Item description from official site: A phenomenal concert room compressed into a few centimetres.
Audio lovers from all around the world have asked that unique ULTRASONE quality be brought to the smallest of spaces as well, allowing them to enjoy exceptional music reproduction even more conveniently when travelling or doing sport. And so we’ve developed our unique in-ear systems for our customers and fans, who include numerous professional musicians and sound engineers.
The high-quality Tio, with aluminium housing, is equipped with a professional micro driver (balanced armature).
Particular importance was placed on linear, natural and distortion-free music reproduction. The cable, with microphone and remote control, affords convenient operation for both music and telephone calls. The Tio is equipped with a high-quality cable and a space-saving transport box.
Outstanding insulation against background noise allows you to concentrate completely on the music. This provides you with a unique, personal concert experience, whether exercising or travelling by train or plane.
Five pairs of silicone earbud tips and two pairs of high-quality TX-100 Comply foam earbud tips are included as standard. What’s more, a flight adapter and an OMTP adapter for a wide variety of smartphones are also included.
Pros: Neutral tuning with warm tilt; Extremely detailed and intimate at the same time; not-analytical
Cons: Non-detachable cables; wanting just a little sub-bass extension
Simple Man’s review – Ultrasone Tio (EUR 319) This is called simple man’s review because they are based on the sound of these earphones directly from my mobile phone (HTC 10), using 320 Kbps mp3 tracks. No expensive gears nor lossless tracks,no EQ, and all that hi-fi stuff.
Build – 3/5
Decent. The aluminium earphone housings are super light and feel durable. The form factor is similar to Pyco, perfect for both straight-down and over-the-ear ways of wearing. The housings, being slimmer and longer than the Pyco, can enter a couple of centimeters further into the ear canal. The cables, however, being non-detachable, are the weakest links to the design, again. The rubbery cables are quite thick, but are jumpy and retain some annoying memory. These aren't built for rough use.. The mic + one button remote is installed in a bulky hard plastic capsule, not the most convenient or visually pleasing, but very functional. We see strain reliefs at the 3.5mm connector and at the housings, but miss them near the Y Splitter and the remote. The 3.5 mm jack is a sturdy metal L-type connector which looks great. They employ the same connector in all their In-ear models. For the price they could have deployed a detachable cable, and this section would have got them a 5 on 5. Nevertheless, they get a 3 for the sturdy aluminium housings and thick cables.
Accessories – 5/5
The unboxing experience is grand. Inside, we get more than we could ask for. A hard leather case which is bigger and more aesthetically pleasing than Pyco’s case. Inside we also have a nice synthetic place holder for the earphone housings. This can also be removed easily if not desired. Excellent case. Tips. Wow, we get a lot of tips. We get two sizes of Comply Tx-tips (with ear-wax guard this time), two sizes of conical tips, and 3 sizes of redular-styled tips. You can use these tips with you Etymotic earphones as well, if you are going for a shallow fit there.
We also get one Flight adapter and one OMTP adapter
5/5 because we couldn’t ask for more even at the selling price.
Isolation & Sound leakage – 4/5
Isolation is great, slightly better than the Pyco due to deeper insertion. The 3mm nozzles penetrate into the canal and secure a good seal maximizing isolation. It’s as much as you can get with a shallow insertion. Sound leakage is minimal to nil on normal listening levels.
Fit – 5/5
Fit is simple, and excellent. A no nonsense approach here. Even a first time IEM user will have no trouble getting a good fit with these. Over-the-ear is possible, but i prefer straight-down with these as the wires aren't very flexible.
Microphonics – 3/5
Same wires as Pyco, not terrible, but very present if you let the wires bounce against you.
Drivability – Very easy to drive. With my smartphone, HTC 10, I haven’t had the need to push more than 60% of the volume.
Before we get to the sound: You must know that i don’t listen to trance, EDM, or bassy stuff, no metal stuff, so, take my opinion about the extremes of the sound spectrum, and speed,etc., with a grain of salt, as they are just based on the kind of music I listen to- namely Jazz, blues, some progressive rock from the 70s/80s. However, to give a fair review, i include some of my favourite Daft Punk, Tool, NIN, and some Pop songs among my test tracks.
Eartips: I’m using the provided Comply eartips with the Pycos as they add nice body and weight to the high frequency notes which i find preferable. With the stock regular-type silicon tips the highs come across as sightly thinner, but are sharper as well.
Ultrasone provided their IEM line-up earphones for the purpose of my honest review. After testing these earphones, the Ultrasone Pyco and Tio were duly returned. I get to keep the Ultrasone IQ and IQ Pro. That said, please rest assured that this a completely unbiased and honest review. The impressions and comparisons are all my own and not driven by any external party.
Sound Signature–
The general signature is neutral, with a tint of warmth in the bottom half of the spectrum. Extremely detailed sound, made to stand alongside Etymotic, with the intention to win. The warm tint saves the Tio from sounding overly bright like ER4, and make for a much enjoying listen. It’s like Ultrasone took the ER4 driver and decided to make them musical instead of going the analytical route. Very mid-centric tuning without sacrificing bass and treble energy. Listening to Tio is nothing short of blissful.
Soundstage:
There is nothing very exceptional about the soundstage. Similar to Etys in width, with a little added height and depth aided by the impactful bottom half. One can also notice superior layering as the details keep on giving.
Bass:
The bass is tight and taut, as can be expected from a BA driver. Very linear throughout the bottom, with a very gentle roll-down in the sub-bass range, below 50hz maybe. The upper-bass and mid-bass are very slightly pronounced to give that warmth and weight to music. The notes strike with authority and carry so much weight that cannot go unnoticed. That said, electronic music enthusiasts would miss the dynamic sub-bass impact and, they would also welcome a little lump in the mid bass quantity. Still, they would be able to hear the bass detail and it is produced with great quality, albeit with softer sub-bass impact.
Mids:
Mids are stunning. These mids are to die for. Very forward, magical and seriously good. Can i throw in more adjectives here? Mesmerising mids, these will immediately attract you tremendously. The vocals are supreme, every little detail comes through with utmost clarity, and they come with that warmth, and sound very soulful. Every guitar note hangs in there, and the strike lands with impact, carrying the weight of the note delivering it completely to the listener’s ear. Transient harmonics here are guaranteed to give you eargasms. I can go on like this for a whole page. Simply put, these are one of the best mids ever presented, in my humble experience. Super detailed with that additionally warmth generally missing with the BA drivers. They also have that little bite, to the guitars for instance, which carries a sharp edge at the extremes. If you can call it a downside, the Tios demand your attention and present an intense listening experience which one cannot call relaxing.
Treble:
The treble is greatly extended and you can hear the drivers penetrating the highs even more than the Etymotics. It still avoids being outright harsh and metallic sounding, and even works it’s way around sibilance tactfully, but longer listening will prove to be fatiguing for those sensitive to the high range greater than 10Khz. Cymbals and crashes strike with the right timbre, and the chimes echo with a shimmery presence. The don’t come across as thin sounding which is awesome. They also don’t come across as airy seeing that they stick closer to the neutral line along with the rest of the spectrum. Treble heads would totally dig these earphones. Personally, i would have preferred this range slightly smoother. Alas, to get this i would have to start tuning my own drivers.
Comparisons
Round 1 – Ultrasone Tio vs Ortofon E-Q5 (discontinued)
Ortofon E-Q5 is a very highly acclaimed single BA unit which leans towards musicality rather than presenting details in music. A very technically sound and one of the warm(er) sounding BA IEMs which is slightly brighter than Final Heaven IV, for instance.
Switching from E-Q5 to Tio, we could directly see that both of them have similar of warmth in the music. Vocals in E-Q5 sounds (very slightly) warmer than the (very slightly) drier presentation in the Tios. The Tio is able to present more details in the mids, and the highs are also a bit pronounced with the Tio. The E-Q5 goes for a smoother overall presentation. There is also more punch and impact in the bass with the Tios and the acoustic guitar notes carry a little more weight in the Tios. Both have great timbre all around, and are a pleasure to listen to.
Technically, the Tio comes out on top although the Ortofon is not very far behind. A point to note is that the E-Q5 were considerably cheaper than the Tio when they in production.
Round 2 – Ultrasone Tio vs Zero Audio Doppio (120-200 USD)
In this round, the Tio faces a tougher opponent, Zero Audio Doppio, armed with 2 BA drivers. The Doppios also have a warm tint to their bottom end, and are very heavily detail oriented. It would be a great feat to beat them at detail retrieval. Let’s see how this goes.
The dual BA unit of the Doppio has a wider and taller soundstage and sound more fun than the neutral sounding Tio. Details pop with the Doppios, which is presented in a relatively more subtle and serious manner in the Tios. There is a certain mid bass hump in the Doppio which account for a more dynamic sound, but the more linear bass of the Tio sounds more tight and reaches deeper than the Doppio. Tio is superior in localisation and instrument positioning whereas with the Doppio the center is not very grounded – Pin-point positioning is kind of slightly lacking with the Doppios.
Doppio is more fun and exciting, but the Tio trumps them with a much more linear presentation and better instrument separation.
Round 3 – Ultrasone Tio vs Etymotic ER4XR (~350 USD)
Saving the best for last. This is like a boss fight and i’ve never been more excited for a comparison before. Same price range, both are single BA tuned towards neutrality. The ER4XR has a little bass bump in the nether end to avoid sounding too clinical. Let’s get to it.
After switching back and forth multiple times, i think i’m ready to write my observations. Both of them have similar signature, no doubt about this. Soundstage is the same, so is drivability. The small differences among them, to my hearing, is in the mid-bass and lower-bass quantity, and a lesser pronounced treble hump in the upper mids, but this makes for significant difference in the overall presentation. Basically the Tio has the same frequency curve as Ety, with slight, maybe 1 dB, mid bass presence and around 4-5 db decrease in the hump. This gives the Etys a brighter presentation vs a natural and intimate presentation with the Tio. The Tio has a touch more mid bass which colours the mids with a very slight warm tint that can be noticed in the transient echoes. The voices have a little more warmth compared to the ER4XR, where it is slightly drier. The ER4XR has a deeper digging sub-bass, below 50, probably +2 dB, which presents more rumble characteristics to the user, while the Tio has a +2 dB in the mid-bass which gives good weight and intimacy to music. Sub-bass rumble is softer in the Tio. Apparent detail retrieval, upon scrutiny, will go in favour of the ER4XRs. Tio had to trade this for the musical warmth in their mids. Please note that these differences are really negligible and in a blind test i wouldn’t be surprised if i mistake one for the other.
We can call no winners here. The match is a tie. If you want deeper sub-bass with drier vocals and analytical capability, go for the ER4XR. If you want a little warmth and soul and intimacy, and don’t prefer boomy sub-bass, the Tio would be the better option to enjoy music. Even if you listen to too much dance music, the Tio can keep you entertained more than the ER4XR.
Please note that the Tio was made in 2012, 6 years ago, when the competition was the original ER4 with it’s anaemic bass. The ER4XR was introduced last year with its MMCX design, and this definitely challenges the Tio today for the money’s worth.
ER4XR has detachable cables, but sounds best with a really deep seal, which may not be the most comfortable choice for many.
The Tio, on the other hand, has non-detachable cables, but has a mic to take calls (which is incredible for an audiophile phone), and works fine with a shallow and comfortable fit.
Conclusion –
Ultrasone Tio, even today after 6 years since it’s creation, stands alongside Etymotics as one of the best earphones made with a single BA. I can easily say that no other earphone offers such clarity and precision with such an easy and comfortable fit for the asking price. I haven't heard this level of vocal intimacy from another BA driver. It sounds like 400 bucks. If only Ultrasone decides to upgrade these earphones to come with detachable MMCX cables, one would think twice before getting an Etymotic, and would go for the Tio since it’s more practical and musical. Plus, you can answer a phone call with an audiophile grade earphone! It’s amazing how they created this wonder 6 years earlier and a pity that they don’t upgrade this model to make them time-proof.
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