Kinera Celest Phoenixcall – Almost The Right Kind Of Special

Disclaimer: The Phoenixcall was loaned to me by AWSMDanny for review and I will be sending it back.

Personal preferences in audio gear may vary. This review is based on my own subjective experience.

If you prefer to watch a video review you can watch mine here

Pros –

  • Good all rounder
  • Nice Build, Pretty too
  • Cable is good
  • Bass has good quantity and note weight
  • Vocals come across nicely
  • Awesome box and good accessories
  • Treble and mids are fairly tame, shouldn’t be fatiguing or sibilant
  • No issue with congestion

Cons –

  • Slightly shouty
  • Timbre is off
  • Bass quality isn’t the best
  • Treble is wonky and unrefined
  • Okay technicalities

Gaming:

Pros –

  • Decent Imaging
  • Impacts and low end feel good

Cons –

  • Easy to miss audio cues including your own footsteps
  • Mids and treble can sound off making for a wonky sound taking away from the immersion

Build, Fit & Accessories:

(as I have a loaner I did not have the original unboxing experience)

The Phoenixcall retails at $130

If you know about Kinera you know that you are usually guaranteed to get a pretty stellar unboxing and accessory package and this stays true here. You get a beautiful magnetic box that opens like a book showcasing the metal bookmark and part of the myth behind the phoenixcall with the IEMs and cable nicely showcased here as well. You get vocal and balanced tips in SML and a nice pleather zipper case. A beautiful and full package for the price with a quality cable.

Build and fit are both great for me and my wife, I love being able to see inside and look at the drivers and the faceplates are beautiful.

Equipment Used:

  • FiiO Q11 on Windows and Android
  • MusicBee on Windows 11 with FiiO ASIO drivers for local FLAC and DSD files
  • Tidal Music Streaming
  • Hidizs AP80 Pro Local FLAC and DSD

Test Tracks used:

Sound Quality:

The Phoenixcall uses a single dynamic driver, two balanced armatures, and two Micro Planar

For me this is an odd set, I do like it and consider it an all rounder but it does present some issues that are unfortunate as it is such a pretty set and is a nice package.

Bass:

The sub bass does have a bit of rumble to it but isn’t as present as the mid bass is, the mid bass has an…okay punch to it and although I like the quantity and note weight here I feel as though the mid bass is rounded and does not come across as sharp as it should giving a slightly blunted sound on kick drums, toms and cellos.

Midrange:

I quite like the mids however the timbre can be a bit grating at times. Lower mids do come across a bit recessed and lead to an unnatural balance unfortunately. Upper mids are okay, trumpets and guitars come across good but timbre is a bit off.

Vocals:

I actually like the vocals this set throws out, male and female both sound good but have slightly off timbre to them. Female vocals can come across a bit shouty at times. but overall I feel they are presented nicely.

Treble:

Treble is odd on the Phoenixcall, I don’t find it near my levels for sibilance and find it quite relaxed. Relaxed to the point where there is a lack of definition here, cymbals just sound dull and recessed. I feel like this would a good set if you are prone to issues with sibilance as although it sounds lacking it is definitely a safe level of treble.

Technicalities:

Technicalities are okay on the Phoenixcall, I don’t think it’s that special at all but performs alright for the price point. Clarity is okay, I don’t notice congestion and the soundstage and imaging are alright, not grand sounding or boxed in. Timbre is definitely an issue giving a metallic characteristic at times.

Gaming Performance:

Gaming on the Phoenixcall was interesting to say the least, the bit of oddness in the tuning doesn’t lend itself well to games with higher frequency audio cues. In immersive gaming I feel like you are missing a lot as well. I would not recommend this set for gaming.

FPS Gaming:

Playing Escape From Tarkov was odd, the imaging was actually pretty sharp and accurate but due to the unevenness of the frequencies I found it extremely easy to miss audio cues but when I was able to hear them it was very obvious where the sounds were coming from. Immersive moments felt good and just running around was great but even here I noticed footsteps and shouldering sounds to be quite recessed compared to many other sets.

Immersive Gaming:

Monster Hunter: Rise turned out to be fairly immersive, quite a bit of the small sounds were missing but getting into the hunt it was less noticeable with everything going on. It did an okay job making me feel the impacts but overall I found it a bit lacking pretty much everywhere.

Comparisons:

For an additional $20 you could get the Hidizs MP145, this is another set that although does experience some metallic timbre I find less noticeable or grating. I find the MP145 to be a much more balanced safer choice here with a very good accessory and unboxing experience as well the tuning nozzles give a bit of customization and might be able to meet your preferences better. However I think the Phoenixcall will still be the safer call if you do have issues with sibilance or bright sets and the treble is still more tame. You also have to be wary of the size on the MP145 as the shell will be too large for some people.

Conclusion:

The Phoenixcall is an odd one, for $130 I think I would go with something else, it is close to greatness and I think with either some modding on the user end or a slight revision it could potentially be a great IEM for the price. But as it is stock I have too many issues to give it a full recommendation. If you want it for the pretty cable and accessories or are fairly sensitive to treble I would say go for it. It is on the cusp of greatness but it just falls short.

Thank you for reading this review! Feel free to ask any questions if you have any. Also feel free to share your experience if you have been able to try the Phoenixcall, Peace!

If you are interested in the Kineral Celest Phoenixcall it can be purchased at the links below.

Cheers!

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