KBEAR BELIEVE-
KBear has been pretty much known for their Kbear diamond iem which has got great reviews too!!! I use their cables a lot too and they are decent for their price !! Since I know the tuner for believe personally, hence I bought a unit to check what's the hype and how much has he succeeded !!
DISCLAIMER- I ain’t a reviewer or an audiophile , just an music lover !! I wasn’t sent a sample of Believe, I paid for it – then sold it later on for buying something else and regretted it since it went out of production
The second unit that I got was courtesy of HIFIGO since I wanted to have a listen one more time to the classical laid back sound and also as I had more experience with iems, I wanted to see if I change my thoughts!!! Hence, I wanna thank HIFIGO for letting me to have another go at it!! Here’s the link here(not affiliated ofcourse )
I might get the instruments name wrong but I have heard a lot of them during the college and school days but never bothered to get their names I just loved listening to them!
And lastly – if I make grammar mistakes forgive me
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE
On seeing the outer BOX-
they look great!! It took me a solid hour before I started opening the box (it was Hifiman Sundara on my head & I was listening to a symphony) and me just like a painter appreciating others painting- I was appreciating the box and how wonderfully it’s made ( I wasn’t drunk
, I came home tired and rather heavy work day so I was admiring
)
Opening it , was not let’s say as good as Apple or OnePlus or even my LG phones the outer box didn’t slide off
so I gave it a push !! And it came out
The inner box though slid off albeit not too smoothly but then again it felt so good
and here came the presentation !!!
KBear, you guys just outdid yourselves here!!! You are so much better than the half-eaten Apple and you decked me with accessories too
Then came the iems , the multiple tips and the cable wow !!! And then the iem carrying case (seemed like synthetic leather) but man it feels so nice, wonderful work here
BUILD AND FIT
KBear Believe first time holding it, I felt the dense weight, it’s heavy (comparing to the likes of kanas pro), solid and wonderful looking, beautiful plates!!
Fit was really good for me and it just went in nicely !!! The stock tips are pretty good and you can definitely use it…
CABLES-
Now the cables are pretty good fit their price!!! Non microphonic and has a supple feel. It's thick but doesn't have any option for adapter or to get the stock cable in any balanced form...
SOUND IMPRESSIONS- Note this is entirely subjective and your experience might differ from me !!!
Now remember this was me reviewing it for the first time…
so cut me some slack
1) ACDC-Thunderstruck: at 1:51sec – the drum beats differentiate and the second hit has an bass extension (sub bass rumble)
Now with Kbear Believe , the bass extension is there but not much profound but it ain’t much clear too with my LG G8X..
Now here comes the amping magic – The sub bass extension extends more, becomes clearer and damn the 2 beats even though milliseconds apart can be felt distinctively .
Amping of choice in decreasing order – Topping d50 with a30s (Burson v5i opamp modded ) > xduoo xd05 basic (Burson v5i opamp modded) > Fiio BTR5 balanced > Fiio BTR5 SE (RCA out to topping a30 ) ~ LG G8X (RCA out to topping a30) > My LG G8X
I would also like to say here that instrument separation is right at point in this and I don’t seem to find any congestion at all
The timbre is average but not too shabby at this price range!!! The tonality is pretty good.
Notes do extend well but mids and others instruments are very laid back so having that emotional feel but not that energy !!! It’s a V shaped iem for sure!!!
2) Kaneda- by Geinoh Yamashirogumi – at 1:36sec -the separation, resolution and imaging ohh darn, this Believe made me BELIEVE similar to when I heard the Sundara for the first fking time !!!
3) like you know – Fat Larry’s band (hehe get it , Sir Larry aka the tuner!!! is in there ) – the trumpets , the drums – ouuu -an amalgam of bass
Believe just separates them, so nicely with more power( amping just like before) but don’t get me wrong it’s still good with just my phone too and the trumpets ( I think that’s what the instrument is called ) at 3:12sec with the drums and the bass guitar at the back – OMG pure bliss
The bass had a nice body here and it didn’t interfere with vocals so
Believe
The bass had good punch but not a great body to accompany it , Subbass was decent enough to have a rumble but not too much tomove you !!!
The decreasing order of preference with more amping remains true !!
4) Dream Theater – the best of times ( black clouds and silver linings album) be ready for “the nun hiding in the background with guitar “ at 2:46 sec—coming right at you
Here I was checking for treble response with guitars and let me just say it – “ ooouu la la la “ – It’s clear , accurate , sparkly but not too sharp ( for a reference in the property of sharpness – it’s less than Hifiman Sundara and may be same as Kanas pro will update once I get it back ) and man it’s so engaging ,something I missed !!!
The treble is well extended and did have enough energy !!! What it lacks is in the notes microdetails which doesn’t come through much. The electric guitars have decent timbre and tonality but energy is lacking s bit!! There is though his dynamics and it a pretty good difference that can be easily noticed if you look at the notes height differences between different instruments…
Amping didn’t help much here except make it a bit airier and more separated!! It is difficult for my novice ears to come to a proper conclusion about this though
(but it might just as good or maybe better than kanas pro will update by A/B between them)
5) Come together – the abbey road – The Beatles – ohh my from the beginning , the bass guitar.
Just wow, the band outdid themselves here!!
I found the bass from the bass guitar rather right on point with good extension and string distinction enough to get me to listen to the song 4 times
But yeah similar story continues for the Amping part
6) Diana Krall – The girl in the other room – album the girl in the other room & Must be desire – Mojo Juju
- for female vocals and separation from bass guitars!!
It’s clear as day here that the bass separation even though present, is slightly saying “Touché” to the Mids. But but but it’s with my LG G8X.
Coming to the Amping side if the story – you can literally taste
or rather hear the difference between them be clear, as sour is from sweet!! Female vocals sound pretty great per se , they are well balanced. Not a hint of sibliance at all. They are well extended with air in their voice which comes through pretty nicely!!
7) King- Lauren aquila & Hello – Adele & Sway – Diana Krall – lovely ladies and lovely songs – Female Vocals mostly – wew, these ladies have already taken my heart, what more do they want !!
Believe here makes them sound-Just WOW!! (period)
8) Kiss from a rose – Seal & Where did you sleep last night – Nirvana (MTV UNPLUGGED) & Sweet child of mine – Gun’s And Roses – Male Vocals – They sound like a Man should and damn I feel sad that my voice AINT like that
Forgetting that , the male vocals had good extension and it’s not lush per se but it’s thick and does a good job!! It's not grainy either or boxy which is a great thing !!!
Believe here does an excellent job for its price!!!
9) Night torch – Denzel Moiz -for the excellent violin (correct me on this instrument please) play at start, I just love that part and then the slow dub step /EDM – I really wasn’t expecting this but it was really great on EDM—a relaxing and engaging type though!! But don’t get me wrong it was NOT slow , it was fast and accurate with the beats !! It was not congested either. The instruments notes had enough timbre to make it feel natural but the energy seemed a bit less ALWAYS.
10) Mozart Garett and Violin concerto No.4- David Garrett – Mozart moods – Believe made every violin proud pretty much!! And damn the concert I wish I could see one in real life one day
The positioning of the instruments were decent!!! They did have a diffuse area of presentation but the timbre and tonality with air around then made it much easier to identify stuff…The depth was good , it was wide but not tall in sounstage!!! The separation is great but too busy passages tends to get a little dicey here !!!
11) Bohemian rhapsody – Queen original soundtrack – I went for this for the piano and drums combo and ohh I loved it
Believe really works wonders here and amping story remains the same!!!
12) Rap God – Eminem (he is a god of rap pretty much) – I could distinguish him and the music going behind and the lyrics!! But still his rap, makes me so hooked up I went on to listen to Airplanes part 2 and some more songs!! This doesn’t happen with tint2plus or any other iems except BLON 03 and hence Believe is pretty good
The music is well felt in the background and every words coming out of him was just so way to identify , that it was the first time after trying out audiophile stuff I was glad to come to this hobby !!!
So all in all let’s summarise -
This is an all-around musical, laid back and kinda analytical iem , you would just engorge yourself in music and forget what’s going on in the entire world. It’s costly at what price it’s is going on, but it will grow on you slowly and surely…The staging and laid back experience with good mids presentation in V shaped iem is a rarity and this even after trying so many iems still gets my recommendation if you can buy one now
(out of production but that means price will be less for who is selling it
)
COMPARISON
SPRING 2
Better taller stage
Better extended treble
Better Subbass
Better micro-details
Better female vocals
More energy in mids
Better separation
BELIEVE
Wide stage
More mid-bass punch
More laid back and longer listening experience
Better imaging
Smoother treble
You are missing out.
BELIEVE to me right now worth $400-$500. Should not be in $200 category.