The Freya are excellent! They do aural magic with all my classical tracks, be it orchestra, chamber, piano, or solo violin, and truly versatile enough for my taste to handle most of my other tracks. The mids emphasis makes them more versatile than many excellent IEMs that are not the best for some tracks due to what appear to be a "mid suckout", relatively speaking. Yes, relatively expensive but considering their design and quality, these are more than worth it even without any additional discounts. The driver matching is excellent, and they appear to be very durable despite their light resin nature. And the hand painted design is more than worth it IMHO. But they do sound good while also looking good-contrary to what some opinions out there may be. Easy to drive, yes-sound good though brighter over my Note 9's headphone jack-still sounding good-but much better all around with my A&norma SR25, which although not "high end" sounds excellent with the Freya-excellent imaging and holographic representation. Some other reviewers are very conservative, and there is a lot of elitism, as well as seekers of value against all other considerations. For me, value is important as I am not rich, but never to the point that I have to sacrifice on things being too cheaply made or easy to break (or worse, too many new, defective units.) In my case my Freya pair was faultless and tested thoroughly shows no problems. No cutouts, nothing amiss, all in its proper place, in addition to the awesome presentation (and I do love their appearance more than you do!) The machine-gun needles reviewer probably never had it properly fitted, as I could make the Freya sound "bad" with a proper seal but an ill fit. Ear tips and insertion rate play a big role with this particular model-moreso than most IMHO. The clear/white stock tips are a great match in my experience. Some good tips slip off. One has to experiment. In my ears' experience, a too deep fit in the ear is not the best with the Freya, though we are all different. They sound better for me with a shallow insertion, delicately, comfortable, but still securely on the ear. They are so ergonomic in my case that a light fit is super stable on my ears. (I respect that reviewer-just do not think he gave the product a fair shake.) All in all, I am super happy with these, and hope any Freya 2.0 in the future does not mess up the signature too much, as it is beautiful as it is. It even has nice treble extension, though that is what I would add a bit more if I was to remake/redesign them (and perhaps 2db worth of 20hz bass-any more it would change the model too much, I think. I like it how it is, not overly bassy.) Thanks so much for your honest take, not sounding like a company man, but also not nitpicking or unfairly trashing the model. It even does not measure that bad when you consider the ER4SR as a reference. We live in a current audiophile state in which anything that is not OH10/Aria/Starfield/Kato/Blessing2-like is looked down on. There are more ways to enjoy music than those good but safe references. If it sounds good, it does, no matter what others have to say about it. May sound too subjectivist, but it is merely an objective truth that we may like things others do not. Be well, and stay safe!
I also recommend Freya and I agree with your review, I have been with them for 2 weeks and I love their sound. Soon on my channel I will upload my review (in Spanish). But I have seen 2 videos, which mention precisely what RikudouGoku says about bad vocals, and trebles with sibilant and sharps. Even seeing this opinion in Head-Fi, I was afraid that I had some problem with the Freya because I had already ordered them, but no, I love their sound and their vocals are amazing and I have not presented any problems with treble (I hate a treble emphasis and here with Freya, enjoy this point of the frequency response). Maybe, it is true that there are some quality issues. The problem is that there are not many reviews of these yet to know if it is a big problem or they are just isolated cases. (Very pleasant review of yours, by the way)
Glad to see your comment about the Kinera Freya as I'm really thinking of getting them for me. I'll watch your videos on it. I don't speak Spanish but I hope I can make sense of it with my Portuguese.
Thanks for your excellent review, The pair have exceptional looks and beautiful sound output too. I don't feel the treble to be sibilant or harsh a bit.
A beautiful design. This product looks like a great option for someone getting into IEMs or as a gift. It looks great, has a nice cable so you won't need to buy another one and the included adapters are more things you won't have to buy. Kinera has a reputation for quality too which can't be said for some other makers in the budget end.
Thank you for another excellent review. I, like you, am not a big fan of in ear devices. However your review of the Kinera Freya gave me food for thought. How strange that another respected reviewer had a completely opposite opinion. I agree that it must be a quality control issue, or possibly transit damage. You give good advice to await further reviews before parting with precious dollars. The price range of higher end in-ear phones is enough to scare many off these devices. What you get for your investment seems so little compared with over-ear headphones. However they do have advantages for portability, which can also be a disadvantage should you happen to leave them somewhere. This may be why good quality lower cost in-ear phones are so popular.
Che fudge! (Sorry I don't know how to spell it correctly just how I hear it haha). I'm curious as you say you like the starfield as well, which I absolutely love. Do these maintain good timbre despite the BA drivers? And in addition would you say there is greater clarity and instrument separation? I'm really hoping to find warm with great detail. It seems detail is limited to bright earphones but I'm hoping to find something warm with "OCD" detail. Great review!
These are exactly that to my ears. Warmer and very rich sounding with great timbre, but still great layering and soundstage. I'm keeping these. :) But please wait for few more impressions as I am worried about QC like I mentioned in the video (another head-fi member impression was quite off).
Regarding the harsh bright experience of the other reviewer you mentioned (here 10:49) could this be explained by his pairing somewhere in his chain (DAC, cable, source, power supply)? As you noted earlier (9:00) that the sound signature changes with different equipment and it can sound bright with some DACs
I guess it could be due to a bad pairing but that reviewer probably has a good grasp of his source heard trough other earphones... So it seems more likely to me that he just got a bad Freya unit.
Hi, Can you please share the tr-amp setup I can do on Macbook? I am a noob to DAC/Amp and I know I'm missing something with TR-amp as I'm not able to get it to its full potential. Anything would be good. Thanks
If you remember what I wrote yesterday on your comment in TR-amp video... when I mentioned finding a good player that can take direct control, and giving your player an exclusive control over the DAC (I explained how it's done in Windows) - which is preventing OS to meddle and resample/ruin the signal quality. I hope you can find a good Mac tutorial about it. Also, if you can, try taking it to a friend and trying it with some other headphones to see if there's anything different happening.
Is there a way for me to check it? The unit was sent by an online retailer Hifigo and looks like a proper retail version to me, with promo pamphlet and everything.
Very surprising, your the only reviewer who actually liked these. Every other review on these said, unimpressed, meh, underwhelmed and disappointed. Price for what you get, not worth it.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 89 | คู่เอก "ยอดไอคิว vs คิริลล์"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Z3vYkHJ_5Ig/mqdefault.jpg)
The Freya are excellent! They do aural magic with all my classical tracks, be it orchestra, chamber, piano, or solo violin, and truly versatile enough for my taste to handle most of my other tracks. The mids emphasis makes them more versatile than many excellent IEMs that are not the best for some tracks due to what appear to be a "mid suckout", relatively speaking.
Yes, relatively expensive but considering their design and quality, these are more than worth it even without any additional discounts. The driver matching is excellent, and they appear to be very durable despite their light resin nature. And the hand painted design is more than worth it IMHO. But they do sound good while also looking good-contrary to what some opinions out there may be.
Easy to drive, yes-sound good though brighter over my Note 9's headphone jack-still sounding good-but much better all around with my A&norma SR25, which although not "high end" sounds excellent with the Freya-excellent imaging and holographic representation.
Some other reviewers are very conservative, and there is a lot of elitism, as well as seekers of value against all other considerations. For me, value is important as I am not rich, but never to the point that I have to sacrifice on things being too cheaply made or easy to break (or worse, too many new, defective units.) In my case my Freya pair was faultless and tested thoroughly shows no problems. No cutouts, nothing amiss, all in its proper place, in addition to the awesome presentation (and I do love their appearance more than you do!)
The machine-gun needles reviewer probably never had it properly fitted, as I could make the Freya sound "bad" with a proper seal but an ill fit. Ear tips and insertion rate play a big role with this particular model-moreso than most IMHO. The clear/white stock tips are a great match in my experience. Some good tips slip off. One has to experiment. In my ears' experience, a too deep fit in the ear is not the best with the Freya, though we are all different. They sound better for me with a shallow insertion, delicately, comfortable, but still securely on the ear. They are so ergonomic in my case that a light fit is super stable on my ears. (I respect that reviewer-just do not think he gave the product a fair shake.)
All in all, I am super happy with these, and hope any Freya 2.0 in the future does not mess up the signature too much, as it is beautiful as it is. It even has nice treble extension, though that is what I would add a bit more if I was to remake/redesign them (and perhaps 2db worth of 20hz bass-any more it would change the model too much, I think. I like it how it is, not overly bassy.)
Thanks so much for your honest take, not sounding like a company man, but also not nitpicking or unfairly trashing the model. It even does not measure that bad when you consider the ER4SR as a reference. We live in a current audiophile state in which anything that is not OH10/Aria/Starfield/Kato/Blessing2-like is looked down on. There are more ways to enjoy music than those good but safe references. If it sounds good, it does, no matter what others have to say about it. May sound too subjectivist, but it is merely an objective truth that we may like things others do not.
Be well, and stay safe!
I also recommend Freya and I agree with your review, I have been with them for 2 weeks and I love their sound. Soon on my channel I will upload my review (in Spanish). But I have seen 2 videos, which mention precisely what RikudouGoku says about bad vocals, and trebles with sibilant and sharps. Even seeing this opinion in Head-Fi, I was afraid that I had some problem with the Freya because I had already ordered them, but no, I love their sound and their vocals are amazing and I have not presented any problems with treble (I hate a treble emphasis and here with Freya, enjoy this point of the frequency response).
Maybe, it is true that there are some quality issues. The problem is that there are not many reviews of these yet to know if it is a big problem or they are just isolated cases.
(Very pleasant review of yours, by the way)
Glad to see your comment about the Kinera Freya as I'm really thinking of getting them for me. I'll watch your videos on it. I don't speak Spanish but I hope I can make sense of it with my Portuguese.
Thanks for your excellent review, The pair have exceptional looks and beautiful sound output too. I don't feel the treble to be sibilant or harsh a bit.
A beautiful design. This product looks like a great option for someone getting into IEMs or as a gift. It looks great, has a nice cable so you won't need to buy another one and the included adapters are more things you won't have to buy. Kinera has a reputation for quality too which can't be said for some other makers in the budget end.
Thank you for another excellent review. I, like you, am not a big fan of in ear devices. However your review of the Kinera Freya gave me food for thought. How strange that another respected reviewer had a completely opposite opinion. I agree that it must be a quality control issue, or possibly transit damage. You give good advice to await further reviews before parting with precious dollars. The price range of higher end in-ear phones is enough to scare many off these devices. What you get for your investment seems so little compared with over-ear headphones. However they do have advantages for portability, which can also be a disadvantage should you happen to leave them somewhere. This may be why good quality lower cost in-ear phones are so popular.
Nice review ! I am getting these in a few days for my birthday 🎉
Che fudge! (Sorry I don't know how to spell it correctly just how I hear it haha). I'm curious as you say you like the starfield as well, which I absolutely love. Do these maintain good timbre despite the BA drivers? And in addition would you say there is greater clarity and instrument separation? I'm really hoping to find warm with great detail. It seems detail is limited to bright earphones but I'm hoping to find something warm with "OCD" detail. Great review!
These are exactly that to my ears. Warmer and very rich sounding with great timbre, but still great layering and soundstage. I'm keeping these. :) But please wait for few more impressions as I am worried about QC like I mentioned in the video (another head-fi member impression was quite off).
Thank you for the objective review always
I think you'll love ie800. It also sounds quite grand with quite great bass to lower midrange dileneation (though not my type of sound 😅).
Regarding the harsh bright experience of the other reviewer you mentioned (here 10:49) could this be explained by his pairing somewhere in his chain (DAC, cable, source, power supply)? As you noted earlier (9:00) that the sound signature changes with different equipment and it can sound bright with some DACs
I guess it could be due to a bad pairing but that reviewer probably has a good grasp of his source heard trough other earphones... So it seems more likely to me that he just got a bad Freya unit.
Hi, Can you please share the tr-amp setup I can do on Macbook?
I am a noob to DAC/Amp and I know I'm missing something with TR-amp as I'm not able to get it to its full potential.
Anything would be good.
Thanks
Sorry I'm a total noob when it comes to Mac since I've been Windows PC user my whole life.
@@iiWiReviews please tell me the setup on windows, I'll try to find alternative for mac.
If you remember what I wrote yesterday on your comment in TR-amp video... when I mentioned finding a good player that can take direct control, and giving your player an exclusive control over the DAC (I explained how it's done in Windows) - which is preventing OS to meddle and resample/ruin the signal quality. I hope you can find a good Mac tutorial about it.
Also, if you can, try taking it to a friend and trying it with some other headphones to see if there's anything different happening.
is this the review version or the retail version? because there are 2 different version out there
Is there a way for me to check it? The unit was sent by an online retailer Hifigo and looks like a proper retail version to me, with promo pamphlet and everything.
Very surprising, your the only reviewer who actually liked these. Every other review on these said, unimpressed, meh, underwhelmed and disappointed. Price for what you get, not worth it.
$250 is expensive for you?
Yes
Obviously