Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite Review – a new benchmark emerges

Intro
In recent months, the budget segment of the IEM (in-ear monitor) market has become a hotbed of activity with new “Aria-killers” popping up almost every week. The cost of entry into this hobby has never been lower, and the sheer number of options available to consumers has never been greater. With this increased competition, IEM manufacturers are racing to produce better-tuned IEMs at lower prices, providing consumers with a seemingly endless selection to choose from.

However, for those looking for a step-up in quality without venturing into the mid-fi segment, in which IEMs can typically cost over $500, solid options have remained few and far between for the past 2-3 years. The Moondrop Blessing 2 and Blessing 2 Dusk have established themselves as the go-to recommendations in this realm and all IEMs in this segment are inevitably measured against the bar set by these two stalwarts. Thus far, no challenger has managed to surpass their benchmark throne.

Until now.

Enter the Kiwi Ears Orchestra Lite. Coming in at $250, the Orchestra Lite undercuts the Blessing 2 duo as well as the upcoming Blessing 3. Kiwi Ears is a company founded by a veteran IEM designer who is responsible for some of the most popular IEMs to date and their previous releases, the Orchestra ($500) and the Cadenza ($40), were both lauded for being solid choices in their respective price brackets but never really took off.

The Orchestra Lite seeks to change that.

Pros
– Good bass response, not just for a balanced armature set – it packs a punch and has decent texture
– Relatively relaxed and non-fatiguing listen
– Decent stage that has more depth than width
– Imaging is quite impressive for the price
– Timbre is quite natural and organic
– Great note-weight – has a good amount of warmth and it is neither muddy nor thin
– Pretty good detail pick up and resolution

Cons
– Spartan accessories and packaging – but perhaps this is where some of the cost savings come from!
– Average separation – can sometimes sound a little congested with busy passages
– Transients and dynamics are a little lacking making it slightly less engaging.

Build and Fit
The Orchestra Lite has a medium-sized, semi-custom-shaped, fully filled resin shell with a completely translucent body that puts the the inner wiring and drivers on full display. It’s very nice to look at and feels quite solid in hand. In terms of build quality, I’d venture to say it is a step up from the Blessing 2 and Variations which were plagued with issues related to the glue used to attach the metal faceplates and 2pin connectors. From memory, the Orchestra Lite is probably more comparable to the Moondrop S8 in build, although admittedly, the S8 is a step-up aesthetically for my personal tastes. Overall, this is the type of build quality that I’d expect to see from IEMs costing twice as much or more!

Fit, while subjective, is nice. It is not a small IEM, but the shape is ergonomic and seals very well in my ears. One thing to call out is that the Orchestra Lite is an unvented IEM which may preclude those who are sensitive to pressure build. On this note, I thought I was in this camp as well – my previous experiences with unvented IEMs had me avoiding unvented full-BA sets for the longest time. Pressure build up with the Moondrop S8 caused me discomfort and the vacuum seal of the Sony IER-M series made it troublesome to maintain proper fit and seal. I was worried the Orchestra Lite would do the same for me, but surprisingly, I have no issues with them at all!

Overall Sound
The Orchestra Lite is a well-tuned IEM with good timbre, a slightly warm sound signature, and decent resolution. Bass is punchy and decently textured, mids are full and rich, treble is decently airy but also subdued enough to never be fatiguing. It’s a good all-rounder and is well-suited for most if not all genres of music.

Bass
Balanced Armature drivers are often assumed to have less than stellar bass response and outliers that do bass well are praised as having “bass that is good for a BA.” I can say with certainly that this is also the case with the Orchestra Lite. While it is not a bass cannon, it still packs a decent punch and texture is pretty nice too. It’s refreshing to see more IEM makers incorporate a mid-bass over sub-bass tuning. To my ears, this adds a nice bit of body to the sound that many IEMs that favor sub-bass over mid-bass tend to lack. This adds a warm characteristic to the sound without making it muddy, which makes it sound a bit more natural to the ear.

Mids
Mids are lush and clean. Vocals, both male and female, are nicely presented. Most instruments sound nice and full with good noteweight. Despite the warmth, there is pretty good clarity through the mids. Pretty good texture and layering. Overall, mids are relatively smooth and relaxed yet nicely resolving.

Treble
The treble is well extended but is tuned more on the safe side. It never sounds sibilant or harsh, and the details are all there. But the safer tuning does have the effect of adding a bit more smoothness to the sound, which depending on what you’re looking for, may be a good or a bad thing.

Techs
Stage is slightly above average and is deeper than it is wide. While you might not get the sensation of sound coming from way off to the left and right, there is a sense of depth and layering to the stage that you don’t quite often hear in this price range.

Imaging is solidly above average. Instruments and voices are clearly positioned, and it is easy to identify where they are on the stage.

Owing to the more tame treble tuning, transients (the sound usually associated with the initial attack on notes – like plucks of a string, or consonants) can come off a bit more rounded or blunted rather than incisive and crisp. On scale of “too smoothed over and boring,” and “too harsh and sibilant,” I’d say it falls somewhere in between, perhaps leaning towards the smooth side, which, if anything, makes it safe.

But, this smoother transient response does seem to have a detrimental effect on separation. Separation is not the strongest trait of the Orchestra Lite, and it can sometimes struggle with articulation and separation during busier passages. This might be a nitpick, however, because from memory, it is a step up from the Blessing 2.

Also, the Orchestra Lite is not the most dynamic IEM. The replay is fairly smooth, and the dynamic range matches that smoothness.

Where the Orchestra Lite shines the brightest, in my opinion, is with timbre. The term “BA timbre” is often thrown around and my understanding of this term is that some IEM balanced armature implementations have an unnaturally thin tonality that sometimes adds a metallic or digital sheen to the sound – the Moondrop S8 sticks out as the perfect example of this for me. The Orchestra Lite doesn’t do this and overall I’d say it has very good tonality and timbre – instruments and voices sound very natural to my ear.

Closing Thoughts
Kiwi Ears really came out of left field with the Orchestra Lite. The pleasant, slightly warm tonality, smooth and relaxed character, solid technical performance, and its superb build quality make this IEM an incredible value proposition. The Blessing 2s finally have some serious competition, and Moondrop will have some stiff competition ahead of their upcoming release of the Blessing 3. At the time of writing, the Orchestra Lite is probably my favorite IEM in its price bracket and it gets a strong recommendation from me!

Where to Buy
Amazon
Linsoul