Review - KBEAR Little Q (Sub 50€)

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Also available on YouTube in Spanish: Acho Reviews YouTube

The KBEAR Little Q have been sent to me by KeepHifi in exchange for the publication of this review. They have never requested anything specific and I will do my best to be as unbiased as possible, always reminding you that these IEMs did not cost me anything.

You can find the KBEAR Little Q via KeepHifi here: https://keephifi.com/products/kbear-little-q

Intro…

I have reviewed quite a few of these small bullet style IEMs but I have to say that I think the Little Q are the smallest of all of them. When I first opened the package, I was very surprised at how tiny these IEMs really are.

Coming in at around 15€, these are another set that are competing for the ultra budget category but do they do anything that so many other models don’t?

Presentation…

The presentation of the Little Q is about as basic as you can get, with a white box that contains the IEMs and a few set of spare silicone tips.

Not a lot to really talk about here but as I have repeated many times, in this price range I don’t want to see a lot of accessories.

Build & aesthetics…

I already mentioned how tiny these are, so again, there is not really much to say. They opt for an elongated cylinder type shape, very similar to the shape used by Final Audio on their E series, yet slightly smaller.

They are available with or without a microphone, with a 1€ difference, in black grey and blue. As KeepHifi asked which version I would like, I opted for the blue version with a microphone and I am glad I did. As these are so small and compact, they are a perfect candidate to store in a pocket or even a small container on a keyring, allowing you to always have a set of IEMs (with mic) available.

The build quality is all plastic (at least I think its plastic) yet is is well constructed and the finish is very well done. There is the KBEAR logo down one side in black and the back of the IEMs has a small honeycomb design printed on in white (something that could also be reminiscent of the Final Audio logo on the back of their IEMs).

Even though I say that aesthetics are not really something I care about in these price ranges, I am actually quite fond of them and they are very comfortable, even when laying on my side.

Sound…

So, the important part, sound. Let's start off as usual with the graph of the Little Q compared to my personal preference target:

Ok, maybe we are not off to a great start here, as far as my personal preferences go, but all is not lost!

Down at the lowest frequencies, the Little Q are pretty elevated, giving quite a bit of presence to those lower notes. Now, if you remember (for those of you that follow my reviews), I recently reviewed the Blon FG which had less presence down low than the Little Q and I said it was not good. Well, the Little Q has something that saves it, it’s this thing called definition. Even though there is a fair amount of elevation in the lowest ranges, it doesn’t fall apart and become a huge… “blob” I think was the word I used.

This goes for the midbass too, which is also way above my preferences in this area but, as it actually has some clarity and definition, I don’t hate it. In fact, I actually find it kind of fun. I think those that like a lot of bass and are looking for something that is very cheap will have no problems with the low end of the Little Q.

I am not saying that it is amazing in the low end, nor that it is as clear and defined as higher range IEMs, I am saying that it is surprisingly good for the price and I find it enjoyable, which is quite a compliment from me for something with this amount of bass.

As we move into the mids, the tuning is again very similar to the FG, yet the Little Q actually performs rather well in these frequencies. Yes, there is a noticeable dip in the center of the mids but at least it stays defined, even if it does lean towards (or rather point towards) the warm side of things.

I found acoustic music to be quite enjoyable and while I wouldn’t pick these as my reference IEMs, “Crazy” by Daniela Andrade had nice warmth and clarity in the mid range, as did Caro Emerald in “Back It Up”. Vocals were easily appreciated and overall fun to listen to.

A lot of this presence is due to the boost as we get up to the 2500Hz range. This climb is actually quite smooth and does a decent job of making sure vocals get the spotlight they deserve. Voices certainly don’t get pushed up front, there is too much going on in the lower ranges for that to happen, but there is enough presence to be pleasant.

There is another peak around 6kHz before they upper ranges start to roll off and this is something that does help brighten things up a little but can be a little hot on certain tracks, along with some presence of sibilance, especially when elevating the volume level.

Soundstage is not huge, as is to be expected with such a deep fitting set, but it is not terrible either, with image placement that helps make things seem a bit better distributed.

Isolation…

This is something that I haven’t really mentioned much in reviews over the years but I have been working on putting together a collection of isolation measurements of the IEMs I have reviewed. The photo above is the isolation measurement of the Little Q but you can compare it with other isolation measurements by visiting achoreviews.squig.link/isolation (its the same address as my FR measurements but with /isolation on the end).

Conclusion…

The KBEAR Little Q are a set of IEMs that I have grown quite fond of while trying them out. They are not highly detailed, nor are they going to win any awards for amazing sound, yet they are a pleasant listen that work great as a cheap “out and about” set.

Due to the size of them, plus the fact that they have a mic, they are a great option to store in a tiny case that can be easily kept in a pocket or even on a keyring. This means that you have a set of IEMs that you can pull out at any time and plug them straight into your phone (if you have a headphone jack of course, if not, you can add an Apple dongle for another 10€), enjoy some music and make some calls, without worrying about them being damaged or lost.

They might not be the best isolating IEMs (although that will depend on the tips used of course) but as they have that elevation in the lower ranges, they should also work pretty well in noisy environments.

All I can say is that, for 15€, I think the Little Q are more than worthy of their price tag.