Review: Kennerton Odin

The Box & Accessories

The Kennerton Odin is a TOTL headphone and that shows in every possible way. I really love the video below which shows how the Odin headphone is constructed / assembled and what it comes supplied with.

So the Odin comes in a luxurious and beautiful wooden box in which the headphone is presented in a nice way. You also get a Kennerton labelled envelope with an Odin product flyer, a signed and stamped warranty document and a plastic like credit card making you a member of the Kennerton Club.

Inside the box you’ll also find a nice metal can – with a beautiful thick wooden top – which holds the single ended cable stock cable for your headphone, a cleaning cloth and bees wax for the maintenance of the wooden cups. Everything is beautifully presented and you can see and feel Kennerton used nothing but top quality materials. At the same time I am a bit disappointed not to find balanced cables or carrying pouch, especially at this high end price-point.

All in all a very qualitative presentation, as it should be for a flagship headphone.

Design

The design is unique and it’s very different from the Audeze, Hifiman and Mr. Speaker designs. The design is simple but it at the same time is special enough to remember when you first saw it. For me this was at Canjam Europe where I listened to it in combination with the Auris Audio HA2-SE. It was the first time listening to both these models and the synergy was incredible. At that moment I decided to review both and the HA2-SE amp has received the amp of the year award in the meantime. The Odin was a bit tougher to get for review but Andy from Cayin helped us out with it, as they are using the Odin to demo their amps. The Cayin HA-1A MK2 is another great amp for the Odin (see later).

The wood used by Kennerton is very pretty and there are no cracks at the mini-xlr connector like with some other brands. The grill isn’t flat but it has a V-shaped wave structure, underneath there’s a layer of felt (same on the inside) so you can’t see the driver itself. The yokes have “Kennerton Audio Equipment” engraved in them and look classy. The double headband system with the cup positioning system is simple yet gives the headphone a robust look.

The pads are nice and soft and comfy and go around the ear. The pads are not the biggest so listeners with bigger ears might feel the edges of the pads on the inner side a bit.

All in all, the mix of the ear cups, yokes, adjusting system and headband make this a very cool and maybe a little robust looking headphone. I’m a fan.

Build Quality & Comfort

Just like the packaging, the headphone itself is very luxurious and worthy of the TOTL title. The construction used by Kennerton actually is very simple but functional and durable, and that’s exactly what they’re going for as a company.

The Odin is made out of natural materials and aerospace grade aluminum and steel is used, there is a complete absence of plastic parts. The natural materials are valuable wood and lamb skin. If you’re interested in how the wooden cups are constructed, you should check out the following link: https://kennerton.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=85

The ear cushions are handmade in-house from soft lambskin from a remote highland region in Northern Caucasus. Natural leather has a better damping effect than artificial leather, making the sound more clear and focused. While I have to admit that these sound and feel great, I would love to see a vegan option where no leather is used (Thumbs up for Audeze).

The Kennerton Odin weighs a mighty 670g without the cable connected to it, so if you’re not used to the bigger and heavier orthos like the Audeze, this might be a bit of a surprise. I myself am used to listening to heavier headphones and I’m used to wearing a helmet so for me this is no issue but it might be so for you. Kennerton has made the Odin as comfortable as possible however and to achieve a good level of comfort they’re using a headband system which not only lets you set the height of the headband/drivers, but it also lets you angle the drivers/ear cups to get the best possible fit for  your head. There’s no denying the Odin is a heavy headphone but I do find the Odin quite comfortable, but again, I’m used to it.

Build quality is all about detail and a great example of this are the little felt pads that Kennerton placed on the inside of the yokes so that the wood of the cups can’t directly touch the metal of the yokes. As a result there are no scratches. It’s a small thing but it’s often overlooked by other brands, especially in first editions before customer feedback.

Cable

The cable that comes with the Odin is a 2 meter long removable cable. Its core is made from oxygen-free copper and it is terminated with mini XLR connectors and a high-quality 6.3 mm (TRS). The cable is really well built and sonically I really like this cable as well. The only downside is that it is a rather stiff cable that doesn’t like to be rolled up. The only other cable that I’ve been using with the Odin is my favorite PlusSound X16 cable.

When ordering the Odin there is an option to buy an optional Litz cable for $390. We didn’t get this cable for the review so I can’t comment on it at this time. https://kennerton.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=117

Sonically I don’t see a reason to buy or use a different aftermarket cable as the stock cable is qualitative enough on its own.

The review continues on Page 3, after the click here

The review continues on Page 3, after the click here