Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite Review
INTRODUCTION AND DISCLAIMER:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite is an in-ear monitor (IEM) featuring eight balanced armature (BA) drivers per housing. The Orchestra Lite retails for $249.99 at Linsoul. Linsoul sent me the Orchestra Lite in exchange for my impressions.
SOURCES:
I have used the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite with the following sources:
- Qudelix 5K
- Truthear Shio
- Audirect Atom 3
- Hidizs S9
- Apple dongle
MUSIC:
I tested these headphones with local FLAC and Spotify Premium. Visit my last.fm page to get an idea of what I listen to:
XenosBroodLord’s Library | Last.fm
PACKAGING AND ACCESSORIES:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite comes packaged in a black, rectangular cardboard box with a dark green slipcover. Inside the box, the IEMs are held in place in a black foam mounting sheet. The Orchestra Lite comes with nine pairs of generic silicone eartips (S, M, L) in three different colors. A black semi-rigid zippered carry case and a user manual are also included.
BUILD QUALITY AND DESIGN:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite has clear acrylic housing with teardrop-shaped colored faceplates. The faceplates feature the Kiwi Ears logo inlaid in silver. The housings are otherwise unadorned. The housings are unvented and the nozzles have three distinct sound tubes. The nozzles lack protective mesh filters or raised lips with which to secure eartips. The 2-pin ports are flush with the surface of the housings.
The Orchestra Lite includes an attractive 4-core 7n oxygen-free copper cable. The Y-split and 3.5mm jack hardware are polished aluminum, and the chin-adjustment choker is translucent plastic. There is strain relief above the straight 3.5mm jack but not above or below the Y-split. The cable has pre-formed plastic earguides. The plastic base of the right-side 2-pin connector is red, which is the sole directional indicator for the set. The included cable is not especially microphonic.
COMFORT, FIT, AND ISOLATION:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite should be worn cable up. The earpieces have a shallow-to-moderate insertion depth. The Orchestra Lite is comfortable but is not the most securely fitting IEM. The earpieces are on the larger side and tend to rotate backward out of their ideal orientation. The earpieces also extend past the surface of the ear when fully inserted, so the Orchestra Lite is not ideal if one plans to use them at night. Isolation is less than I would have expected for sealed all-BA IEM. However, there is no driver flex due to the absence of a dynamic driver.
MEASUREMENTS:
My measurements of the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite can be found on my expanding squig.link database:
Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite — Squiglink by Bedrock Reviews
SOUND:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite has a neutral tuning with a sub-bass lift below 200 Hz.
The Orchestra Lite has atypical bass for an all-BA IEM. From memory, it reminds me of the Softears RSV in that it delivers more textured and impactful but slower and less precise bass than one might expect given its driver configuration. The Orchestra Lite also fares better than one might expect in terms of dynamic contrast, although it does not compete at the level of the RSV. Despite the emphasis on an impactful and dynamic bass presentation, bass resolution and articulation remain adequate for the price point.
The Orchestra Lite has a distinct but restrained pinna gain region centered around 2.5 kHz. This is not ideal for my head-related transfer function and results in less separation between instrumentation and vocals than I would prefer. Instrument separation is variable. For example, there is better instrument separation between male vocals and analog percussion than there is between male vocals and distorted electric guitars. As a result, overall midrange clarity is average at best. The Kiwi Ears Cadenza’s more pronounced pinna gain hump, which is centered at 3 kHz, worked more consistently for me. The lower midrange has plenty of body and warmth despite the linear mid-bass response. Male and female vocals are roughly even in emphasis, though female vocals are more intelligible. Female vocals can occasionally sound strident but generally sound excellent. The Orchestra Lite has very natural-sounding timbre for an all-BA IEM.
The Orchestra Lite has a safe and relaxed treble response that conceals very good internal detail retrieval. The upper treble is less extended than I would like, and there is limited air. The Orchestra Lite does respond well to equalization in this region, but other IEMs in the same price range like the SeeAudio Bravery are going to have more up-front resolution. The soundstage is adequate but is less expansive than I would have expected given the number of BAs used per housing.
AMPLIFICATION REQUIREMENTS AND SOURCE PAIRING:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite can be powered by the Apple dongle. For me to reach my usual listening level with Spotify Normalization set to “Normal”, I had to set my Pixel 7’s volume to 20/25. Depending on your preferences, you may not have to adjust your volume as high. I experienced no hissing with any of my devices.
CLOSING WORDS:
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite is a good IEM, but not necessarily the IEM one might expect from looking at its technical specifications. Given its particular strengths, it is perhaps best viewed as a budget Softears RSV as opposed to a budget Moondrop S8.
The Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite can be purchased below:
