The Watercooler -- Impressions, philosophical discussion and general banter. Index on first page. All welcome.

[jaz2097]

Neutral Never Sounded This Good – A Dive Into the Kinera Thorking

Pros

• Surprisingly comfortable despite its size
• A balanced / natural sound signature tuned for clarity and resolution
• Separation and Imaging is class leading
• Good soundstage
• Very easy to drive
• Very good isolation when music is playing

Cons

• Stock cable could have been better
• Heavy shells

This is my first time with a Kinera IEM though I have used their cables in the past. Thank you to the AG group for providing me with a chance to review this gorgeous IEM.



Musical Preferences – I like listening to EDM and Lo-fi music along with a bit of other genres thrown in.

Build Quality and Comfort – The body is made of a sandblasted and oxidized aluminum and it was good to wear even though its summer out here. This IEM is quite large and chonky but quite comfortable to wear. I used it with Divinus velvet standard tips for this review. They stayed put in my ears. I asked my friend who has smaller ears to try this out and he found it extremely comfortable so chances are there it may fit well for most ears. Its weight is on the heavier side but thanks to the secure fit there was no discomfort. I used this while travelling to office and noticed that it has excellent isolation once music is playing.



Cable used – The stock cable provided is thin, light weight and quite decent but I used a Effect Audio 8W Ares cable for this review. I think it pairs wonderfully with this IEM and I felt a slight improvement in the bass compared to the stock cable.



Sources used and drivability – This IEM has a low impedance of 10 ohms and is extremely easy to drive. I had no issues running it off dongles such as the Cayin Ru7 and the Acoustune AS2002. Usually the AS2002 dongle gets quite warm during use but with this IEM it stayed quite cool. It ran perfectly well with the Hiby R4 too. So, this one can be easily used for portable or stationary use.

Sound Impressions - The first thing that you notice is the immense clarity and the wide soundstage. All instruments are given their own space in the mix. Everything sounds pristine with good separation and clarity. This is a neutral IEM but each element in the mix stands out.

Bass – The Thorking comes with a single DD handling the bass and it does a wonderful job. This IEM has a neutral tuning and does not emphasize the bass too much. Still, it’s quite enjoyable and can present itself when called for. The bass texture is also excellent. I listened to a lot of EDM tracks and never felt it lacking bass or impact. This may not be suitable for bassheads or folks looking for a meaty / thick mid bass focused sound.

Midrange – The vocals feel very natural and one can easily make it out from the mix as there is no bass bleed. Both Male and female vocals sound good with good body and note weight. Even though it has a neutral profile vocals sound exciting and fun. I mostly listen to EDM and lofi music but I enjoyed listening to a lot of vocal tracks while testing as they sound fantastic.

Treble – The treble quality is exceptional with immense clarity and resolution. Micro details can be enjoyed easily through tracks. There is absolutely no sibilance and its extremely easy to listen to this IEM for extended durations. The treble is also airy.

Soundstage – It’s got a wide soundstage with good depth. This IEM had excellent imaging and I could pin point out different instruments wrapped around me. Out of all the IEMS I had the pleasure of testing this one nails the imaging. This combination of wide soundstage and excellent imaging can be a perfect to watch movies and TV shows along with music.




Conclusion - I am primarily a basshead and prefer good bass in my IEMS but despite being a little light on the bass I enjoyed this IEM. The extreme clarity in the mids and treble was very refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Thorking.

 

[slothbury]

The Ifi Valkyrie certainly looks like an impressive piece of kit, but with up to 5700mW of power it feels like overkill for a portable DAC amp? Especially when used to drive IEMs (which a lot of the promo photos are showing)….

Totally overkill on the power, which is fine. The hardest to drive IEM's that I have are the Anni 23, which the Gryphon drive.

I'm thinking about this more from the perspective of sound equivalence to the iFi Signature One. It would be awesome to have a portable version of that device. Any insight on that would be welcome.

 

[Amadeo Nospherathu]

This is why having a device like CDM or Envy that can swap tubes is so critical. I was going to sell Immanis, it has a peak in the same region that you're having issues with. I could clearly hear the technicalities of this headphone and knew its' probably the best there is if I could just tame that peak. Sure enough I found tubes made in germany in the 1950's that not only fixed it, elevated it to a level of musicality I never thought was possible. Now, i don't think I'll ever buy another headphone unless it's a ribbon and would never, ever, ever sell Immanis. If you find an IEM or headphone you like, there are tubes that will fix it precisely how you want it.

Of course, this is true. But there is one problem - such tubes are hard to find. And listening to them is almost impossible. Only buy and try.

CDM is truly a great device. Subminiature tube heaven.

Yeah. Although, in terms of color and temperature, it somewhat resembles hell)

 

[pawdiophile]

Neutral Never Sounded This Good – A Dive Into the Kinera Thorking

Pros

• Surprisingly comfortable despite its size
• A balanced / natural sound signature tuned for clarity and resolution
• Separation and Imaging is class leading
• Good soundstage
• Very easy to drive
• Very good isolation when music is playing

Cons

• Stock cable could have been better
• Heavy shells

This is my first time with a Kinera IEM though I have used their cables in the past. Thank you to the AG group for providing me with a chance to review this gorgeous IEM.



Musical Preferences – I like listening to EDM and Lo-fi music along with a bit of other genres thrown in.

Build Quality and Comfort – The body is made of a sandblasted and oxidized aluminum and it was good to wear even though its summer out here. This IEM is quite large and chonky but quite comfortable to wear. I used it with Divinus velvet standard tips for this review. They stayed put in my ears. I asked my friend who has smaller ears to try this out and he found it extremely comfortable so chances are there it may fit well for most ears. Its weight is on the heavier side but thanks to the secure fit there was no discomfort. I used this while travelling to office and noticed that it has excellent isolation once music is playing.



Cable used – The stock cable provided is thin, light weight and quite decent but I used a Effect Audio 8W Ares cable for this review. I think it pairs wonderfully with this IEM and I felt a slight improvement in the bass compared to the stock cable.



Sources used and drivability – This IEM has a low impedance of 10 ohms and is extremely easy to drive. I had no issues running it off dongles such as the Cayin Ru7 and the Acoustune AS2002. Usually the AS2002 dongle gets quite warm during use but with this IEM it stayed quite cool. It ran perfectly well with the Hiby R4 too. So, this one can be easily used for portable or stationary use.

Sound Impressions - The first thing that you notice is the immense clarity and the wide soundstage. All instruments are given their own space in the mix. Everything sounds pristine with good separation and clarity. This is a neutral IEM but each element in the mix stands out.

Bass – The Thorking comes with a single DD handling the bass and it does a wonderful job. This IEM has a neutral tuning and does not emphasize the bass too much. Still, it’s quite enjoyable and can present itself when called for. The bass texture is also excellent. I listened to a lot of EDM tracks and never felt it lacking bass or impact. This may not be suitable for bassheads or folks looking for a meaty / thick mid bass focused sound.

Midrange – The vocals feel very natural and one can easily make it out from the mix as there is no bass bleed. Both Male and female vocals sound good with good body and note weight. Even though it has a neutral profile vocals sound exciting and fun. I mostly listen to EDM and lofi music but I enjoyed listening to a lot of vocal tracks while testing as they sound fantastic.

Treble – The treble quality is exceptional with immense clarity and resolution. Micro details can be enjoyed easily through tracks. There is absolutely no sibilance and its extremely easy to listen to this IEM for extended durations. The treble is also airy.

Soundstage – It’s got a wide soundstage with good depth. This IEM had excellent imaging and I could pin point out different instruments wrapped around me. Out of all the IEMS I had the pleasure of testing this one nails the imaging. This combination of wide soundstage and excellent imaging can be a perfect to watch movies and TV shows along with music.




Conclusion - I am primarily a basshead and prefer good bass in my IEMS but despite being a little light on the bass I enjoyed this IEM. The extreme clarity in the mids and treble was very refreshing and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Thorking.

This is the Way

 

[Neweymatt]

New toy day!!

Spectrumica is definitely living up to the hype, it's got amazingly rich mid-bass and lower midrange that has me completely hypnotised. Upper mids are also very nice with excellent female vocal performance, and superb detail resolution throughout. Quadbrid coherence is also fantastic, everything sounds so perfectly pulled together, I suspect this is the effect of the BCDs. I'm finding it very difficult to take these out of my ears today!!

Add to this an excellent cable, outstanding hardware and top-tier packaging, and Ice Lab has absolutely nailed this at a price point well below a lot of other TOTLs these days.

 

[THE 001 Music]

New toy day!!


Spectrumica is definitely living up to the hype, it's got amazingly rich mid-bass and lower midrange that has me completely hypnotised. Upper mids are also very nice with excellent female vocal performance, and superb detail resolution throughout. Quadbrid coherence is also fantastic, everything sounds so perfectly pulled together, I suspect this is the effect of the BCDs. I'm finding it very difficult to take these out of my ears today!!

Add to this an excellent cable, outstanding hardware and top-tier packaging, and Ice Lab has absolutely nailed this at a price point well below a lot of other TOTLs these days.

Add a few decibels at 3,700Hz and thank me later.

 

[SbassX]

Saturday: My inner cheapskate wins and I decide to give it another try, popping in the micro sd to see if I could revert the display specific tweaks I had made to at least get it working again. To no avail, I decide to completely reformat the micro sd and start from scratch. After a few minor panic moments while the Volumio OS got setup, I went about setting it up again and then trying the display tweaks one at a time to figure out what was causing the issues. It turns out that change that Wavehare suggested didn't work on Volumio despite being the same base kernel as Raspberry OS, So I guess I just have to flip the display with a plugin in Volumio and live with the fact that the bootscreen is upside down until the kernel is updated for Volumio.

Quite the troubleshooting adventure you had! seems like you got it mostly sorted out. That boot screen quirk would drive me a little nuts, but it’s good you found a workable solution for now.

Spectrumica is definitely living up to the hype, it's got amazingly rich mid-bass and lower midrange that has me completely hypnotised. Upper mids are also very nice with excellent female vocal performance, and superb detail resolution throughout. Quadbrid coherence is also fantastic, everything sounds so perfectly pulled together, I suspect this is the effect of the BCDs. I'm finding it very difficult to take these out of my ears today!!

Add to this an excellent cable, outstanding hardware and top-tier packaging, and Ice Lab has absolutely nailed this at a price point well below a lot of other TOTLs these days.

This seems to have exactly what you want in a TOTL experience. Not just the sound but also the cable, hardware, and packaging at that price point for totls is impressive.

 

[Rolu]

The week started well with a delivery of the Canpur CP54E from @MusicTeck !

Initial listening to this IEM reinforces a belief I have for some years now- that the $2k IEM space is the best stocked and most competent out there (thinking Thieaudio Valhalla, Campfire Clara, IER-Z1R, and so many others). The price range that doesn't necessarily break the bank for most hanging out on this thread but also gets you through the door into 'high end' IEM performance.

The CP54E seems to be squarely in this bunch of 'overachieving' IEMs. I'm hearing a balanced, moderately exciting, multi-genre generalist with well-done mids and surprising bass impact from those BAs!

 

[szabb27]

It is definitely a very nice set
I actually have it's bigger brother with me currently and it is, in my opinion 1 step up on the ladder

The bass impact on the CP54e is a little more than CP74e, but the biggest difference (which is actually much smaller than it sounds ) I feel is ion the mids and highs
The midrange on teh cp74e is a tad warmer and smoother. Same for the high end...it is amazingly detailed but remains smooth and full
In case one would want to "evolve" from teh cp54e, it's bigger brother is definitely a worthy contender

 

[vsrrr]

IMO it's totally possible that some people would prefer the character of the CP54E to the CP74E.
I know I did when I compared them at MT!

That being said, I almost always prefer texture over smoothness, seemingly more so than the average listener, so I guess take my preferences with a grain of salt!

 

[zlayde]

It is definitely a very nice set
I actually have it's bigger brother with me currently and it is, in my opinion 1 step up on the ladder


The bass impact on the CP54e is a little more than CP74e, but the biggest difference (which is actually much smaller than it sounds ) I feel is ion the mids and highs
The midrange on teh cp74e is a tad warmer and smoother. Same for the high end...it is amazingly detailed but remains smooth and full
In case one would want to "evolve" from teh cp54e, it's bigger brother is definitely a worthy contender

Love this IEM. One of my all time favorites. Extremely smooth, detailed tuning. It's also possibly the best fit I've ever had.

 

[Tabikinoya Cephas]

Hey Guys: It has been a while since I dipped my toes into a thread. I have been happy over the past year with my Tangzu HBB Heydays, yet want to move forward with a set that is a bit better in treble and a bit better in bass slam and impact. Still looking at about $200 max.

I heard my friends Hype 4 a few weeks ago and was duly impressed. Wondering if there is anything close for about half what that sells for.

Also looking for an interim piece to buy immediately for under $50. I have had a few of these DD iems over the years and the one that stood out was the Titan S, although it was a bit prickly in the lower treble. Klean caught my eye, but not sure.

Any thoughts and ideas will help me so much. I appreciate the wealth of recent experience, especially of the chifi discovery guys. While I have been here for over 20 yrs, I only buy a set or so every year or so.

And the reason I did not post in the recommendation thread is that it gets no responses. I have tried that route in the past.

You can give Leticiel Shark a try (100 USD plus). You do need to buy a cable for 4.4 mm. Quite a solid budget choice with 3 DDs for rock and pop.
Requires burn-in as per instruction manual inside the box (200 hours? I cannot remember).
There are some reviews here in head-fi which you can give a read.

 

[KuroKitsu]

Diana DZ and GSX mini arriving within a few hours is the ultimate audio high.

Gave Utopia a go on the GSX Mini but the DZ winning hands down

 

[emdeevee]

I just 'retuned' my Penon Rival, which is a misnomer because the changes effected don't really change the tuning, but they do warm, neutral or bright that tuning. At least based on my tinkering, 10 months in. I'm that time, I've changed the tuning dampers a couple of times, but have not this radically changed the stock sound.

Essentially, I massively warmed up the sound to the point that it sounds a little like the AME Mousa, just add banging DDs. The transparent, silent ESTs are doing their job maintaining all the details that were up high. What I did was change tuning dampers and a bass adjust, and voila, I got a very different Rival!

Truly, there is no IEM that can do this other than Rival, which apparently means it has no rival, or it's unrivaled!?

 

[Valrhona]

Tsuranagi knob refurbishment in progress this evening.