Iem upgrade - next level

[Josh83]

Thanks for the reviews of the Kiwis!
I'm listening to Kiwi Ears Airoso while writing this and I'm quite surprised that you mentioned Kiwi Ears Airoso'r treble as veiled. To my ears the Airoso's treble is quite alright, and without any sign of veil. I agree that Airoso upper treble extension is subdued and not very airy. Maybe it is just the way we perceive the upper treble extension. Airoso tuning sounds quite balanced to my ears, with slight warm emphasis around the lower mids. It is not bright or analytical. So maybe when you compared it with a more analytical IEM then in comparison the Airoso'r treble may sound less emphasized or less transparent. Or probably it is production tolerance / unit variance. Until we compare your Airoso and mine, we never know.

I also have Kiwi Ears Aether. In comparison to the Airoso, the Aether is brighter, more transparent, and can be perceived as more resolving. I do prefer the Airoso upper treble extension to be slightly more transparent, especially after listening to the Aether, but still I don't consider Kiwi Ears Airoso's treble as veiled. The Aether is very close to my perceived neutral tuning. If Aether tuning is considered as neutral, The Airoso tuning is neutral warm. For long session music listening I think the Airoso's treble is less fatiguing.

I have the Aether, but haven’t done any level-matched listening yet.

 

[Earfonia]

I have the Aether, but haven’t done any level-matched listening yet.

I think I found out the reason why Kiwi Ears Airoso is prone to loosing the upper treble extension. The impedance curve is terrible, it is started to drop below 2 ohms at 8kHz onward. So if the headphone amp is not capable enough to handle impedance below 2 ohms, the upper treble response will be very poor.

 

[Josh83]

I think I found out the reason why Kiwi Ears Airoso is prone to loosing the upper treble extension. The impedance curve is terrible, it is started to drop below 2 ohms at 8kHz onward. So if the headphone amp is not capable enough to handle impedance below 2 ohms, the upper treble response will be very poor.

View attachment 450239

I’m going to have to give them another listen.

 

[Earfonia]

For Kiwi Ears Airoso, it seems even DAC Amp with 2 ohms output impedance will attenuate the upper treble significantly.