If Google search brought you here, you can start reading the review from Page 1.
Technical Performance
The sound stage is good with nice width and depth, though the length of the stage is less impressive. You get a studio-like impression which is quite good but not as spacious as the Nanna. but it’s good for the price. In spite of the full and smooth presentation, the soundstage has impressive width with good layering.
The background is quite dark which I found very successful. The IEM has good resolution and micro details. The instrument timbre is one of the strong suits of it 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 and treble don’t have too much space and air, so you get less air and gap between elements.
Overall resolution is quite good among the other IEMs in this price range but there are better ones for sure. So I think overall it has good technicalities on some parts, but it’s limited on certain aspects.
Comparisons
I’ve already compared the Urd to the Nanna in several points of this article but let me sum it up again. The Nanna has excellent treble and bass, a similar mid-range but with better transparency and energy. It’s overall better in every aspect and has a certain character in its sound. The Urd lacks that character so unfortunately, it’s not an alternative or “cheaper” Nanna as you may call it.
Softears is one of my favourite brands and the RSV is their best IEM in terms of performance for the price. It has better bass and mids with more texture and definition. It also has better stereo imaging, a deeper sound-stage and better treble energy. The transparency is also better with the RSV.
With the Urd, the accessory set and the overall packaging, as well as the design are much better and much more impressive than the Softears offering. But when it comes to sound the Softears beats it.
To me the best FiiO IEM to date, the FH9 has a great sound-stage performance, great detailing and very good imaging. These qualities of the FH9 are better than the Urd altogether, which are enough to rest FiiO’s case. It also offers better build quality with a more industrial design. Its packaging is as good as Kinera with lots of accessories with an evenly good carrying case.
The Urd is much smoother and somewhat “quieter”, with a calmer approach. The FH9 has a more defined sound with better attack and decay. I think the FH9 is the better all around performer whilst the Urd is better for late night vocal listening sessions.
Conclusion
In somewhat a weird way, the Kinera Urd has a resemblance to the Sennheiser HD660 S. If you experienced the HD600 and the 650, you’ll get what I mean, The HD600/650 have their own characters and approaches to the sound. The HD660 S on the other hand fills the gap in between but lacks a certain character.
Just like the HD660 S, the Kinera Urd is not a bad unit by any means, but it doesn’t have a distinctive sound. Although it doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, it doesn’t do anything impressively good either. The quality of the packaging and the design is extremely good but it would’ve been a better IEM with more finishing touches to the tuning.
I personally liked the IEM myself for its well-controlled and balanced sound with great tonality. But I expected better when compared to the Nanna. So the Nanna’s existence makes the Urd look a bit worse than what it already is, but that’s how it goes.
Page 1: Intro, About, Design, Package
Page 2: Build, Design, Fit, Sound Quality
