KIWI EARS MELODY REVIEW

>>I am brazilian and I speak portuguese, so forgive my english, I’ll use translation tools to help<<

INTRO:

After the Kiwi Ears Quintet overtook the FiiO FH3 and became my current favorite IEM, any release from Kiwi Ears already brings me good expectations. The brand’s balance is very positive in the audio community, so far only good products on the market.

The Kiwi Ears Melody was sent by LINSOUL, one of the main distributors of Kiwi Ears products, as well as several other brands and audio products. More information on the links below.

For those who don’t know, LINSOUL is the same DD-Audio Store on AliExpress.

Price: $89 USD
Color: Black
Cable: No Mic

Kiwi Ears reviews: Cadenza, Quartet, Quintet.

LINSOUL store:

https://amzn.to/3vKnIsQ

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DkXPM29

https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DDETpWp

SPECIFICATIONS:

(1) 12mm Planar Driver per side
– Frequency range: 8Hz – 40KkHz
– Sensitivity: 102(@1kHz/mW)
– Impedance: 18Ω
– THD: <0.5% (@1KHz)
– Rated power: 5mW
– Max power: 10mW
– Termination Plug: 3.5mm (straight design)
– Connectors: 2pin 0.78mm
– Cable size: 1.2m (detachable)
– Cable: 26awg occ/ monocrystal Copper cable
– Shell: 3D resin + metal faceplate
– Earphone weight: 4.7g (one side)(without eartips)
– Cable weight: 19.6g
– Total weight (packaging, iems, etc): 104.6g
– Packaging size: 11.5cm [H] x 8cm [W] x 3cm [D]

UNBOXING:

Kiwi Ears Melody Unboxing – Video made for Instagram Reels on @iemsandmusic

PHYSICAL ASPECTS:

Eartips. Two types of silicone eartips came: one type is “normal” hole eartips (size S/M/L), and the other type is wide bore eartips (in sizes S/M/L). Let’s start the chat. First, I tested the “normal” ones in size M, the sound was not good, few bass and the upper-mids and treble very forward, so I put the size L ones, it improved, but I was still feeling a very bright sound… so then I decided to use the SpinFit CP100 and the sound finally arrived where I would like.

If you saw my review of the Kiwi Ears Quintet, I didn’t even test the stock eartips, exactly because I imagined that the same thing would happen as happened here. But anyway, this time I tested the Melody ones and I didn’t like it. I think that, it’s possible that the owner will have to use eartips from third party companies. Another detail of the stock eartips, is that they are difficult to put on the earphone nozzle, the nozzle has a protrusion at the edge that I think is a bit large, and this creates a difficulty when installing the eartip on the earphone.

Construction. The quality of the Melody is excellent. The earphone has a metal faceplate and a 3D resin body. The earphone is very light, the same weight as the Quintet, only 4.7g! Something I noticed was that the resin part seems to have had a black piano finish before, but the product I am evaluating is already a matte black. I particularly prefer the matte finish because it doesn’t leave fingerprint marks, but I recognize the beauty of the black piano as well.

Cable. The cable is very similar to the Kiwi Ears Quintet, the color and the pieces are the changes (visually speaking). The Melody cable is even lighter than the Quintet cable, this is because the Quintet plug is a bit heavier. Well, if I liked the Quintet cable, here with the Melody it wouldn’t be different, both are excellent cables. Positive points, it doesn’t have microphonics, it’s easy to roll up to store, it is light, resistant, it is thin (which is a very positive point). Not so positive points, I found that it tangles from time to time, but nothing too critical, the way we store the cable helps a lot when unwinding. About the chin slider, I found that the piece slips at times, so the efficiency was compromised.

The connectors are of the 2 pin type (the best type of connector in my opinion). They are of great quality, and easy to remove and put on. To know which correct side you should fit, the right connector comes with a part in red color. The earhooks are also very good, malleable, they have a slight wave, but don’t create discomfort. They are the same as the Kiwi Ears Quintet.

The fit. The fit with the Melody was very good, the earphone was 100% stable in my ears. The Melody has a flat faceplate, so the IEM is very discreet, without protruding parts outside the ear. It has a more vertical fit, which is a format well accepted by most types of ears. I found the insertion average, and the isolation I found good/ok (improved with the CP100). Comfort is also another positive point, the earphone is very anatomical, didn’t generate pressure points, the surface is very smooth, precisely because the body is made of high quality resin. I think it is a good IEM to use in long sessions, with only 4.7g, you forget you are wearing earphones. The Melody is a bit larger than the Quintet, which makes the Quintet more comfortable.

The Kiwi Ears Melody doesn’t come with any accessory besides the cable and the eartips already mentioned earlier in the review. In my understanding, it should have come with a case to store the IEM. Practically all earphones in this price range come with cases, to mention: the FiiO JD7, the Truthear Hexa, the QoA Vesper2, the Letshuoer DZ4, etc. I even recommend that the person buy a case right away when purchase Melody.

SOUND ASPECTS:

I understand the sound of the Kiwi Ears Melody as a V-Shape earphone. So, we know that the V-Shape sound presents highlighted bass and treble, and that’s how the Melody present itself. It’s an earphone that brings energy, that brings fun, it has a lively and forward sound.

The last paragraph of the “physical aspects” left a hook to remember that the Kiwi Ears Melody has a very strong competition, all the mentioned earphones are in the same price range as the Melody. The question is, all the mentioned earphones have distinct sound signatures among themselves, and the Melody comes in as the only one that would be a V-Shape in its essence. Besides the driver difference, it’s the only one to use a planar driver.

Bass:

Quantitative: I understand the bass of the Kiwi Ears Melody as moderate to high. The proposal of the V-Shape earphone always has the bass with elevation. I think they are bass that make the earphone very well served, for those who like earphones with bass, the Melody is a good choice. I don’t think it’s a basshead IEM, this is because I’ve heard earphones that had even more bass, to mention: Audiosense AQ4, Letshuoer D13, Jaybird Vista, among others. The Melody satisfied me with the amount of bass for the genres that usually need an extra dose in the bass, that is, genres like EDM (electronic music), POP, Rock, Hip-Hop, Reggae,… Metal it does well on some occasions, later in the treble part you will understand the reason. The Melody has a good balance between the sub-bass and the mid-bass, both regions have a good presence in the presentation. I didn’t feel a roll-off, the extension is good.

Qualitative: The bass is complete, full-bodied, strong, has texture, has good definition. And speaking of definition, I think the bass of the Simgot EM6L can be “cleaner”, and the bass of the Melody can be more physical. The impact is very present, for example, bass guitar sound, drum kick, all have a lot of mass. They aren’t boomy bass, they aren’t muddy bass, they aren’t muffled bass, and they don’t invade the mids. They are bass that fill the recording and bring fun. I think the bass of the Kiwi Melody are closer to dynamic drivers – in terms of sound – than to planars (which I have heard)… perhaps the closest one is the Tin HiFi P1 MAX.

Mids:

Quantitative and qualitative: The mids of the Melody are neither recessed nor forward. There is always an interesting amount there to make the instruments and voices appear nicely in the recordings. I think they are mids that have good clarity, good definition, and good transparency. Snare drum always sound transparent and not aggressive. Guitars are at a very balanced level and with a very coherent timbre.

Voices: The voices here in the Melody have a good projection, and I think that the male/low voices fit better than the female/high voices. The voices of lower timbres had a great warmth and a great texturization, it’s possible to feel all the depth of this type of voice. The voices of higher timbres were also good, they didn’t present themselves recessed, however, I think that the performance wasn’t as good as with the male/low voices.

Treble:

Quantitative: This is a region that I thought had a good presence, I think the level of the treble are from moderate to high. The exchange of eartips certainly made the treble a little lower for me. So, I’m leaving the observation for people who feel some sensitivity with the treble, the Melody has a good activity in this region. Once again, the sealing of the ear canal for the Melody I believe to be something very important, without the ideal sealing, it’s possible that the earphone becomes unbalanced. I didn’t feel a roll-off, the extension is good.

Qualitative: The treble of the Melody are lively, have energy, have a good definition, have a great detailing, but I also think they have a slight coloration. The sparkle is very crystalline. This certainly makes the presentations with more airy and resolution, but on the other hand, I think the treble move away from what I understand as treble more coherent with reality (although this is subjective). They aren’t sharp treble, nor strident, however, in some situations, the treble flirted with sibilance, and this characteristic we know that leans towards the harsh sound (emphasizes the “Ssss”). Ride cymbals sound with good definition, Hi-Hats have activity (depending on the recording, they can sound more intense or lower), chimes have a lot of sparkle, fingerpicking on steel-string guitar (in some situations) presented a sound similar to metallic. For some subgenres of Metal, some characteristics that were mentioned in this paragraph are not so cool for the genre (in my opinion).

Soundstage: The soundstage of the Melody I found good/average. If compared to the Tin Hifi P1 (OG), the Melody wins by a lot. The Melody has a spatiality that I consider medium in the three dimensions: width, height, and depth. I believe it has enough to play any type of music well, nothing sounds congested.

Imaging: The instrumental separation is good, especially for the instruments that transit in the higher regions, the detailing and definition of the instruments make us have a great notion of where the sound is coming from. The stereo separation is also very good (remembering that the separation can also vary according to the recording and other processes during musical production).

Driver flex test: The Melody has a planar driver, and as far as we know, this type of driver doesn’t produce the noise of driver flex. In my tests, this problem didn’t appear.

Amplification: I used the DAP FiiO M11S to do this review. The output used was the 3.5mm SE. The DAP was set to High Gain mode. We know that some planar earphones tend to need a little more power from the sources to play “correctly”, however, the Melody I found to be an easy earphone to play, I didn’t see the need to use high power sources. I always recommend the acquisition of a dongle, because it’s already better than the conventional output of smartphones. I did a test with the AUNE Yuki, and the Melody played easily on the 3.5mm output. I also tested directly on the audio output of my notebook and it was all Ok.

Music is subjective, so below is the list of some musical genres that I personally think that was better with this IEM. Remember that were only few genres and few artists tested. If I describe that one genre was better and the other don’t, it doesn’t mean that you can’t listen to your favorite music genre with this IEM and love it. So, here goes:

Better:

Hip Hop
Reggae
EDM
POP
Rock
Blues
MPB*
Bossa Nova*
Samba*

*Brazilian musical genres.

Not so much:

Classical
Metal
Jazz

PLAYLIST LINK: