Elise Audio x Kinera Celest Dark Phoenix
Got some detailed thoughts on the newest release from Kinera Celest, it’s a collab with Elise Audio called the Dark Phoenix. It’s a retune of the Phoenix Call, which was pretty widely praised, if a tad forgotten.
Config
1 7mm DD for lows
2 customized BA for mids
2 Micro Planar Drivers for highs
I unfortunately have not heard the original Phoenix Call. It was high on my lists at one point but aesthetically it was not for me, I can safely say that isn’t the case with the retuned Dark Phoenix. It’s absolutely stunning. The shell is filled resin, and feels very premium to the touch. The faceplate shines in an arc, lighting up the grey/silver on black background as light travels through it. Very hard to photograph, but goodness it’s one of my favorite looking IEMs. Very simple, very elegant.
Fit is mostly good, but the nozzles are quite long. I have issues with
most in-ears on my left ear, and the long nozzle is a bit of a bother, but I recognize it’s a me issue as the right monitor stays firmly in place. It appears to be recessed on the 2-pin but it isn’t.
So… sound? Bright, and bassy. very bassy.
Bass
I am a basshead, not a secret there. Dark Phoenix has a deep, airy sub bass that can really rumble. They mentioned the focus on sub bass in their retuning, and imo they exceeded. I with they had spent as much time on the mid bass. It’s punchy, but on aggressive tracks (think Metal/DnB) it simply cannot keep up. On those aggresive genres, the mid bass gets a tad grainy, in both the attack and decay. Outside of those genres, its only main fault is bleed into the mids. I think its important to note that on day one, it almost made me want to sell these off but it is getting better with time. I fall somewhere in the middle on the burn-in debate, but this was pretty undeniable for me.
Treble
VERY GOOD. I have a treble sensitivity, so I was expecting to not like this set as much as I do. You could say this set has changed my opinion on brighter sets
overall. Thats pretty impressive. Again, its airy. The details are a standout here, things like guitar slides or ambient noises really shine within the mix and come alive. Because of the bright tuning but prominent bass, genres like pop (especially 80's pop my god, Depeche Mode)/female vocals/classical get the most out of this tuning. An important thing to note here is a lack of sibilance. I was fully expecting it, but the only time I experienced it here was with poor tip fit or poor recording.
The magic of this set comes from the fact it manages to excel in
BOTH the highest and lowest ends of the spectrum. But what suffers?
Mids
Something has to sacrifice for the rest, and this is where it gets hit. Just very busy, you can't have your cake and eat it too. Luckily, male vocals remain mostly untouched in the fight between the lower and upper range. There is a lot of bass bleed, but again everything on the other ends sounds SO GOOD that the mids end up just kinda... living up to their name. Mid.
Soundstage/imaging
Nothing to write home about unless treble is shows up to play, then it becomes the star. It's as simple as that, the stage is very personal and I would say that really only changes depending on songs that play right with its odd tuning.
Packaging
Comes with a neat bookmark(?) I promptly put in some manga I had lying around, outside of that very unremarkable. It uses the Phoenix Call packaging exactly, with only a small blurb about the Dark Phoenix on the outside. Included travel case is very small, but sufficient and included tips seem bad.
Gonna take this moment to say, I would like to see these companies partner up with some better tip manufacturers instead of just putting the basics in. Tip rolling is VERY important on this set. I am currently using the Divinus Velvet, but am going to try more as this one seems very, very dependent on getting the right fit with the right tips FOR YOU. The tuning is odd, this is important IMO. Build that collection.
Wrap up
Keepers to me! They are specialists that I wouldn't every day carry, but they bring enough flavor to my collection that I find myself reaching for them a lot. They can be purchased now for around $147, which is a nice price for this set.
https://eliseaudio.com/en-us/products/elise-audio-x-kinera-dark-phoenix