Kinera Imperial Verdandi: ‘BASSY’ IN DISGUISE!
“Verdandi” one of the three norns! said by Kinera. But in simple terms Verdandi is one of Kinera's higher end offerings. Priced at 1200$ it features a quadbrid driver configuration which are 1 Bone conductor ,1 Dynamic driver , 2 Knowles Balanced armature and lastly 2 Sonion Est’s . Quite an interesting setup to say the least and it sounds very fun as well but in a mature way!
NOTE
Kinera sent this to my friends at Sonicmantra.org for review purposes. Huge thanks to Kinera and the Sonic Mantra team. However, these are my honest opinions; I am not being paid or influenced in any way to say anything good or bad.
If you want to purchase this product you can order directly from Kinera themselves
TESTED WITH
• Cayin N3 Ultra
• Cayin RU7
• ddHiFi TC44Pro E2
• Onix Alpha XI1
• iFi Hip Dac 2
• Fiio Btr7
SPECIFICATIONS
• Driver: 1 BC, 1DD, 2 BA, 2 EST
• Frequency response: 20Hz- 50kHz
• Impedance: 14Ω
• Sensitivity: 105db
• Cable: Monocrystallin Copper + High purity 4N Silver
• Pin Type: 2 pin, 0.78mm
• Cable Length: 1.2m
• Plug Type: 4pin ditacheble (4.4mm & 3.5mm)
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
• Kinera Imperial Verdandi
• Eartips 12 sets :
Final Type E x 5 (SS/S/M/L/LL)
Foam Eartips x 1 (L)
Kinera K-07 Balanced Eartips x 3 (S/M/L)
AZLA SednaEarfit Crystal Eartips x 3 (SS/MS/ML)
• Monocrystalline Copper + High Purity 4N Silver Cable
• Storage Bag
• Cleaning Brush
• Dusting Cloth
• User Manual
UNBOXING EXPERIENCE & CONTEXT
The Verdandi comes in Kinera’s signature hexagonal shaped box and in short it's PACKED! I really like the graphics on the front of the box and the card inside which has some sayings from the artistic design lead at Kinera and what these designs mean to them. And as I said it's packed, it really is lifting off that card. You'll be greeted with a microfiber cloth and then everything else beneath it placed in a neat manner. All in all, Kinera has nailed it in terms of unboxing experience yet again, I don't think anybody would be disappointed by this.
Remember, I mentioned something about Verdandi being one of the three norns at the very beginning , well this is what Kinera has to say about it : “Kinera deepens its roots into the Norse Mythology with the Verdandi. Previously, Kinera has presented us with different characters from the Norse myths. Verdandi is said to be one of the Three Norns, the three sisters of fate. She is the one who presides over the “Present”. Her elder sister Urd presents the Past and her younger sister Skuld represents the future. Verdandi has an easy and gentle character. She is lively and brave, she along with her sisters controls the fate of humans and gods and warns them to cherish the present. Her appearance is beautifully depicted by Kinera in its latest high-end IEM!!” Well I don't know about fate and all but two things I can highly agree on are the liveliness of it in terms of sound and how beautifully it's designed , really a looker!
BUILD & DESIGN
Build of the Verdandi is nothing short but Solid, made fully out of resin. Feels quite premium and sturdy on hand. Only gripe I’ll have about the build is not using a metal nozzle , as smoothen out resin nozzles tend to make the ear tip slip out of it. Other than that I think this is the peak of resin built iems , absolute 10/10 from me!
Design wise Kinera has gone all out again, I personally really like the look of the Black cosmos variant of the Verdandi. The inclusion of those gold flakes not only on the shell of the iems themselves but throughout the cable is also a very neat touch in my opinion. Also under light the white swirls and green crystal like shapes look really stunning.
FIT & COMFORT
Fit of it is a bit tricky due to its shell and nozzle size , also the nozzle length. This is not suitable at all for people who have small ears , people with medium to large ears will fit it properly. Also in my medium shaped ear, the shell tends to stick out of the ear a bit and I mentioned something about not having a metal nozzle before , this will affect the fit as well, as very few ear tips stay secured on it , you might face some issues with tip rolling it.
Comfort wise, simply put It's not the best nor the worst out there. It simply doesn't give you a fading away feeling after some time , rather you constantly feel it. Maybe that's just me and my medium sized ear, maybe a larger ear won't face this.
SOUND
Coming on to the main part of this iem , its phenomenal Sound! This has a V-shaped tuning but I feel like it's way more than that , it's very mature and refined. Especially the bass section! More on that a bit later on
SUB-BASS
This is where the Verdandi really shines , even though Kinera doesn't market it as a Bassy performer but DAMN! This is something. It goes super deep and heavy and still somehow manages to maintain a clean presentation. By no means it's just about quantity here , people who seek an insane amount of sub-bass might find it lacking , but the overall balance between the quality and quantity is just perfect in my opinion.
In the track “Playing God” by “Polyphia” you can really hear how well it reproduces the super low frequencies and presents them in a textured manner , only one nitpick I have about this is that it slightly lacks the body that’s all. It's really hard to put in words what kind of magic the bone conduction is doing here , but I'd say if anyone wants an iem in this price bracket and has a very good sub-bass section but doesn't want themselves to be overboard with excessive amount, then Verdandi it is!
MID-BASS
By this time you can already guess what kind of mid-bass it can provide with that Bone Conductor paired along with Dynamic Driver. The punches and slams are bold and deep but are very very clean. They have a slight warmth to them , they don't feel dry or lacking in any way. Also one of the stand out characteristics of its mid-bass is the speed of it , no matter what i threw at it , it kept on slamming with no issues!
At the starting of the track “Nightmare” by “Avenged Sevenfold” the drums sound very impactful and rapid fast , also quite textured. Another highlight is its body , it has a great body overall. This type of rapid mid-bass performance reminds me of Softears Volume but taken some notches up. But then again this again doesn't prioritize on the amount of quality just like the sub-bass section. So, people who are more into extreme amounts of mid-bass , should stay away.
MIDRANGE
MALE VOCALS
As a V-shaped tuning , naturally you'd expect its male vocals to sound laid back and relaxed and overall take a step back in the mix but here's that's not the case at all. Rather Male vocals are much more forward. I personally enjoy a vocal forward presentation but this might not be everyone's cup of tea. And moreover nitpick wise I’d say this lacks warmth by a smitch. Overall has a great body and tonality but with a bit more warmth this would've been perfect!
This iem really made me fall in love with the track “Suddenly” by "Billy Ocean". His voice came out smooth and forward , something I personally really dig. Despite being this smooth , you can still hear the textures in his vocals.
FEMALE VOCALS
The vocal forwardness gets carried over here as well but with not some caveats. Yes, they are quite forward and energetic but I feel like it's a bit less for some particular artists. They have the tonality on point but where it lacks the most in my opinion is the texture. I missed the texture quite a lot in some of my favorite artists and I think people who like such textured and energetic vocals will feel the same.
In one of my favorite track “Heaven,wait” by “Ghostly Kisses”(MotherX1's imaginary wife), her voice seems a bit tamed off but still still very melodic and smooth. So smooth to the point you can even fall asleep to it. Overall the way it handles the female vocals are for people who are a bit sensitive or want a safe, smooth and relaxed sound.
INSTRUMENTS
Instrumentals are an absolute joy to listen to on these. They are very smooth and to be honest to my ears it felt like sometimes they were just a bit too smooth. Anyways, other than that instrument separation is absolutely top notch , no complaints at all regarding that. Also one more thing, which they did really well is that there are not any “metallic” ness , everything just sounds tonally correct!
In one of my favorite instrumental track “Silk way” by “Kitaro” , everything sounds so smooth and pleasant that it makes me feel like I'm rediscovering this track and slowly makes me fall asleep to it. Every instrument sounds precise and clear , no complaints at all here.
TREBLE
This is where many people just made up their mind and get this iem. The treble section is just heaven for people who are treble sensitive and are always in a look out for smooth treble without sacrificing the overall energy of it. It's sparkly and airy but in a non disturbing manner.
This is what quality treble is like , no harshness at all but rather something that's full of life and very enjoyable.
Usually I don't listen to “Megadeth” much due to poor mastering quality but on this iem , their “Tornado Of Souls” sounded smooth and lively. I absolutely loved listening to tracks which have similar issues and enjoy a fatigue free listening session.
TECHNICALITIES
This iem isn't targeted to be a technicality monster in any way , this is where it performs average or not so impressive for the price as there are other iems which really excel at this category but lack the musicality or have some issues regarding the tuning. Considering the musicality it offers , I think the overall technical performance is alright but nothing to write home about.
SOUNDSTAGE & IMAGING
Soundstage is pretty big but not the widest I've experienced. It's pretty wide , also height wise it does pretty good but it's the depth it's able to portray which takes the crown. Really good depth, makes you feel you're wrapped around by it.
Imaging is very well, very precise. But for the price it doesn't have that “tack sharp” thing going on with it , rather more of a subtle but clean approach. By no means this is bad , you can pinpoint every instruments and what not with ease but it just doesn't feel something truly extraordinary.
DETAIL RETRIEVAL & LAYERING
Detail retrieval is pretty good as well but as i mentioned at the very beginning it doesn't excel the most at anything , same here as well. Even though its quite a lot , it's still not as much as some other sets such as the Aful Cantor which was basically targeted to be a Detail monster!
Layering is a very strong aspect of this iem , no matter how complex the track was. It never failed at portraying those intricate layers, not even once!
DYNAMICS & TRANSIENT RESPONSE
Dynamics are another highlight of this iem , everything sounded very dynamic and smooth. Again, it's really to actually put into words what these are capable of doing , but be assured you won't be disappointed by its dynamics at all.
Transient response is just the cherry on top, listening to it for the first time made me go wow by two things , one is how it handles the Sub-bass section and the second one is how good the transient response is! Rapid quick , no sluggishness at all. I tried throwing all sorts of fast tracks I had laying around and guess what , it didn't flinch! NOT EVEN A BIT!
SOURCE
POWER & PAIRING
Powering up this Quadbrid is no issue at all , even though it houses drivers like Est's. Somehow Kinera still managed to make it pretty efficient. You can run it on even most of the Dongle dacs out there and shoudlnt face an issue regarding powering it up. But something to keep it mind that it scales quite a bit with a good source.
Pairing is no big deal for this sort of tuning in my opinion , you pair with the type of source you wanna its sound to lean on to. Due to the extra smoothness on the upper midrange and treble section , i don't think you'll have issues with even sources like Questyle M15! Not that I'll recommend that but in my opinion it pairs best with a warm neutral-ish source.
CABLE & TIP ROLLING
Come-on do i have to say it with a brand like Kinera? As always they dominated this section with inclusion of Final E Black & not only that but Azla Crystal and few other types of ear tip as well . Basically all you need to do is buy this , pick whatever ear tip suits you the most and good to go!
And DAMN the cable! Looks super fancy and an eye candy. The attention to detail is just outstanding , the gold flakes you see on the iem itself are on the cable all through out. And the overall quality of the cable and the connectors , Y split whatever you mention is just top notch. But importantly its sound , as a "Cable Believer" to me it sounded pretty decent and there's no need to buy an aftermarket one.
CONCLUSION
All in all , I think that the Kinera Imperial Verdandi is nothing short but an excellent and complete package. If your into this sort of fun and smooth type of sound then hands down this is the best you can get around this price point. Also if you wanna explore what an expensive Bone conductor is capable of , its a must! Further more the accessories and easy to pair with sources characteristics are just the cherry on top.
“Verdandi” one of the three norns! said by Kinera. But in simple terms Verdandi is one of Kinera's higher end offerings. Priced at 1200$ it features a quadbrid driver configuration which are 1 Bone conductor ,1 Dynamic driver , 2 Knowles Balanced armature and lastly 2 Sonion Est’s . Quite an interesting setup to say the least and it sounds very fun as well but in a mature way!

NOTE
Kinera sent this to my friends at Sonicmantra.org for review purposes. Huge thanks to Kinera and the Sonic Mantra team. However, these are my honest opinions; I am not being paid or influenced in any way to say anything good or bad.
If you want to purchase this product you can order directly from Kinera themselves


("Even in the fog of war, a tank is visible")
TESTED WITH
• Cayin N3 Ultra
• Cayin RU7
• ddHiFi TC44Pro E2
• Onix Alpha XI1
• iFi Hip Dac 2
• Fiio Btr7
SPECIFICATIONS
• Driver: 1 BC, 1DD, 2 BA, 2 EST
• Frequency response: 20Hz- 50kHz
• Impedance: 14Ω
• Sensitivity: 105db
• Cable: Monocrystallin Copper + High purity 4N Silver
• Pin Type: 2 pin, 0.78mm
• Cable Length: 1.2m
• Plug Type: 4pin ditacheble (4.4mm & 3.5mm)
WHAT'S IN THE BOX
• Kinera Imperial Verdandi
• Eartips 12 sets :
Final Type E x 5 (SS/S/M/L/LL)
Foam Eartips x 1 (L)
Kinera K-07 Balanced Eartips x 3 (S/M/L)
AZLA SednaEarfit Crystal Eartips x 3 (SS/MS/ML)
• Monocrystalline Copper + High Purity 4N Silver Cable
• Storage Bag
• Cleaning Brush
• Dusting Cloth
• User Manual

UNBOXING EXPERIENCE & CONTEXT
The Verdandi comes in Kinera’s signature hexagonal shaped box and in short it's PACKED! I really like the graphics on the front of the box and the card inside which has some sayings from the artistic design lead at Kinera and what these designs mean to them. And as I said it's packed, it really is lifting off that card. You'll be greeted with a microfiber cloth and then everything else beneath it placed in a neat manner. All in all, Kinera has nailed it in terms of unboxing experience yet again, I don't think anybody would be disappointed by this.
Remember, I mentioned something about Verdandi being one of the three norns at the very beginning , well this is what Kinera has to say about it : “Kinera deepens its roots into the Norse Mythology with the Verdandi. Previously, Kinera has presented us with different characters from the Norse myths. Verdandi is said to be one of the Three Norns, the three sisters of fate. She is the one who presides over the “Present”. Her elder sister Urd presents the Past and her younger sister Skuld represents the future. Verdandi has an easy and gentle character. She is lively and brave, she along with her sisters controls the fate of humans and gods and warns them to cherish the present. Her appearance is beautifully depicted by Kinera in its latest high-end IEM!!” Well I don't know about fate and all but two things I can highly agree on are the liveliness of it in terms of sound and how beautifully it's designed , really a looker!



BUILD & DESIGN
Build of the Verdandi is nothing short but Solid, made fully out of resin. Feels quite premium and sturdy on hand. Only gripe I’ll have about the build is not using a metal nozzle , as smoothen out resin nozzles tend to make the ear tip slip out of it. Other than that I think this is the peak of resin built iems , absolute 10/10 from me!
Design wise Kinera has gone all out again, I personally really like the look of the Black cosmos variant of the Verdandi. The inclusion of those gold flakes not only on the shell of the iems themselves but throughout the cable is also a very neat touch in my opinion. Also under light the white swirls and green crystal like shapes look really stunning.


FIT & COMFORT
Fit of it is a bit tricky due to its shell and nozzle size , also the nozzle length. This is not suitable at all for people who have small ears , people with medium to large ears will fit it properly. Also in my medium shaped ear, the shell tends to stick out of the ear a bit and I mentioned something about not having a metal nozzle before , this will affect the fit as well, as very few ear tips stay secured on it , you might face some issues with tip rolling it.
Comfort wise, simply put It's not the best nor the worst out there. It simply doesn't give you a fading away feeling after some time , rather you constantly feel it. Maybe that's just me and my medium sized ear, maybe a larger ear won't face this.


SOUND
Coming on to the main part of this iem , its phenomenal Sound! This has a V-shaped tuning but I feel like it's way more than that , it's very mature and refined. Especially the bass section! More on that a bit later on

(courtesy: tonedeafmonk)
SUB-BASS
This is where the Verdandi really shines , even though Kinera doesn't market it as a Bassy performer but DAMN! This is something. It goes super deep and heavy and still somehow manages to maintain a clean presentation. By no means it's just about quantity here , people who seek an insane amount of sub-bass might find it lacking , but the overall balance between the quality and quantity is just perfect in my opinion.
In the track “Playing God” by “Polyphia” you can really hear how well it reproduces the super low frequencies and presents them in a textured manner , only one nitpick I have about this is that it slightly lacks the body that’s all. It's really hard to put in words what kind of magic the bone conduction is doing here , but I'd say if anyone wants an iem in this price bracket and has a very good sub-bass section but doesn't want themselves to be overboard with excessive amount, then Verdandi it is!

MID-BASS
By this time you can already guess what kind of mid-bass it can provide with that Bone Conductor paired along with Dynamic Driver. The punches and slams are bold and deep but are very very clean. They have a slight warmth to them , they don't feel dry or lacking in any way. Also one of the stand out characteristics of its mid-bass is the speed of it , no matter what i threw at it , it kept on slamming with no issues!
At the starting of the track “Nightmare” by “Avenged Sevenfold” the drums sound very impactful and rapid fast , also quite textured. Another highlight is its body , it has a great body overall. This type of rapid mid-bass performance reminds me of Softears Volume but taken some notches up. But then again this again doesn't prioritize on the amount of quality just like the sub-bass section. So, people who are more into extreme amounts of mid-bass , should stay away.

MIDRANGE
MALE VOCALS
As a V-shaped tuning , naturally you'd expect its male vocals to sound laid back and relaxed and overall take a step back in the mix but here's that's not the case at all. Rather Male vocals are much more forward. I personally enjoy a vocal forward presentation but this might not be everyone's cup of tea. And moreover nitpick wise I’d say this lacks warmth by a smitch. Overall has a great body and tonality but with a bit more warmth this would've been perfect!
This iem really made me fall in love with the track “Suddenly” by "Billy Ocean". His voice came out smooth and forward , something I personally really dig. Despite being this smooth , you can still hear the textures in his vocals.
FEMALE VOCALS
The vocal forwardness gets carried over here as well but with not some caveats. Yes, they are quite forward and energetic but I feel like it's a bit less for some particular artists. They have the tonality on point but where it lacks the most in my opinion is the texture. I missed the texture quite a lot in some of my favorite artists and I think people who like such textured and energetic vocals will feel the same.
In one of my favorite track “Heaven,wait” by “Ghostly Kisses”(MotherX1's imaginary wife), her voice seems a bit tamed off but still still very melodic and smooth. So smooth to the point you can even fall asleep to it. Overall the way it handles the female vocals are for people who are a bit sensitive or want a safe, smooth and relaxed sound.

INSTRUMENTS
Instrumentals are an absolute joy to listen to on these. They are very smooth and to be honest to my ears it felt like sometimes they were just a bit too smooth. Anyways, other than that instrument separation is absolutely top notch , no complaints at all regarding that. Also one more thing, which they did really well is that there are not any “metallic” ness , everything just sounds tonally correct!
In one of my favorite instrumental track “Silk way” by “Kitaro” , everything sounds so smooth and pleasant that it makes me feel like I'm rediscovering this track and slowly makes me fall asleep to it. Every instrument sounds precise and clear , no complaints at all here.
TREBLE
This is where many people just made up their mind and get this iem. The treble section is just heaven for people who are treble sensitive and are always in a look out for smooth treble without sacrificing the overall energy of it. It's sparkly and airy but in a non disturbing manner.
This is what quality treble is like , no harshness at all but rather something that's full of life and very enjoyable.
Usually I don't listen to “Megadeth” much due to poor mastering quality but on this iem , their “Tornado Of Souls” sounded smooth and lively. I absolutely loved listening to tracks which have similar issues and enjoy a fatigue free listening session.

TECHNICALITIES
This iem isn't targeted to be a technicality monster in any way , this is where it performs average or not so impressive for the price as there are other iems which really excel at this category but lack the musicality or have some issues regarding the tuning. Considering the musicality it offers , I think the overall technical performance is alright but nothing to write home about.
SOUNDSTAGE & IMAGING
Soundstage is pretty big but not the widest I've experienced. It's pretty wide , also height wise it does pretty good but it's the depth it's able to portray which takes the crown. Really good depth, makes you feel you're wrapped around by it.
Imaging is very well, very precise. But for the price it doesn't have that “tack sharp” thing going on with it , rather more of a subtle but clean approach. By no means this is bad , you can pinpoint every instruments and what not with ease but it just doesn't feel something truly extraordinary.

DETAIL RETRIEVAL & LAYERING
Detail retrieval is pretty good as well but as i mentioned at the very beginning it doesn't excel the most at anything , same here as well. Even though its quite a lot , it's still not as much as some other sets such as the Aful Cantor which was basically targeted to be a Detail monster!
Layering is a very strong aspect of this iem , no matter how complex the track was. It never failed at portraying those intricate layers, not even once!
DYNAMICS & TRANSIENT RESPONSE
Dynamics are another highlight of this iem , everything sounded very dynamic and smooth. Again, it's really to actually put into words what these are capable of doing , but be assured you won't be disappointed by its dynamics at all.
Transient response is just the cherry on top, listening to it for the first time made me go wow by two things , one is how it handles the Sub-bass section and the second one is how good the transient response is! Rapid quick , no sluggishness at all. I tried throwing all sorts of fast tracks I had laying around and guess what , it didn't flinch! NOT EVEN A BIT!
SOURCE
POWER & PAIRING
Powering up this Quadbrid is no issue at all , even though it houses drivers like Est's. Somehow Kinera still managed to make it pretty efficient. You can run it on even most of the Dongle dacs out there and shoudlnt face an issue regarding powering it up. But something to keep it mind that it scales quite a bit with a good source.
Pairing is no big deal for this sort of tuning in my opinion , you pair with the type of source you wanna its sound to lean on to. Due to the extra smoothness on the upper midrange and treble section , i don't think you'll have issues with even sources like Questyle M15! Not that I'll recommend that but in my opinion it pairs best with a warm neutral-ish source.


CABLE & TIP ROLLING
Come-on do i have to say it with a brand like Kinera? As always they dominated this section with inclusion of Final E Black & not only that but Azla Crystal and few other types of ear tip as well . Basically all you need to do is buy this , pick whatever ear tip suits you the most and good to go!
And DAMN the cable! Looks super fancy and an eye candy. The attention to detail is just outstanding , the gold flakes you see on the iem itself are on the cable all through out. And the overall quality of the cable and the connectors , Y split whatever you mention is just top notch. But importantly its sound , as a "Cable Believer" to me it sounded pretty decent and there's no need to buy an aftermarket one.


CONCLUSION
All in all , I think that the Kinera Imperial Verdandi is nothing short but an excellent and complete package. If your into this sort of fun and smooth type of sound then hands down this is the best you can get around this price point. Also if you wanna explore what an expensive Bone conductor is capable of , its a must! Further more the accessories and easy to pair with sources characteristics are just the cherry on top.