[dharmasteve]

I don't see why. Could you please elaborate ?

Listening to the LZ A7 and TRi Starsea there are many more drivers, crossovers, set differently, and they have, to me, a much more holographic staging. Just IMHO. I had the same thing when I listened from the KBear Starlight which has a very large holographic soundstage and many drivers. But very few IEMs seem to get all the factors, sound, timbre, staging, imaging, layering, resolution etc etc in one package. So purely IMHO the Believe sounds wonderful, which is good enough for me.

 

[baskingshark]

Looks like BGGAR has dissected the BElieve, and the driver does look like beryllium:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBestBassHeadphonesare/community

I know there was a fiasco recently where someone on FB dissected the BGVP DN2 which was advertised to have a beryllium driver, and then realized it wasn't beryllium: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bgv...d-new-ba-series.894331/page-327#post-15987274
BGVP had to withdraw the DN2 from the market and lost a bit of trust cause of this.

Good to see KBEAR's DD is beryllium as advertised, and indeed the BElieve's driver takes EQ like a champ, especially at the bass, with minimal distortion, which is kind of a "hallmark" of beryllium sets.

I'm a BELIEVER now (that it is a legit bery set). Quite amazing how CHIFI can come up with such pricing for a purported full beryllium set, when the next cheapest purported full beryllium set is perhaps the Periodic Audio BE at $299 USD, and more expensive ones include DUNU LUNA ($1700) and Final Audio A8000 ($2000).

 

[laleeee]

Looks like BGGAR has dissected the BElieve, and the driver does look like beryllium:
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBestBassHeadphonesare/community



I know there was a fiasco recently where someone on FB dissected the BGVP DN2 which was advertised to have a beryllium driver, and then realized it wasn't beryllium: https://www.head-fi.org/threads/bgv...d-new-ba-series.894331/page-327#post-15987274
BGVP had to withdraw the DN2 from the market and lost a bit of trust cause of this.

Good to see KBEAR's DD is beryllium as advertised, and indeed the BElieve's driver takes EQ like a champ, especially at the bass, with minimal distortion, which is kind of a "hallmark" of beryllium sets.

I'm a BELIEVER now (that it is a legit bery set). Quite amazing how CHIFI can come up with such pricing for a purported full beryllium set, when the next cheapest purported full beryllium set is perhaps the Periodic Audio BE at $299 USD, and more expensive ones include DUNU LUNA ($1700) and Final Audio A8000 ($2000).

If the bass is distorted without eq, than its not a good Iem.

What do you think about the bass quantity ?

 

[slex]

So gave the KBear Believe three tough tracks to get right...'La Fuente Del Ritmo', Santana, (suggested by another head-fier) which is complex, 'Ear to there', a drum track by Rajat Dholakia on the 'Rhydhun' album and 'Sibelius Violin Concerto', Philharmonia Orchestra, Adrian Justus Violin. The Believe make each sound wonderful, with one caveat. Staging is not quite as wide or three dimensional as some other IEM's. Being a single driver explains that. But the Believe sound great and in the subjective world of listening to the Believe I'm sure many will like it a lot. Of course we all have different taste, likes, dislikes, but I hope that most will find this IEM musically addictive. Well done KBear and thank you @WendyLi for being so helpful.

It could be that tiny bit of 1mm missing

 

[dharmasteve]

If the bass is distorted without eq, than its not a good Iem.
What do you think about the bass quantity ?

The bass is not distorted. If one listens deeply it much more textured and 'deep' than say....the Ybf iss014. Bass thump is different though. Good bass thump on the iss014 for example. If one listens to a double bass as an instrument (Ornette Coleman, 'Focus on Sanity'), the bass notes are clearer, have edges and depth on the Believe, and are not amorphous as on some IEM with lots of bass.

 

[dharmasteve]

It could be that tiny bit of 1mm missing

Maybe really large earphones with about 10cm wide drivers will give a soundstage as big as my local neighbourhood. Mind you where I live I wouldn't want to hear what is going on down the road.

 

[slex]

At this price/ ratio I cannot complain , it lies at most of my favorable music genre. Exquisite female voices, guitars, cello and depending on mood that fast and furious electronic music.

 

[slex]

i like to add, these are cable sensitive BE. From UPOCC ( slow speed ) , SPC ( Sharp high speed ). Graphene ( Fast & Musical , non-fatique listening). Spiral Dot works great, widen the sound field , I assumed the dots help to diffuse the high pressure of BE.

 

[baskingshark]

If the bass is distorted without eq, than its not a good Iem.
What do you think about the bass quantity ?

The KBEAR BElieve's midbass doesn't sound as prominent as that on BGGAR's graph for sure. It is north of neutral but not a true basshead set. When using an underpowered source or unamped, the BElieve's bass is more slow, muddy and boomy. But when properly amped, then the bass gets better texturing and is about of average speed. If you have heard the KBEAR Diamond before (the predecessor of the BELieve), that set looks similar on graphs and has a similar shell, but utilizes a different driver. The Diamond's bass is more prominent with a slight midbass bleed (and is just a level shy of basshead levels), I'm postulating that beryllium graphs sound a bit different from conventional graphs as they have faster transients than conventional drivers.

The KBEAR BElieve as the others have said is very good in technicalities for a single DD (in clarity, details, instrument separation), great resolution and good timbre, quite smooth. If one pumps the volume up a lot (Fletcher Munson curve) then the upper mids can get hot, but at low to moderate volumes, it is overall very smooth, excellent tonality in a U shaped tuning. It handles complex passages very well too. The only issues with the KBEAR BElieve as we have discussed, is the average soundstage width (though this improves with amping) and the high power requirements (bass is muddy and congested when not amped).

Some folks will then ask, what is the point of pairing a more expensive source such as an amp/DAP with the KBEAR BElieve, does that add to the additional costs of the IEM? Well, for one, the KBEAR BElieve is a midfi IEM, and I guess folks that buy midfi stuff may probably own a higher end source or two. And getting an amp/good DAP is probably a one time investment as we progress further down this rabbithole hobby. Sources may end up being the limiting factor in the audio chain sooner or later, and is a worthwhile investment I feel, more worthwhile then spending tons on cables for sure. Getting a good amp/DAP will also be future proofing as we can unlock other gear that have high requirements. I mean if it were a sub $20 set like the recent BLON BL-01 and someone told me I need an amp to unlock the BL-01's potential, I would ask them to fly a kite. But a lot of other IEMs such as the Final E series (Final E3000, Final E4000, Final E5000) and even the more expensive full beryllium Final A8000 are painful to drive, and need amping to scale to their optimal sound. At the end of the day, if one doesn't intend to invest in a powerful source, then I would advise to look elsewhere from the KBEAR BElieve, there's lots of other options around the same price that don't need amping. Horses for courses as they say.

FWIW, I did some A/B testing versus the DUNU LUNA and I think the DUNU LUNA has slightly better timbre and thicker note weight. The DUNU LUNA is more refined, has faster transients and has better technicalities, but it costs 10 times more, so that's kinda expected. If I were to give a ballpark figure, I think the KBEAR BElieve can hit around 70 - 80ish% of the DUNU LUNA's technical performance (when amped). The DUNU LUNA is also not perfect, it has a subbass/higher treble rolloff. DUNU LUNA is easier to drive, but has worse isolation. So depends if you wanna chase the last 30% sound for huge diminishing returns, or are happy with hitting 70% for 10% of the cost, but I think the BElieve is an excellent set for single DD lovers considering the price for a purported pure beryllium DD, the caveat is if you must have the source to power it.


Anyways, BGGAR just came out with a KBEAR BElieve review here, seems he likes it:

 

[dharmasteve]

i like to add, these are cable sensitive BE. From UPOCC ( slow speed ) , SPC ( Sharp high speed ). Graphene ( Fast & Musical , non-fatique listening). Spiral Dot works great, widen the sound field , I assumed the dots help to diffuse the high pressure of BE.

Never heard a Graphene cable. What one do you recc as a cheaper starter?

 

[slex]

Never heard a Graphene cable. What one do you recc as a cheaper starter?

US$72 on 11.11, the most value graphene I could find that day. Linsoul just came out too, looks identical.

Palladium on the way

 

[PhonoPhi]

It does not cease to amaze me - the power of imagination, e.g. with those palladium and graphene cables. These two materials are inferior conductors to copper and silver, no any proof of anything superior was ever shown. Full period.

What is surely great is the profit margin on these cables, seemingly enjoyable

 

[slex]

It does not cease to amaze me - the power of imagination, e.g. with those palladium and graphene cables. These two materials are inferior conductors to copper and silver, no any proof of anything superior was ever shown. Full period.

What is surely great is the profit margin on these cables, seemingly enjoyable

Haha, that's why I go value first. You never try you never know what your current hardwares is capable of with these exotics.

 

[dharmasteve]

It does not cease to amaze me - the power of imagination, e.g. with those palladium and graphene cables. These two materials are inferior conductors to copper and silver, no any proof of anything superior was ever shown. Full period.

What is surely great is the profit margin on these cables, seemingly enjoyable

Just something I hope you will try. If not so be it. Let me state my position. I do not 'believe' cables make a difference. But something happened empirically. I was using a pure copper cable on a well known earphone and thought the bass was too much for me. So for whatever reason I purchased a pure silver litz cable and it to my ears, purely IMHO, it sounded very different. I have changed back and forth many times and I empirically hear a difference. So will you, out of kindness, try a pure copper cable and then a pure silver litz, swapping on an IEM you have. I used the Blon 03. I used a KBear pure copper and a NiceCHK silver litz. If you do... let me know what you hear, but if you don't want to I understand and no problem.

 

[alamnp]

Listening to the LZ A7 and TRi Starsea there are many more drivers, crossovers, set differently, and they have, to me, a much more holographic staging. Just IMHO. I had the same thing when I listened from the KBear Starlight which has a very large holographic soundstage and many drivers. But very few IEMs seem to get all the factors, sound, timbre, staging, imaging, layering, resolution etc etc in one package. So purely IMHO the Believe sounds wonderful, which is good enough for me.

In term of Holographic and Sound Quality how do you rate Believe compared to its competitor within $200-$500 (Including multiple driver)?

Which one definitely better in terms of Holographic (3D) Sounding and Sound Quality?