The IEM market has no shortage of ambitious releases with various tunings and philosophies at every pricepoint, and every so often one of them just stands out more among the plethora of candidates out there. Focusing on the sub 50USD range, the Kiwi Ears Belle would catch most people’s interests just from the originators. With the Cadenza still garnering quite an amount of praise back then, how will the Belle fair this round? – Spoiler alert : quite well.
***Reviewer’s Note***
Thanks to Kiwi Ears for sending these our way for testing. As always – we are not affiliated nor taken any form of monetary exchange for this review and this review is solely an honest view of the product.
Alternatively, I’ve also done a review in video form :
For anyone who is interested, you can check them out on Kiwi Ears’ Website :
https://kiwiears.com/products/kiwi-ears-belle
Unboxing & Accessories
As with Kiwi Ears Products, I definitely appreciate them streamlining the packaging design language – where the outer sleeves having a simple, bold, desing with thick and bold letters.
Throughout the packaging, it shoes that the IEM is a single DD DLC (Diamond-Like-Carbon) IEM.
Taking off the sleeve reveals the pristine silvery-glittery headshells that look both elegant and stark. Underneath will be a cardboard compartment with a Kiwi Ears Logo that houses its accessories, which includes a premium feeling silver plated cable – which to be honest I need to applaud Kiwi Ears for this. Not much IEMs of this price point probably will have cables that look as premium as this. Besides that, ther also provide you with 2 sets of tips, one in translucent black, and the other in translucent white.
Overall, the accessories of the Belle are as expected of this price point. And personally, I’m already happy with the fact that they probably threw in more of their budget on the cable quality.
Just look at the cable!
Design, Build, and Specifications
The Belle in my hands come in an elegent silver CNC metal faceplate, which provides both aesthetically pleasing design, and also durability. Its glass-like transparent shell which is made of high quality resin provides a peek into its simple yet gorgeous innards of the IEM.
Side note : if anyone wants a more stealthier color, it also comes in a black!
As a general wrap up – these are the specifications of the Kiwi Ears Belle :
- l Driver : Single 10mm Dynamic driver with DLC (Diamond-like Carbon) Diagphram
- l Sensitivitry : 103 dB (± 1 dB) @ 1 kHz
- l Impedance: 32 Ω (± 1 Ω)
- l Harmonic Distortion: < 0.1% THD @ 1 kHz
- l Frequency Response: 20 Hz – 20 kHz
- l Cable : 2 core silver plated cable with option of either 3.5mm or USB-C termination
- l Connector : 0.78mm 2-pin
Fit and Ergonomics
I have used the Belle for a cumulative amount of around 10 hours till this point. The overall fit of this pair can be said to be pleasant and unintrusive – as the shells are on the smaller side and also extremely lightweight.
Seal of the IEM is generally good with its stock tips provided, as with such a light and smal IEM, it already eliminates the issue with bigger shell units. However, seal can definitely be improved with a better suited tip, which personally, is anything that has a slightly shorter nozzle like the SpinFit Omni which is my go-to choice.
Length of nozzle is quite average – hence using short nozzle tips may benefit the user’s experience with a better fit.
How Does It Sound?
Tested with :
- Hidizs AP80 Pro Max
- Hiby R6 iii 2025
- MacBook Pro M3
The Kiwi Ears Belle is tested and evaluated after 10 hours of burn-in.
Song Discography
Tracks include but not limited to :
- Kei Marimura – P.S. I Love You
- Quadeca – Vanisher, Horizon Scraper & Discography
- YOASOBI Discography ( The BOOK 1 – 3 )
- Mac Miller Discography
- Tyler, The Creator Discography
- Snarky Puppy – We lIke It Here
- Ryo Fukui – Scener
- Ryuichi Sakamoto Discography
- Kaicrewsade Discography
- Sora – re.sort
- Khary – uhhh
- Khary – Intern Aquarium
- Clipse – Let God Sort Em’ Out
General Impressions
The Kiwi Ears Belle provides a V shaped tuning, with a significant warm tinge throughout, giving you a inviting experience. Also, the overall presentation of this set – probably the best way to describe it is : a more matured take of a V shaped set, where it can be versatile in both simple tracks and provides good technicalities when it needs to.
Bass
l Rumbly subbass, provides a good foundation for providing general lift for tracks throughout
l Lowerbass provides good amount of dynamicness, and goes quite deep in tone
l Midbass has good amount of response but occasionaly might have some bloaty feeling
l Bass definition is on a more matured side, providing a levelled presentation which balances texture and the low-end girth
l 808s are quite exciting and provides good amount of bounce
l Kicks are on the thumpier side and provides good airy diffusion
l Speed of the IEM varies with the track – on mastered tracks its fast and engaging, whilst on live set you can feel its on the more natural, slower pace.
Vocals
l Positioning of the vocalists is prefectly balanced in contrast to instruments throughout. Caters to most people that wants a more fun tuning IEM
l Suprisingly bodied but not boxy vocals, which is hard to come by in this range
l Tonality is leaning towards a warmer characteristic
l Timbre overall has that coarse, raw feeling which provides more “realness”
l Female vocals get more out of this set as the body provides a stronger presence
l No instance of sibilance
Instruments
l Pre-burn in has some slight incoherencies and distortion – so please make sure to break it in properly before listening. Personally on the 10 hour mark this instance is eliminated for me
l Simple, easily digestable, sufficient in intriguing me and keeping me engaged
l Somewhere in between when music is not busy, microdetails pop out and capture your interest
l Pianos are smooth and simple sounding, yet provides good engagement
l Strings provides a more rigid presentation with quick airy extensions
n If strings in the form of microdetails, will have a more tactile response from overtones complementing and completing it
l Vocal ensembles are quite performing for this pair which provides a more coherent and less ambiguous imaging. Typically this is mixed where it lies in between your 10 and 2 oclock for mixes, and this one provides a better pinpoint accuracy and you can sonically visualize it diffusing from 2 different points. For some IEMs, this is done in a more “subbass” presentation where it floods the entire ambience with no point of origin, which at the end of the day is down to subjective enjoyment.
Upper-mids and Treble
l Upper-mids provide a good amount of energy with no splashiness
l Percussions are natural in terms of tonal and timbre characteristics, with hi-hats sounding extremely fast and responsive, and opened-hats and cymbals give a quick airy decay
l Positioning might be slightly behind bass but overall seeign this as a good thing as it eliminates fatigue
l Microdetails in this region are provides good sparkliness and quick smoothened ending to it, no sense of prickliness
Technicalities
Dynamics
l On low volume it sways to feel more balanced
l On normal volumes its your typical V-shaped tuning – but overall still does vocals justice with its more forward positioning
l On extremely heavy tracks, it starts falling apart and has some form of distortion
Soundstage
l For its pricepoint, I think it does the job quite well among its competitors in this price point
Imaging and Seperation
l I think a better way to describe how this set handles seperation is that, although everything sounds closer together, theres still no instance of any muddiness or mixing of instruments and tracks throughout
l Imaging is quite good for the 30USD mark, nothing much to complain as some that are more expensive can’t even get this right
Detail retrieval
l Another strong suit of this IEM, which overall helps nuances throughout the tracks to pop out. Presentation characteristics of the IEM is leaning more towards being fast and consise, giving you quick hits of engagement
Final Thoughts
All in all, the Kiwi Ears Belle has definitely caught my attention with this. Albeit being in the extremely saturated 30USD price point, I think its performace definitely stands out and provides a good amount of versatility for almost any genre out there.
And as with why I mentioned this pair is a more matured set :
I feel like with its tuning, the Belle provides a more concise experience with whatever you’re listening to – rather than relying on sections tuned to be mroe engaging and amplified. Hence, definitely a set I would personally recommend for people who are on a budget but wants something that is more refined.
Yes, sets that are more twangy in the treble and more mmph in the lows are defintiely more pleasing, but if you were to listen for hours and hours on end , I think this set provides you with a slow ease into it, rather than going from amazing – to sometimes somewhat overwhelmed when you want your listening session to be more relaxed.
Thanks for reading the review! Alternatively, I’ve also done a review in video form :
https://youtu.be/58RvycZ6E7w
Check it out!