This is a review I’ve been meaning to get to for several months now. Not because I wasn’t looking forward to it (far from it) but because, like with so many of us, real life managed to intervene and, before I knew it, I reached the end of the year and my “to-do” list was longer than a Guns n’ Roses rider.

However, the end of the year also brings with it some downtime and, away from work and with a short gap and some spare time between Christmas and New Year celebrations, my gain is your loss.

I write reviews infrequently, haphazardly and with a tone best described as “why did I read that?” Really solid stuff.

My own personal preferences and other caveats to be aware of are as follows:
• I prefer a warmer sound. For instance, the Legend X is still one of my favourite IEMs.
• Sibilance has no place in my ears and, if an IEM is prone to it, I will stop reviewing it – it’s a waste of my time and, more importantly, a stress on my own fuse which is short at the best of times. Sibilance is a quick way to switch me from “mild-mannered lothario” to the phrase “slaughtered thousands before turning the gun on himself” appearing on the news. I still like “air” and all that stuff, but I don’t like scratchy highs/mids.
• I honestly couldn’t tell you if an oboe is at 4Hz or 50kHz. I review like a small child who has recently grasped both grammar and sound. I don’t know what octave anything is in and, while I can tell if things are in key, you could hold a billion dollars (or a newly-released flagship IEM) right in front of me as reward and I couldn’t tell you what key it is. I like music, that’s about as much as I know about it.
• Like most people, as time has ravaged my body and mind, the sound of the screams has rendered my hearing useless above around 14.5kHz. For someone who has always preferred bass to treble, this is less traumatic than it might seem, but if you want to know if the weird sound at 19kHz on your latest drill-metal favourite is faithfully rendered, it’s probably best you hang out with bats and the such.
• While I should not have to say this – this stuff is all, quite obviously, in my opinion/experience.
• I get bored easily. This review will be….oooh look, a new email has come in…..

Righto – with that in mind, I’m going to start with the TL;DR.
This is, without question, the best IEM I’ve ever heard for metal and hard rock. More specifically, the higher the dynamics in the music, the more this seems to reward you.



If you’re still reading, I’m assuming you’d like more info, which I will reluctantly now provide. (I’ve had to delay stuffing my face with the next batch of Quality Streets to provide this, so just be aware you’re on a warning for stretching my patience here). Still, at least we're rid of those "TL;DR" losers - it's a lot less crowded in here, but somehow even more cosy eh?

Anyway.

Time to be less glib - it is absolutely not an exaggeration to describe this as the IEM which responds most to energy and dynamics that I’ve heard. It is the physical embodiment in the IEM world of the phrase “what you put it is what you get out.”
I mentioned metal in my TL;DR, but I’ll start with some electronic music to highlight a point. Playing something like “Distant Sun” by Sir Real, it is immediately evident that this is not just a one-genre pony – the dynamics shift and rumble, driving the music forward in a fantastic, rolling ball of aural energy – all stabbing synths, precise hi-hats and grumbling bass. It’s filth and the Kublai Khan is wallowing in it.
However, perhaps due to the comedown from this, if I switch to a more laid-back electronic landscape (in this instance, Christian Loffler’s “A Forest”) I’m greeted by the corollary to the aforementioned phrase – what is put in is a lulling, soft and gentle stroll through the keys and notes. It’s pleasant enough, good in fact. But coming from the excitement that this IEM creates when the chaos is turned up to 11, I am somewhat less enthused.
Everything is where it should be – it’s all perfectly serviceable and, when compared to lesser IEMs it stands out as good, but against other types of transducer that do “low-key” very well, it’s half a step short.
In essence, it’s a victim of my new expectations.

Switching across to the KR5 to ensure I’m not being unfair, I hear a touch more detail, it’s a more enveloping sound and, where the KK lays out the info for me to go searching, the KR5 offers it up on a plate – “can I interest you in a tiny, muffled sound in the background which you’ve never heard in this song before, sir?”
“Don’t mind if I do, actually, thank you.”

But to continue down this route is to ignore the point of the KK.
I already have IEMs that do calm and relaxed. If you listen to laid-back jazz, deep house, chillout or any genre where you don’t have time for the IEM to pull you out of your current focus and wrench you into the world it creates, then the KK is good, but there are probably better options.

However, if you have ever wondered where rock bands find the energy to get on stage 2 hours late, tear the roof off a venue, display questionable morals and then pass out in their own vomit, I present to you the distillation of this ethos – the Noble Kublai Khan.
It does not want to take you on a second date. It wants you to have a first date you will remember for the rest of your life and then it wants to never call you again.
But fortunately, if you own it, you can force it to!
And luckily, like our plucky guitar heroes, it got so wasted last night that it doesn’t even remember you went on a date together, so it will treat you to the same high-octane adventure you had on the previous occasion.
What more could you want?



One oddity for which I struggled to find a place for this to sit naturally within, what we can all agree, is a rather stellar piece of writing, surrounds the performance of the KK with spoken word (stand-up comedy, podcasts etc.) There's a very, very strange "ringing" and hollow sound. The KK is not alone and it's been present on many IEMs I've tried with haptic bass feedback, so it's a tech issue more than a Noble issue.

Anyway.....I ignored this and listened to more music.
I found myself rifling through all of my old favourite metal albums, some of which I have heard just a few weeks previously, some of which I have forgotten. But I knew what I was looking for. Wall of sound energy. Throw it at the KK and watch it come back at you with fury of knuckle-duster encased fists – it is remarkable how much it can bring a tired, old, forgotten track to life. Coal Chamber’s “Loco” is crisper and harder than I’ve ever heard it. Dez Fafara is here, in the room with me….angry. I must have eaten his last yoghurt.
Marilyn Manson whisper-shouts into my ear, turning the Eurythmics “Sweet Dreams” into a darkened nightmare and it’s glorious. The cacophony of drums, bass, guitar and reverb pulses – it’s the same feeling I get when I’m at a gig that’s almost too loud – where the joints and rivets shake with pressure – the building doesn’t seem to know how to deal with the noise and everything feels more exciting – will everything remain standing? I don’t know, but I’m enjoying it while it’s happening!

Again and again, I listen to old favourites with new ears. Megadeth’s “Good Mourning / Black Friday” sounds like it’s straining at a dog leash – the dog is far stronger than the owner is used to, pulling at him and leading him down a dark alley….then the breakdown happens and all hell breaks loose. The dog is free of the leash, gambolling along the alley, terrifying passers-by with teeth bared.
Metallica’s “Am I Evil?” does the same – early calm and then half-way through the gears change and the engine flexes its muscle. A Prius changes into a Mustang 4 minutes or so into the song and it’s off into the distance while all we can do is stand around smelling the burnt rubber. The guitar solos towards the back end of the song add a touch of understanding of how delicate the KK can sometimes be – while all around are losing their minds, strolling straight down the middle with alacrity and aplomb rolls Kirk Hammett – the KK doesn’t put a foot wrong and it’s like I’m hearing it for the first time again.



It can become a cliché to say things like “rediscovering my collection” and I’m usually as bored by the phrase as the next person. But I honestly cannot think of another way to describe it.
And while I normally cannot be bothered with stuff like technical performance, soundstage comparisons and note-weight and tone, even if I was the type of person who was able to articulate that information, I think with the KK I wouldn’t have bothered anyway. To do so is to miss the spirit of delightful anarchy of the KK itself.

I am fortunate to have a large choice of IEMs and sometimes it can be difficult to choose one.

More fortunately still, though, I now have a much easier choice when I know the music contains energy. Like the recent (now discredited) breakthrough in fusion technology, somehow Noble have discovered the secret to extracting more energy than is initially introduced and it’s now the reactor for a vast chunk of my record collection.

My experience with Campfire products is fairly minimal. I've heard the original Andromeda for about 10mins and I've owned the original Solaris for around 3 months. However the brand is pretty legendary and could reasonably be credited with contributing to starting a new wave in design and R&D in the industry, so having owned the Solaris, I've been keen to try a few more of their roster

As part of the UK tour (thanks John @ KS), these arrived on my doorstep in the middle of a seriously busy time - I had two weeks to get to know them and I never really felt like I truly had enough time to sit down for long periods. I was always catching half an hour here and there, so bear that in mind when reading these impressions.

What's in the box
A short note on packaging, accessories and aesthetics - I quite like the form-factor and Campfire's IEMs always seem very well made and pretty robust. The packaging is unique and, compared to most others, very "green", it's very compact and there's very little space beyond what's required, so it minimises shipping wastage. Additionally, it comes with a cork case and three (!) of Campfire's excellent little IEM mesh bag. I have a couple of these myself (bought in HK) and they're clearly bigger than the version I have. I love these little bags, so three is definitely a welcome extravagance. Tips are plentiful, normal silicone, foam and Final E. As I already have plenty of Final E, I used mine in the audition.
The cable is also very nice - I'm not sure of the material it's insulated in (it's an SPC wire) but the feel is almost rubbery and is extremely pliable and flexible, so comfort is pretty easy to achieve.

Sound
Once in use, the first thing that hit me with the Ara is the high levels of detail and resolution. Great separation, especially in the midrange, good treble that manages to control sibilance for the most part and a clear focus on mid-range and vocals.
Paired with the right music, there's no denying it has an impressive array of tools. Kim Gordon's voice sounds particularly sweet and delicate, as does Marianne Faithfull's and a host of other melodic female tones.
The Ara is adept and lively with anything requiring attention to detail.
I can't help but feel, though, that CFA have missed a trick here.
I've read in other impressions and reviews that this is an IEM with 7 BA drivers. Great. So being so midrange focused, that means there are two or three dedicated to the mids then right? I mean, that's where so much information resides. If you're trying to reproduce that above all else, that would make sense. *checks notes*
Hmmmm...1 midrange driver? That can't be right. And four bass drivers? What are they doing? Don't get me wrong, the bass isn't awful. It's adequate, especially for something that is unashamedly focused on everything but the bass. So why are four drivers necessary for it?

This is my issue with the Ara. I actually like it. It's a nice IEM. But it doesn't make a lot of sense. The mids are nice, but they lack a certain weight, the timbre is off. Only slightly, but when combined with the delicacy of the single midrange driver itself - the whole sound is too ethereal, too fleeting. It doesn't hold an image of anything in particular in your mind. It's a sound, it's nice, and then it's gone. Onto the next note.
I realise that it's just is just to produce those notes, but after using them, I take them off and I can't really say what the signature is here.

I must point out (as I have throughout my admittedly unimpressive "reviewing" career) that I'm usually a lover of a more weighty sound. But I do appreciate an IEM that's trying to do something different. My Katana, for all its faults, is my go-to for this type of sound - it conveys emotion in vocals (especially female vocals) in a way that none of my other IEMs can quite achieve. So while it's not my favourite IEM, it's the one I reach for on specific occasions (and when I listen to spoken-word podcasts). I have an appreciation for it. But leaving the house and heading into the world - the Ara just sounds (here's that word again) too delicate to compete with what's going on around me. It's not because the isolation is particularly poor though. It's just the nature of the IEM. It doesn't like fighting for attention, it needs to be treated with more care than that. I get the feeling that my occasional free time to give it attention rather exacerbated this particular character of the Ara.

That said, I think it's a decent IEM, and I'm judging it critically against some of my other, heavyweight monitors. That may be a bit unfair.
Would I buy it? Well I think it's probably a better value deal than the Katana at full price, so if I didn't own that, it would be on my consideration list. And certainly many out there will prefer this to some of my own preferences (Legend X, for example, couldn't be much further in character from the Ara).
However I think it could have been even better if just a tiny bit more time and care had gone into the tuning of the mids.

My takeaway...
I'm not sure what to make of the Ara overall. I debated whether to write this, I tend to just leave things alone if I have too negative a view on it, and looking back over this review, it comes across as more negative than I actually feel about the Ara. But for this listener's personal tastes, it got so close to being so good.
Now I know why my parents so often used to say "I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed." This comes close - purely because it's so obvious that the raw ingredients are there, but the sulky teenager let it down with a lack of application.

Still, I truly appreciate the opportunity to hear these. Campfire will remain on my list of "must try" when they release their flagship products, and I'd like to thank John again for giving us UK head-fiers a chance to hear things when lockdown prevents us from otherwise being able to!

Introduction
Firstly a bit about me – I consider myself a melophile, not an audiophile. I got into this hobby trying to make music sound the best I could afford to make it sound. I suspect most of us are like this.

I also suspect most of us get sucked into the definition of “best”. And the definition of “afford”. Over the years, at various times, both of these terms have had variable meanings to me. These days – well I’m still not sure. But I still sure as hell love finding out.

So I guess in some ways it does make me an audiophile. I’ve grown to love listening to different audio kit, comparing it, remembering stuff I wish I hadn’t sold. All the usual things we do on Head-Fi.
But I’d be more upset if new music stopped being made than if new kit stopped being made. (Fortunately, neither of these two scenarios is likely).


A bit about my tastes
My main criteria for music is “does it sound like the person cares more about the music than the money here?”. I know it’s hard/impossible to know someone’s true motivation for making art – but I think it shines through a lot of the time. Beyond that, I’ll try most things and almost every genre I’ve ever heard has examples I love (and many I don’t). So metal, soul, hip-hop, house, techno, pop, breaks, kwaito, samba, mbaqanga, grunge, jazz…it all has a place in my collection.

My main criteria for IEMs and music reproduction in general? That’s also hard to define. What’s warm to me isn’t to someone else. What is a neutral IEM? Well that depends on what your ear canals look like. Did the tips make a difference to how we both heard this thing? And so on.

I’m an old fart Head-Fier. I joined the forums when all we really had to argue about was “Shure is better! No Etymotic is better! No, you’re an idiot.” Not much has changed – just add more brands, I guess.

*** Anyway, if you’re a TLDR kinda person and you just need to know what I like, it’s best described as “the warm side of balanced with an extreme aversion to sibilance.” ***

In real life, upper-mids/treble from unamplified instruments almost never hurts my ears. So if a pair of IEMs/speakers/cans does, then it’s all I can hear. The rest of the range might be perfect, but if it’s pushing out splashy upper-frequencies – then the rest is just drowned out by it and it’s all I can think about. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear good upper-frequencies, it just means I’m ultra-picky – it has to sound right to me or I can’t get on board.

Also in real life, I can always hear or feel the low-end stuff. I have an affinity with the underlying rhythm and that is so often carried in the lower frequencies. So if you’re tuning an audio product to make pianos sound beautiful but the bassoon or double-bass can’t be heard, then I appreciate what you’re doing, but I probably have limited use for it.

Keep these views in mind when reading my impressions please, they may not match with yours, but I'm hoping it helps you place my views in context with your own preferences.

Also keep in mind that this is the first review I’ve posted since the launch of the Shure SE500. Back then, Jude and the mods complained that new voices weren’t adding their impressions to the community and people needed to hear from all of us, so I was emboldened and imspired to write a review. Having complained to us, the mods now had little choice but to promote my nonsense to the main page. Serves them right. They never made the same mistake again, and neither did I.
Back with my own special brand of nonsense, here we go….



A message of thanks

Before I go any further, I really want to thank Joseph Mou at MMR for making this happen – we’re very blessed and lucky to have a distraction as nice as this to keep us busy with this Thummim tour and I’m particularly lucky to be the starting point for this particular set.

I also want to thank @mvvRAZ – this wouldn’t have happened without his passion for finding the best-sounding gear. I don’t think anyone needs me to go into details about his IEM history, but it’s because of his enthusiasm and organisation that this whole thing was made to come to life. Most of us just moan that the UK/EU never gets to take part in this cool stuff….not our RAZ. Thanks bro.



I’ve tried to keep my gratitude for this opportunity away from my impressions on the product itself – but it’s best everyone knows that I received nothing but a week of listening time with this unit – I have already passed it on to the next reviewer and I have received absolutely zero direction/request from MMR other than to tell me who to pass the unit to. But I still felt it best to outline my “relationship” with the company.



Okay, so what about those Thummims right? Nobody came here to read about my life story.

On with the show.




Impressions

Right – let’s address those looks. Ignoring my own opinion on aesthetics, I’m pleased to see a unique design or two (both MMRs look unusual). And in person, they’re a lot more attractive. But there’s no getting away from it, these definitely look like the side-mirrors of the Tesla Cybertruck.

Aesthetics are very subjective and personal. Equally so, the fit and comfort. Now it’s a shame my first words on this IEM are going to be negative, but there’s simply no way I can pretend these weren’t uncomfortable for the first few days I used them. I have a box of tips overflowing with different brands, so I was fortunate to eventually find something that worked, but even so, the nozzle’s length and size meant I was in some discomfort initially.

Obviously my experiences here will not be universal, some people will chuck on the first pair of tips they think will work and be on their way. Others might try forever and never reach comfort. It’s very individual, but to me, I can’t help feeling a slightly kinder-edged design might have alleviated most of these problems.

Even once you’ve found the right tip, it’s very easy to insert them in a way that can hurt you after an hour or two of listening, and you only realise a little later.

Another thing to mention is that by changing the cable to one that has no memory wire and no heat-shrink tubing trying to force your ear to be the shape it wants your ear to be, comfort can be drastically improved (at least in my instance.) If you get a chance to try these and you are having discomfort, please try a soft cable without tubing/wire.

With all that said, fortunately I’ve been learning to make my own cables and was able to find a tip and insertion length that suited my ears a little more, and I became adept at twisting the shell in a very delicate manner which ultimately led to a pain-free session lasting hours on end. But it was “a process” to get there. Once I was there, I could enjoy the sound. Ooooohhhhh…..the sound!



Before I go into details – here is a random selection of messages I sent to our esteemed tour-organiser. I trawled through my messages because I feel this says far more than an audiophile comment about the attack transients being tight and blah blah blah.

So here are my (sometimes edited for context/censored) thoughts….


- “I just want to listen to every record I've ever owned as quickly as I can to hear them all through this”


- “I've actually had to stop listening to rock/organic music and only put on electronic music while I’m working, because I keep getting distracted - I need background music and this thing makes me feel like I'm at the <censored> concert, so it's too distracting”


- “It's made mince-meat of the ‘tricky’ Tracy Chapman so-called audiophile album”


I think you get the picture. I was enthralled.

Let me start the more focused impressions with sound stage.
Now. I usually don’t mention sound stage in any impressions of IEMs. At all. It’s just not something I particularly feel is a strength of IEMs. It’s an esoteric term at the best of times, and with IEMs there have been times when I’ve thought “are people just discussing sound stage because they need to fill review space?”
Well, “usually” doesn’t apply here. There’s absolutely nothing “usual” about the Thummim’s sound stage. It’s all spectacularly “UNusual”. My comment to mvvRAZ about needing to switch to electronic music was a genuine report on my life – I was working and I simply couldn’t concentrate, sounds just kept flying at my from all over the place.

Even more strangely – one night in bed I was listening to Pearl Jam’s “Binaural” (several of the tracks on this album are recorded with binaural effects specifically for head/earphones and brings a very dynamic feel to proceedings) – and the landscape that these draw somehow had me feeling like I was right in the middle of the band – I could place the drummer right behind me, guitars left and right and I felt, without any real imagination required, like I was in the band singing out. I wasn’t even drunk, I swear!

The Thummim has an uncanny ability to paint a picture across the audio canvas, throwing sounds around like an abstract artist, but the result is anything but abstract. The effect is a marvellous, colourful rendition of your favourite song, rendered new and exciting by a fresh perspective, while still recognising it as the same song you’ve always loved. It doesn’t ruin it, it just seems to say “Hey, you know that band you love? This is what it sounds like to be there.”

And even with certain electronic music, which I listened to in order to escape the vast soundscape, is still sometimes not safe from the Thum’s abilities. I played Maribou State’s excellent “Kingdoms In Colour” album, only for the Thummim to flex. “No way bro, this album has sounds flying in from this weird angle. You dig that? How about this sound here, did you know it came from behind you brah? ‘Course you didn’t. Heathen.” It happened time and time again, and I absolutely love it.

As I say, this isn’t something I usually bother with in IEMs. So the Thummim has had quite an effect on me in that regard. And it’s made me wonder if there’s something in this weird design that’s responsible for that, but only Joseph could tell us that.



Let’s move onto the actual presentation, beyond that crazy imaging.

The best way to describe this - everything I listened to has more body to it. Warmth isn't quite the right word - it's just good at pushing everything that’s there into the open. As if to say "here, this is all the stuff on this record - pick what you like and let it move you. And when you get bored there's plenty more here to switch your focus to.” Everything is accessible, everything is there and bold and ready to be heard, but it never sounds aggressive.

I’m told there’s a very slight dip around the 6k mark (I hope MMR reps will correct me on this if I’m wrong). This seems to be particularly beneficial to me – I think that’s probably where some of my sensitivity to harsher sounds lies. But not once, at any point during my (very long, very frequent) listening sessions did the Thummim cross that audio line, look at me threateningly and intimidate my girlfriend with its unruly behaviour and shoutiness. And believe me, it’s an easy thing to do (cross that audio line, not intimidate my girlfriend. She’ll slap you right back down.)

Let’s keep our focus on that middle range of sounds. It seems like it should be a third of what we talk about in audio, but it’s so much more. Mid-range covers so many sounds that make up what we hear in a record. I may be a lover of bass and low-end rumble, but the mid-range is where all the emotion lives. So for an IEM to be any good – I’d say it needs to have a firm grip on what’s happening here. It’s also where most of what we consider “sibilance” and “shoutiness” comes from. Upper mid-range is as much responsible for this as anything in the treble arena – get this wrong and you’ll be chasing listeners away.

However the Thummim has no time for such unedifying lack of mid-range presentation. It knows exactly what you love and it’s here to provide it for you.

While it’s no slouch with female vocals (Suzanne Vega’s entire Retrospective album is rendered as sweetly as it’s every sounded before), it truly sets itself apart with male vocals. Rushing through everything I could think of, I listened to Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, The Whitest Boy Alive, Soundgarden, Peter Gabriel, Faith No More, Michael Kiwanuka, Roots Manuva… every unusual, gritty, famous and downright weird male voices I could think of. The Thummim digested them all and regurgitated them with a clarity, power and, most importantly, sense of emotion and soul that few transducers are capable of.


Something this small has no right sounding this big.


Treble is, as I’ve mentioned, my Achilles’ heel. Done right, it can obviously sound superb. But “done right” is as rare as rocking-horse droppings, at least for my ears. Prior to this, the A64 range with Tia technology was my comparator of choice, the zenith of the treble world in IEM terms at least. So does the Thummim match up here?

Well mostly. It wins half the battle and loses half. But there’s absolutely no shame in that. So what’s the skinny here? Well for me personally, I think the U18t beats the Thum’s treble for tone and texture – the treble is a bit more present and easy to pick out. It’s a detail monster, this shouldn’t be news to anyone. However the Thummim manages to extend further – it creates a much greater sense of that annoying term “air”. It has a layer of sparkle, a sprinkling of magic that allows it to shimmer and gleam slightly brighter than the U18t, even though the U18t has a more solid feel to the treble sound.

This really is tough to pick. I think by maybe one half of once percent I would go with the 64A, but there’s no way I could confidently say I wouldn’t miss the Thummim’s allure here too.


And the bass. Goodness me.

Too often with audiophile IEMs, those of us who live down in the bassy realms, the subterranean underworld of sound that is often felt more than it’s heard, are disappointed by the bass. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve though “well I like that – but it’s missing a whole chunk of sound I KNOW is there, because I’ve heard it on a pair of Funktion 1s” or something. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare them to Funktion 1s, but we’re not talking about fair here. If the world was fair, I wouldn’t have to pay thousands of pounds for IEMs. So when I do – I want my bass thanks.

Well the Thummim has given it to me. And then some.
Again, I’m going to compare this to the best in the business (IMO) here, the heavyweight Legend X.
Now I’ll be very clear, the Legend X has more slam. More depth. More, more, more. That’s the LX’s calling card. And it does it well, it’s been covered ad-nauseum by countless Head-Fiers.
Well I’m happy to report that while the Thum is slightly behind the LX, it’s not miles behind. This is Asafa Powell at his best finishing a split second behind Usain Bolt, where most IEMs are….well, me finishing a race when Usain has started the next event at the next meet.

But what most people will appreciate about the Thum is that, because it has an overall slight W shape to the tuning, the bass doesn’t quite rattle everything else into second place. Because while that kind of thing appeals to me, I totally understand why others don’t like that. So if you’re after an IEM that has almost the bass of the LX, but still presents much more of the spectrum in a more balanced and forward tone, all while maintaining a grip on all of them, well this should definitely be on your audition list.



Anything else to talk about?

Sure. The cable that came with the demo unit is the Plato, but a previous version, so I’m not going to comment too much on it. I will say that, while I like Eletech (as a brand I’m only mildly familiar with) I cannot get on with ANY cable that doesn’t have a slider, but ESPECIALLY not with something that has a fit like this.

I do love the way the cable matches the tone and aesthetic of the IEM itself (a function of the two companies being literally in the same building, I’m sure). When you operate in the rarefied atmosphere of the multi-kilobuck IEM, this is the kind of thing that sets a company like MMR apart. (Well, that and the distinctive design philosophy and it's brilliant sound of course). And if you aren’t a believer that cables make a difference, well you can sell it and recoup money on your investment, so I’m all for this type of tie-in with quality brands.

Speaking of changing cables, it’s also worth pointing out that the 2pin sockets on this IEM are like none I’ve ever experienced. Every set of cables fits in perfectly, and there’s a tiny little “click” and it’s secure. It feels almost magnetised. I have no idea what’s happening on a mechanical level, but like the rest of the IEM, this socket feels like it’s been built to last – I was very impressed with it, even as someone who doesn’t really roll cables.



Conclusion

This is where things get interesting (and where lazy people skip to. You know who you are. I know who you are, because I’m one of you).

Let’s deal with the price first. I’m not going to go into the whole “it’s all relative”, we all know how this hobby works. I also won’t go into the whole “I wish the TOTL pricing was lower”, we all wish that too. Bottom line is that we control the price of this stuff with our purchases. So while I have my own views on pricing – this thing is priced at the top of the tree alongside some big hitters. Erlkonig, Noble Prestige – and if you get a decent price selling the Plato it’s down in a zone somewhere just a bit more expensive than the A18s/Masons etc. It has to perform and offer something as good as these IEMs, or offer something that’s the same but better.

In that context – I personally (and absolutely!) believe that the Thummim more than justifies its place in the conversation at the top.

I’ve heard many IEMs, I own enough at the moment to be (quite rightly) treated in quizzical fashion by the more level-headed people around me, and while my tastes won’t be the same as everyone’s, I have heard a few things that are supposed to compete with the MMRs on price and on technical ability.

In that regard, I feel the Legend X beats it on low end. I feel parts of the treble can be challenged and beaten by the U18t, resolution is a smidge better on the Erlkonig. But the impressive thing is that the Thummim comes second to these IEMs in some regards, and comes first in the remaining arenas for my tastes.

The point? That when you create an IEM that challenges the very best in most areas, and is the very best in other areas, then you end up with an IEM that’s truly a contender for the best overall IEM there currently is.

So while I might pick my LX for a thumping track, or I might pick my U18t for a detailed listen, it takes individual IEMs to beat it in individual areas – if I just want to enjoy some music and I could only have one IEM in my collection? Well it’s not even close. I’d choose the Thummim.


Will I buy one? I’m very seriously considering it. The only (and I literally mean ONLY) thing stopping me is that I cannot be 100% sure that the comfort is something I can live with. Yes, it got better. Yes, there are things you can do to help reduce that discomfort. But at this price, I can’t help but feel there shouldn’t be any major “buts”.

However, with this huge “BUT” in mind – the fact that I’m still falling more on the side of “Yes” than “No” should tell you everything you need to know about my opinions on the sound this marvellous little oddity can produce. It’s been a true pleasure to listen to and I’ve enjoyed every single moment I’ve been fortunate enough to spend with this tiny metallic bundle of passionate sound engineering.


I wonder if banks are easier to get into during lockdown?