Disclaimer: I thank Ms Ma from Rose Technics for generously providing me with the QT9 MK3 in exchange for an honest review. On behalf of the team at the Headphone List, we thank her for her generosity and trust in THL.
TLDR:
Rose Technics has been an overlooked brand in the Chinese audiophile scene for a decade. The QT9 MK3, with impressive linearity and agile transients, warrants favourable buzz and attention.
Listeners who prioritise pinpoint layering, separation and clinical micro-detail retrieval, will find lots to love in this hidden gem of an IEM.
Pros:
+ Premium and luxurious unboxing experience for a sub-$200 IEM.
+ ABS plastic frame and anodised aluminium faceplates are featherlight and unobtrusive.
+ Articulate and detail-rich bass-response with nimble transients
+ Clean and refined midrange with great micro-detail retrieval
+ Euphonic lower-treble uplift for air, sparkle and shimmer
+ Generous inclusion of a fabric-sheathed USB-C to 3.5 unbalanced dongle DAC/Amp
Cons:
– Aesthetically uninspired in a sea of competitors
– Lower-mid recession sucks out the depth and body of recordings
– Metallic upper-treble glare (BA-Timbre)
– Average lateral width, with an inward-sounding soundstage
Introduction
Rose Technics is a Chinese brand originally established in 2012, specialising in the design and manufacture of IEMS and earbuds.
My initial encounter with the aforementioned brand was in an Indonesian-based Facebook group, ‘Earbuds Anonymous’. A regular created a post discussing his glowing impressions of the then-released ‘Masya’ earbuds. Members started leaving a trail of equally positive comments. Naturally, this piqued my curiosity. But alas, I didn’t have the financial means to invest in a ‘blind buy’. More importantly, earbuds just don’t play well with my ears.
Earbuds, to this day, form an infinitesimally small subset of the entire audiophile market, operating on the fringes of Head-Fi and remote Facebook groups. I’m no expert in earbuds, but a brand that caters to such small niches is a black swan in my eyes.
However, I am sticking to what I know best: IEMs. Rose Technics has kindly sent me their QT-9 MK3, an IEM with a standard hybrid topology, generously boasting a single 10mm Tesla dynamic driver and 4 balanced armatures in each channel. Priced at an accessible 185 USD, the steady, annual decline in the price-to-driver ratio is astonishing.
However, the spec sheet can be misleading. Sound is always king. The QT-9 MK3 can be purchased directly from Rose Technics’ official site.
Technology
ABS Resin and Aluminium Alloy shells
Utilizing a mixture of hypo-allergenic ABS resin for the nozzle portion/contact patch of the shell and 7000 series aluminium alloy for the faceplates, the QT9 Mk3 balances practical design with an industrial aesthetic.
10mm Liquid Crystal Polymer (LCP) Dynamic Driver with ‘Tesla’ Technology
The 10mm LCP dynamic driver is a mainstay woofer across an abundance of Chinese earphones, and in several instances, as the full-band driver. In the case of the QT9 MK3, the ‘Tesla’ strength magnet enhances its rigidity, stability and speed, eliminating unnecessary harmonic distortion and driver flutter.
4 Balanced Armatures
For the remaining frequency bands, two Knowles 26UA balanced armatures are used to reproduce the mids, and the highs/treble are delegated to the remaining two 30017 armatures.
Unboxing
The QT9 MK3 comes shipped in an oblong, rectangular jewel-style cardboard case with an exterior cardboard sleeve: a gargantuan package for 185 USD earphones.
At first glance, the QT9 MK3 is (obviously) going for a sci-fi theme, with a crater-esque 9 printed crisply on the exterior sleeve. Open the box, and you’ll be greeted by an assortment of sections, with its included accessories and the QT9 MK3 showcased in segmented windows. The presentation of the whole package is ambitious and grand.
Inside the box, you’ll find the following accessories:
- Rose Technics QT9 MK3
- A hinged leather hard case with a felt inner lining
- S, M and L silicon tips in ‘White’ and ‘Grey’
- Fabric USB-C to 3.5mm Dongle Dac/Amp
- Fabric MMCX cable to 3.5mm unbalanced L-shaped termination.
- Gold Challenge Coin (this was included in the shipment)
At a 185 USD price, the QT9 MK3’s accompanying package is chockful of practical goodies and ‘nice-to-haves’. The generosity of the brand’s inclusions leaves a lasting impression: a positive start to the review.
Design
The QT9 MK3 has a diminutive physical profile, with a discrete and ‘under-the-radar’ aesthetic that slips neatly into daily life. As mentioned briefly in the ‘Technology’ section, the contact patch/frame of the shell is fabricated from medical-grade ABS resin in a transculent amber colourway. Look closely, and you can see the 5-driver array neatly tucked in each shell.
Both channels are capped off by a bead-blasted, satinised 7000-series aluminium faceplate. Visually, the QT9 MK3 isn’t an overly exciting or challenging design. However, its conservative styling doesn’t draw too much-unwanted attention: an excellent earphone for listeners who want to avert the gaze of passersby and strangers.
The nozzles on each shell are gold-plated stainless steel, significantly enhancing its durability. The seam between the resin shell and aluminium faceplate is tautly compressed together. There are no visible pools of adhesive, nor are there rough edges as I run my fingers across the seams between them.
Overall, the QT9 MK3 passes all of my quality checks without fault.
Comfort & Ergonomics
The QT9 MK3’s tiny footprint and teardrop-shaped chassis, unsurprisingly, sit comfortably in my medium-sized ears without pressing against the outer helix. The deliberate combination of lightweight materials enhances the listening experience, eliminating any semblance of discomfort from protracted listening sessions.
The stout nozzles on each shell, however, proved to be finicky to my ears when it came to fit. As a rule of thumb, almost 90% of stock medium-sized silicon tips play well with my ear anatomy. In this uncommon instance, it was challenging to achieve a tight seal.
My personal preference is for medium-length nozzles with a deeper depth insertion. Thankfully, manually adjusting the QT9 MK3 with the ‘large’ sized tips, I managed to achieve a comfortable seal that isolated extraneous noise fairly well. However, successfully replicating this fit consistently proved to be a hassle.
There is a two vents near the contact point of the QT9 MK3, and the MMCX connectors. However, their existence does not contravene its ability to block out unwanted ambient noise. The QT9 MK3’s excellent isolation is one of its glowing strengths (on the proviso that it seals well).
The QT9 MK3 strikes all the right chords when it comes to comfort and isolation, but misses the mark when it comes to fit and seal.
Cable Quality
The QT9 MK3’s stock cable is sprayed from a 5N crystal copper OCC coaxial core, sheathed in a jet-black fabric/textile insulation with a 3.5mm L-shaped unbalanced termination. The bulk of the cable comprises two loosely braided cores (before splitting into each respective channel). Fabric cables have a natural tendency to exhibit less flexibility and bendability. Unfortunately, the QT9 MK3 does not buck that trend.
The stock cable is still fairly resistant towards unkempt coiling, but it does exhibit a few negative traits, mainly memory retention and microphonics. As someone who religiously wears an olive green chore coat, the inadvertent friction between the cable and my jacket generates a perceptible amount of cable noise.
The QT9 MK3’s stock cable does the job but doesn’t quite make a smooth landing.
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