Kinera ThorKing Review: Force within Tranquility
One of the most popular Chi-Fi brands, Kinera, has been providing our audiophile community with a wide range of sound tuning and price options, ranging from basshead sound to reference, as well as ranging in price from as low as sub $100 to over $2k for the premium models. Kinera’s premium line-up has a separate branding called the ‘Kinera Imperial’, where Kinera Verdandi, Baldr, Odin, Skuld, and many more fall into this premium line-up.
This year, Kinera announced its new TOTL flagship IEM – the Kinera Imperial ThorKing. Evidently, this project required extensive R&D and significant time to reach its final form, as ThorKing (previously known as Thor before its official release) had been showcased as a prototype at various exhibitions over the past few years. Given Kinera’s abundant experience crafting flagship IEMs, one might question why the ThorKing release posed such a challenge. However, after examining its form factor, driver setup, and sound tuning, it becomes clear why bringing ThorKing to life was quite a journey for them. With that said, let’s now see the whats and hows of ThorKing, and compare with its competing flagship IEMs. Kinera ThorKing is priced at $2499 and uses 1DD+6BA+4EST.
Premium Packaging
ThorKing comes in with a sleek, white packaging box with a black cracking design across the lid. The packaging lid opens sideways, and opening the inner lid reveals the ThorKing earphones and carrying case. The inner side of the lid includes a letter written by Aaron, the founder and CEO of Kinera, and Cynthia, the chief designer and concept creator for Kinera products. The brief letters written by the Kinera team give a sneak peek at the whys of ThorKing – what kind of sound signature they’ve designed and intended for this IEM, as well as the purpose and lore-centric elements from ThorKing’s design, each explained by Aaron and Cynthia.
ThorKing comes with a wide range of eartip options, including a full set of Final E-Type eartips. Apart from that, Kinera also included 3 pairs of Spinfits and 3 pairs of silicone tips with extruded lips.
Full-Metal, Copper-Nickel Earpieces
Let’s first cover the outer features. ThorKing is Kinera’s first-ever metal chassis IEM within Kinera’s flagship line-up by utilizing copper-nickel (CuNi), or “white copper” as we also say. Kinera states that they’ve chosen CuNi for the material due to its nature of vibration suppression properties, as the porous material creates a muffler effect for unwanted distortions, reflections, or interferences. However, the outer surface is finished smoothly as well as being shaped ergonomically, providing a great fit. While the earpieces are weightier than conventional resin shells, the cavity is designed to be smaller than their usual flagship resin shells. The wearing experience of ThorKing was better than expected and provides quite a snug, secure fit.
Kinera offers two versions of ThorKing, depending on the surface finish – matte or glossy. All features remain the same (including the sound), and the outer appearance is the only difference. Utility-wise, the matte version provides a bit smoother feel to the touch and is noticeably more resistant to scratches. The glossy version, on the other hand, provides a shinier look but is more prone to collecting dings and scratches.
Tribrid Setup with Proprietary Techs
Moving on to the technical aspect, ThorKing is a 4-way, 11-driver IEM, comprising a 1DD+6BA+4EST tribrid setup. The dynamic driver takes care of the low frequencies with the 10mm high-polymer composite diaphragm, topped with a 3D-printed acoustic chamber for pressure release efficiency. Kinera also noted that calibrating this specific diameter of the nozzle was also carefully considered to bring out ThorKing’s intended sound, and the nozzle diameter changes have to do with the bass texture and depth.
Two Knowles BAs are responsible for the mid-low frequencies, while another four Knowles BAs cover the high frequencies. The 2 low-mid drivers are placed to create a natural, seamless transition from lows to mids, whereas the 4 high-frequency drivers are coupled with the ‘Gemini’, a specially structured acoustic duct that reduces linear acoustic decay and improves the reverb clarity. Lastly, as expected, quad Sonion EST drivers take care of the ultra-highs, to cover the ranges that the BA tweeters aren’t able to.
Custom-grade OCC Cable
ThorKing comes with a custom-grade stock cable, terminated with 2pin-4.4mm connectors. The cable is made of 7N OCC Taiwanese wires finished with black/white fabric material. The cable is very light and pliable, which is good considering the earpiece already being relatively weightier than usual Kinera IEMs. Both the plug and the splitter are made of lightweight metal parts that are durable and match nicely with the ThorKing’s design factors.
Next Page: In-depth Sound Impression of Kinera Imperial ThorKing