Planar flavor of the month! Kiwi Ears have finally caved in and made full-sized planar in-ears with the Airoso and the topic of today’s BTB, the Aether! This $169 15.3mm planar magnetic in-ear monitor is one to watch out for, so let’s get into it!
The unboxing experience isn’t as stellar as price might suggest as while it does come with a plethora of different kinds of silicone eartips and a carrying pouch, this is almost the exact same one that came with the Canta which is half its price.
The build quality and comfort isn’t stellar as well, but undoubtedly looks very attractive. That silver ring on the “aether-like” faceplate design with minimal branding. This is one of the prettiest looking planar IEMs I’ve seen, which is not a surprise coming from a brand with such great designers like Kiwi Ears. Unfortunately, the 15.3mm planar magnetic driver will not accommodate smaller ears and it’s far from being the most premium feeling in-ear monitor out there. The cable also feels like the $10 Jcally JC08 cable that is functional but not the first thing I’d imagine to be paired with an almost $200 in-ear monitor.
Where you can tell Kiwi Ears put all their eggs into is the sound. The Aether features a balanced mild W Shape tuning with rich and well extended bass, open and clean mids and a sparkly but occasionally sharp treble. Compared to many modern planar options, the Aether clearly takes more inspiration from traditional planars like the S12 and Timeless with its focus on providing a highly technical and detailed sound, but still sounds far better tonally than traditional planar in-ears. This is what I’d call the natural adaptation of the traditional planar sound into modern standards and I can see why this was hyped for quite a while. However, it didn’t blow my mind like those early reviewers. It’s great, don’t get me wrong and $170 for a planar of this quality would have been unheard of just a few years ago. But do I think it destroys every IEM under $200 or even $300? No. It still has the fundamental flaws of planar in-ears in regards to timbre and treble refinement that other in-ears and driver types just does better. But one thing is for sure, this is a great step forward for planar IEMs as it doesn’t confine to the modern style of planars that can sound too dark or not exciting nor the traditional style where technicalities and details are prioritized at the sake of listenability. It’s just a really good set for the price.
FULL REVIEW COMING SOON!
