Kiwi Ears x B_Media Chorus Review – Musical Before Technical

The Chorus is a collaboration between Kiwi Ears and reviewer Axel Bostrom (B_Media), pitched as a follow up to the Kiwi Ears Belle. It comes in at $40 for the standard 3.5mm cable, with mic and USB-C variants available. Linsoul also provided the Terras modular cable (another collab with B_Media), which is a premium cable with 3.5mm, 4.4mm, and USB C termination made from 4N single-crystal copper. For the review the base commentary is with the standard cable, then I’ve included Terras at the end.

Chorus is a single 10mm Dynamic Driver setup using a Diamond-Like Carbon (DLC) diaphragm. In the box you get the IEM’s, a 2-pin silver-plated cable, a two sets of eartips – the clear eartips are slightly wider and I these are what I used for my review. The shells themselves are small, light, and use a CNC metal faceplate with a vented centre – I have to say, the shells look really nice, and I love the design on the faceplate.

I had a fairly decent head cold a few weeks back so my listening on these was dragged out longer than I generally would. I ended up with around a months’ worth of listening (two weeks where I could hear properly), I used these as my daily driver and switched between the two cables throughout. For my sources I used my MacBooks (Pro and Air), a few dongles, and also Cayin N6iii (R2R and Tube card). Music was everything given nearly a month of llstening.

On to the sound!

Bass:

The Chorus leans into a boosted, warm low end and it’s clearly been given a bit more heft than the Belle it’s replacing. Sub-bass has decent depth and rumble without being a pure basshead tuning, and mid-bass carries enough weight to give tracks a sense of body and pressure. It handles pop, hip-hop, EDM, and rock with a decent amount of punch, and it stays reasonably composed rather than turning to mush on busier passages – I think this composure is due to the lack of a really textured bass sound, for the price point this is fine but I did miss some of the detail that I get in bass with other IEMs. There is a bit of warmth that spills up into the lower mids which softens things slightly rather than keeping everything perfectly separated.

With the Terras cable the bass is lifted a few points, with an overall more impactful sound. The warmth which extends into the lower mids is better done with the Terras too, whilst still reaching up it has a more cohesive sound.

TL;DR – the bass is punchy and satisfying, with a touch of bleed into the mids. Terras improves the bass by a few points.

Mids:

The mids follow the warm style, sitting a little behind the bass in a mild V-shape rather than being pushed forward. Vocals come through clearly rather than sounding hollow or buried, they just aren’t the star of the show with the Chorus. Male vocals can sound a little lean at times but for the most part they are fine. Female vocals are the clear standout, coming across energetic and engaging without any shoutiness (if that’s a word, spellchecker is telling me it isn’t…). I had a lot of emotional engagement with Female vocals on the Chorus and really enjoyed exploring my favourite Female vocal tracks. Taylor Swift had quite a bit of ear time with these! Acoustic instruments like guitar and piano sound natural but, similar to the bass texture comments, not the most detailed representation.

The Terras cable improves the vocal performance overall, with the leanness in Male vocals seeing an improvement. Female vocals are also notched up further, moving from great to excellent, and killer for the under $100 price bracket.

TL;DR – warm and coherent, prioritising musicality over microscopic detail. Female vocals a standout.

Treble:

Treble on the Chorus is smooth and relaxed, clearly tuned to avoid any harshness or sibilance rather than to impress with sparkle. The venting helps with air I think, keeping the Chorus sounding open up top rather than being overly congested/dark. There isn’t much else to talk about here, it’s a safe tuning which isn’t going to annoy anyone, but if you’re wanting an amazing Treble experience this isn’t the set for it. For the rest of the tuning what’s here works fine.

The Terras cable doesn’t change much in this space for my ears.

TL;DR – smooth, safe, and fatigue-free, at the cost of top-end sparkle.

Technicalities:

For the price, the Chorus holds its own without doing anything spectacular. The stage is on the intimate side, though the vented faceplate does give it a touch more openness than the Belle. Imaging and separation are adequate rather than pinpoint. Detail retrieval is fine for casual listening but this isn’t a set for picking apart a mix.

Terras opens things up a little more, while detail doesn’t change, I had a strong preference towards Terras for the staging.

TL;DR – competent for the price, but technicalities take a back seat to tonality. The Chorus is a musical set.

Terras Cable:

The Terras cable comes in at $46 so it’s more than the Chorus by itself. From all my listening, and cable swapping, over the years I’ve learned that cables can absolutely impact the sound of a set – I understand that there are differing view, as with everything in this hobby just go with what you hear.

Terras from the outset is a much nicer feeling cable than the included one with the Chorus, it feels very nice in your hand. The interchangeable terminations screw on which I love.

Sound wise Terras seems to bring everything on the Chorus together into a more cohesive sound and elevates the overall experience up. It moves the price point up significantly, however as an $86 bundle I think it competes well at that price point and I’d easily recommend it.

Subjective thoughts:

I spent a long time with the Chorus and grew to love the warm sound. For Female vocalists, paired with the Terras cable, you get something quite special at its price point. I’m listening to the Chorus still as I wrap up this review and I’m listening to Sabrina Carpenter (not my general go-to…) and the warmth of the set pairs up so perfectly with her voice, I’ve just been vibing to for the past hour.

The two main downsides are detail retrieval and smooth/safe treble. They’re fairly standard trade-off’s at the price point where the Chorus is placed.

Overall:

The Chorus is a lovely warm set, paired with the Terras cable it’s a magical pairing for Female vocals. It’s not going to win any awards for technical performance but as a comfortable, inoffensive, all-rounder at it’s an easy set to recommend, especially if you like a warmer, more musical presentation.

Funds permitting, I’d recommend picking up Terras to go along with the Chorus. At $40 Chorus is a strong 4 star. With Terras, at $86, it’s also a strong 4 star in the higher price category, with killer Female vocal performance.

Scorecard at $40:

Category	Score	Notes
Bass	4.0/5	Warm, punchy and satisfying with good body, though texture and separation are only average.
Mids	4.0/5	Musical and engaging with standout female vocals, though male vocals can sound slightly lean.
Treble	3.5/5	Smooth and fatigue-free, but lacks sparkle and extension.
Technicalities	3.5/5	Competent imaging and separation, but detail retrieval and stage are fairly modest.
Build/Design	4.5/5	Excellent shell design, lightweight comfort and attractive finish.
Value	4.5/5	A very enjoyable, warm tuning that offers excellent value at $40.
Overall	4.0/5	An easy recommendation for anyone wanting a warm, musical budget IEM.

Scorecard at $86 with Terras cable:

Category	Score	Notes
Bass	4.5/5	Fuller, more cohesive and impactful, with better integration into the mids.
Mids	4.5/5	Male vocals gain body while female vocals become genuinely excellent for the price.
Treble	3.5/5	Largely unchanged—safe and easy to listen to rather than exciting.
Technicalities	4.0/5	Slightly wider presentation and a more cohesive stage, though still focused on musicality over analysis.
Build/Design	4.5/5	The premium Terras cable elevates both aesthetics and day-to-day usability.
Value	4.0/5	More expensive, but the improved performance justifies the investment if your budget allows.
Overall	4.0/5	A more refined and cohesive package, with female vocals becoming the standout feature.