Kiwi Ears Cadenza II's Review

 

General Info/Comfort/Build/Packaging

Kiwi Ears is another brand that has been quite aggressive in terms of releases recently. I have reviewed quite a number of their new releases, while there are some hits and misses of course. The original Cadenza that I reviewed was in December, 3 years later and today we have the CadenzaII with KARS 2.0. What changed? I would say it is a complete overhaul in terms of shell design, driver’s material as well as internal acoustics system.

Instead of a full resin shell, the Cadenza II is going for a polycarbonate shell with aluminium faceplate, instead of BE plated, Kiwi Ears are going for Titanium, is it a downgrade? Not to me.

Packaging wise is also very different compared to the original Cadenza, with much better unboxing experience, although we are really not expecting much at this price point to be honest. In terms of comfort, the fit is really good and offers a very good seal. Throughout my listening session, I did not feel any discomfort at all.

Gears used for this review

• Nipo A100

• xDuoo XD05T

• Foobar2k Offline DSD Files/Flac, Tidal Streaming

• Kiwi Ears Candenza II Stock Cable and Eartips

Sound Impression

Out of the box, i would say the Cadenza II is not as refined in terms of bass, and treble. After putting the unit in my burn in rig, for approximately 50-60 hours, the bass has improved, tight and good control, treble is slightly more refined and doesn’t sound edgy.

Cadenza II has got the U shaped sounding profile to my ears, tuning wise it is rather safe and it will not get offensive. In terms of technicalities, they are ok for the price and compared to OG Cadenza, it is definitely much better.The timbre sounds natural to me and with relatively good note weight.

Bass

• The sub bass definitely has enough rumble to it when it’s called for, i wouldn’t say it is anywhere near basshead territory but it certainly has good rumble, for tracks like Billie Eilish’s bad guy, a joy to listen to

• Mid bass has good slam to it and it doesn’t bleed into the mids, 

• Very good speed for the price, capable to reproducing the drumming of Metallica’s Lux Aeterna’s high speed drumming without sounding muddy

• Bass texture and control is good overall for the asking price

Mids

• The mids are clean overall and they’re neither recessed or forward, somewhere in between

• Vocal positioning is slightly forward, but not overly in your face nor intimate

• Male vocal especially Zhao Peng who sings at low baritone has a very good texture to it, doesn’t sound thin at all

• Female vocal sounds very pleasant as well, listening to Faye Wang’s song, i would say the voice is rather sweet and well textured, and also thanks to the slight boost of the upper mids, it is also very lively

• The upper mids as i mentioned earlier, good energy and lively, but never once shouty

Treble

• The treble is rather smooth and non offensive, a little lacking in my opinion, but certainly hold its ground at the price point

• Detail retrieval is average, this set is not tuned to be an analytical set anyway

• Nothing to shout out about the treble as it is neither energetic nor dark, cymbal and hi hats are not prominent due to the smooth nature of the treble, but they are not overly recessed as well

• The treble is safe in general and not offensive even when you crank the volume up

Soundstage/Imaging

• Cadenza II’s soundstage is not overly huge nor 2D-ish, it is slightly wide with good width and depth, this is again depending on the eartips used, with the stock narrow bore eartips, the perceived stage size is slightly narrower, switching to Eletech’s Baroque, the perceived stage size is slightly bigger with wider and taller stage, as well as depth, this is evident especially listening to live recorded songs (Zombie, Live from Bludfest by YungBlud)

• Imaging is good, not pinpoint accuracy but you will be able to hear where the instruments are coming from/positioned without trying very hard

Driveability

• Cadenza II is not hard to drive, but it does scale with amplification, higher power output dongle does offers a better control in terms of bass, tighter and doesn’t sound as loose, better dynamics overall as well

• With Nipo A100, the staging is wider and bigger than usual due to the nature of the tuning

Comparison (Sivga M100)

• In terms of tuning, they are slightly different, M100 is more on the energetic and cleaner kind of sound signature while Cadenza II is smoother and slightly less energetic

• Different build quality, Metal (M100) vs Polycarbonate (Cadenza II), nothing bad or good about it, M100 is solid and a little hefty, Cadenza II is light, both are equally comfortable and fits very well, personally i find the seal of Cadenza II is better due to the size of the shell

• M100 is tuned to be more detailed whereas Cadenza II is slightly more laid back, perceived stage size is also slightly bigger in M100 vs Cadenza II

• M100 sounds a little thinner due to its slight bright nature, whereas Cadenza II has slightly thicker note weight, timber performance for both are equally good

• Mid bass on the M100 is slightly more punchy, this is also possibly due to the M100 is being marketed for gaming as well

Final Thoughts

Cadenza II is a solid product overall, it does everything right even the price point, this is not to say that Cadenza II is without any cons, the treble itself can be improved on the air region and I think it will sound a little more lively. A solid product in the budget segment nonetheless, at 49$, you won’t have much to lose, slightly pricier than its predecessor, but offers better technicalities and sound value in return. Recommended? Yes!

*a big thanks to Linsoul as always for sending this over for the purpose of this review

Head over to their store if you are interested in getting a pair:

Kiwi Ears Cadenza II - Non Affiliated