BQEYZ KB100 — peculiar driver combination with engaging sound

Another new brand and new name on highly saturated market of IEMs — BQEYZ KB100. The company itself has about 20 years experience of developing IEMs, at least they say so. Their previous models like K2 and KC2 (4 in total) were widely distributed and got pretty good feedback from the audience. We haven’t been dealing with any of their previous models and starting directly with the latest one — KB100.

This model belongs to hybrid class and has some peculiar driver combination that might result into well balanced sound. Let’s look at technical specifications first:

• Driver combination: 1 balanced armature + 2 dynamic driver
• Frequency response range: 7 — 40kHz
• Impedance: 15Ω
• Sensitivity: 105 dB/mW
• Plug: 3.5mm, gold-plated
• IEM connector: 2pin, 0.78mm
• Weight: 25±5g
• Color options: red or blue
• Cable options: with remote and mic, no remote and mic

1 balanced and 2 dynamic drivers is rare combination in hybrid IEMs world. Usually, one dynamic and several armature drivers are combined to give treble the most attention and details. Seems that egineers behind KB100 were trying to compensate excessive armature treble and upper mids by multiple dynamic drivers to extend mids, lows and bass… We would check that a bit later.

You can buy BQEYZ KB100 at PenonAudio store

Package and box contents:

Pretty regular small and neat black box with brand name, model name at the front and products details at the back. All text is imprinted with metallic paint.

There is a special cardboard podium inside the box that secures IEMs and eartips in place.

Cable comes connected and neatly placed beneath. So, the box contents are:

• KB100 IEMs
• Cable
• 3 pairs of silicone eartips (S|M|L)
• warranty|user manual

No storage case, though…

Build, design and materials:

We’ve got red version of KB100 IEMs. As seen from our pictures IEMs are consisting of two parts with different paint. Top part always stays black and the base part could be either in red or blue.

Both parts are made of CNC-aluminum, carefully crafted and painted. Top black part of the left IEM contains white brand name imprint and corresponding channel indicator whereas top part of the right channel carries the name of the model. But both have the lovely design element — shiny CNC cut in the shell that outlines their shape.

Base parts of the shells are edning up with black output nozzels covered with aluminum non-detachable filter grils. All three compensation openings are also situated here along with pin base for cable connection. Top and base parts are perfectly aligned and the whole construction is very stiff.

The only thing to mention is that the pin base of right channel is moving a bit inside the shell. No issues with the sound and no extra noises, though. Pin base is held inside by special shell cavities.

Not much of details about BQEYZ cable: comes with 2-pin 0.78mm connectors, 3.5mm gold-plated stereo jack, aluminum jack housing, aluminum Y-splitter and transparent cable retainer.

Pin housings are made of plastic. Cable is twisted, with additional earguides which are too soft and too flexible to keep the desired shape.

KB100 are a bit less universal in terms of fit and wearing comfort comparing to some other IEMs. Kind of strange type of very flexible and soft earguides would not be much of a help for a best fit either. Anyway, 10-15 minutes of finding the best combination and getting used to these IEMs and the problem has vanished. Finally, we can state that they are good even while exercising, just more attention to finding best position at the beginning.

Sound quality:

Testing equipment: Hidizs AP200 DAP, Shanling M0 DAP

Bass and lows:

Seems that this section got much of attention from engineers in BQEYZ. Deep bass has a good amount of presence, very good layering and separation from other requencies. One of the most enjoying fact here is that bass is adequate and pleasing even at lower volumes. Rare example of IEMs which are perfectly driven while maintaining good articulation and amount of lower frequencies no matter how much volume you want to go with. Texturing in deep bass region is moderate but contouring is very good.

Midbass section gets the appropriate treatment as well: enough power and air to create powerful and punchy hit, neutral sound with no obvious bright or dark tonality, proper separation and not muting other frequencies during the heavy drum portions.

We’d say that KB100 are very good and capable in delivering both bass and midbass ranges. The only aspect here that might disclose inexpensive nature of those IEMs is the resolution that lacks some additional details.

Mids and vocals:

In contrary to lows, mids and vocals exhibit more detalization and tend to involve hybrid combination of drivers. On one hand there is a good warm and intimate timbre of male voices and on the other — higher clarity and more sharpness on female vocals. In either case there are no problems like lisping or sudden frequency peaks common for cheaper or poorely tuned hybrids. Instruments here have good layering and separation and the entire mids section feels to be in good balance with lows and treble, neither overemphasized, nor hanging behind. This results in overall neutral and straight delivery, capable of producing very pleasing experience no matter the music genre. Such neutrality together with good resolution reminds of us of more expensive IEMs.

Treble:

Treble is delicate and carefully tuned… Yet another example of appropriate tuning of armature driver. Yes, in overall, its nature is defined and we can easily recognize the use of this technology due to advanced treble extent, largel amount of details and clear reproduction of tiniest sounds but it stays under a total control. No piercing or harshness, no sibilance or brain drilling peaks. It is not so clear, bright or heavily emphasized as we’ve seen in many other hybrid IEMs but we treat it as an advantage, not an issue. The balance between treble, mids and lows is very good, thanks to such tuning approach which eventually leads to long and confortable listening experience. Layering is also very good — even the smallest details are not obscured by the leading instruments. So, treble range in KB100 is not heavily emphasized and delivered very delicately while maintaining above average amount of sharpness, texturing and details. Sweet combination and appealing to many who would like to have the best from both worlds — dynamic and armature IEMs.

Stage and channel separation:

Excellent. Especially the distance between instruments on both vertical and horizontal planes. Our beloved binaural recordings from «The Ultimate Headphone Demonstration» show wery wide instruments distribution with significantly enlarged stage. Such layering together with precise and distant positioning of certain sounds create a good feel of being on stage or sitting at the front row, at least.

Sound in overall:

BQEYZ KB100 sound could be described as well-balanced, neutral with slight tendency to a brighter side. The balance between lows, mids and treble is good but upper mids and treble play the leading role in the final picture. Amount of lows is enough but the lack of resolution of this section still allows other frequencies to prevail in our perception of the sound. No problems with treble, though. Moreover, these IEMs might sound warm and intimate with some compositions and on lower volumes.

Compared to Shozy Zero:

Shozy Zero are single dynamic driver IEMs. Dark, warm, with lots of lows and good deep bass. They are mostly chosen by people who would listen to old rock or slow blues with lots of tube amp and velvet sound. BQEYZ KB100 are totally different, we would say that they are sounding more natural and neutral. Bass is still available here at good amount while treble is also here to compensate lows and to bring some more air into the final picture. Moreover, the resolution is higher on mids and treble.

Compared to Dawnwood ST-08:

Dawnwood ST-08 are also single dynamic driver IEMs with much more balanced sound. Those do exhibit good amount of details across the entire AFR toghether with excellent fit and rich box contents. BQEYZ KB100 are winning in terms of resolution on mids and treble, in addition to more engaging sound and larger treble extent. Moreover, Dawnwood ST-08 sometimes might produce some piercing peaks on female vocals which never been spotted in KB100 behavior.

Compared to Kinera Seeds:

Kinera Seeds are hybrid IEMs with very good mids and treble behavior but lack some bass and sub bass amounts. KB100 have more balanced sound due to adequate amount of lows, more powerful and natural midbass articulation, more natural mids section and a bit more extent of treble section. Kinera Seeds might be a better choice for mids-oriented music genres but we would say that KB100 is a clear winner here due to more universal tuning which is closer to Kinera IDUN rather than Seeds (but still far from Kinear IDUN overall sound quality due to inevitable sound simplification). The only what KB100 should learn from Seeds is wearing comfort. Seeds profile is perfect while BQEYZ IEMs are hard to get used to.

Conclusion:

Our main conclusion is that we definitely like BQEYZ KB100 IEMs. Those are inexpensive IEMs with interesting hybrid combination and very good sound quality exceeding our expectation in this price range. Of course, there is a long way to go to mature sound of >$130 IEMs but at the same time KB100 are outperforming their closest rivals. The best part of it is that finally there are hybrid IEMs capable of good balance between lows, mids and treble with no apparent V-tuning in this price range. Moreover, we like that treble is delivered carefully, avoiding excessive oversharpening. Together with great instrument separation and layering… Definitely exceeding their price…

Our final word is that we would keep KB100 as our favorite inexpensive IEMs for everyday use!

You can buy BQEYZ KB100 at PenonAudio store