Review Kiwi Ears Airoso in-ear monitors

Intro

Kiwi Ears is a new brand for us that appears to come from New Zealand. When we received an email with the request to test their hybrid in-ear monitors (IEM) Airoso, we were very curious because we don’t know many audio brands from that country. If you want to know more too, please read on.

After some research, we discovered that Kiwi Ears is a Chinese brand, a spin-off/private label of the online headfi store Linsoul, which operates from Shenzhen. Linsoul is a major player in the market, judging by the brands it sells: Lotoo, Shanling, Hifiman, Fiio and many other brands we are not (yet) familiar with. Linsoul’s range of brands and products is a good reflection of where Chinese (personal) audio currently stands. We believe that China is more a country where high-quality audio products are developed and build. Brands such as Hifiman and Lotoo have been pioneers herein.

We therefore believe that Chinese brands do not need to pretend to come from the US (such as TOZOO) or hide their origins. They can be proud of the beautiful audio products that come from China. Instead of Kiwi Ears, why not call the brand Lychee Ears!

The collection

Kiwi Ears currently offers 17 wired in-ear headphones in various designs and price ranges; dynamic driver, balanced armature drivers or hybrid, and a single planar. Prices range from £15 for the Dolce to £500 for the Orchestra. In addition, there are seven over-ear headphones, in an open and closed design. A surprise is the Atheia (€350), which is a combination of a dynamic and a planar driver. Prices: from €49 to €350.

Unboxing

The Airoso IEMs come in a purple box with eight ear tips in different materials and sizes. There is a black storage box and the headphone cable is supplied separately. This is handy, as it can be replaced if damaged or if you want an upgrade. The cable has a pre-formed ‘U-bend’ that makes the in-ears easy to insert. Once in your ears, they resemble in-ears worn by artists on stage.

Tips

We spent quite some time finding well-fitting ear tips. Despite the wide selection offered by Kiwi Ears, none of them fit properly. They were either too loose and did not seal the ear canal properly, resulting in thin sound and a lack of bass/treble. Or they sealed too well, allowing the bass to reach the inner ear unimpeded. It was like a transmission line, but instead of a speaker, it was in the ear canal. Very impressive, but only for a brief moment, in our opinion.

With IEMs, it is very important to have a good fit, where comfort is just as important as sound quality. If they fit properly, the in-ears should not pinch and you should not feel them after a while. Special ear tips are also available if the standard ones are not sufficient.