Technical Performance
The sound stage is studio-like but it’s good for the price. It has that 3D feeling to some extent, just not like higher-end IEMs. But despite the full and smooth presentation, the soundstage has impressive width and depth, with good layering and space.
Stereo imaging is strong with a dark background, especially with a good source. The IEM has good resolution and micro details. The instrument timbre is one of the strong suits of this IEM and thanks to its good background quality everything separates nicely so it’s easy to pick every element of a song. However, once again, the mids don’t have much space to shine and they’re laid back with a small note size. The tonality is lively yes, but a bit thin so it’s not the most musical or romantic IEM you can find.
Overall resolution is very very good among the other IEMs in this price range and Norn can give you lots of details in a song thanks to its very resolving nature. So I think overall it has great technicalities, limited by the overall presentation. The transparency is very impressive as well. So the Kinera Norn has no issues in terms of resolution, details, layering, and separation. But the presentation affects the performance in a negative way in my view. Otherwise, the technical performance is excellent.
Comparisons
Freya is one of the best IEMs in terms of design that you can see, regardless of the price. But to me, it’s no match for the Idun Golden in terms of balance, layering and realism. It’s a very good IEM and my wife is still using it with joy. Yet, I think Kinera stepped up their game so much with the Idun that the Freya can’t reach this level of tuning. So this was an easy comparison.
The first Idun, which I reviewed almost 4 years ago, was the first hope for the Kinera brand to establish itself in the market. Now, 4 years later, the second-generation sounds so much better, to the extent to make the original become irrelevant. It’s like this version is priced 3x more than the first version. In reality, it costs just 30$ more than the original price of the OG Idun.
It’s much more coherent, balanced, natural and layered. The sound has a better body, timbre and bass quality. The layering is much better as well as imaging. The only thing the first Idun can put up is the treble response, which is still impressive, but all on the other areas, the Idun Golden is much better.
This might surprise you, but I personally think that the Idun Golden has better tuning than the Norn. This is confusing I know, but that’s the truth. I didn’t quite like the Norn with obvious reasons in its own review. But the tonal balance, neutrality and realism of the Idun Golden are all excellent for the price. The Norn on the other hand is a fun sounding IEM with engaging bass and treble, but it doesn’t come to
Conclusion
The quality of the entry-level gear really impresses me nowadays. I remember when two or three-driver IEMs with premium prices were the thing in 2014. Now, with only a fraction of those price levels, you can have a fully packed box with a great accessory set, a great authentic design, and great sound.
The Kinera Idun Golden is one of the most quality releases from the Kinera brand lately. It’s a fantastic performer for the money, with an audiophile approach in sound. I enjoyed this IEM very much with its precise, on-point tuning. This is one of the smoothest and well balanced hybrid IEMs that you can find in the entry-level market today.
Since it performs better than the Shozy Rouge and Shozy Form 1.4, I remove those two from our Best Universal IEMs list and add the Idun Golden. A much-deserved entry to the list. It’s one of those rare incidents that I found a high-level IEM tuning in an entry-level IEM.
Let’s see how the new ”URD” performs soon.
Christopher C Love
Nice review of a nice iem. Always a good read man. That’s it.