A journey always begins with one step and while I have already made reviews more than I have ever imagined I would when I decided to engage in this hobby, it’s nice to come full circle once again with one of the brands that jump-started Audio Realviews.

Kinera was one of these brands. They started way back 2010 and have since released a collection of audiophile offerings topped by their flagship Odin IEM. What we have to realview now though is the Kinera Sif, the Kinera Seeds’ sibling and was designed to follow the Yin-Yang mantra, the Sif strictly comes in white while the Seed exclusively came in black. Shenzhen Audio and Kinera provided the Kinera Sif sample unit in exchange for an honest take on it and no monetary factors were involved. The Kinera Sif is currently priced at $37 and you can grab and check them off the official Shenzhen Audio website.

The Kinera Sif sports a single 10mm dynamic driver spec’d out with 20Hz to 20kHz Frequency Response, 32Ohm Impedance and 110 dB Sensitivity. The SIF’s sibling, the Kinera Seed was adored as it was despised when it came out and with a much more subdued white colorway, will the Kinera SIF diverge from this mentality altogether? Let’s get on with the realview to find out.

Packaging and Build Quality

First impressions last, and the Kinera Sif’s packaging and box will delight any consumer that it will get a chance to unpack it off their mails or unbox it when they get home. The choice of going for a unique hexagon box in an almost delectable rocky road ice cream color with the Sif name and Kinera logo upfront was a welcome sight.

Removing the top cover will immediately show the separate hexagon box for the IEMs themselves which is secured in a black synthetic leather carrying case with the Sif manual on top. Inside this carrying case are a collection (S, M and L) of white translucent silicone ear tips with white wide bores.

The Kinera Sif is made of plastic all over except for the metal nozzle and grill that is now in silver as compared to the Seed which came in gold and while the Sif and Seed has the same design, the Sif now comes with gold-plated MMCX connections rather the .78mm 2pin connection that came with the Seed. It retains the Kinera logo on the faceplate as well as the single vent and the L and R markings which was the same with the Seed except this time, the logo and markers are in silver. The paint on the logo and the L and R markers on the Seed chipped away after sometime and I hope the Sif’s paint job lasts longer this time around and so far it has. The build doesn’t feel cheap although it is lightweight.

The Sif’s stock cable has no official specifications but at the looks of it, it’s possibly an SPC cable insulated in clear TPU. It uses round braids that has great tension to each braid but overall renders the cable as not the best for storage as it tangles easily, good thing though is that Kinera has added a velcro strap for cable management and eliminate the tangling issue when storing.

A cable cinch is also present which works great to tighten the cable for a more secure fit, the cinch comes in clear transparent plastic which the Y-split also employs the same material. The Sif’s stock cable also comes with an over-ear memory guide that ends with a metallic silver-finished housing for the male MMCX connection which is labeled with L and R, the other terminal ends with the same silver-finished housing that has great strain relief that also comes with the same clear transparent plastic and terminates with a gold-plated 3.5mm plug.

Tonality

The Kinera Sif has been marketed to have been “tuned to a warm, smooth and bassy kind of sound” which was a supposed direct opposite over its Seed sibling. I have done the recommended 30-hour burn-in period(for those that believe it) and have honestly even exceeded it. The Kinera Sif overall gave out an overall warm tonality with emphasis on the sub bass and lower midrange frequencies and a soft approach towards the midrange and the higher frequencies. I was tempted to use full foams for the Sif as it gave the best isolation for my ears however I opted to go with the provided medium-sized white translucent silicone ear tips for the duration of the reaview as well as the Sony A46HN music player crunching out various 16/44 FLAC files which would be mentioned along the realview.

Lows

The lows of the Kinera Sif is where the magic happens. I called on Foo Fighter’s to belt out their My Hero track in 16/44 FLAC and right off the bat the Sif showed that it can give the low-end goodies that most bass heads love, the bass sounded deep but with not much power and a soft thump that lingers long. The sub bass performance isn’t weak in its delivery but not too powerful as well, just the right grip with a slow decay. Bass lovers that prefer a lingering feel on the low-end will enjoy the Sif.

Midrange

Fleetwood Mac’s Sara in 16/44 FLAC graced the midrange test of the Kinera Sif and it rendered the vocals to sound full and clear, coming out at an easily distinguishable aspect. The lower midrange performance complimented the lingering bass feel to exude a more relaxing sound. Upper midrange performance sounded soft and with moderate attack on the various instrumental tones. The Sif can lull you to just chill and let go with its midrange sound.

Highs

Things starts to slow down for the Sif when it reached the higher frequency test. Ed Sheeran came to the after party and rocked his Galway Girl track in 16/44 FLAC. Guitar strums came out with great clarity and definition. Treble doesn’t peak at best and as a treble head myself, it made me long for more and maybe even just a tinge of sparkle would be lovely. All was cool though as harsh peaks didn’t rear its head on the Sif. The Sif would be getting more ear time with how the highs are tuned and its less fatiguing sound.

Soundstage and Imaging

The vent on the faceplate of the Sif works and it made the soundstage less intimate than I have expected it to be. Instrumental tones has more focus on width than depth, there is average detail retrieval and imaging were average as well as the left to right and right to left panning. Layering was mediocre at best too but taking into account how the instruments and spacing were still observable gave the Sif a single thumbs up if not two.

Conclusion

At its price point of $37 and based on how the overall relaxing warm sound of the Sif was delivered, it’s hard not to recommend it. It has a refreshing and clearly out of its price point packaging with a complete set of accessories (for an entry-level IEM). Its silhouette and design language might not be a new thing since we have seen this in the Seed, it still makes the Sif an aesthetically better looking IEM than most of its under $40 peers.