Kiwi Ears Quintet

Driven by the pursuit of extraordinary audio reproduction, at Kiwi Ears, we create the perfect amalgam of technological innovations with refined tuning strategies.

With musicians and studio engineers particularly in mind, we are on an uncompromising quest to produce the finest professional In-Ear Monitors that will reveal every nuance in your music and performance.

4 Driver Types, 5 Drivers per Side

The Kiwi Ears Quintet utilizes 4 different types of drivers, consisting of 1 Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) dynamic driver, 2 balanced armature (BA) drivers, 1 planar magnetic driver, and 1 piezoelectric (PZT) bone conductor. With a total of 5 drivers per each ear, the Quintet delivers extremely high-resolution audio comparable to professional studio monitors. A large 10mm DLC driver was selected as the sub-woofer due to DLC’s high responsiveness and tensile strength, which pumps out impactful bass slams, but with fast decay speeds. 2 Knowles balanced armature drivers deliver natural and resolving mids, a classic example of why balanced armatures are beloved in the industry.

We are excited to announce the utilization of a new planar tweeter system in the Quintet. The MPT (Micro Planar Transducers) is a new driver technology for the IEM industry. These new tweeters feature the classic planar magnetic driver circuitry but with a smaller footprint for use in hybrid designs. With an extremely low noise floor and high output capacity, these planar magnetic drivers deliver crisp and detailed treble that is unique from typical BA or EST (electrostatic) tweeters used in most IEM’s today. Finally, a piezoelectric driver was utilized to deliver ultra-treble microdetail and air. In R&D testing, the presence of the PZT driver significantly enhanced perceived audio resolution, texture, and sound stage, making it a no-brainer to be an addition in the Quintet.

Kiwi Ears Micro Planar Transducers (MPT) Drivers

Achieving a high quality ultra-treble has been a challenge in the IEM industry. BA drivers are compact, but offer low ultra-treble extension, and are also limited by their output and timbre quality. EST drivers are difficult to utilize in multi-driver setups as they have very low output, often being masked by other drivers’ volumes. Additionally, EST drivers can sound very metallic at high voltage, resulting in an unnatural presence. For this reason, Kiwi Ears has developed a new ultra-treble tweeter with a small modular size of only 5mm, but a tremendous output of 118dB. The Kiwi Ears MPT driver is efficient at producing sustained treble frequencies from 4kHz to 40kHz.

Typical BA or EST drivers have diminishing treble output after 8kHz. However, the MPT driver can maintain the same constant sound pressure at 14kHz as at 4 or 8kHz. This allows extreme flexibility in tuning the MPT driver to match other driver types such as BA or DD, as their outputs are similar. Furthermore, the MPT driver has a significantly more natural tonal texture than EST or BA drivers, achieving better integration in the mix.

Balanced Tonal Signature

A balanced sound signature is a core belief at Kiwi Ears. The Quintet took almost a year in development due to the engineering difficulty of combining all of its driver types. However, the result is a completely balanced tone that accurately reflects the best qualities of each driver. The sub-bass hits strong and fast, with a 9dB shelf that transitions into a flat mids at 300Hz. This mids-bass transition ensures that there is a slight warmth in the lower mids for bass guitar notes to be in the mix, but still retain a studio-monitor-like neutrality to the upper mids.

This creates a natural and clean tone without any muddying or bloating. The treble accurately peaks at 3kHz to match the acoustic perception of the human ear’s pinna, with a gradual decay into the upper treble. Thus, the treble is well-detailed and sparkles, but without any shrillness or harshness. The planar and PZT drivers provides a good extension into the treble until 40kHz, making a higher sense of resolution, airy atmosphere, and soundstage.