The good folks at KiwiEars (Rosie) have kindly sent out the Belle iems for review with no expectations of a positive review – and that’s exactly what they’re getting.
The Belles retail for just $29 USD.
The Belle features a custom-tuned 10mm dynamic driver with an impedance of 32 ohms and a sensitivity of 103 dB.
I like to add on all my reviews –
I’m listening with my Side‑Mounted Tweeter Pods, not yours.
I’m listening with my gear, not yours.
I’m listening with my love of audio, and not yours. YMMV…..
Now let’s get our aural hands dirty
Gear:
For the review, my portable gear consists of the new Hiby R6S Pro II 2025 (review very soon - get excited!)
Unboxing and first impressions:
Very simple, small box, akin to many other brands of late.
Open it up to see a pair of black iems and another box which houses a white 3.5mm cable and 2 sets of tips in 3 sizes.
Nothing special but for $29, everything as expected.
In the interest of fairness, I only use 4.4mm cables into my balanced Daps, so I switch out for my KBEar Aureus cable).
They are a simple looking iem but for the price, that’s fine.
They fit well inside my soundstage sideflaps and the stock tips sound great.
Playlist:
Gone Gone Gone – David Guetta, Teddy Swims, Tones and I
The Real You -The HU
Puppet Parade- Megadeth
Rejoice – Def Leppard
Valhalla Calling – Miracle of Sound
Make Us Stronger- Ghost Rider
The Important Stuff:
Gone Gone Gone starts and it sounds great. I had never heard the song (thanks David H!!). It’s punchy, snappy with saxophones, clapping out reasonably wide left to right.
Everything is separated well and bass is quite deep and well controlled.
From Electronic straight to Mongolian throat-singing folk metal……
Again, it’s punchy and sounds are well separated. Treble is present but maybe just a tad laid back (which will please a HUGE cohort of listeners).
Vocals are clean, clear and not in my face. Everything gels well. Cohesion.
This an exciting song on the Belles.
Megadeth next (you knew there’d be Mustainian metal!!). Treble is opening up here. Mustaine’s clean and crisp vocals shine. Detail and clarity are actually front and centre on this track. Guitars are punchy and bass is present and well controlled. Not ocean-floor deep, but still very good. The taps on the side of the drums are very clean and obvious.
A new Leppard track - AWESOME!!!! I’m as happy as a sh*# in pig!!!!!!
Great song too-damn. Vocals are front and centre here. Joe sounds natural and powerful.
Treble is definitely there but it’s not crisp or sibilant.
Bass is decent without going into sub-bass levels.
I would hazard a guess that these are a fairly neutrally tuned pair of iems (to my Cranial Stereo Shovels, anyway).
Still fun and punchy but no real peaks in any of the frequencies.
On Valhalla Calling, everything just sounds good. There isn’t any other way to describe it. Bass is decent, mids are smooth and treble is nicely present. There is a nice naturalness to them.
There’s also no bleed between frequencies that I can hear.
I finish with an Electronic powerhouse – Make Us Stronger.
This tests separation, balance, dynamics, ALL frequencies and sheer excitement.
Bass here seems to go deeper than on previous tracks and it’s more powerful by quite a margin.
It’s clean with no bleed, just like Aunty Jemima’s strawberry jam scones (perfection!!!). Mids (synths, vocals) are really nice and balanced and treble is again present (there’s plenty of detail up top) but nothing is harsh or sibilant.
This is a GREAT song on the Belles and I’m sure the Hiby R6 Pro II 2025 is driving them beautifully.
What I’m understanding about the Belles is that they are song and genre-dependent. When the song is mellow, they play it safe. When deep bass is called for, they do actually slam.
On some songs, treble is up front and clean, on some it’s takes a slight back-step and plays 2nd fiddle to the mids.
Mids seem to be consistently smooth though – not once did I hear any shouty or honky vocals and they were never recessed either.
Staging is very good left to right, and separation is equally good. I never heard a mish-mash of sounds, I could always distinguish where a sound was inside my Dolby Atmos Dome.
A quick comparison (or 2):
The obvious comparison here is the recently reviewed KZ ZS12 PRO 2s- https://www.head-fi.org/showcase/【kz-zs12-pro-2】flagship-grade-super-linear-1dd-5ba-hybrid-iem-3-5mm-type-c-sound-card-version-for-gamers.28709/reviews#review-41244.
I listen on the Hiby with both running 4.4mm balanced cables.
Keep in mind, the KZs are twice the price of the Belles ($60 vs $29).
Make Us Stronger – a really punchy and dynamic listen on the Belles. Deep, staging and separating well, with clear, clean treble and balanced mids. Very nice!
On the ZS12 PRO 2s, It’s actually a very similar listen. The punch, the excitement, the bass – it’s all there.
But staging is out wider, and separation is better placed inside my Cranial Soundstage Generator on the ZS12s.
On I’m Good (Blue), again, staging and separation are just ahead on the ZS12 Pro 2s but really, the Belles are doing a really awesome job for just $29 – I’m very impressed.
Conclusion:
These are for any new-comers who don’t feel like upgrading for a while. These would suit many people for quite some time, as they really showcase the style and sound of your music. Mellow on smoother tracks, punchy and exciting with EDM, Electronic and just plain satisfying with rock and metal.
Very good set of budget iems which won’t take on the big boys, but they don’t need to.
Highly recommended, especially for the price.
This is a paid review but all opinions and writings are my own without influence.
