Kiwi Ears Spark Earphones Review
A good intro to an open-design earphone
Retail Price: $99.00
Disclaimer: Kiwi Ears sent us a unit free of charge to review, but all thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are our own and were not discussed with the company prior to publishing.I’ve been intrigued by the open-design earphones since I first saw a pair go viral on TikTok a couple years ago. Skeptical of any product that goes viral on social media, I stuck with my wired headphones that came with my phone that were serving me just fine.
When I was given the opportunity to test and review these earphones, however, my interest was, again, piqued.
First Impressions
Charging Case
My first surprise when I unboxed the earphones was the lack of total enclosure provided by the charging case. It’s a sturdy clamshell-type case, with a metal top-half and a smooth plastic bottom-half, with a contoured spot to store and charge the earphones. The shape, weight, and materials of the case actually make it very satisfying to hold and handle.
But between the outline of the top and the center branded medallion is a designed gap, which is ¾” at its widest and ¼” at its narrowest. I’ve never seen an earphone case that does not provide a complete enclosure for the earphones.
These earphones are IP45-rated, which means they are designed to withstand solid objects larger than 1 millimeter and low-pressure water jets from any direction. I didn’t put these claims to the test, but given the IP45-rated durability, the earphones may not necessarily need a fully enclosed charging case.
Bluetooth
Pairing with my iPhone 13 mini was very easy and straightforward. And almost every time I’ve used them since that first pairing, they’ve reconnected with no issue. Only once in my month plus of using them multiple times a day did I have any issue. When I put on the earphones as usual, only one connected. This was easily resolved by placing the unconnected earphone back into the case, then putting it back on my ear.
Fit
The Spark wraps around each ear, making for a very secure fit. As a glasses-wearer who has never tried a wrap-around design before, I was worried that I’d only be comfortable wearing these without my glasses. I was happily wrong. I had to make slight adjustments when I would first put them on to avoid pressure points, but once I got them placed, my ears were never bothered by having my glasses and these earphones resting on them.
While I am not a consistently active person, and did not put these to an athletic test, I wore them while deep cleaning my house, while building support legs for a couch, and while washing dishes. I was never worried that they would fall off or otherwise get in the way of these tasks. The flip side of being secure, however, is that these are not earphones that you can easily put on both sides at once. Putting on each earphone is a two-handed job. I think I was successful in putting them on one-handed only a handful of times.
This being my first pair of wrap-around earphones and my first pair of open earphones, it took some getting used to. The first couple of wears, I found myself very aware of my ears, feeling like the earphones were going to fall out. I knew that wasn’t going to happen because they were very securely wrapped around my ear, and gravity was going to do its thing to keep them there, but there was something about this new music-listening experience that made me temporarily very uneasy. It felt so unnatural to have an earphone speaker project sound into my ears without either having an earbud in my ear or having my ear completely covered by an over-ear headphone.
Ultimately, I’d say I moved on from that feeling pretty quickly. Within a few days of use, I was relatively acclimated to the physical feeling of the wrap-around design and the aural sensory experience of the open design.
Unlike in-ear earphones that can get uncomfortable with extended wear, since no part of these earphones actually goes inside of your ear, they are quite comfortable over long periods of time.
Sound Quality
I am not what you’d call an audiophile, by any means, but as a musician, I do recognize when sound quality is lacking. These were great to listen to my podcasts through, but I would not reach for them if I really wanted to immerse myself in music. I’m sure they would be fine for listening to music while working out, but if hearing the depth of a musical recording is what you’re looking for, find a different earphone. Overall, music came through sounding very hollow.
Note that these are open-design earphones and not bone conduction earphones.
Sound Leaking
You will want to be mindful of what you are listening to and who is around because there is a decent amount of sound leaking that starts when the volume is at 40%, and only increases as the volume increases. This might be the case with all open-design earphones, but something to keep in mind.
Microphone
The sound quality may be subpar, but the microphone quality was better than expected. On calls and voice memos, I came through very clearly. I would attribute the clarity to the “single microphone ENC noise reduction technology” they contain. I wouldn’t use the mic on these earphones to try to record anything professional, but it was a pleasant surprise from a sport-oriented earphone.
Game Mode
The Spark has a “game mode.” I couldn’t find an explanation in the user manual or on their website of what that was supposed to do, but according to (another) google search, a game mode is typically supposed to reduce the delay between the audio and visual experience in games and videos by increasing the sampling rate. I’m not a gamer or a tech aficionado, so that last bit is gibberish to me, BUT I did notice a difference in the audio/visual sync when scrolling through social media and watching videos on my phone when I had game mode turned on.
User Experience
This is my favorite part to review of anything I interact with–products, systems, or experiences.
As I mentioned earlier, the initial setup of these was easy breezy. But that is where my praise of the user experience ends. Here’s some product feedback I’d hope Kiwi Ears improves on in the future:
Figure out your touch controls.
Sometimes they are too sensitive, like when my curly hair would graze across an earphone and change the volume. Most of the time, though, they are not sensitive enough. I was most consistently able to change the volume (press left earphone power button once for volume down, press right earphone power button once for volume up), but any control that required more than a single press, was frustratingly inconsistent. I think I was able to successfully pause or unpause my audio (double press either earphone power button) less than five times in the month of daily use. And I tried multiple times a day. Mind you, the “power button” is not an actual button–that might have made it more consistent. It is a metal disc with the Kiwi Ears logo that is supposed to be touch-reactive.
Playing audio through the earphones should be disabled when they are securely docked in their charging case.
If I haven’t paused the audio before putting the earphones back in their case, it will continue playing, even after I’ve closed the lid to the case. And even when I have paused the audio, because the touch control buttons can be so sensitive, I have inadvertently resumed the audio while handling the earphones to put them away. I know some brands have the music stop when the earphone is even removed from the ear. I’m not asking for that. I’m just saying that playing audio should be disabled once they have been properly docked in their little home.
Give me an audible low battery warning.
The charging case has LED indicators to let you know the level of charge left on the case, and I can see the battery level of the earphones on my iPhone when connected, but when I’m listening to my podcasts or talking to my sister on the phone while doing chores, I’m not watching my phone to check the battery life of my earphones. And since they are bluetooth, my phone probably isn’t even in grabbing distance. These earphones audibly let you know when you’ve adjusted the volume, but they don’t let you know when your battery is about to die? Why one and not the other? Instead, the call just drops, or the audio goes silent.
Final Thoughts
At the time of publishing of this review, Kiwi Ears has the Spark listed for $50, a nearly 50% price cut from the normal price of $99.99. Even at full price, these are on the more affordable end compared to other wrap-around open-ear options. And I think, with that perspective, if you’re specifically looking for a wrap-around open-design earphone, these are a great choice. I would especially consider them with their current promotion.
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These earbuds with a unique trait made Martin realize this was something he never knew he needed in his life.