Disclaimer: I thank Ray Tan from Kotori Audio for generously providing me with the Kotori Zephyr in exchange for an honest review. On behalf of the team at the Headphone List, we thank him for his generosity and trust in THL.
TLDR:
The Kotori Zephyr conscientiously objects to Harman or Harman-like tunings. The Zephyr excels in mid-forward vocal presentations, punctuated by a texturally-rich and mid-bass defined punch: a gem in the sub-$200 bracket.
While the Zephyr isn’t the most macro-dynamically exciting, the Zephyr’s technical yet inoffensive presentation makes it a highly-competent set for listeners who tire of the Harman meta.
Pros:
+ ‘Bauhaus’ inspired design with a bold, faceted faceplate and black-resin shells
+ Excellent QC, fit and finish
+ Like the Vampire before it, the Carbon V2 stock cable is the ‘best’ stock cable I’ve had the privilege of reviewing – Supple and ultra-flexible.
+ Speedy, tight and taut mid-bass punch.
+ Mid-range clarity accentuates the trailing notes of female vocals.
+ Good top-end clarity and imaging depth
Cons:
– Deep sub-bass roll-off lacks the satisfying girth and rumble – weaker macro-dynamics
– Presence region experiences a (perceived) truncation in the upper-treble, lacking the characteristic shine that defines brighter instruments.
– Average lateral staging width
Introduction
Kotori Audio is an unsung hero of the Sing-fi scene. To avoid sounding like a broken record, here’s an excerpt about the titular company from my earlier review of the Vampire:
“Kotori Audio is a Singapore-based audio brand that first sunk its teeth in the thriving local audio scene as a cable atelier, merging ‘haute audio’ with unmistakably affordable prices. When I was serving in the military in 2019, I was fortunate to have demoed some of their earlier iterations of their ‘Tungsten’ and ‘Carbon’ cables. Unbeknownst to me, I was witnessing the dawn of a new brand.”
Harman-tunings are the enduring craze of the audiophile world (and for scientifically substantive reasons). However, listening for leisure is primarily defined by ‘feel’. Individual preferences will take precedence over a decade-spanning aggregation of listening preferences.
That’s where Kotori Audio fits into the grand narrative. Instead of religiously adhering to the Harman dogma, the Zephyr strictly follows the subjective preferences and tuning prowess of the talented ensemble of engineers behind the Kotori brand.
Every release is tuned in accordance to the demographic it is meant to placate. The Vampire, for instance, embodies fatigueless and stress-free listening. The Zephyr, on the other hand, allegedly blends the technical virtuosity of the Dauntless’ (their virgin IEM release) with a tamer frequency response.
The Zephyr is a commendable gamble in the face of the lingering influence the Harman-meta has across the audiophile world. Priced at $179, the Zephyr enters a crowded and contested space that is rapidly in flux. Today, I assess its inherent viability against other industry leaders. The Zephyr can be directly pre-ordered on Kotori Audio’s official website.
Technology
Dual-driver Hybrid Configuration
The Zephyr integrates a dual-driver hybrid configuration, featuring an extremely-stiff and resilient TI-coated PU dynamic driver (that is quite the mouthful), alongside a Knowles balanced armature tweeter.
PBAS Implementation
The PBAS comprises a complex network of acoustic pathways and a carefully-placed balancer tube to mitigate the build-up of pressure within the 3D-printed chamber.
The balancer tube is surgically machined and cut with a laser, precisely fabricated to ensure stringent tolerances are satisfied (in this instance, approximately 30 microns – 1/2 the width of a human hair.
Significant Inter-chamber pressure relief is achieved by allowing the TI-coated dynamic driver to freely actuate with greater flexibility and momentum by eliminating the presence of ‘back-pressure’ situated behind the driver. Allegedly, the end result is a noticeable uptick in transient performance and low-end linearity.
Unboxing
Similar to the Vampire before it, the Zephyr comes shipped in a small, rectangular cardboard box with an outer-sleeve. The outer-sleeve is adorned with geometric patterns and hexagonal swirls, highlighting the Zephyr’s angular-aesthetic.
For a sub-$200 IEM, it’s readily apparent the Kotori Audio team labored greatly to ensure the customer enjoys a premium unboxing experience: a value-add that is often neglected by IEMs multiples in price.
Under the hood, you’ll find the following accessories:
- Kotori Audio Zephyr
- ‘Hockey-puck’ style aluminium carry case with pebble-stone finish
- Kotori Audio ‘Carbon 3’ 2-pin, with 3.5mm unbalanced cable L-shaped termination (Found in carry case)
- S, M, L silicone ear tips with plastic carrying case
- Printed ‘how to’ instruction cards.
Every accessory inclusion looks and feels high-quality. There is virtually nothing to critique in the Zephyr’s exceptional package.
Design
Svelte and sleek, the Zephyr’s eye-catching angular faceplate is impossible ignore. The multi-faceted, stepped machining on each faceplate draws inspiration from Bauhaus architecture, sharply characterized by flat colors and pragmatic design.
In a practical setting, the stepped ‘topographical’ lines assists in setting and removing in one’s ears by enhancing its ease-of-grip. The remaining portion of each resin shell is 3D-printed in ‘piano-black’, with shiny lustrous application of lacquer. The seams between the faceplates and shells are tautly sealed, with no visible specks of excess glue.
The Zephyr encapsulates both style and substance, with a distinctive appearance that stands out from the overabundance of generic acrylic clones flooding the market.
Comfort and Ergonomics
The Zephyr has a fairly sizeable shell and chamber, housing its fairly modest hybrid-driver array. Because of its larger sizing, the overall shell doesn’t sit flush against the inner-ear and counter-helix. Instead, it protrudes out, albeit with snug fit.
The Zephyr has a deep nozzle-length that just a few hairs away from the Etymotic’s infamous deep-insertion fit. However, it doesn’t burden the listener with complaints of soreness. Achieving a snug fit was not a problem for my ears. Each nozzle has a raised notch/lip that prevents the attached ear-tips from falling off.
Long-term listening on the Zephyr proved to be a comfortable and fuss-free experience, with no noticeable points of discomfort during my prolonged testing sessions.
The Zephyr has no visible pin-hole sized vents that I could locate on the shell. If I had to make an educated guess, the Zephyr must adhere to a similar philosophy as its younger sibling, the Dauntless, which purposefully eliminates the existence of a vent to ‘choke’ the driver into fluttering rapidly in-place, with each extrusion of the diaphragm providing an energetic and resolving sound. In practice, this greatly strengthens the Zephyr’s ability to block out extraneous ambient noise in urban environments.
Cable Quality
There’s not much for me to say that hasn’t been said. The Carbon V3 cable (thus far), is still the undisputed champion of IEM cables in terms of extreme flexibility, suppleness and malleability.
The cable is gentle to the touch, with almost no resistance or proneness to memory. Bend it any way, shape or form, and it contours to your body. Walking around with the Carbon V3s is an effortless and unobtrusive endeavor.
The custom-hardware adorning the Y-split and 3.5mm unbalanced terminations is beautifully satinised and emblazoned with the Kotori Audio branding.
There’s virtually nothing I can critique, save for the lack for swappable terminations. However, when it comes to the meat-and-bones of the IEM cable, the Carbon V3 ticks all the right boxes and then some.
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