As I write this, I'm listening to the $27 Kiwi Ears Cadenza earphones, and I'm amazed. They sound so much better than their low price point. I feel like someone's made a bit of a boo boo with their listing. In either case, they're down from $35 to $27 over at Amazon, and if you like music, I think you should get one – I did.
Put it this way, if I were to start adding in-ear monitors (IEMs) to my list of the best budget audiophile headphones guide, the Cadenzas would be top of the pile. I actually discovered them when researching for a piece on the best value audio tech and, after reading some of the many positive reviews, got a pair.
I've been getting into audiophile headphones and IEMs this year, and I've had the pleasure to try out some amazing products – some on the sub-$200 affordable side of things. Others, such as the Denon AH-D9200, at a more eye-watering $1, 800 end. The Kiwi Ears Cadenza are by far the cheapest and impressive out of everything that I've heard so far.
What you get
The Kiwi Ears Cadenzas come with three eartip baggies, a pretty nice, short cable, and a manual. That's it. And for $27, that's totally fine. A leatherette case (which many IEMs come with) would probably cost more then the IEM themselves. And to be honest, I was impressed with the amount of eartips I got.
However, I need fairly large eartips to fit comfortably in my ears, and unfortunately I wasn't able to find them here. If you too need larger eartips, you may need to buy them separately. You can get a quality pair of XL SpinFits for $12, but that is nearly half the price of the Cadenza, so something to think about before hitting the 'buy' button.
Sound-wise, this is a surprisingly balanced sound profile, though admittedly it's basically v-shaped (with a bass shelf, slightly recessed mids and prominent treble). But it's done well, and though the bass does get in the way of the mid detail at times, it's tastefully done on the whole. I've certainly heard much worse, and for 5, 6, 7 times the price!
Actually, I think $20 of the $27 went into is this balancing act, especially when considering that this set is working with a single 10mm beryllium dynamic driver. The more expensive IEMs will have multiple drivers (5 or 6 is common) and handle sound a lot more robustly, but they also get quite big in the process. The Cadenzas are nice and small and super light, which is another plus.
What you don't get
Out the box, you won't get a jack-to-USB-C dongle, that you might with more expensive offerings. I used the excellent Fosi DS2 DAC/AMP, which costs nearly twice the cost of the Cadenza at $48 (I have it to use with all my IEMs). But you don't need to get that. If you don't have a jack port in your smartphone, you can buy a dongle for around $1 over at Amazon.
Sound-wise, though the Cadenzas use their one driver to its maximum and achieve a fun v-shaped sound, you're not going to get loads of details with these.
The Cadenzas certainly have some detail, and that elevates them from v-shaped commercial earbuds to a more in-depth, enjoyable listen. But $27 does have its limits. Generally, more drivers equals more detailed sound, more textured bass, more seperation... just MORE. However, all of this makes what the Cadenza does with one driver really, really impressive.
For a comparison, multi-vocal tracks come across well, but they're not lush and super detailed, as they are with my ZiiGaat Crescent. And that makes sense, as the Crescents has four drivers and costs $279! That's literally 10 times the price of the Cadenzas... but I can't say that they are 10 times better.
Ultimately, I just don't think you can go wrong for $27.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
