The ULTIMATE Gaming In-Ears! Antlion Kimura IEMs and Mic Review

This might be one of the stranger reviews I’ve done – not because the product itself is inherently strange, but because I’m sort of reviewing two different products at once. And no, I don’t mean these two different sets of headphones, although I will be talking about their differences, no I mean the IEMs and the cable. This is the Antlion Kimura, and it comes in three flavours. Cable only, cable plus the single driver Solo IEMs, or cable plus the dual driver Duo IEMs. Regardless of what option you get, you’re in for a treat.

Antlion, the company that makes the much loved ModMic line, decided they wanted to let people who use IEMs – or in ear monitors for the uninitiated – have a good quality mic to use too. Enter, the Kimura, a cable you can attach to your existing IEMs to add a good quality mic pretty seamlessly. Your existing IEMs will have to have an MMCX or 2 pin connector already, but assuming they do you can snap your in-ear’s on and enjoy the same listening experience but now have a quality mic as well. You’ll be hearing the Kimura mic throughout the video, so I’ll let you make your own mind up about it – but do let me know what you think in the comments below. In short, the mic is a flexible boom arm style that by default attaches to the right hand side IEM, although since they have removable connectors you can switch it to the other side if you fancy. It’s pretty easy to position and place as close to your mouth as you can for the best quality, and doesn’t add much weight either.

The IEMs attached, either the Solo’s or Duo’s, are visually stunning. They are made from clear plastic, with either a red or blue tint on the outer face, topped by a gold Antlion logo. You can clearly see the driver package inside, and the tube feeding out to the fairly large diameter earpiece. You get three other sets or tips in the box, one of which is a foam tip. As for the differences between the solos and duos, it’s pretty much in the name. The solos use a single dynamic driver capable of reproducing between 10 Hz and 20 kHz, whereas the duos use both a dynamic drive and a balanced armature which jumps the frequency response to 30 kHz on the top end. It does also increase the impedance from 8 ohms to 24 ohms, but that’s still pretty low allowing almost anything to comfortably drive these.

When it comes to audio quality, the duos in particular have incredible clarity especially on the high end. Vocals sound amazingly crisp and clear. Even at higher volumes they retain that refined quality that you don’t often get with your everyday in-ears. The only catch is their low end performance. The bass is pretty obviously lacking. It’s not just flat, it feels like the bass is actively missing. If you have access to an EQ, pumping up the low end can bring that back a little, although I can be pretty certain you won’t be enjoying much EDM or drum and bass on these. The solos share a similar experience, although I feel are lacking a touch of that refined, crisp sound the duos offer.

For gaming they came across as tinny. The solos were a slightly better experience as they had a bit more of a full sound – although it’s worth noting that some of that quality may come down to the impedance, as the solos are just 8 ohms compared to 24 ohms on the duos, and the fact I’m using the motherboard’s built in audio which is a pretty mid range option. With an external amp and DAC it was a little better. Still, everything from gunshots to footsteps felt almost piercingly sharp and high pitched. The duos ended up being worse for that – every sound had its high frequencies boosted to the point of discomfort. Again, with a higher end amp this effect is lessened, but it’s still not a balanced sound.

One catch, for me anyway, with these is the large diameter of the ear tip means I can’t wear these for more than about an hour. Especially the right earpiece, it feels like my ear gets bruised if I wear them for too long and it takes a couple hours to recover before I can wear them again. That’s obviously a problem since most gaming sessions are longer than an hour at a time. The fact the IEMs come semi-moulded means there is likely to be a percentage of people who won’t be able to comfortably wear these due to how different people’s ears and ear canals are. My wife can’t wear IEMs at all, although I’m normally perfectly fine with them.

One minor note I thought I should add is the practicality of taking them on and off your ears – and especially putting them in the included hard carry case. The magic of the Kimura cable is the section that goes round your ear isn’t a moulded rubber like you’d normally find, instead it’s a positionable support that you can bend to the shape of your ears. The trouble with this is that to put the IEMs in your ears, you almost always have to bend the support out of shape, then bend it back again once the earpiece is in. This is a bit of a faff, but what’s worse is trying to fit them in the fairly small travel case. You have to bend the supports – and the mic – to fit them in the case at all, meaning when you take them back out again you then have to reshape them, fit them, and do the final shaping on your ear – for each ear. It’s not a massive problem, but one I did encounter that made the usage experience a little more of a hassle than I’d like.

The other thing I feel I have to mention is the reason why I have both the solos and duos here. I was originally sent just the duos, but quickly found the mic side MMCX connector was faulty, causing pretty much any motion of my head to either partially or fully disconnect that IEM causing a lack of sound or an intermittent output. Antlion were quick to send out a replacement, in this case the solos, which work perfectly, and asked a set of troubleshooting questions so, and I quote, “we know where to focus our QC!”. That’s the perfect response, and I genuinely believe they mean it.

For the Kimura Solos and Duos, while they are certainly a premium quality and high end sound, I’m not sure that they have quite the right balance of frequencies at least for my ears. You very well may have a different opinion though, and so might want to consider picking up a pair. The Solos come in at £100, with the Duos being £165 instead. If you were to pick up a pair, I’d argue the Solos are likely the better overall experience, and a much better value. I’d only buy the Duos if you knew you’d be plugged into a decent amp when using them.

As for the Kimura cable, you’ve heard the mic throughout the video. To me it’s a decent headset mic. It’s not quite broadcast quality, but it’s a damn sight better than standard in-ear mics, or bluetooth headphone mics. The only lingering question I have about the cable only option is the use case. I can only imagine most people who still use wired IEMs on a regular basis tend to wear them out and about as well as at home. I’m not sure I’d want a boom arm mic attached to my face when I’m outside. Still, if you fancy adding a decent mic to your existing IEMs, you can pick up the Kimura cable for £70.