Kinera Leyding Cable

Before summarizing everything, let's change topics and talk about something else I promised to cover earlier. Kinera is a Chinese brand with over a decade of history, including work on hearing aids and driver design. The brand itself is just over five years old now and has carved out a name in the $500–1500 IEM market in particular. There are several Kinera IEMs that are considerably lower in cost, and there are even plans for TWS solutions from the brand. We are not discussing any of those today, however, with this page dedicated to one of Kinera's newly released accessories in the form of the Leyding aftermarket IEM cable. It is one of three Norse mythology-inspired cables put out by the brand, with the other two being the more expensive Dromi and Gleipnir.


Packaging for the Kinera Leyding is quite impressive, rivaling that of many IEMs in design. The product box comes sealed in plastic, removing which shows a vibrant gold and black box with the Kinera logo and tagline at the top on the front, as well as a more generic "Upgrade Cable" surrounded by runes that may well be Norse-inspired but irrelevant to me beyond the art. Some general information about the company is found on the back, and I was led to believe Kinera is using a common design for all three cable options until I looked at the side, where it becomes obvious that this is the box for the Kinera Leyding with the product name and specifications in multiple languages. There are no seals here, and a magnet instead holds the cover which opens from the right like a box of presents. There is also a hang tag up top for retail options, and a wax paper sheet to keep the contents inside in place during transit. This includes paperwork in the form of a warranty card and guide that is really all about the Norse mythology and how the Leyding name came about. It's a fun, short read should you be in the mood for it. Underneath is a thick foam sheet with cutouts to snugly hold the actual components, making for an excellent packaging and unboxing experience for what is essentially an IEM cable.


The Leyding may be the least expensive of the three Kinera cables to date, but it sure is not cheap. This is an upgrade cable that offers modular plug connectivity to the source in the form of 2.5 mm balanced (TRRS), 3.5 mm single-ended (TRS), and 4.4 mm Pentaconn balanced (TRRS) plugs that come with a gold-plated copper conductor fitted to an aluminium alloy housing, each with a vibrant gunmetal gray finish and the Kinera logo etched into the side. Hilariously, there are more specifications about everything to do with the cable here, including the internal connectors going from the plug to the housing for electrical conduction, which makes the lack of details surrounding headphone and earphone cables all the more apparent. So kudos to Kinera for the detail and transparency, even if the average end user will simply gloss over it. The takeaway here is the use of a 5-pin (4 conductor, 1 alignment) male end that then fits into the respective female end on the cable itself. This is similar to what we saw with the new DUNU Q-Lock LITE cable that shipped with the FALCON PRO, and it ends up being a cost-effective way to achieve modular plug connectivity for an IEM cable.


Adding to the IEM comparison is Kinera including the actual cable inside a small case with a rubberized surface and the Kinera logo and tag line on the top, as on the product box itself. The zipper does feel flimsy, but it is still overkill, so I would have liked to see a simpler packaging in lieu of some savings to the product cost itself. Opening the case, we see the cable in the primary compartment with the separate space above for the spare plugs should you want to carry everything on your person while on the go.


The Kinera Leyding is a Litz-style 8-core braided cable that is quite the looker if I may say so myself. It starts off with the female end for the three modular plugs seen above, which leads to the conductor, a silver-plated copper alloy mixed with oxygen-free copper. The plating itself is of 5N purity (99.999%), which is one of the ways the Leyding is a lower-cost alternative to the other two that use higher-purity copper and silver alike for the intermediate option, or gold plating as in the case of the most expensive offering. Each core has 24 strands of the conductor and is 1 mm in diameter, making for a relatively thick cable that is then braided well to reduce the diameter to well within manageable limits. The cable skin (insulation) is PVC, a cost savings measure that ultimately works just fine. If anything, the mix of the black and copper color strands allows for an appealing aesthetic, which really is one of the reasons aftermarket cables are made and sold, be it for keyboards or headphones.

The cable is the usual 1.2 m long for IEMs, and part-way, we see it split with a cable cinch. Once again, all the connectors and housings are made out of the same gunmetal gray aluminium alloy, which makes for an understated look. Past the splitter, we see four cores heading to each of the left and right channels, with transparent plastic sheathing closer to the other end to help with the memory wire formation/retention as well as to protect the wires heading to the output interface. The Kinera Leyding comes in either 0.78 mm 2-pin or MMCX connectivity options, with my sample having the former set for use with the MOONDROP KATO. The housing continues to match the trend and has a red ring on the right channel connector to indicate as much. Here too the pins are gold-plated for oxidation resistance.


Once you have decided on the plug type, simply align the mating pins and push it in place to complete the cable. It ends up longer than the typical stock cables, with the photo above comparing the Kinera Leyding to the MOONDROP KATO stock cable. I personally prefer the color scheme and build quality of the Kinera Leyding, and this is before we even get to the modular nature of the plugs. The stock cable that ships with the MOONDROP KATO also has too firm a memory wire shaping, and here too the Leyding was far better to actually use. Lastly, neither cable was really microphonic when used properly, but the Kinera Leyding is softer and easier to route around any obstacles on the way to the source. It does take up more room courtesy the up to eight braided strands compared to the two composite strands (each with two cores) of the other cable, though. Seen above is the MOONDROP KATO connected to the Kinera Leyding, which works well enough even with the recessed connectors on the IEMs here. It adds more color to the otherwise single-color IEM/cable combination.


I saved this section for last because I already know it will be contentious. There are many who profess cables greatly affect sound signatures, and quite a few who believe in cable burn-in, too. I believe cables can affect the sound signature too, but mostly due to a significant difference in impedance or electrical resistance across the cable. This is no different from adding a resister in-line with stock cables. Then there is the almighty power of psychoacoustics, which may certainly explain a few things. In my opinion, the MOONDROP KATO with the stock cable basically sounded the same as with the Kinera Leyding. The tonality certainly did not change, as seen above, with any deviations well within experimental error. Consistently A/B testing the two cables also did not really show any perceived change, with the benefits of the Kinera Leyding upgrade cable more to do with form and functionality rather than sound quality—at least with the MOONDROP KATO.