Disclaimer: I formally thank Zephon from Rossi & Wing for loaning us a demo unit. On behalf of the team at the Headphone List, we thank him for his trust in THL.
Summary:
Rossi and Wing’s First Light mimics how sound travels in a well-treated auditorium, highlighting softly contoured notes with an even-harmonic bias for an immersive, ‘set and forget’ listening experience. It’s an IEM that forced me to listen to my ‘music’, and not my ‘gear’ with my music.
Its romanticised presentation and nuanced technical performance (which reveals itself the more you listen to it) is laudable in a increasingly homogenous marketplace.
However, First Light’s tuning lacks clinical accuracy, lightning fast transients or a resonant treble, which can make its $5,000 price tag a tough pill to swallow for purists chasing summit-fi precision.
Pros:
+ Exquisite assembly and design – arguably the best of all the IEMs I’ve ever reviewed.
+ Deep, dense mid-bass with nuanced texturing
+ Powerful, larger-than-life presentation with excellent height.
Cons:
– Noticeable recession in 7khz region causes voicings to appear distant.
– Middling airiness and extension in the upper-treble.
– Analog/smooth tuning not as coveted at summit-fi prices.
Introduction
Another year, another summit-fi release. If you’ve found yourself lurking undetected in the ‘Watercooler thread’ on Head-Fi, you’d notice that the flagship IEM release cycle has shortened dramatically, with prices seemingly creeping up in the thousands unabated. If only I had pockets deep enough to acquire all of them!
With the emergence of the measure-bator and graph sniffers, innovation and ingenuity in cutting-edge headphone measurements and preference curve has bred a ‘dyed-in-the-wool’ risk aversion to extreme deviations from the status quo. What is seen is what is heard. This has led to a disheartening dilution of subversive tunings tailored towards unorthodox tastes.
Thankfully, there seemingly is a gradual resurgence in old school and soulful approaches to tuning that has been sorely missed: by feel. That’s the motto underpinning Rossi & Wing, a Taiwanese brand and brainchild cum passion project of the eccentric and inimitable Zephon Wing. Here are his exact words in the brand’s official mission statement:
“Musicality Above Technicality.
All that we want to offer is nothing but
A truly organic musical experience.”
– Zephon W., CEO, Rossi&Wing
But who is Rossi? Rossi isn’t one person, but a hyper-talented assembly of R&D veterans from the industry in the USA, whose names remain a mystery. Nonetheless, they are Zephon’s physical conduit for manifesting his sonic aspirations into reality, from engineering to assembly.
From my private conversations with the brand’s founder, there’s an exhilarating sense that Rossi & Wing is the ‘beatnik’ of the nascent audio world, pursuing a abandoned path that’s widely seen as antithetical to existing audio dogma. For better or for worse (as a yuppie, I’d like to think the former). A ubiquitous market extinguishes experimentation.
Previously, I’ve reviewed the Synchronicity and Serendipidity from the brand’s L.U.A series, a nexus where art and audio collide. I lauded them for their quirky and playful tunings, each with a distinct identity borne out of Zephon’s charismatic charm.
In those reviews, I made fleeting references to the matriarch of their catalogue, the First Light. Here are my exact words or stream of consciousness rant:
‘Rossi & Wing’s virgin release certainly raised many eyebrows in the contemporary IEM scene. The First Light is an opulent debut IEM (part of the Celestium series), priced at $7,700 for the Founders Edition and $6,600 for the Art Frame edition. It features an ensemble of innovative drivers, each meticulously assembled in a dust-free clean room and snugly fitted into a burlwood display case.
Every minutia of detail is considered by the brains behind this burgeoning brand, Zephon Wing. Graph-sniffing audiophiles are likely to frown at his ‘old-school’ mindset, where the ears matter more than the eyes.’
But, $6,600 is still $6,600. That’s a lot of dough! I must admit that my jaw was left agape when I had first seen its advertised price. Today’s review explores if the First Light lives up to its summit-fi moniker and price tag. The First Light, both the Standard and Founder’s edition ($7,700), can be ordered on Rossi & Wing’s official website (with a 2-3 month turnaround time).
Measurements
- Frequency Response: 20Hz – 28kHz, ± 2dB
- Sensitivity: 113dB spl/mws @ 1 kHz
- Impedance: 13.5 Ohms @ 1 kHz
Technology
10mm R-ESTD (Rear Electrostatic-Dynamic Driver)
R-ESTDD stands for ‘Rear Electrostatic Dynamic Driver’. In layman’s terms, a passive electrostatic unit is mounted in the rear of their dynamic driver woofer, where both tweeter and woofer operate as a single driver.
The Rossi & Wing R&D team explains that unlike traditional albeit uncommon Magnetostatic drivers, the R-ESTDD unit exhibits a marked improvement in treble/bass extension, less phase incoherency and a lower current draw.
Six DBAA: Dual-BA and CMB 3+1 Crossover System
Rossi & Wing utilises 6 dual balanced armature arrays (DBAA), which totals a staggering twelve balanced armatures in each channel. Their DBAAs are made to match their exacting standards.
The First Light’s entire driver array is then unified using an in-house CMB 3+1 crossover, painstakingly partitioning the frequency response between all 13 drivers. To further enhance its strengths, the entire shell/chamber functions as a resonance chamber, imitating the ‘floating’ sonic presentation of cabinet speakers when sound travels through air.
By harmonising mechanical and electrical dampening, Rossi & Wing maximises physical and engineering solutions to eke out as much performance out of their drivers.
In-ear Auditorium (IEA)
Unlike traditional measures of a successful IEM, the First Light touts itself as an IEA; a portable, on-the-go in-ear speaker that condenses the grand and operatic acoustics of a concert hell in an IEM shell. Its professional endorsements from Lexie Chen and Herbert Guo, both concertmasters from Taiwan, speak to the First Light’s unique designation.
Here what Zephon had to say about this new category:
After assessing the overwhelmingly positive reception garnered during the preview event at the expo in Taiwan, we are not only confident but also immensely proud to announce a paradigm shift in categorization for the First Light. No longer confined to the conventional label of an IEM, we proudly christen it as an “IEA (In-Ear Auditorium)” This distinction arises from its nature as nothing short of a “miniaturized Hi-Fi audio system in your ear.”
Despite sharing superficial commonalities in appearance, size, and portability with traditional IEMs, the First Light’s unique auditory profile distinguishes it from all other in-ear monitors, propelling it into the echelons of Hi-Fi speakers. Therefore, it is only fitting that the First Light be acknowledged and embraced as such, rightfully claiming its place as a pioneering innovation in the world of portable audio.
We are also proud to unveil that the First Light was, from its inception, a daring endeavour to replicate the immersive experience of listening to Hi-Fi tower speakers within the compact confines of an IEM. Judging from the resounding critical acclaim, we are confident in asserting that we have successfully achieved this ambitious goal!
Unboxing
This review is based on a demo version of the First Light. Unfortunately, I do not have all the standard inclusions from their Standard’ or Founder’s edition on hand for this review. The items that they came shipped with are:
- Rossi & Wing First Light (Standard black and gold colourway)
- Rossi & Wing magnetic leather case
- Rossi & Wing Lightbringer I1412 Limited cable
If you were to pre-order the First Light, expect to see the following in the Standard and Founder’s editions respectively:
Standard Edition
- Rossi & Wing First Light (Standard black and gold colourway).
- Rossi & Wing – Lightbringer I1412 Limited 2-pin cable with 4.4mm termination.
- Wooden Art Frame Display Case.
- Original (replicate) photograph on canvas by award-winning photographer, Bo-Jyun Chen.
- Rossi & Wing magnetic leather case.
- Eartips sets (2 pairs).
Founder’s Edition
- Rossi & Wing First Light (Name/Number Engraved).
- Personalized Choices for: 1) Top Cover, 2) Base Ring, 3) Artwork Insert.
- Stock Cable 1: Vortex Cables – “ANA-VISHUDDHA” 2-pin cable with 4.4mm termination.
- Stock Cable 2: Luminox Audio – Lightbringer 1412 Limited cable
- Name-Engraved Wooden Display Case (American Black Walnut Wood + Stainless Steel).
- Autographed 24-Page Artbook.
- Genuine Leather Case.
- Eartips sets (2 pairs).
Opinions
I cannot speak to the ‘quality’ of these inclusions at the moment, but there’s no denying that Zephon is curating a luxurious unboxing experience that’s hyper-personal.
For audiophiles, it’s our ‘ratatouille moment’. While it’s easy to cast on aspersions on the brand for redirecting their attentions to form over function, a $6,600 – $7,700 price tag attracts sky-high expectations that go beyond just acoustic performance. Dita Audio understood this, so does Rossi & Wing.
The personalised letters, the art book that offers a tangible glimpse into the inner-workings and ideative journey that culminated in the First Light, the intricately finished American black walnut display case by EJ Daydream (which costs a $500 to cut and assemble). The accoutrements matter. Don’t overlook the garnishes!
Turn to the next page for Design and Build Quality, Comfort and Ergonomics and Cable Quality.
