With a brand like Kinera, I have come to recognize a certain level of quality when it comes to sound quality and craftsmanship. Their series of IEMs have become some of my personal favorites currently available on the market. Now, Kinera has decided to take a significant departure from its standard fare and made some true wireless earphones. The YH623 is a true wireless system from Kinera priced at $69.99. Does Kinera’s standard for quality translate to Bluetooth earbuds?
What You Get
- One pair of Kinera YH623 TWS earbuds.
- One Charging Case.
- One USB Type C Charging Cable.
- Three Pairs of Silicone Ear Tips.
- User Guide.
Look and Feel
Kinera achieves a high level of artistry when it comes to the design of their IEMs, so I was expecting a similar aesthetic for these earphones. What you get is one of the most stylish true wireless designs around. The teardrop body is finished with a beautiful blue or pink coloring. Blue made more sense to me with this aesthetic because it made the earpiece look like a drop of rain. Its materialistic appearance makes the YH623 look like a trendy piece of jewelry. Kinera always brings their A-game with design, and that shows even on their true wireless. The fit itself is odd. Though the earphones have an ergonomic shape, they bulge out and can feel quite big. However, after around an hour I didn’t find this sensation as distracting. It’s all-around a solid fit, even if it might not seem that way at first.
Design and Functionality
The YH6233 holds a 6mm micro dynamic driver that’s one of the most powerful I’ve heard yet on a true wireless. Output power is plentiful here, so you won’t have to put these on full blast to get a sufficient level of gain. Like most true wireless earphones, the YH623 has touch-sensitive controls, which are very responsive and almost a little too sensitive. Taking the earpiece in and out of my ear easily activated the controls and would continue playing my music when I didn’t want them to. However, each action gives you an audible beep response, indicating when an input.
With that, the YH623 is very reliable with quick actions to access its features. Voice assistant and calls being some of the key functions. You might be confused to hear that traditional noise canceling isn’t featured here, as Kinera has plastered the feature in their advertising, as well as in the main specs of the earphone. Come to find out, this feature is actually just natural noise isolation, not ANC. The strength of the noise canceling is adequate but could have used ANC to be much more effective.
Bluetooth
Bluetooth 5.0 is properly supported here, with a QCC3020 chipset. This establishes a strong connection that I didn’t experience any dropout with, and the pairing was quick and simple. You also have access to the aptX CODEC for superior streaming quality.
Battery Life
Off of a single charge, you should be able to get 8 hours of playback time, and 24 hours total with the charging case added. For the price point, this battery is quite hefty and is more than enough to get you through a few commutes before needing to charge.
Soundstage
This manufacturer has been known to impress me when it comes to how soundstage is represented on IEMs. Though I’m not expecting the same level of width and depth, I would really like to see just how far they can go with a true wireless. When most true wireless systems struggle with proper extension, it’s time for Kinera to show its hand. Unfortunately, the Yh623 falters a bit here. While some of the layers are clear, and there’s a bit more width than usual, the image is a little too congealed for my taste. For $69 it might be better than it has any right to be but I still expect better from Kinera, even with a true wireless. The positioning and separation are especially unclear and tend to make the frequency response collide with each other.
Low End
A lot of what makes the YH623 worthwhile is its low-end response. A lot of the sound signature centers on this lively bass timbre that’s punchy and brimming with color. The tonality might get too boomy at times, but for what it is, the bass provides enough energy to satisfy causal listeners and bass heads.
Mids
Most of this response is quite messy. I never got the feeling like the music was being fully realized here, which might sound like I’m asking for too much, but a sufficient level of clarity is necessary for any type of earphone at any price. The low-mids do have a stronger emphasis than most of the response, and it tries to push a much warmer texture. This highlights some nice vocal performances, but higher registers might appear more distant in the sound field.
Highs
Surprisingly, some of the high-end frequencies show off some much-needed clarity. However, the upper mids tend to roll-off a little too early than what I had hoped for. It’s disappointing, but what fidelity there is preserved in the highs has some of the best clarity in the sound signature. If you’re treble sensitive, this is going to maybe even be a great response due to its texture, but I always felt like there could be more, and it could have topped off what has been more of an underwhelming sound signature.
Summary
I don’t think there’s anything outright bad about how the Kinera YH623 operates, but the quality of the sound signature left me wanting more. For $69.99 the energetic bass response might be enough to convince you to grab these, after all, by the looks of them they should sound like the best true wireless out there. I would recommend the YH623 for bass heads but that’s as I would go. There are some cleaner true wireless systems for less, like the Strauss and Wagner TW401, but if your sights are set on Kinera, there are still some qualities to enjoy.
Pros and Cons
Pros: Bass, Design, Functionality
Cons: Messy sound signature, No ANC
The Kinera YH623 True Wireless is available at Audio 46.
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