In 2024, Noble released Chronicle, a limited edition IEM that was a big hit for the few who got to hear it. But when the 118 units made had sold, the rest of us were locked out from an all time great IEM – that is until Kronos came out. While there are some differences in the construction, Kronos uses the same driver configuration and tuning as Chronicle, giving more people an opportunity to hear it. Now that it’s available for everyone, is Kronos Noble’s best flagship yet?
Build and Design
Kronos uses a similar physical design to past high-end Noble IEMs like Viking Ragnar and Onyx, but this time the shell has been upgraded to titanium shell with a faceplate that features unique materials for its signature look. Where Viking Ragnar used Damascus Steel and Onyx used a smooth black stone, Kronos features a holographic faceplate with a shimmering three-dimensional Noble logo.
The package is similar to what Noble provides with other IEMs, including a case, a selection of eartips, a cloth bag, and some other assorted case candy. The best piece of the package is the cable: Kronos comes with a custom built palladium plated cable, with the cores made from pure silver and silver plated copper. The cable hardware is titanium and the termination is 4.4mm balanced.
On the inside, Kronos is a 9-driver quadbrid, with two dynamic, one bone conduction, 4 balanced armatures, and 2 electrostatic drivers. While some bone conduction IEMs use the bone conduction primarily for ultra-low subbass reproduction, Kronos uses the bone conduction to enhance the sense of texture through the bass and mids. Do all the pieces come together for a truly top of the line experience?
Sound
Kronos is both modest and lavish at the same time. The tuning is modest – just a few dB here or there separated from neutral – but the execution of the sound is lavish – offering a huge soundstage and holographic imaging, along with incredible detail and texture to the sound.
The bass is thick and weighty. There’s strong extension into the subbass and good punch in the midbass, along with excellent texture and dynamics, but it’s all very much under control. The bass tuning is elevated just slightly from neutral offering a small bit of emphasis, that’s never overbearing or exaggerated.
The midrange is well represented, with great detail and highly natural timbre. There’s a great sense of layering, and just a touch of softness to the midrange presentation. Vocals are nicely placed, without feeling either too forward or recessed in the mix.
The treble is well extended, offering crisp clear highs and a bit of air on top. The top end and low end are presented in perfect balance, with that touch of extra air and extension existing in harmony with the weight of the bass.
Kronos has a wide, three-dimensional soundstage that provides a good sense of the width, depth, and height of the space. It’s accompanied by imaging that precisely places holographic representations of the instruments around the space. There’s good weight to the instruments and a tactile feeling to the imaging.
Kronos provides an incredibly natural reproduction of jazz classics, like Nina Simone’s “I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to Be Free.” The imaging placement of the instruments feels accurate and realistic, and each instrument has a natural timbre and weighty presentation. The vocals are incredibly reproduced, with dynamics that give you the sense not just of Nina Simone’s volume, but also of the way she addresses the mic differently between louder and softer parts.
With a modern indie pop/rock type product, like “Forever” by HAIM, Kronos delivers immaculate layering and separation – isolating each component in its space and softly blending the places in between. There’s a great sense of texture in the bass, and each instrument is highly detailed. The vocals are forward, but not overpowering, and again deliver great dynamics. The guitars are so clean and detailed you can catch the click of the pick when they’re isolated on the bridge, and similar fine details are noticeable on multiple listens of the track.
Aphex Twin’s carefully crafted electronic soundscapes offer another opportunity for Kronos to shine. On “Ageispolis,” you can lean into Kronos’ impeccable balances to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the vibes, or you can focus in the detail and separation and take each piece apart: from the impact of the deep bass hits, to the swirling synths in the highs, each element is filled with detail and perfectly placed in the mix.
Comparisons
There are a lot of potential comparisons out there, with some important ones being between Kronos and other flagship Noble IEMs, like Shogun and Viking Ragnar. In addition, there are a lot of other recently released flagship options, like Empire Ears Odin Mk2 and FATfreq Grand Maestro Anniversary.
If you’re a Noble fan, Viking Ragnar's tuning and design seems like the starting point for the development of Kronos, but if you found Viking Ragnar lacking in bass, or a little bit too bright, Kronos tames the treble and brings up the bass slightly, giving you a more balanced and versatile take on the same basic idea.
Shogun featured an over-the-top design with a bass-heavy tuning that was basically the exact opposite of Viking Ragnar, and Kronos ends up somewhere in between the two. Visually, Kronos has a little more visual flair than Viking Ragnar, but isn’t quite as bombastic as Shogun. In terms of sound, while it has noticeably more bass than Viking Ragnar, Kronos comes in much cleaner and more linear in the bass presentation than Shogun. Overall, Kronos isn’t quite as fun as Shogun, but it is much more balanced and detailed.
Compared to other offerings out there, like Grand Maestro Anniversary, or Empire Ears Odin MK2, Noble Kronos offers a warmer yet slightly less technical sound than Odin, while providing more fullness and weight, but a less expansive soundstage than GMA. Odin Mk2 offers more intimate vocals, but less overall width and depth to the stage, while Grand Maestro delivers harder hitting bass and a bigger sense of scale. Kronos – again – hits right down the middle, with a sound that offers a balance between key characteristics of both other sets.
The Bottom Line
I think Kronos’s best feature is that there isn’t necessarily one characteristic that stands out as a defining element of Kronos’s sound, instead there’s a dozen different things that it does incredibly well. If you want a flagship that’s a true generalist that can serve as your daily driver, and handle any genre, Kronos is among the best ever.
