Kefine Delci Review – No Fluff, No Preservatives
In this Article
THE APPETIZER
Kefine Delci is a second chapter in my experience with Kefine with the first being the wonderfully tuned Klanar. So far they seem to be taking their time releasing quality affordable products. The Kefine Delci is a strong showing again, and in a price bracket that is tough to notch out a win.
Things normally start getting good above $100, and $50 and under leave you underwhelmed. The Kefine Delci comes in with a MSRP of $79, but everyday priced at $59 would be a strong buy at this tier given the tonality and good technical skills. 10mm DLC PU dynamic drivers can be found littered throughout the Chifi IEM world, and not many come out on top. This is one is strutting its stuff, and behold its name is Kefine Delci.
PACKAGE AND DESIGN SALAD
Kefine Delci comes in an frustration free easy to open package. Inside you get a 2 sets of standard style wide bore and narrow bore eartips reasonable at this price point, with an extra pair of narrow medium size tips ready to go on the solid metal earphones. The more important aspect is they fit well with the length of nozzles of the Delci.
The classy braided cable of the Kefine Delci is a notch above standard and the two pin plug has good friction while connecting easily. It comes packaged with two sets of eartips, one narrow bore that includes an extra set of medium already installed, and a second set of wide bore. Quality is average, but reasonable at this price point.
The Kefine Delci fits flush with my ears, and similar to the Klanar does not protrude like a pair of bolts stuck in my ears. Shell shape of the CNC metal housing is smooth and free of sharp edges. Comfort is top notch while isolation is middle of the road where I could hear muffled voices around me. Deja vu all over again, they borrow from the Kefine Klanar which helps with design and tooling costs.
MAIN ENTREE SOUND
Tested with LG G8, Truthear Shio, HIDIZS S9 Pro Plus
Balanced and delicate is what I first notice with the Kefine Delci Bass, like a mellow day at the lake. It ticks up a few notches around the punch demarcation line and is rather nuanced. Kefine Delci is not for bassheads, but does not meet the neutrality of audiophiles. I find neutral a boring day at the office. Midbass is lean so male vocals loose some weight with female vocals sounding even more angelic than usual.
Midrange levels are spot on for keeping vocal placement in a correct alignment, not recessed, and not forward but avoids sounding dull. There is sufficient breathing room recreated allowing depth to come through.
Kefine Delci treble delivers a clean and medium decay that results in a clear finish on cymbal hits. There is not a massive amount of air, but it rolls off cleanly. Levels are inline with the rest of the spectrum. I could use some extra detail, but I have to remind myself of the cost and not sounding like a hot mess is a testament in how well the Kefine Delci cuts through the crowd.
Depth and width is great in English Beat’s, Mirror in the Bathroom achieving good separation. They are not the ultimate in this regard, but in context they are class leaders. Attack and decay are quick resulting in good dynamics.
Both the Kefine Delci and Simgot EA500LM have similar tonal balance with only a few exceptions. Bass on the Delci leans towards lower registers creating less of a punch bump, EA500LM a minuscule fuller. Midrange has more spaciousness compared to the EA500LM, and lastly they both exhibit that Harman upper midrange treble curve, but the Delci leans more towards a diffuse field presence curve. However, the Delci knows that too much energy above 10-14khz can derail, and therefore hits the utmost amount I am comfortable with.
DESSERT
I had been losing hope to find a new recommendation in what I consider the bare minimum bar to cross, and yet here we are with the Kefine Delci. Most of the above budget tier models were nothing special, and I was having better luck with wireless models over the wired options.
The Keine Delci is a hot buy for me if you want a balanced IEM that is easily something that will get you to musical enjoyment without much fuss. It’s the Toyota Camry of the IEM world, not super exciting, but was engineered to work and does not really do anything majorly wrong. Kefine is slowly proving to be a value leader and trusted brand for me.
Disclaimer: If Kefine keeps this up I might fanboy out. Thanks to Kefine for providing these at no cost for analysis and allowing freedom of expression.
KEFINE DELCI SPECIFICATIONS
Product Page: http://www.kefineelec.com/en/ProductDetails.aspx?iProId=23
Driver: 10mm Dynamic DLC+PU
Frequency Response: 20Hz-20Khz
Sensitivity 108db
Impedance: 28 Ohms
Cable: 1.2mm 2 pin
Weight: 5.3g one side
GRAPHS
- Left vs Right
- Kefine Delci vs Simgot EA500LM
DISCLAIMER
Get it from Hifigo, Linsoul, Aliexpress, Amazon
Our generic standard disclaimer.
