Disclosure: I’d like to thank Linsoul for sending me the Kiwi Ears Ardor for this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own, and Linsoul/Kiwi Ears had no say or input for the contents of this review.

Kiwi Ears, a brand most associated with IEMs, is finally making headphones. This makes me happy as, for the most part, their IEM releases have been very good and have contributed a fair amount of innovation to the industry. This brings me to the Kiwi Ears Ardor, a $99 USD ANC Bluetooth headphone. Sub-$100 ANC headphones make me cringe as they typically sacrifice so much to get the price down. Will the Ardor follow in the same footsteps as many others, or is it the industry changer we’ve been waiting for?  Instead of making you read the whole review for the answer, I’ll just tell you this headphone is amazing for the price. The sound is fantastic, the ANC performs well, and the headphones themselves are very comfortable. I have my nitpicks about them, but nothing I consider a deal breaker. Now, if you’re considering the Ardor, please do read the rest of the review to find out why I feel this way. So let’s get into it.

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• Kiwi Ears Ardor
• USB-C  to USB-C cable
• 3.5mm to 3.5mm AUX cable
• Travel case
• Manual

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The Kiwi Ears Ardor are very comfortable to wear. The earcups are the perfect size for me, not too big, and not too small. The earpad padding is decently thick and cushy, as is the headband padding. At 325 grams it’s also fairly light, so all these factors combined make for a very comfortable headphone with very little long-term wearing fatigue. I was wearing and listening to the Ardor during my workday at my desk, and I wore them for hours at a time. There wasn’t even that much heat build. The Sony WH-1000XM5, for example, makes my ears feel hot and sweaty after about an hour. Not the case with the Ardor.

The Ardor is made of plastic, but it doesn’t feel cheap. In fact, it looks and feels more expansive than the $99 price would suggest. The outside of the earcups has a fake leather texture to it that adds this nice premium element to the overall look. The earcups swivel towards you which allows you to put the headphones around your neck and have the earcups turned in, which I know some people like to do. The inside of each earcup also indicates which side it is, a nice indicator in my opinion. Lastly, not only do the earcups swivel so you can lay it flat, but they also bend inside, allowing more options to store or transport the headphones.

The left earcup has the ANC button and USB-C connection, and on the right earcup are the volume buttons, power button, and 3.5mm jack. With so few buttons this keeps the design and operation very uncomplicated. I also prefer physical controls versus having a touch-sensitive area, so Kiwi Ears made some good design choices here.

The Ardor includes a decent number of accessories for the price. A USB-C to USB-C cable and a 3.5mm to 3.5mm cable are welcome additions as they give you flexibility for connecting the headphones to a device. The travel case though is the real standout. It’s a hard shell case with a textured fabric material on the outside, and soft felt on the inside. It’s the perfect size and has enough room to fit the accessories, plus a dongle DAC if needed. My one complaint with the case design is that the headphones need to play flat in them, which means the right earcup is on the left side and the left earcup is on the right side. So when you take the headphones out of the case you have to turn them around so the earcups are on the correct side. Annoying, but not a deal breaker.

The active noise cancellation (ANC) actually performs pretty well. There are no modes or fine-tuning you can do since there is no companion app for the Ardor, simply On, Off, or Transparency mode. Full disclosure here, I wear glasses. The arms of the glasses are very thin, but it still does cause the earcup seal to break for many headphones, so my experience with the Ardor is with my glasses on.

With ANC on I found the Ardor blocks out most ambient noise, making for a very quiet background. Some sudden sounds such as sirens are still audible but to a much lesser degree. The Ardor’s ANC does not perform anywhere near that of Sony, Bose, or Sonos, but at this price, you wouldn’t expect it to. It gets pretty close to the Sennheiser Momentum 4 though, which is three times the price of the Ardor.

With ANC off a lot of noise still does get blocked thanks to the very solid passive noise isolation. If you’re low on battery then turning ANC off to save battery won’t be too detrimental to hearing ambient noise. I also noticed no difference in sound quality with ANC on vs off, which is the case on some ANC headphones.

Transparency mode……works. What I mean is that it does what it is supposed to do, which is to let you hear your surroundings. There is audible white noise that is picked up from the microphones, and it’s very noticeable when no audio is playing, but it doesn’t detract from the sound when you are listening to music.

Normal mode

The normal mode is what you will want to use for maximum audio quality. There is a bit of delay when you are watching video, which is usually the case with Bluetooth headphones…..

Game/Movie Mode

….and that is why Game/Movie mode exists. Double pressing the ANC button will switch between Normal and Movie mode, and triple pressing the power button will switch between Normal and Game mode. I found no difference between the Movie and Game modes, so I am going to treat them as one mode for this review. This mode is essentially a low latency mode that sacrifices some audio quality for reduced delay between the audio and video. My experience with it is mostly positive.

On my iPad, it works very, very well. This is due in part to how well Apple handles Bluetooth audio devices and video playback. I noticed absolutely no delay or latency here. With my Samsung Galaxy Fold 5 Android phone, there was a very slight delay when watching YouTube videos. It was acceptable for movies and podcasts, but I wouldn’t be able to use it for mobile gaming. On my Surface Laptop 7 and Windows 11 desktop PC there was also a slight delay in the audio/video sync, but again, it was tolerable for videos and podcasts. Gaming, especially competitive, is a non-starter. I tried playing Call of Duty Warzone but the delay was too noticeable.

Bluetooth

The Ardor supports AAC and SBC Bluetooth codecs. I usually scoff at such a lack of codec support, but in this case, I think it’s a non-issue (the Sound Quality section will explain why). Using the Ardor with many different computers and DAPs, I had no issues pairing with any of them.

3.5mm

The Ardor can be connected to any 3.5mm SE connection with the included 3.5mm cable. This method disables Bluetooth, but ANC is still usable. Transparency mode cannot be selected when using the 3.5mm connection. If a USB-C cable is plugged in at the same time as the 3.5mm cable, audio will still go through the 3.5mm cable and only charging will be done with the USB-C connection. All of the controls (volume, play/pause, etc) can be used in this mode if the device supports in-line controls.

USB-C

The Ardor can be charged and used at the same time when plugged into a device using the USB-C connection. The internal DAC supports up to 24-bit/96kHz. All of the buttons also work just as if they are in-line controls.

Kiwi Ears states that the 1100mAh battery provides up to 140 hours of playback with ANC Off, and up to 72 hours with ANC On. I will have to believe them because I could not drain this battery fast enough. Even after a week of use, mostly with ANC on, the battery was down to only 30%. I could see the Ardor being the ideal traveling ANC headphone simply due to the very long battery life. It will also charge quite quickly, with 10 minutes of charging giving 8 hours of audio playback.

The overall usability and operation of the Kiwi Ears Ardor is quite easy and intuitive, though there is a slight learning curve for some of the button combinations. Pairing is done with the power button, which you hold while turning it on (roughly 5-8 seconds for pairing to begin).

The power button is also used to play/pause audio with a single press, and with a triple press, it switches between Normal mode and Game mode. The volume buttons are also responsive, but I did find that volume steps are a little too large a lot of the time, which resulted in my controlling the volume from the device it was paired with so that I had more granular control. The volume buttons are also used for the next and previous track by holding Volume up or Volume down for 1 full second.

The ANC button switches between the ANC modes, and double pressing it switches between Normal mode and Movie mode.

As mentioned before, there is no companion app to modify any settings of the Ardor, which is a positive since apps usually overcomplicate things, but also a negative in that you cannot fine-tune sound via EQ or have any granular ANC control.

Here are a couple of pictures of the manual, since the button combinations and functions can get a little confusing:

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The Kiwi Ears Ardor uses a coaxial dual dynamic driver setup, consisting of a 40mm driver and a 10mm driver. This is rather unique for headphones, but in the IEM space using multiple drivers and driver types to shape the sound and tuning has been happening for a while, so it’s nice to see some innovation here.

Kiwi Ears is pretty upfront about the Ardor being tuned for audiophiles, and it shows that the overall sound presentation is fairly natural and clean, with detail and clarity being prioritized instead of a bass boost that we typically see with ANC headphones. This makes for a very balanced and enjoyable listening experience without losing any energy or dynamics. What is really shocking to me is how well the Ardor sounds when using only the AAC codec via Bluetooth. At times I felt like what I was hearing just wasn’t possible, but they really did a good job with the design and tuning.

One thing I need to note here is that the 3.5mm connection seems to have some issues with the bass performance. I noticed a lack of bass presence when the 3.5mm connection is used, and the issue is not present in Bluetooth or USB-C connection modes. ANC off or on did not make any difference, so it’s possible this is either an intentional design choice or an oversight. UPDATE: The issue I described occurs when you are listening to the Ardor in passive mode. After you plug in the 3.5mm cable, you need to power on the Ardor, and then it will sound as good as the USB-C and Bluetooth modes. If it is already powered on and connected via Bluetooth, then it will power off once you connect a 3.5mm cable, so you need to remember to power it back on to get the full audio potential from it.

Bass

The bass is overall very controlled and dense. It sounds accurate and has a natural texture to its sound and impact. The sub-bass extends fairly well and provides a lot of energy, with some decent rumble when needed. The mid-bass is also very well controlled and gives you satisfying impacts, but it does lack the slam effect of bassy ANC headphones. If you’re a bass head, or if you prefer the tuning of Sony and Beats headphones, you will probably be disappointed here. I found the bass to be very enjoyable and definitely not lacking.

One of my favorite bass tracks is Angel by Massive Attack. When listening to that track with the Ardor I was totally immersed and felt the impacts throughout. I especially like the trailing ending of that track where the bass impacts become more dispersed. It’s not noticeable with every headphone if they don’t get the mid-bass and sub-bass right, but with the Ardor it’s very noticeable and enjoyable to listen to.

Midrange

The midrange sounds full and has a touch of warmth. Clarity and a natural timbre are prioritized here. There’s also excellent separation between the instruments, as well as the vocals. The vocals sound clear and natural, basically as I would expect them to sound. They are slightly forward but I never found them to take over the mix. Male vocals have good texture and body, which means when the singer has a deep voice you really hear it, and if it’s a higher and softer voice you also hear it. Very natural. Similarly for female vocals, which don’t sound breathy or thin, but lush and full.

Due to the controlled yet clear bass performance, and the very clean and natural midrange, there’s an enjoyable contrast with songs that have some hefty bass and textured vocals. For example, the track Find My Way by Nine Inch Nails. The bass dominates the track along with a piano, but Trent Reznor’s voice is never lost or overwhelmed in the mix. Instead, it is balanced beautifully by the Ardor.

Treble

The treble is airy and detailed and retains a good amount of energy to help balance the energy of the bass region. At higher volumes, I did find that some tracks became slightly sibilant and fatiguing, but these are tracks that would really bring that out. Songs like Reckoner by Radiohead are a prime example, with the cymbals, higher pitched guitar, and Thom Yorke’s elevated pitch straddled the line between not bright and bright for me. Just something to be aware of if you are sensitive to such things.

Soundstage and Imaging

The Ardor has excellent depth and width within the soundstage, delivering good scale for spatial audio. Imaging is also very precise, making it easy to identify the direction each sound is coming from.

Gaming

The Ardor makes for pretty decent gaming headphones as long as you aren’t using Bluetooth. My preference was using the USB-C connection since the 3.5mm connection is lacking some performance in the bass region. The soundstage and imaging performance are right in line with what makes a good gaming headphone, and I was able to use the Ardor to play competitive games such as PUBG and Call of Duty: Warzone without any issues. Similarly, playing immersive single-player games also worked very well, so the Ardor can be that all-in-one headphone if you need it to be.

Microphone Quality

The microphone on the Ardor is just ok. It works fine for taking calls but tends to pick up ambient noise pretty easily. If you are outside and there is wind then it is not very usable in my opinion. In my view it gets the job done, which I think is all it really needs to do.

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The Kiwi Ears Ardor are, simply put, fantastic Bluetooth headphones. They sound amazing, the ANC performance is solid, they’re extremely comfortable, and the price is just right. Issues such as the awkwardness of how they lay in the travel case, and the too large volume steps can be overlooked due to how many things the Ardor gets right. Even for audiophiles, I think these are great headphones. For casual listeners, it’s almost a no-brainer. So if you are looking for a pair of ANC headphones, don’t overlook the Ardor. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

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