I purchased a pair of Kiwi Ears Melody iems. A planar magnetic pair of iems for $89 and I have been pleasantly surprised so far.
This isn’t a detail monster in any way. This definitely has a minor U shape type of fr. But for non critical listening, it is extremely fun. The soundstage is pretty good for a planar iem. The bass is the star of the show. It is fully extended and boosted by about 3 decibels or so from the sub to mid bass. The low mids are recessed a tiny bit, but start to climb through the upper mids. Then another slight recess in the low treble…but just like the mids, start a slight climb around 8 to 10 k (this is an educated guess on my part). I think that the recessed points in the fr are very deliberate, as I think this is partially why the separation is so good. The imaging is average at best, but these iems are for fun, not for critical listening (IMO). These also require some power to drive them to full potential. It isnt crazy power hungry, but I did need to switch to High Gain on my iBasso DX170. They are very comfortable as well. I’m using AZLA SednaEarfit Xelastec tips.
I haven’t come across a good budget oriented headphones/iems/gear in quite a few years. The last budget item that really stood out to me was the Guideray gr-i58, and that was back in 2019.
So with that said, I can confidently recommend the Kiwi Ears Melody to anybody looking for a budget iem for relaxed listening sessions.
@Hazi59 I’m genuinely interested in those German ear tips you are using. AZLA SednaEarfit Xelastec tips
Are they soft and pliable like they state in their add?
I’ve got tiny little ear holes and big ol floppy ears, my ear canal gets irritated easily for some reason and i find i like to squish the eartips in as far as i can get them to keep them in place. Thus i’m always looking for smaller sizes, that will form to my ear canal easily and just stay in place so i don’t have to keep fiddling w/ them which cause the irritation…
I just bought some last week for my airpods pro and they are soft and pliable. You can get a variety pack from Amazon to see which size fits best. I preferred the ML Xelastics vs the L Apple tips.
A couple of observations.
The airpods sounded a bit more neutral. I can’t decide if there is less bass or that the bass is just tighter with the Xelastics. Either way, I like how they sound. And remember, I’m talking airpods pro, not fancy schmancy IEMs.
The tips are almost too good at staying in place. I had one incident earlier this week, during a visit to the library, when I took them off to talk to the librarian and then noticed one of the tips was missing when I tried to put then back in again. After looking everywhere, the librarian asked me what I was looking for, and when I told her, she told me it was still in my ear, and had been wondering why I had a piece of rubber in my ear.
I don’t consider them soft. They are very thick and almost gel like. But they seal extremely well. My ear canals are medium size, but very deep and are not as circular shaped like most folks. Due to that, the Xelastec tips work well for me because they have a strong grip. I still prefer Spinfit CP and Final Audio E tips the most…but they dont work on every iem of course.
Just a quick follow-up on the Kiwi Ears Melody. They sound even better after 2 solid days of burn-in.
Also, I have settled on Dunu S&S tips. I bought a pack of these tips after being curious about them for a while. I’m happy to say thay these are currently my very favorite tips. Finally, I have found IEM Tips that seal, yet comfortably fit my odd shaped ear canals. If any of you have comfort and seal issues with IEM tips, you may want to try the Dunu S&S tips. These tips are going to be a game changer for me going forward…
I purchased a HiBy R6 III and it arrived today. Initial impressions are extremely positive. The R6 III is a gigantic step up from the old iBasso DX170 that I had been using. HiBy really knows how to make a quality DAP.
Below is a very average picture taken from my Samsung Galaxy s21 Ultra Phone.
I snagged up a pair of Nordost Norse Series Baldur speaker cables off of USAM last week, 2.5 meter pair for a pretty good price. I’ve always been interested in Nordost, especially their unique extruded FEP ribbon form factor.
I also recently ordered three more Ikea Billy bookshelves, the big ones. They were delivered yesterday and should solve my book space problems… for a little while at least. Now I just have to summon the energy to put them together
let me get back to you on that, today is the first day with my Omega BAMs so there’s a lot going on I plan to eventually compare them to a pair of cheap micca speaker cables, probably once the speakers are broken in.
I at least can tell you they certainly don’t sound bad with the Omegas.
Been looking for something that will protect my setup but also provide good isolation and some filtering, this was a decent price and has good feedback from other audiophiles.
I plan to eventually compare them to a pair of cheap micca speaker cables, probably once the speakers are broken in.
