Sound Signature: Clean, balanced, fast, and highly controlled.

Tonality: Balanced, Clean, Fast.

Highlights:
The Gnome sits somewhere between a finely tuned professional reference monitor and an engaging high-end hi-fi IEM. It has the precision, speed, and discipline of a monitor, but avoids sounding clinical or emotionally detached. Notes are exceptionally clean, decay is tightly controlled, and there is very little unnecessary resonance throughout the presentation.

Read our full impressions

Product details

The Birth of Gnome

AME, South Korea’s leading premium earphone brand, has continually pushed the boundaries of sound art by exploring extraordinary, limit-breaking materials such as stabilized wood, Mokume-gane pure copper, aluminum, and brass.

After numerous challenges, we proudly unveil Gnome, AME's very first titanium earphone.

To achieve the ultimate level of perfection, we underwent extensive testing with various grades of titanium alloy shells, including metal 3D printing. Finally, we crafted the shell by precision 5-axis CNC machining of a TC4-grade titanium block, boasting extreme durability and acoustic stability.

The birth of Gnome is the ultimate culmination of uncompromising craftsmanship.

Design & Material

Gnome features a new 3rd-generation shell design, integrating AME's accumulated know-how alongside an original faceplate. This delivers both ergonomic wearing comfort and visual elegance.

To overcome the dry tone and bass attenuation inherent to titanium (Ti) shells, a special wave-shaped pattern was engineered into the internal structure of the earphone shell. This suppresses unwanted internal resonances and precisely controls vibration flow, perfectly realizing a deep and three-dimensional soundstage.

Additionally, silicone-filling technology was introduced internally to control even the micro-vibrations of the housing.

The Art of Sound

Motivated by the spirits of the earth, Gnome is the monumental first model in AME’s "Four Element Spirits Series."

Equipped with 12 drivers per channel (6 BA + 4 QEST + 2 BCD), a precision 5-way crossover circuit, and an exclusive housing design that utilizes the entire shell as an acoustic chamber, Gnome delivers an overwhelming sound experience found nowhere else except AME.

  • Hard, Highly Responsive Bass: Powered by Sonion's latest 38UD3X BA driver, delivering a faster response speed and high-density, punchy low frequencies compared to its predecessor.
  • Delicate and Transparent Mid-Highs: Featuring Sonion's latest G90D dual BA drivers, expressing an extremely transparent and delicate midrange without distortion.
  • Original Texture Highs: The 2nd-generation QEST (electrostatic driver) handling ultra-high frequencies works in perfect synergy with Knowles' SWFK BA driver. Smoother and more naturally refined than conventional ESTs, the ultra-high frequency sound creates its very own special texture. Combined with AME’s proprietary electrostatic control technology, it boasts exceptional openness (airy feel) and vivid timbre.
  • Three-Dimensional 3D Soundstage: Seamlessly integrates Sonion's bone conduction (BC) driver, inspired by hearing aid technology. It adds spatial dimension and depth from the midrange to the ultra-high frequencies, recreating a vivid, you-are-here realism.

Sound Characteristics

Gnome is a masterpiece meticulously tuned over the longest period in AME’s history.

  • Golden Balance Bass: Designed to sit right on the exquisite boundary between monitoring accuracy and musical enjoyment (Fun Sound). Depending on the choice of eartips, listeners can enjoy everything from deep, weighty sub-bass to a perfectly balanced sound signature.
  • Organic Harmony and High Separation: Six balanced armature drivers blend organically with one another, delivering transparent vocals, a realistic stage presence, and flawless instrument separation.
  • AME Signature Highs: The newly arranged QEST driver takes AME's signature crisp and clear highs to the next level. Through precise crossover networks and acoustic tuning, it achieves perfect phase coherence between the electrostatic (EST) and BA drivers.

Premium Components & Cable

To ensure flawless sound transmission, both the interior and exterior are packed with top-tier components. Neotech’s (Taiwan) high-end OCC cable is exclusively adopted for internal wiring—the heart of the earphones—alongside a specially designed nozzle mesh to maximize acoustic flow.

The included "AME New Valeo 12-Core Cable" is custom-manufactured using 7N OCC wire ordered specially from Taiwan's Neotech, one of only three Ohno-certified OCC manufacturers in the world. It delivers both the rich, deep bass unique to high-purity high-end OCC lines and the dazzlingly clear ultra-high frequencies that rival pure silver cables.

Other Features

  • Custom-Designed Nozzle Mesh: Specially engineered exclusively for Gnome, this mesh completely blocks foreign debris while guaranteeing unobstructed, linear high-frequency progression and pure sound output.
  • Neotech High-End Internal Wiring: To minimize signal loss inside the units, Neotech’s premium OCC cable is fully adopted for internal wiring. By maximizing the purity of the signal reaching the drivers, it elevates sound quality to its ultimate completion.
  • To ensure precise network design, the highest-quality components—such as Murata MLCC capacitors—are utilized in the RC circuits.

Specification

  • Titanium alloy precision 5-axis CNC machined
  • Bass: 2x Sonion BA
  • Midrange to Treble: 2x Sonion BA & 2x Knowles BA
  • Upper Treble: QEST (2nd GEN)
  • With 2x Sonion BCD
  • Impedance: 13 Ω
  • Sensitivity: 103 dB
  • Frequency Response: 20 Hz ~ 30 kHz

Included

  • "GNOME" Universal In-Ear Monitor
  • Earphone carrying case
  • ROCOCO (Eletech) Tips (S, M, L)
  • AME Tips (S, M, L)
  • AME Premium Custom Cable 12-Core 2-Pin 4.4mm
  • Cleaning tools