No need to call the priest! The Vampire is only here to suck out the quiet moments in our lives and I’m here to give you my first few days impressions of the $100 single BA goodness of the Kotori Vampire!
First and foremost, I have to give Kotori Audio some props for providing a very cool unboxing experience. From awesome illustration on the outside to the cleanly laid out accessories, the unboxing was quite a treat, especially from a boutique brand like Kotori.
One of the things I absolutely adore the Vampire for is the build. It’s so small yet so pretty with a beautiful shade of red complemented with the Kotori logo on the right and a really cool looking V on the left. But I’d argue that the shape deserves special mention as it’s so small and comfortable in the ear thatI almost forgot that this is an unvented single BA IEM. Unfortunately, my ears yearn air and with the incorrect fitting, the Vampire is both uncomfortable and doesn’t sound correct. But this is a problem with my ears and not a flaw of the vampire. The cable is also lightweight and comfortable with an absurdly massive y-split and chin cinch.
As someone who has had very minimal experience with single BA IEMs, I had little to no expectations of how a single BA IEM would sound. I know that the whole conversation of what’s the super IEM driver is very controversial, but I do know that there are fundamental differences with how drivers produce sounds. In the case of the Vampire, speed is the name of the game and it shows how snappy it produces sound despite having a warmer tone. Knowing that BAs are also used to improve clarity and technical performance on hybrid IEMs, I wasn’t surprised to know that the Vampire’s separation was very clean and crisp despite the warmth. The body is also surprisingly thick and rich which gives the lower mids a very lush but nuanced presentation. However, I have to admit that I found the stage to be quite lacking. The fundamental fact that there also isn’t much air to move around in a balanced armature also means that the bass is also quite weak and lacks tactility and impact. There’s also a rather distinct metallic timbre in the upper frequencies and the treble extension isn’t the airiest that I’ve heard. However, I’d argue that this is a perfectly acceptable drawback as the Vampire was able to combine a relaxed sound signature with speed to be able to dissect the notes accordingly.
Quite awesome stuff! I’ll be sharing my further thoughts soon and my full review to come, so stay tuned!
Thank you for reading my impressions on the Kotori Vampire. If you would like to order one, consider using the non-affiliated link below: https://kotoriaudio.com/products/vampire-iem
