The main features that I love the most about the Kiwi Ears Ardor is its ANC, its accurate reproduction of instruments and crystal clear vocals, and its battery life. All of these things, when taken together, would often emerge in a great midrange headset. I’m astounded that a headset in the $100 region sounds as great as it does, with all of the bells and whistles of a set of headphones twice the price!
It’s not often I see premium noise-cancelling features on a ~$100 headset, especially one that is moderately comfortable. The $100-and-under category of headphones, earbuds, and headsets often involve compromises that make the listening experience lackluster. I get it, in the name of affordability, compromises have to be made, but those compromises are often not worth it.
It looks like Kiwi Ears has made very few compromises on their Ardor Bluetooth headphones. Coming in at $99.99, the Kiwi Ardor Bluetooth Headphones are an impressive set of Bluetooth headphones with an ANC feature I would expect from a headset that’s twice the price.
Kiwi Ears has been impressing me recently, with their Ellipse headset (which I just reviewed) and their Allegro Pro Amp (review forthcoming). They’re a newer HiFi audio company who’s making waves in the IEM space, but they’ve recently taken tentative steps to break into the affordable headphone/headset market. The Ardor is their newest Bluetooth headset competitively priced for folks on a budget but wanting a good set of Bluetooth cans.
Kiwi Ears describes their Ardor headset as a cutting-edge headset perfect for audiophiles on the go. It features ANC (active noise cancellation), dual dynamic drivers (40mm and 10mm), and spatial audio. On paper, these features sound excellent and something I would expect from a $150 headset; let’s see how the Ardor hold up in testing.
Click here to check out the Kiwi Ears Ardor on LINSOUL’s website! (Non-affiliated URL)
The Ardor is primarily constructed out of a lightweight plastic. The metal headband encased within a foam and pleather at the top; the bottom of the headband has foam, but there is no foam at the top. On the outside of the unit’s cups is a leather material and an etched Kiwi Ears logo. It’s a nice minimal physique – nothing too flashy. The Ardor’s earcups have a thin layer of foam cushioning and foam (not memory foam).
The Ardor is quite lightweight thanks to its hybrid construction of metal and plastic. I love the feeling of the leather on the outside of the earcups – the texture of the leather gives the headphones a premium feel. I wasn’t too worried about the headphones’ durability because of the rotating earcups. The buttons on the unit (controlling the volume, power, and ANC modes) were responsive when operating the unit. Nothing out of the ordinary.
The Ardor is a moderately comfortable headset. I say moderately because the earcups put more pressure on my ears than I prefer. I kept taking off the headset to stretch it out a bit to relieve some of the pressure after about an hour or two of continuous listening. Interestingly, the Ardor retained its shape without issue, which speaks to the Ardor’s build quality more than anything else. If there was some additional cushioning inside of the earpads, perhaps I would have felt more comfortable wearing the Ardor for longer periods. Consider buying a set of alternate earcups should you choose to purchase these Bluetooth headphones.
In the spirit of consumers taking their Ardor on the go, Kiwi Ears provides several goodies. Inside the Ardor’s box was a hard cloth-covered carrying case, a USB-C to USB-C charging cable, and an aux cable for wired listening. I was glad to see a carrying case provided, especially since this headset is marketed for folks on the go. I would have little worry putting the headset’s case in my backpack when I take the train to work seeing as the case feels sturdy and decently protects the headset. Should I need to swap from Bluetooth to wired listening on-the-go, using the included AUX cord allows me to access a few wired-specific ANC modes.
I’m not used to seeing ANC, or active noise cancelling, on any headset at the $100 price point with a few exceptions. I’ve seen Transparency Modes applied in various ways at the sub-$100 price point, but never ANC. Thus, when I enabled the Ardor’s ANC, I was shocked to feel it work as it should just like the ANC on my Corsair VIRTUOSO MAX. In case you don’t know what ANC is or does – it’s a headphone feature that plays a low sound to cancel out noises all around you. I’ve often described ANC as a grey noise sound effect that can simulate silence, but has the potential side effect of a weird in-ear pressure (which goes away after your ears are used to the sound of ANC, don’t worry). It’s a great feature that ultimately boosts the price of a set of headphones by several steps. Here, the ANC reduces the sound by around 30dB — it’s a notable shift once it’s enabled.
The Ardor’s ANC mode, which I quickly and easily activated by pressing a button on the left earcup, was exactly like the ANC mode I have used on the likes of my Corsair VIRTUOSO MAX and a pair of Bose QuietComfort earbuds. I was shocked that it functioned as well as it did – I kept thinking that the ANC would be a souped up transparency mode or a half-functioning feature that would drain the battery – nope. ANC as ANC should be, albeit slightly less than Apple’s ANC.
The Ardor is rated for around 140 hours of battery life (ANC off) and around 70 hours with ANC on. Just because that the ANC reduces the battery life by half does not mean that the battery life is lackluster – it’s impressive, far from lackluster. During my own tests, the battery seemed to reach the 140 hours without ANC and around 70 hours with ANC enabled. However, your mileage will vary, especially over time. I’m curious to see about the battery life of this set of headphones in around 6 months after the headsets have been “broken in” with daily use.
Before I comment on the Ardor’s sound quality (arguably their most important quality), I’ll quickly make a note about the Ardor’s microphone. The microphone is sufficient, but it’s nothing stellar. I personally wouldn’t use it for professional calls or streaming. I would definitely use the microphone on my PS5 DualSense over the Ardor’s microphone.
That said, if I’m considering a set of Bluetooth headphones with ANC, a microphone is near the bottom of my list of priorities, so don’t take my criticism of the Ardor’s microphone as a reason to look past it. Its ANC and sound quality are pretty dang good. Here’s why:
The Ardor punches above its weight with regard to its soundstage and the clarity of its audio. While it doesn’t have the punchiest of bass, midrange audio is surprisingly clear and natural. Instrumentals sound accurate, as do live/unprocessed vocals.
When I attempted to listen to some house music tracks, the mids were exceptionally clear while the bass was slightly muddled. Sofi Tukker’s “Woof” sounded great for the most part, but I lacked the oomph of the bassline; Glass Animals’ “Gooey” sounded crisp and warm – Dave Bayley’s melodic vocals were just as enchanting as ever even though I kept hoping to feel like the bass would be more thumpy. I had to adjust the EQ on my device to get some of the tracks to meet my preferences.
Perhaps Kiwi Ears hasn’t yet developed a companion application for their current and upcoming Bluetooth headsets, but it’s disappointing that the Ardor lacks a companion app to adjust EQ settings at time of writing. This would be especially important for folks wanting to boost the equalizer (EQ) based on their preferences. When I connected the Ardor to my device, I had to rely on YouTube Music’s subpar EQ system to make adjustments in the YouTube Music app alone, but I wasn’t able to customize audio at the device-level.
If this is the compromise Kiwi Ears had to make to offer the Ardor at a competitive price point, then I am more than willing to look past the lack of EQ so that budget-conscious consumers get access to ANC (even if that ANC is slightly under Apple’s offering). Using ANC when listening to music has made me appreciate music more than ever, and it would be great for consumers to have the opportunity to enjoy their music without concern about background noises interrupting an otherwise divine listening session.
The main features that I love the most about the Kiwi Ears Ardor is its ANC, its accurate reproduction of instruments and crystal clear vocals, and its battery life. All of these things, when taken together, would often emerge in a great midrange headset. I’m astounded that a headset in the $100 region sounds as great as it does, with all of the bells and whistles of a set of headphones twice the price!
The Kiwi Ears Ardor was provided by LINSOUL for the sole purpose of this DigitalChumps review.
