:
Technical upgrade over its predecessor
Fun gimmick for gaming
Beautiful and clean faceplate
Quite decent upper-mid and treble tonality
:
Aggressive and badly implemented BCD that ruins overall sound
Hollow-sounding
Subpar accessories at this price
KBEAR Alkaid KB03 - A step too far
I've had these quite beautiful KBEAR Alkaid KB03s (69$) for about a week now, and here is my thoughts about them! This review will be quite a bit shorter and looser than my usual ones as my opinion is quite simple and clear on this set.
If you don't know, KBEAR is a well-respected audio brand for those in the know. They make everything from IEMs, cables and eartips (KBear 07 the GOATs), and it's usually at a solid level and above. Along with their KeepHifi sister brand, TRI, they've made some of my favorite products, like the cult legend Tri I3 MKIII (on a really nice sale on KeepHiFi AliEx right now!) and the KB03s big brother, the KB02.
I reached out to Keep-Hifi personally to ensure that I got my hands on the KB03 as I'm a big fan of their stuff. They're an awesome store and audio curator, and they're a pleasure to work with, so thanks to them for letting me express my honest opinions. If you want your own, you can get it here: KeepHifi
So, the KB03 is the successor to the KB02. The main selling point of these two models, are their Bone Conduction Drivers (BCDs). If you don't know what that is, they're basically "vibration" components within the IEMs that make them physically vibrate and thud. They're meant to give bass some extra physicality, and they're usually quite good at accentuating string instruments in particular, giving them some extra life-like resonance. The KB02 (30-39$) is one of the cheapest IEMs you can get with a BCD, and in my opinion, they're quite well implemented.
Now, the KB02 was a 1DD+1BCD set, but the KB03 technically upgrades on this with an added BA driver that handles the upper registers, and an upgraded beryllium-coated DD. KBEAR claims this is a "refined successor" to the KB02, but unfortunately and ironically, it is the lack of BCD refinement that is the ultimate downfall of the KB03. The main two problems are, firstly that they're extremely aggressively and sharply tuned in the 185-200hz region, giving the midbass a very unnatural sound. Secondly, I think because of the construction of the IEM-shell itself, the BCD thuds come off as sounding hollow and echo-y. The result is that a lot of songs sounds like they're being ruined by a gremlin banging away on some steely drums inside your headset or by a blown-out subwoofer.
Personally, I think this is a rare misstep from KBEAR. Most music is simply close to unlistenable and ruined by the aggressive BCD implementation. I would say however that they work better with digitally produced music, and that they're decent for certain songs in genres like digicore and plugg. It's a bit of a shame, because if you listen beyond the BCD, the sound is certainly upgraded over the KB02. The upper registers sound "higher-resolution" in particular. With some PEQ, you can somewhat tame the BCD, but its hollow and flat quality never quite goes away.
Now, the KBEAR market these as a gaming IEM, so I tried it for that as well. I've been playing quite a lot of a game called SurrounDead lately, a really good open world zombie survival game. I wouldn't say the KB03 makes the gaming experience better, but it certainly makes it different, and not in an entirely unpleasant way. Explosions and gun-shots are given some real physical power that is quite fun, at least in small doses. The downside is that the BCD is so sensitive that it triggers during rain or random footsteps in the distance. Like, if it rained in game, it sounded like someone was practicing their snare drum.
Overall, I would not recommend getting the KB03 at full price unless you're a collector looking for something VERY unique or you're a gamer with some extra cash to spend who wants something to spice up their gaming sessions. I'd rather recommend picking up the KB02 if you're curious about BCDs, or saving up for the new version of the KB16 Cepheus that is coming out soon!
