A Third KB Ear Diamond Review (3) – Aggressive V-Shape

February 27, 2020August 29, 2021 Anonymous

This is an invited review by Christophe Branchereau (Head-Fier citral23).

Context : when I first saw the Frequency response curve of the Diamond, before its actual launch, I expressed my disappointment regarding the elevated bass on head-fi, and Otto [Jürgen Kraus] from https://www.audioreviews.org/ instead of taking offense, contacted me to arrange a sample sent to me in exchange for a review, stating that he was pretty sure I’d like it anyway.

I accepted, so the disclaimer is that I got this IEM for free, but in no way does it affect my opinion. I have not watched or read any review of this IEM so far to avoid external influence.

The Diamond is a single dynamic driver, with diamond-like carbon coating applied on the membrane, and measures at 16 ohms.

Let’s start with the non-audio stuff : the packaging is quite substantial, and a good surprise. While not looking as premium as say, Moondrop offerings, it certainly looks way above what KZ or TRN provide.

We get some foam tips I won’t comment on, because I can’t put this material in my ear canals, 2 sets of short wide-bore ear-tips, a good-looking, and rather pleasing cable (maybe slightly rubbery feeling if I’m being picky) and a very nice leathery carry case, all arranged in a spacious box.

The shells themselves feel very solid and well-machined. While not a fan of carbon on anything but windsurf masts or formula ones, it really doesn’t look overly “need-for-speedy” on the final product as I was afraid of, and the metal part is a nice grey, not the greeny tint that was on the mockup, looks better in reality. The nozzles are very well machined, and well grooved so the ear-tips are locked in place and don’t slip.

Next comes what is probably the best part about this IEM : the fit. A-ma-zing. As I didn’t find rolling ear-tips to make much of a difference (tried the stock ones, various spin-fits, and TRN stock tips), I settled with the short stock ones, and the diamond sits flush and is incredibly comfortable for me, to the point it’s a pleasure to wear. I’m not exaggerating.

That being out of the way, let’s move on to the audio part.

Here I’m more reserved. As I suspected, this IEM has too much bass for me. While the bass is not particularly slow, it’s not super fast either, and it sounds overall soft and lacks some punch in my book. This is obviously due to the exaggerated v-shape tuning. Too much has been detracted from a flat response and it sounds like a band-pass filter was applied. The Diamond doesn’t sound very natural to me, frequency and timbre wise.

This is especially apparent for jazz, jazz kicks are often subdued and need good attack retrieval to be heard clearly, while the walking bass often takes the lead. It’s missing here. Timbre wise, while I’ve heard other IEMs perform worse on double-bass rendition, it’s nothing to rejoice about either. Details of strings attack especially, are missing entirely, due to the 1khz region being so recessed. It does perform ok for slow vocal stuff but won’t be your best choice for a bebop trio session.

However on rock and folk music, where the kickdrum is much more forward, it comes rather nicely together. Jeff Buckley, Pink Floyd, Neil Young, all plays nice with a coherent bass / battery rendition, lively, warm but not overly so. I suspect it was tuned with this type of music in mind.

There’s a bit of bass bleed into mids, but it’s not a problem for me, I actually like it for Rock. Low mids are otherwise not very present, and high mids are more prominent which can cause a bit of fatigue at higher volume, but enhance nicely female voices and guitar solos. It remains a v-shape which is not my preference, but should work quite well for the average western ear.

Trebles are quite inoffensive with good speed and detail retrieval, reasonable extension and an overall airy feeling that helps a lot with the sense of space this IEM provides. Despite having only 2 small vent holes, it sounds quite spacious to me with a good soundstage and avoids the “congested” feeling that many chinese IEMs share.

Testing was conducted with a mix of DSD and flac files, on a Redmi Note 7, a Zishan DSD pro, a Ziku HD-X9 and on PC with a Hidizs Sonata HD.

Photographed: The KBEAR Diamond

Comparisons:
Vs Tin T2
The KBEAR can’t compete in any way for people who like accurate renditions. The Tin is as flat as it gets on budget and is a vastly superior iem if one is after that type of sound. The KBEAR will take the lead for those who love their V and generally a warmer and less bright tuning. The T2 remains my favorite flat-ish IEM by far.

VS Moondrop Kanas Pro Edition
I feel the KBEAR missed the mark of what I’d hope it to be, a more affordable KPE contender. While the KBEAR is ok timbre wise, its v-shape and overly elevated bass recess the very frequencies that makes acoustic music so much more natural and lively, like the sound of fingers sliding on strings, which the KPE retains. The KPE also has more sparkle in the highs, at a frequency that never gets tiring for me, adding to the enjoyment. The KPE remains my favorite non-flat but musical IEM by far.

VS Blon BL-03
I don’t own this one anymore, because it could not keep up with fast bebop tracks, but I remember it well and can say it sounded less capable than the KBEAR on fast material, quickly losing cohesion, but better timbre-wise because of the FR. I’d chose the Diamond over the BL-03 because an iem that can’t play fast tracks well is a deal-breaker for me, and the Diamond is competent in that domain.

Conclusion : The Diamond is a well machined, very pleasing to wear IEM which unfortunately was tuned too aggressively on the V side to allow what single dynamic drivers usually excel at, timbre, to shine in direct comparison to some of its competition. While a clear upgrade in my book from the KZ ZS10 pro and the likes timbre, soundstage and imaging-wise for those who like their V, it probably won’t suit those like me, who prefer a more linear frequency response, or a U at most.

Nontheless, tuning is a personal matter, but the packaging, machining and quality of the complete kit is impressive and one more step in the right direction for Chi-Fi.

The editor: in the meantime, Biodegraded offers a mod to flatten the V, that is altering the tuning towards a more neutral signature. You find it HERE.

MY VERDICT