KBEAR KB02
Introduction & Disclaimer
At around 48 Euros, the KB02 is reaching the upper limit of what I would consider a budget IEM and brings some interesting features not commonly found at this price point.
This review sample was provided free of charge by KeepHIFI in exchange for my opinions.
Non-affiliate link for more product details - https://keephifi.com/products/kbear-kb02?_pos=1&_psq=kb02&_ss=e&_v=1.0
At around 48 Euros, the KB02 is reaching the upper limit of what I would consider a budget IEM and brings some interesting features not commonly found at this price point.
This review sample was provided free of charge by KeepHIFI in exchange for my opinions.
Non-affiliate link for more product details - https://keephifi.com/products/kbear-kb02?_pos=1&_psq=kb02&_ss=e&_v=1.0
Build, Design & Ergonomics
There is very little to complain about the KB02’s design especially with regard to the 3D printed resin shells that are finished with individually designed and hand-polished face plates which are exceptionally well finished.
How they manage to add the extra human labour hours at this price is a mystery to me.
Inside the resin shells lies the party piece.
Two drivers, including a beryllium coated 10mm dynamic driver and a 10mm ‘bone conduction driver with elastic piece’
Lightly tapping on the housings causes the bone conduction driver to vibrate, although they do not vibrate for as long when the shells are damped by your ear lobes. Thankfully nothing short of actually tapping them with your finger nail will cause this vibration to occur and it’s not a particularly shrill or annoying sound if it does happen, so I don’t see this as a big negative point, just something I thought was interesting.
Ergonomically, I had the feeling that they almost do not fit my ears, with a slight tendency to want to escape my ear canals with their larger than average metal nozzles with a diameter of 6.5mm, but switching from the usual large tips to medium managed to mostly fix this problem which was a little unexpected.
The cable is almost a highlight comprised of a tight 4-core twisted coil, it also resists tangling very well even after the y-split.
It is almost identical to the cable provided with the Kiwi Ears Airoso.
There is very little to complain about the KB02’s design especially with regard to the 3D printed resin shells that are finished with individually designed and hand-polished face plates which are exceptionally well finished.
How they manage to add the extra human labour hours at this price is a mystery to me.
Inside the resin shells lies the party piece.
Two drivers, including a beryllium coated 10mm dynamic driver and a 10mm ‘bone conduction driver with elastic piece’
Lightly tapping on the housings causes the bone conduction driver to vibrate, although they do not vibrate for as long when the shells are damped by your ear lobes. Thankfully nothing short of actually tapping them with your finger nail will cause this vibration to occur and it’s not a particularly shrill or annoying sound if it does happen, so I don’t see this as a big negative point, just something I thought was interesting.
Ergonomically, I had the feeling that they almost do not fit my ears, with a slight tendency to want to escape my ear canals with their larger than average metal nozzles with a diameter of 6.5mm, but switching from the usual large tips to medium managed to mostly fix this problem which was a little unexpected.
The cable is almost a highlight comprised of a tight 4-core twisted coil, it also resists tangling very well even after the y-split.
It is almost identical to the cable provided with the Kiwi Ears Airoso.
In the hand, I get the impression of an IEM costing up to twice as much, but with accessories being limited to 3 different generic sets of silicone tips, no carry case and very simple paper and card packaging, I can possibly understand how they’re keeping costs down and presumably passing on those savings to the consumer.
I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The Sound
In the first 10 minutes of testing the KB02, I wasn’t blown away.
I was of course hyper focusing on the tuning which has a touch of pinna-gain around 4.5KHz, which gives vocals in particular an extra push out in front of the mix. This is something I am quite sensitive and averse to, so I knew I would have to be a bit more patient with this IEM.
I’ll let you be the judge of that.
The Sound
In the first 10 minutes of testing the KB02, I wasn’t blown away.
I was of course hyper focusing on the tuning which has a touch of pinna-gain around 4.5KHz, which gives vocals in particular an extra push out in front of the mix. This is something I am quite sensitive and averse to, so I knew I would have to be a bit more patient with this IEM.
(Comparison with Kiwi Ears KE4 (Grey) as it is a known 'meta' tuned IEM)
Without making any adjustments for tone correction, the tuning reminds me quite a lot of the Simgot SuperMix4 (Grey).
A very brief comparison confirmed my suspicion although the KB02 has a slightly darker treble presentation and a touch less sub-bass.
After making the usual small EQ adjustments on my smartphone; reducing the 4KHz region and boosting sub-bass by about 2-3dB, I got a tonal response I was happy and familiar with.
This allowed me to focus less on the tone and more on the other aspects of sound.
Starting with the negative, the bone conduction driver does some ‘interesting’ things in the sub-bass region.
Very deep notes and rumbles sound very artificially textured, which I suspect is the bone conduction driver excessively vibrating which could be it’s resonant frequency, it could be adding harmonics, or is simply crapping out and reaching it’s physical limit. I’m not sure exactly which one it is, but thankfully I have only found it on two very bass heavy tracks so far, so it’s not a common occurrence.
It is very clearly audible on opening bass notes in Thunder by The Prodigy, and in Why so Serious? By Hans Zimmer in the bassy part, you might have to turn the volume up quite a bit to hear it, but the bass texture is all wrong after cranking it up a bit.
This allowed me to focus less on the tone and more on the other aspects of sound.
Starting with the negative, the bone conduction driver does some ‘interesting’ things in the sub-bass region.
Very deep notes and rumbles sound very artificially textured, which I suspect is the bone conduction driver excessively vibrating which could be it’s resonant frequency, it could be adding harmonics, or is simply crapping out and reaching it’s physical limit. I’m not sure exactly which one it is, but thankfully I have only found it on two very bass heavy tracks so far, so it’s not a common occurrence.
It is very clearly audible on opening bass notes in Thunder by The Prodigy, and in Why so Serious? By Hans Zimmer in the bassy part, you might have to turn the volume up quite a bit to hear it, but the bass texture is all wrong after cranking it up a bit.
On the whole while it has it’s limitations, that isn’t to say that it isn’t without it’s merits.
Not just the bass, but even much of the midrange has an added veiled layer of tactility and weight to every note that sounds just a touch more lifelike and scaled-up than any other budget IEM I’ve heard. It’s not an obvious effect, it is in fact very often extremely subtle, but every now and then with the right recording, small percussive sounds feel bigger and more real.
Going further into the less tangible aspects of the sound, imaging is excellent with no obvious diffusion that clearly translates well to a 3D gaming experience.
The soundstage is also incrementally above average for the price, and is complemented well by the good imaging.
And finally, after just a little EQ’ing, they do almost nothing obviously wrong, with just about as much detail and separation as any regular mortal could ever need.
Comparisons
BLON BL-03II
Without any tone correction, the BL-03II sounds more correct to my ears, but doesn’t quite have the same scale and agility of the KB02.
Both possess similar detail and timbre, but the KB02 is so much easier to wear because the BLON is let down by it’s unusual form and strong cable coils.
CCZ Harmony BC01 PRO
The BC01 sounds bombastic by comparison with an overblown but very fun sub and mid-bass response, and a darker treble response.
The KB02 sounds more accurate, natural, spacious and detailed.
Both possess very good imaging, so I’m happy to hear the KB02 isn’t slouching here.
Conclusions
I think most people would not be disappointed with this purchase.
The build quality and design is superb, the cable is excellent at this price point and the audio quality, aside from the very deepest sub-bass is well above average.
Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to take this over the Truthear x Crinacle ZERO:RED due to it’s poor imaging, or over the Moondrop Chu II because of it’s hot treble and weird shape, but I think there are some who might be persuaded to go for the safer sound of something like the BLON BL-03 II.
The KB02 is priced extremely fairly and anyone who is used to making small EQ adjustments will most likely find these more than acceptable, especially regarding the unique resin faceplates and inclusion of bone conduction at this price.
I will definitely give these a soft recommendation, especially for anyone who wants to try out new driver technology for less, or if you really just want these for their looks as they do very little wrong at the price.
And for the sceptics, this is at the very least a good indication for things to come as bone conduction driver technology and implementation will also improve in the future.
Not just the bass, but even much of the midrange has an added veiled layer of tactility and weight to every note that sounds just a touch more lifelike and scaled-up than any other budget IEM I’ve heard. It’s not an obvious effect, it is in fact very often extremely subtle, but every now and then with the right recording, small percussive sounds feel bigger and more real.
Going further into the less tangible aspects of the sound, imaging is excellent with no obvious diffusion that clearly translates well to a 3D gaming experience.
The soundstage is also incrementally above average for the price, and is complemented well by the good imaging.
And finally, after just a little EQ’ing, they do almost nothing obviously wrong, with just about as much detail and separation as any regular mortal could ever need.
Comparisons
BLON BL-03II
Without any tone correction, the BL-03II sounds more correct to my ears, but doesn’t quite have the same scale and agility of the KB02.
Both possess similar detail and timbre, but the KB02 is so much easier to wear because the BLON is let down by it’s unusual form and strong cable coils.
CCZ Harmony BC01 PRO
The BC01 sounds bombastic by comparison with an overblown but very fun sub and mid-bass response, and a darker treble response.
The KB02 sounds more accurate, natural, spacious and detailed.
Both possess very good imaging, so I’m happy to hear the KB02 isn’t slouching here.
Conclusions
I think most people would not be disappointed with this purchase.
The build quality and design is superb, the cable is excellent at this price point and the audio quality, aside from the very deepest sub-bass is well above average.
Personally I wouldn’t hesitate to take this over the Truthear x Crinacle ZERO:RED due to it’s poor imaging, or over the Moondrop Chu II because of it’s hot treble and weird shape, but I think there are some who might be persuaded to go for the safer sound of something like the BLON BL-03 II.
The KB02 is priced extremely fairly and anyone who is used to making small EQ adjustments will most likely find these more than acceptable, especially regarding the unique resin faceplates and inclusion of bone conduction at this price.
I will definitely give these a soft recommendation, especially for anyone who wants to try out new driver technology for less, or if you really just want these for their looks as they do very little wrong at the price.
And for the sceptics, this is at the very least a good indication for things to come as bone conduction driver technology and implementation will also improve in the future.
