Kiwi Ears Melody: a planar magnetic iem for my ears…and maybe for yours! 

I have redone my hearing test in a more controlled way today, trying different iems, and I can actually hear frequencies up to about 12.5khtz. I suspected it was higher than 8500 as I can hear the difference in “air” between different iems…and I am sensitive to the spacial cues which are all up there in the higher frequencies. :) So, not so bad for a 76 year old. And that makes my take on the treble performance of the Melody much more reliable. I hear the highest frequencies, by the way, with the Celest Phoenix Call’s micro planars, and the Melodys come in second.

That metaphor made more sense to me than anything I have heard on any other review. subbed immediately loved the whole review, and for context I'm a veteran with hearing damage and love music I think your reviews are exactly what I've been searching for.

Wonderful review! Loved the analogy 😂!

Hi Stephen, many thanks for your reviews. I am complete with you that € 100-200 class might be the best value for money. And I think better to have 10 IEM for €100 than one for €1000. I also share your realistic view - for sure ears and listiening is something indivual but even here the well known revievers are infulencers. We should not forget. Interesting how you see the Melody very close to the Fan2... I will give them a try. But I also will order the FUDU because I really like Tangzu as a brand and I startet with the Waner and I got the Heyday on sale (which I my love on the second look). KIWI could learn from Tangzu how to present an IEM in the box. OK cables / eartips we can change to better ones... BTW I like the warm Quartet over Qunitet especially with female voices. Lets see what the new KIWI Forteza brings to us. Go ahead please. BR Chris

Kiwi ears should listen to you…❗️❤️ Thank you

I`d like to see some high end earbuds (as flatheads were called before the lazy in beeing precise young generation started to call everything and their mother earbuds a couple of years ago). Brands like TGXEars, Riku Buds, Cypherus Audio and similar get way to little attention these days, as many people seem to think headphone stuff needs to be big and bulky or have fancy drivers to sound good.

Are these good for bassheads? Or is the bass enough for edm, big room house and Dubstep genre?

Hi Stephen! Very nice review 👍. I'm new to planars & the melody's seems very interesting. Would you say they are performing well playing loud? Also which aftermarket cable are you using for them in the video? // regards

Sir, i don't think Kiwi Ears is undervaluing themselves by pricing their products low or "affordable". You have to consider that planar magnetic driver iems aren't that new anymore, and when tech is not that new, it tends to go down in price. Another thing to consider Sir, is that Kiwi Ears, being "Chi-Fi", is going by the unwritten typical Chinese-style business model, and that is to make a profit by volume sales. Also Sir, Kiwi Ears main target is the Asian Market, and for us here in Asia- like here in the SE Asian region -200$ is already worth more than a month's rent. Even a 100$ iem, that most in the west would consider "budget", for us here would consider it "luxury"; a 100$ isn't in any way "cheap" for us here. When it comes to packaging, personally(and as also shared by a number of people), i would much rather see the money i paid for going into the tech, instead of just the packaging which would usually just get thrown away. And when it comes to the cables and accessories, well yeah, given it's $90+ price tag, we can't expect too much. But for us here, at least the average income audio enthusiast(which makes up a considerable bulk of the demographic here), what we do is save up for the iem, and then save up again for the later upgrades. That's how most of us here go about in this hobby Sir. And with what Kiwi Ears, has done with their pricing of the Melody, this will make it possible for a lot of iem hobbyist here to be able to save up for a good planar magnetic iem, and one from a company that does not have the crappy qc reputation like KZ. And just so you know Sir, most of Kiwi Ears's products pricing, would be considered "luxury" for many of us here. So, with Kiwi Ears keeping the Melody at the 90$ price range, that means more of us here will be able to afford a little "luxury". And for some people here, that one time $90+ "luxury" purchase might be the only "luxury" purchase that they'll be able to afford in their lives. It may be cheap or budget for you, but for most people here, it's already considered a "luxury" that not many can easily afford.

If you were to choose good sir, melody or quartet?

How does it compare to the MP145..?

What stock tips do you recommend the most? even any tips you recommend with them)

love your review. can you told me whate tips are you using on them ?

Awesome review sir. Quick one how is EM6L compare to celest Phoenixcall?

Hello, excuse me, I use a translator because my language is Spanish, should I try the bqeyz summer?, hidizs ms3, fiio fh9? How to compare these iems against the ones I mentioned in case you have heard them. Thank you

how would these compare to the simgot ea500 in terms of detail, soundstage, and imaging?

Returning to the review and the discussion over the planar's brutal chopping of the reverb - why is it so? Any explanation that you know of? That posthumous lingering, the tonal afterlife so to say, of the fundamental note is such a crucial element in instruments listening pleasure. Pity.

Will you be getting the new 7hz Timeless II planar IEM as well? Hope you get a unit for review. Saw couple of raves on that, Crazy how good the IEM market is exploding. I guess best way for someone like me to approach it would be to try get one from each segment: planar, DD, hybrid, soundstage ... Crazy really. The pockets are tearing apart :-) Perhaps I should just unsubscribe from the 3-4 reviewers I do (You, honestaudiophile, Akros, Giz) to save my wallet! The way I am looking at it to get one in each segment: DD, Planar, Hybrid, Headphones. I have P8 for the hybrid, Titan s for DD, the wondrous Senns HD660s2 in headphones that i am literally attached to these days. That leaves a planar: Melody or Timeless ii .Hmmm, now that's the question. Will hope you (or one of the toher 3 reviewers I respect) get a review unit of Timeless and then decide. And Stephen! I Abhor (!) you for suggesting to the brand that they should have priced it higher. Some of us, living in non-dollar countries, don't need over-150 dollars always! The proportion to the monthly salary when you translate in dollars is too high and we can't get as many earphones as most of the dollar-earning crowd can. You go Kiwi! I am okay if they price it differently for the likes of you and offer it with better cables and accessories. For some of us, though, the way they doing it is just purrfect! And I hope other IEMs drop their prices to Kiwi range. That should be your beef - not the other way around. Drop the prices IEM manufacturers please.

sorry forgot to ask - is the Tempotec 05 really worth a $70 blind buy?