Introduction
The Robin (probably named after a bird as it is labelled as green sparrow -青雀in Chinese on the product packaging) is the top-of-the-line model in the KB Ear line up, one step higher than its little sibling – Neon. Being top-of-the-line means it also comes with some interesting specs, featuring 10 drivers in total (5 on each channel) where 8 of them are balanced armature and 2 dynamic drivers. However, even with the massive number of drivers, the price tag doesn’t seem to leave a massive hole on the buyer’s wallet. The Robin had been run in for no less than 100 hours before the below review is written.
Specifications:
- Interface/Connector：2PIN 0.78MM
- Plug type: 3.5MM
- Impedance: 18±2Ω
- Sensitivity: 110±2dB
- Frequency response：20hz-20KHZ
- Driver unit: 10mm Dual Magnetic Circuit DD + KBEAR Four Customized BA
- Cable length: 1.2m
- Cable material: 4N Oxygen-free Copper
Packaging & Accessories
What’s great about the KB Ear Robin’s packaging is the description at the rear of the outer packaging includes a frequency response graph for the earphones so you can roughly expect how the earphones sounds like even before you listen to it.
The inner box is a textured cardboard box with a fancy magnetic lid. Opening the magnetic lid, you will be presented with the shiny earphones faceplate.
The Robin comes with a 2 pin 0.78mm 99.9999 (4N) purity oxygen-free copper cable, 4 pairs of grey silicon tips (1 pairs are attached on the earphones), 3 pairs of white silicon tips, a fabric hard shell earphones case and also a warranty manual.
Design
The Robin has the similar body as the lower end Lark model, being stand out from the norm seems to be the design language for Robin, the faceplate of the earphones is coated with a chrome like finish with a gradient of sky blue to bare metal silver, as attractive it may look, it does picks up scratches and finger prints very easily. There are a few dimples on the faceplate which gives a different effect at every different angle.
The back body of the earphones is transparent, exposing the drivers and wirings. The drivers seem to be glued together with a clear liquid substance (might be clear epoxy), so it is likely that repairing this earphone might not be possible in the event of a driver fails.
The earphones detachable cable is connected with 2 pins 0.78mm connector. This type of connector comes with its own downfall, because the 2 pins have the same size of pin, it is possible where a user might insert the connector wrongly with the polarity inverted. However, as the stock cable have a built-in ear guide, this issue is minimized. There is a protruding edge at the input of the 2 pins 0.78mm connector on top of the earphone body, it was designed such a way to better secure the 2 pins connector in place, but it doesn’t prevent inverted polarity pin insertion.
The good-looking appeal doesn’t stop at the earphone body, the 4N Oxygen-free copper connectors and the Y-splitter are made in semi-transparent silicone like material, which allows us to look at the cable construction. This, however in time will likely to turn into yellowish colour. This stock cable is in a 4 wires configuration, this will allow modification for balance connection. The 4 wires are twisted to mimic braiding, this technique is widely common to reduce production costs while maintaining the good looks like a braided wire. The cable is quite flexible and it doesn’t produce any distracting noise when it hits hard object, gliding over the table edge and rubbing against the shirt.
With the original grey silicone ear tips, the Robin fits quite snugly in my ears. The fitting is quite comfortable for long hours listening and the external noise are well isolated with music playing at normal volume.
Gears Used for Comparisons
- iPhone 8 + ddHifi Lightning to 3.5mm adapter
- Dell Vostro 5481 + Furutech GT2 USB cable + ifi Zen Dac + Furutech 6.35mm to 3.5mm adapter
- Final Audio E3000
Song list
- The Weeknd – Blinding Lights
- Bon Jovi – It’s My Life
- Earth Wind & Fire – September
- 梁静茹 (Fish Leong) – 無條件為你 (All for you)
- Dave Brubeck – Take Five
- Salvatore Accardo – Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor. Op.7, MS.48: 3 (La Campanella)
Tone and Presentation
Right off the bat, the first thing that I cannot miss from the Robin is the bass, it is noticeable that this earphone has emphasised on the bass. The Robin did able to produce quite a good number of musical details when the bass is not in the way.
Soundstage
The Robin lacks abit of airiness but that is quite expected from an in-ear earphone. The soundstage has a narrow soundstage and there is not much depth in front, this results the instrument placement felt like it’s right around me which makes it felt like I’m in the band instead of listening from the front of the stage.
Separation and Timbre
Instruments that produce lows and mid-lows separation aren’t the strong point for Robin especially on fast paced music. Very often the lows will bleed over the mid-lows causing some detail loss. On the “It’s My Life” track, in the chorus the layers of each instrument and vocals are not well separated and often presented poorly.
Drivability
Just one word to describe it, effortless. It does truly deserve to be a daily portable in-ear earphone. Even without any amp, direct out from the ddHifi adapter attached to an iPhone 8 I’m able to listen to it at 1/6 of the volume as compared to the Final E3000 which will need higher volume to listen comfortably. Attaching it to my iFi Zen DAC would be over powered at the point that I need to adjust the Windows’ digital volume control to 50% on my PC laptop and keep the Zen DAC volume control to 10%.
Bass
The Robin, despite being named after a small bird, the bass it produces doesn’t sound small at all. It sounds like it has a built-in subwoofer in it (which is quite true as it has a dynamic driver for the bass), booming every low frequency note into your ears. On “Blinding lights” track intro, every bit of bass just rumbles into the ear canal. For a person like me who is rather sensitive to large amount to bass rumble might find these earphones rather unpleasant to listen for a long period. As the Robin continue ages, I reckon the bass may slightly increase more.
Mids
For most of the rock, orchestra and pop music, mids plays a very important role as most instrument and vocals lies in the mids frequencies. Unfortunately for the Robin, the lower mids are being over powered by the bass especially with bass heavy pop music. On “Blinding Lights” The Weeknd’s vocals often get covered by the bass rumble making his vocal placement way back behind the bass. On the other hand, lighter bass tracks like “September” are quite forgiving. There are noticeable sibilances on Fish Leong’s “All for you” track, especially at 1:55 minutes mark the sibilance may cause a little discomfort to some who have sensitive ears.
Highs
The highs on these earphones are crisp and rather detailed when the bass is out of the way. On Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five” track, the cymbals do produce quite an enjoyable sparkle with these earphones. At 4:23 minutes on “Niccolò Paganini’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in B minor. Op.7, MS.48: 3” the triangle notes and the xylophone high notes are presented somewhat nicely with a good highs decay on the triangle notes even when both of the instruments are playing together.
Comparisons
Final E3000
The Final E3000, like the Robin, are bass emphasised earphones. However, the Final E3000 does a better job on controlling the bass output so that it would not overpower too much on the mids and highs. The soundstage on the Final E3000 is significantly wider and has a better depth. On the Final E3000, saxophone from “Take Five” have good upfront placement while the cymbal sparkles with good energy at the background while on the Robin, the cymbal notes are less sparkly and with the saxophone playing together, it doesn’t do a good job on the frequency separation. The down side of Final E3000 is not having a detachable cable and its cable just doesn’t feel as solid as the Robin’s.
Source synergy
The Robin is quite sensitive to bad source, I tried to listen it directly from my Dell Vostro 5481 it will pick up the static noise and the bass becomes muddy even I had turn off all software equalizer and effect in windows.
On the other hand, pairing it with a decent DAC does gives it a chance to tidy up the sound. Pairing it with the iFi Zen DAC gives it a better speed, slightly better separation between music instrument, there are more micro details and sound more energetic, however there will be a slight extra low-end boost (even though “True Bass” function is off) compared to directly playing it with the ddHifi lightning adapter via iPhone 8.
Who Is It For?
The KB Ear Robin fits just nice for those who are looking for a no fuss earphones that drives right off their phones on the go, loves their music with rumbling bass and/or those that would like to experience 10 hybrid drivers’ earphones with detachable cable to have fun with mix and matching different cable for different sound improvements. For those who are new into in-ear earphones some may find it fun to listen with. Personally, I find it does play quite nicely with instrumental Jazz as it does bring out the details for each instrument in the jazz band during their solos.
Final words
There is a saying “What you paid, is what you get”. For the case with our KB Ear Robin, the price being paid is probably went to the fancy technical specification. From the total of 10 hybrid drivers to the detachable cable with 4N purity OFC copper, on paper the Robin is trying to place itself as a higher tier earphone on budget, spending most of the budget on the drivers meaning there may not be much left on engineering and tuning.
In theory multiple drivers should have the potential of presenting a better sound as different driver could handle different frequencies individually. However, in order that to work in perfect harmony, it requires a very well-designed crossover and other tuning so that each driver receives the proper signal with the proper frequencies’ threshold for desired output. This will result in higher engineering effort hence will cost higher, that is why most of the higher end manufacturers tend to have higher price tag on earphones with multiple drivers. On that note, I also noticed that KB Ear did not specify the brand of the Balanced Armatures drivers unlike the little sibling Neon which specifically mentioned it is manufactured by Knowles.
That being said, the Robin is considered to be fairly priced (after the 50% discount from aliexpress) given that the it has a decent technical spec with loads of accessories and a good-looking appearance (I really loved the blue gradient on the faceplate).
Purchase Link : KB Ear Official Store
(3 / 5)
