Kinera Nott Phantom Review: Night Sky Gleam

Sound Impressions: Overall Signature / Bass

Kinera Nott Phantom has a smooth, w-shaped sound signature with gently elevated bass and mids. Kinera has particularly done a nice job this time when it comes to creating a sound signature that perfectly aligns with the product concept and name. One of the common aspects we appreciate from flagship IEMs, especially summit-fis, is the solemn and pitch-black darkness of the background. This is different from simply sounding warm or dark. It’s the clean, void-like “background noise”, or absence of background grains. Such a quiet background allows the IEMs to sound immersive and, more importantly, enables subtle ambiance to stay prominent.

The Nott Phantom has a smooth, well-bodied bass that is equivalent to a slightly v-shaped IEM. It’s certainly not a basshead quantity, tilting towards the gentler side within the so-called “slightly v-shaped” I often mention. The bass is tight, well-textured, and deep in both color and depth. Nott offers the elastic, dynamic punches you would expect from a quality dynamic driver. While Nott Phantom’s bass has a gentle nature, its timbre and ambiance are lush – even for my ears that have been majorly served with flagship IEMs. Another charm of Nott’s bass is the ultra-lows and its evenness with the sub-bass. The major reason why I believe Nott has a tamed sub-bass is to highlight the ultra-lows without getting deliberately bassy while keeping an even, thick flow across the low frequency.

Sound Impressions: Vocals

The mid-range of Nott Phantom is extremely smooth while being well-textured and tightened. Due to the vocals’ fatigue-free and smooth nature, Nott Phantom doesn’t go “too aggressive” on clarity or unveiling the mids. Mids are also only gently stepped forward, not deliberately extruded forward like some recent IEMs do (such as the Moondrop Blessing series, Eminent Ears Ruby, etc.) Though, unless you’re highly into penetrative and bright mid-range, Nott Phantom’s technicality should be more than enough.

However, just being smooth and comfortable isn’t the point of Nott Phantom; it’s once again the timbre that’s most impressive. It has that profound, atmospheric, and immersive vocal tone that gives a good taste found in flagship IEMs. Mids are like a bright moon on a clear night sky. The quiet background and solemn bass, creamy vocals gently step in with good sparkle and clarity. Not necessarily a clarity-digger, and surely not lacking technicality either, though Nott focuses on lush nuance and presentation.

Sound Impressions: Trebles

Reading about Nott’s sound signature, you’d assume trebles also have a gentle and calm nature, as expected, but there is more to it. Highs are slightly backed from the mids and serve more of a supportive role for the mids and lows, though the trebles are impressively prominent and detailed. With such a solemn and quiet presentation, it’s common to expect a steep treble roll-off regardless of the price range, though Nott’s trebles deliver exceptional gleaming. With a mysterious tone – in a good way. A type of tone that is natural enough, but with a certain mysterious nuance to it.

Compared to Kinera Norn

Kinera Norn would be a good comparison example since both Norn and Nott Phantom are penta-driver, 1DD+4BA IEMs. While this comparison initially came to mind simply due to their same pricing range and driver setup, after the comparison, I’m comfortable saying Nott Phantom is a direct upgrade from Norn in most ways. The new Kinera Nott Phantom has a significantly more natural and accurate timbre. The phasing also got just as much more precise and cohesive, greatly closing the sonic differences that naturally happen from multi-driver IEMs, especially more so when we’re talking about hybrids. Nott Phantom also achieves more ultra-low extension and the full-bodiedness overall, sounding richer and bigger in body.

Then again, it’s not a complete loss for Norn despite its years and age. Norn has more sparkle and bling for the mid-highs and highs, as well as sounding more silvery and airier than Nott Phantom. Alongside, if you prefer the prominent DD+BA presentation where upper frequencies take a step closer to the ears than the lows, the good ol’ Norn would still be a great choice. For these reasons, while Nott Phantom objectively outperforms Norn for overall sound tuning and its accuracy, those who prefer the ‘Norn-style’ don’t need to feel hindered.

Compared to Kinera Urd

Let’s try another comparison, with a different Kinera Imperial series IEM – the Kinera Urd, a 2DD+1BA+2EST tribrid IEM. Compared to Nott, the Urd is relatively lighter in sub-bass and body than Nott, though that doesn’t make Urd a bass-light as it’s due to Nott being a dominantly low-mids focused IEM. While having good thickness and extension for lows and mids, Urd desires to keep tighter control over reverbs and sub-bass. Those who prefer a more solid-to-the-core bass thuds and neutral-linear yet cleaner vocals would find Urd to sound more organized and preferable.

On the other side, Nott highlights the reverbs and the size of the sound, focusing on providing a much richer sound and atmosphere, with a fraction of less airiness than Urd. Similar to the above comparison with Norn, the Kinera Nott once again shows better accuracy and neutrality in multi-driver phasing, just overall sounding more cohesive and harmonious. Nott Phantom for neutrality, size, and smoothness, and Urd for tighter control, upper frequency agility, and a more rigid bass response.

Timeless sound signature and performance that’ll last.

Clarity and technicality are starting to become standard features for most modern IEMs. Hence, the points of difference among products are now coming down to each having its own “color” or uniqueness in timbre and presentation. Just about when Kinera started to revamp the product line-ups and launch Kinera Imperial Series, Kinera products continued to advance from a highly budget-efficient to providing unique value as they are, and Nott is a fine example of not only having competitive sound quality but also having charming characteristics of its own.

The Nott Phantom has done an awesome job capturing a dark, abyss-like atmosphere for the base sound with exceptionally lush and immersive vocals and trebles. It’s a rare find that well exemplifies how to create strong characters while being calmer and gentler in sound signature. It focuses more on the bigger picture than adding more onto everything. If you’re into a full, musical, and smooth-sounding IEM that has zero fatigue, Nott Phantom is a fine choice that would last a long time or even be timeless.