Kiwi Ears hailing for China are known for their high quality value for money IEMs. They have a handful of IEMs starting as low as $30 to as high as $500. They broke into the scene with their high quality IEMs under $100. Their Quintet was received graciously by both the consumers and reviewers while their KE4 is still one of the best new Meta IEMs available under $200. They laid low for while since the KE4 but have been launching some high quality IEMs lately. I loved their Aether, not a successor to the Melody but the large planar drivers were definitely a attention grabbers with a huge stage and seamless imaging. Airoso is an excellent V shaped IEM with a warmer signature. They did launch a few headphones and I am currently working on the Altruva too. What everyone was waiting for though was a successor of the Quintet. And back in July we got the Septet, a seven driver behemoth with a Quadbrid setup. Priced at $279 it comes in only one color. This time around we have a modular cable, finally, and an open back design too. Let’s expand!!
Get one from here:
UNBOXING AND ACCESSORIES:
Septet has a typical Kiwi Ears type unboxing experience. Lift the upper cover, we have the earpieces stuffed in hard foam, ear tips (6 pairs) and the cable are placed inside the carry case under it. What I don’t like is the fact that this $270 IEM ships with a case that looks just like the Canta case and even though this cable is modular, the cores are very similar to the Quintet so, nothing to write home about. Here is my unboxing video:
CABLE:
Hmm.. Okay, we get a better cable, with modular functionality but sadly the quality of the cores haven’t improved enough. It’s a 5N OCC cable. I am not very disappointed but the SQ of this cable leaves a bit more to be desired. Improvements in sound quality is apparent when I pair Septet with $20-30 aftermarket cables.
The good thing is this is a well behaved cable with supple and non bouncy cores. It doesn’t have any microphonics to worry about, the cable guides are fairly relaxed and the parts used are of decent quality.
BUILD AND ERGONOMICS:
There isn’t a lot of info available about the build but I think it’s safe to assume that they have used aluminum shell. I like this matte black finish and the open-back back plate with silver logo adds a bit of curiosity to the design. Kiwi Ears says :
” Designed with optimal music playback in mind, the Septet features an open-back IEM configuration that allows full ventilation for each driver. This design is key to its acoustic tuning, improving airflow and responsiveness, which results in more dynamic and natural sound. The open-back structure not only boosts the soundstage but also imparts an ‘acoustic’ texture to the music, creating a more immersive and lifelike listening experience.”
It doesn’t have a semi custom type shell but has the curves at the right places, offering stable and comfortable fit inside the ear without much issue. Another thing that helps is, even though it has a metal body, its aptly light weight which doesn’t demand constant adjusting. This quad-brid IEM is aptly small in size to fit most of the ears without much struggle. There is little to no pressure exerted by the ear guides and it’s longer than average nozzle helps with good stability too.
PAIRING WITH SOURCES:
This is not what I was expecting from Quadbrid but most of the Kiwi Ears IEMs do not respond to source change so the way Septet ignores various sources is not surprising. What it does respond to are cables but sources just leave a layer of their own flavor but are unable to impact the base nature of this IEM. Most interesting is pairing with QX13, it’s a warm and thick sounding source and the boring sounding Septet is forced to change it’s note weight and emphasis a bit. It sounds a bit warmer yet not enough to get this pairing labelled as warm.
Another thing to keep in mind is it’s not kind to weak sources. Pair it with a mobile phone and it’s planar drivers screech and squeak while delivering lean notes and dry tonality. At least 3vrms is what we are looking for.
SOUND QUALITY:
7 drivers, Quad brid, that’s definitely a feat in my opinion. Septet has a single DD, 4 BA drivers, one Piezoelectric unit and a planar driver too. It’s easy to to tell which driver is responsible for which part of the spectrum. Even when we have these many drivers, the good thing is, there is barely any issues of coherency between the drivers. We have a prominent W shaped signature where the bass and mid range aren’t the driving forces but the highs are the king here, and I have to admit, planar for highs can be outstanding and Kiwi Ears have tuned it for excellence. Another thing to keep in mind is, this IEM has a dead neutral, kind of cold signature, it’s more like a precision tool which is there to offer high quality details with superior accuracy, accuracy, that is even better than some BA based IEMs. If you aren’t looking for an accuracy oriented IEM, look away, this is not for you.
I am using stock tips, Hidizs S9 pro+ and Cayin RU3 for this review.
BASS:
Powered by a 10mm composite dynamic driver, Septet is advertised to have sub-woofer like bass but let me clear the air here. This lower end is nowhere close to bass head level and isn’t even bassy to be precise. Septet has a more balanced and clarity oriented lower end. It has very good sub-bass depth with decent rumbles, it’s not very rumbly but makes it’s presence felt when the track calls for it. Mid bass is a bit more active as usual and aids this bass region with the required amount of body and heft. Yes, the area of impact isn’t big and doesn’t move a lot of air either. What it has is excellent dynamics and contrast. Easily change the intensity and offers very good directional cues according to the demands of the track. It can be focused, centrally heavy and peripherally heavy when needed. Septet nicely layers back and foreground notes without and issues, exhibiting it’s superior technical capabilities. Decay is a bit on the faster side but Septet paces them dynamically, let’s the notes gain enough weight but never letting them get heavy. Septet has very good control and has one of the cleanest upper bass notes for a non BA IEM.
MID RANGE:
Kiwi Ears has loaded the Septet with an arrey of 4 dedicated BA drivers and it performs admirably. Yes, this is W shaped IEM and does focus a bit more on the vocals while retaining very good energy and clarity with the instruments. Yes, the instruments around the vocals are slightly less energetic (even a few instruments like trumpet and violin that are supposed to maintain a similar level of energy through out a particular note feel slightly uneven, this does spices things up but..) to give a bit more space and pop to the vocals yet have enough resolution to stay relevant. We get good finishing definition and resolution without any sharpness or thinness to worry about, which is true for the upper mids too (as expected from BA drivers). It does have a bit more bite but doesn’t sound even remotely uncomfortable yet can be slightly tiring if paired with a revealing source for a long listening session.
Surprisingly these BA drivers reproduce excellent vocals. It literally has no BA timber to worry about. Infact this IEM has better tonality than a few last gen DD IEMs (EA1000 and Falcon Ultra). Yes, BA drivers do offer a bit more faster decay for foreground instruments while a slightly decay of background instruments offer an excellent contrast while adding depth. Male vocals could have been slightly more throaty but they still retain very good texture while female vocals sound more accurate and aptly agile. We get very good tonality and good cohesion across the mid range.
HIGHS:
MY OOH MY!! I love this!! Planar for highs is definitely a win for the whole community right? Right? (Unless you prefer smooth and dark highs obviously) and it’s aided by the ptz driver too so win win situation in my opinion. We are dealt with excellent clarity, transparency and superb extension and maintains very good energy till the end. Septet has sparkly, agile and lively notes with a slightly forward presentation too, which can be slightly tiring if you aren’t used. We get excellent layering and separation too, it masterfully layers foreground instruments while the background instruments have their own plane to move around. Double thumbs up IMO. I would have liked a bit more diffused field but this isn’t ordinary either. Planar highs have always been known for their cleanliness and that’s true for Septet too and thanks to this We get class leading amount of air between instruments.
STAGE AND IMAGING:
This is one aspect where power comes in. This IEM needs plenty of power to open up and if you can feed this hungry IEM, it opens up beautifully. If you aren’t equipped with a powerful source, a good dongle like Fiio QX13 or the new Cayin RU3 can do a reasonable job. We will explore the stage with dongle sources here and Septet has a wider stage, it’s not very tall and offers very good Z-axis depth. Imaging is excellent with the mid range while the highs are slightly less impressive yet mighty capable under $300. Most of the bass notes fire in, vocals are placed within the head while most instruments including highs make out of the head. We have fantastic transient effects but it would have been a lot more interesting if these movements were slightly more subtle.
COMPARISON:
VS Tanchjim Force:
CONCLUSION:
Kiwi Ears have done an excellent job with the Septet but there is a catch here. This is easily a better IEM than the Quintet but doesn’t follow a similar tuning principal. It’s slightly W shaped and focuses more on balancing everything while delivering excellent clarity across the spectrum as the bass performance takes the back seat. People I think we’re expecting a bit more oomph though, a bit more fun presentation.
Septet is an excellent IEM for those looking for a reference type IEM with superb treble clarity, perfect for treble heads but if you are looking for a fun, musical sounding IEM, opt for Astral.
