Kiwi Ears Halcyon Earphones
KIWI EARS HALCYON EARPHONES REVIEW
Kiwi Ears Halcyon earphones launch today on Kickstarter, but Oscar Stewart got his hands on a set prior to launch and gives you his thoughts on this $200 (early bird price) earphone.
Over the last few years, Kiwi Ears have established themselves as a brand who make high-quality IEMs for very reasonable money, and they tend to lean towards more neutral sound signatures with a hint of energy to prevent them from sounding boring. I’ve tried a few models at shows before, and have always been impressed by both their sound, and build quality, in this review I’ll be taking a closer look at their brand-new Halcyon.
BUILD AND FEATURES OF THE KIWI EARS HALCYON
Starting with the build quality, the Halcyon have a machined aluminium shell with quite pretty faceplates that feature a laser etched pattern on them, the housings are smooth and finished to a very high standard. They have a standard 0.78mm 2-pin connector on them, which is compatible with a huge range of cables, yet the cable that comes with them should be sufficient for most users. It’s soft and comfortable in use and has a 4-wire braid with a detachable jack plug – they come with standard 3.5mm single-ended and 4.4mm balanced jack plugs in the box. The strain reliefs are good on the cable, and the Halcyon feel made to last.
Comfort-wise, the housings are ergonomic, and once you find the right eartips, they are very comfortable to use, even for extended listening sessions. The cable helps here, being soft and flexible, it doesn’t add any unwanted pressure around your ears. Out of the box, the Halcyon come with 6 pairs of tips, and most people should be able to get a good fit with these. If not, there are plenty of excellent 3rd party eartips out there. They also isolate quite well; the housing is vented, yet it doesn’t seem to affect the isolation too much, making these suitable for most everyday usage, including commuting.
Feature-wise, they have the detachable cable as mentioned, and that is standard on most earphones of this calibre, yet internally, these differ from quite a few models out there. The drive setup is unique, with only a couple of models using this tribrid configuration. You have a 10mm dynamic driver for the low end, with 2 balanced armature drivers for mids, another for the treble, alongside a MEMS driver for the treble too. MEMS drivers are becoming a little more common, yet this tribrid configuration is a little different, and it’ll be interesting to hear how these all come together sound-wise.
These come in at 29 Ohms impedance, and 109dB/mW sensitivity – a little lower than some yet still considered fairly easy to drive. A good source will also give you the best sound though, and a good USB DAC/Amp or dedicated DAP would be best with the Halcyon.
SETUP AND USE
For this review, I opted for my reference DAP the Fiio M15s, using the 4.4mm balanced output to the Halcyon with local FLAC files.
SOUND QUALITY
Kiwi Ears has done a great job at tuning these. I let them run in for quite a while before critically listening, and I am glad I did. The low end from that 10mm dynamic driver is tastefully full and slightly boosted from the sub-bass to the lower midrange, ensuring the midrange isn’t impacted by this added body and impact. What this boost does is deliver a full-bodied sound that extends with ease and has great punch, without impacting the clarity in the midrange or the extension of the treble. I would never classify these as muffled, dark, or boomy; the bass retains a sense of composure yet is delivered with a few extra dBs of presence without throwing off the tonal balance too much.
I never really got into Link Park’s last album with Chester, bar a couple of songs, yet it has a few great test tracks on it if you are looking for an engaging listen. Nobody Can Save Me, for example, has quite dark lyrics, wrapped up in quite a poppy song with plenty of electronic elements to it. The bass is excellent on the Halcyon, the dynamic driver providing plenty of punch and depth, and as mentioned, it is quite tastefully boosted, and that comes across well here. The sub-bass is truly excellent, without any hint of early roll-off, whilst vocals come across natural, and the treble has great definition without being overbearing. These IEMs do fun tracks like this brilliantly, making them engaging and fun to listen to, without holding back on the technical aspects.
Another track that highlights this, in a slightly different way, is Hearts Burst Into Fire by Bullet For My Valentine, a track that gave me goosebumps when listening with these. Each bass drum kick hits you with excellent impact and depth, whilst having snappy transient response – never falling behind in terms of speed. These have some impressive kick to them, and great separation too, vocals are dead centre, guitars surrounding them, and the treble has plenty of energy and air. One thing I have noticed is that the upper midrange can sound ever so slightly forward at times, and this is heavily track dependent, yet I didn’t find the Halcyon to become fatiguing due to this. Soundstaging isn’t huge, but what the lack in width, they make up for in height and separation. They don’t ever sound congested, no matter how heavy the track gets, and the instrument placement is very good within the soundstage.
Hyper-Ballad by Björk has some interesting bass effects throughout the track, and suffice to say, the Halcyon handle them with ease and composure, without ever overtaking or influencing the midrange. Her vocals shine through in a natural, effortless way with impressive detail retrieval for the price, and the panning effects are also incredibly accurate and engaging. The sub-bass boost Kiwi Ears have tuned into these, made me crank up the volume a little, as it is just such a fun listen. A lot of my other headphones have varying degrees of neutral sound signatures, yet the Halcyon stray a little from that, by giving you a healthy dose of bass body, with great articulation and texture, without ruining the midrange or treble.
The MEMS driver is interesting, the treble on the Halcyon is well behaved and doesn’t come across harsh in the slightest. It has a lot of space and air, with crisp edges and brilliant control. Hope Leaves by Opeth has wonderfully recorded drums, and the cymbals are crisp and well defined; they never come across as splashy and lack any nasty tonality that can induce listening fatigue. Suffice to say, it’s still the bassline here that is the star of the show, the vocals grip you with their clean presentation, and the treble shows its control and poise. This leads me to another observation, whilst the Halcyons sound pretty damned good with most music, they do sound flatter when the recording is such and do excel when fed half-decent source material – they are quite transparent to recording quality, whilst never rendering poor recordings unlistenable.
Lastly, I listened to Ice Heavy Branches by The Appleseed Cast. This is a softer alternative rock track that has quite heavy panning effects, especially of the two guitar lines. The Halcyon gives this track a great sense of space and air. I have mentioned that the soundstaging isn’t necessarily huge on these, but they do make up for it with excellent imaging and depth over width. This is also a track that highlights how that slight bass boost tuning doesn’t get in the way of tracks that don’t really call for it; the bass line and kick drums are exceptionally well controlled here, and you only get hints of the lifted sub-bass on occasion. There is quite a bit going on in this song, and these let you home in on certain instruments should you wish, whilst sound utterly coherent overall (and their sound lends itself to enjoyment, rather than picking out individual elements).
QUIBBLES
Those seeking a strictly neutral sound might find these a little too full in the low end, yet what they lack in neutrality, they make up for in fun and engagement. There are bits in the upper midrange that can also border on strident, avoiding becoming so most of the time.
CONCLUSION
I listened to the Halcyon without any real idea as to what was in store, I’ve been used to more neutral sounds from a lot of the models I have heard before, that the these may have caught me slightly off guard. There are so many “neutral-ish” tuned earphones out there, that the Halcyon carve out their own market, and will appeal to those that enjoy a little extra sub-bass rumble, and mid-bass thump, without it encroaching on the crucial midrange and treble.
The marrying of a thick, punchy dynamic driver for the bass, clean mids from the balanced armatures, and crisp treble/ultra highs from another balanced armature paired with a MEMS driver is quite something. Nothing sounds out of place, yet these are forever going to be an engaging and punchy listen, doing justice to many genres without ruining the overall technicalities.
These are not bass cannons, neither are they flat, they balance a tasteful extra helping of body down low with excellent detail retrieval, and control, for a very reasonable price.
AT A GLANCE
Build Quality And Features:
Solid metal housings with replaceable cable, these are built to last
The included 3.5mm and 4.4mm jacks are great
Sound Quality:
Punchy, extended and full sub-bass, with plenty of mid-bass punch
Good detail, well-controlled, yet overall engaging and fun
Value For Money:
The overall package is great value for money, no doubt about that
We Loved:
The comfort, and the engaging sound
We Didn’t Love So Much:
The slightly strident upper midrange
Elevator Pitch Review: If you are bored with the varying shades of neutral that many brands cover and want to try something a little different without straying too far out of your comfort zone, the Halcyons have you covered. The tasteful sub-bass lift gives these a healthy dose of low end without sounding bloated or uncontrolled. The mixing of driver tech is done very well, with crisp treble, neutral mids, and lush, full bass that is quite addictive once you get used to it.
The Halcyon is a fun earphone, give them fun music, and they will reward you with a captivating sound that is extremely engaging and enjoyable.
Price: $199 (early bird pricing)
Oscar Stewart
SUPPLIED SPECIFICATIONS
- Driver Configuration: 1DD + 1 MEMS + 3 BA (2 DEK custom balanced armature drivers + 1 WBFK custom balanced armature driver)
- Rated Impedance: 29 ohms
- Rated Sensitivity: 5mW
- Maximum Power Handling: 10mW
- Sensitivity: 109dB (at 1kHz/mW)
- Frequency Response Range: 10-42kHz
- Distortion: <1% (at 1kHz)
- L/R Channel Imbalance: <1.5dB
- Connector: 0.78mm 2Pin detachable
