass, weighed yet detailed mids, great details in highs, amazing timbre and tonality, and amazing imaging and intimacy for vocals and soundstage. It has taken years to find out this preference about myself and even longer to defeat the hype vs. law of diminishing returns. It has been the hardest journey and strangest circle to end up back where I started. It was almost shameful. But through it all, I found my keys to success. Find the best balance of performance, price, durability, and looks was step one. The Kato ended up being that juggernaut for this all along and none better than the Matte Steel version of the Kato.
The next thing I needed was to turn my cable from a 3.5 into balance to gain more power and more details at lower volume. This was something the Kato did really well on its own with its higher oms but a little more wasn’t something that it wouldn’t benefit from. So going to Moondrop for their T Line 4.4 Cable was a boss move. Not only did it give me additional power, but additional pushes into the already impressive soundstage and purity into the frequency it’s was already producing. It also nailed the looks and added an even higher level of quality look to the Kato, thanks to the gold cable and chrome connector. They were already like artwork or jewelry, but now they looked like masterpieces.
Last up was the USB 4.4 balance adaptor I needed for my phone if I’m was away from my desk set up. I needed this kind of build quality, something that would last for a while and built to withstand bending over and over again. The XMSJSIY USB Type C delivered this in spades. The build quality is very high and sturdy and it delivered on the 32 bit/384khz I was looking for. And when all this is put together…”We form Voltron”.
Yes, I do mean exactly that. I have created a combo that is now more impressive than my U12T by themselves. Better than my Dunu sa6 Mk2. It’s better than my Monarch Mk2’s. It’s better than any other IEM ever tried in my life. The sound is flat out next level, and complete in every single area sound can be perfected for the first time that I have ever experienced in my life. All of this is thanks to the Kato, which is the absolute killer “ALL around” IEM. This combo works so well because of what it does by itself. If it had rolled off bass, weak sub bass, or didn’t have the right timbre, tonality, vocals, or soundstage, …none of this is duplicated even with these additions.
And I know I have shown all of you a great many IEM’s in my life. Most of them, I felt, were great and the best at that time. But none of them was the perfect “performance to price ratio” for the law of diminishing returns that turned into the greatest performance at any price. This is the first in my life. With every IEM I’ve ever had, there was something that made it less. It was always something that didn’t check the box for me. The weight(too light in weight or cheap feeling), look, durability, role off bass, price,comfort, weak mids, lack of vocal weight, too much bass, or color, volume, BA timbre, or something else were there or not there. Everything from the density of weight feel of the IEM, to the cable feel, to the look, to the perfect sub-bass and mid-bass balance, to keeping the treble details and mids range free, clear, and weighted, even the fit and spring tips matter greatly.
Now, granted, this IEM out of the box isn’t absolutely perfect either, none are. It’s just the greatest “performance to price” IEM ever made. But with the balance cable and balance adaptor that adds just enough to make it better than the u12T or any other kilobuck IEM I’ve had or tried in sound too and now that these things are added, I can not add or subtract from this combo that I have now to make it any better. And it cost under $200 to create it. That is where things become unbeatable. It truly is over, and nothing is more poetic than to end up back where things began, with the Kato.
Tech-N-Things 