MANDATORY INTRODUCTION
Dear reader, please keep in mind that whenever there is an opinion in a review, it is my opinion, which may differ significantly from yours. We are all different from each other and have different tastes, and something that does not give me an accelerated heartbeat, you can have great fun, so I always recommend listening before buying if there is such an opportunity. I would also like to point out that in the evaluation of individual parameters, as well as the entire headphones, I try to relate to the price level that has been set for them, which simply means that any opinion I give should be followed by the thought “.... for its price”. I believe this is the only fair form of evaluation and best represents the value of the reviewed item.
INTRODUCTION
Today I would like to introduce you to the in-ear monitors from Kiwi Ears, model: FORTEZA. The headphones were given to me for the purpose of describing my true impressions. At no time was the direction of my review given to me and it is a 100% reflection of my feelings
PRESENTATION
The packaging of the headphones is quite sizable and looks pretty cool. The headphones can be purchased in three different color versions. The color of the model that was sent to me is “BLUE”, but the dominant color of the packaging is sea green which happens to go very nicely with the color of the package, as it is actually a mix of green and blue. In the package we find, of course, a pair of headphones, some paperwork, a cable, and several sets of tips. The cable is quite thin and rather not sensational, but also not the worst cable I've dealt with - it's kind of average, which, considering the selling price, is rather a bit disappointing, but not a tragedy – at least it doesn’t get tangled. The set also comes with a small, rigid fabric case bearing the manufacturer's logo. As for the appearance of the headphones themselves, it makes a very good impression. The shell of transparent, tinted resin, through which you can see the construction of the headphones themselves (2 DD+1BA), with a two-color front cover that shimmers like glitter and brings the look of it closer to jewelry than headphones, but in a good way.
TUNING AND SOUND:
Well, balance it is not
To my mind, it's a warm V tuning, especially with boosted bass, but also exposed treble. I was immediately struck by the observation that their shape allows for quite effective passive isolation, placing the listener in a kind of bubble, and cutting him off from external sounds.
A few words about the sound itself: it is dynamic, lively, and energetic. The bass is dominant and at times even overwhelming. Treble tones can draw excessive attention to themselves, by overemphasizing sibilants, for example. The midrange seems a bit withdrawn, maybe not a lot, but enough so that I, unfortunately, more than once encountered a situation where, in the calmer moment of a song, I would turn up the volume to a level that provided clear and pleasing vocals, only to turn it down a moment later, because suddenly the amount of bass, or the harshness of the treble simply began to bother me.
Well, let's go through the individual regions
Bass:
The bass is nice at times, so bouncy and fat, but unfortunately for the most part it's just too much and can tire you out. It also happens to rumble …. in a bad way. As a plus, I can report that it has texture and a significant portion of sub-bass, but I don't think it's sophisticated enough to consider FORTZA as a basshead set. I believe that a true basshead is not only a lover of the quantity, but also of the quality of the bass emitted, and with that, it is average.
Mids:
The vocals are not the strongest aspect of this set, because, on the one hand, the male vocals are at times drowned out by excessive bass and can grumble (Iggy Pop - Candy), and the female vocals sound quite unnatural, due to the boosted treble. Well, and it is this presentation of the vocals, characterized by a kind of harshness in the sound, that I consider one of the worst aspects of this set.
Treble:
When it comes to vocals, one has to reckon with local sibilants seeping in at the ends of words, especially when dealing with female singing. As for the sound of percussion cymbals, it resembles more the sound of a meshed snare drum tension than a vibrating cymbal. It often sounds like such a hiss, which occurs frequently and can be annoying - it's not the spark that trebleheads love. Although there is a lot of treble, it's not very disturbing, well, unless we choose songs exposing these registers, or if you’re sensitive to them, then we have a festival of crackle, sibilants, and general brightness from which one's eyes squint, but in 80% of songs, it was tolerable. This increased decibels in the high registers does give the illusion of purity of sound. The sense of clarity is being built by the fact that since we are hearing a lot of detail, the sound must be clean, but in fact it’s based on artificial sounds, and unfortunately, this action distorts the sound of instruments and vocals, making them quite significantly different from the natural sound.
PAIRING
Due to the rather sharp treble, it is recommended to use tips that will tame them a bit for us. Analyzing the EartipGuide database from the AudioReviews.org website, I was able to pull out a few tip models that will help us with this:
- Ostry OS3000 - the only example that significantly reduces treble, but also enhances bass, so if you want less bass, it's worth choosing something else
- Moondrop Spring Tips - as described, they take off some bass and sub-bass, bringing the midrange closer while being fairly neutral for treble
- SpinFit CP145 - by boosting the midrange, and leaving the bass and treble at the initial level, you can bring the sound slightly closer to balance
I just got on with the SpinFit CP145s quite tolerably, but I think the use of foams can also help.
As for pairing with the source, it's not easy, because, for example, pairing with KiwiEars Allegro (ES9028Q2M), is sometimes characterized by a rather dull and sluggish sound presentation, while with Moondrop Dawn Pro (CS43131) is overly energetic. Pairing went well with the SONY A55 DAP (Mr. Walkaman mod), with which the Forteza created the most natural timbre, but also the most spacious sound. Pairing with the MuseHiFi M1, or the TC35c from DDHiFi (ALC5686) admittedly provided improved holography, but also exposed this set's weaknesses in treble presentation.
Technicalities:
Despite the dark tuning, the presentation of sounds itself on the potential for holography, with a rather rich background, unfortunately often drowned out by over-exposure of low frequencies, or an annoying sound of, for example, a drum cymbal. As for imaging, there is nothing sensational enough going on in this area to mention. The separation of instruments is pretty cool and, for example, in the song Pearl Jam - Even Flow the guitars on overdrive were very clearly separated from each other and from the rest of the instruments. Well, all in all, one other thing that comes to mind is the very pleasant details associated with the dicing sounds on the rhythm guitar strings that the headphones were able to pull out of the tracks, probably by enhancing the treble, but nevertheless, they quite pleasantly enriched the perception of the tracks.
SOUND SUMMARY:
If you're looking for a balanced sound, the Forteza is not for you.
What we have here is V-type tuning, and that with the “corners” of the letter V exposed.
Of course, with this tuning, the Forteza will be suitable mainly for popular music, electronic probably, but also for rock. I think they can also be safely used for watching movies because with their low and substantial bass, they can shake the viewer at the moment of more spectacular scenes, which, by the way, made me think of the sound presentation used by some multiplex cinemas: “lots of basses, let it shake the viewer”. It may even be suitable for jazz, but you have to reckon that, for example, double bass at times may sound too .... majestic
and thus unnatural. Similarly the sound of the piano, which when covered with so much bass loses its naturalness of sound, especially the keys in the lower registers. About the fact that female vocals sound quite unnatural, I wrote a little earlier.
And what they will work well for: They will work well in dynamic, soaring music, but ..... as long as the amount of bass doesn't tire you out or give you a headache (which, by the way, happened to me a few times), and if the boosted treble doesn't constantly focus your attention on crackling, clanging drum cymbals or sibilant hisses. .
The best solution: EQ
If your music player or phone is Android-based, WAVELET will come to your rescue. A great app for changing the tuning of your headphones by applying various types of corrections, such as those generated on the squiglink website. For those who don't know what it's about, here it is in a nutshell: the squiglink site has several databases of headphone measurements, including FORTEZA and many, many others. After loading a few charts, you can use the EQUALIZER tab and the AUTOEQ function to generate a set of corrections to the base tuning to bring it closer to the target tuning. These corrections can then be exported to a txt file, which can then be imported in WAVELET. WAVELET is not a player, it's an application that captures the audio stream coming out of your device and applies the indicated corrections to it. That's it in a nutshell, as the subject of eq itself is a bit more complex. You can also apply corrections yourself, by adjusting the number of decibels at each frequency. For my part, I can suggest removing the sub-bass (20-60Hz by about 3db and 80-120Hz by about 1.5db), and making the low end from 2kHz - 16kHz also by about 3 db. This should calm the bass a bit and exposing the male vocals but also should make the female vocals more realistic. These are just my suggestions, but I think that if you dedicate some time and commitment, you will be able to adjust the FORTEZA curve to your liking.
SUMMARY
I think the initial expected price ($59) for these headphones is a bit overpriced compared to what the competition on the market offers. For those looking for a more balanced and natural sound, I recommend looking at the EPZ Q5, QoA Gimlet, or Simgot EW200 - they offer a more balanced and natural sound. Nonetheless, the Kiwi Ears Forteza, while not to my liking, is not unlistenable and also has some pluses, and with the proper application of EQ will easily achieve a rating of 4-4.5 / 5.
Kiwi Ears Forteza is a headphone that doesn't try to sound natural, just entertaining. The implemented tuning, however, even for an entertaining one, carries a number of color changes that may add dynamics, but at the same time they are very far from natural sound and in my opinion, will be suitable only for people for whom this is not an important issue.
