KBEAR Neon Review
Intro
KBEAR Neon is KBEAR latest IEM with a 1BA driver configuration.It is claimed to be F1’s successor. Equipped with a single Knowles 29689 Balanced Armature driver and it retails for $49usd.
Source
Tidal(Mixture of MQA and Hifi Quality Songs) -> iFi Zen Dac -> KBear Neon
*Disclaimer -This review is done using stock cable and the ear tips are Sony's M Sized hybrid long silicone as I found that stock ear tips made the vocal sound very hollow and everything else seemed very boxed in. Hopefully KBEAR will take this into consideration and improve on this for the successor, also do note that i am wearing it with the deep insertion method.
Sound
I will do a breakdown as follows in describing how it sounds. I have had a fairly good experience using them for the past few days. I would describe Neon as a neutral and un-colored IEM.
Bass
The presence of the bass is just enough in my opinion. I’m always going after quality rather than quantity. The bass is what you will expect from a single BA if you ever heard a single BA before. It is fast, punchy and tight. Rumble and extension is nowhere to be found as this is a single BA after all. Basshead you should look elsewhere.
Mids
This is the part where Neon will shine in my opinion. Tonality and timbre is clean and good. Vocal doesn’t sound recessed nor too forward. Just right. It feels very natural albeit it has a slight tinge of BA timbre, but still good overall. No bass bleed as far as I listen to. Norah Jones’s Come Away With Me is very enjoyable as the vocal really stand out.
Treble
Treble doesn’t sound sibilant or piercing at all. Slight roll off to my ears. It also feels smooth and you can easily listen to it all day long without feeling fatigue. Detail and clarity is good but at times it will feel a little congested when there are a lot of instruments playing at the same time. Gurenge by Lisa for example, exhibited this behavior.
Soundstage/Imaging/Separation
There is nothing much to shout out about the soundstage. I would say it is pretty average. Not too wide or nor too narrow that it made you feel “boxed” in, also depending on how you actually wear them, deep fit or normal fit, it will affect the soundstage in some way. Normal fit will make the soundstage a little wider, as for deep fit, the soundstage will feel a little boxed in. In my opinion it lacked the height, the soundstage feels rather like a straight line to my ears.
Separation is average and as mentioned above, it does get congested when there are a lot of instruments playing at the same time. The imaging is alright as well as the instruments can be pinpointed easily.
Specifications
Sensitivity: 105dB
Impedance: 14Ω
Interface: QDC (I have tested with 0.78 and it works as well, QDC is basically a 2 pin as well as far as i know)
Plug type: 3.5mm
Frequency range: 20-20kHz
Final Thoughts
Overall an enjoyable IEM that puts a lot of emphasis on the vocals especially. Jazz, or tracks that focus solely on vocals is heavenly, for everything else, it will do just fine except for EDM which is to be expected because of the limitation of the single BA in Neon. This is a very good IEM for its price. If the upper treble can be boosted just a little and the low extends a little, then this is definitely a killer for the price. Despite all that, I would still recommend this to someone who is looking for something smooth and easy where you can just plug in and listen. However, the stock eartips is recommended in order to have the best experience/performance out of Neon, i would suggest you to spend some time to tip roll and find one that suits you. Trust me, it makes a lot of difference compared to the stock eartips.
Comments