ChiFi Can Dance And Swing – Kiwi Ears Airoso IEMS
Kiwi Ears Airoso is a $129 USD pair of IEMS or In-Ear Monitors using 1 Dynamic Driver, 4 Balanced Armatures, and a combination of physical and RC Crossover technology to create a new beautiful sound for entry-level music lovers. Today we will review the Earphones with the silver shells and see how they fit in today’s market.
Introduction
Kiwi Ears is known for delivering some of the most affordable, highest performance products to the western world, and is usually sold by multiple Chifi sale channels, but recently they’ve been promoting and selling their earphones directly as well. Kiwi Ears as a brand usually delivers incredible performance for low prices, beautiful products and is reliable.
As an Amazon Influencer, I earn from qualifying purchases, and using the purchase links in my reviews helps me maintain this website and Youtube Channel. Huge thanks to Kiwi Ears for providing us with the sample for this review.
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3FmSCwv
Build Quality / Aesthetics
Kiwi Ears Airoso has multiple technological advantages that make them stand out, including a Precision Crossover technology, Custom Dynamic Drivers and a Durable Premium build. While this is all in the marketing materials, I can also tell you from the very same materials that Airoso comes with 1DD + 4Ba drivers, and those are found behind a high-precision CNC faceplate and within a 3D Printed Resin shell, ensuring durability and a premium feel, with a lightweight build.
Coming with easy to replace cables, based on the standard 2 Pin connector, you can easily upgrade the cables of the Airoso if you feel courageous. Technically, Airoso has an impedance of 18 OHMs, a SPL or Sensitivity of 110 dB, and a cable that is 1.2 meters long. They can only be purchased with a 3.5mm single dned connector, but each shell is promised to be very light at 12 grams for the earbuds.
You actually have a 7-day return policy on the Kiwi Ears website (much longer on Amazon, which is why I always include Amazon links), one year of warranty, and free shipping above a certain price point. I recommend using Linsoul if you want their excellent warranty and coverage, and Linsoul operates on Amazon, Aliexpress or on their own website, with their own website usually having higher discounts and better deals.
Fit / Subjective Usage
Kiwi Ears Arioso is comfortable inside my ears, they are lightweight, have a medium sized body, cable is lightweight, not prone to conducting microphonic noise and it simply feels nice. Airoso does not have a high degree of passive noise isolation, and you can hear most sounds from outside without a real damping of the frequencies, and I can quite clearly hear the clicks of my mouse and KeyChron Q6 MAX keyboard, but the actual loudness is dampened by a 10 dB degree.
Airoso leaks little sound though, so that’s a so and so grading for passive isolation. It is generally not very sensitive to the source, best used with dongles, and it is less sensitive to source noise than the vast majority of IEMS, but still you can hear hissing if the source has a comically high output impedance, which is not unheard for in the entry-level dongle / USB DAC range.
Sound Quality
Pairings – To test the new Kiwi Ears Airoso, I have paired it with a selection of sources, including Rose Technics RT-5000, Dethonray Listening M1, Dethonray Clarinet, iBasso DX340, Lotoo PAW GT2, and Singxer SA-1 V2 driven by HIFIMAN EF500. Airoso is the kind of earphone that does not eat a lot of power, and it is rather sensitive to source noise, so while most dongle DACs will do just fine, it is best to use one that has a lower noise floor, like ddHiFi TC35CM2 or iBasso Nunchaku.
Overall Signature – Kiwi Ears Airoso has a big, bloomy sound with a really warm, thick bass, a ton of sub-bass bloom and depth, and a bit of extra sharp crisp treble bite. It is between V-Shaped and just warm / boofy in tuning, it has a natural voicing though, with a bit of extra body from the bloomy bass.
Bass – Deep-End is dominated by the powerful bass, you hear a big, bloomy bass, a ton of sub-bass down to 20 Hz, and it has a bit of bloat over the midrange too, the whole bass emphasis lasting between 20Hz and about 140 Hz. This means that there’s extra thump, rumble, but also boom and bloom. Bass is natural in speed, with a big body, slightly slow speed, perfect for EDM, Dubstep, heavy music, rap and generally the kind of sound you want with your commercial music playlist. Bass will never be too little with the Airoso and despite the name indicating some classical music tendencies, Airoso sounds really heavy, up to being a bit muddy, but it is not a bad thing, it makes Dubstep, electronic and phonk really enjoyable. Bassheads will surely love and appreciate Airoso. Also, bass seems to have a specific point tuning, if bass is heavy in certain ranges, it will be big, otherwise it seems to be less expressive.
Midrange – Despite the really heavy low-end, midrange is mostly natural, although Airoso seems to emphasize male voices more than female voices, it enhances depth, thickness and bloof of the voice, gives more body and a lower-pitched presentation of each voice Airoso is playing. Especially EDM, Dubstep and commercial music sounds luscious, heavy, warm, thick and pleasing, while female voices are relatively free of this coloration, they are sharper, more brilliant, and you can hear the crossover doing its job by giving each frequency range to a driver with a different speed and presentation characteristics.
Treble – As each driver has very different characteristics of speed and texture, treble is sparkly, sharp, actually has a ton of details, texture and can be a bit too revealing at times. This is not bad, but you can call this a cohesiveness / coherency issue where bass is much slower and fuller, while treble is incredibly fast. Treble extends to about 12 kHz after which is smoothly rolls off to 14 kZ, above which it sharply rolls off. This balances the bloomy bass a bit, giving rock and EDM a bit of shimmer and sparkle, but Airoso can be a bit aggressive with rock and metal, especially as this treble sharpness comes out on top of a sound that is otherwise really laid-back and relaxed.
PRaT / Textures / Dynamic – Dynamics are natural towards compressed, there’s a tendency for Airoso to compress the sound slightly, bringing forward details that are normally quieter, it does sound better with electronic instruments, synths and instruments that are generally not acoustic, as it reveals those in a playful, vivid way, while for classical instruments you can hear the dynamic compression slightly. Textures are natural in general, but the crossover cutoff point makes low-pitched instruments sound really thick and heavy, while high-pitched instruments sound sharp, textured and details,d each instrument has its own presentation, sometimes an instrument that has body in the lows will have a slow body there, but a fast and sharp presentation in the higher registers.
Volume Control – Airoso sounds more balanced and less aggressive at lower volumes and at medium volumes it is still ok, and you will not notice the difference in the speed of each driver. At high SPL levels, the difference is more obvious, and the same sound that at low levels is just detailed above full, will sound a bit too sharp in the highs and too warm in the lows at high SPL levels. Basically, at low volumes you can enjoy it a lot of music, while at higher volumes, Airoso becomes better for EDM, Dubstep, Electronic music, Pop and commercial music in general.
Soundstage – Airoso has a big sound, wide soundstage, with a good depth too. Instrument separation is natural, there is more blending than there is separation, but this aids to the sound feeling large and wide, big and bombastic rather than tight, narrow and surgically separated. This signature works well for rap, commercial music, EDM and Electronic, but it can feel tight for orchestral and symphonic. Overall performance is very good for the price range.
Value and Conclusion
Kiwi Ears Airoso has a really low price, performance is high, they have a high price / performance ratio. This being said, they have a couple of extras that make them appealing, including the solid transport case which protects them, nice eartips (not all Chifi has this nice eartips), all of which further increase the performance relative to the price. The ~100 – ~200 USD price range is still the hottest battlefield for audio though, so you’re best exploring your options there, with Airoso being the choice for their own signature.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a big / wide sound with a bloomy, warm and somewhat thick bass, if you want to hear details, but also enjoy music, and if you want a balance of resolution and musicality, Kiwi Ears Airoso is a grand performer that should give you an excellent listening experience. Even found a friendly ladybug to help me finish the review on a happy note, so I think Air8oso is a lucky IEM.
PROs
- Lightweight and comfortable
- Fun and bloomy sound
- V-Shaped / Warm signature with a sharp treble sparkle
- Good resolution / technical detail
- Comfortable and ergonomic shells and cable
- Transport case included in the package
Cons
- Single Ended cable only
- Can have certain cohesiveness issues coming from the crossover / very different drivers
Product Link
Amazon – https://amzn.to/3FmSCwv
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Full Playlist used for this review
We listened to more songs than those named in this playlist, but those are excellent for identifying a sonic signature. I recommend trying most of the songs from this playlist, especially if you’re searching for new music! The playlists are different for Spotify, Tidal and Youtube, and based on the songs I enjoy and are available on each!
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_cjBXGmwSHSdGcwuc_bKbBDGHL4QvYBu
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5J3oloz8Riy9LxEGenOjQ0?si=979ba4f082414be7
https://tidal.com/browse/playlist/330fd544-8e5b-4839-bd35-676b2edbb3d5
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