Sound Analysis.

Note – First things first, this is the review for the Loki Emerald, which is the international version of Kinera Loki (Chinese version). The main difference between the two is that Loki Emerald has 2dB or so more of upper-midrange and treble post 2kHz till 20kHz, which Kinera found to be more preferable by people outside of China as per their market research and public beta testing. Kinera couldn’t send me the Chinese version in time to test and compare, so I’m just attaching a comparison graph from Elise Audio for you to see. Please check with your retailer which version they have, so that you know which version you’re trying/buying. 

You should also note that ear tips have an effect on Loki Emerald’s signature, especially on Bone Conduction driver’s conduction, impact and effect. So, I’d recommend tip rolling to find the snuggest fit and favourite pairing. With the wrong tips and fit you can hear it sounding leaner and sizzly but very well balanced with the right tips. I personally prefer the fit and sound pairing of BGVP A07, Azla Sedna Earfit Standard and Azla Sedna Earfit Short most out of all tips I have in my collection followed by Spinfits CP145,  Symbio Peel, Symbio W, and Azla Crystal. 

Graphs are measured using an IEC60318-4 (IEC711) setup. You can compare all the graphs on my IEM Graph Database here – Animagus Squiglink.

Summary – Loki Emerald has a well-tuned W-shaped, slightly coloured take on a reference signature with boosted bass, forward upper-midrange and boosted middle and upper treble that make for an exciting and vibrant presentation of music without straying too much away from accurate tonality and timbre of instruments. Even with the boosting on both ends of the spectrum, Loki Emerald comes across as a very well balanced IEM because of the relative balance between the two frequency bands. This is neither a laid back listen nor an IEM for people who like very full sounding signatures. It is an open sounding, exciting listen – the kind that sounds fairly close to accurate while demanding your attention at details, musicality, performance and subtle nuances in the mix.  

Coming to the Bone Conduction driver implementation, Kinera say that they’ve implemented the Bone Conduction to work alongside the 6mm dynamic driver for what they call ‘bottomless diving’ bass presentation but I feel that it has this particular interesting quality where I hear it creating a roomy sense of space that creates an open soundstage and adds on to perception of width and depth boundaries as well as better imaging and space between instruments. If you want to hear the bone conduction work in isolation, try listening to a single person speak without any instruments. It in fact rings noticeably with bassy voices – the only part which makes me think that Kinera could’ve implemented it in a slightly different way to reduce that occasional ringing with bassy voices. 

Let’s dig in deeper…

Bass – Loki Emerald has a 10dB bass shelf that focuses more on sub-bass while keeping the mid-bass boom clean and in control. It has the natural gooey-ness, characteristic of DD drivers but also good speed and transient presentation. I can hear the bone conduction driver adding in impact, boom, punch and rumble as well as sense of depth when the song requires while the well extended treble brings out the subtle nuances in bass performance very well. It’s not an IEM that puts bass right in your face. The bass shines well but only when the song calls for it and has it mixed that way. For example, even though John Mayer’s ‘Paradise Valley’ and ‘Born and Raised’ are majorly acoustic albums, the excellent tasteful bass playing really shines along with excellent instrument presentation across the whole album.  

Midrange – Even though the graph shows a dip in the lower-midrange compared to my Animagus Preference Target, Loki Emerald isn’t a lean sounding IEM, especially if you have a nice snug fit – which I think can be attributed to what the bone conduction driver is doing as its impact does not show up in graphs. If you have a loose-ish fit, it can prevent the DD and Bone Conduction driver’s impact, so make sure you have your fit right. I’d classify it more a clean, reference-ish sound when it comes to midrange than anything else. Upper-midrange has a nice forward presentation with about 9dB of ear gain which results in vocals and instruments having very good, accurate definition and presence in the soundstage. This upper-midrange reminds me a bit of the Empire Ears Odin but without the slight sharpness Odin had around 4-7kHz (in some variations of samples/tuning) that exaggerated the stick attack at times. 

Treble – Loki Emeral’s treble is neutral-ish in the lower-treble while slightly sizzlier and airier with its mid and upper-treble presentation. Overall, I’d classify the treble as neutral-bright, which is well executed against the 10dB bass shelf to present not only a balanced presentation but also one that adds some nice zing and sparkle to the songs to make for a fun, vibrant and exciting listen. This kind of treble tuning not only helps with very good resolution and detail retrieval but also adds on greatly to an open and airy sense of space and separation between instruments. If you’re used to listening to laid back signatures or extra warm IEMs, Loki Emerald is an IEM that will switch on the spotlight on the band and make you notice each instrument properly but you’ll need to give your ears a bit of time to adapt, which is just how our ears work as they can have the tendency to adapt to wonky signatures and then find the more accurate sounding signatures wrong.  

Technical performance – Just the contrast between the 10dB bass shelf, a neutral-ish, very slightly scooped lower-midrange, forward upper-midrange and boosted upper-treble makes for a soundstage that is not only open and airy but also wide and deep making for quite a holographic experience with well mixed songs. It has very good left to right separation with good amount of space between instruments, including a well defined centre image. For people, who’re already using neutral, reference style IEMs, this will majorly come across as a slightly coloured W-shaped IEM over the sub-bass boosted reference IEMs – something I personally quite like even as a reference head. Loki Emerald also has very good macro and micro detail retrieval, which along with forward definition of instruments gets you closer to HiFi speakers in a good room kind of sound.

Page 3 – Comparisons and Conclusion.