I’ve been super happy and lucky to have a decent range of upper $700 plus IEMs on hand to review and tribrids are slowly becoming my new favorite type of IEM. I heard about the Kinera Nanna Pro(2.0) a while back and always wanted to check it out but I’m happy to say I finally got a chance to listen to it. The Nanna uses a 7mm dynamic driver, one balanced armature and 2 electrostatic drivers. The Nanna Pro comes in at $949 here in the states.
Quick shoutout to Andrew from Bloom Audio for sending the Nanna Pro to test and review. While I always appreciate the chance to test and review products sent in from manufacturers, it never affects the rating of my reviews.
Gear Used
IPhone 12 pro with headphone adapter, Aune BU2, iFi Go Blu, SMSL SU-9 feeding the SP400 amp. Weiss DAC
Looks and fit
I think this is a fairly good looking IEM. I don’t like IEMs that don’t have some type of lip at the end of the nozzle but I was able to get some snug fitting tips on to counter them falling off inside my ear. I’m a little hit or miss on the faceplate design, this however is a super subjective opinion. I would take this faceplate design over a boring plain metal faceplate however. The Nanna is a little smaller than some of the more recent IEMs I’ve reviewed recently but it should fit most people's ears just fine.
Isolation
The isolation is rather good on the Nanna Pro. For a hybrid it still has a breathing hole for the DD driver but it doesn’t let much sound in from the outside world. So good passive isolation. It does however leak sound more than I expected from an mostly sealed IEM. In a quiet room you can definitely expect people to hear what you’re listening to, so probably not a good option for those going on plane trips or use at night next to someone else trying to sleep.
Packaging and accessories
Inside the box we get a decent chunk of accessories. The box is beautifully designed and when you pull the top off you get a little brochure going over the company and Nanna. Under that we get a bunch of Final E tips, some wide bore in house tips and some foams. We also get a carrying case, a few different adapters to use 3.5mm and 2.5mm. I think this is a fine assortment of accessories. I will admit I’m spoiled by the accessories DUNU includes with their audio gear so I might sound a little bummed by the accessories we do get here.
SIDE NOTE: I had heard that Bloom Audio sent kit kats with their packages but I was super surprised my review unit came with kit kats in the box. It tasted really good and I think it’s a small but really cool little thing Bloom does. Thanks for the treat!
Sound(overall)
These final impressions were done off a mix of the iFi GO blu and the SMSL SU-9 connected to the SMSL SP400. These are what the Kinera Nanna Pro sounded like to my ears. This was also using the regular CP100 eartips from spinfit. Things like ear tip selection and DAC/amp selection will produce different results and impressions vs what my ears hear on my specific gear.
Seeing a tribrid design, I was expecting a harder hitting bass than what I ended up hearing. The bass is fairly well controlled but it goes for a less impactful sound and more detailed presentation down low. It reaches down low pretty well, the DD sounds really fast as well. It just lacks a bit of that extra dynamic slam/impact I would like from a hybrid personally. The mids are really wonderful however and this is where the star of the show really starts to show up. The lower mids are well defined if not a little boring for my ears. The rest of the mids and upper mids/lower treble really come alive for me though. The vocals sound really good and lifelike with no harsh details or sibilance. This was the one thing that always stuck out while listening to the Nanna Pro. While the vocals are super detailed, they have just the right amount of sweetness that keeps things from sounding shrill or clinical. The treble does have a bit of bite that gives instruments a little extra sparkle and detail. I would say this is a fairly tamed treble however and it doesn’t come through with the best detail retrieval, at least past the lower treble. It’s definitely a warm treble but I personally think it works well with having a big focus on mids and vocals. I really like the way Kinera handled the tuning with the Nanna Pro.
Soundstage/Imaging
Soundstage is a little more closed in with a decent width but a below average depth. I think this really helps with vocals but this is far from a “big” stage. I prefer wider and deeper stages on IEMs but I like the tuning so it gets a pass here. The imaging was fairly good since everything is intimate stage wise. It’s easy to pick out things with what width we get. Those looking for a holographic stage/image will wanna look elsewhere.
Stock cable
Stock cable is fairly nice and it comes stock with a 4.4mm pentaconn connector. I thought the basic silver was a nice and relaxed look. I also like the softer rubber feel of the cable. It never got caught on anything and I had no issues with microphonics. This is a standard silver plated wire. I don’t cable roll as much these days on review units as I don’t have time to include my thoughts on cable sound differences but I wouldn’t change the stock cable unless you want something different looks wise or wish to simply play around with cable rolling.
Tip rolling
I hated all the stock tips that came with the Nanna Pro. The Final E tips are a really nice included accessory but I felt they made the Nanna a little too warm and muffled at times. The stock wide bore tips made the bass sound too lean as well. I ended up using a set of standard CP100 tips from Spinfit. The Spinfit tips are usually the main set of tips I use with everything I personally have or review. The CP100 got me what I felt was the ideal tuning for the Nanna Pro. Definitely play around with tip rolling when picking up this IEM.
IEM comparisons
Symphonium Helios
I’m gonna be lazy and paste the comparison from the Helios review I did below.
“The Nanna is still fresh to me but I really like the clarity and details I get out of the mids and throughout the treble. The lows are much better on the Helios but the Helios is really good at being an “all rounder” to my ears. The Nanna is very detailed when it comes to vocals and the lower-mid treble. This set is really nice with certain genres but not so much for a daily IEM that works well with everything I listen too. I can’t really say which is better. I think the detail retrieval goes to the Nanna but the Helios does the lows and mids better and the staging is much wider and deeper on the Helios vs the Nanna. Go with the Nanna if you listen to mostly rock, anything with vocals and music with a big focus on instruments.”
THIEAUDIO Clairvoyance
The Clairs come in just a little less in terms of cost than the Nanna Pro. The two IEMs go for a different tuning however. The Clair is my favorite IEM so while I have some bias and what I would consider the best tips and cable suited for me, the Nanna does some things better. The Clair does low end impact better but doesn’t do vocals anywhere near as well as the Nanna. The Clair has a better treble over the Nanna with more detail retrieval. Though the Nanna does lower treble much better which gives it a better detail in most instruments. The Clair goes for a more “all rounder” tuning to my ears while the Nanna feels like an IEM that has a specific tuning and purpose. Which is better? I’m not sure there is a clear winner as I feel the Nanna does better as a genre specific IEM. I would choose the Clairvoyance as the everything IEM and the Nanna Pro for when I want some vocal bliss.
Amping Combinations
iFi Go blu
The Go blu is my favorite portable DAC/amp at the moment for the small size and nice sound quality it pushes out. Without using any of iFi’s hardware EQ features, the Go blu does well at keeping the nanna sounding smooth and decently detailed. There was a little more bite in the upper mids and lower treble that was a little much at times but I could easily balance it out by turning on the iFi xBASS that balanced out the extra energy by having a bit more focus on the bass and subass. The xSPACE was a bit too much for my tastes and I ended up only using xBASS most of the time.
SMSL SU-9/SP400
This being my go to setup for all the gear I test and use means my thoughts here will match what I wrote in the sound section of my review. The most noticeable difference over the cheaper DAC/amp stacks and portable source gear was the speed overall. Everything felt like it had more energy though I still didn’t quite get the low end thumps I would prefer from other tribrids. Staging was a little wider but depth still felt about the same as the lower cost source gear. I think you could get away with something like a standard desktop DAC/amp, DAP or portable DAC/amp just fine.
Weiss DAC
The Weiss DAC is a crazy expensive DAC/amp combo that really brought out the best and worst in all the gear I paired to it. The Nanna Pro managed to survive without sounding too harsh and the biggest difference I heard was the top end energy increase that gave the Nanna a little better detail retrieval. The bass was still a little on the lean side for me but there was indeed better detail and texture down low. The Mids stayed the same but the special soundstage that the Weiss DAC produced really made the vocals sound like someone was singing to you and it just felt more magical overall. The Nanna can definitely scale a bit but I think a normal portable source or desktop source would work just fine.
Overall thoughts
I really like the way the Nanna Pro sounds and while I still wish it had a little more impact in the subbass, I found the vocals to be the star of the show for me. I do believe this is more of a “compliment IEM” or “genre specific IEM” but I don’t think someone who is just getting into the near $1k IEM market would hate using these as a daily IEM for everything. I will be giving the Nanna Pro(2.0) a recommendation. This is assuming you can get down with its tuning. Those looking for a better all rounder would probably do better with the Symphonium Helios or maybe take a step down and go with the THIEAUDIO Clairvoyance/Monarch. Thanks for reading!
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