Kiwi Ears X Crinacle Singolo Review: Intimate & detailed experience

I tried a number of IEMs tuned by Crinacle, like 7Hrz Zero2, Truthear Zero Red, Zero Blue, etc., but none of them soothed my audio needs. I didn’t even bother to review them, as they all seem lifeless to me. But this Kiwi ears Singolo seems different. In my first audition, I tried some live performances of different artists to understand the whole frequency response with stage, as in my experience, live performances give you a good sense of depth and weith.

It seems quite intimate to me but not congested. Singolo performs fantastic with all of the DAC/Amps in my possession, regardless of the nature of the DAC. But as I’m a warm tune lover, the Ifi Hip DAC2, Cayin RU7, & iBasso DC04 Pro gave me that ‘warm musical’ tune. As always, I experimented with different cables and ear tips, as the stock cable & tips seem ‘meh’ to me.

I will cover the cable and ear tips rolling later in this review.

DISCLAIMER

LINSOUL was kind enough to send me the Singolo to review. I am not affiliated with Linsoul and of course, I was not asked for any copy-checking before publishing. All opinions shared in this review are my subjective thoughts.

One thing more: The review is based on my personal experience and what I hear using different sources. Your experience may vary due to personal preference and physical differences like the shape & depth of the ear canal.

For your personal purchase, checkout GEEK MART or LINSOUL for their fantastic products and promotions (non-affiliated link).

GEAR USED

●   DAP: Cowon Planue R2, Tempo Tac V3
●   DAC: ifi Hip DAC 2, Cayin RU7, iBasso DC 04 Pro, Dunu DTC 480, Fosi Audio DS-1, Celest CD-10, Hidizs SD8 Pro Robin, Moondrop Dawn Pro.
●   Smartphone: Poco X3
●   Files: Spotify & local Hi-Res FALC & DSD files.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

● Driver: 11mm DD
● Frequency response: 20 hz – 20 khz
● Impedance: 32Ω
● Sensitivity: 108 dB
● Cable: Silver plated copper
● Connector: 0.78mm 2-Pin Connectors
● Plug: 3.5mm single ended
● Ear tips: Soft silicon

BOX CONTAINS

● Singolo IEMs
● Silver mix copper cable
● 2 types of ear tips (S, M, L)
● Official papers

UNBOXING EXPERIENCE

Unboxing the Kiwi Ears Singolo is a straight forward business. Comes in a comparatively small cardboard box, inside which the IEMs are nested in a foam cut out with the stock cable attached. In another cutout under the paper cover with the company loge, you will find the stock ear tips in separate zip lock pouch. No carrying case or storage pouch to secure your IEMs while traveling. It’s a very poor approach from the company. Overall, the unboxing experience is good but not fancy.

BUILT QUALITY & DESIGN

The Kiwi Ears Singolo is a very well-built and gorgeous-looking IEM, made from medical-grade resin. It looks premium and durable at the same time while being light weight & comfortable due to it’s resin build. The face plate design has excellent textured presentation mixed with royal blue, deep blue, and orange with silver-colored ‘Kiwi ears’ branding in it.

The semi-transparent shells allow a peek into the internal components, which adds a touch of sophistication to the overall aesthetic. Aside from the IEMs, other supplied accessories are not of good quality. The stock ear tips, though made from soft silicon, are flimsy and won’t give you the proper seal and comfort you need to enjoy your music. In terms of cable, the included silver-plated copper cable is functional but lacks robustness, which is a big downside.

FIT & COMFORT

Kiwi Ears Singolo is a very comfortable IEM. Due to its light weight design, it doesn’t put any extra load in your ear. The smooth and ergonomic resin shells sit very well. With the proper choice of ear tips, the IEMs sealed well and gave the ultimate musical performance it was able to give. This is the only challenge I find during my testing sessions. The nozzle is on the shorter side, and they are a bit bulky compared to regular nozzles.

So, you must roll tips to find your perfect match depending on your ear canal size & shape. Stock tips are comfortable also, as they are made of soft silicon. But they didn’t fit well in my ears; even changing size can’t solve it. The supplied cable with Kiwi Ears Singolo is a very low-profile and soft one. Not tangle like the stiff ones you will find in some entry-level IEMs. Ear hooks didn’t create any pressure, and it has a little too low microphonics. In terms of long listening sessions, I find the Singolo a very comfortable IEM.

SOUND IMPRESSIONS

Kiwi Ears Singolo delivers a clean, balanced sound, focusing on clarity and vocals over too warm kind of delivery. The custom 11mm DD played a good role here as it is enhanced by the Kiwi Acoustic Resonance System (KARS), which provides a tight, punchy sub-bass that doesn’t bleed into the rest of the frequencies. With very nice detailed and forward vocals, the midrange stands out, making it a good choice for vocal-centric genres.

A slight dryness in lower mids can be heard, though it will not make your music dull. Upper frequencies are shiny and the treble is smooth & controlled, with just enough sparkle to add energy without any harshness. Soundstage is limited in Singolo, while the instrument separation is excellent, ensuring a layered and detailed listening experience.

Now before the full review, lets take a look at the frequency graph of Singolo–

Frequency graph courtesy- Prime Audio Reviews

SUB-BASS

Kiwi Ears Singolo delivers a tasteful and soft sub-bass. In my opinion, it is a bit loose, but not damn slow. Crinacle tuned it with a +8 dB boost in sub-bass region, and it offers a subwoofer-like performance. Is that true? Yes, it is. Subwoofers tend to deliver more organic and smooth sub-bass that will not disturb your overall music listening experience by overpowering the rest of the frequencies.

The same goes for the Singolo: satisfying depth and rumble gave a powerful, yet controlled low end. It’s all because of the proprietary KARS technology introduced by Kiwi Ears. The sub-bass stays well defined and does not bleed into the mid-bass, which helps maintain clarity across the frequency spectrum. This level of precision makes the Singolo a good choice for those who love to enjoy the original analog type of sub-bass that doesn’t fire cannons in their ear canal.

Tracks used:
● Learning to Fly- Pink Floyd
● In Your Eyes- Peter Gabriel
● Numb- Linkin Park

MID-BASS

Tight and controlled with a hint of smoothness-that’s all I can say for the mid-bass performance of the Kiwi Ears Singolo. Almost all the IEMs tuned by Crinacle have one constant drawback: the mid-bass. The Singolo is no exception here! The mis-bass quality is good, with tasteful punch, but lacks some quantity. It’s just that, out of the box, the way the KARS is tuned, there’s a noticeable scoop in the 800-300Hz area, making mid-bass less full or less impactful.

You can tell this, especially in bass-heavy tracks. This secures clarity and separation from the mids but also means the mid-bass does not have that warmth some listeners, like me, expect. The result is actually leaning toward the more neutral type of mid-bass presentation, which makes instruments like drums a bit less dynamic and rhythmic. To those who enjoy a more clean and neutral sound signature with minimal bass bleed, the mid-bass tuning of Singolo will likely appeal to you.

Tracks used:
● Dreams- Fleetwood Mac
● Jaded- Aerosmith
● La-Bamba- Los Lobos

MALE VOCALS

I personally love warm and thick male vocals. In my point of view, this kind of presentation enriches & delivers the true emotion in music. The Kiwi Ears Singolo presents the male vocals slightly differently than my liking. It’s lean more to the neutral side, which feels dry without any rich texture. It’s clean though, but I was craving more emotion. The same thing happens here as mid-bass, due to the dip in the 100-300 Hz range.

Male vocals sound slightly thinner and lack of body but with good clarity. Pairing it with an analog or warm source solved the problem. It then gains more texture and richness, improving the listening experience. If you are someone who is always looking for clean and clear male vocals with good articulation, the Singolo performs well enough. But for those who, like me, enjoy full-bodied, textured, & lush male vocals, a pairing with an analog/warm source would be essential to getting the best experience from the Kiwi Ears Singolo.

Tracks used:
● Take it Back- Pink Floyd
● Sound of Silence- Disturbed
● Brother- Morten Harket

FEMALE VOCALS

The female vocal performance of Kiwi Ears Singolo is impressive enough to praise. If you love clarity and details in higher frequencies, you will enjoy this kind of presentation. Female vocals come through transparent and with a sense of airiness that allows them to shine. You will feel it boldly in pop music or any acoustic performance. The tuning in upper mids boosts the power in female vocals, giving them a lively and forward character.

But in higher volumes, this boost becomes slightly too prominent, and this aggressive tune can create fatigue in long listening sessions for sensitive listeners like me. It is more prominent in vocal-forward tracks and female singers with high-pitched vocals, like Barbara Streisand. But there are lots of listeners who love this kind of bright, detailed female vocals. For those, it can be a gem. But warm sound lovers like me can grab a warm source to get rid of this.

Tracks used:
● I Hop You Dance- Lee Ann Womack
● There You Will Be- Faith Hill
● It Must Have’en Love- Roxette

INSTRUMENTS SEPARATION

Most impressive thing is how the Kiwi Ears Singolo separates instruments for an IEM in this price bracket. It presents a clean and detailed presentation where each instrument can sharply separated from another. The KARS technology further complements this effect to give each instrument a place in the soundstage. That means even in complicated tracks of instrumental numbers, guitars, drums, and pianos never overwrite each other.

The sound becomes more layered and full of texture when each different instrument can be heard. This precision in separation also means a high level of technical performance, which keeps the sound engaging without congestion. The overall instrument separation on the Singolo lets the listener pick out each element in turn with ease and is a solid choice for those listening for clarity and clean separation in their music.

Tracks used:
● Milky Way- Kitaro
● Perpetual Burning- Jason Becker
● Nadia- Jeff Beck

TREBLE

The treble in Kiwi Ears Singolo is tuned to be safe and smooth. It ensures a pleasent listening experience without causing harshness or sibilant. The treble is a bit laid-back, which allows the upper midrange to handle most of the clarity, adding some more air and definition to the overall sound. This results in a high end that is generally clean and controlled. The treble tuning makes it easily one of the least fatiguing options when it comes to really long listening sessions.

Perhaps, it may also come off underwhelming with listeners looking for excitement or a more bright, more shimmering treble presence. The Singolo treble gives enough detail to keep things engaging without ever becoming aggressive; it’s well-suited for listeners who want a more natural sound without excessive brightness. Even with neutral sources, it stays controlled & smooth.

Tracks used:
● Street of Dreams- Rainbow
● Hero of the Day- Metallica
● Paradise City- Guns N’ Roses

SOUNDSTAGE

Kiwi Ears Singolo presents soundstage that is not wide but intimate while is not congested either. It doesn’t offer an extremely wide sound stage, but instead, it really excels at depth and layering. The soundstage generates an intimate, though realistic space, placing instruments to feel much closer to the listener instead of creating a wide-open sound field. This gives the music much more immersion, especially within genres where intimacy and closeness in presentation are of notable benefit.

Worth mentioning, however, is that the instrument separation is so good that even at a somewhat limited width in soundstage, every element in the music will remain clear, even on busy tracks. Even though the soundstage is relatively intimate, the Singolo still performs admirably in the area of presenting instruments distinctly and giving space around them. In this price point, this scenario is very common, right?

Tracks used:
● Sorrow- Pink Floyd (PULSE)
● Sirius- Alan Parsons Project (Live)
● Sun Always Shines on TV- A-Ha (Live)

POWER & SYNERGY

Usually any IEM with this configuration can’t be a power-hungry one; Kiwi Ears Singolo is no exception. You can drive it directly from the 3.5mm audio jack of your smartphone. But to drive it to its full potential, a decent DAC can help you in the long run. The more juice, the more any IEM will open up! If you have DAC/Amps in your collection, don’t bother to experiment.

Now synergy. The Kiwi Ears Singolo is not that source-picky, but different sources can drive it in slightly different tunes. I’ve got a very enjoyable listening experience pairing it with Dunu DTC 480 and Celest CD10, while Fosi Audio DS1 made the upper mids a bit ‘hot’, which was disturbing. I got the best performance with Cayin RU7 & iBasso DC04 Pro with analog type of presentation and wider soundstage.

Not power hungry but with a decent DAC/Amp it scales up very well!

CABLE & TIP ROLLING

This is my favorite part while testing any IEM. Kiwi Ears Singolo comes with two types of silicon ear tips and a very low-profile designed cable, but they don’t stack well. The supplied ear tips have fit & seal issues, while the cable feels too thin and not robust. I tried various ear tips like Spinfit Omni, W1, CP145, Dunu S&S, Candy, ddhifi ST35, Tangzu Tang Sancai, etc. and got good seal, fit, & comfort with Dunu S&S and those from Spinfit.

The stock cable is low profile, but an upgrade cable can make the most out of Singolo. OCC copper cables like Dunu Lyre Mini and NiceHCK MixPP can be a good choice. I tested this IEM with those two cables and found that they bring out a bit more details in music. May be its just me, or may be this is real. But to my ears, that was audible.

A low budget OCC cable like NiceHCK MixPP and cheap tips like Spinfit CP145 is all you need!

RECOMMENDED FOR

● Who loves analog type of sub-bass
● Loves safer mid-bass tuning (Crinacle tuning fans)
● Looking for very good instrument separation
● Enjoys intimate soundstage
● Loves smooth treble
● Audiophiles on a budget

NOT FOR

● Crazy bass heads
● Looking for quality mid-bass
● Admirer of warm & emotional male vocals
● Who loves spicy treble
● Looking for wide soundstage

FINAL THOUGHTS

Looking for a beautiful and lightweight IEM? Then, when you first take the Kiwi Ears Singolo in hand, you wish to have it in your collection. But wait, there are more important things playing inside that are not visible from outside. Like that KARS technology, which ensures to deliver a subwoofer-like sub-bass, which is leaning more to the analog side. Very enjoyable female vocals and fantastic instrument separation is also there. But the cavity is that it provides mid-bass and male vocals with less warmth, texture, and richness. And the soundstage is also not wide, but rather intimate. Can you handle all these characteristics in a $60 IEM? Then have an audition and take the decision.

For more reviews on audio gear, click here