Kiwi Ears Aether
Intro
You always hear, “It’s up in the aether,” but have you ever sat there and really thought about what that means? Google would tell you it means somewhere out there, floating around in the unknown or intangible #realm. Aether subsequently comes from ancient Greek ideas about a mysterious substance filling the heavens. Later, “the aether” became associated with the space above the Earth and, metaphorically, with something distant, unseen, or hard to grasp.
But here I am, holding these IEMs aptly dubbed the Kiwi Ears Aether. It’s funny because my whole life, whenever I listened to #music, I could always picture the painting the sound waves were painting. The first time I realized how much that affected my love for music itself was the first time I listened to Flight of the Bumblebee. No, not the car robot guy, but the song written by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. He was a composer way back in 1899, and let me tell you… he absolutely nailed the chaos of what it is to be a bee.
Funny thing is, for most people, music is essentially up in the aether. It’s almost intangible, that is, if you ignore the fact that most people can hear it. And if you stand too close to a stack, you can definitely feel it, lol. But you’ll never really be able to grasp it. Not really. None of us will ever be able to feel the silky smooth tones of Norah Jones, the nonsensical roughness of Ensiferum, or even the warm beer on a chilly night that is Luke Combs. We can hear it, we can feel its effects, and we can even describe what it makes us feel, but the music itself will always exist just beyond our ability to physically hold it.
So I guess, all in all, even if I can put my hand on the Kiwi Ears Aether, the rich tones it provides will forever be just past my reach.
Disclaimer:
These were sent to me by Kiwi Ears for the purpose of this review! They didn't pay me! All opinions are my own!
#Tech stuff!
Driver: 1 × 15.3 mm planar magnetic driver per side
Magnet system: Multi-layered N52 neodymium magnets
Impedance: 14 Ω @ 1 kHz
Sensitivity: 105 dB SPL/mW @ 1 kHz
Frequency response: 20 Hz–20 kHz.Connector: 0.78 mm 2-pin
Cable: 1.2 m, 3.5 mm termination
Shell: Medical-grade resin
Price: around $169.99
The review
Honestly the first time I put the kiwi ears aether into my ears I was floored these were actually my first ever full planar set and I was absolutely expecting almost nothing from them, I was expecting a lot of clinical detail and that was about it… you see you can read an FR graph, you can do all the research in the world and honestly it can't even begin to give you as much wisdom as even 10 minutes with a thing, doesn't really matter what the thing is… could be wood working, could be running, hell could even be flying an airplane…. Theory is great but practice makes perfect…. And honestly…. They must have practiced a lot before they started on this set! Because it is absolutely perfect.
But how's it sound?
Bass
The sub-bass reaches surprisingly deep. It's resonant, rich, and honestly, even though it's not shaking my teeth, it's special. The mid-bass is rich, it's warm, and honestly, it's soulful. It's the difference between feeling like I'm on a rollercoaster and feeling like I just got home after a 16-hour shift of weighing turkeys the week before Thanksgiving.
The Aether isn't gonna rattle your bones. No. It's going to wake up something inside you.
Mids
The mids are where the Aether shines. I sat there and listened to the entire The Sound of Roses album by Muscadine Bloodline, and the violins have so much depth, it's almost like your very atoms are vibrating with them! The piano is something else entirely. You can hear the moment the key gets pushed hard enough to actually strike the hammer against the strings, and then the second his finger lifts to hit the next note. It's honestly an emotional experience, and one I think everyone deserves to hear.
Honestly, I have to thank Nicole from Kiwi Ears for sending me the Aether, because holy cow, Batman… are these amazing!
Treble
The treble on the Aether is where the puzzle seems to really come together…. The cymbals don't just go tsshh tsshhh tssshhhhh and disappear; you can actually hear them bloom and decay into the space around you. There's a sense of air around the instruments that makes the entire presentation feel larger, deeper and just more.
The craziest thing about the aether is not that they are sitting there doing too much, no… it's that even though they capture the soul of the music… they never get too sharp, I'm never sitting there going wow damn are they trying to stab me in the eardrums with a pen knife?
Strings have texture, guitars have their beautiful harmonics, and even the shrillest of vocals retain those tiny upper register details that show emotion… without becoming painfully sharp. It's detailed, but honestly it never feels like Kiwi Ears grabbed a magnifying glass and shoved it up...
