Disclaimer: I would like to formally thank Zephon Wing from Rossi & Wing for providing us with a unit in exchange for an impartial and honest review. On behalf of the team at the Headphone List, we thank him for his generosity and trust in THL.
Summary:
The Serendipity is a very bold interpretation of the cascading notes at the forefront of a Victorian concert hall, enveloping you in its warmth and grandeur. It’s a very ‘heart over head’ listening experience, with a voluptuous low-end and deliciously slow PRAT.
This larger-than-life presentation comes at the expense of an incisive treble and a recessed upper-midrange.
Pros:
+ Original and captivating ‘impressionistic’ theme with exceptional finishing
+ Texturally rich lower-midrange with bass-rich timbre
+ Big and bold yet intimate presentation, with deep pans amidst a concert-sized stage
Cons:
– Pronounced upper-treble suck-out causes micro-detail retrieval to suffer
– Not well-rounded for all-genre listening
– Occasional lower-treble glare
Introduction
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. Don’t expect to see a ‘new meta’ tuning from him anytime soon.
The accompanying marketing material exemplifies the brand’s artistic slant, with a graceful interplay of wordsmithing that distils the beauty and intimacy of music and art, where every pluck of a string gently envelopes you in an ever-growing tapestry of emotion.
Regardless of the camp you fall into, there’s no denying that Rossi & Wing earmarks the birth of a subversive brand. Their latest series, the L.U.A, furthers Zephon’s novel interpretation of what an IEM should and could be:
”Lumen/Umbra Aeterna by R&W (LUA) is an art-inspired IEM brand, using earphones and tuning to explore the messages and philosophies within artistic expression. In collaboration with Taiwanese artist Cypress Tsai, who drew inspiration from LUA’s designs, each earphone model serves as a canvas, with sound as the brush, capturing the journey of soulmates from first encounter to transcendent union.”
To polarise puritanical audiophiles further, Zephon has gone to extra mile to collaborate with a Taiwanese-based perfumery, HOKKI, to curate and match exclusive scents to pair with each of the three L.U.A sister IEMs; a stimulating sensory experience where sound and scent collide.
Today, we’re focusing on the L.U.A’s most affordable IEM, the Serendipity, as its name implies, is themed after chance encounters. Featuring a 10mm ‘Magna Resonus driver’, Mr Wing has kindly described the Serendipity to be a mini First Light, promising an auditorium-like experience with deep and expansive notes.
More importantly, Serendipity is the first chapter of the LUA story, with its two sisters, IEMs, the Synchronicity and Celestian. Each of them represents their novel tunings and themes; an amalgamation of Mr Wing’s hopes and aspirations.
The Serendipity can be purchased from Rossi & Wing’s official website.
Technology
‘Chance encounters’
The first chapter recounts the serendipitous meeting of two lovers. It captures the fiery passion of young love—intense, unforgettable, but ultimately fleeting. Too young and naïve to understand love’s depth, they part ways amidst misunderstandings and unspoken regrets.
Serendipity’s sound emphasises atmosphere and presence, with a dynamic, expressive signature akin to an impressionist painting, evoking the hazy beauty of a love too early to last.
Magna Resonus MR10 Tech
Featuring an innovative, state-of-the-art 10mm ‘Magna Resonus’ dynamic driver, the Serendipity promises ‘Spatial Bass and a Cinematic Sound’.
Hokki No.3 Perfume
HOKKI’s NO.3 perfume pairing with Serendipity’s warmth touches upon ‘Lemon, Blackcurrant, Galbanum, Bergamot, Buddha’s Hand’ top notes.
Unboxing
Note: Unfortunately, the Serendipity’s retail packaging wasn’t ready for mass production when I first received it as a sample unit. However, I must commend Zephon Wing’s commitment to humanising what is seen as a cold and calculated industry, driven by a rapacious hunger for new releases.
The sample that was shipped came wrapped in a ‘Serendipity’ themed ‘Furashiki’ wrapping cloth — a thoughtful gesture that grounds the unboxing experience; an implicit signal that highlights a personal touch that is often an afterthought.
Inside the sample package, I was greeted by the following inclusions:
- Serendipity IEMs
- 4.4mm Pentaconn cloth-braid cable with 2-pin connectors
- HOKKI No.3 sample perfume
- Serendipity brochure
- Serendipity-themed ‘Furashiki’ wrapping cloth
Design and Build
The Serendipity features an oversized hypoallergenic resin chassis, with a resplendent shade of purple with a celestial-like pattern mimicking the swirls that characterise the universe we inhabit. This is by no means no standard acrylic shell. The resolution of the IEM’s galaxy aesthetic is evocative of the grandiose themes that underpin the Serendipity’s design.
What’s especially noteworthy is the undistorted clarity of the print, alongside the spotless application of lacquer across each shell. For $599, the Serendipity is as excellently built as it is easy on the eyes.
Comfort and Ergonomics
The Serendipity has an elongated spout/nozzle that certainly sits deeper than most Chi-Fi IEMs. Personally, I have a natural proclivity for extended spouts; I find that they sit more snugly in my ears.
While the nozzle depth itself isn’t an issue, the provided ear-tips lacks rigidity. Consequently, attempts to achieve to seal fail due to its proneness to crinkling under the slightest pressure. I managed to resolve this issue with SpinFits Eartips.
The sizeable chamber design results in the shells sitting outwardly from the ear. Visually, there is a lack of balance, but it does little to affect the actual comfort or long-term fitment. A violent head-shake test failed to displace either L-R channel from my ears.
Don’t let the Serendipity’s size fool you either. At the end of the day, the Serendipity is still fabricated from hypoallergenic resin, a material with a proven pedigree for its featherlight properties.
Overall, the Serendipity may appear bulky, but that doesn’t detract from the actual wearing and listening experience.
Cable Quality
The included cable is a quad-braid, cloth-sheathed cable adorned with brushed, Pentaconn hardware — a 4.4mm fixed termination and 2-pin connectors.
The actual cable itself runs fairly long, with a surprisingly microphonics-resistant core despite its fabric sheathing. It’s slightly prone to memory, but retains a strong degree of malleability without clustering into a messy spool when tossed into one’s pockets.
The concentric-brushed hardware is hardwearing and high-quality, but its industrial appearance doesn’t quite align with the paint-like finish on the Serendipity’s. Nevertheless, this is a minor gripe.
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