pk4425
Headphoneus Supremus
Moi? Haven't heard the Aether yet. Eager to sample it.@mrsergey's impressions line right up with Paul's, with jaytiss, and with most of the folks who bought them or got them after the initial HOOPLA. Safely tuned, bassy, lacks treble sparkle, large stage, and not the best IEM ever sold. Now if you're a fan of the KE4, the PRX, or the Dusk, then this just might be a bullseye though? If you're into that kind of "vanilla" or inoffensive tuning?
But I did hear the caboose of the recent Kiwi Ears hype train, the Airoso, courtesy of our righteous friends @thaslaya and @Jaytiss. Gave them a listen for about an hour today, so these are VERY early impressions.
I think the Airoso is a better value proposition at $130 than the Volume S is at $320 -- with a BIG catch. If you want any meat on your sonics, skip the Airoso. If you want any richness to your sound, skip the Airoso. If you want a sound signature that leans bright, has OK mid-bass with the right tips and almost no sub-bass with any tip I tried, then the Airoso is for you.
Not trying to be sarcastic. The two words that bounced around my head while listening to the Airoso today were "dry" and "thin." We're talking Mojave dry and reed thin. I thought the BrainDance was clinical in its tonality yet still pleasing. It was CLEAN but had a proper Body Mass Index for the sound it was trying to achieve.
The Airoso needs a buffet line. Stat. Its sound was borderline emaciated for me with Penon Liqueurs and Divinus Velvets. Tissue only started showing up on the bone when I switched to Final Type E and DUNU S&S.
Even then, the sound lacked the note weight that I crave. I'm not a classical guy, so maybe this sound signature would work well with orchestral pieces, but you're still not going to get the impact of bass or percussion. These might be very good with vocals, as the tuning is well balanced. No crazy treble spikes, shouty upper mids for vocals or bass bleed into the mids. Pleasing, airy tuning (it's called the Airoso, after all) -- but just so damn thin.
I'm not a basshead. Far from it. But I like my mid-bass and note weight throughout the spectrum, and these don't deliver that.
But the construction is solid, and the fit was excellent with all the above-mentioned tips. The stock cable, though ... what a cheap piece of scrap provided by KiwiEars. Way too thin -- a mirror of the sound!

Perhaps more impressions to come, but I'm not grooving with this set. It does thin, airy, bright tuning pretty well and is a consideration at $130 for anyone who desires a twiggy set. That's not what I want.
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