Pineapple Audio Reviews

  Kiwi Ears Belle – Small Shell, Big Attitude Pros:  * Great comfort and fit — small, light shell that’s easy to wear for long sessions. * Balanced presentation for casual listening: vocals feel natural and pleasant, instruments have decent body, and overall tonality stays friendly even over hours of listening. * Versatile listening — handles a wide range of genres (electronic, hip-hop, indie, acoustic, even gaming and movies) * Solid technical performance for its price — good separation, clean imaging, and a soundstage that’s comfortable and well-proportioned for a budget single-DD IEM. * Good value for money — given the build, tuning, and comfort, it punches well above its price bracket. * Easy to drive — doesn’t demand a powerful amp; works fine from portable devices or dongle-DACs, making it convenient for daily on-the-go use. Cons : For the price. none. The Belle is Kiwi Ears’ newest budget banger, and honestly, it nails everything I look for in a set at this price. It’s ...

  Kiwi Ears x Z Reviews Serene – The Planar That Forgot to Be “Serene” Pros:  *Scales really well. *Powerful, deep, and textured bass that still retains speed and control. *Smooth and natural sounding midrange with lifelike vocals and good instrument presence. *Treble is relaxed and fatigue-free easy to listen to for long sessions. *Excellent external ambient sound isolation. Cons:  *Requires a powerful amplifier/DAC to really shine; under-powered sources don’t let it show its best. *the cups could be a little larger. (nitpick) Let’s just get this out of the way the Kiwi Ears x Z Reviews Serene might be the least “serene” headphone I’ve ever heard. The name makes you think of something calm, smooth, and relaxing, but the moment you hit play, it hits back. Hard The first thing that jumps out isn’t detail or air or staging it’s the bass, and it comes at you like it’s got something to prove. Big, thick, meaty bass that slaps with authority but still keeps its composure. It’s...

  FiiO K13 R2R : A Bigger, Smarter, and More Capable R2R Desktop All-Rounder Pros:  * Powerful output — easily drives full-size hard to drive headphones and planars. * Clean, natural R2R sound with more air, clarity, and depth than the K11. * Solid aluminum build with a nice “skylight” window and smooth controls. * Customizable RGB light that also indicates the file sample type. * Lots of inputs and outputs, including balanced, XLR, and Bluetooth 5.4. * Built-in 10-band EQ PEQ for sound tweaking. * Dead-silent background, great dynamics, and wide soundstage. * Independent volume memory and side USB-C Cons:  *  For what you’re paying and everything the K13 brings to the table, I honestly can’t find anything to complain about. The FiiO K13 R2R landed on my desk last month, and I’ll be honest it took me a while to stop listening long enough to actually start writing about it. I’ve been pairing it with all kinds of sources, IEMs, and headphones just to see how far it can...