HiFi Mai Tai

This week the Bartender has jumped into the world of bone conduction. In this dark and fantastical world with the help of the Grim Reaper and the Tooth Fairy the Bartender has battled to the deepest depths to bring you the truth of the bass that hides in the shadows and shakes your bones to their core. But is all this just a fantasy or is it something more? Lets find out in the Bartender’s KBear KB02 Review.

KBear KB02 Review – The Cocktail:

I paid £23 for the KBear KB02 IEMs and at this price there aren’t many other bone conduction cocktails. Actually, there aren’t really that many at any cost. Bone conduction is a technology that has never really established itself as a must have. It always been seen as something a little bit extra. A nice to have. Like a yogurt making machine.

Forgive me for a minute whilst I stray into the realm of ‘serious’ IEM reviews. I am actually going to take the time to explain what a ‘bone conduction’ driver is. Scary I know. But here goes. A bone conduction driver sends mechanical vibrations through the cartilage and bones of your skull to reach your inner ear resulting in you hearing something. Other driver types typical generate sound by moving air. Really the only difference is that in a bone conduction driver you are hearing sound through a solid and in other driver types you are hearing sound through a gas it just so happens that the solid medium you are using is your own skull.

Likely due to the inclusion of the bone conduction driver the impedence is pretty high for an IEM. This cocktail certainly benefits from at least a decent dongle dac/amp. It will get loud easily enough but the extra power will greatly benefit the quality of the sound.

Drivers: 10 mm beryllium-plated dynamic driver & 10 mm “elastic-piece” bone conduction driver
Frequency: 20 to 20,000 Hz
Impedence: 40 Ω
Sensitivity: 108 dB

KBear KB02 Review – The Taste Test Setup:

I guess to stick with tradition I should comment about how this taste test setup is the same as always and it pretty much is. The only difference is the choice of eartips. I used Sancai Wide-bore eartips. This eartip choice speed up the bass, gave the treble more presence and really improved the sound stage. If you really want the ultimate ‘bass’ monster then their are better eartip choices but I found my set-up brought some balance whilst retaining the fun.

DAC/AMP: Moondrop Dawn Pro 2
Cable: Tripowin C-O1 4.4mm (Balanced)
Eartips: Tangzu Sancai Wide-Bore (Silicon)

KBear KB02 Review – The Non-Audio:

The KBear KB02 are available in a range of colors. I have it in purple. I like it in purple. I thing these look pretty good. A little psychedelic. A little artistic. Definitely not boring. Certainly not cheap looking. Undoubtedly not garish. This maybe a purple suit but its more chat show host and less Joker.

Build and comfort are extra important for this cocktail. The bone conduction driver relies on good contact with the your head/ear. Therefore, it must be built without sharp edges/joins and shaped to rest against your ear. The KBear KB02 delivers on both these fronts. The construction looks good though it still uses a light weight resin.

One thing to note about these IEM is that they are ‘springy’. Tapping them casues a ‘boing’ sound. Lots of questionable words in this bit. Sat at a desk listening this isn’t much of a problem but it may be annoying if walking and certainly a problem if exercising.

Accessories: Drink Only (Nothing Else Worth Talking About)
Style: Call Liquor (Everyone Needs a Purple Suit)
Build: Dishwasher Proof (A Smooth Operator)
Comfort: Sat in the Booths (Dressed for the Occasion)

KBear KB02 Review – The Audio:

Lets start with the bass. I usually do start with the bass anyway but for this cocktail it makes even more sense. The bass is fun and enjoyable there is a good slam (enough to satisfy most people) and there is also plenty of rumble. The bass has an elastic texture to it this gives it shape and definition but does mean that it is not the fastest and can impose itself on other aspects of the music.

The mids have a nice thickness. They aren’t heavy or bloated but certainly aren’t thin. They have been striking a good healthy balance of food and exercise (I could probably learn a thing or two). The vocals also benefit from this weight and are positioned slightly further forward not so as to be shouty but enough to be highly engaging.

The treble is relatively restrained. It certainly it’s the sharp piercing thunder box that can be encountered at this price point. It maybe lacks a little energy for my taste but it will be a popular tuning approach for many. This grown up and relaxed treble does still have pretty good detail with percussion hits ringing with distinction and providing some balance to the detailed bass.

The sound stage was generally impressive. There is good width and good height. This combined with good stereo separation created a spacious feel often with the bass in its owner corner separated from everything else. Tracks with heavy and fast basslines did on occasion allow the monster to escape but generally everything was well controlled.

The Base Spirit (Bass): 80.43 % (I Feel it Still)
The Modifier (Mids): 71.12 % (Been Hitting the Gym)
The Sweetener (Treble): 69.15 % (Let Go of Your Worries)
The Vocals: 73.87 % (A Silver Tongue)
The Garnish (Details): 73.72 % (The Cherry On Top)
The Presentation (Technicals): 73.30% (Room Enough for Two)

KBear KB02 Review – The AI Opinion:

This a new feature that I am trying out. How well will it work? I don’t know but here goes anyway.

In this section I have asked Google’s AI mode to predict a score for the to be reviewed IEM prior to publishing my review. To get this prediction I have asked that it predict a score based upon the scoring system employed by me here at the HiFi Mai Tai beach bar. That’s it. It is as simple as that. I could be doing myself out of the job here. But got to embrace the modern world etc. And if AI is gonna take my job I am going to go down fighting. Hopefully it proves itself rubbish and there is nothing to worry about.

So the KBear KB02. What does AI think?

The Base Spirit (Bass): 75.00%
The Modifier (Mids): 65.00%
The Sweetener (Treble): 60.00%
The Vocals: 70.00%
The Garnish (Details): 55.00%
The Presentation (Technicals): 70.00%

As usual AI and I very much diasgree but this time AI has given lower ratings. Quite a bit lower. The rating assigned to ‘details’ is the biggest disagreement. The detail score asisgned by AI would place the KBear KB02 around the KZ EDX Pro (the lowest detail scoring IEM to have been reviewed). The AI ratings would likely have the KB02 as a competitor for the KZ Gale which is 1/4 of the price. Whilst I think that it is signficantly better than the KZ Gale.

KZ Gale Review – Summary & Comparisons

I have decided to firstly compare this IEM to the KZ Vader Pro. These are very similarly priced IEMs and have quite comaprable trebles with the Varder Pro being a little sharper and the KB02 being slightly more relaxed. However, these two cocktails are more different than they are the same and this is mostly due to the lack of warmth in the Vader Pro. The Vader Pro has very reduced lower mids and this leaves the vocals and mid range feeling very thin. Additionally, the Vader Pro has less sub bass and this results in a lean bass. Overall the Vader Pro is worringly skinny and I would certainly pick the KB02.

Next up is the CVJ Night Elf. Again this is a similarly priced IEM to the KB02. When reviewing the CVJ Night Elf I really appreciated its warmth. It made it very easy to listen to and I didn’t feel it detracted from the treble or details too much. The bass of the KB02 is much more rumbly and textured but has a similar impact to the nightelf. The mids and vocals of the KB02 are cleaner and lack the heft and weight of the nightelf. Chosing between this two is a bit of a challenge I would probably take the KB02 but I actually scored the CVJ Nigh Elf higher (might be one to revisit).

And finally its the KZ Decet once more. It would be a wasted oppotunity to review a bass focused IEM and not consider the KZ Decet. Of all the IEMs I have reviewed it is still the KZ Decet that I find to have the most bassy bass. The Decet just has so much bass. It doesn’t have that elastic texture of the KB02 and is more a wall of sound and reverberation. Considering bass alone I would chose the KZ Decet but for style and comfort the KB02 is a clear winner.

So to summarise the KBear KB02 are a bass first set but they do not deliver bass to the detriment of all else. There is a clarity to the mids and treble, a weight to vocals and an impressive sound stage of which all make it a good cocktail. They perhaps do not overachieve their price point but in this budget space they are a solid contender and for casual bass heads looking to dabble in some rumble they may be the perfect starting point.