Rossi&Wing First Light Review: Don’t Judge, Just Listen First

Rossi&Wing First Light Review: Don’t Judge, Just Listen First

The in-ear or earphone industry is a mixed bowl of everything, ranging all different from their sound signature, target users, characteristics, and most noticeably, the price. For many years, About Audio has been reviewing a variety of IEMs, including summit-fi IEMs, or the “flagship of flagship” earphones that make you rub your eyes to make sure you’ve seen the price correctly.

 

Today we’re reviewing not only a new brand but also a brand that has decided to take the daring decision to start their first product with a summit-fi IEM: The “First Light” by Rossi&Wing. First Light is priced at $7700 for the Limited Founder’s Edition which is limited to 30pcs worldwide, and after that to be followed up with the Special Edition and Standard Edition (same earpieces but with lesser and simpler offering compared to the Limited Founder’s Edition). Rossi&Wing states that the lead time for the order of First Light would be 2-3 months.    

    

Rossi&Wing: Who Are They?

Since Rossi&Wing (R&W in short) is a completely new firm, there’s very little information known, let alone its past-known reputation. However, they aren’t complete newcomers to the audio industry. “ROSSI” is a team name designated for multiple audio industry R&D veterans who have been serving the tuning and production of numerous well-known audio brands over the past decades. While R&W hasn’t described the specifics of the R&D team members or which brands they’ve worked for, presumably due to NDA, R&W shed light that the team (or at least a portion of them) is based in the United States. 

 

Who is Wing Then?

On the other hand, Wing is the last name of Zephon Wing, the founder of R&W as well as Archwing Audio Emporium, a portable audio distributor from Taiwan. ROSSI and Wing have teamed up starting 2019 for several years until finalizing their product line-up as well as their debut product, the First Light.

 

Currently known to the public, Rossi&Wing has two product line-ups which are “Celestisium Series” and “Lua Series”. While their product line-up also consists of IEM products that are more down-to-earth in price, R&W, as a luxury audio brand, daringly decided to release their most expensive and high-end product of the R&W. That is the First Light from the Celestisium Series. 

 

Grandeur Unpacking Experience

Rossi&Wing’s take on the First Light is no joke starting from the packaging. Along with the outer paper packaging, First Light comes with a display case made of American Black Walnut wood and stainless steel parts. The display case is engraved with the purchaser’s name.

 

Other than the display case and the earpieces, First Light Limited Founder’s Edition comes with 6 pairs of silicone tips (two variations), a Genuine leather case, Ana-Vishuddha stock cable #1, Morningstar R2216 stock cable #2, and a 24-page Artbook autographed by R&W. As for the cables, we’ll soon be talking about further as we go on with the introductions.  

 

Earpieces: Let’s Talk About Specs First. 

Before we talk details about why Limited Founder Edition’s First Light comes with 2 stock cables and their specs, let’s first talk about the heart and engine of the product – the earpieces. Rossi&Wing First Light is not an ordinary IEM – or should I say “IEA” as R&W states First Light which is the abbreviation of “In-Ear Auditorium”. First Light’s drivers are a combination of 1 R-ESTDD and 6 DBAA (equivalent to 12BA), totaling up to 13 drivers per side. Lastly, to hook up all these drivers into one, R&W’s CMB 3+1 Crossover System has been applied. Both drivers may be unfamiliar to you (so was I…),  so let’s dig into what these drivers are.

 

 

DBAA: Dual-BA but better in every way

Let’s start with the BA drivers first: Why call it “6 DBAA Drivers” if it’s actually 12 drivers? DBAA stands for “Dual Balanced Armature Array”, fusing two BA drivers into a single unit. Sure, dual-BAs have been existing for over a decade. However, R&W introduces that their proprietary, in-house, and custom-designed BAs have revamped the traditional dual-BA structure to seamlessly blend in with their other technologies applied to First Light.     

 

Because of this, perhaps R&W wanted to highlight the significance of the seamless fusion of their upgraded dual-balanced armature driver by describing as 6 DBAA drivers – but to be precise and to make this clear, First Light consists of 12 BA drivers.  

 

Rear EST-Dynamic Driver (R-ESTDD)

R-ESTDD is a hybrid driver that has integrated EST (Electrostatic) and dynamic driver into a single unit. R-ESTDD allows for minimizing the commonly-known drawbacks each driver has while preserving the advantages each driver type had, hence grasping both high-resolution sound and trebles and deep, full bass response. Also, rather than installing EST and DD separately inside the chamber, the R-ESTDD structure allows minimal distortion and higher phasing accuracy.  

 

But… isn’t that just MST Drivers? Not Quite.

Until here, you may wonder what’s so different about R-ESTDD compared to MST (Magnetostatic) drivers, which I’ve also personally inquired to R&W, and there’s a difference. Traditionally, MST drivers utilize a passive EST design, placing the EST driver in front of the DD portion within the MST chamber. However, R&W stated that they’ve realized this led to substantial performance loss in both low and high frequencies – or in other words, they’ve found a better way to modify and restructure it.

 

Rossi&Wing’s R-ESTDD (Rear-ESTDD) patented design prioritized bringing out the better potential of EST while DD serves as a support of the system to enhance the dynamics of the sound. R&W states this patented R-ESTDD design also visibly improved the power conversion loss that existed from conventional MST or EST drivers, making First Light easier to drive. 

 

CMB 3+1 Crossover System: Final tool to bring things together

Binding multiple drivers would easily cause a lot of problems, especially if we speaking of 13 drivers with are also different in driver types and structures. CMB (Custom Matrix Blend) is a specialized crossover system tuned for First Light that seamlessly integrates all drivers and technologies that were involved.

 

The “+1” is the additional crossover system specifically meant for supporting the blending in of R-ESTDD. Although 3+1 would mean a 4-way crossover, this additional 1 crossover is dedicated to binding the R-ESTDD with the DBAA drivers, retracting the scattered low-mid response, as well as achieving balanced vocals while preserving a wide staging.

 

CMB’s Significance to turn First Light into an “IEA”

Lastly, the word “Matrix” from CMB technology isn’t just for sugar-coating the name of the technology. In fact, the CMB is what makes First Light have its name, an “In-Ear Auditorium” as R&W meticulously designed the resonance of the earpiece chamber to replicate a full-size speaker, and the natural sound decay and vibration of the air.

 

R&W states the importance of CMB, by calling it “the essence of our technical innovations” that unlocks and brings out the full potential of First Light. Below is R&W’s statement on why they’d refer to First Light as an IEA (In-Ear Auditorium) instead of an IEM as well as the technical specifications.  

 

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Q&A: What’s an IEA? Why not an IEM?

R&W: 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.

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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.

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We are also proud to unveil that the First Light was, from its inception, a daring endeavor 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!

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Next Page: Earpiece / Customization / Special Stock Cables