QoA Vesper 2 Review – Tasty, Intense Sound
Introducing the QOA Vesper 2, a hybrid in-ear monitor that combines advanced technology and meticulous craftsmanship. With a 10mm PET dynamic driver and a Knowles 32873 full-range balanced armature driver, the Vesper 2 delivers an audiophile-grade listening experience.
The Vesper 2 incorporates a hybrid driver configuration, featuring a 10mm PET dynamic driver and a Knowles 32873 balanced armature driver. This combination delivers a perfect blend of rich bass response and precise mid and high frequencies, ensuring a detailed and immersive audio experience.
Inspired by the iconic Vesper cocktail, the Vesper 2 features eye-catching colors accentuating its unique personality. The pure and flawless orange shell, made through 3D printing and coated with a special resin, resembles the natural beauty of beeswax. The sapphire blue shell, hand-painted by skilled artists, adds a touch of elegance and allure.
The Vesper 2’s shell is meticulously designed based on extensive sampling of human ears. With ergonomic and acoustic design modeling, the precisely formed shell ensures an ideal fit and optimal sound performance. The consistent internal structure of both shells allows for better pressure relief and enhances the overall listening experience.
The Vesper 2 employs a hybrid driver configuration with two acoustic tubes for precise frequency division. The dynamic driver handles the bass, providing surging and flexible energy, while the Knowles full-range balanced armature driver delivers rapid response and transient agility. This combination ensures full-range imaging and integration of warm and cold timbres.
With an impedance of 23 0hms and a sensitivity of 114dB, the Vesper 2 is designed to deliver sound across various devices, without the need for high-end audio equipment. Additionally, the interchangeable cable design allows users to easily replace the 0.78mm 2-pin cable, enabling them to explore different sound characteristics according to their preferences.
The Vesper 2 comes with an 8-core 5N copper cable with silver plating, ensuring efficient sound signal transmission. The cable’s structure is designed as a litz braid, with a diameter of 1.0mm and a length of 1.2m. The use of high-quality materials and precise construction reduces interference and enhances the purity of the sound, allowing you to immerse yourself in music undisturbed.
What’s in the box
Specs
- 10 PET Dynamic Driver + 1 Knowles 32873 BA
- Impedance: 23 ohms
- Sensitivity: 114dB
- Frequency Response: 20Hz-20kHz
- 5N copper with silver-plated
- 3.5mm Termination Plug
- Price: $79
I would like to thank QoA Audio for providing me with the review sample of Vesper 2.
Sound
Vesper 2’s sound is boosted in the low end, with a full-bodied low midrange, smooth mid-highs, and flat, controlled highs, but well extended towards the upper treble. There is a clear warm balance as most of the sound moves in a narrow dB range, giving an idea of the tonal balance of the Vesper 2.
Lows
The lower zone is extensive, rich, full, complete, and deep. Its sonority is warm and keeps a certain level of darkness. Its punch is powerful, starts from very low, and is completed as a dense and compact wall, generously well cemented from the sub-bass. There is no neutrality in this range, it is a blatant mix of power, punch, and physicality. But neither are they canonical or audiophile basses.
The color is very characteristic and its technical capabilities are remarkable, but it’s not a completely tight bass, it’s not the fastest, it’s not dry, and it’s not completely defined. It is vigorous, moves a great deal of air, and has a deep, dark, hazy roughness, with a moderately fast decay, but with an aftertaste that broadens its physicality, its body, and its impact on the sound.
Lows also have excellent control, because the Vesper 2 is not only about bass. In this sense, these QoA have great agility to deliver heavy, unfiltered bass and turn it into a party that never loses its composure, with quite absolute mastery of the situation. Their technical ability proves that power without control is useless and this is not the case. The Vesper 2 possesses an intimidating ability that goes beyond its power and is demonstrated in complex passages, being able to move and respond with speed, and agility.
Mids
One might think that with such a low zone the mids would lose prominence. Not at all, from the low end creeps warmth, that half-light that brings physicality to vocals and density to instruments. Again, there is no neutrality in this sound and that sense of warmth persists, giving color like a haze, like a continuum. But don’t take this as a softness without detail, because it is not. This is a signature tonality, which becomes very apparent in the Vesper 2. But if you’re looking for a fully light-exposed midrange, you’d be wrong to choose this model.
It is a unique sound, completely characteristic and special. I know it can’t be to everyone’s taste, but once inside, the result is extremely captivating and eloquent. And this translates to both the male and female vocals, as well as the instruments. Their recreation and conjunction are close, exposed, and broad, but also full of capacity and very well structured. The details are delicate and perceptible, simply visible and easily observable, without being analytical in sound, but purely rich and revealing, both in nuance and harmonics. The only drawback in this respect is that the micro-detail, although present, is not entirely complete, being ambiguous at times.
Mids are balanced, there are no valleys or big peaks, and everything is smoothed and moves in a few dB range. Thus, it is a full band, present, very well-balanced, and complex. There is no sibilance or extremes, which improves the balance of the range despite its very special color of sound.
Highs
The Vesper 2’s treble remains balanced which leads to a controlled but extended emphasis. Their linearity and range reach up to the upper treble zone, where they begin to decay. But until then, their content is quite full and descriptive. It is all about maximum treble expressiveness and efficiency, but without losing control or smoothness. In this respect, QoA goes one step further by following that guideline and manages to perfect the upper range, thanks to the addition of a Knowles BA driver, exclusively for the high end.
The treble is there, both for its own sake and for its own particular brilliance, as well as to support the rest of the frequency band. One could even say that the highs feel like a protagonist because their presence is fully integrated into the overall balance and equilibrium of the sound, but without standing out individually more than the other frequency ranges. This is what has been achieved with Vesper 2, that each frequency is the star in its own way, but without losing musicality, smoothness, tonal balance, or balance. In a smooth and controlled way.
The treble is neither hidden nor avoided, the range is linear, as is its presence. Only the upper treble area suffers, while the low and mid treble area is vibrant, even crisp, but fully proportioned and integrated into the sound signature.
Technicalities
The image is large, oval, dense, and with a clear three-dimensional volume. The sound is wide in width and height, but perhaps a little too front and close. This means that the depth is not as pronounced, hence the oval shape of the soundstage. Another reason is the lack of extension on the upper treble.
Sum-Up
The Vesper 2 has been carefully refined to balance warmth and clarity. By spreading the three frequencies with frequency-division technology, the Vesper 2 delivers a harmonious and intense sound signature. This is a special kind of tuning that you can’t find in this price range normally. If you like it, trust me, you will fall in love with the new Vesper 2.