Royal Navy
100+ Head-Fier
As promised, a short impressions post of Loki Emerald as soon as it came in.
Having spent the last 4 or 5 hours listening to the Loki Emerald, I can distinctly say this IEM is an absolutely amazing piece, especially at it's price point of 3.1K it directly competes with other major brands at and above its price very easily. For a brief, quick and dirty description, I'd classify the Loki Emerald as the EE Odin, Noble Viking Ragnar and UM Indigo had a baby, that's Loki.
Starting with the basics:
Build Quality is outstanding, from the nozzle to the TRIPLE vented 6MM DD (touch more on this later, as i believe it is contributing greatly to their sound shaping) are built fantastically. The nozzle and vent are both adorned with titanium and feel smooth to the touch with absolutely no lip or sharpness to their edges that could irritate.
The shape of the Loki's shell is phenomenal, being slightly smaller than the Empire Ears Odin and having a nozzle that allows for a deeper insertion which I prefer in an IEM. It is well contoured for a UIEM and sits flush up against my ear with no issues thus far with it coming loose/wiggling out over time. I often have issues with IEMs slowly loosening out of my ear and moving from their optimal position which can be annoying as i have to reposition them every so often, the Loki do not have that issue, albeit this will vary per user but this is one of, if not the best, fitting CIEMs i've come across.
Packaging:
The overall packaging experience was great, everything came well protected and neatly in it's place/well held with no opportunity to move. I'm not sure if this is a constant or limited thing, but my Loki came with 2 cables, a kinera branded and an Effect Audio branded (Ares II i believe?). I first tested with the Ares cable but quickly removed it as it sounded veiled and lowered the resolution, the Kinera cable was better in this respect but I ultimately replaced both quickly with my Magnus 8 wire from my Ragnar.
All of the below was done off of SP3K CU in usb dac, DAR DSD, Line-Out to Cayin C9 (Tubes/AB) via eletech Ode to Laura 4.4-4.4 IC to Magnus 8w into Loki Emerald.
Techs:
The soundstage on this set is quite impressive, it reaches incredibly deep and you'd be hard pressed to believe one tiny 6MM DD is delivering this depth and bass quality, obviously assisted by their BCD but the depth here, as touted by Kinera themselves, is very very good (even with stock cables, but the Magnus 8 is further enhancing this quality as it is probably the deepest reaching bass cable I've come across). The stage is quite wide as well, not as wide as something like the Ragnar but it is well above average and significantly wider than Odin (I'll get more into this in the mid's section). Height is also impressive, being greater than Odin and just a tad less than Ragnar. But one of the stand outs, besides bass depth, is the overall transient speed of the Loki. The transients here are very fast and punchy, sitting as a direct competitor to Ragnar which will be a consistent comparison, if Ragnar is a 10/10, Loki is a 9.5/10.
Bass:
Truly outstanding and very impressive given the tiny little 6MM DD this guy is packing. The bass is punchy and fairly rumbly but due to a lighter mid-bass, it has more punch/air than rumble. The bass quality of the Loki is a runner up/almost direct competitor to my all-time bass quality #1, the Ragnar. As for quantity, it sits elevated above both the Odin and Ragnar, giving an almost Trifecta level of sound but all without an ounce of bleed or crossover into the mids. The bass is strong and present when called upon and quickly will drop out of the way when it is not, allowing for a very dynamic and fun listen on bass heavy tracks. As I listen to a lot of metal/rock, this is a necessity as an IEM that is bloated or unable to handle complex passages simply isn't sufficient for me. The Loki handled all my typical congestion tracks with absolute ease, such as Wovenwar's Confession. The BCD helps immensely with imaging and placement within this track and the DD is able to handle the rapid bass and complex layering extremely well, possibly the best I've heard this track is off the Loki. There is a lot of air and "diffused" sound to the Loki which allows for these complex passages to be so clear, and, although a guess, I believe this is due to the enormous venting given to the tiny 6mm DD, with 3 vent holes sitting right above the DD contributing to an almost "open back" like amount of air, akin to the Trifecta's level of venting.
Mids:
As obvious from the graph, the Loki Emerald, like the Odin has an elevated upper mids region which pushes vocals to the forefront of the staging, typically causing stage width to suffer but due to the Emerald's elevated and extended treble as well as bass, the stage remains wide and well spaced despite the forward upper mid presence. Vocals on the Loki Emerald are a lot like the Odin in tonality but without ever sounding shouty or nasally as many have complained about with the Odin. They sound like a blend of Odin's forwardness and Ragnar's tonality of detailed, airy, colder tonality but sweet and forward without being "in your face". There is this sense of the mids being "pushed" forward by the incredible bass, as they intersect but never overlap or congest each other. For those that have heard or read my Red Halo review/impression, the Loki has ALMOST the flow/connectivity between vocals as the RH and Indigo do but they are still incredibly airy and detailed like the Ragnar.
Treble:
As most of the WC regulars know, my make or break, creme de la creme of the FR, if this area falls flat or is not done well, the IEM is dead to me. Tonality wise, the treble follows the mids/upper mids in being colder but to me, not "bright" as the lower treble falls in line with the upper mids preventing it from sounding peaky or elevated quantity wise. Quality wise, I'd say the Loki is lightyears ahead of the Odin's brittle, weak and blah treble presentation and much closer to the likes of the Ragnar (yes, the Ragnar has no faults for me, quality and quantity wise!). The treble is fairly smooth but has enough bite/splash to it to remain realistic and engaging and not flat, over smoothed and boring like some other IEMs. Keep in mind, it is very difficult to offend my ears, at all, with any treble quantity but quality wise I'm picky, and the Loki does not let me down here so I am extremely happy.
And that's it, overall the Loki Emerald is one of my favorite buys and has a clear spot in my rotation and I love it, special shoutout to @aaf evo for nudging me to get it
My one and only complaint, and it's stupidly minor, is the BCD is VERY sensitive and it can sometimes when moving your head/bumping the iem at all, sound like a spring was boinged in your ear.
Well, I don't see any emeralds here
Sorry, just kidding.
I'm glad to hear that you're enjoying it. Loki is an outstanding pair of IEMs and represents Kinera's first venture into the flagship category. Notably, it's also the first Kinera IEM to receive widespread acclaim within the Chinese audio community. While the company's other IEMs have received mixed reviews, with some people liking them and others not so much, Loki seems to have garnered a consensus of positive feedback.
The process behind Kinera's creation of Loki is quite interesting. It all began with the original tuning, which displayed promise. They then showcased it at numerous audio shows in China, gathering valuable insights from attendees and fine-tuning it into what we now know as the 'Chinese version.' This iteration boasts impressive, ample bass, sweet and thick mids, and a relaxed, laid-back treble.
Following this, Kinera introduced Loki to international distributors, attentively absorbing feedback and making further refinements. This led to the birth of the 'International version,' featuring the same bass but with thinner mids and a more pronounced treble. Interestingly, someone along the way dubbed it the 'Emerald version,' though that term primarily refers to the faceplate design. Kinera offers four official faceplates for the two Loki versions, with special faceplates available for their loyal customers as well.
I'm absolutely loving my Loki "Trickster." It's the best IEM I've had the pleasure of listening to in 2023. Currently, I even prefer it over my Annihilator 2023. It turned out to be a successful blind buy, and I'm truly grateful for that. This is significant for me because where I reside, the only way to audition something is to purchase it. I'll be on the lookout for an opportunity to audition the Loki "International version" in the near future.
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it has extra long pins that don't fit iems. When you plug them in they stick out about 1mm leaving a large gap between the plug and iem. The cable has to go back. 
What I can't figure out is why he would use long pins instead of the standard length this makes no sense to me. 
this combo slams 
